Bao Xu continued speaking. "We might have increased our efforts in self-research, but we have not given up on buying IPs. We have a special section in GOG's creative community to release all kinds of purchased IPs and collect their game mechanics from players.
"GOG's world server seems to be lacking in this area!"
Min Jingchao suddenly realized. "That's right, it's indeed lacking!
"The IP characters that we've bought so far have a little bit of influence in the country. However, when it comes to foreign countries, they basically have no influence at all. These characters are meaningless to foreign players."
"At present, GOG's hero pool is undoubtedly at an advantage compared to IOI in the country, but it is at a disadvantage overseas. Overseas players might be more receptive to IOI's heroes.
"This is a very important point that we have to solve!"
Ye Zhizhou pondered for a moment. "What if we launch GOG's creative community overseas?"
Min Jingchao shook his head. "No. The prerequisite for GOG's creative community is that there are enough players. Good works can only emerge if there are more players and more participation.
"However, GOG does not have many overseas players now. We would not be able to collect good works if we were to collect ideas now. We would either not be able to spend the money, or we would not be satisfied with what we bought after spending the money. It would be completely meaningless.
"We should directly buy some successful IPs from overseas!
"That way, we would have the same publicity effect as big-name celebrities. In fact, it would be even better because the target audience would be clearer.
"We could directly put these successful IPs into the game. That would be much better than hiring a celebrity to endorse!"
Ye Zhizhou looked excited. "I understand now! Indeed, this should be the standard answer to Boss Pei's idea! "
Everyone discussed it again and again, and they were even more convinced that the best solution to Boss Pei's puzzle was to 'buy IPs'. Boss Pei must have thought about it long ago.
After all, this' buy IPs' policy had been set since GOG's research and development period. Now that they were promoting the world server, they needed an IP that was widely accepted by overseas players.
Li Yada reminded them at the right time. "Don't be too happy, everyone. We haven't finished solving Boss Pei's question.
"We've decided to buy IPs, but how exactly should we buy them? Which one should I buy? "
"Twenty million US dollars might not be enough to buy those especially famous superhero images. After all, many rich overseas game manufacturers are also eyeing these IPs. The copyrights of these images have long risen to the sky after being turned into a movie."
Ye Zhizhou pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid buying an extremely expensive IP would not be in line with Boss Pei's original intentions. After all, when Boss Pei buys IPs domestically, he never buys big IPs. "
Min Jingchao reminded, "Don't be dogmatic. The situation in our country is different from overseas. In order to better coordinate with the advertising campaign and achieve a decisive effect, we must have a loud enough and presentable IP image overseas."
Everyone fell into a dilemma again.
Finally, Li Yada suggested, "Therefore, there are only two methods now. First, we can pool our funds to buy one or two successful IPs with high reputations. Second, we can buy many IPs with average reputations but are in line with overseas players' perception."
"Since you're not sure, just hand in two answers and let Boss Pei decide."
Ye Zhizhou nodded and stood up. "Understood. Thank you, everyone!"
"I'll go back to do a simple investigation and let Boss Pei make the final decision!"
…
…
August 10th, Wednesday …
Pei Qian received a call from Ye Zhizhou not long after he woke up.
"Boss Pei, we've already thought of the final promotion plan for GOG's international server! We want to buy some IP characters that are suitable for the international market and put them into the game!
"However, we have a problem now. Should we pool our funds to buy one or two well-known national IP characters, or should we buy a series of ordinary IP characters that are not that well-known but are in line with overseas players' tastes?"
Pei Qian thought about it and answered, "The latter."
Such national IP characters would be too ruthless. Pei Qian was very afraid that IOI would not be able to hold on.
This worry was strange but not without reason.
GOG had already surpassed IOI by a huge margin in the game itself: the client-side and mobile games were interconnected, the fees were extremely reasonable, there was already a group of outstanding heroes, and the game mechanism was easier to get used to and spread.
Now, GOG was promoting overseas mainly because of two points: whether it would be acclimatized, and how to build up its reputation.
The so-called acclimatization was mainly because they were afraid that the heroes inside would not be in line with overseas players' tastes and meet cultural barriers.
Buying IPs could indeed solve this problem.
However, if they bought national IP characters, Pei Qian was afraid that he would be too heavy-handed and kill IOI directly. Then, he would not be able to happily spend money in the overseas market in the future.
It was better to buy some small IPs and slowly play with IOI in the overseas market. They would slowly nibble away at it bit by bit. That way, it would be good for them and good for themselves.
Ye Zhizhou agreed. "Alright, we'll choose some cost-effective small IP characters to buy. We'll report to you after some time."
…
After hanging up, Ye Zhizhou happily said to Lin Wan and Wang Xiaobin, "Boss Pei has decided! Indeed, this is the right answer! Indeed, when our two gaming departments work together, we are invincible in figuring out Boss Pei's intentions! "
Lin Wan looked at the information in her hands. "Don't celebrate too early. There's still a lot of work to be done. There are so many superheroes in American comics. How should we choose? Which ones suit the tastes of European and American players? "
Looking at the densely packed hero names in their hands, everyone felt a headache coming on.
The appearance of superheroes could be traced back to the 1930s. After decades of development, the list of superheroes was so long that it made one's head go bald.
Now, everyone was faced with a difficult choice:
The heroes that everyone knew were very expensive, and Boss Pei had already said not to buy them.
They did not know those cheap heroes, and they were not famous. How could they be sure whether overseas players liked them or not?
Who knew if those heroes that were not famous were born at the wrong time or because they were too bad at doing things that did not suit the tastes of foreigners at all?
It would be fine if it was the former. However, if it was the latter, buying such trash would not help the game's promotion at all. It would be equivalent to wasting money.
Ye Zhizhou said, "Don't even think about the top two comic companies. They have long been bought by large corporations. The purchase price is basically billions of US dollars. We can't take advantage of such a cheap deal.
"What's more, they have a tight grip on the character IPs. Even if we can buy some relatively famous characters with twenty million US dollars, I'm afraid it would only be the game copyright. There would be many restrictions.
"Buying some of their less famous IP characters seems feasible, but there would also be some restrictions. What's more, the premium might be too high for us to accept. The price-quality ratio would be very poor."
Lin Wan thought for a moment. "Let's not consider it then. Let's look at the future."
Ye Zhizhou continued flipping through the information for a while and said, "We … seem to be able to buy the third largest comic company in the United States. There was news just two days ago that they were about to go bankrupt."
Lin Wan instinctively realized that something was wrong. She asked, "The third largest comic company is about to go bankrupt? What's the market share of the third largest comic company? "
Ye Zhizhou: "Less than 5%."
Lin Wan: "…"
Wang Xiaobin was also stunned. He complained, "What the f * ck? The third largest comic company in the United States has less than 5% market share? Does that mean there are a total of three comic companies in the United States?"
Ye Zhizhou was also amused. "Of course not, but that's what the information shows."
"I can only say that this is the current state of the industry. The top two comic book companies are both giants with a market share of nearly 40%. The remaining third to tenth place only have a combined 10%, and the other smaller companies have a combined market share of just over 10%."
"These two companies have too many superhero IPs. The market is only so big. They produce comics and movies at the same time. Their influence is not on the same level as other companies at all."
Lin Wan nodded. "Yes, it's the standard 20-80 rule. The top companies occupy 80% of the market share.
"No wonder. 'The third largest comic company in the United States' sounds impressive, but in reality, it only has less than 5% market share. What's more, it must be getting more and more difficult as the two big bosses fight. It's not surprising that it's going bankrupt."
Ye Zhizhou took the laptop over and quickly looked through the relevant information. "Yes, the traditional form of comics is no longer doing well. These giant comic companies all rely on movies to make money. Comics are equivalent to a large spirit library. They can be used at any time to steadily produce movie content."
"However, it's getting harder for these comic companies that have a small market share and can't afford to make movies.
"This' Hurricane Comics Company 'has a few good points:"
"Its comics theme is not completely limited to superheroes, but more diverse. For GOG, a more diverse image would definitely mean more choices.
"Its IPs seem to be very suitable for European and American players, such as Purgatory Duke, Mutant, and Robocop.
"Another very important point is that it really has a national IP image! But … that was twenty years ago. "
"Multifaceted Man was released in 1993 and received many nominations, including an Oscar. However, it did not win in the end. It invested 27 million US dollars and earned 340 million yuan at the global box office. It was ranked fourth in the box office of all movies that year. The protagonist's salary soared by 20 times after filming this movie.
"However, Hurricane Comic Company was not an investor, so it did not get much benefit. That was its last glory. It became more and more outdated after that.
"However, the advantage is that the IP character of Multifaceted Man is still influential. Many foreigners should be very familiar with his image. More than half of Hurricane Comic Company's value is on this IP.
"It feels a little like picking up trash … but I have to say that this trash is quite worth it.
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