Chapter 1331 Strong Alliance

In Li Mu's eyes, Lao Xu is one of the very few people in China who really understand games.

The leaders of the game industry in the world are the United States and Japan. Although South Korea’s overall strength is much worse than those of these two countries, the quality standards of its employees are not low. There are often some small Korean game companies with only twenty or thirty employees. It is possible to develop some explosive games. Compared with these three countries, although the scale of the Huaxia game industry is large, the comprehensive level is poor, which often makes people unable to complain.

Huaxia's domestic game industry is very similar to domestic animation, with huge output, very few high-quality products, and only a handful of truly talented practitioners.

If Li Mu was asked to find three truly awesome people in the Huaxia game industry, then Lao Xu would definitely be among them.

This is why Li Mu dug Lao Xu to Muye Technology and let him lead the development project of online games like Journey to the West.

And Lao Xu's suggestion for "Plants vs Zombies Online" at the meeting also made Li Mu feel that his eyes were bright, as if he had opened up an unprecedented new world.

In the past life, the popularity of "Plants vs. Zombies" was indeed phenomenal, but the persistence did not last for too long. Although the game itself is very fun, it has insufficient digging depth, which makes it easy for users to play through this game. The game, and then lost interest, and the subsequent revisions and upgrades of this game were all changing the soup but not the medicine, which did not bring a stunning feeling to the user, so it gradually became silent.

With the same fate as "Plants vs. Zombies", there is also "Angry Birds". This small game that is popular on the smartphone platform has won at least hundreds of millions of players around the world, and its derivative operation is also very successful, even with the name. The big movies have reaped $300 million at the global box office, but the game didn’t catch on for too long, and the single gameplay made the game disappear in a short period of time.

Because of this, Li Mu particularly agrees with Lao Xu's point of view. If "Plants vs. Zombies Online" wants to have a longer lifespan and influence, it must deeply upgrade the existing gameplay.

The suggestion made by Lao Xu has already touched the gate of the turret defense game. There are two key points in this type of game, one is the "turret" and the other is the "map". All kinds of plants in Plants vs. Zombies are The "turret" has many varieties, functions, and a large combination space, but the "map" is too simple. If more new maps can be developed, it will definitely improve the fun of players to a great extent.

When Li Mu used to play Red Police, his biggest dissatisfaction was basically about maps. First of all, the officials rarely added new maps, and the overall level of player-made maps was poor. Ordinary players were playing all maps. After you get over it, you will naturally lose interest in this game. I am afraid that in the near future, players of "Plants vs. Zombies Online" will also feel bored with the single map of this game.

So, Li Mu made the decision on the spot: "Immediately start the development of the 2.0 version of "Plants vs. Zombies Online". Lao Xu will be the chief architect. All updates must be confirmed by Lao Xu."

After that, Li Mu instructed Lao Xu: "Lao Xu, "Plants vs. Zombies Online" is of great strategic significance to the company. You are an expert in games, so in the development of the next iterative version, you must be responsible for it. Greater responsibility to come."

Lao Xu nodded immediately: "Don't worry, President Li, I will do my best."

Li Mu smiled slightly: "The four words of you are enough."

After confirming the game upgrade, Commercial Director Ding Jian said: "Mr. Li, let me talk about our derivative cooperation. We have already communicated with the four companies, KFC, McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola, and informed the cooperation. These four companies are very interested in the overall model, so let me introduce the cooperation intentions of the four companies in detail.”

"KFC's reply to us is very interested and looking forward to cooperating with us,

Hopefully we can tell a clear royalty, and they'll do a research discussion after receiving the offer, and then have a contact negotiation with us. "

"Compared to KFC, McDonald's is more attentive. After they learned about our cooperation intention, they contacted us by email and gave a cooperation plan they expected. The specific plan is: I hope we can put all They will designate manufacturers to produce derivatives based on all game images, and then they will simultaneously launch the 'Plants vs. Zombies' theme package in McDonald's global stores, packaging, promotion and related materials for the theme package Will use our brand image, and will give away derivatives produced based on our brand image. In addition, they will also open the purchase of derivatives in the store, that is, buy any package plus a certain amount of cash. A cooperation plan for redemption of derivatives, for which they are willing to pay us the copyright royalties of the brand image and 30% of the sales proceeds.”

Hearing this, Li Mu smiled slightly and said, "It seems that McDonald's is indeed more attentive than KFC."

"Yes." Ding Jian nodded and said, "McDonald's has a lot of experience in cooperating with well-known cartoon characters, so it is easy to operate. In comparison, KFC's experience in this area is slightly weaker, and the depth of thinking is also slightly inferior. Some."

Li Mu nodded and said, "Well, let's cooperate with McDonald's. I can reduce the copyright fee to a symbolic $1, but McDonald's must promise me a cooperation condition."

Ding Jian hurriedly said: "Please tell me, I will make a note of it, and I will contact the McDonald's interface person after the meeting."

Li Mudao: "First of all, McDonald's global restaurants must replace the advertising display posters outside and inside the store with advertising materials containing "Plants vs. Zombies Online" elements within one month of signing the contract, and each store must guarantee at least three. , and each display poster with a size of not less than 0.4 square meters, the hanging period is one year;

"Secondly, within one month of signing the contract, the plate paper, hamburger boxes and French fries packaging, take-out paper bags and plastic bags of McDonald's restaurants around the world must be replaced with new packaging printed with "Plants vs. Zombies Online" elements. It is also for one year, if McDonald's can agree to these two points, the copyright fee of "Plants vs. Zombies Online" will only charge McDonald's $1 a year, and at the same time, we are willing to give up all derivative shares."

Ding Jian said in surprise: "Mr. Li, the profit margin of derivatives share is very large. If we give up this part of the income, then the copyright royalties of the entire game, in the end, we can only get this dollar... …”

"It doesn't matter." Li Mu smiled indifferently: "We must have a clear position ourselves, some things are done to make money, some are for other purposes, using the copyright of "Plants vs. Zombies Online" to cooperate with offline companies , what I want is not to make money, but to increase offline exposure and expand influence, not to mention not making money, even if it costs money, we still need to spend what we should spend, and now we give up this part of the benefits in exchange for McDonald's Bringing us a greater amount of longer-lasting exposure is very rewarding for us."

Ding Jian nodded: "I know Mr. Li, and I will convey your conditions to the other party after the meeting."

"Well." Li Mu said: "Continue to talk about Coca-Cola and Pepsi."

"Okay Mr. Li." Ding Jian hurriedly said: "Pepsi-Cola is more interested in our cooperation, but they rejected your 'promise exposure' cooperation model, they prefer to take the initiative in their own hands, So their idea is that we will make the quotation, everyone will negotiate the price, and after reaching a consensus, Pepsi-Cola will pay us the copyright fee, and we have no right to interfere with the specific plans and plans of Pepsi-Cola.”

Li Mu frowned and said with a smile, "No wonder KFC is an alliance with KFC. It really answers that sentence. It's not that the family does not enter the house."

After that, Li Mu asked again, "Where's Coca-Cola?"

Ding Jiandao: "Coca-Cola has had an in-depth cooperation with us, and the effect of the cooperation is very good. They have tasted the sweetness of the cooperation between offline enterprises and online enterprises, so they are still very impressed with the cooperation of "Plants vs. Zombies Online". Interested, they are also very interested in the cooperation model of "commitment to impressions" proposed by you. The feedback they have given to us is that if the two sides reach a cooperation, they promise to make "Plants vs. Zombies" within a one-year cooperation cycle. The image of "Online" covers 60% of their product packaging, that is to say, judging from the annual sales of tens of billions of Coca-Cola bottles, once they reach a cooperation with us, they will bring our "Plants vs. Zombies Online" within one year. The cartoon image of the brand is printed on the outer packaging of tens of billions of bottles of Coca-Cola and other beverages under the brand.”

Hearing this, Li Mu patted the table without hesitation and said, "It's decided, we will cooperate with Coca-Cola. As long as they promise to print our cartoon image on more than 60% of the product packaging, we will also only charge for one year. One dollar royalties!"

In today's era, the popularity of Coca-Cola is much higher than that of the Internet. At least half of the world's people know about Coca-Cola and have consumed Coca-Cola, but the number of Internet users in the world is less than 10% of the total population.

Coca-Cola itself attaches great importance to brand marketing, so the annual promotion budget in the global market is surprisingly high. The more this is, the more they need to cooperate with some powerful non-competitive brands to exchange resources and complement each other's advantages.

For a fast-moving consumer goods company like Coca-Cola, the competitors in reality are very cruel. PepsiCo invests huge amounts of marketing funds every year, and invites a series of big-name stars and stars to establish its own brand image. Everyone's competition starts from brand promotion. , packaging design, offline distribution, container display and many other links have entered the white-hot.

In this case, Coca-Cola has long realized that it needs a unique element that it has, but its competitors cannot have. Through this unique element, it can improve consumers' recognition and even increase consumers' willingness to buy.

At this juncture, Makino Technology came to the door. The image of Plants vs. Zombies has exploded in the Internet field. For Coca-Cola, if it can get the cartoon image of Plants vs. Zombies and use it for its own product packaging and promotion, it will be a good idea. Being able to achieve a clear distinction from competitors is bound to be a huge boost to offline sales!