New York 2006

Chapter 285 Logic is no longer a star
Morning of June 2009, 6, Silicon Valley, Facebook Building.

Zuckerberg sat in front of his computer and watched the news from Bloomberg.

"After June, a big earthquake occurred in the gaming industry. Console games and ad-based casual web games have cooled down during the economic recession, the market has begun to shrink, and EA announced more than 15% layoff plans."

"And Holi Game Company, which is somewhat unfamiliar to everyone, is recruiting people on a large scale. It is obvious that the game industry is in the stage of power reshuffle at this time, and the concept of social games has suddenly emerged."

"This term may be unfamiliar to everyone, but I believe many people have played games on Facebook. For example, "Mafia Wars", "Holi Poker" and the recently popular "FarmVille" game around the world."

"In January this year, Holi Game Company launched the "Stealing Food" game on Facebook and other social media. Within six months, the number of users reached 1 million, and the number of daily active users exceeded 6000 million. No game has the number of users It’s increasing so fast.”

"There is a popular saying now circulating among the people, have you "stealed food" today? This has become a trend."

"This has also triggered a lot of interesting social news. Some people set alarm clocks and get up in the middle of the night just to "steal vegetables." Some employees secretly use their work computers to "steal vegetables" at work, only to find that the boss is stealing his vegetables. There are Whether there is a good-looking dog, whether there is a tractor or whether there is a national flag has become a matter of showing off.”

"Aside from these social news that make people smile, we should discuss this gold-mining craze of social games."

“The social game market is now in a situation of “one super over three”. The most well-known one is undoubtedly Logic’s game company Holi. This company accounts for seven of the top ten popular social games on Facebook.”

"According to a statement issued by Holi, they now have 8600 million users, and all games have more than 5000 million daily active users. In other words, more than 30% of Facebook users are playing games produced by Holi."

"This growth rate exceeds that of any previous game company. In terms of market share, this company occupies more than 50% of the social game market."

"The remaining three major players in social games are Zynga, Playdom and Playfish. Together they account for 35%. The remaining 15% is developed by other independent game studios."

"The profit method of these companies is similar to the Chinese Internet giant Tencent's micro-transaction, free games, and value-added payment model. It is worth mentioning that the market value of Tencent has now reached 378 billion US dollars."

"Although Tencent's business is not just about micro-transactions, it also illustrates the broad prospects of social games. Countless game companies have already planned to enter the field of social games."

"Next, a fierce war will definitely break out in the social gaming industry. Holi Game Company should be able to rely on its first-mover advantage and still dominate. However, this company also has constant negative news."

"Holi Game Company has been involved in plagiarism scandals many times, and they are also in legal proceedings with the company of "Mob War"..."

After reading the report, Zuckerberg looked at the lower right corner of the screen, got up and came to the company's conference room.Several executives were already sitting inside chatting.

He sat directly in the chief position and said, "The meeting begins!"

An executive said: "In 2007, Facebook launched a third-party developer platform. Judging from the current results, the effect is very good. Facebook has enriched its own ecology through third-party applications. Many phenomenal apps have emerged. Products, such as music listening apps and movie recommendation apps. This has attracted many new users to join. But the most attractive thing for users to join Facebook is social games."

"We recently conducted a survey and found that 30% of new Facebook users came because of social games."

"The "Stealing Food" game launched by Holi this year is conservatively estimated to have brought us 1000 million users on Facebook. All social games in the past two years have been conservatively estimated to have brought us 8000 million users. We and these social game companies , it can be said that they have achieved mutual success.”

"Now, Facebook has 2.9 million global users, more than half of the second-ranked Myspace users!"

Bang bang bang bang, all the executives in the conference room applauded.

The executive just now continued: "Although we and these social game companies have achieved mutual success, many problems have also arisen."

"These companies use the personal information of Facebook users to send a large number of spam emails to many users, asking them to play games produced by their companies. Among them, Holi Game Company did the most egregious things and is also the company that sends the most spam emails. This is serious It affects the personal experience of Facebook users, this is one of them.”

"Second point, in order to defeat other social networking sites, we did not charge these developers the 30% channel fee in accordance with industry regulations. We only charged 10% when they sold programs. This is not much money at all. Free is popular right now.”

"Like our largest partner Holi, their games are free, and the micro-transaction currency is developed by them themselves. In other words, we at Facebook do not receive a penny from their transactions."

“The virtual currency they developed themselves is used by small game studios, and a 10% usage fee will be charged during the period. As a channel party, we don’t have our own virtual currency now, but let these third parties make money. Isn’t it time to make a change?”

After listening, a senior executive looked at the person who just spoke and said, "You mean, you want to start with our largest partners? I remember seeing a report some time ago that more than 60% of the APIs used by our users are from them. of."

Another executive also said: "Holi Game Company is also one of our largest advertisers. They will pay us a lot of advertising fees to promote the game."

The third executive looked at Zuckerberg: "Are you planning to learn from Tencent and enter the social gaming industry? This is a major strategic adjustment. Are we going to hold a board meeting?"

Zuckerberg said: "No, more than 90% of Facebook's revenue now comes from advertising revenue. How can we adjust our strategy? The main topic of this meeting is whether to take action against this group of third-party developers."

Everyone was silent at this time. After a long time, a senior executive said: "The impact of this action is too great. Should we hold a board meeting?"

Zuckerberg rolled his eyes. This executive sent by the investor was a bit annoying.He said helplessly: "We just want to discuss it first."

"Ok."

Everyone thought for a moment, and then started discussing.

"Holi is our biggest partner, and Logic is the key. If we take action, we must stabilize him and not let him join forces with other developers."

"The current market size of Facebook's micro-transactions is less than 5 million US dollars. Should we wait and see? This benefit is not enough to make us fall out with third parties."

"Now that Facebook still has competitors, should we not be so anxious? What if all these third-party developers move to other platforms?"

"Indeed, the number of users is our foundation. As long as the number of users grows, our advertising fees will increase."

……

The discussion lasted for 10 minutes, and most of the executives disagreed.

Zuckerberg didn't want to be in such a hurry: "Then don't take action against these third-party developers first, and wait until our users reach [-] million."

"Ok."

Zuckerberg, who has always been gentle, showed a fierce look on his face and looked down at many executives: "But the development of our virtual currency should be put on the agenda. We cannot let other virtual currency providers make money from us. Even Tencent They all have QQ coins, and the most widely circulated virtual currency among our third-party developers is actually the virtual currency developed by Holi Game Company."

"Okay, I'll arrange it."

Zuckerberg looked at the many executives with firm eyes and whispered: "When our number of users reaches [-] million, I want to see these third-party developers using our virtual currency as soon as possible, you know?"

"Okay." Many executives said in unison.

All the executives walked out of the room, and Zuckerberg picked up his phone and searched for news about Logic.

"The domestic box office of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" reached 2 million US dollars in its first weekend, ranking the ninth highest opening weekend box office in domestic history. The global first weekend box office was 1.47 million US dollars, ranking first in the world. Top 2.9 movies." "Logic Pictures instantly became a hot new force in Hollywood."

"According to relevant sources in Hollywood, the film and television rights to the new novel "The Host" by Stephanie, the author of "The Twilight Saga", were acquired by Logic Pictures for a high price of 400 million yuan."

"Actors Kristen and Taylor Lautner travel to France to promote movie. Logic..."

After Zuckerberg finished reading the news, he put his phone on the table and leaned back in his chair.He murmured to himself: "Holi Games Company, Logic, Logic, Logic."

…………

At the same time, at the entrance of the Phoenix Theater in London, England.

Luo Ji, Stephenie Meyer and Saoirse Ronan, as the promotional representatives sent to the UK for "The Twilight Saga 2", were each standing in front of a group of reporters for interviews.

There were undoubtedly the most reporters in front of Luo Ji. He was wearing a black suit, high-spirited, and talking to the reporters.

"I like the beautiful city of London very much. There are many good friends here..." As Luo Ji was talking, he suddenly felt his nose was a little itchy and quickly covered it with his hands: "Sneeze, sneeze, sneeze. "

A female reporter quickly asked with concern: "Logic, what's wrong with you? Are you okay?"

"It's okay." Luo Ji waved his hand: "Everyone, let's continue the interview! It's just you."

The female reporter just now said immediately: "Logic, who is your favorite actor in the UK?"

Luo Ji smiled and said, "Kate, she has been my idol for a long time."

All the reporters nodded with satisfaction. It seems that Kate has a good reputation in the eyes of the British.Reviews from fellow Americans also served them well.

Another reporter asked: "Logic, who is your favorite singer in the UK?"

"Of course Sarah Brightman, we've worked together many times. She's my favorite female singer."

The group of British people nodded with satisfaction. For Sarah Brightman to be promoted by the UK to sing the theme song of the Olympic Games, she must be an old artist with both virtues and skills, and is in line with the mainstream British values.

A paparazzi from "The Sun" said: "Logic, there are rumors that you and Kristen are dating. Is this true?"

Luo Ji waved his hand: "Don't think too much, we are just friends."

The paparazzi continued: "There is news that you contacted Prince William after coming to London. Is this true?"

"Yes, he will attend the screening of the movie later."

The paparazzi continued: "Will his girlfriend Catherine Middleton come?"

"She is on the list." After Luo Ji said this, he looked at the other reporters who raised their hands, and then selected a reporter from the BBC: "You."

The BBC reporter said: "Logic, in the "Forbes Celebrity List" just released at the beginning of this month, they put you at No. 1. It said that you were the celebrity with the highest income from June 2008 to June 6, reaching 2009 Yimi Dao, is this true?"

"Yes." Luo Ji nodded flatly.

The BBC reporter then asked: "This issue of the magazine mentioned that they said that you are no longer a simple star, but an entrepreneur. So next year's Forbes Global Celebrity List will not include you, but We plan to put you on the world’s richest list, what do you think about this?”

Luo Ji spread his hands and said unhappily: "Come on, I'm still a star, okay? Has Forbes just kicked me out of the ranks of celebrities?"

"Hahahaha." Everyone laughed.

Of course Luo Ji didn't care about this anymore. To be honest, being ranked with this group of singers and actors for three consecutive years was really a bit bullying them.Luo Ji's annual income easily exceeds 5 million.

But how much do these celebrities earn annually?

A-list superstars in Hollywood only earn between 2000 million and 3000 million a year.

For example, Angelina Jolie, the top-ranked actress last year, only earned $2700 million despite receiving several major endorsements.Those in the mid-level, such as Scarlett Johansson, only have 550 million US dollars.

Of course, the income of these celebrities is much higher than that of ordinary people, but it is far behind compared to entrepreneurs. There is really no comparison.

It is worth mentioning that the income of singers is much higher than that of actors.Singers can hold concerts.

For example, Madonna earned 1.9 million and Beyoncé earned 6700 million.Most of their income comes from concerts.

Taylor and Lady Gaga also entered the rankings due to their high sales of records last year and their concerts in the first half of this year.The income exceeds 1000 million US dollars, but the ranking is relatively low.

The BBC reporter asked: "So Logic, can you tell us how much money you have?"

Luo Ji spread his hands and said seriously, "To be honest, I don't know how much money I have."

Coaxing, a group of reporters exploded, and the shutters kept clicking.

Luo Ji quickly added: "Many of my companies are not listed companies, and I cannot come up with a publicly recognized valuation. So I really don't know how much money I have."

After Luo Ji finished speaking, he was still a little worried and warned many reporters, "Please don't report one-sidedly."

"Of course, of course!"

"Logic, don't you still believe in the professional ethics of our British media?"

"Absolutely truthful reporting!"

…………

That afternoon, several pieces of gossip from Britain quickly spread throughout the world.

"Forbes expelled Logic from the ranks of celebrities because of his excessive income."

"Logic said he didn't know how much money he had!"

(End of this chapter)