Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 119 The real problem is plagiarism!

"Yes Rudolph, I've seen the news..."

"Yes, you are right. Apollo is a great product, and Atari's new machine is also very good, but what I want to say is that these two products cannot pose a threat to us at present..."

"Okay, I'll try my best, please rest assured..."

…………

"Yeah~ Chuck, Intel is doing great now~"

"Although neither Atari nor MIRO adopted our chips, they did help you realize your wish, didn't they? The central processing unit has a new application, you should be happy..."

"Oh~ Thank you for your concern. Their products cannot affect me for the time being..."

…………

When Ethan hung up the Nth call and leaned back on the swivel chair in his study, his face was already full of fatigue. Although he knew that the original intention of these people calling was good and they just wanted to care about him, what he needed to do most now was not to socialize with good intentions, but to solve the problem.

He admitted that the new products from MILOVA and Atari brought him a certain sense of crisis. At the same time, Evelyn, who was sitting opposite him, also made him feel more stressed. Because when the girl learned that MILOVA and Atari had abandoned the circuit board host product and strode into the CPU host era, she just returned home and asked Ethan what she was thinking -

"Ethan, please tell me honestly."

"Will the new products launched by MILO and Atari have any impact on our company?"

The girl frowned slightly, looking serious.

Ethan, who was looking at him, had a wry smile on his face.

"Oh - my dear sister -" he stretched out his voice and said, "Although their products are called home consoles, they make video games after all."

“Since the track is the same, there will definitely be an impact.”

The girl nodded slightly at the honest words.

But at the same time, she also wanted to know what Ethan thought of these two products.

"Where do you think the specific impact will be?"

The girl asked: "Will the emergence of these two products change the landscape of the video game industry?"

After listening to the news about Atari and MILO, Evelyn felt that the words of these two competitors did make some sense. The reasonable part was that the current electronic arcades did bring certain economic pressure to the people.

Currently, the population of America is only 200 million, but last year, the average daily sales of the "Pac-Man" arcade machine alone exceeded 100 US dollars, and the total annual revenue exceeded 400 million. If distributed on average to each person, it would be 2 US dollars.

What does this fact mean?
This means that when all the people in the United States play Pac-Man, one person can play it eight times!
Although this algorithm has problems, because there are definitely not 200 million video game players, and as the total number of players is bound to decline, the per capita consumption will definitely be higher.

If there were 40 million gamers in North America, that number would be ten dollars.

If there were 20 million gamers, that number would be twenty dollars.

When a video game can cost a player at least ten or even twenty dollars, then for them, this consumption must be expensive, because this money is enough to buy more than ten pounds of beef, dozens of pounds of fruit, or even watch twenty movies in the market...

In this case, these players may continue to pay because of the quality of the game, but when one or more machines appear on the market that can play more games at a lower price, they will definitely vote with their feet and actively embrace these more affordable things.

Not to mention……

These machines are not only loaded with the popular games from a few years ago, but also add a lot of new content.

When this comparison occurs...

Even if Evelin was not in charge of business operations, she would be able to appreciate the other party's excellence.

Because she understood, the girl looked at Ethan with a serious expression.

She expressed her thoughts: "When these two machines appear, is it possible that players will abandon arcade machines and turn to home consoles?"

The question made Ethan laugh.

He shook his head and said, "Oh Evelyn, your concerns are non-existent."

"I've said before that for something like video games that relies on creativity, content is king."

“No matter how good the machine is, if the game isn’t fun, it’s useless.”

That’s right, from the beginning to the end, Ethan didn’t worry about the loss of his own users.

Because the memories of his previous life told him that playability is the foundation of the gaming industry.

Even if some players will pay because the consoles of MILO and Atari have more games, as long as they launch more fun games, the lost players will definitely come back!

When an industry relies on content for its livelihood, the so-called die-hard fans are all content fans!

But even so, he still felt the pressure when facing the new machines from Milova and Atari, because he knew that there was no monopoly in an industry that relied on content.

"I'm not afraid of their machines."

“No matter how good their machines are, I don’t feel threatened.”

Ethan said frankly: "I am wary of the game companies they acquired."

“Because there is a group of people who make a living by inspiration.”

"When the latest machines and the latest inspiration come together..."

"We are facing..."

"That could be a big problem."

Before, when Ethan learned that Milova and Atari were frantically acquiring game companies in the industry, he didn't care, because he felt that these two guys couldn't do anything special.

Even if those creators are full of inspiration and can make popular games, all the popularity is nothing compared to his memories of his past life.

Because he will screen out classics from numerous games like the sands of the sea. When he brings out a game that can be popular for decades, no one who makes games seriously can beat him!
But now...

He has discovered that he had thought too simply at the beginning.

Popular games may not be as good as classics, but when popular games are logged in geometric numbers on a machine with good performance...

This combination will surely create a stable market of its own!
And when MILO and Atari established themselves in the console industry...

They will have the time, energy and money to develop interesting games.

By that time, the fun will be great, because as long as there is profit to be made, Magnavox and Atari will continue to run in the console business.

At this moment, Ethan could even imagine that scene...

In North America, there are three companies doing hosting.

This damn dog’s brain needs to be knocked out!

As for what you said, he can take the lead and walk all the roads, leaving others with no way to go?
This is a bit nonsense.

because--

"Compared to the gathering of creative people, I am more afraid of another thing, that is plagiarism."

Ethan stared at Evelyn and said, "It's not a copy of our game."

"It's copying our inspiration."

That's right!

This is what Ethan fears the most!

Not to mention that his brain is not Chat GPT-4, he has no idea how many games there were in the gaming world in his previous life. Even if he knew and copied it out, it would be useless.

Since he can copy the classics of his previous life, then others can copy him too! You know, games are just like articles!
Mr. Shuren once said: "All the articles in the world are plagiarized. It depends on whether you can plagiarize or not."

And this sentence is perfectly applicable in the gaming world!

In Ethan’s previous life, many game companies did this!

For example, Street Fighter and King of Fighters...

Isn't this an extremely similar competitor?

For example, Need for Speed ​​and Gran Turismo...

Who can say there are no similarities between the two?
For example, "CS" and "CF", "Zelda" and "Original..."

Cough cough cough...

When all countries can reach a consensus that the copyright protection of games can only extend to the appearance and content of the game, and will not protect the gameplay...

If we learn from this kind of thing, it will become the norm in the industry.

Ethan believed that he might be able to shock the world with one creative idea after another, but wanting to stop others from making games? That was just wishful thinking.

Now no one is borrowing the gameplay of "Snake" and "Pac-Man", it's just because the whole industry is experiencing the hammer storm of MILO. When all the companies that copied the "Pong" game pinched their noses and accepted the losses, their instinctive reaction to "Snake" and "Pac-Man" is that they should not copy.

Because they know that if they plagiarize, Ethan, who has the endorsement of Stanford, will sue them to death!
but……

What if someone reacted?

What if someone discovered that they could copy the gameplay instead of the game one-to-one?
For example, if Pac-Man is a maze adventure game, they can make another maze adventure game by abandoning Pac-Man and ghosts.

For example, the police catch a thief?
Once this kind of awakening appears, even if Ethan has three heads and six arms, he can't stop it!

While waiting for Atari and Milova to react...

They have machines, R&D teams, and backers! They will naturally be willing to learn from others!

By that time...

It would be extremely difficult to kill them.

"I made a mistake."

Ethan held his chin with one hand and said, "To be honest... I expected that they would be able to make a home console with a CPU, but I didn't expect them to be able to do it to this extent."

"I never thought that they acquired the game company for the purpose of promoting the console."

Ethan admitted that he was careless and did not dodge.

And his words made Evelin shake her head and said, “Oh Ethan, I don’t mean to blame you.”

"I just want to know if the home consoles of MILO and Atari are a threat to us. If so, should we start research and development of consoles now?"

If it were a few years ago, Evelin would take care of this kind of thing, but she would never take the initiative to ask.

She would wait for Ethan to make a decision and then handle things according to Ethan's ideas.

Because she is not interested in business.

But now...

After enjoying the charm brought by money, she has really regarded the Destiny Game as her own company. After all, no matter who you are, no one will refuse the money that is within your reach.

In response to his sister's question, Ethan, who had thought about it for a long time, said: "We will definitely make a home console, but definitely not now, because even if we develop it immediately, we can't catch up with the progress of Milova and Atari, and hasty design may make things a mess."

"More importantly, our company currently does not have enough game reserves."

"Although I believe that just putting Pac-Man on a home console would attract countless people to buy it, using Pac-Man as a promotional game for a home console while there are still Pac-Man arcade machines on the market..."

"So in the eyes of users, how different are we from scammers?"

Ethan thought that he could crush Milova and Atari, but he didn't expect that he would be crushed by these two big guys. Nine games on one machine? Twelve games on one machine? No matter how you look at it, it seems like they are trying to force him to death!

Even if Ethan has countless ideas in his mind, it takes time to make them! So, when Ethan found that he couldn't catch up with others, he had no choice but to take it step by step.

However, just because R&D can be slow doesn’t mean things can be put on hold.

Ethan didn't want MIT and Atari to gain a foothold in the console industry.

Because America is so small that it can't accommodate three ambitious people.

“So, there are three things we need to do most now.”

"The first thing is to develop a new arcade game, consolidate the market share and drive other game companies into the console industry, and then eliminate them all at once. We have fallen behind in the console industry and we must not give up the arcade industry to others. We must at least ensure that we have a dominant position in one field."

"The second thing is to find a way to weaken the influence of Milova and Atari in the gaming industry. This may seem simple, because we can use the popular arcade games to prove their incompetence in creation, but it is actually very difficult, because people who want to buy home consoles will definitely pay for them. What we can do is to influence those neutral people as much as possible, making them feel that it is more cost-effective to pay for arcade games, because arcade games are fun, and it is not worth buying home consoles, because their games are not as interesting as ours."

"The third thing is to find a way to get information from Atari and Milova. If they are borrowing our ideas, we must speed up the development of consoles. Because once these two companies occupy a certain market share, it will not be easy to take it back. But if they don't borrow our ideas, then we still have time..."

The clear arrangement made Evelin nod repeatedly. Although creativity is not something you can get every day, since Ethan said it so confidently, she was relieved.

"I can be responsible for research and development, but intelligence..."

Evelyn said, “What are you going to do about this?”

intelligence?

This word made Ethan close his eyes and think for a while.

When he opened his eyes again, he had already made a decision, "There is no way for Miluohua anymore, because Rudolf just told me that Miluohua has completely cut off contact with him."

"And Atari..."

"Although Nolan Bushnell is cautiously guarding against me, I still want to give it a try. I'll go find Steven and see if he can get some information about Atari's research and development from Warner..."

Although it seemed a bit ridiculous to outsiders to ask Warner about Atari's research and development information, Ethan felt that there was nothing wrong with this idea.

After all, in his previous life, the nickname of Lanpianhua was recognized worldwide, and the reason why they got such a nickname was all thanks to the struggle for power that was more exciting than the palace fighting drama.

Therefore, in the case of their internal discord, please ask Spielberg, which may allow those senior executives within Warner who are at odds with the person in charge of the video game project to say a few words.

As for whether Spielberg knew someone at Warner, Ethan was not worried about this, because Spielberg had said in a previous chat that Warner had invited him to shoot Superman.

But when Ethan drove overnight to Universal Studios in Los Angeles...

Before he even entered the Universal Pictures studio building, he saw Spielberg walking out in a hurry with his trousers held up on this early February morning.

Well, that's right.

This guy was just walking out while fastening his pants.

There are two things to say:
1. No more at night.

2. It will be on the shelves tomorrow.

Since the book was published on March 27, I have updated more than 400,000 words in two months and a few days. This should be my limit. The consequence of reaching the limit is that I don’t have any drafts for a chapter in reserve. I write on the spot every day.

So, things like explosive updates depend on the situation. When the plot reaches a certain point, such as the previous lawsuit and the release of Pac-Man, I will try to finish it in one day. Normally, it depends on how busy I am.

Then please support genuine reading. As for other voting and rewards, it’s voluntary. There is no group for this book. If you have any questions, just leave a message in the book or in the comment area. I will read it, but the reply may only be made through the small box at the end of each chapter, because my author account is banned.

Finally, thank you all for reading this and thank you all for your support.

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(End of this chapter)