Bao Xu continued: “Although we later increased our focus on self-developed content, we never abandoned purchasing IPs. In the GOG Creative Community, we have a dedicated section for releasing various purchased IP characters and soliciting game mechanics from players.”
“And currently, the GOG world server seems to be severely lacking in this aspect!”
Min Jingchao had a sudden realization: “Yes, it’s indeed severely lacking!”
“The IP characters we’ve purchased so far have some influence domestically, but overseas, they have almost no influence. These characters mean nothing to foreign players.”
Currently, GOG’s hero pool compared to IOI undoubtedly has the upper hand domestically, but overseas, it’s at a disadvantage. Foreign players might be more receptive to IOI’s heroes.”
“This is a crucial point that we must address!”
Ye Zhizhou thought for a moment: “What if we also launch GOG’s Creative Community overseas?”
Min Jingchao shook his head: “That won’t work. The GOG Creative Community requires a sufficient number of players as a prerequisite. With many players and high participation, good works can emerge.”
“But now GOG doesn’t have many players overseas. If we solicit creative ideas now, we definitely won’t get good work. This money would either remain unspent or be spent on unsatisfactory purchases, which is completely meaningless.”
“We should directly buy some successful foreign IPs!”
“This way, it has the same promotional effect as celebrity endorsements, perhaps even better, because the target audience is more specific.”
“We can directly incorporate these successful IPs into the game, which is much better than simply having a celebrity endorsement!”
Ye Zhizhou’s expression became excited: “I understand! This must indeed be the standard answer Mr. Pei is thinking of!”
Everyone further verified this conclusion, becoming more convinced that “buying IPs” was the optimal solution to Mr. Pei’s puzzle, and should also be what Mr. Pei had already considered.
After all, “buying IPs” was a basic principle established since GOG’s development period. Now, promoting the world server requires an IP widely accepted by overseas players.
Li Yada reminded everyone at the right moment: “Let’s not get too excited yet. We haven’t fully solved Mr. Pei’s puzzle.”
“We’ve decided to buy IPs, but how exactly do we buy them? Which ones?”
“If we buy those especially famous superhero images, these 200 million dollars might not be enough, since many wealthy overseas game companies are also eyeing these IPs. After being adapted into films and TV shows, the copyright for these images has already skyrocketed.”
Ye Zhizhou thought for a moment: “Buying particularly expensive major IPs probably doesn’t align with Mr. Pei’s original intention. After all, when Mr. Pei bought IPs domestically, he never purchased major IPs.”
Min Jingchao suggested: “Don’t be dogmatic. The domestic and foreign situations are different. To better coordinate with the promotional offensive and achieve a decisive effect, we must have a sufficiently prominent and presentable IP image overseas.”
Everyone fell into a dilemma again.
Finally, Li Yada proposed: “So now there are two approaches. First, concentrate funds to buy one or two highly recognized, successful IP images; second, buy many moderately recognized IP images that conform to overseas players’ cognition.”
“Since we’re uncertain, let’s submit both answers and let Mr. Pei make the decision.”
Ye Zhizhou nodded and stood up: “Understood, thank you, everyone!”
“I’ll go back and do a simple investigation, then let Mr. Pei make the final decision!”
…
…
August 10th, Wednesday.
Shortly after Pei Qian woke up, he received a call from Ye Zhizhou.
“Mr. Pei, we’ve figured out what the final promotion plan for the GOG international server should be! We need to purchase some IP characters suitable for the international market and incorporate them into the game!”
“But now we’ve encountered a problem. Should we concentrate our funds on buying one or two highly recognized, national-level IP characters, or should we purchase a series of less recognized but suitable for overseas players’ tastes ordinary IP characters?”
Pei Qian considered for a moment and replied: “The latter.”
Such national-level IP characters would be too forceful, and Pei Qian was afraid IOI wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
Although this concern seemed somewhat strange, it wasn’t without reason.
GOG had already surpassed IOI by a large margin in terms of the game itself: PC and mobile game interconnectivity, extremely generous pricing, a batch of excellent heroes, and game mechanics that were easier to pick up and spread.
Now, GOG’s overseas promotion mainly focused on two points: whether it would adapt to foreign markets, and how to establish name recognition.
The so-called adaptation to foreign markets mainly concerned whether the hero images inside would suit overseas players’ tastes and encounter cultural barriers.
Buying IPs could indeed solve this problem.
But if they bought national-level major IPs, Pei Qian was afraid of being too heavy-handed and directly killing IOI, which would prevent him from happily spending money in overseas markets in the future.
It would be better to buy some smaller IPs and slowly play with IOI in overseas markets, cutting with a dull knife, nibbling away bit by bit. This would achieve the effect of both sides doing well.
Ye Zhizhou expressed agreement: “Good, then we’ll go select some cost-effective small IP characters to buy, and report back to you in a while.”
…
After hanging up the phone, Ye Zhizhou happily said to Lin Wan and Wang Xiaobin: “Mr. Pei has made the decision! Indeed, this is the correct answer! Indeed, when our two game departments unite, we’re invincible in understanding Mr. Pei’s intentions!”
Lin Wan looked at the materials at hand: “Don’t get too excited too early. There’s still a lot of work ahead. With so many superhero characters in American comics, how do we choose? Which ones align with European and American players’ tastes?”
Looking at the dense list of 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 had grown to a hair-loss-inducing length.
Now, everyone faced a difficult choice:
Those heroes everyone recognized were expensive, and Mr. Pei had already said not to buy them.
Those cheaper heroes that no one recognized had little fame, so how could they determine whether overseas players would like them or not?
Who knew whether those lesser-known heroes were unpopular due to being born at the wrong time, or because they were too poorly designed and didn’t match foreigners’ tastes?
If it were the former, that would be fine. If it were the latter, GOG buying such garbage wouldn’t help game promotion at all and would be a waste of money.
Ye Zhizhou said, “Forget about the top two comic companies. They’ve already been acquired by large conglomerates, with acquisition prices generally at the level of several billion dollars. We can’t take advantage of such bargains.”
“Moreover, they hold their character IPs tightly. Even if our 200 million dollars could buy some relatively high-profile characters, it would probably only be for game rights, with many additional restrictive clauses.”
“Buying some of their low-recognition IP characters seems feasible, but there would still be some restrictive clauses, and the premium might be unacceptably high, making the value for money very poor.”
Lin Wan thought for a moment: “Then let’s not consider them. Let’s look further.”
Ye Zhizhou continued browsing the materials for a while, then said: “We… might be able to buy America’s third-largest comic company. There was news a couple of days ago saying they’re about to go bankrupt.”
Lin Wan instinctively sensed something was off and asked: “The third-largest comic company is about to go bankrupt? Then what’s the market share of this third-largest comic company?”
Ye Zhizhou: “Less than 5%.”
Lin Wan: “…”
Wang Xiaobin was also dumbfounded and complained: “How the hell does America’s third-largest comic company have a market share of less than 5%? Does that mean America has only three comic companies in total?”
Ye Zhizhou was also amused: “Of course not, but that’s what the data shows.”
“This is just the industry reality. The top two comic companies are giants, each with a market share of nearly 40%. The remaining companies from third to tenth place combined only account for 10%, and all the even smaller ones together make up just over 10%.”
“These two companies have so many superhero IPs, and the market size is only so big. They publish comics and make movies simultaneously, so their influence is on a completely different level from other companies.”
Lin Wan nodded: “Yes, the standard 80/20 rule. The top companies occupy 80% of the market share.”
“No wonder ‘America’s third-largest comic company’ sounds impressive, but in reality, its market share is less than 5%. And as the two giants ahead engage in divine combat, it must have been struggling more and more, so bankruptcy isn’t surprising.”
Ye Zhizhou took the laptop and quickly looked up relevant information: “Yes, traditional comic formats are already on the decline. These giant comic companies make money through film and TV adaptations. Comics serve as a vast inspiration library that can be drawn from at any time, steadily producing film content.”
“But for these comic companies with very small market shares that can’t afford to make movies, life becomes increasingly difficult.”
“This ‘Hurricane Comics Company’ has several good points:”
“Its comic themes aren’t entirely limited to superheroes but are more diverse. For GOG, more diverse characters offer more options.”
“Several of its IPs seem to match European and American players’ tastes, such as Duke of Hell, Xenotype, and Mech Enforcer.”
“And very importantly, they do have one national-level IP character! However… It’s from twenty years ago.”
“‘Multiple-Faced Hero,’ released in 1993, received multiple nominations, including the Oscars, though it didn’t ultimately win. With an investment of 27 million dollars, it garnered 340 million at the global box office, ranking fourth among all films that year. The lead actor’s fee increased 20-fold after this film.”
“But Hurricane Comics Company wasn’t the investor, so they didn’t reap much benefit. This was their last moment of glory, and they’ve been declining ever since.”
“The advantage is that the Multiple-Faced Hero IP character still has influence, and many foreigners should be familiar with his image. More than half of Hurricane Comics Company’s value lies in this IP.”
“Although it feels a bit like picking up garbage… it must be said, this garbage is quite a bargain.”