Tokyo: Being coveted by my wife, I just want to play games

Chapter 431 Iron Fist

The negotiation process with Mr. Bao and Executive Managing Director Kuriyama was quite easy.

After all, whether it was SATE or Shanhe Group, they had always intended to cooperate with the Holy Light Society, and they were only considering when to end it. That was why the two companies had already made various plans.

The same is true for Tohru Fukawa. He has also cooperated with Executive Director Kuriyama and President Bao for many years. Although they often pretend to be friendly with each other due to business competition, if he must find partners in Japan and China, he would rather cooperate with these two companies.

This is the kind of relationship between companies. Under normal circumstances, it is generally impossible for an alliance relationship to be 100% trustworthy.

Since I have to be cautious no matter who I approach, I might as well approach these two old friends who are very capable and with whom I have had a cooperative relationship for many years.

The negotiation process went smoothly. The three of them met at around four o'clock in the afternoon and had a very pleasant conversation in the president's office.

As time passed by five o'clock in the afternoon, it was time to get off work. Dongchuan Che brought the two of them to the first floor lobby of the company, chatting and laughing.

Amid the proud and admiring eyes of countless employees in the company, and the greetings of "Hello, President" from the Kawaguchi couple, Aunt Noki and others, Toru Fuyukawa nodded to the senior executives of Sanhe Group and SATE in the hall with a smile on his face, and then bowed slightly to the ladies who were smiling and chatting with Sayoko and the others.

It is obvious that both Executive Director Kuriyama and President Bao know that Toru Fuyukawa will choose to cooperate with them this time.

In other words, when Dongchuan Che agreed to meet them at the company today, the matter was almost certain. And with the establishment of the handheld game alliance, the cooperation between the three companies will inevitably become closer.

That is why they did not come alone today. They brought not only their wives but also some senior executives of the company to have a social dinner later in the evening.

In fact, all the people who came to this dinner are considered important people.

Let’s not talk about President Bao and Executive Managing Director Kuriyama. Even the director of SATE headquarters, who just bowed enthusiastically to Toru Fuyukawa and then looked honored when he saw Toru Fuyukawa extending his hand, has subordinates numbering several thousand people.

This kind of dinner is of great value.

If you can meet a few big guys there, it may be a turning point that changes the fate of your career for ordinary people in related industries. That is why many ordinary employees in the hall are looking here with pride and yearning.

Yearning is naturally yearning for such a beautiful scene, as for pride

There is no need to talk about it.

Looking at Dongchuan Che, who was treated like a star in the crowd, some of the company's female employees almost had stars of admiration in their eyes.

Holy Light Society is a very young company, so most of the employees in the company have actually witnessed Holy Light Society and Dong Chuan Che's rise from a small boss with no social influence four years ago to his current position step by step, from a small boss who would personally come down to meet bosses from other companies whenever they came to discuss business.

People tend to admire the strong to a certain extent, and witnessing the birth of a legend with their own eyes is even more shocking.

It's like your cousin's family was originally ordinary, but he went out to start a business for a few years and came back to become a billionaire. This has a strong emotional impact on people, and

Among relatives, if one of them suddenly becomes rich, the other relatives may feel more jealous; in a company, if the boss drives a luxury car every day, the employees may also feel a sense of unfairness, but it is different in the Holy Light Society.

Although the competition within the Holy Light Society is fierce and the work intensity is very high, the benefits are also very good and relatively fair. The more money a work makes, the more employees earn.

In addition, although Dongchuan Che never promotes stupid remarks like "the company is your second home" or "you should treat the company as your own home", he never engages in bureaucratic style either.

Therefore, the working atmosphere within Shengguangshe is actually very good, and everyone is working together to make better works. Therefore, the sense of belonging and honor of Shengguangshe employees to the company is indeed stronger than that of other companies.

Under the influence of this atmosphere, the employees of the Holy Light Society saw that Dongchuan Che was very prestigious outside. Not only did they not have any negative emotions, but they felt more of a sense of honor.

Amid the envious and proud eyes of the young employees around him, Dongchuan Che casually chatted with a few important cadres who came this time, and then led a large group to the parking lot. There, the company's drivers who had been waiting for a long time had already parked the luxury cars in a row.

.

It must be said that although Tokyo is one of the largest and most prosperous international metropolises in Asia, the scene of more than a dozen luxury cars traveling together is still quite spectacular.

Especially when the car came to the bustling streets of Ginza, every time the traffic lights turned green, there would always be some young boys and girls taking out their phones to take pictures. But it was obvious that Toukawa Tetsu, Bao Zong, and Executive Manager Kuriyama who were in the car at the time were also used to this kind of scene. The three of them were just chatting about business matters.

However, there isn't really much to talk about.

Not to mention that SATE and Shanhe Group wanted to cooperate with Shengguang Society, the three companies were very familiar with each other. Moreover, although SATE and Shanhe Group had not ended up in the past, they had been sending people to contact the cadres of Shengguang Society, but the matter had not been finalized.

Under these conditions, as long as the three parties reach a cooperation intention, it will be almost seamless. Therefore, as the three chatted, the topic turned to e-sports.

"There's no problem with e-sports. As long as you can fulfill your promise and give our Shanhe Group all the initiative for that game in China in the future, you don't need to worry too much about the e-sports industry in China. Come, brother Kawaguchi, try our Chinese cigarettes."

"Arigato, thank you, Mr. Bao."

While Mr. Bao was talking to Dongchuan Che, he politely handed a cigarette to Kawaguchi who was driving.

Kawaguchi politely took the cigarette handed to him over his shoulder, then glanced at the three big guys in the back row through the rearview mirror. His eyes were full of enjoyment, and his face was almost showing the smug expression of Wang Yousheng in "Drawing Sword".

Now Kawaguchi is also a general of the Holy Light Society, but he is indeed only an average person, and his work ability is not that outstanding, so he is basically managing some non-core businesses. But now in the entire upper class circle of Tokyo, no one is willing to offend him easily.

There was no other reason. Everyone in the circle knew that Kawaguchi was Dongchuan Che's absolute confidant. That was why bigwigs like Bao Zong would take the initiative to share a cigarette with him when they smoked.

Kawaguchi was a little proud. He put a cigarette in his mouth and turned on the ventilation system in the car.

As the fresh air from outside the car poured in, Dong Chuan Che, who had just lit a cigarette, rubbed the hair behind his ear with the thumb of his right hand, then said to Mr. Bao, "The initiative of the e-sports industry in China is given to you, no problem, but in the future, if we encounter events that require cooperation, or issues related to player training, everything must be based on our opinions, and we will also set up a players' union."

Dongchuan Che said this calmly, but the meaning in his tone was unquestionable.

The e-sports industry is too big for him to take over all of it. And the market conditions in China also make it impossible for such a large industry to be controlled by a foreign company.

Therefore, the e-sports industry in China can only be handled by Sunward Group. In fact, after the establishment of the "Production Committee" for the "League of Legends" game in the future, it is necessary to give [the "League of Legends" game has 100% autonomy in China, and if Sunward Group ends its cooperation with Shengguang Society in the future, Sunward Group also has the right to spend XXX amount to buy the rights of independent operation and development of "League of Legends" in China].

This concession is very, very big, almost equivalent to, as long as Shanhe Group pays the fine, it can buy out the [Chinese version of League of Legends] completely! But the principle is still the same.

The Chinese market is quite special. If we do not cooperate with Sunward Group and make such a huge concession, the League of Legends in China will only be able to make money from the game in the future, and the e-sports industry will be difficult to develop thoroughly. By making this concession, Dong Chuan Che can not only continue to make money from the game, but also make money from the Chinese e-sports industry. In addition, the future operation and management of the League of Legends in China, including the competition fees, will all be borne by Sunward Group.

As for risks

The world is bustling with people seeking profit, and the world is clamoring for profit.

Shanhe Group can indeed spend a huge price to buy out the "League of Legends" in China, but the agreement will stipulate that Shanhe Group does not have the right to develop the e-sports industry outside of China, nor can it sell the game overseas.

To put it simply, if Shanhe Group were to make a split in the future, although they would be able to gain complete control of "League of Legends" in China, they would not only have to pay a sky-high fine, but would also no longer be able to receive dividends from "League of Legends" in overseas e-sports and gaming markets.

Under these conditions, unless the market share in the Chinese region can exceed 50%, Shanhe Group has no reason to cut off, because that would actually harm their own interests.

Under such restrictions, Dongchuan Che was willing to agree to Mr. Bao's conditions. After all, this clause was actually just an insurance that Mr. Bao gave to Shanhe Group. At the same time, with these conditions, it would be easier for Mr. Bao to convince the relevant departments.

Dong Chuan Che can give Bao Zong the dominance of e-sports in the Chinese region. However, before any problems arise, he still hopes to have the operating rights of the entire game's e-sports league in his own hands.

There was no other reason. He did not have much faith in the operational capabilities of the Chinese e-sports industry. In other words, he believed in the Shanhe Group's ability to make money in publicity, server, and event operations, but he did not believe that China had the ability to run a competitive league that would take more than a decade or even decades to operate.

It’s a bit strange to say.

China's market size, capital strength and population are the strongest among China, Japan and South Korea. However, China cannot do industries like e-sports leagues and football leagues that require long-term operations and long-term investment to achieve results.

The reason is actually very simple.

Many of China's capitals are not farsighted enough.

Just like football, why did China's football industry start to develop at almost the same time as Japan and South Korea, but Japan and South Korea have now entered the World Cup and produced many world-class stars?

It’s not because the yellow race can’t play football well, but because the football industry needs time to mature.

The core of the football industry lies in the players, and it takes at least five years to train a player.

In other words, to engage in the football industry, you may have to quietly continue to invest for five to ten years before you can get results. But many Chinese capitalists value immediate benefits more.

To put it bluntly, everyone knows that although a 30-year XX loan can gather a large amount of capital at present, it will also seriously overdraw future market consumption capacity and eventually lead to major economic problems. But aren't those things made of reinforced concrete also hyped up to the sky?

All this shows that a lot of Chinese capital does not really value the long term. The core of the e-sports industry is actually the same as the football industry. Only when there are good players can people watch the league. Training e-sports players is the same as training football players, which also requires a lot of initial investment.

For this reason, Dongchuan Che needs to completely take control of the future league's dominance into his own hands.

If League of Legends becomes popular in the future, he welcomes investors to come in and set up teams to make money, but those teams must train young players according to his requirements. In addition to the talent training plan, he, who has experience in his previous life, actually looks down on the attitude of the domestic competitive industry towards players.

Yes, China’s competitive industry, not just the e-sports industry.

In fact, Chinese football, basketball and e-sports are all somewhat distorted. One of the reasons for this is that the players are in a weak position when facing clubs.

For example, before 2005, China's football level was not too bad, and many talents emerged. But why did football eventually collapse?

Because the players are in a weak position when facing the club.

At that time, many domestic players had the opportunity to play in European leagues, but domestic clubs refused to let them go.

Yes, they won’t let him go.

There are European and American clubs that come to buy players, but domestic clubs refuse to let them go. This sounds a bit black humor, but it is a real thing that happened.

The reason is also very simple.

At that time, domestic clubs paid very low salaries to players. Many players only earned a few thousand or tens of thousands a month. Although this number was not a small number compared to ordinary office workers at that time, the problem was that the players who played in the top domestic leagues at that time brought the clubs hundreds of thousands or millions of yuan a month in various advertising endorsements, live broadcast dividends, etc.

To put it simply, you earn 500,000 yuan a month for the company, but the company only pays you 20,000 yuan. This salary is indeed not low for ordinary people, but is it reasonable?

Moreover, domestic players did not have image rights at that time.

What does it mean?

For players of domestic clubs, all the money they earn from endorsements or advertisements belongs to the club. Moreover, players cannot refuse endorsements arranged by the club, and their only income is salary.

That was the football environment at the time.

On the one hand, domestic clubs at that time paid very low salaries to players. According to the ratio of players' income and contribution, the clubs were basically getting a group of people to play games for free and making money for them. On the other hand, the value of domestic players at that time was indeed not high, with the highest being only a few hundred thousand euros.

In this case, the club is naturally unwilling to let go.

Things are actually quite normal up to this point. Both parties have a contract agreement. The club has done the math and found that it can make more money by forcibly keeping the player, so it certainly doesn't want to let him go. So this is a very normal thing, but the problem lies behind.

The contract will expire one day. If the club forces the player to stay, and if the player gets angry, he or she can simply not renew the contract with the club and leave as a free agent after the contract expires, ultimately causing the club to suffer losses.

So in this case, generally speaking, if a European club player really wants to leave the team, the team will choose to let him go. But it is different in China. When a player's contract expires, they either renew it or ban it directly.

Yes, ban it directly.

To put it simply, if you want to make a living in football, you will be stabbed, and don't even think about quitting your job or changing jobs.

This may sound exaggerated, but it is not at all. In 2024, aren’t there still companies that are clamoring that employees who resign must pay the company “training fees” as compensation?

Workers are a vulnerable group, and when there is no organization to speak for the vulnerable group, the vulnerable group will be exploited.

The e-sports industry is similar in this regard.

Although the treatment of e-sports players is much better than that of professional players in the past, due to the different times, problems such as contract blocking and forcing players in their prime to either stay with the team or retire still occur from time to time.

These things seem to be trivial to Dong Chuan Che. But the problem is still the same. In the competitive industry, players are the core of everything. Without powerful and popular players, who will watch the league? And if the popularity of the league decreases, he, as the boss, will make less money in the end.

Based on the above, Dongchuan Che must personally take charge of the treatment of players. Or to put it more bluntly, he must set up a player union to protect the interests of players, thereby attracting more talents to join the industry, and ultimately make the entire competition more exciting and more popular, and finally, he can also make a lot of money.

If you want an industry to develop healthily and survive longer, the distribution of benefits between capital and workers must be as fair and just as possible. But if you want to do this, it will easily affect the short-term income of some clubs. At this time, Dongchuan Che's iron-fisted rule is needed.