"What did you say?"
"Marvel sent word that Xbox approached them with a cooperation offer — hoping to obtain the game-development rights for Marvel's movies?"
Since Isabella did not have a phone, Kevin Feige's call eventually went to Catherine, who had already finished dealing with the Beaver Island construction amendment and had officially returned to Leavesden.
After Isabella came off set and heard the news relayed by her older sister—
Somewhat surprised, she immediately called Kevin Feige back.
Then—
"Yeah, Isa, I only received the news today."
"Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter's assistant called me around noon. He told me Marvel had received Xbox's offer yesterday morning. Isaac Perlmutter is very interested in this cooperation, so—"
"They want to work with Xbox."
"But since the movie rights for Marvel's various projects are in your hands — even though Isaac Perlmutter has the final say on merchandise development — the specific terms still need to be discussed with you. So—uh—"
"Isaac Perlmutter wants to know whether you're interested."
"Do you want to look into it?"
"If you do, I'll forward you the offer his assistant sent me."
"Of course, the file also includes the full cooperation proposal."
By now, everyone in the world knew Kevin Feige was Isabella's man.
After all, the pledge of loyalty he had handed over was extremely hardcore — he had embraced Isabella while bearing the full weight of capital's disapproval.
But at this moment, his tone sounded distinctly relaxed.
Between the lines, there was a sense that he wanted to help Xbox and push this cooperation through for them.
If one had to put it plainly—
It was a little like helping outsiders at his own side's expense.
As for that—
Honestly, Isabella could understand Kevin Feige's state of mind.
Because ever since video games existed, Marvel had seen the business opportunity in the field.
As early as the 1980s, before the Atari crash, Marvel had already embraced video games and released console titles such as Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Fantastic Four.
Even after the crash — when everyone assumed the industry might fall silent for years — Marvel never gave up on games. Instead, it partnered directly with Activision and moved into computer games.
Since Marvel had always treated video games as a revenue stream, the moment Kevin Feige — who had grown up reading comics and playing games — learned that a major game company wanted to make titles based on Marvel's movies—
In his eyes, the offer seemed entirely reasonable.
Or rather, making this cooperation happen was probably what he wanted most right now.
Because ever since joining Isabella, he had shown her nothing but loyalty. He hadn't yet proven what he could actually do. To date, not a single comic-book movie under his management had been completed.
On the European and American continents, anyone who couldn't generate value got cut.
So was seizing every possible opportunity to make money for his boss his real priority right now?
Quite possibly.
But to Isabella, Xbox's offer to Marvel looked more like a move aimed at her.
As for why—
"See? I told you!"
"People have been plotting against you for ages!"
Isabella had just hung up on Kevin Feige when Margot Robbie — who had rushed over after hearing the news and listened in on the call — threw up her hands. Her pretty face was full of exasperation, as if frustrated that Isabella refused to learn her lesson.
Her point was simple—
As early as the end of last November, Margot had already sensed something off and reported it to Isabella.
Isabella just hadn't paid it any attention.
Honestly—
"All right, all right, fine, fine. Your instincts are sharp, okay? I admit it."
Margot's persistence made Isabella roll her eyes.
Hadn't she already admitted to one wrong judgment?
Did it really need repeating?
She pursed her lips in mild annoyance, then turned to her older sister. "Catherine, bring the computer over, would you?"
"I want to see exactly what's in Kevin Feige's email."
The moment the request left her mouth, Catherine — sensing the matter was somewhat delicate — nodded at once.
But before Catherine could even turn around, Margot had already darted forward and claimed the job.
"I'll go, I'll go!"
Like a rabbit sprung from its cage, she vanished with a whoosh.
The scene made Catherine smile and shake her head.
"Why do I get the feeling Margot enjoys this more than acting?"
"Honestly, I think she'd rather be your assistant than a star."
"Isn't that reasonable?" Isabella raised an eyebrow. "Both are jobs. No matter how high the ceiling is for acting, you're still just a figure in the surface world. No matter how low the ceiling is for the other, you've at least stepped through the gate into the hidden world."
"Oh~ that's quite the metaphor~" Catherine laughed.
Although the concepts of the surface world and the hidden world originated in the Japanese horror game Silent Hill, the game itself is set in the northeastern United States, while the 2006 film moved the story to the American Midwest.
That choice carried real meaning.
Because the northeastern United States is where Mormonism began.
After founder Joseph Smith died in 1844, the movement relocated to Utah amid power struggles and schisms.
So—
The Japanese developers behind Silent Hill had never once flattered their American counterpart.
And the French studio that financed the Silent Hill film had simply exposed America's dirty secrets in turn.
Unfortunately—
Artists love embellishment too much.
The moment gorgeous rhetoric appears, ordinary people lose the thread entirely.
Only those who study theory bother with plain description.
A ritual is a ritual — not a pretty little cake, not a Christmas tree.
Since Catherine understood exactly what Isabella meant, there was no need to elaborate—
Because it was simply true: right now, even the best actors in the industry weren't fit to be her assistant.
So for someone like Margot Robbie — who, as a teenager, had dared to stay behind in Britain and cling to her — throwing herself enthusiastically into assistant work made perfect sense.
The two exchanged a smile, and Catherine moved on to other topics with her sister.
Margot worked fast.
Before the two had exchanged more than a few words, she was already back with the latest Apple laptop.
Isabella logged into Kevin Feige's mailbox, opened the email Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter's assistant had sent him, and Xbox's offer appeared before her.
Maybe the cooperation was still only at the initial-intention stage.
Or maybe Microsoft simply understood that everything has to go through a process.
Either way, the terms in front of Isabella were strikingly simple. Boiled down, they amounted to one sentence:
Microsoft's Xbox division wanted the game-development rights to all Marvel films over the next five years, for two million dollars per project plus a 0.5% sales royalty — with an automatic right of first renewal once the contract expired.
The right of first renewal was defined as follows:
Once the cooperation ended, all terms would be renegotiated to keep things fair for both sides. But as long as Xbox's renewal offer matched or beat the highest bid from any competitor, Xbox would automatically win the rights — regardless of whether the rights holder agreed.
Although Isabella didn't know the games industry well—
In her previous life she'd played games, but only as a casual, unskilled player.
In this life, she was indeed building a career in IP development, but among the rights she held, only Cartoon Beaver had any real shot at becoming a video game — and even that was a distant prospect.
Even so, she still felt Xbox's offer was wildly unreasonable.
Because the licensing fee for The Voice theme-park project alone ran ten million a year.
Marvel's IP was, admittedly, worth less than The Voice's right now. But no matter how low Marvel's value had sunk, it couldn't possibly be low enough to justify handing over its video game rights for two million dollars in cash plus a 0.5% royalty.
A quick calculation made it obvious:
Say a game adapted from the Iron Man films sold ten million copies at an average price of forty dollars. Total revenue: four hundred million dollars. A 0.5% royalty on that would be two million.
In other words, if Marvel actually accepted Xbox's proposed terms, its total take from the entire deal would be just four million dollars — and even with Isabella claiming seventy percent of that, she'd be left with only 2.8 million.
Meanwhile, making a game in this era didn't cost nearly that much.
The original World of Warcraft had a development budget of only forty million.
So assume the production and marketing costs of an Iron Man game came to fifty million total. Run the numbers, and under Xbox's proposed contract, Microsoft's net profit could reach as high as three hundred million.
Dollars.
Even if sales came in at half that—
Microsoft would still walk away with more than a hundred million.
So—
"What do you think Microsoft is playing at?"
"Are they provoking me?"
"Or are they warning me how far their reach goes — that even Marvel sits within their influence?"
Isabella finished reading and looked up.
Frankly, she was a little lost.
Because she had no idea what Microsoft was really after.
Earlier, when Microsoft had aligned itself with Facebook, Isabella had assumed Microsoft simply wanted to strike at her interests in retaliation for losing out on YouTube. After all, Facebook's behaviour had only ridden her traffic — it hadn't tried to expose her secrets.
But now, looking at the proposal Microsoft had sent Marvel, she suspected Microsoft was sending her a warning: stay away from any ideas about Facebook, since she'd previously shown interest in the platform.
That's right.
At this point, the whole sequence of events struck Isabella as genuinely absurd.
As for which it was—
"I think it's a warning."
"Because this cooperation proposal from Microsoft has no sincerity at all."
"In my view, the real purpose of this proposal is to tell us they've already got a hand in our heartland. They can move against Marvel anytime, and against us anytime. What they actually want is for us to stop pursuing Facebook's infringement and stop showing interest in Facebook."
"To put it more bluntly—"
"Isa, this cooperation agreement looks like a response to the acquisition offer you sent Facebook."
Catherine gave her thoughts.
Isabella nodded slightly.
Then she turned her gaze to Margot.
The gesture caught Margot a little off guard.
A flash of joy crossed her eyes, and she said at once, "I think the same as Catherine. This proposal definitely carries a threat. And — there's one more thing I'm thinking—"
"What?" Isabella said. "Just say it."
"I think — has Microsoft already formed an alliance with Marvel?"
Margot didn't hesitate, speaking straightforwardly. "Because earlier, Kevin Feige seemed to say Marvel's chairman — that guy with the impossibly long name — genuinely liked Microsoft's offer?"
"A normal person wouldn't like Microsoft's offer."
"So if he likes it, he isn't normal."
Margot's words drew a look of surprise from Isabella.
Mm.
Isabella had already thought of the same thing.
Because Robert Iger had previously told her he wanted to help her take control of Marvel.
And since Robert Iger clearly hadn't treated Marvel's current chairman as a real player, it made sense the man would side with Microsoft instead.
So—
"Okay. Since Microsoft has already started threatening me, hitting back is only natural."
Isabella tapped the table with her index finger and smiled at her older sister. "We hold off for now?"
"Uh — I think that's fine—" Catherine thought for a moment, then nodded.
She understood exactly what her sister meant.
Acting before you've worked out the enemy's position is idiotic.
Then Isabella turned to Margot again. "Stay by the phone these next few days?"
"Tell me the moment Chad Hurley replies?"
"Okay." Margot didn't hesitate. "I'll sleep with my phone in my arms."
She understood exactly what Isabella meant, too. Chad Hurley had worked with Peter Thiel and the others once, but after they aligned with Google, the sides had split for good. And besides — his current standing was entirely Isabella's doing.
So Chad Hurley's intelligence could be trusted.
Since Isabella had chosen patience and a careful plan—
Silence became her only colour, for now.
And her silence drew no attention from the enemy, because Chad Hurley moved fast. Within seventy-two hours of getting the task, he'd handed Margot everything on Microsoft and Facebook.
Then—
Facebook's covert user-poaching and Microsoft's crushing defeat to Apple both came into view.
With each new piece, Isabella grew more certain Microsoft had both the intent and the will to move against her.
Of course, she still had no proof.
But did that matter?
Because that was how things worked in Europe and America.
And here, the only real playstyle was this: intent comes from the heart.
You die because I wanted you dead.
Game Over.
"So why didn't Warner catch Facebook's behaviour?"
"Are they all useless?"
Catherine's brow furrowed the moment she finished reading.
To her, Facebook's infringement looked obvious. Warner should have caught it ages ago.
"That's because Facebook was operating in a grey area."
Margot saw straight to the heart of it. "Isa's said publicly, more than once, that fan creations based on her work are free to make as long as no profit's involved. So when Facebook drew in HP fans through fan creations of her work, Warner wasn't going to catch it easily—"
The reason behind Facebook's cover was simple enough.
Catherine understood it too, once it was spelled out.
Her earlier complaint had come mostly from frustration.
From where she stood, if Warner had caught Facebook's odd behaviour sooner, none of this mess would exist now.
But—
"There's no point dwelling on it now," Isabella said, shaking her head. "It's already happened — there's no undoing it. So we live with it. Moving on—"
"Catherine, any word from Susie?"
"How's the Marvel investigation going?"
For anything in the tech world, Isabella could lean on Chad Hurley.
But for the media and entertainment world—
Although she had an all-knowing source close at hand in Chris Columbus, she didn't turn to him this time, because the opponent now was Microsoft.
And since Chris Columbus's mentor, Steven Spielberg, was fairly close to Microsoft—
Keeping some distance between them would spare everyone a lot of trouble.
So letting Susie Figgis dig up the intelligence was the better call.
As for that—
"Marvel's side is actually pretty transparent."
"Almost everything about them is public."
"And—"
"Marvel's largest shareholder may not like you much."
Honestly, once she heard about the background of Marvel's current chairman, Isaac Perlmutter, Isabella was a little startled — she hadn't expected the man to be a Wall Street shark in his own right.
When someone's killed more people, business-wise, than she'd had hot meals—
Not liking her?
That was probably unavoidable.
"Okay. If that's the case, I think I understand why these people joined forces."
"Because our interests collide—"
As Catherine explained, Isabella spread her hands.
She felt, in that moment, genuinely a little helpless.
Not because being targeted bothered her.
But because so much of this could have been avoided.
She could, for instance, have looked carefully into Marvel's situation right after acquiring her shares.
It wouldn't have taken more than a few minutes — but she hadn't done it. Hadn't even thought to.
That was a little—
Fine.
She'd admit it.
Setbacks aside, her rise over the past few years had been remarkably smooth.
So smooth that—
She'd never taken Marvel seriously at all.
Mm.
She'd admit she'd grown a little arrogant.
But as for that—
"So what do we do now?"
"Isn't our enemy this time a little too — strong?"
As Isabella fell silent, Margot ventured the question carefully.
If Microsoft alone were coming after Isabella, Margot would still have had the spirit to cheer her boss on.
But once the lineup included the Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers—
"Microsoft plus Lehman" was a faintly absurd thing to be up against.
As for that—
"Margot, what's that supposed to mean? You don't have faith in me?"
Isabella smiled at Margot.
"Uh — honestly — I think you should consider surrendering—"
Margot hesitated, then decided to speak her mind.
"Microsoft and Lehman together is terrifying. I genuinely can't see a path to winning."
"Oh — is that so—" Isabella smiled and nodded. "You're right. If Microsoft and Lehman join forces, no ordinary company could stand against them. So — if we're going to beat them, we'll need outside help."
"???"
Isabella's words stunned Margot.
Not only that — even Catherine turned to her sister in surprise.
Because in Catherine's eyes, there was no path to victory in this fight.
As for that—
Isabella saw it differently.
Because Lehman was about to collapse.
And if her memory served her right, in her previous life, the one that ultimately swallowed Lehman was Barclays.
Britain's Barclays.
The same Barclays where that deadbeat father of hers had once worked—