Shanda and Wemade jointly upgraded Legend 2 for the first time in two years. This is an unremarkable news, but it is also a news that should be paid enough attention to.
On June 29th, 20001year, Shanda and Actoz signed the operation authorization agreement for Legend 2. 200 1 1 1, legend 2
"Start charging. At this time, we don't know the company we founded. In July 2002, Shanda signed a tripartite supplementary agreement with Wemade and Actoz in Shanghai, stipulating that "Shanda will pay the payment for April at the latest by the end of July". This is the first time that Wemade has appeared in our field of vision, and it is also the first time that the problem of Shanda's arrears in sharing fees has surfaced. But the outside world still doesn't know the relationship between Shanda, Actoz and Wemade. On June 24, 2003, Actoz unilaterally announced the termination of the licensing agreement with Shanda Legend. On June 365438+1October 3 1 in 2003, Shanda responded strongly and vowed to operate Legend 2 independently. On February 6th, 2003, Wemade published a rebuttal to the statement of Shanda 65438+1October 3rd1in its official website. Wemade has officially stepped onto the front desk. On February 17, 2003, Shanda announced that it would launch its own New Legend (Legendary World), and users of Legend 2 could switch to New Legend.
After many dazzling exchanges of fire, we generally know that Wemade is the developer and technical supporter of Legend series games, Actoz is the overseas agent of Legend series games, and Shanda is the China operator of Legend 2. Shanda's operating income should be divided with Actoz, and Actoz should be divided with Wemade. At that time, Shanda was already the largest online game operator in China, while Actoz was a listed company in Kosdaq, South Korea, and Wemade was just a small Korean technology company focusing on game development.
In fact, in the dispute with Shanda, Actoz has been indecisive and indecisive. Wemade seems to have nothing to hide. While shouting the slogan "I would rather die than cooperate with Shanda", it gave Guangtong the operation right of Legend 3 that Shanda dreamed of, which completely offended Shanda and made Guangtong the most hated competitor of Shanda. So, later Actoz talked with Shanda, and Wemade just talked about it and was tough to the end. At the end of September 2003, Wemade formally sued Shanda for infringing intellectual property rights in Beijing.
However, with the growing power of Shanda, Actoz finally chose to compromise and got the arrears of sharing fees. On May 13 this year, Shanda was listed on NASDAQ. Subsequently, the stock price rose all the way and became the Internet stock with the highest market value in China. 165438+1On October 30th, Shanda acquired 28.96% of Actoz shares in cash of 910.7 million USD, becoming the largest shareholder of the company. In this way, Shanda not only settled the dispute with Actoz once and for all, but also indirectly held the shares of Wemade through Actoz, because Actoz holds 40% of the shares of we made and enjoys the online game sharing rights of WeMade.
Although Wemade claims that Shanda's holding Actoz will not affect the agency status of Legend 2 and Legend 3 in China, we all know that Shanda has tightened the pockets of its competitors.
Prior to this, the cooperation between Guangtong and Wemade seemed seamless and cooperated very well. Legend 3 relies on the powerful inertia of Legend 2, which makes the little-known Guangtong one of the largest online game operators in China and one of Shanda's strongest competitors in terms of users, channels and Internet cafes. This situation makes Shanda feel like a thorn in his back, which is extremely uncomfortable. At the same time, Legend 2 is still the revenue pillar of Shanda, but the bad relationship with Wemade led to the game being unable to get technical support and upgrade for two years.
Actoz's big problem has been solved, and we can finally free up our hands to solve Wemade's problem. 12 On February 20th, the official website of Legend 2 released the news that Legend 2 would be upgraded grandly and quietly. Although Wemade's name was not mentioned in this news, it only said that "technicians from the Korean game development company have arrived in Shanghai". However, the photos released with the news seem to have ulterior motives, and Guangtong will not miss the meaning.
Even if Shanda won't directly break Guangtong's back road, at least Shanda has clearly told Guangtong that Wemade is not a gentleman. Yesterday was your friend, today is my guest. What matters is interest.
Chen Tianqiao's dream is to build an interactive Disney. But before that, he must stabilize the rear. After all, the China market is its foundation. Today's online game market in China is shrouded in dark clouds and surrounded by strong enemies, which is already different from two years ago. The successful listing of Ninetowns and the operation of World of Warcraft next year are making it a force that may change the pattern. EA's upcoming acquisition of Guangtong will also greatly enhance EA's strength in the China market.
This is a contest of strength. Although EA has never said that it wants to build Disney through interactive entertainment, it is not difficult to interpret its huge ambition from its insatiable acquisition. Shanda has created a legend, and it is impossible to continue to write this legend with an old legend 2. What's more, it is no longer facing some low-level players. As of today, Shanda's market value is about 2.8 billion US dollars, Netease's market value is about 65.438+06 billion US dollars, Jiucheng's market value is about 500 million US dollars, and EA's market value is about 65.438+08 billion US dollars.