Song Guangyao took action swiftly and decisively.
He had just met Wang Yi yesterday to discuss cooperation, and today he acted immediately.
Not only did he publicly turn against HM, accusing them of plagiarizing Meiyou's "Pure Desire Style," but he also ordered all HM specialty stores in Xingzhou to close completely, stop sales, and called for the protection of original designs.
Such a blow was devastating for HM.
Even the strongest fortress is easily breached from within.
What's more, HM was already riddled with weaknesses, and now it was internally detonated by its own agent.
The outcome was predictable.
Wang Yi was pleased to see this.
The marketplace is like a battlefield.
HM plagiarized Meiyou's "Pure Desire Style" to heavily promote it using its global stores, seize Meiyou's market with "Pure Desire Style" dresses, and ultimately crush Meiyou.
Wang Yi naturally wouldn't hold back, nor would he be so saintly as to sympathize.
Moreover, it was Song Guangyao's own decision to turn against HM; all Wang Yi could do was give HM another stab after Song Guangyao's betrayal, nothing more.
As soon as this news broke, global media rushed to report it, making the entire incident instantly viral across the internet.
It didn't just cause a huge shock in Xiahua and Xingzhou.
In the West, Europe, and America, it also caused huge waves, and netizens' comments became very interesting:
"This is great, even the distributors admit to plagiarism and are boycotting. How can HM still defend itself?"
"HM's distributors couldn't stand it anymore. HM plagiarizing Meiyou was indeed too much!"
"Glad to see it, HM Xingzhou stores are all closed nationwide, so what will HM do? Exit the Xingzhou market?"
"Because of plagiarism, HM's reputation is ruined. It doesn't matter if they leave or not."
"Unprecedented, first time seeing a distributor go after their own brand, and to the death!"
"No choice, with the plagiarism incident, HM Xingzhou stores were deserted and losing money every day. If the distributor didn't act, they'd go bankrupt."
"So that's it, seemingly against plagiarism, but actually to stop losses and protect their own interests."
"No choice, agents are in it to make money. Losing money every day, no one can stand it."
"This is getting interesting, let's see how HM saves itself next."
"Save what? At this point, HM is in a hopeless situation."
"At its core, Meiyou's 'Pure Desire Style' launched a dimensionality reduction attack on HM!"
…
HM Headquarters.
Gafford's face turned dark:
"F**k! That despicable Song Guangyao, how dare he?"
"Closing stores directly and openly backstabbing us, he's trying to kill us!"
"Damn it, damn it!"
"Quick, notify HM Xingzhou headquarters, tell them to settle Song Guangyao as soon as possible and prevent the situation from worsening!"
"Immediately!"
"Tell Song Guangyao, if he causes any more trouble, he can forget about being HM's agent in the future!"
But unfortunately, the secretary kept shaking his head:
"Boss, HM Xingzhou headquarters has no solution. They said Song Guangyao is determined to turn against us, and they already planned to stop representing HM!"
"This…"
Gafford fell silent, at a loss for words for a moment.
Brands control agents through their agency.
But now, Song Guangyao already intended to stop representing HM, so why would he care about these threats?
"Could it be that there's really nothing we can do about Song Guangyao? For a contract signed, terminating it early, isn't he afraid of the penalty for breach of contract?"
Gafford's mouth twitched, and he spoke coldly:
"Immediately notify Xingzhou to threaten Song Guangyao with breach of contract penalties. Make him issue an announcement, apologize, say it was all a misunderstanding, and fully reopen tomorrow, otherwise, we'll sue them for breach of contract!"
"Yes, boss."
"Do it as soon as possible. If this isn't handled well, our stock price will continue to plummet, another tens of billions in losses!"
Gafford's head was pounding, filled with uncontrollable rage.
It was evening in the East, and morning in the West.
Breaking this news first thing in the morning was clearly aimed at crashing HM's stock price after the US market opened, wasn't it?
How ruthless!
But soon, the secretary returned, looking flustered:
"Boss, big trouble. When the incident occurred, HM Xingzhou headquarters already threatened Song Guangyao with breach of contract penalties and dealer fees, but Song Guangyao was not only unafraid, he even counter-sued us!"
"What? He sued us? He caused such a fuss, inflicting such massive losses on HM, how dare he sue us?"
Gafford was incredulous.
"He's suing us because HM's plagiarism of Meiyou's 'Pure Desire Style' led to a sharp decline in brand image and customer traffic, severely damaging the distributor's interests, violating the contract, and demanding to terminate the HM agency agreement and claim damages for breach of contract!"
"This…"
Gafford fell silent:
"Cunning Xingzhou people, using such a reason to sue us. Damn it, truly damn it."
After cursing, Gafford calmed down:
"If we go to court, what's their probability of winning?"
"If sued in the EU, the legal department's assessment is fifty-fifty! If sued in Xingzhou, it's probably sixty-forty, with them having sixty."
The secretary said gravely:
"After all, it's indeed because of the plagiarism of Meiyou's 'Pure Desire Style' that led to a sharp drop in the agent's store revenue."
"F*k! So uncompromising, he's determined to turn against us and backstab us! F*k!"
Gafford cursed loudly.
The secretary sighed:
"However, their premise for winning is also after the court determines we plagiarized. So, we can delay in terms of time!"
"What's the use of delaying?"
Gafford's face was ashen:
"If we delay, they'll just close the stores directly, and our HM Xingzhou market will be completely dead. We just give it up?"
"This…"
The secretary nodded:
"A market in a developed country cannot be abandoned!"
Gafford's expression was grim:
"Moreover, this incident will cause extremely bad public opinion, leading to a heavy blow to HM's stock price! More importantly, if this incident causes distributors in other countries to follow suit, then we're finished!"
The secretary's face changed drastically:
"Yes, that's the biggest problem. If Australia also copies this, suing us and terminating the agency contract, then our Australian market is also finished!"
"Therefore, we must stabilize Song Guangyao and maintain cooperation with him. We absolutely cannot let the situation escalate further."
Gafford said heavily.
The secretary was somewhat troubled:
"But Song Guangyao is determined to stop representing HM, and talking won't help. After all, these days, the twenty-five stores in Xingzhou are basically losing money every day. It's normal for them to be unable to continue."
"Alas! What should we do?"
Gafford's face was ashen, but he was helpless.
The situation had reached this point; they were too passive!
Xingzhou stores were losing money every day, and HM's general agent was determined to turn against them, and they could do nothing.
"Call an executive meeting to discuss countermeasures!"
"Yes!"
Soon, an emergency executive meeting was convened, but everyone was at a loss for the current predicament.
However, before a solution could be discussed, a new trending topic shook the world.
[Due to plagiarism infringement, brand image damaged, revenue plummeted 90%, Xingzhou general agent sues HM headquarters, demanding termination of HM agency contract and compensation for breach of contract and losses of 500 million US dollars!]
Seeing this news, Gafford was so angry he smashed his cup:
"Crazy! Truly crazy! Backstabbing us was already too much, and now demanding 500 million US dollars in compensation!"
"Why doesn't he just go rob a bank?"
"Does Song Guangyao even have a bottom line? F**k!"
Upon hearing this, the executives present all had grim faces, equally furious.
Gafford angrily asked:
"Will the court accept such a claim? Will it support it?"
The head of the legal department sighed:
"There's a certain probability!"
"After all, the 25 HM stores in Xingzhou previously had a combined revenue of 2 million US dollars per day, but now they're losing money every day and can't even cover rent and labor costs. Song Guangyao's claim is justified, and the court will support it!"
"F**k!"
Gafford's heart sank halfway:
"What do you all think about this? Should we go to court with Song Guangyao? Or negotiate?"
"I suggest negotiation. If this escalates, it won't be good for us. It's better to resolve this peacefully."
"Right, if we really drag this out, Song Guangyao won't be affected much, but we'll be in trouble. After all, we don't have many ways to control Song Guangyao."
"But Song Guangyao can directly close the stores and then represent other brands!"
"Okay, send someone to negotiate with Song Guangyao and resolve this matter as soon as possible. At the same time, recruit new agents. Xingzhou is a developed country with high purchasing power; we cannot give it up."
"Yes!"
Gafford sighed, then asked:
"How is our stock price?"
"Boss, it's dropped another 10%, another 30 billion evaporated!"
"Alright."
Gafford took a deep breath, feeling only exhaustion.
The situation was too difficult.
"Arrange for people to suppress the trending topics, try to minimize the impact, meeting adjourned."
"Yes!"
Everyone departed.
HM was shrouded in gloom, but Wang Yi was sound asleep, embracing Lin Shu.
Zara Headquarters.
A group of executives also held an executive meeting:
"HM's situation is truly terrible, haha. Fortunately, we didn't directly plagiarize Meiyou's 'Pure Desire Style,' otherwise, we would be the unlucky ones now."
"Indeed, we were very close. Alas!"
"If it were a niche brand, copying it wouldn't be a big deal. But Meiyou's 'Pure Desire Style' has too much influence, and their Meiyou App has already surpassed 70 million users! Among them, 15 million are foreign users; the influence is too great."
"Yes, Meiyou is their public opinion battleground. As soon as HM plagiarized, tens of millions of users on Meiyou started cursing, leading to HM being boycotted in Xingzhou and Australia."
"Meiyou can record menstrual cycles, which all women globally need. Coupled with Meiyou's 'Pure Desire Style' clothing, the number of Meiyou users will only continue to increase in the future; breaking 100 million won't be a problem. By then, Meiyou's rise will be unstoppable."
"Meiyou APP + Meiyou Mall + Pure Desire Style clothing, Wang Yi's combination punch is too powerful. HM can't withstand it, and neither can we, Zara."
"Right, going forward, Meiyou's market share will continue to grow, while ours and HM's will continue to shrink. If this continues, we'll also be finished."
"No, we still have a chance!"
"What chance?"
"Kill HM and seize HM's market share! This is our last chance!"
"Right, Meiyou took 10% of our market share, so let's take the opportunity to attack HM and seize 50% of HM's market share!"
"Good, let's act immediately, strike while the iron is hot! Full-scale attack on HM."
"Chairman, HM is trying to remove trending topics to reduce negative impact…"
"Heh heh, how can we let them get what they want? Immediately buy trending topics and push HM's negative trending topics to the top."
"Yes!"
"Chairman, there's no hurry with this matter; I have an immature idea!"
"What idea?"
"With what happened to HM, their stock will definitely continue to plummet. If we act again, they'll fall even harder. Why don't we mobilize funds to short HM!"
"Short HM?" The chairman's eyes lit up:
"Ilinda, your idea isn't immature; it's extremely mature! With Meiyou's strong rise, the global apparel industry will have a major reshuffle. If we Zara want to survive, we can only kill HM."
"Right, short HM! We've been fighting them for so many years; it's time to decide a winner!"
"Exactly, but Zara acting alone isn't enough; we need the parent company to step in!"
"Good, I'll contact the parent company now."
…
Upon receiving Zara's chairman's proposal, the parent company, Inditex Group, attached great importance to it and quickly convened a board meeting.
The Inditex Group chairman looked around at the shareholders and solemnly said:
"Everyone is aware of the current situation. Since Meiyou's rise, Zara, under our Inditex Group, has been severely impacted, and the entire apparel industry needs a reshuffle!"
"Therefore, Zara proposes to take advantage of HM's current tragedy, completely eliminate them, short HM, and seize HM's market! What are your thoughts?"
Upon hearing this, after a brief silence, the entire conference room erupted!
"Support! Must support! HM has attacked us many times; if we don't act now, when will we?"
"Exactly, this is our Inditex's best chance to crush HM."
"Must act! As long as we crush HM and seize HM's market share, our Inditex's performance will not only stop declining but will also surge in reverse!"
"Right, Meiyou's rise is grabbing a large amount of market share; one apparel giant must die, and it can only be HM!"
"Team up with Meiyou, crush HM, and seize HM's market share."
"As long as we take HM's market share, our Inditex will be the global number one, an absolute hegemon. No matter how powerful Meiyou's 'Pure Desire Style' is, it will be nothing to fear."
"Currently, Meiyou is like a swift horse, running fast and developing quickly, but it's still a lean horse. It's not easy for us to attack it. HM, however, is a beached whale; as long as we seize the opportunity to strangle it before it returns to the ocean, then we will win the final victory!"
"Right, Meiyou is still small in scale and not a concern. HM is our big enemy right now. We absolutely cannot miss this opportunity to crush HM!"
…
Listening to everyone's words, the chairman nodded:
"Good, now let's vote. All shareholders and executives who support crushing HM and shorting HM, please raise your hands!"
"Seconded!"
"Seconded!"
"Seconded!"
…
Immediately, everyone raised their hands.
Without any surprises, the resolution passed unanimously.
After all, Inditex Group and HM, two major apparel giants, had been openly and secretly fighting for many years.
But both sides were equally matched; neither could overcome the other.
Their hatred was not a matter of one or two years.
Now, HM was in deep trouble due to the plagiarism incident, and with the Xingzhou distributor turning against them, it was like adding insult to injury.
Inditex would not let go of this heaven-sent opportunity to crush HM!
Compared to Meiyou, a newcomer in the fashion industry that had just begun to internationalize, HM, an industry hegemon and super giant, was Inditex Group's true nemesis and primary opponent!
After the resolution passed, Inditex Group immediately began to act, mobilizing funds to short HM.
Wang Yi's funds were limited; his short selling of HM amounted to only 3 billion yuan.
But Inditex Group was different.
As an international apparel giant with a market value of over 300 billion and annual revenue exceeding 150 billion, they had plenty of money!
Once they decided to short HM, the matter became serious.
Even if HM wanted to defend itself, it would be difficult!
What's more, HM was currently besieged on all sides; how could it cope?
Even Zara was preparing to act, and they didn't even know it.
HM was currently busy negotiating with Song Guangyao, busy removing trending topics, controlling the situation, and saving its stock price.
But unfortunately, even so, by market close, HM's market value had evaporated another 15%, another tens of billions lost.
With one wave evaporating thirty to forty billion, and several waves later, nearly a hundred billion in market value vanished.
HM couldn't take it anymore.
With their net worth plummeting by a third, from Chairman Gafford down to other directors and executives, everyone was bleeding from the pain.
But there was nothing they could do.
Morning of the 19th.
Wang Yi looked at yesterday's data with a great mood.
HM's market value had fallen again, and he had earned another 400 million by shorting HM.
The number of users for "Defend the Pomelo" had also exceeded 68 million.
Paying users reached 25 million, and revenue exceeded 250 million!
Such growth might not be as rapid as Meiyou's "Pure Desire Style" clothing.
But clothing required significant investment, production costs, and operating costs—all money.
The total development cost for the entire "Defend the Pomelo" game was only a few hundred thousand, and subsequent maintenance costs were also minimal.
In short, this kind of game—low cost, fast production, high revenue—was like picking up money with your eyes closed!
As long as the user base grew and new maps were continuously released to retain users, it could generate good revenue every month.
However, Wang Yi also knew that the future growth in "Defend the Pomelo" user numbers would have to rely on foreign markets.
In 2011, the total number of smartphone users in China was only about 300 million.
"Defend the Pomelo" capturing a third of that was already very good.
Subsequent growth could only come from foreign users!
Wang Yi was already planning to buy trending topics on foreign networks to heavily promote "Defend the Pomelo."
However, yesterday's trending topics were dominated by Song Guangyao's betrayal of HM, so he had to wait and see how the situation unfolded.
Afterwards, Wang Yi went to the miHoYo department.
The four of them had already started working.
They had all brought their laptops to the Imperial Capital this time, which showed their dedication.
Seeing Wang Yi approach, the four put down their work and greeted him with smiles.
"How are you settling in?"
Wang Yi asked with a smile.
"Very well, absolutely fantastic. A thousand-square-meter office space, much better than our office space in Modu."
"Right, before in Modu, we worked from our dorms. We only planned to rent an 80-square-meter office after securing investment."
"In Xingyi Science Park, there are dorms, a canteen, everything is convenient, totally exceeded our expectations. Haha."
The four spoke excitedly, their joy evident.
Before securing investment, the four miHoYo members had a very tough time.
Most of their work was done in dorms.
In 2012, with CEO Song's investment, they rented an office, and the team expanded to eighty people.
Now, the space and hardware facilities Wang Yi provided were a huge help!
"Three million has already been transferred to your accounts. If you need anything, just say so."
Wang Yi said generously.
Only the miHoYo team could put their hearts into it, invest a billion, and spend five years to create "Genshin Impact."
Any other giant, upon hearing about this investment and timeline, would have given up immediately.
This was why Wang Yi valued them.
"By the way, Chairman Wang, I have ideas for developing 'Honkai Academy' into an online game, but how should the core commercial system be designed?"
CEO Cai seized Wang Yi's arrival to ask eagerly.
The other three also took out their small notebooks, ready to record.
They knew how to make games, but they didn't understand how to commercialize them, how to make money, or how to make players willing to spend money.
It was precisely for this reason that the previous "Honkai Academy" earned only a few hundred thousand after more than a year of development.
Wang Yi smiled slightly; his purpose for coming today was to explain these things to them:
"Let's still use 'Defend the Pomelo' as an analogy. The core gameplay of 'Defend the Pomelo' is tower defense progression."
"If players can't pass a level, they have to recharge gems and buy items. That's the profit point. What about 'Honkai Academy'?"
CEO Cai thought for a moment:
"The core gameplay of 'Honkai Academy' is cute girls fighting zombies! If you can't beat them, you have to recharge crystals to buy guns."
"Good. But a single gameplay mode isn't enough, it's too direct; you need variety!"
Wang Yi opened "Defend the Pomelo":
"For example, the Monster Den: to unlock hidden levels, you need to raise corresponding monsters. Raising these monsters requires resources, and if resources are insufficient, you have to recharge."
"This isn't just a new krypton gold point; it's like raising a group of pets. It satisfies players' nurturing habit, collecting habit, and sense of achievement, so players are willing to spend money on it!"
"I see, but how can 'Honkai Academy' set up a similar monetization system?"
The four were puzzled.
A game needs a core selling point and core gameplay.
Wang Yi smiled:
"'Defend the Pomelo' follows the nurturing + collecting route. 'Honkai Academy' can leverage your strengths and go the anime LSP (lewd short pant) route + collecting!"
"Increase the number of characters, make them beautiful! Don't make them chibi; make them into sexy anime goddesses directly to attract players."
"Then, use rich storyline settings to build up their personalities, making players want to nurture the characters as their wives!"
"Once this step is achieved, you can release various beautiful and sexy skins, allowing players to spend money to dress up their 'wives'."
"Also, increase the number of firearms, but don't allow direct purchases. Instead, use gacha, or 'card draws.' No, let's give it a nicer name: 'Prayers'!"
"Whether users can draw their favorite characters and items by spending crystals on 'Prayers' is uncertain; it all depends on fate!"
"It can be done this way?"
Upon hearing this, the four's eyes widened!
Wang Yi smiled;
"If players could directly purchase, they would only buy their favorite characters, and only the skins and weapons they need, spending very little money to 'graduate'."
"The game's replayability would be greatly reduced, and monetization would also be greatly reduced."
"With 'Prayers,' everything is random."
"The more a player likes a character, the less likely they are to draw it, instead drawing generally liked characters."
"Once they do draw one, they have to nurture it, and then spend more money to draw skins, weapons…"
"After they've nurtured this character well, let them draw an even more favorite character, and that's another wave of drawing skins, weapons…"
"This greatly increases replayability and mystery, and also helps maintain game balance!"
"It can also attract players to spend more money by controlling the drop rates…"
Wang Yi paused, then continued:
"And it can also ignite many people's collecting habits!"
"Many players will want to collect all their favorite characters."
"And dress these characters in beautiful skins, equipped with the top-tier gear."
"To do this, they have to continuously grind monsters, recharge, accumulate crystals, and 'Pray'…"
"The more they spend in the game, the more perfectly the characters are nurtured, the higher the player's sense of achievement, and the higher the sunk cost in time, effort, and money, the less willing they are to abandon the game!"
"This way, the number of players, game stickiness, playtime, and game revenue for our 'Honkai Academy' will all significantly increase!"
Upon hearing this, their eyes widened.
This series of commercial operations was practically about drawing players in and slowly milking them.
Spending a few hundred or even a thousand per year was considered little.
For those wealthy players, spending tens of thousands for their 'wives' was normal!
In an instant, the way the few people looked at Wang Yi changed.
CEO Cai's expression was even more complex:
"Chairman Wang, your ideas are too advanced, too brilliant, just a bit too dark."
Wang Yi was utterly speechless:
'What are you talking about? Aren't these your miHoYo's core tactics?'
'Your "Honkai Impact 3rd" and "Genshin Impact" are exactly this deceptive.'
But miHoYo in 2011 was still relatively innocent and hadn't mastered these devious tricks yet.
The later Genshin Impact, relying on this set of operations, generated 30 billion in revenue annually!
The few people looked complex: "But this idea really works, we've learned a lot!"
CEO Cai added: "More than just 'works'? This entire system, if applied to the PC game industry, would be explosive."
Wang Yi waved his hand:
"The prerequisite is to make the game characters well, make them perfect and beautiful, tell a good story, and establish good character personalities. Players will only be willing to spend money if they treat the characters as their wives to nurture! Chibi versions aren't great; cuteness is worthless in the face of sexiness!"
"Understood, Chairman Wang. We'll redraw them, following Japanese anime goddesses! Black stockings and long legs!"
CEO Cai chuckled:
"These, we are good at."
"Mm, let's do it that way, but control the 'pure desire' level well, don't make it so revealing that it gets banned upon release!"
Wang Yi said meaningfully.
In his previous life, miHoYo was banned and called out many times for its explicit content!
"Of course, casual players also need to be taken care of."
Wang Yi's tone shifted:
"Introduce daily activities and main quests, allowing players to farm levels to get a lot of free crystals. If they save enough, they can also use them for 'Prayers,' but lower the probability a bit. This can attract casual players to 'brick-farm' crystals, increasing game time and user numbers."
Subsequently, Wang Yi discussed some other points, which the four remembered firmly.
Their gazes towards Wang Yi changed again and again.
They simply thought Wang Yi was a genius in game operations!
This entire system transformed a single-player game of cute chibi girls fighting zombies into an online shooting game where players nurtured Japanese goddess characters as their wives!
It went directly from "Honkai 1" to "Honkai 2" Pro!
Although it was still a 2D side-scrolling shooter, it incorporated the character portrayals of "Honkai 3rd," making it even more appealing to players.
As for why not make it 3D?
Naturally, making it 3D would occupy 20GB+ of memory, and next year's mobile phone hardware performance would be limited and unable to run it.
But for a 2D mobile game version, that wouldn't be a problem.
In the previous life, "Honkai 2" was released in January 2014.
This time, by developing it earlier, if everything goes smoothly, it could be released by the end of 2012 or early 2013.
About a year earlier, the mobile hardware gap wasn't significant, and it could definitely run it.
Moreover, the emergence of Xingyi phones would accelerate the popularization and performance evolution of smartphones!
It would also provide targeted optimization and adaptation for "Honkai"!
Of course, a game he invested in deserved extra attention.
In addition, once "Honkai" development was complete, Wang Yi would have miHoYo hire another team to directly port it to PC, releasing a "Honkai" PC game!
Just like "Genshin Impact," it could be played on mobile or PC.
Such a port wouldn't cost much.
But one game, earning on both platforms, double the profit!
Players whose smartphones couldn't run it could also play "Honkai" on laptops or PCs.
Wang Yi's business philosophy had always been to provide multiple choices and let players choose.
(End of Chapter)