The bosses of other private servers were in the same boat, all green with envy. Today, Greedy Blue Moon Legend had made a major move, and the online player counts of every other private server had dropped to varying degrees as their players all flocked to Greedy Blue Moon Legend.
There was nothing they could do. The platform belonged to them, their technology was superior, the game was fun, and updates came quickly. All the other bosses could do was drool and envy them from the sidelines. If the owners of the money tree were willing to sell, they would have to scrape together every last asset to get a share.
All they could do was wait for this wave of popularity to pass and see what happened afterward. They were jealous, but after joining this platform, their own private servers had indeed made them quite a lot of money.
If the private-server bosses were merely jealous and envious, Shanda had been utterly unable to sit still!
Shanghai, the president's office of Shanda Network.
"Boss, the Shadow attack failed. Their technical team was prepared in advance!"
Crash! A glass teacup smashed onto the floor. Chen Tianqiao's face darkened as he cursed, "A bunch of useless trash! What do we spend so much money supporting you for? Get out!"
Looking at the report in his hand titled "Private Servers Are Destroying Legend of Mir," Chen Tianqiao was furious, with a trace of frustration mixed in.
He regretted misjudging the development of private servers the previous month, especially the one called Greedy Blue Moon Legend. It had already begun affecting the development of Hot-blooded Legend of Mir.
As the other man reached the door, Chen Tianqiao called out to him. "Wait. Tell the other executives to attend an emergency meeting. Oh, and get the one from operations too—what was his name again?"
"Zhou Xiao?" Tan Qunzhao, the person in charge of technology, asked uncertainly.
"Yes, that Zhou Xiao. Have him attend the meeting too! Go!"
A few minutes later,
The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy. As everyone looked at the gloomy boss seated at the head of the table, they all seemed uneasy.
Chen Tianqiao looked at the company's group of core executives, his face as dark as water. "Why are you looking at me? Is there writing on my face? Look at the reports in your hands!"
After waiting for a while, he let them finish reading.
"Everyone has seen from the reports how great an impact private servers are having on us. Although we're still growing overall, this month's revenue has dropped by twenty percent compared to last month. That's unacceptable! We're facing a serious challenge and can no longer treat it lightly! What ideas do you have? Who will speak first?"
After reading the report, the people present began whispering among themselves, and the room grew noisy.
"Legend of Mir's growth has actually declined?"
"These private servers are a hidden threat. We need to eliminate them as soon as possible!"
"And this Greedy Blue Moon Legend—their development is far too fast."
"This is blatant copyright infringement."
"It's horrifying. They're a bunch of bloodsuckers, parasites!"
The group below complained noisily, each voicing their own gripes. Only one person offered a suggestion, and that was to call the police.
Chen Tianqiao rubbed his head, somewhat exasperated. "Those are all useless words. Do you have any solutions?"
"Uh, well..." The group looked around, hemming and hawing without being able to say anything substantive.
He looked at the people below, who knew only how to throw out problems and could not offer a single way to deal with them.
Among them were his wife, his brother-in-law, and his younger brother. Apart from the newcomers Zhou Xiao and Tan Qunzhao, they were all Chen clan relatives.
Chen Tianqiao could only suppress his anger. There was nothing he could do; he had brought this upon himself. The family-style management he advocated was a double-edged sword. On the plus side, they had no ulterior motives. They worked with great enthusiasm and efficiency for the sake of the family business.
The downside was equally obvious. The current scene had exposed it perfectly: their abilities varied widely, and their actual competence was extremely limited!
In the end, Luo Qianqian was the first to speak. "Actually, we can approach this from several angles."
Chen Tianqiao raised his eyebrows. "Oh? Go on."
"First, issue a statement on the official website calling for resistance against Legend private servers. Second, find some media outlets to hold an explanatory conference and make our position as the official Legend of Mir clear. Third—"
Before Luo Qianqian could finish, Chen Tianqiao cut her off. "Enough! Issue it on the official website? Do you think we have too many users? Once that announcement goes out, everyone in the world will know private servers exist. You'd be advertising for them! If I didn't know better, I'd think you were an undercover agent sent by them. Heh... And invite the media? Aren't you afraid of making this even bigger? Have you considered that doing this could shake our investors' confidence in us?"
Seeing the newcomer sitting silently in the corner of the conference room, Chen Tianqiao called on him directly. "Zhou Xiao, what do you think? Why don't you tell us?"
Everyone around him was his superior. Zhou Xiao stood up, walked over to the whiteboard, and wrote down several figures. He looked as though he were lecturing a group of big shots, clearly having prepared in advance.
First, the data.
Early March: 100
Early April: 300
Early May: 1,000
"What everyone saw in the report just now was the impact of private servers on our Legend of Mir. I won't say more about that. Let's look at a set of figures first. In early March, Legend private servers began to emerge. The first private server appeared in an Internet café. At that point, private servers were still just a side venture at individual Internet cafés, and there were only a few of them. Yet after merely one month, the number of private servers on the market had already exceeded one hundred.
"Now, the number has multiplied several times, spreading explosively at an extremely rapid pace. The figures may contain some errors, but the trend is undeniable. If we still don't respond..."
Swish, swish, swish! He wrote another line of figures below.
Estimated early June: 3,000+
"It can be said that wherever our Shanda Legend of Mir exists in an Internet café, private servers will inevitably exist alongside it! Everyone, this isn't alarmism. Private servers have already sprung up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain! This is our opponent. And how are private servers created? President Tan, give everyone a brief explanation."
Tan Qunzhao did not stand up. He explained, "There is only one reason private servers exist: the South Korean company Wemade suffered a source-code leak! Anyone who obtains the source code only needs to package and translate it slightly before selling it worldwide, turning it into something similar to what we have.
"They're stronger than us because they have the right to modify the code while we don't. Moreover, the barrier to setting up a private server is extremely low. With a little instruction, even someone who knows nothing about technology can do it!"
"That's right. Although we're the authorized agent for the official version, we only have the right to operate it, not modify it. The domestic laws and regulations concerning piracy are still underdeveloped, making it impossible to effectively crack down on pirated versions. So we can't eliminate private servers completely. We can only find another approach. My suggestion is simple—just three points!
"Block their development: Don't issue a statement. Send lawyers' letters directly instead. Every private server has a corresponding contact email. That's the first point. Of course, we wouldn't really sue them; the purpose would be to intimidate them.
"Strengthen ourselves: Urge the Korean side to accelerate version updates, increase Legend of Mir's game mechanics, and compete with private servers. That's the second point.
"Third, use this opportunity to pressure Wemade and see whether we can obtain the right to modify Legend of Mir, turning our passive position into an active one. Finally!"
Zhou Xiao paused, then wrote several large characters in the center of the whiteboard and circled them.
Greedy Blue Moon Legend!
Before you continue