Manchester United's effect is indeed very strong.

During this period, Zhou Buqi met five or six British political figures. The most powerful ones were the British Prime Minister and the Minister of Sports. He mainly talked about sports with the Minister of Sports, and talked more with the Prime Minister, including many things.

Cooperation in this regard mainly involves investment.

Zhou Buqi also stated that in the next five years, he will lead some Internet companies to invest at least US$300 million to US$500 million in the UK to develop the Internet market here.

The overall level of the Internet environment in the UK is very poor, and it feels worse than Japan.

All powerful companies and talented people in the industry came back from Silicon Valley. They couldn't survive in Silicon Valley, so they returned to the UK to start their own businesses.

This is the disadvantage of being too open.

There is no barrier between the United States and the United Kingdom, and even the language and culture are similar. This has led to most of the outstanding British IT talents to go to Silicon Valley.

It is human nature for people to walk to higher places.

The rapid rise and development of the domestic Internet industry is closely related to the country's general policies. The gap between China and the United States is too great, and there are many barriers to going abroad, which is very inconvenient. Only a very small number of people can go out, and the vast majority

Some people can only passively stay in the country.

If there are people, there will be basic conditions for development.

Now Zhu Jun has discovered that the UK is focusing on developing the game industry, which is equivalent to doing Zhou Buqi a big favor.

A gentleman should make a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold.

Zhou Buqi promised Prime Minister Brown that he would take the lead in investing US$300-500 million in the British Internet industry in the next five years. It is best if he can do it.

US$300 million is not a small sum, and given the strength of the UK's Internet industry, it may not be possible to spend it even if you have the money.

It's a good thing that Zhu Jun is willing to come forward.

The game studio invested by The9 in the UK is also equivalent to the investment led by Zhou Buqi.

What a coincidence!

Zhou Buqi had just finished chatting with Zhu Jun about investing in games. On the other hand, he received an invitation from the British Home Secretary. He wanted to talk specifically about the new development direction of the game industry and invited him to London.

The wave of the Internet cannot be stopped, and the British authorities are also working hard to catch up. Due to limitations of their own strength, they cannot follow up comprehensively like in China. They can only pick a key industry to focus on.

The industry chosen by the UK is gaming.

Zhou Buqi did not hesitate and called Zhu Jun, taking Bao Shan, Sun Wanran and Feng Muer's two secretaries, and flew to London together. Xu Liangjie happened to be coming from China to run Farfetch's financing project, so he happened to bring him with him.

.

Officials on the British side have little authority and status, and the talks are not formal at all. There are no square table negotiation seats in the auditorium, nor two rows of sofas.

Just like Zhou Buqi usually discussing cooperation with colleagues in the industry, he was sitting on the sofa in the office, casually drinking tea and chatting with his legs crossed.

What we talked about was not always about serious matters. We talked about everything while laughing and joking.

Even the Minister of the Interior asked Zhou Buqi if he had a family. He said that his granddaughter was in her third year at Oxford University this year, studying law, and she hoped to introduce him to him...

The temptation is not small!

She is the daughter of an earl.

If Zhou Buqi hadn't had amazing determination and saw a photo of their family on Mr. Earl's desk and keenly noticed his freckled-faced and mediocre-looking daughter, he might have followed suit.

If you want to talk about cooperation, you must first explain the British game industry clearly. Only by planting plane trees can you attract the golden phoenix. When the British Empire has declined like this, what plane trees do you have?

The person who gave a detailed explanation was an official in charge of the technology industry named Rodney. This guy has a lot of background. He was the vice president of Microsoft two years ago. He was later poached by the British cabinet and became a senior official.

"The British game industry has great development prospects, second only to Silicon Valley in the world."

Rodney was very confident and presented his arguments right away.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said nothing, waiting for his arguments.

Rodney smiled and said: "Zhou, I heard that you also have an industry in Hollywood? Are you an important investor in Marvel?"

Zhou Buqi nodded, "Yes."

Rodney smiled and said: "That's good, it means we have been cooperating in this field for many years."

"Oh?" Zhou Buqi was slightly startled and didn't quite understand, "How do you say that?"

Rodney said: "The answer is Hollywood."

Zhou Buqi was confused.

Rodney slowly explained, talking about the history of the development of the British film and television industry, "There are no barriers between Britain and the United States, which has led to many of our country's outstanding talents going to the United States. Including the greatest actors in film and television,

Vivien Leigh, Chaplin, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, they all came from the UK. It can’t be helped, the United States has Hollywood, which is the place that all actors dream of.”

"How to solve it?"

Zhou Buqi asked curiously.

Yes, the two things are really similar. Excellent British actors have all gone to Hollywood, and British game Internet IT talents have all gone to Silicon Valley.

Rodney said: "We have chosen a very important film and television direction, and guided by various policies such as tax rebates and subsidies to attract Hollywood products."

"In which way?"

"Special Effects Industry."

"oh……"

Zhou Buqi vaguely remembered something. When he was chatting with many big shots and producers in Hollywood, he seemed to have heard them say that the crew had gone to England.

Rodney said: "Tax rebates for the film industry have been proposed for many years. The main purpose is to attract investment in film projects through tax rebates, thereby creating jobs, supporting micro-enterprise operations, expanding the tax base, and driving contributions from many industries such as tourism. However, other than

The intensity of tax rebates in other countries is far less than that in the UK.”

When Zhou Buqi was in Hollywood, he heard someone say it, and he understood it quite well. “It is a recognized fact that the film industry can stimulate consumption and drive tax revenue. However, all parties are still unsure whether film shooting and production can boost the local economy by more than the amount of tax rebates.”

There are many debates. States in the United States have different attitudes towards this, and the tax rebate amount is not high."

Rodney curled his lips, "That's because they lack a unified long-term governing idea."

Zhou Buqi asked: "How to say?"

Rodney said: "In addition to the above-mentioned functions, the British film tax rebate policy also has the most important point of supporting the development of the UK's local 'creative industries'."

"Creative industries..."

Zhou Buqi had a sudden enlightenment.

The term "creative industry" was coined by the British. Unexpectedly, it did not originally come from the game industry, but from the film and television industry.

yes!

Both have the same purpose!

There is a very important basic condition for making games - special effects graphics.

The technology and creative thinking used behind this are almost the same as creating special effects for movies, but they are not as high-end as movie special effects.

As long as the UK comes up with the best tax rebate policy in the world and brings all the special effects parts of Hollywood blockbusters to the UK, it can start a local special effects industry. And this industry may be better developed into a creative industry.

Provide infrastructure, technical services and talent guarantee for the Internet-related game industry.

The UK can even produce special effects for Hollywood blockbusters, let alone game special effects.

This strategic significance is much more important than solving a certain proportion of employment, tourism revenue, and supporting micro-enterprises through film tax rebates.

This is a large technology industry, which to some extent represents the industrial strength of a country.

Rodney further explained, "In the past two decades, the UK has given very strong support to the film tax rebate industry. Almost all Hollywood commercial blockbusters have British special effects studios behind them."

Zhu Jun couldn't help but ask: "Where is Industrial Light and Magic? I heard about this..."

Rodney was not embarrassed, and said calmly: "The top special effects shots must be produced by local special effects companies in the United States. But the quotations from American special effects companies are too high, and the tax rebates are too weak. General special effects shots

, it can be completely outsourced to British companies. For example, in the "Star Wars" series and the recently popular Marvel movie "Iron Man", nearly half of the special effects shots are produced by British special effects companies."

No wonder he said that the two parties have been cooperating for many years.

It turns out that many special effects shots for Marvel's commercial blockbusters were produced in the UK.

When it comes to this, Zhou Buqi is an expert, saying: "The difficulty of special effects for movies is far greater than that of game special effects. As long as British special effects companies can participate in the production of special effects shots for Hollywood blockbusters, even the simplest special effects pictures, this technology

The level is enough to surpass all games in the world. From this perspective, the UK already has the most basic technical conditions for developing the game industry."

Rodney was very happy, "Yes, Mr. Zhou has contacts with Silicon Valley and Hollywood, you should know best! We are ready for the basic conditions. We are also studying the support policies for the game industry and will discuss them in detail.

It will be introduced one after another.”

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "It seems that the game industry is indeed a good development direction. I told Mr. Zhu Jun yesterday that I would come here to invest and set up some game studios to make good use of the 'creative industry' here.

resources to develop the game industry.”

Now, the situation is very clear.

Judging from logic, the layout of the British game industry has been consistent for decades. There is no reason for poor development.

From this point of view, it may be that not only Ninetowns is a game company coming to invest. Changyou, which is cooperating with Sohu and Ziweixing, can also contribute part of the money to make games in the UK.

The development of the domestic game industry is still very lagging behind.

The main reason is that the technology is not good enough.

It can be seen from just a few words that domestic blockbusters have to go to South Korea to produce special effects, and local special effects companies cannot use them at all. It can also be seen from this that exquisite games such as "Call of Duty" and "Total War"
Chapter completed!