Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 434: 418: A Meeting, A Smile, Dissolves Revenge?

This interjection relieved the embarrassment of his subordinates.

However, they agreed so easily because the cooperation conditions Cloud Dream offered were very generous, and there was no mental barrier to accepting them.

After all, the positions of both parties were unequal from the beginning, with Cloud Dream having an absolute advantage.

Under such circumstances, Lance thought that if he were in that position, he would demand at least a 50-50 split or even request a 70% share, only leaving 30% for the other party.

In other words, if Cloud Dream demanded 70%, he might be very unhappy, but he would agree in the end.

However, Lincoln only wanted 30%!

Such behavior could almost be considered as great kindness.

As for the subordinates who wanted to continue bargaining, he naturally would not stop them.

After all…what if?

Of course, as soon as he saw any signs of Jerome’s change in tone, he immediately interrupted his employees’ haggling and agreed with no hesitation.

In the end, they were also afraid that the negotiation might break down.

Previously, when Cloud Dream acquired IPs, they did so with a determined momentum. Many companies kept trying to drag Cloud Dream down, but they showed no signs of giving up. This only strengthened the companies’ mentality of waiting for a high price.

As a result, overnight, Cloud Dream suddenly gave up on all fronts and never mentioned acquisition again.

Even when they actively lowered their prices to talk to Cloud Dream, Cloud Dream no longer paid any attention to them.

In the end, they could only take back the IP, whose price they had inflated several times, and no one was willing to take over the high-priced asset. Reluctantly, they went back to develop it on their own.

All the ambitions of getting rich overnight turned into nothing.

With this example in mind, those who negotiate with Cloud Dream may consider: If I put forward this condition, will Cloud Dream directly turn against me and give up decisively?

This has, to some extent, improved the efficiency of external negotiations for the marketing department.

Later, under the witness of the legal affairs representatives of both companies, they signed a formal cooperation agreement.

From the moment Jerome entered Flying Fox Company to the final signing of the cooperation agreement, the whole process took less than two hours. Compared to normal business cooperation, the speed could be described as ridiculously fast.

It was because the two parties had a large difference in strength, and Cloud Dream’s conditions were good enough. Jerome was eager to get things done, and Lance was afraid of missing a great opportunity. All these factors contributed to the outcome.

Afterwards, Jerome declined Lance’s invitation to have lunch together. He and his team members quickly finished their lunch and headed straight to Wild Island.

– In Cloud Dream, quickly completing work has almost become a part of the company culture.

In the beginning, it was to ensure that people could leave work easily and without any psychological pressure, enjoying their off-work life.

Otherwise, if their minds are occupied with unfinished work, leaving work early is useless since many people won’t be able to rest.

After practicing this for a long time, it naturally became a habit.

In their view, the trip to Wild Island would probably turn out similar to that of Flying Fox.

Because all VR game manufacturers currently face similar difficulties, and there is no reason to refuse the same conditions offered by Cloud Dream.

However, once they arrived at Wild Island, things did not quite unfold as they had anticipated – it seemed that Wild Island had some hesitation.

Jerome could clearly feel that they were very satisfied with the conditions proposed by Cloud Dream, but they also had some concerns that prevented them from agreeing immediately.

Jerome tried to find out about their concerns, but they were reluctant to disclose much. He could only infer that it had something to do with the new game they were developing.

Because in the end, they would rather give Cloud Dream an additional 10% of revenue and modify the cooperation agreement to limit the games that could be logged in to Cloud Dream’s gaming platform to past games, rather than include new games in the future.

For this reason, Jerome had to contact Lincoln, who readily agreed and didn’t even ask for the extra 10% of the revenue.

Lincoln was well aware of the predicament that Flying Fox and Wild Island were facing, and he looked forward to seeing what changes these two companies would make.

Among Flying Fox and Wild Island, he was most interested in Wild Island – because Wild Island was the most stubborn.

More importantly, Lincoln intended to make the 30-70 split a fixed rule, not only for cooperation with VR games, but also for PC and console game collaborations.

Therefore, just before leaving work, Jerome finalized the cooperation with Wild Island, and left with the revised cooperation agreement in hand.

Their action that day not only fell into the eyes of Gary and Jason, but also into the eyes of many players, who were all guessing the purpose of their visit.

And – will they go to NetDragon tomorrow?

Some gamers specially opened a voting contest, with the simple options of “Yes” and “No.”.

As a result, 99% of the netizens chose “No.”.

[Night City·Public Map]

Red Circle Club, underground bathhouse.

“Why do you think some people chose ‘Yes’? What are those hundreds of people thinking?”

A player took the alcohol from the bikini-clad girl and asked in confusion.

“Who knows? Maybe their minds work in mysterious ways.”

Another player shrugged, lying comfortably in the bath, and casually replied.

This place has always been a popular “tourist attraction” for players.

In the main missions, everyone repeatedly died while “infiltrating” here. During the chasing of the villain, they hated the entire level.

But once the mission was complete, they suddenly thought: This place isn’t bad at all!

Swimming pool, alcohol, music, bikini-clad beauties; everything one could want is here.

Even if you don’t have the energy to play games, coming here to soak for a while and chat with strangers, gossiping, is quite enjoyable!

The only problem is that in the connected game world, you might be relaxing in the water when suddenly, a group of fully armed players burst in with AKs and start indiscriminately shooting at everything, killing everyone.

— Sometimes they come to sneak attack other players and raise their own [Killer Ranking], but other times, they come purely for fun.

After such incidents happen a few times, everyone moves to the public map version – where fighting and destruction are prohibited.

But today’s gathering is quite special: people from the same player chat group have almost completely taken over the place.

This player group was once called [What’s in the Bathroom], then briefly called [First Beauty Pageant of Metropolis].

But in the end, everyone returned to the original intention, and changed the name back to [Bathroom Chat Group].

From the name, you can see that everyone has an everlasting love for the bathroom.

Today, everyone is gathering here not only for the regular meet-ups, gossiping, but also for an important event—

Witnessing the reconciliation between Yi and Yelang.

These two were both destroyed in the Death Racing yesterday; it was a minor issue that could be resolved with a phone call or even a text message after the live broadcast. But it was blown out of proportion by their group friends, who then instigated and encouraged the conflict between them.

Finally, it evolved into the [Underground Bathhouse・1V1・True Man Fight].

— Don’t ask why it’s a bathhouse and not a boxing ring; it just wouldn’t be as fun!

Everyone in the chat group came here just to enjoy this scene.

If it weren’t for the limited number of players that the bathhouse can accommodate at the same time, they’d have crammed this place into an underground boxing ring filled to the brim with people.

Even if they can’t be here in person, everyone stays in the mirrored bathhouse, closely following the developments of the True Man Fight through the live streaming broadcast.

The two, both wearing swimming trunks, stand on opposite sides of the largest pool, their gazes meeting solemnly. Then, amid cheers from the crowd, they step into the water.

The noisy chatter at the scene immediately quiets down quite a lot.

Everyone watches Yi and Yelang intently, eagerly awaiting the start of the fight.

But just as they’re about to “engage” with each other in the middle of the pool, they suddenly both stop, walk over to the edge of the pool, and each grab a cup of alcohol from a tray.

Then, Yi and Yelang’s serious expressions disappear, and they clank their glasses together, drinking down most of the alcohol.

Afterward, they pat each other on the shoulders and laugh. The matter of their mutual destruction yesterday is now settled.

It’s as if they’re expressing the sentiment that, after having been through so much together, their encounter has turned their enmity into a smile.

While they might think it’s enough, their group friends and viewers aren’t satisfied:

“Ugh~~ So boring!”

“Where’s the 1V1 True Man Fight we were promised? I was all ready to send you rockets!”

“I even prepared soap! You can’t even buy it here, I had to buy it outside and bring it on purpose!”

“Give us some entertainment, brother!”

With disappointed expressions, the group friends on-site and viewers in the two live streaming rooms all sigh together.

“Alright, alright, do you guys really want to see us brothers become enemies?” Yi tries to appease them. “Everyone just leave it.”

“Keep the music playing! Keep dancing!” Yelang also feels like he’s successfully shaken off these unreliable group friends and viewers, quite smug in his words.

“Ugh” The surrounding group friends make disapproving and dissatisfied noises simultaneously.

Nobody listens to Yi’s command to disperse; they all continue to surround the two, trying to get them to create more entertaining moments.

Seeing their reaction, Yi realizes that they’re not going to leave.

In other words, he’s not likely to get a chance to be alone with Yelang.

After hesitating for a moment, Yi speaks up again: “Alright then! I’ll show you guys something good! So you won’t feel like you’ve come here for nothing!”

— You all didn’t want to leave on your own, so don’t blame me.

“What? What?” The onlookers immediately perk up and gather even closer together.

In the end, they even get out of the pool and come closer to see better.

— Since the two aren’t going to wrestle anymore, might as well get closer to see properly; after all, the lighting at the poolside is a bit dim, and it’s hard to see clearly from a distance.

Yelang is also curious; Yi never mentioned anything about this plan when they discussed their evening events. So he watches Yi’s empty hand intently.

Yi doesn’t rush, and first sets the live broadcast camera to [First Person], then he opens the panel to take out the “good thing.”

Yelang sees Yi’s movement and quickly remembers the audience in the live broadcast room, so he promptly zooms in on the camera to focus on Yi’s hand, preventing the viewers from missing out on the action.

Yi checks that everyone has gathered closely enough, then finally takes out the “good thing” from the panel after selling the suspense long enough.

It’s a jade-like statue of a woman wrapped in a bathrobe, with exquisite curves. Her hands are covering her chest, and her face looks like she’s screaming in shock as if she’s just encountered a pervert.

As soon as it materializes and comes into contact with Yi’s touch, the entire statue begins to emit a soft white light.

“Holy shit!!!”

At the moment they see the statue, before anyone else can react, Yelang, who’s closest, suddenly turns around frantically and pushes through the crowd, trying to run away.

But it’s too late.

The next moment, a burst of light erupts!!