Li Mu's sudden change in attitude. From the initial free authorizations to high fees from other companies, the outside world finally understood Li Mu's true strategy.
It's impossible for Feng Yu to not charge any money. The reason why he did not charge any money at the start was to make more money in the future.
Li Mu used the free cooperation method to get McDonald's and Coca-Cola to cooperate with each other. This allowed the outside world to see the commercial value of Plants vs Zombies.
When everyone realized the commercial value of Plants vs Zombies, the price of Plants vs Zombies will naturally increase.
Wall Street, Hollywood, and Silicon Valley were all inspired by Li Mu. They saw through Li Mu's strange way of playing the game and saw Li Mu's real motive. A few million USD worth of copyright fees was nothing to Li Mu. What he really wanted was to promote his cartoon character to the fullest extent. His motive was achieved!
Coca-Cola and McDonald's had given Makino Technology a satisfactory answer. Makino Technology's cartoon character was promoted offline. Coca-Cola and McDonald's also relied on Makino Technology's cartoon character to differentiate themselves from their competitors. At the same time, they made use of the gamers' love for the game to increase their sales.
A well-known American business media wrote an article saying that Li Mu had thought deeper and further than any other internet industry worker. While others could only see the surface, Li Mu's vision had already seen through the core. The cartoon image of Plants vs Zombies, after this offline release, was now enough to support a huge series of brands. The American Brand Research Lab estimated that, as of now, every single business move of his was worth studying and learning from by other entrepreneurs.
Both Microsoft and Sony were shocked by Li Mu's high fees. Both parties wanted to reject Li Mu, but they were worried that their competitors would agree to Li Mu's conditions and monopolize this game.
Although the PC and legal games market in Hua Xia was not doing well, the PC and legal games market in the overseas market was still very fertile. It was normal for popular games to sell tens or even millions of copies.
Also, to these two companies, it was very easy to port a game like Plants vs Zombies Online from a mouse to a controller.
The real Plants vs Zombies was a touch screen game, but considering how easy it was to play, and didn't require multi-touch controls, it didn't take much effort to port it to PC, and it didn't affect the experience at all.
Right now, it wasn't hard to port Plants vs Zombies to the PC. The game's interface was a grid layout, not much different from games like Tetris or Bubble House. Therefore, most of the operations could be done with the controller. As for operations like collecting sunlight with the mouse, they could be done by pressing a button on the controller and collecting the sunlight with one click.
It was easy to port, easy to operate, and fun. Therefore, both Microsoft and Sony were very optimistic about the performance of the game after it was ported to the PC. But the more they thought so, the more worried they were that their competitors would beat them to it. However, Li Mu's asking price was too exorbitant, and it made them feel conflicted.
Other than the PC games, all sorts of clothing, food, daily necessities, and toy manufacturers were looking to collaborate with Plants vs Zombies. But every company that received a quote had the same opinion: Makino Technology was really exorbitant, and not just any ordinary exorbitant. Their asking price was unimaginably high.
However, Li Mu did not make any concessions. He did not care about small profits, and would rather not make any concessions on the price. He let these companies consider for themselves, and if they felt they could work with them, then they would fork out the money. If not, then they would leave.
… …
When Plants vs Zombies Online was popular all over the world, the SARS situation in China was still very serious.
Thanks to the country's timely prevention and control measures, the SARS outbreak was much slower than in Feng Yu's previous life, but it was still impossible to prevent the spread and deterioration of the epidemic.
The number of confirmed cases in Yanjing continued to increase, and soon reached double digits. The Health Ministry started to enter a state of emergency, and all primary and secondary schools were temporarily suspended. The entire society started to implement the quarantine policy. There were cases of people being quarantined because of a fever, but no one objected to it. In the face of a disease, it was not the time to throw a tantrum. Most people could understand this.
Recently, there had been sad news from time to time. Some medical staff who were fighting on the frontline of the fight against SARS had sacrificed their lives because they were infected with SARS.
Central TV released a news special about the angels in white during SARS. Not only were there medical workers fighting on the frontline, but there were also medical workers who contracted SARS during their work and were receiving treatment in the hospital. There was a female head nurse in the south who developed a fever after working on the frontline for sixty to seventy hours. After being quarantined, she was diagnosed with SARS. When the Central TV reporters were filming through the glass window, she was still lying on the hospital bed waving at the camera. However, two days later, she closed her eyes forever.
This news special caused a huge stir in society. It made a lot of people who were panicking about SARS realize that at this critical moment when everyone else was retreating, there were countless angels in white who were still risking their lives to charge forward. After the special was broadcast, Central TV received a lot of inquiries. Many ordinary viewers hoped to donate money to the family of the female head nurse to show their sincerity.
Therefore, Central TV decided to simply plan a large-scale cultural gala. The theme of the gala was to raise money for SARS. Calling for donations was secondary. The most important thing was that they hoped that through such a cultural gala, they could mobilize the people's determination to work together to fight against SARS.
As Li Mu was currently the hottest and most popular private entrepreneur in the country, Central TV invited Li Mu as a guest entrepreneur to participate in the fundraising gala.
Li Mu gladly accepted.
He didn't blindly donate before because he wanted to wait for the higher-ups to express their stance. In the face of such a major event, if the country didn't need private donations, the government naturally wouldn't accept them. Under such circumstances, if he still insisted on donating, it might bring about some unnecessary negative effects. Now that Central TV had used practical actions to express their stance, he naturally had to support them.
Therefore, Li Mu, Chen Ze, and Cai Zhengmao set a time to meet to discuss Wanying Real Estate and CSC Club's donation.
Li Mu didn't have time to go to the racetrack, so he set the location at Wanying Real Estate. He also happened to be able to discuss with Chen Ze, Song Liang, and Weilan about Wanying Real Estate's donation.
Chen Ze was originally at Wanying Real Estate. In order to attend the meeting, Cai Zhengmao also specially drove from the racetrack to Wanying Real Estate's office.
Everyone gathered in the conference room. Li Mu informed everyone about Central TV's invitation and said, "SARS is no small matter. Central TV is holding a public fundraising gala this time. In my opinion, the biggest goal isn't to raise money, but to rally the people to fight against SARS together. Therefore, the more this gala shows the spirit of unity, the more the people's mentality will be affected. Therefore, we should all try to be as active as possible."
Song Liang asked Li Mu, "How much are Makino Technology and Taobao going to donate?"
Li Mu said, "Currently, the tentative plan is for both companies to donate 10 million each."
"Okay." Song Liang nodded and said, "Then Wanying Real Estate will also donate 10 million."
Li Mu said, "Makino Technology and Taobao will donate 10 million each, and Wanying Real Estate will also donate 10 million. This way, it will be 30 million. When the time comes, this 30 million will all be donated to the disease prevention and control department to be used to fight against SARS."
In his previous life, Xiaotangshan SARS Hospital was a key facility in the fight against SARS back then. They had specifically chosen to build a hospital in the sparsely populated suburbs to fight against SARS and treat SARS patients. At that time, they had even created a small miracle. The hospital had been built and put into use in just over a week. This speed had shocked the entire country.
In Li Mu's memory, a project like Xiaotangshan SARS Hospital was a very smart and responsible emergency project. Although these were funded by the government, if there were private funds involved, it would definitely be able to improve the overall standard of the key facilities to a higher degree.
After Wanying Real Estate also decided to donate 10 million RMB, Li Mu said to Chen Ze and Cai Zhengmao, "CSC Club's investment is too large, and the return period is also relatively long. In my opinion, this time, we don't need CSC Club's main body to donate. Instead, we need to call on the club's members to donate together."
Chen Ze said, "The club itself can also donate a portion. The funds are not a problem. If it really can't be done, we can also privately contribute a portion. At such a critical time, we must definitely set a good example."
Li Mu waved his hand and said, "Charity also needs to be based on the actual situation. Sometimes, setting a good example may not be a good thing. If the enterprise itself is losing money, there is no need to donate so much. Otherwise, it will bring about a negative example."
After a pause, Li Mu said again, "If CSC Club is still donating so much when it is losing money, then it will easily push other companies that are also not doing well into the awkward position of being morally blackmailed at any time. The people who like to be morally blackmailed will question why they are not donating money. If they explain that they are still losing money, then the people who are morally blackmailed will very likely use us as a case study. For example, CSC Club donated money even when it is losing money. Why can't you donate? If that happens, then it will also cause great harm to these enterprises."
Chen Ze nodded and said, "That makes sense. After all, enterprises still need to focus on their own development. Those who have the ability should contribute more, and those who don't have the ability should not be discouraged. But if they put on a strong front for the sake of social responsibility, and even drag the enterprise into an even deeper quagmire, then this is indeed going against the humanitarian spirit of donating money."
Li Mu said, "Our club has already invested more than two hundred million, and we are still continuing to invest. And the membership fees that we receive on our books, although the amount is not small, there is still a part of it that must be used to provide equivalent services to the members. So, when the time comes to audit the club's income from the financial level, we will have to deduct the cost of this income. From this perspective, our core business may not be able to recover all the cost in the next five years. For an enterprise to take the lead in donating money like this, it is indeed not a good example."
Speaking up to this point, Li Mu asked, "Our members still have a strong desire to donate, right? I think they have been taking the initiative to donate before. "
Cai Zhengmao nodded and said, "Right now, the members of our CSC Club still have a strong desire to donate. Many members have already consulted me more than once."
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