Rebirth, possession in the opening game

Hearing Xu Litao's words, Jiang Shan and the other three felt that he was exaggerating. Nowadays, the domestic game market is monopolized by Xunteng and NetOne.

Are there any other game companies doing this?What's more, it's still a little-known studio.

Even Zhou Run, who had great trust in Xu Litao, started to mutter at this time, "Could it be that the boss is wrong? How can such a small game studio rise to prominence when the country is making a lot of money?"

Regarding the disapproval of several people, Xu Litao knew that he was not boasting in the slightest.

As a good player in the gaming industry in his previous life, he clearly knows how valuable MiHoYo is.

Known as "the new giant in the gaming industry", "the little king of profitability", and "the company that investors most regret missing", MiHoYo's legend is just like what is shown in movies and TV series.

In 2011, Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, Luo Yuhao, and Jin Zhicheng, adhering to the mission of "technical nerds saving the world", established MiHoYo Studio in the dormitory of Jiaotong University in Shanghai.

After graduation, in order to save rent, the three founders shared a 3-square-meter house, each with a room. The total rent was 70, and each person only had to pay 3900.

Later, they experienced the departure of one of their founders, Jin Zhicheng. The founder sold 13% of his shares for 13 and went to work for Cisco.

Half a year later, Cai Haoyu and the three of them made their first cute little girl game "Honkai". However, the game was not popular, with only 3000 downloads in a month.

In 2012, three teenagers founded MiHoYo with passion and an interest-free loan of 10 yuan provided by the Magic City Science and Technology Innovation Center.

The company's development is not smooth, and miHoYo's financing is not easy.

At that time, Two-dimensional was relatively niche in China, smartphones were not yet popular, and the value of mobile games was not noticed by investors.

After many twists and turns, MiHoYo finally received 100 million angel round investment, and the investor was Chen Tao, CEO of Sikai Company.

But the founding team of MiHoYo with 100 million did not expect that this would be their only financing.

Chen Tao would never have imagined that this 100 million would become a "fully automatic escalator" for him to climb onto the rich list in the future.

In 2022, Chen Tao ranked 202st on the "New Fortune 500 Rich List" with a net worth of 231 billion yuan.

MiHoYo's first hit was "Honkai Academy".

However, the initial "Honkai" data performance was not ideal.

In 2013, the most difficult time was for founder Liu Wei, who even had to wear original art and customer service.

However, it was his experience in customer service that allowed him to get close to players and understand user needs.

In the spring of 2014, "Honkai Academy 2" grossed over 1000 million yuan a month after its launch, with revenue of 9500 million yuan that year.

In 2015, domestic animation exploded. MiHoYo introduced "Honkai Academy 2" as an agent on Station B, which quickly became popular in the ACG circle. Revenue increased to 1.7 million yuan, an increase of 180%.

In 2017, domestic Two-dimensional mobile games ushered in the first explosion. Taking this opportunity, the revenue of "Honkai Impact 3" launched by MiHoYo reached 10 billion yuan.

This was a major turning point in MiHoYo's success.

The success of the "Honkai Impact" series allowed MiHoYo to accumulate bullets and fully invest in the development of new games.

In September 2020, miHoYo released the open world game "Genshin Impact" on multiple platforms around the world.

Unexpectedly, when this game, which took 3 years and cost nearly [-] million US dollars, was first released, it ushered in a storm of negative reviews.

On many platforms, "Genshin Impact" has received extremely low scores.

However, as the game continued to be updated, players quickly became obsessed with the game, and "Genshin Impact" eventually gained countless loyal fans.

Just like a comment from a player on Zhihu: "As a player with more than 20 years of gaming experience, I once sneered at Genshin Impact."

"After returning to the game, I found that the game has more and more content, and every update is a new breakthrough. They really understand the game and understand the players."

How quickly did "Genshin Impact" explode in popularity?

We must know that it took Xunteng's cash king "Honor of Kings" 10 months to break through the US$18 billion mark in mobile terminal revenue.

"Genshin Impact" only took six months.

As of May 2022, the total revenue of "Genshin Impact" has exceeded 5 billion yuan in the App Store and Google Play alone.

There are rumors that after the launch of "Genshin Impact", Xunteng offered very generous conditions to invest in miHoYo, but was rejected.

Coincidentally, people familiar with the matter said that in 2020, ByteDance also made an acquisition invitation to MiHoYo, with the amount being a quarter of ByteDance's valuation at the time (US$1000 billion at the time).

But for a company with profits of tens of billions, no matter how high the price is, it seems to be of no use.

The real version of "I used to be indifferent to you, but now you can't reach me".

Many well-known investment tycoons have said, "My biggest regret since starting my career is missing out on MiHoYo."

Interestingly, when Xu Litao was reborn, miHoYo had not yet been launched.

However, some professionals estimate that MiHoYo’s market value is around US$800 billion to US$1200 billion.

After waiting in line for three years, the listing failed. In September 2020, MiHoYo voluntarily withdrew its listing application.

In March 2017, MiHoYo submitted its IPO application for a public prospectus for the first time. At that time, the company planned to raise 3 billion yuan.

In January 2018, MiHoYo updated its prospectus and increased the fundraising scale to 1 billion yuan.

However, MiHoYo also received initial feedback from the China Securities Regulatory Commission that month. If MiHoYo goes public, there may be a crisis.

Because Xunteng has always wanted to acquire MiHoYo before, and even offered unprecedented conditions, as long as it has shares and will not participate in any management.

At that time, with MiHoYo's size, it is very likely that it will be taken advantage of by the stock market, and it may go bankrupt or be acquired.

Xu Litao sighed in his heart, if MiHoYo had been on the market at that time, it would probably have been sniped, and there would be no subsequent legend.

Seeing that Xu Litao had not spoken for a long time, Zhou Run reminded him in a low voice:

"Boss, why don't you think about it again?"

"I'm going to do a survey on this game studio first to see if there is investment potential."

"Yes, boss, it's better to be on the safe side."

"Mr. Zhou is right."

"There's no need to be in such a hurry."

Jiang Shan, Liu Kai and Zhang Xiuhong also echoed the advice to persuade Xu Litao to think twice before acting.

They were afraid that when Xu Litao saw that his investment failed, he would be angry that they did not dissuade him at the time, which would bring disaster to Chiyu.

But Xu Litao did not listen to any of their suggestions and made a decisive decision.

"You don't need to say anything, I've made up my mind! This matter is settled."

"Mr. Zhou, you are personally responsible for this matter. No matter what the cost, you must win MiHoYo Studio for me."

Xu Litao looked at Zhou Run seriously and said.

"I have only two requirements. First, the three founders Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao must be retained by me."

"Second, Chentao Investment's minimum shareholding is 70%. This is my bottom line."

Zhou Run saw what Xu Litao said seriously and did not dare to neglect. He nodded seriously and assured:

"Yes, boss, don't worry, I will definitely do what you say."

"Well, you should handle this matter as soon as possible, and then fully support the development of MiHoYo. We should not interfere too much, do you understand?"

Xu Litao warned that they, Zhou Run and other laymen, would interfere with MiHoYo's trajectory by pointing fingers.

"Understood, boss! We only want shares and will not participate in any management."

Zhou Run immediately understood what Xu Litao meant.

"The recruitment of people in the company will be left to Zhang Xiuhong and you three first. Recruit all the people as soon as possible. When Mr. Zhou comes back, I will take you to the stock market to make a profit."

"Yes, boss!"

Zhang Xiuhong and the others responded loudly.

"By the way, Mr. Zhou, how much money is left in the company account?"

Xu Litao asked Zhou Run that at that time, Zhou Run was given 4 million to acquire Tesla shares and establish the company.

"Excluding the 2 million used to acquire Tesla shares, the company now has 1 million remaining funds."

Zhou Run replied without any hesitation that all the money he spent was reported to Xu Litao and was well documented.

Xu Litao nodded, but couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "The money is really not spent. There are only more than 1 million left, and I still have 5000 million on hand."

"But later on, the development of the company, the establishment of a charity fund, and the opening of branches of the milk tea shop all require money. It is not enough. It seems that we have to find a way to make more money."

Thinking of this, Xu Litao said to Zhou Run calmly:

"There are several big projects to come, and this amount of money is not enough. I will invest another amount of money into the company account in the future."

"Okay, everything has been explained. It's time for me to leave. I'll leave you to worry about the company's affairs later on. Work hard and I won't treat you badly."

After casually drawing a few large cakes, Xu Litao left the company with Zhou Run and others respectfully seeing him off.

Driving a cool and stylish black Lafa, Xu Litao drove slowly on the road, thinking about how to make money.

In my memory, there were no good projects in the stock market and futures during this period, and other ways to make money, real estate and land, could not be realized immediately.

It takes too long, and Xu Litao can't wait.

"Huh? How about going to Panjiayuan, the capital city?"

Xu Litao thought of his master-level [Appraisal] skills. At this time, Panjiayuan's antique market was a very good way to make money.

As long as you can find good stuff, tens of millions is nothing.

Just when Xu Litao thought this was a good idea, someone from the residents in front of him shouted for help downstairs.

"Oh my God! Help! The kid is going to fall!"

"Come and help!"

"Someone! Help!"

……

Pedestrians rushed over one after another. Seeing this, Xu Litao hurriedly stopped the car on the side of the road and ran over to check the situation.

Following the gaze of the crowd, Xu Litao saw at a glance a five or six-year-old child on the third floor, hanging dangerously on the anti-theft net outside the window.

The whole body fell outside, only the head and hands were still inside, which prevented it from falling.

However, this situation is too pessimistic. The child will definitely not be able to hold on for long. If he falls from such a high place, he will be in danger.

"Call the police!"

……