C130: Oversea Agent

"Will Dark Souls be distributed by an oversea agent?"

When Lin Rou reported the news, Chen Xu nodded in acknowledgment.

The company that approached Neon Games was a well-known overseas distribution firm in China-Target Software. As a large-scale PC game, Dark Souls had naturally drawn the attention of overseas publishing companies.

The game's popularity in China was undeniable. Although Neon Games hadn't disclosed sales figures, third-party data companies had released their own statistics, providing a useful reference.

Moreover, the theme of Dark Souls—with its dark, magical setting—promised significant appeal in overseas markets. Concerns about the game's notorious difficulty level were minimal, as both domestic and international markets included players who enjoyed fast-paced, easy games and those who relished extreme challenges. The larger overseas player base further enhanced its potential.

"Get back to them and schedule a meeting to discuss the cooperation in detail," Chen Xu instructed Lin Rou.

Distributing through an overseas agent wasn't straightforward. Unlike Magic Mirror, which had merely launched on official overseas platforms with minimal localization, Dark Souls was a much larger project that required more comprehensive preparation.

The overseas market wasn't limited to a single country. Distribution would span multiple nations, involving various promotional channels, compliance reviews, publicity strategies, and localized adjustments—all managed by the agency. Additionally, some countries mandated that foreign games entering their markets be published through local agencies.

Neon Games lacked the infrastructure to handle these channels independently in the short term. Although the company planned to establish its own overseas distribution network in the future, partnering with a strong agency for now would maximize profits and streamline operations.

The next afternoon, Chen Xu met with the agency's representative in Neon Games' office. Sitting across the conference table, the two discussed the terms of the overseas distribution deal.

"Mr. Chen, the revenue sharing isn't an issue on our side," the representative began.

"However, we need to discuss modifications in the overseas version and the operational rights..."

However, it was interrupted when Chen Xu shook his hand: "This is the bottom line."

Hearing these words, the words that had just reached her throat were directly choked off.

On other topics, such as overseas promotion and operations, including game share ratios, the discussion had gone smoothly. It generally followed the basic standards of the industry.

However, the modification and operation rights for the overseas version had become a point of contention.

The target company wanted to gain some operational modification rights, but Chen Xu was very direct: "You are only responsible for the normal overseas agency distribution, language translation, and dubbing, and for providing your company's channels for publicity to ensure the game is launched. Just wait for the money and that's all—don't even think about managing the game."

The so-called operational modification rights are relatively simple. For instance, Dark Soul is a pure buy-out single-player game, with multiplayer just an addition.

However, if the agency publishing company believes that a free-to-play model with in-app purchases might be more suitable for the country, and if they have the rights, they can transform it into a free game, with the first charge of 6 yuan for +4 dark swords at the start.

Of course, this is an exaggeration. It is unlikely that a game company would grant such extensive rights. Typically, it is the result of negotiation between both parties, or it involves certain rights to profitable content.

What made the target company uneasy was that Chen Xu was clearly not going to offer any rights in this regard.

"As for this, President Chen, I can't decide," the person in charge of the target company said, shaking his head at Chen Xu's firm stance.

Chen Xu nodded with a smile: "It's okay, but I hope your company can give me an answer soon. After all, besides your company, several overseas distributors have also expressed interest."

Whether this was true or not didn't matter to him—he wasn't the one under pressure.

After sending off the person in charge from the target company. Chen Xu logged into the official forum of Neon Games.

Thanks to the player groups brought by the previous Three Kingdoms and JellyMan games, after the launch of Dark Soul and its promotional activities...

The number of active players on the Neon Games platform has also reached a peak.

Chen Xu has always attached great importance to the community forum of Neon Games. He also has set up a department to operate this function independently.

After all, in the early days when the number of games on the Neon game platform itself was small, adopting this kind of social forum operation was one of the best ways to cultivate user stickiness.

From the point of view of the effect, the initial effect is also noticed.

In the forum section of Dark Soul, players are still talking more about various strategies, play styles, and routines.

In addition, what makes Chen Xu happier, is that the creative workshop that was opened before, and some players have already made corresponding MODs.

The most downloaded is a text MOD, which turns the [You are dead] after the player's death into [You are a real dish].

In addition, there are some sound effects mods, which replace the more eerie mods of the underground prison.

Of course, the MODs that can pass through the official creative workshop will not affect the game balance.

If you do not want to go through the creative workshop, players need to back up a separate archive to play in offline mode.

Otherwise, it will be detected when entering the network line, and it will be judged as cheating and assigned to a special server.

However, there is a MOD post that makes Chen Xu a little interested.

Because Dark Soul also opened the creative workshop, many players in this post are discussing with their brains, what interesting MODs may appear in Dark Soul in the future.

Although there are quite a lot of people who are currently participating in the discussion, they don't even understand the content of the game themselves, let alone the customs clearance, and they can't even enter the high walls of Lothric.

But it does not prevent these players from imagining Dark Soul.

Among them, Chen Xu saw a more interesting proposal, that is, if all the bosses and mobs in Dark Soul were immediately followed, wouldn't it be very interesting.

For example, in the Ash Graveyard, the player is not facing Ash Gouda with a spiral sword, but the hero Guda in an unowned cemetery. Isn't that very exciting?

There are also changes to the weapons of the BOSS. For example, the halberd in Guda's hand is missing. Guda can only use his kicks and palms to fight throughout the whole process. How exciting!

Of course, it's more of the players' imaginations, some of which are completely unrealizable, but it gave Chen Xu some ideas.