"Today's my lucky day."
William knocked over the tiles again—self-draw, and another win.
The other two players at the table looked sour. From the moment they sat down, it had basically been William putting on a one-man show.
Seeing the pain on their faces, William suggested, "How about we take a break?"
Tristan wiped his hands. "Alright, let's take a break."
"Phew." Vince finally let out a sigh.
"Oh right, just transfer your money to Cynthia later and have her pass it to me." William wasn't generous enough to forgive tens of thousands in debt. Besides, this way he could also make Cynthia happy—two birds with one stone.
"Uh…"
Vince had thought William was just playing around, maybe even joking. But clearly, he was wrong.
"You'll pay, right?"
"Y-yeah, of course."
"Then I'm not worried."
William took the glass of water Cynthia handed him and drank it with satisfaction.
After sitting on the sofa for a few minutes, Eileen walked over. "Our president would like everyone to move to the meeting room."
Time to talk business.
Now dressed in fresh clothes, Tristan sat at the head of the long table. Everyone they had seen earlier at the breakfast table was here too. William's group had seats near the door.
"Please, have a seat."
"Mahjong has always been a part of our cultural heritage. Thanks to the efforts of many people, we now have branches in multiple countries and cultural regions, with quite a bit of popularity in each place. You could say that almost no one in the world hasn't heard of mahjong, and a good number have learned and mastered it."
"Although we've held tournaments in different regions, because of travel restrictions, we've never been able to hold a large cross-regional event."
As Tristan spoke, Eileen operated the projector screen.
The slides clearly explained his idea: cross-regional meant cross-cultural. And exchanges between cultural regions only happened at certain times—every five years there would be a global cultural exchange conference.
Before that, traveling to another cultural region required special permits. Even foreign students returning home needed approval, which was very inconvenient.
By now, Tristan's goal was obvious. Technically, there was no real difficulty—as long as server operations were stable, nothing else needed much worry. If they had to make changes to the game, it would only be adding more play styles.
"Globalization is something everyone hopes for." Vince looked thoughtful. "But to make it happen, it'll take cooperation from many sides."
"Of course. You'll have the full support of our association, and we'll also help you connect with the relevant departments."
It sounded like Tristan had everything prepared.
Vince glanced at William, then looked back at Tristan. "Then…"
Tristan gave a small smile and glanced at Eileen.
She switched to the next slide and explained, "This is the online data for Happy Mahjong as of 10 a.m."
"Even without early promotion, user retention has been very high. After Mr. William posted his play, the number of active players shot up, but retention stayed the same. That shows players really like this game—and also shows their recognition of our traditional culture."
"From the current trend, I think that as long as we promote it well, in less than a week, every WeChat user in the will be a Happy Mahjong player."
Here she said "we," showing she already saw herself as part of the group with shared interests.
"Right now our revenue is this number."
99.269 dollar
That figure was exact—William had received a text last night showing half that number. But this shouldn't have been public data. How had Eileen gotten it?
Under William and Cynthia's gaze, Vince looked innocent. He could swear he hadn't leaked anything. Could it be someone inside their own group?
Seeing their thoughts, Eileen explained, "Happy Mahjong has been a focus of our association since the project began. And as a partner, I think we have the right to know this information."
Strictly speaking, since they hadn't signed a deal yet, her reasoning didn't hold. But there was no point in arguing over it now—Vince would just have to manage his team better later.
"My idea is that with all of us working together—especially with help from our overseas branches—this number can grow a hundred times in one year. By then, adding in tournament broadcasts, ads, and side events, the revenue could double again."
"So, we've shown our sincerity. Now it's your turn." Eileen smiled at the three of them, clearly laying her cards on the table.
As agreed before, WeChat Games would have to handle the revenue-sharing with the Mahjong Association.
"We're willing to give you twenty percent of the game's profits."
That was almost half of WeChat Games' profit, and Vince was really going all in.
But Eileen shook her head. "We want sixty percent."
Sixty percent meant taking all of WeChat Games' profits plus another ten percent from Earth Games—there was no way WeChat Games would agree to that.
"Sorry, I can't accept your terms." Vince refused without a second thought.
Eileen was about to speak when Tristan cut her off. "How about this? I can tell Mr. William made this game out of love for mahjong. Since we all want to promote our traditional culture, we're willing to take a little less. Fifty percent."
"This…"
Vince looked at William and Cynthia.
It was clear the Mahjong Association wouldn't go lower, and if they did, they probably wouldn't work as hard to push the game worldwide. Now it was up to WeChat Games and Earth Games to figure out how to balance the profits.
Cynthia said, "Please give us a moment."
"Of course." Tristan nodded toward Eileen.
Led by Eileen, William and the other two went into a small room.
"Take your time talking."
Vince smiled, but once Eileen left the room, his face turned serious. "They're asking for too much. If we stick to our current agreement, this deal won't last."
Cynthia said, "Their terms are your problem, not ours. But if you break the contract because of this, we have the right to ask for compensation."
The contract stated that if one party harmed the other's interests, they'd face huge damages.
Working with the association was a rare opportunity. If it fell through, it would count as harming their interests—and they'd stop being friends.
"The original agreement stays," William said. "But for this matter, we can make a concession."
He added, "Only this once."
Happy Universe had many traditional games. If the association took half the profits every time, there'd be no point making them—might as well be working for them.
"Alright, it's settled then."
Vince didn't waste words. Right now, he really needed a big win to turn things around.