Top of the big era

Yan Xinlei has completed all the procedures and is about to go abroad to study at the University of Southern California to pursue a master's degree in game design.

If you want to get this done, the price is not small.

Changyou will invest no less than US$45 million in the USC Game Center within the next ten years, an average of US$4.5 million per year.

However, the investment is worth it.

The first is that it can make friends with college students majoring in gaming at the University of Southern California, and the second is that this investment will have relatively large returns within expectations.

At first glance, it seems that Changyou has paid for the University of Southern California, and Changyou is the active party. The truth is exactly the opposite. USC has the number one gaming major in North America, and it is no exaggeration to say it is number one in the world.

There are too many big institutions rushing to send them money, but there is no chance.

Free donations are welcome.

Want to invest?

impossible.

Just like the cooperation between some domestic technology companies and American universities, it is actually not a cooperation at all. People don't look at it at all. It is a real free donation. If the project results are really researched, the funder must be legal and compliant. There won't be any sharing either.

Fortunately, universities are places for academic exchanges, especially many top professors, educators, and scientists. They focus on the scientific and technological progress of all mankind, and often turn a blind eye.

The game major at the University of Southern California is a benchmark major, just like the directing major. If you want to cooperate with the USC Game Center, money is not enough. The school must consider the future of the students. Once the student team really develops an excellent game that is recognized by the market, ordinary institutions will not have the strength to help students operate it. .

With a good game, you also need a good platform to promote the game.

This requires game companies such as EA, Blizzard, and Microsoft.

Only this kind of big game company is qualified to invest in the USC Game Center. It is a platform recognized by the school that can help students... In fact, Changyou is not qualified. The market value is quite high, but it has great influence in the North American market. Not quite enough.

The person who came forward to operate the game was Don Mattrick, the president of the game business of Ziweixing International. This is a well-known big shot in the game industry, and he signed this 10-year US$45 million sponsorship contract with the University of Southern California.

At this time, Zhou Buqi called Yan Xinlei and took him to Jingdong to meet Liu Qiangdong.

Lao Liu also wants to study in the United States.

At Zhou Buqi's suggestion, he decided to study on the West Coast and chose the University of Southern California. By then, he and Yan Xinlei will be classmates.

Yan Xinlei was surprised, "Mr. Liu, is he the boss of JD.com?"

"right."

“Isn’t JD.com a technology company?”

"Huh?" Zhou Buqi looked at him strangely, "Yes, what do you mean?"

Yan Xinlei said: "Since it is a technology company, why doesn't he go to Berkeley?"

USC has two parts.

One is the main campus of the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles; the other is the University of Southern California, Berkeley, in San Francisco.

This school is a comprehensive university, mainly focusing on humanities, such as literature, history, film, etc. Spielberg and George Lucas both graduated from this school.

Berkeley is a science and engineering university, focusing on high-tech fields such as semiconductors, computers, artificial intelligence, etc., which are the cornerstones of high-tech development in Silicon Valley.

The game design industry is at the headquarters of the University of Southern California, not at Berkeley. From this, it can be seen that the game industry is not a high-tech industry at all, but a humanistic art industry.

When making games, the most important thing is the design, not the technical implementation of the design.

But the domestic game industry is dominated by men with science and engineering backgrounds. This group of straight nerds and technical men know nothing about design, so they can only copy and copy.

Yan Xinlei is a bit different. He is not from a technical background. He studied business administration as an undergraduate.

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "He is not a technical expert. What can he learn at Berkeley? The threshold for learning art is very low, but the threshold for learning technology is too high. Managing a company is inherently an art."

Yan Xinlei sighed, "I don't know if it's right to go abroad. Many people have advised me..."

"you're so dumb?!"

Zhou Buqi turned his head and glared at him in anger.

"ah?"

Yan Xinlei was slightly startled.

Zhou Buqi said angrily: "I asked you to go abroad, are you right? Even if it's wrong, it's still right. You don't understand this? How can I make you suffer?"

"No, that's not what I meant..." Yan Xinlei laughed and explained quickly, "I'm not talking about career. With your help, there's no need to worry about this aspect. I'm not stupid."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Well... I have a girlfriend who was planning to get married, and my friends are also optimistic about us... If I study abroad for a few years, I won't be able to say that in the future."

"Let her go out with you?"

"She is a civil servant. It seems that she will take up the associate degree soon. Her family is quite well-connected, but she won't go out." Yan Xinlei was somewhat disappointed.

"Men should still put their career first, and pursue it first." Zhou Buqi's attitude is consistent, "Pursue a career, and when you have a career, you will also have love, which is a double harvest. If you choose the wrong direction, pursue love desperately. But in the end, I didn’t find my love and my career was gone, so it was all in vain.”

Yan Xinlei smiled and said, "You are truly a life mentor."

Zhou Buqi said: "This is all common sense."

Yan Xinlei nodded, and then sighed with emotion, "I also know that our President Wang chatted with me for more than half an hour yesterday."

"Mr. Wang?" Zhou Buqi was a little surprised, "Who is it? Wang Fang?"

"Well, that's him, and he even apologized to me." Yan Xinlei was somewhat proud and winked, "He said he knew I was a gaming genius, but he had not arranged my position appropriately in the past few years. He was quite sincere. . He also said that I am studying abroad this time, hoping to have a deeper understanding of games and come back to develop better domestic games in the future."

Zhou Buqi said amusedly: "This Wang Fang, he was removed from his post and started playing tricks."

"Mr. Wang's gaming level is actually quite high..." Yan Xinlei waved his hand, "That's not what I'm talking about. What he told me was a friend of his who is also a big shot in the gaming industry and has more than a dozen girlfriends. They all live together, and they have given birth to seven or eight children. Next, they will find more women to give birth to, and they are determined to give birth to a hundred. They seem to be only a few years older than us."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "I know who you are talking about, that's true. That person is also a little mentally disturbed, similar to Wang Fang. The game industry and the art industry are really similar. The more powerful people are, the more they think. Absurd and weird.”

Yan Xinlei continued: "Also, he said that there is a company with five people on the board of directors. The chairman is a man, and the other four directors are all women, namely his eldest wife, second wife, third wife and fourth wife. , are in charge of finance, human resources, purchasing and marketing respectively. The family usually works and lives together, which is really a happy time."

"Um."

Zhou Buqi's reaction was relatively dull.

The big house meets the small house.

When he was very young, his father took him to visit many of his uncles, and he watched a lot. It is even more normal to have a successful career in the past few years.

Especially once I had a drink with a big boss named Xu who ran a snack and beverage business in the south. The big boss brought his son there too, since they were all the same age after all.

The son asked Zhou Buqi for advice, saying that his aunt's cousin wanted to marry him as his third concubine. He didn't really want it, but he refused because he was worried about affecting the relationship between the two families. It seemed that he would not recognize his former wife after making money. Like poor relatives.

Zhou Buqi gave him an idea, saying that close relatives could not marry and the children would be deformed, which was a big help to him.

Seeing that he was unmoved, Yan Xinlei understood, "Wang finally succeeded in enlightening me. No matter how my girlfriend's family stops me, I will definitely go to study abroad. As you said, career is the highest priority for a man." Pursue."

"Is that what I said?" Zhou Buqi snorted, "Don't tamper with my words!"

I went to JD.com and introduced the two of them to each other.

After going to the University of Southern California, Yan Xinlei helped out on the front line and helped Lao Liu explore the road. At the same time, he also had the opportunity to enter Liu Qiangdong's circle, further broaden his horizons and gain growth.

However, these are small things.

Zhou Buqi came here mainly because he wanted to further persuade Boss Liu, who was causing trouble online again. It’s nothing more than making trouble, and he’s always naming names.

This is not good.

It would be troublesome if entrepreneurs always attacked each other by name when competing. Once this group exposes each other's past, no one will have an easy time.

They are all working in companies, so who doesn’t know who they are?

In the past few times, JD.com has engaged in "three major battles" in succession, confronting Dangdang, Suning, and Alibaba, and gained a lot of attention and brand reputation.

This time it was even more fierce and started directly with Baidu.

Baidu is an information distribution platform. Unlike e-commerce platforms, it can control the thunder and lightning in the public opinion field. If Baidu is offended... JD.com will not have an easy life.

In fact, I have been in trouble recently.

Zhou Buqi asked: "What's going on over at Baidu?"

Liu Qiangdong said: "They have bullied people too much and can't bear it anymore."

"What's wrong?"

"PPC ranking!"

"Isn't that normal?" Zhou Buqi glanced at him, "Google and Weidian are also bidding."

Liu Qiangdong said angrily: "That's different. They are threatening me. If they don't pay me...that's what happened. In the past year, JD.com bought the key to the word 'JD.com' on Baidu." Words, how much do you think they cost?”

"A few million?"

Zhou Buqi doesn't know the specific number, but it shouldn't be too low.

Liu Qiangdong slapped him, "5 million!"

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Absolutely."

Liu Qiangdong said: "A few days ago, the contract expired and we wanted to renew it. They raised the price to 10 million."

"oh."

Zhou Buqi was somewhat embarrassed.

He really couldn't say much because Ziweixing also had a search platform, Weidian, and he didn't know how Weidian charged.

Liu Qiangdong looked very angry and said unwillingly: "The word 'Jingdong' was created by me, thousands of brothers, and hard work for more than ten years. The brand I created, they did not Sell ​​it for money! There is no such thing!"