yournovel Chapter 472 Tencent's Plans
Chapter 472 Tencent's Plans
As expected, Tencent acted faster than Lu Ran had anticipated.
He had only finalized the pre-binding plan for his TUTU account less than three days ago when the other party sent a negotiation team to Shanghai.
The group consisted of four people, led by a senior director from Tencent's strategic investment department, surnamed Liu, who was in his early forties, wore frameless glasses and a dark blue suit, and spoke at a moderate pace.
The other three people were the heads of business development, legal affairs, and operations, and each of them looked like seasoned veterans. After they sat down, they got straight to the point without any unnecessary small talk.
The first meeting was arranged in a conference room at TUTU headquarters.
Several people were seated on each side of the rectangular table. On Lu Ran's side were himself, Zhou Mingzhe, Chen Mo, and a legal consultant.
There was less than two meters between them. Tea and a notebook were laid out on the table, but neither of them touched the cup first.
The director, Mr. Liu, started off quite politely, making a few pleasantries about how "TUTU Technology has developed rapidly in recent years" and "its achievements in the European market are obvious to all." Then, he changed the subject and steered the conversation to the main topic.
His meaning was clear: Tencent believed that with the increase in the overall commercial value of "League of Legends", the revenue sharing ratio agreed upon in the initial contract was no longer suitable for the current market environment and needed to be readjusted.
They hope the new plan will be a significant improvement over the existing one. Specific figures can be discussed later, but the direction is set.
Zhou Mingzhe's expression didn't change much when he heard this; he simply picked up a pen from the table and wrote a few lines in his notebook.
Chen Mo spoke first, his tone calm and unhurried. He first reviewed the data since the two parties started their cooperation, and then pointed out that although the current user base and revenue growth were rapid, the channel support provided by Tencent had not increased accordingly. In other words, TUTU was bearing more of the operating and content costs.
If the revenue sharing ratio is to be adjusted, then Tencent's resource investment should also increase accordingly; it's not enough to just talk about a one-sided change.
After listening, Director Liu was silent for two seconds, then smiled and said that what Director Chen said made sense, but the boundary of resource investment was rather vague and difficult to quantify.
He suggested that the profit-sharing ratio be determined first, and then the specific supporting resources be discussed. Neither side made any concessions in this round.
In subsequent contacts, Tencent gradually revealed more of its cards.
In addition to adjusting the revenue sharing ratio, they also raised several additional conditions, including requesting joint development rights for some derivative content of "League of Legends", requesting participation in the joint operation and decision-making of subsequent tournament systems, and tentatively asking whether it was possible for Tencent to take the lead in the overseas market distribution.
Although this last point was not formally written down, it was mentioned at least twice during the talks, each time by the legal representative as "a possible direction for cooperation."
Lu Ran never gave an immediate response after hearing the other party's suggestion, only saying that he would discuss it internally and then give a reply.
He wrote all the conditions down in a memo, and then broke them down one by one with Zhou Mingzhe and Chen Mo after the meeting.
Zhou Mingzhe believes that Tencent chose this particular time to make its moves because they saw TUTU expanding rapidly and wanted to lock in the profits before the main force fully deployed.
If we give in this time, we will face the same risk of price suppression when expanding any new business in the future.
Chen Mo's judgment was more specific.
He felt that although Director Liu seemed calm and composed, his stance was actually quite subtle.
He faces pressure from the board of directors as well as his own performance targets to meet.
He needs to finalize the new cooperation framework by a certain point in time in order to report back to his superiors.
The most crucial issue isn't whether Tencent can secure a clause that's absolutely in its favor; as long as it looks good on paper, that's sufficient.
In this situation, the tactic of stalling is actually advantageous to TUTU, as the longer it drags on, the stronger the other party's anxiety will become.
After listening to the two people's opinions, Lu Ran did not continue to confront Tencent head-on. Instead, he asked Chen Mo to convey a message, the gist of which was that "TUTU is willing to make some adjustments to the revenue sharing ratio, but the scope is limited, and Tencent's resource investment must be increased in exchange."
He also added a specific clause: "Overseas distribution dominance is not within the scope of discussion."
After this statement was sent out, Tencent's response was more positive.
At the same time, Chen Mo also learned some information through his old network of connections within Tencent.
Tencent is currently promoting a new business called "WeChat Wallet" internally. The core idea is to allow users to directly link their WeChat accounts to an electronic wallet that can be topped up and used at any time, replacing the previous method of directly deducting money from bank cards.
It is said that this project has been in preparation within Tencent for more than half a year, and the technical solution has undergone several rounds of testing. It is currently in the final internal testing phase.
If all goes well, it may be available to all users soon.
When Chen Mo told Lu Ran this news, his expression was much more serious than usual: "What Tencent really cares about isn't the cooperation terms for just one game. What they care about is control over the entire payment scenario. If WeChat Wallet takes off, all online consumption will have to go through WeChat, and that won't just affect the gaming industry; the entire internet payment ecosystem will be reorganized by them. At that point, even if you don't back down, your users will habitually use WeChat to pay. Once a habit is formed, it's hard to change."
Lu Ran remained silent for a long time after hearing these words.
He had previously thought that Tencent's goal was to extract as much profit as possible from League of Legends, but now it seems that goal was just a short-term campaign.
The real battle they want to fight is for control of the entire internet payment gateway.
The game was merely a training ground for them.
Having experienced his past life, he knew how terrifying it would be to control where users' money was put.
There are reasons why many people in the past preferred to keep their money in WeChat Wallet or Alipay, even when withdrawals incurred transaction fees.
With such a large user base, it could even be disrupted.
After returning home that night, he sat on the sofa in a daze for a long time, his mind replaying the words Chen Mo had said.
Shen Yuege brought out a cup of hot milk from the kitchen and placed it on the coffee table in front of him. She sat down next to him and asked, "What are you thinking about? You look so serious."
Lu Ran picked up the milk, took a sip, and said he was thinking about Tencent's WeChat Wallet.
If they really manage to get that business going, and users' money is all transferred through WeChat, then Tencent will truly have a firm grip on the entire internet ecosystem in China, and other companies won't even have a chance to get a piece of the pie in the payment sector.
After listening, Shen Yuege thought for a moment and said something that surprised Lu Ran: "Have you ever thought about this? WeChat Wallet relies on users' trust as a payment channel. But if users' trust in WeChat is shattered, do you think they will still be so willing to put their money in it? For example, if there is a system failure, a data leak, or a public opinion storm, that kind of shaken trust is very difficult to repair."
After hearing Shen Yuege's words, Lu Ran paused for a moment while holding the cup.
He genuinely hadn't considered this from that perspective. He had always viewed WeChat as a stable tool with established user habits, without considering its inherent vulnerabilities as a payment tool.
Shen Yuege's words were like a key that unlocked the door in his mind that had been locked all along.
He put down his cup, glanced at Shen Yuege, and said, "Your angle is pretty tricky," before looking down at his phone and opening the notes app to start typing.
He thought of the user base, community engagement, tournament attention, and official partner resources that League of Legends has accumulated over the years.
While these things can't directly compete with Tencent's payment system, if they are packaged into a more complete system and launched, it would at least give users an option that is less dependent on Tencent, in addition to WeChat Wallet.
After he finished typing those few lines, he put his phone on the coffee table, leaned back on the sofa, and stared at the warm yellow light on the ceiling for a long time.
Shen Yuege sat beside her without saying anything more, but quietly picked up the half-cold milk cup and took a sip.
The night outside the window was already quite dark in Shanghai. Occasionally, one or two cars would drive by late at night, their tires making a soft, rustling sound as they rolled over the road.
In the distance, the aviation warning light on the rooftop of a building flashed intermittently, like a dim star against the deep blue night sky.
He picked up the glass of milk, which was no longer very hot, and drank it all in one gulp. As he stood up, he patted Shen Yuege on the shoulder and said, "I'm going to go over the supplementary agreement document that Tencent sent today again." Then he turned and walked towards the study.
After returning to his study, Lu Ran began to organize his thoughts from the day.
Tencent will definitely have to drag things out, but simply delaying is not feasible. They need to offer some benefits to keep the other party in check.
Therefore, appropriate concessions can be made when necessary.
TUTU's main task now is to wait until the account login is fully integrated.
If everything goes smoothly and the account can be successfully transferred in half a month, then even if Tencent withdraws, the impact of this matter can be minimized.
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