The Matrix was a science fiction action film from the United States that premiered in 1999.
It tells the story of a programmer named Neo who suddenly discovers that the world he lives in is a simulation.
Under Morpheus's guidance, Neo returns to true reality, escaping The Matrix.
Only then did Neo realize that he had always been living in a virtual world.
He joins forces with a group of rebels, attempting to expose the truth of The Matrix and free those trapped within it.
Aoki Haruhi personally loves The Matrix trilogy because it deeply implants the fear of "Brain in a Vat" and seriously discusses interesting and unsettling topics such as "Robot Apocalypse" and human destiny.
The special effects and action scenes in The Matrix were cutting-edge at the time, especially the astonishing "bullet time" shots.
These innovative visual effects not only amazed the audience but also opened up new possibilities for future filmmaking.
Aoki Haruhi plans to incorporate its Link Time—oh, no, bullet time or slow-motion mechanism—into the game, instead of using dazzling combat camera work.
The so-called bullet time means that all surrounding enemies and the bullets they fire slow down, but the protagonist's actions are not affected in any way.
In fact, achieving this level will make the experience uniquely flavorful.
Aoki Haruhi is preparing to have Ichihashi Fumie arrange things once he returns to Moon River; he will first write the initial script outline and hand it over to her.
There should still be enough time now; he needs to register the project first.
Aoki Haruhi is fully confident in adapting The Matrix into an action game.
With bullet time integrated into the game, along with cool fighting moves, it will surely become a classic third-person action game.
And the movie itself has strong topicality; as long as the filming goes smoothly, coupled with Pokeni Company's technology, there is no reason for it to fail.
Whether the movie is released first or the game is released first, Aoki Haruhi feels it doesn't matter; both can create a chemical reaction.
To some extent, releasing the first movie to build momentum, and then alternating with the game release, might be the best rhythm.
It can also continuously maintain popularity.
However, the specific details will have to wait until Aoki Haruhi returns and holds a meeting with Nao Tsuda and Ichihashi Fumie to discuss and decide.
...
Aoki Haruhi sat in the exhibition area for a while, then wandered around the entire E3 exhibition hall.
There were many game companies, many of which he had heard of and loved before, but some had also disappeared into the river of history for various reasons.
For example, Sega, which his uncle liked very much.
And Westwood, which developed real-time strategy games very early on, and could even be called the overlord in this field.
Unfortunately, due to the terrifying power of the River Crab Divine Beast, it was impossible to make the Red Alert and Command & Conquer series; otherwise, Aoki Haruhi would have been very willing to take over the On the verge of bankruptcy (on the verge of bankruptcy) Westwood.
The scene was chaotic, and Aoki Haruhi stood with his hands in his pockets, cool as if he had detached himself from the entire real world, becoming a unique and independent existence.
It was as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.
At this moment, Aoki Haruhi also felt a bit dazed, feeling like a time traveler rather than a participant; time delivered the past to him in a real way, not just through text or video materials.
Aoki Haruhi felt like he had walked into an old photograph, only now everything he saw, heard, and experienced before his eyes was so real.
He had just thought of The Matrix, and in a trance, it was as if he had walked into a simulated world.
However, Aoki Haruhi stopped.
Time froze, and the sight before him pulled him back from that sense of detachment.
The feeling of being grounded.
Everything before him suddenly became real again: the lights, the crowd, the noise, all came back at once.
The old photograph gradually sharpened and then became reality.
In the exhibition area ahead, a small company named Blizzard was promoting their new game for the year—
starcraft.
They also prepared several computers for trial play.
Aoki Haruhi looked up and saw that the young people standing in the exhibition area all had fluffy hair and sparkling eyes.
He wasn't sure if these people were the founders of Blizzard, so he went up and chatted with them.
After introducing themselves, Aoki Haruhi learned that they were indeed the founders of Blizzard.
One was named Allen Adham, one was Mike Morhaime, and another was Frank Pearce.
Seeing Aoki Haruhi's arrival, they were all a bit nervous.
They might not have known him before, but after the previous pre-show press conference, Aoki Haruhi had left a deep impression on everyone.
The most crucial thing was—
This was the boss of Pokeni Company.
Pokeni's games were booming and well-known in Europe and America, especially Pokémon; they were still playing it themselves.
"We are all Pokeni Company players, actually. I personally love The Witcher, especially this year's the witcher 2. The story and gameplay of Demons Egg truly refreshed my understanding of game," said Mike Morhaime, who had short hair.
They were all quite talkative, especially Mike.
From a social perspective, Mike seemed to be the backbone of the group.
"Actually, I'm also a Blizzard player," Aoki Haruhi said.
"What? Really?"
They looked at each other and laughed.
It seemed unlikely. Blizzard specialized in developing PC real-time strategy games, which were very different from the games developed by Pokeni Company. It seemed improbable that a Japanese person from overseas would have access to warcraft.
"It's true," Aoki Haruhi said with a smile and nodded. "I played warcraft very well, and I often discussed it with my friends around me, and we often had 1v1 duels."
Aoki Haruhi stated that everything he said was true, only that it was during his university days in his previous life.
And the version he dueled on was already Frozen Throne.
Hearing Aoki Haruhi eloquently recount details from warcraft and various strategies they hadn't even thought of themselves—
For example, controlling peasants to block positions, airship harassment, or a tower rush to directly destroy the opponent's base—it was simply astonishing.
They looked at each other: Can our game produce so many tricky maneuvers?
After about half an hour of conversation, they were thoroughly convinced that Aoki Haruhi was a Blizzard player.
"How is this new game?" Aoki Haruhi raised his chin, his eyes fixed on the computer screen next to him.
A player was playing Zerg.
The three founders exchanged glances, then smiled a little awkwardly.
"To be honest, the game's sales were lower than we expected."
"Last year, we produced and released starcraft," Mike said, "but it was a direct flop, with players complaining that it was no different from warcraft 2.
So we spent a year re-developing and re-making starcraft.
We made the game into a purer strategy game, testing players' art of command and large-scale troop combat."
The biggest difference between starcraft and the warcraft series actually lies in this: in warcraft, every unit is precious, and the value provided by a soldier is far greater than that of a soldier in warcraft. Moreover, warcraft has heroes, which makes it seem richer, but it demands more meticulous control over each unit from players.
starcraft, on the other hand, leans more towards team combat, requiring both a broad perspective and operational skill, but it doesn't demand the minute control over every single unit as in warcraft.
"Oh, oh." After hearing their explanation, Aoki Haruhi realized that starcraft had actually flopped before.
Wait.
He keenly sniffed out an opportunity—
In other words, Blizzard's financial situation isn't as good as he imagined?
The only thing they can really show off is warcraft?
A thought emerged from Aoki Haruhi's heart: I've already bought half of Blizzard, why not buy the other half?
"By the way, are you interested in joining Pokeni Company?"
Aoki Haruhi directly extended an olive branch.
"What?!"
The founders of Blizzard were a bit bewildered, wondering if this Japanese person had said the wrong words?
"It's to cooperate with Pokeni Company, not to join Pokeni Company, right?" Mike Morhaime asked cautiously.
"No, what I mean is," Aoki Haruhi paused, then said with a smile, "I want to buy Blizzard."
"Huh?!"
The three young men were a bit dazed.
After Aoki Haruhi's serious explanation, they finally realized a terrifying problem—
The boss of Pokeni Company was serious!
"After we buy it, we won't interfere with your game development and production, and Pokeni Company has ample funds, which can fully support Blizzard's future development content," Aoki Haruhi said with a smile.
The few of them lowered their heads, looking troubled.
"Otherwise, let's go to my hotel later and have a good talk," Aoki Haruhi had Takahashi Kazuma write down their hotel address and room number and hand it to Mike Morhaime.
It might be difficult to explain everything clearly at the E3 site for a while, so Aoki Haruhi decided to invite them to the hotel.
...
The next day, around 2 PM, the three arrived on time.
Aoki Haruhi and Takahashi Kazuma sat on the bed in the room and invited them to sit down as well.
"Sorry, the room is a bit small, it's a standard room. We didn't expect to discuss such a big deal at first, otherwise, we would have booked a presidential suite."
Aoki Haruhi smiled, took a bottle of red wine from the mini-fridge, and poured a glass for everyone.
Everyone was actually about the same age. Mike Morhaime looked a few years younger than Aoki Haruhi, but Americans generally look more mature than their actual age.
"Actually, it's like this," the three sat on the sofa, hesitating for a long time, and finally, Mike took the initiative to speak, saying, "We are very grateful for Mr. Aoki's invitation. For us, it's enough as long as we can do what we like.
Being able to make games we love and having ample funds is indeed our dream."
"But what?" Aoki Haruhi's heart skipped a beat.
Often, such words are followed by a "but."
"But, we are very sorry to say that our company has already been sold," Mike said awkwardly, "If Pokeni Company wants to acquire it, you might have to talk to our parent company."
This experience was quite complex to explain.
They talked for a long time before Aoki Haruhi finally understood—
It turned out that Blizzard was acquired by the American educational software developer Davidson & Associates in February 1994 for a then-astonishing price of 6.75 million US dollars.
Then, by February of last year, to expand its business into interactive entertainment, a company called CUC acquired Xue Leishan for an exaggerated price of 1.5 billion US dollars, and also acquired D&A Company's stock for 1.8 billion US dollars.
By July of last year, after CUC completed the acquisition, CUC Software was formed around D&A as its core.
In other words, Blizzard was packaged and sold to CUC.
Strictly speaking, D&A was Blizzard's first father, then the father and son were sold together to CUC, and now CUC has become Blizzard's grandfather.
At the same time, after the integration was completed, Blizzard could only be considered a sub-studio under CUC Software, which is part of CUC.
It was roughly like that.
"So if you want to buy Blizzard, you'll have to negotiate with CUC."
Mike smiled, "Actually, we could have just not come to reply, but our conversation with Mr. Aoki yesterday made us feel very pleasant.
For us, whether it's CUC or D&A, they are both good parent companies. They provide money and also promise not to interfere with our development.
We actually think it's pretty good."
Alright.
It was good enough to clearly know the attitude of the Blizzard team.
After Aoki Haruhi saw them off, he felt like his head was splitting.
Blizzard's fate...
It was essentially a freebie, something anyone could package and take away.
Aoki Haruhi frowned. What if Pokeni Company bought CUC?
Then what would Blizzard call us?!
Great-grandfather?
...
It seemed quite troublesome. Unfortunately, Blizzard was not in control of its own destiny right now, otherwise, a single deal would have settled it.
However—
Since he was already here, why not take this opportunity to handle everything?
So Aoki Haruhi, accompanied by Takahashi Kazuma, first made an appointment with CUC and then personally visited them.
The current Chairman and CEO of CUC was an old man over fifty, looking very energetic, named Walter Forbes.
After a brief introduction, both sides exchanged business cards and information, and after getting to know each other, Walter invited the two to the CEO's office for negotiations.
Walter was somewhat surprised by Aoki Haruhi's arrival.
The name Aoki Haruhi might be a bit unfamiliar, but the name Pokeni Company was now very well-known to Walter.
Anyone involved in the Europe and America electronic game market would have heard of Pokeni Company and understood its games.
Aoki Haruhi gave a brief introduction, then directly stated his purpose, "We hope to acquire your company's Blizzard studio. Does your company have any price requirements?"
Hearing Aoki Haruhi's words, Walter directly laughed out loud.
"Sorry, if you want to buy CUC Software, we might consider it, but to buy Blizzard alone, we probably don't have that intention."
"Then..." Aoki Haruhi gritted his teeth and asked, "If I want to buy CUC Software, how much would it cost?"
"Excuse my rudeness, but I think you might not have enough funds to buy it. If you really want to know, the suggested price I'm giving is 4 billion US dollars."
Beside him, Takahashi Kazuma almost spat out his water.
What?!
It actually cost as much as 4 billion US dollars?!
CUC alone spent 1.8 billion US dollars just to acquire D&A, and now the entire CUC Software has directly integrated D&A and Xue Leishan, and is waiting for them to make money, so it's not in a hurry to sell.
Without financial pressure, it was natural to demand a certain premium.
He had initially thought that this young boss in front of him was joking, but he didn't expect Aoki Haruhi to be so serious, which made him feel a bit awkward.
...
Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but gasp.
Although Pokeni Company seemed to earn a lot, in reality, all game sales had to be split with Sony or Sega and distributors first, and in addition, there were taxes and so on.
Besides that, a large number of employees had to be supported.
Utilities, equipment, plus the operation of Moon River...
The funds Pokeni Company could currently access were actually quite limited. Aoki Haruhi estimated it himself to be around 2 billion US dollars.
It was simply impossible to take over CUC Software.
Walter was completely asking for an exorbitant price.
It seemed this guy had no intention of selling his software company.
Good heavens, if he had known, he should have acquired Blizzard a few years ago.
Acquiring Blizzard wasn't just about valuing their company's talent; more importantly, it was for the warcraft and starcraft IPs that Blizzard owned.
He originally thought that building his own car was quite troublesome, but now it seemed that the cost of direct purchase was too high.
Forget it, forget it, I'll just go back to my Diablo and Eternal Ashes.
The Diablo worldview was a bit weak, but it was still quite famous.
The Eternal Ashes worldview was grand, and expanding Eternal Ashes might not be worse than warcraft.
"In that case, then..."
Aoki Haruhi stood up and placed one of his business cards on the table, "If you want to sell Blizzard in the future, I'm still interested. Please contact us then.
But, I definitely can't afford such a high price."
The current Blizzard had actually lost the big leg of Diablo; a limping Blizzard could only bounce around with warcraft and starcraft. How high could the price of such a company be?
But buying the entire CUC Software as a package was indeed a bit exaggerated.
Aoki Haruhi could only lament that he had come at the wrong time. The current Blizzard was like the innermost layer of a Russian nesting doll; it already had too many fathers on the outside.
He only wanted to buy Blizzard, but ended up having to buy his father and grandfather as well. Aoki Haruhi felt that he wasn't that foolish.
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