Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 18 Some people are born in Rome

An hour later, in Exidi's factory office.

Ethan crossed his legs and leaned back on the simple sofa. On the coffee table in front of him was a cup of steaming coffee.

Samuel Hawes, who had acted wildly when playing the Snake game before, now sat aside with a dark face and stiff muscles, while Pete Kaufman, who was in contact with Ethan, put his elbows on his knees, hunched over, and looked embarrassed.

"Mr. Jones, we have never done this kind of thing before, such as authorized production and sales."

“You can learn if you haven’t done it.”

Ethan smiled indifferently and said, "After all, no one can walk right after birth."

"But the problem is that no one in the market is doing business this way, and we don't even know what the standards for cooperation are."

Pete Kafman pursed his lips, waved his open hands unconsciously, and said: "At present, what we know is actually the salary of game developers, which is two hundred dollars a week, and ten thousand four hundred dollars a year..."

"Oh! Mr. Kafman! If you tell me that, you have no sincerity at all!"

Before Pete Kafman could finish, Ethan Jones interrupted with a smile, "Mr. Kafman, you have to know one thing. In this world, human resources are the least valuable thing. In 1970, our country conducted a census, and there were million people in the country. Among these million people, at least hundreds of thousands of them could make arcade machines, but I was the only one who could come up with fascinating game ideas."

Ethan Jones smiled, "Only One."

The look filled with his own feelings made Pete Kafman instinctively tilt his head.

He glanced at his partner Samuel Hawes, whose brows were twisted into a 川 character.

"We need to discuss this." Samuel Hawes sensed the plea for help in Pete Kaufman's eyes, so he said decisively, "Mr. Jones, please wait here for a moment."

"Go ahead." Ethan Jones was not in a hurry.

He nodded kindly and watched the two of them leave.

In fact, when Samuel Hawes angrily protected the joystick and yelled at Pete Kaufman, everyone present noticed something was wrong. After they came to their senses, they turned their eyes to Ethan, and all they saw was a confident smile.

This fact made them realize that they had lost the upper hand in the negotiation because they showed great interest in the game "Snake"! So they invited Ethan to the office to discuss cooperation.

Exidi's idea is to offer a price and buy out Ethan's "Snake".

Their target price is $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, or up to $50,000.

But how could Ethan accept such a price?
Although the median income per capita in America is only over 5,000 dollars in this era, the price of 50,000 dollars is already the income of a normal person for ten years, but even if it is a hundred years! A thousand years! That would not reach a fraction of the value of "Snake Game"!

Even if Ethan got his brain kicked by a donkey in Texas!
There's no way he could sell it!

Only authorization is possible!
As for such a request...

"Authorization? Is there anyone doing authorization business now? If this gets out, won't people laugh at us?"

After leaving the office, Pete Kafman, who had been suppressing his emotions for a long time, immediately released his emotions.

"Everyone in the industry is copying now! No one will pay for the copyright of video games! Even Milova! They can only seek legal help through lawsuits! In this case, he wants to negotiate with us about profit sharing? Oh! My God! I am being kind by giving him fifty thousand dollars! That's fifty thousand dollars! Fifty thousand dollars!! Fifty thousand dollars!!!"

Pete Kafman kicked out angrily.

The iron gate of the factory suddenly made a clanging sound as if it could not bear the weight.

The noise made Samuel Hawes frown suddenly. He looked inside the warehouse. After confirming that there was nothing unusual in the office, he waved to his employees, signaling them to keep an eye on the room.

He himself took his good brother and walked a little further.

"Oh! Sxxt! Are you crazy? Even if you don't want to give him money, there's no need to shout so loudly!"

"Because I'm very angry! He is clearly blackmailing me!"

Pete Kaufman shouted angrily, "He just stared at me and said Only One! Who does he think he is? Tesla? I'm telling you! No matter how powerful Tesla is, he can't beat Edison! No matter how powerful alternating current is, he won't get a penny!"

"So you're trying to plagiarize?" Samuel Hawes asked, frowning.

"What's the problem? Everyone is doing this!" Pete Kaufman spread his hands and said, "We already know how to play the game. We will copy it as soon as he leaves. It will be on the market in five days at most!"

Pete Kaufman shouted in a hoarse voice: "What did he just say? Human resources are worthless? This is really naive! Since he dared to push the game in front of us, we must teach him a lesson! In the video game industry, the least valuable thing is inspiration! All developers don't deserve to be paid! Whoever can make an arcade! Whoever can get the owners of those entertainment venues to buy game consoles! Whoever is the winner!"

At this point, the scene suddenly fell silent.

Pete Kafman gasped and stared at Samuel Hawes fiercely.

Samuel Hawes looked at his companion seriously, then slowly closed his eyes.

The furrowed brows seemed to indicate a confused mind, but the pacing seemed to indicate an assessment of the safety of the action.

After a moment, he shook his head again.

"Pete, since this guy named Ethan Jones dared to come to us, it means that he has already registered the copyright! And he said that he came from Milova, so he couldn't be unaware of the fact that Atari copied Milova to make its fortune!"

"so what?"

Pete Kafman said indifferently: "Even if there is copyright, we can copy it! As long as this game can make us a lot of money, what does it matter if we lose some money? You have to know that this is America! The loser loses everything! The winner takes everything!"

"Oh! Sxxt!..." Samuel Hawes wanted to say something else.

But Pete Kafman said first: "Samuel! Don't refuse! His game is obviously very interesting! It will definitely cause a sensation if it is put on the market! As long as we can make 10 million from it! We will be the richest people in America!"

"You know what? We are only one step away from success!"

"If only we could be as daring as DuPont!"

"No! Our job is not even half as dangerous as DuPont's! You have to know that Nolan Bushnell is alive and well now!"

Samuel Hawes's breath was taken away by Pete Kaufman's words.

He pulled a pack of Marlboro cigarettes out of his pocket, picked one up and lit it.

After much consideration, he was finally convinced by the green Franklin.

"MFXXK!"

"Okay! Oaky! I know what you said is true, but before copying, we should at least find out the background of this guy named Ethan Jones, right? If he is just an ordinary engineer, then let's go for the hell of it!" Pete Kafman was very happy with his companion's correct choice.

Back at the office, they wanted to know if Ethan Jones could take charge of the Snake machine, in the name of better collaboration.

Ethan Jones, who had worked in the financial industry for many years in his previous life, had seen a lot of such questions. He leaned on the sofa and said with a smile: "Oh! This machine was certainly not made by me alone. I only provided a little inspiration!"

'He didn't make the machine?'

This fact made the eyes of Exidi's two bosses light up.

"Then I want to know, who is the engineer who made the machine..." Pete Kaufman wanted to express his thoughts in a more tactful tone, "Excuse me, Mr. Jones, if the copyright is not in your hands alone, there is no way to discuss cooperation."

"I understand that." Ethan Jones nodded and said, "If you are sure you want to cooperate, I can call her over this afternoon, my partner, and we can sit down together to discuss the specific terms."

'She? A woman?'

The two bosses of Exidi looked at each other, and they both thought plagiarism was possible.

Because up to now, they have never heard of the presence of women in the video game industry.

Judging from Ethan Jones' current statement, the women he mentioned are still very idle.

if so……

Then these two guys should be amateurs with no background?

"Is this troublesome?" Pete Kaufman rubbed his hands.

He could hardly hold back his laughter.

However, just as he was about to see the guest off, he boldly plagiarized behind closed doors.

Ethan Jones added: "It's not a problem. After all, Stanford is only a few dozen minutes away from here."

'? ? ? '

As soon as these words were spoken, Pete Kaufman and Samuel Hoyce froze for a moment.

"What?" Samuel Hawes couldn't believe his ears. "Mr. Jones, what did you say?"

“Is your partner from Stanford?”

“Yeah~ Stanford’s graduate students this year.”

"She was busy with her studies, so she asked me to commercialize this arcade game."

Ethan Jones spread his hands casually and asked with a smile: "Any questions?"

This special code has a big problem!

Pete Kaufman and Samuel Hawes looked at Ethan Jones with twinkling eyes.

Trying to find flaws in him.

But their total self-confidence led to their defeat.

As guys who started a company next to Stanford, they know better than anyone how much the neighboring university supports its students in starting their own businesses!
They know better how much effort Stanford spares to ensure students' success!

They also know that since Stanford launched the school-enterprise co-construction plan, Stanford has not made any significant achievements in the past 20 years. At this moment, Stanford is eager to give birth to a new HP in the park! Even if it can't reach the height of HP and is only a gimmick in name, it doesn't matter! Because even if it is a gimmick, it can provide hope for students in chaos!
In this situation, any company with any brains would not provoke the crazy Stanford!

And now, "Sanke Game" is a commercial work of Stanford students?

FXXKYOU!

At this moment, Pete Kaufman and Samuel Hawes instantly understood why Ethan Jones, like a brainless young man, took his precious inspiration and went straight to them, the businessmen, to cooperate!

Outside of California, Stanford may not be able to help, but in Stanford, he is not afraid of being plagiarized at all!

The plagiarist failed?

That's no loss to him at all!
Did the plagiarist succeed?

Let Stanford’s partner go to school and cry, and the law school teachers will send a letter!

Do not!
There is an 80% chance that a lawsuit will be filed directly!
After all, Fred Terman, who proposed the school-enterprise cooperation plan, is still alive!

At the graduation ceremony every year, the old president of Stanford would encourage students to be brave and take risks!

Half an hour later, Pete Kaufman and Samuel Hawes, who still had not reached an agreement on cooperation, watched Ethan Jones leave.

Looking at the car taillights getting farther and farther away, Pete Kafman said gloomily: "Do you think what he said is true?"

"I don't know." Samuel Hawes shook his head.

Peter Kaufman said somewhat unwillingly: "Don't you know someone from Mi Luohua? Give him a call and ask?"

"I only know their sales staff." Samuel Hawes emphasized, but after seeing his partner's frowning expression, he still waved his hand and said, "Okay, I'll go."

then……

About ten minutes later, he came back with a tense expression.

"Damn! Put away your plagiarism ideas! This guy named Ethan Jones is not an ordinary person at all!!! His family owns more than a hundred acres of land!!! It's an orchard!!! It can provide jobs for dozens of people every year!!! In Santa Clara County!!!"

"If we confiscate his things, Stanford wouldn't even have to do anything! The officials in charge of agriculture would just send the police to raid our house!!!"

"Aha?"

This fact surprised Pete Kaufman.

"More than a hundred acres? Oh F**k! This guy is a landowner?"

The next second, he slammed the table again and shouted unwillingly: "Danm!!! Why do these people have such good backgrounds!!!"

(End of this chapter)