The author apologizes for the quality of the latest chapters due to illness but has decided to release them for free.
Huang He swore to the heavens that he intended to return to China immediately after his work in Marvel concluded, having already booked his flight. However, an unexpected event arose.
One morning, Huang He received a phone call from an old friend, Allen Adahan, which was quite surprising.
"Huang, I heard you're in America. Can you come to Blizzard? There are some issues I'd like to discuss with you!" Allen Adahan said on the phone, his tone seeming not entirely good and carrying a lot of implications.
Huang He pondered for a moment. Discussing things seemed fine, and he also had many matters he wished to talk about.
Thus, Huang He canceled his plane ticket and headed to Blizzard's headquarters.
Incidentally, Blizzard's headquarters were also in California. Although Huang He had visited many companies, he had actually been milling around California the entire time, never leaving the state, which was very convenient.
This led Californians to deeply dislike the United States, even initiating an independence referendum to break away from America and establish a new nation. The reasoning was that Americans in other places were too poor, while California was enjoying a great situation.
It would be better to become independent, saving the trouble of distributing their tax revenue to the poor in other American states, wouldn't that be wonderful?
However, Mr. Huang He was not feeling so wonderful. Because when he arrived at Blizzard's headquarters and met the long-unseen Allen Adahan, the latter immediately demanded compensation from Huang He.
"Compensation?" Mr. Huang was stunned. Why would he have to compensate Blizzard for no reason?
"Your products have entered the American market, infringing upon Blizzard Group's interests in the American market. According to the agreement we signed, you should naturally provide us with compensation!" Allen Adahan said with a mournful expression.
Seeing that Huang He was still confused, Allen Adahan had no choice but to explain the situation.
It turned out that the products Allen Adahan was referring to were actually the Warcraft 3 blind boxes produced by Jiangnan Group. Allen Adahan stated that over one million Jiangnan blind boxes had already entered the American market, leading a large number of American players to purchase these blind boxes.
Simultaneously, over 250,000 American players had gone to the official Warcraft 3 server in China to play. These actions severely infringed upon Blizzard's interests in America, thus demanding compensation from Jiangnan Group.
"No way, my official American blind boxes are still on the ship and haven't arrived in the US yet!" Huang He muttered. He initially thought Allen Adahan was talking about his intention to directly introduce his own game blind boxes into the US market. However, after listening to Allen Adahan, he realized that the blind boxes he mentioned were not the ones he was secretly planning for the US market, but those that had entered the US market through informal channels via scalpers.
Therefore, Huang He decisively stated, "Mr. Adahan, your accusations are unreasonable. If you had conducted market research, you should be aware that these blind boxes did not enter the United States through official channels. Some people purchased them from China and transported them to the US through various means. This has nothing to do with Jiangnan Group's actions, and I do not believe this constitutes an infringement of Blizzard Company's interests!"
"As for American players going to Chinese servers to play, that is also the choice of American players themselves. We at Jiangnan Games have not set up any servers in the United States, so these accusations are also unfounded!"
Huang He retorted all of it very straightforwardly. Allen Adahan remained silent, his expression not changing much, as if he had expected Huang He to respond this way.
However, this was normal. After all, Jiangnan Group's actions were indeed within the scope of reasonable operation, and these matters could not be used to accuse Jiangnan Group of criminal acts. Allen Adahan understood that he was being somewhat unreasonable.
But Allen Adahan did not expect to get compensation from Jiangnan Group through these means. He was only using these as an excuse to push forward his subsequent demands.
So, Allen Adahan continued, "Huang, I highly value the friendship between us. I hope our two companies can continue to develop through mutual assistance and benefit."
"However, Jiangnan Group's actions have indeed affected North American Blizzard's interests. Currently, the internet is flooded with countless comments urging players who are about to purchase Warcraft 3 not to buy the North American version, but to choose to play on the Chinese servers directly through the internet."
"This way, they can play the genuine game without spending money, and if they do spend money, they can purchase more interesting game content. These remarks have deeply harmed our market!" Allen Adahan sighed. "Huang, this is a last resort for me. You should know that next month is the release date for the Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne expansion. This expansion will be available for sale globally, and the free nature of your Chinese servers will allow Frozen Throne to be played for free on your end as well. This will likely cause our North American market to lose at least 300,000 sales."
"300,000 sales, that's $20 million in revenue. What do you expect me to do?" Allen Adahan retorted.
"So that's what it is!" Huang He finally understood. The Frozen Throne expansion was about to be released, and as a major expansion for Warcraft 3, it featured a brand-new storyline, heroes, and gameplay, effectively doubling the capacity of Warcraft 3.
Therefore, the Frozen Throne expansion was to be sold at the price of Warcraft 3, and almost all Warcraft 3 players would undoubtedly pay to purchase this expansion.
But now, 300,000 Warcraft 3 players had gone to the Chinese servers to play, and the Chinese servers did not require any payment; players could play the genuine content simply by registering an account.
Similarly, the Frozen Throne content would be updated for free on the Warcraft 3 servers at the same time.
Thus, it was likely that these 300,000 Warcraft players would be able to obtain the opportunity to play the genuine game for free without spending a single penny. Those 300,000 sales were gone.
What made Allen Adahan even more furious was that these 300,000 players were not unwilling to spend money. On the contrary, they would spend even more, as they would pay exorbitant prices for all sorts of Jiangnan Group's blind boxes. However, all the profits from these blind boxes went to Jiangnan Group, and Allen Adahan had nothing to do with it. How could Allen Adahan accept such a situation?
Therefore, Allen Adahan directly summoned Huang He to discuss the current situation.
"What do you want?" Huang He asked. "You called me here, you must already have an idea."
"I'll give you two options!" Allen Adahan said. "First, immediately block all IPs from outside China, and simultaneously, the Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne expansion must be delayed for six months."
"Are you crazy?" Huang He's eyes widened, and he angrily exclaimed, "Blocking all non-Chinese IPs is one thing, but you actually want to delay it for six months? Aren't you forcing our users in the Chinese market to play pirated versions of Frozen Throne?"
"I absolutely will not agree to this. It is clearly stated in our contract that unless there are non-market-related force majeure factors, all Warcraft 3 expansions must be launched simultaneously in the Chinese and American markets. This must not be changed in any way!"
"Fine, then you can listen to the second option!" Allen Adahan said. "Similarly, all IPs from outside China need to be blocked, but you can launch the expansion simultaneously with the rest of the world. However, the price for purchasing the Frozen Throne expansion needs to be increased to $30 million!" Allen Adahan stated.
"This isn't negotiating business, this is robbery!" Huang He laughed with extreme anger. "Our contract clearly states that the price we pay for Warcraft 3 expansions cannot exceed the price of Warcraft 3 itself. Good heavens, now an expansion is ten times more expensive than the base game. This is the first time I've seen something like this. Don't you, Allen Adahan, want any face anymore?"
"Huang, that's where you're wrong. The one who is truly robbing is you, not me!" Allen Adahan sneered. "The total profits you've gained from selling Warcraft 3 blind boxes have probably exceeded an astonishing $100 million!"
"But how much did you pay for the copyright purchase? Merely $3 million. You think a tenfold increase in the expansion price is robbery, but isn't a profit more than thirty times higher also robbery?"
"This is legitimate profit that our Jiangnan Group has earned through a new business concept, and there is no need for discussion!" Huang He said.
"Then there's no need to discuss Frozen Throne either. Choose one of the two conditions. Of course, you actually have a third option, which is to completely abandon Frozen Throne. We will find other partners in China!" Allen Adahan said.
"Find other partners?" Huang He scoffed. "I'm afraid that's not possible. Our contract clearly stipulates that the game Warcraft 3 can only be licensed by our Jiangnan Group, and you cannot sell it to any third-party organization. This would be a breach of contract!"
"That's right, Warcraft 3 can only be sold to you, but the contract doesn't say that Warcraft 4 must be the same, does it?" Facing Huang He's words, Allen Adahan sneered. "Huang, we haven't announced any news about Frozen Throne to the public, nor have we ever said it was an expansion for Warcraft 3. This expansion will enter its promotion period starting next week, and various news will be released gradually."
"So, if we wish, next month we will release not an expansion for Warcraft 3, but Warcraft 4: Frozen Throne!"