Global monopoly of technology

Three days later, the latest news came out from the gaming industry again, and another gaming company was acquired by Luo Sheng.

Gabe Newell held a media conference on the same day, announcing that Valve would merge into Bluestar Technology and become a subsidiary.

Luo Sheng’s acquisition of Valve was completed by way of investment. He took a 78.5% stake in the company with a financing amount of US$165 million. For the current Valve company’s operating conditions and asset scale, it is equivalent to Bluestar Technology Purchase at a premium of 30%.

After completing the acquisition of Valve, Luo Sheng's trip to North America can basically come to an end, and the result is quite satisfactory to him.

With the acquisition of Valve, Luo Sheng did not end his buying and buying in the gaming industry. He thought that several major entertainment giants in Hollywood would come to him to talk, but in fact they did not.

Luo Sheng also did not take the initiative to talk to Hollywood film companies or entertainment companies, waiting for the further development and growth of its online streaming video business, the right to speak will be greater.

Whoever comes to talk will be at a disadvantage. At present, both sides are very patient.

After finalizing Valve's affairs, Luo Sheng flew directly from North America to Europe, to be precise to Eastern Europe.

Going there is not to travel and sightseeing, but to acquire a young video game development studio CD-Projekt-Red-Ltd. This time the acquisition is very smooth, and it will be negotiated in two days.

This company was later given the nickname "Polish dumb donkey" to the people of the rivers and lakes. It was established in Poland in 2002. It produced the game Demo for the first time, but it did not get the approval of the publisher and re-developed it. During the period due to financial difficulties The studio moved to the headquarters in Warsaw.

CD-Projekt released the Demo at last year's E3 Game Show, and it was well received, but until now, this game has not been released.

As for the current CD-Projekt company, compared with those big-name third-party developers, it is really a small workshop.

But Luo Sheng knows that this company will quickly rise, and its "Witcher" series and "Cyberpunk 2077" are both masterpieces. The great success of the "Witcher" series has laid the foundation for the "Polish dumb donkey" in the game industry. The status of top developers.

This time Luo Sheng acquired the developer too smoothly. One of the founders, Marcin Ivinsky, has been particularly fond of playing games since he was a child. His dream is to work in the game industry, so this company was established.

Nowadays, the funds for CD-Projekt are tight, and Luo Sheng came at this time. The words "I invest in your ninth art dream" touched Ivansky and others on the spot.

After being ridiculed by the players as "Polish stupid donkeys", it can be seen that this team really loves games and does not care about the gains or losses of money, so when Luo Sheng said to "invest in their dreams", he decided on the spot The company was packaged and sold to Bluestar Technology at a price of 8 million US dollars, and they only had one condition.

That is to let the team stay in CD-Projekt and continue to make games, that is, to sell all the shares of the company, but the parent company cannot interfere with the team's operations.

Of course Luo Sheng can't drive the founder away. The most valuable thing about CD-Projekt is this team.

The founders such as Ivinsky asked for 8 million U.S. dollars, but Luo Sheng made a decision that surprised them and was extremely pleasantly surprised. First, Luo Sheng bought 100% of CD-Projekt's equity for 8 million U.S. dollars and became a subsidiary of the company. A wholly-owned subsidiary of CD-Projekt then decided to inject 15 million US dollars and set aside 20% of CD-Projekt’s option pool for talent acquisition.

For Ivinsky and others, such a decision can hardly believe that they can meet investors with such a conscience. Maybe this is an angel investor.If Luo Sheng said before that their dream of investing was a polite remark, then after the real money was thrown out, they no longer doubted it.

CD-Projekt does not see any signs of success. Since its establishment, they have not yet come up with a masterpiece, and the company currently has only a few dozen people.

This is not what an investment dream is?

So the founder team has no doubts about Luo Sheng's words.

After taking down the "Polish stupid donkey" Luo Sheng just ended his trip abroad and officially embarked on the road to return home.

...

Qin Weimu and Luo Sheng sat opposite each other in a seat in the cabin on a returning plane under her bag. She thoughtfully said: "Before this, I was as confused as the outside world, but I After reading an article in the gaming industry yesterday, I suddenly understood your intention to invest in CD-Projekt."

Luo Sheng smiled and said, "How to say?"

Qin Weimu thought for a while, and immediately looked at the other party, and said: "When we first entered the game industry, most of the people in the industry were relatively resistant, thinking that we are hot money that disrupts the market, not really wanting to promote this sincerely. The development of the industry. But the industry’s reviews are now quietly changing, especially after the acquisition of CD-Projekt. Someone has already said that you are an angel investor in the game industry, but people in the investment industry are very uncomfortable with your acquisition cases. Understand, some even laughed."

These few investments of Luo Sheng are not optimistic in the VC industry. They admit that Luo Sheng has a good knowledge in the Internet industry, but he is really a novice player in the Internet industry, and he is far behind his knowledge in the Internet industry.

Hearing this, Luo Sheng shrugged: "Laugh and laugh, laugh now. After a few years, I will definitely praise how powerful strategic vision and investment vision are..."

Qin Weimu said: "Actually, I am not very optimistic about your acquisition cases. I can't say that I am optimistic or not, I just don't understand."

Luo Sheng said lightly: "If you don't understand, it's right. If everyone understands, how can I be worthy of me?"

With that said, Qin Weimu really couldn't find a good reason to refute him for a while. There was nothing wrong with logic, but Luo Sheng's self-confidence made her wonder where it came from, CD-Projekt, Valve. What are the shining points of these game developers, it is worth spending so much money to win?

Qin Weimu changed the subject and said: "Then next, are you planning to start cracking down on domestic game piracy?"

Luo Sheng repeatedly shook his head and denied: "No, no, this is thankless. I never thought about changing the status quo. 3A-level games do not have any living soil in the domestic market. Don’t think about it in the next ten years. This year may not even have the soil for the survival of 3A games."

Qin Weimu was surprised: "Twenty years? Will it be too exaggerated."

Luo Sheng affirmed: “It’s not an exaggeration at all. Stand-alone games are really nowhere to survive in China. Let’s talk to you. Why do you say that? Two conditions, one is that the mass income is not allowed, and the other is the market environment. Conditions do not allow."

"Let’s talk about income conditions first. The unit price of a genuine 3A game masterpiece is usually US$60, which is nearly 500 yuan, which is almost equal to the current salary of a low-level worker. Let’s talk about the market environment. The stand-alone market of China is empty and there is no market. Players are accustomed to the free game model. Although sometimes free games spend more money, players are accustomed to this game model and enjoy it, but this is the status quo."

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