Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 192 Peeping
"I am very happy to attend the new product launch of Destiny today. In fact, I have been paying close attention to this emerging industry since 1972. At that time, I was the governor of California and witnessed how video games ignited the world from California..."

"To be honest, I was wary of video games at first because they are like a black hole, attracting the attention of young people, devouring their time, and making them ignore everything around them. Especially when Star Wars was launched last year, countless young people were peeking at the virtual world in front of the arcade screens. They seemed to think that space exploration was just a game, but I want to say that this idea is wrong. Space is not a playground, it is full of infinite opportunities and challenges. Video games seem to be misleading young people in their own way..."

"But after communicating with Ethan Jones, the founder of Destiny Games, today, I realized that I had some misunderstandings about this industry. Ethan told me that the original inspiration for the Star Wars game came from Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. When he saw the aliens cooperating with us humans in a friendly manner at the end of the script, he felt that this ideal friendliness seemed a little dangerous. When unknown creatures appear in front of us, staying alert may help us better protect ourselves. After he saw Star Wars, he felt that the space confrontation depicted by Director Lucas was consistent with the concept he wanted to express, so he created a game for Star Wars, hoping that players who have played the game will remain curious in the future while protecting themselves as much as possible..."

"I admit that after hearing these words, I did have some fluctuations in my heart. But when I saw their new game, I really felt that Ethan and his Destiny Game really wanted to bring some sincere emotions to the progress of society..."

"They launched a shooting game this time, but it's different from all the previous shooting games. The idea they convey to the outside world is to use guns to protect the lives of the public and to save innocent people in danger, rather than promoting violence like other games..."

"They launched a racing game this time, but it's different from all the previous racing games. The driving method of avoiding roadblocks keeps violent driving out..."

"They also launched a wealth game that clearly depicts the richness of America. Of course, they also made a sequel to Snake. The confrontation shown in the game made me feel a kind of power called persistence from the cold interface..."

"I am very glad to be able to attend the new product launch of Destiny Game today. It makes me feel much younger and allows me to understand the lifestyle and inner world of young people today. I am very grateful to Ethan and Destiny Game for their great contribution to society, because he not only brings us countless happiness, but also tells us about the integrity of being a human being in his own way..."

That evening, PBS broadcast a media address by the former California governor in San Jose.

As a broadcasting company founded in 1969, the history of PBS Radio and Television Network may not be as long as ABC, CBS, and NBC, but its non-commercial nature and identity as a public broadcasting company give it a coverage and reach that the other three cannot match.

As the only broadcasting company in America that can deliver news to fifty states simultaneously, this feature has allowed the media speeches of the former California governor to appear in every corner of America. And when the news came out that Destiny had a new game, the people who had been playing "Star Wars" for a year and were a little tired of it even though the game was fun, were instantly excited!
The powerful lineup of three new games and the sequel to "Snake" has made those people who love games launch themselves from their sofas like a rocket. They can't wait to rush out of their homes and into the entertainment venues where they often relax, just like it's New Year's Day, wanting to taste the deliciousness of the new games at the first time!
But unfortunately, no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find any trace of the new phone.

This situation made them frown and they asked loudly in displeasure -

"Boss! Where's the new game of Destiny? Didn't you buy their machine?"

This question caused the managers of various venues to lean out from behind the bar.

Perhaps because they have answered similar questions countless times today, their faces are full of helplessness, "The new game was just released today and it hasn't been shipped yet!"

As if they wanted to retain the customers, they explained, "But don't worry, our boss flew to California a few days ago to purchase the goods. We will have new games in two or three days at most."

"Before that, you can play their old games first. We have these three classic games, Star Wars, Pac-Man, and Snake..."

While speaking, the administrators also raised their hands to guide.

Following their guidance, the game corner with rows of arcade machines appeared.

Whether it's the dark green Snake, the yellow whirlwind Pac-Man, or the Star Wars with the Millennium Falcon, these classic machines all bear the marks of time.

Even if you maintain it well, the paint on the machine will fade a little;

Even if it is well made, the joysticks and buttons of the machine have been changed again and again;

Many of the machine's accessories no longer look like their original ones.

This dilapidated scene made the guys who came to inquire look regretful. Some of them ran away, wanting to try their luck at other merchants and look for new machines. Some of them felt their pockets and approached the machine for another try. Others cursed and criticized the boss for his inaction. Amidst the shouts of "MFxxk", they walked out of the store feeling unhappy and merged into the darkness.

Regardless of what choices those players made, the merchants providing arcade services had no intention of stopping or persuading them. Instead, they apologized and respected their decisions, and after waiting for the guests to leave——

"MFxxk!"

"I can't do this crappy job anymore!"

"If the new machine doesn't come soon, I'm going to be scolded to death!"

"Boom-"

They didn't dare to curse the customers, but vented their dissatisfaction behind the bar.

Such situations were happening in various places in America, and while players were running around and store owners were explaining things, pairs of eyes hidden in the darkness were faithfully capturing these scenes.

They even wrote down each number with a fountain pen in a palm-sized notebook.

When some shops closed and time gradually approached the early morning, they, who had stayed in the shops for a long time, finally walked out of various entertainment venues and rushed madly to the nearest public telephone booth.

They closed the glass door, took out a handful of coins, put a few into the coin slot, and then began to press the metal numbers on the panel. When the bell rang, they leaned against the glass and waited for the call to be answered. With a "Hello", these people immediately introduced themselves, and then...

A steady stream of information flows to Los Angeles from major cities in America.

The person who answered the phone wrote the records quickly, and then tore off the paper with a bang after hanging up the phone. They didn't collect all the information until the phone in the office stopped ringing.

Perhaps it was because of the complexity of the data, or perhaps it was due to the low efficiency of working late, but by the time they handed a stack of bound documents to their supervisor, the sky outside had already turned pale.

After carefully looking through it and encouraging his employees, the supervisor asked his men to go back and rest. Having been on duty all night, he went directly to the floor of the chairman's office and took a short nap in the lounge.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but when he heard steady footsteps coming from far away, he immediately stood up and rushed out of the lounge, looking in the direction of the sound. After confirming that it was correct, he immediately stepped forward and handed over the freshly-made report in his hand.

"Boss, this is our latest research on the Destiny game."

"Yeah." Steve Ross, chairman of Warner Communications, took it without looking at it. He smiled and said, "You've been busy all night, right? You've worked overtime on your day off. You've really worked hard."

"For Warner, it's not hard." The supervisor shook his head quickly.

"After this busy period, you will have a month of paid vacation. Find a place to spend your vacation and relax. Being tense all the time is not only bad for your health, but also affects your work."

"Boss, thank you."

"You're welcome. Let's go in and talk."

"Okay."

The supervisor took two steps instead of three and went forward to open the door.

Steve Ross nodded to his eager subordinates, then went into the office, sat in his chair and looked through his subordinates' latest reports.

As he read, the smile on his gentle face gradually disappeared.

“Is this number true?”

"After the PBS news was broadcast, a large number of people from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, San Antonio and other places actually went to various streets and airports to inquire about the new tours?"

"In New York, where the crowds are the highest, nearly 6,000 people went to entertainment venues that house arcade machines in the six hours after the news was broadcast. Seventy percent of them were asking about the new Destiny game, and 50 percent were eager to play it, so much so that after getting a negative answer, they left the entertainment venues and went to other stores to continue asking."

"Even in Dallas, where the statistics were the worst, more than a thousand people took to the streets to look for him after the news was broadcast, and more than 40 percent of them left with regret?"

“What the fuck!”

"Are these people so eager to play Ethan Jones' game?"

Steve Ross shook the papers in his hands.

This data made the supervisor who came to report nod solemnly.

"Yes, Boss. We collected this data ourselves."

"Even if there is a discrepancy, the discrepancy will not be too great."

“Because they are all professionals.”

The professionals mentioned by the Warner executives actually refer to the information collection teams under the names of major Hollywood giants. These people have only one job to do at work every day, which is to collect relevant intelligence in their own place according to the tasks assigned by their superiors.

The place they often hang out is movie theaters, checking whether the North American theater chains are showing their own movies as agreed. Once the screening schedule is inconsistent with the contract, or if they find that the cinema is suspected of concealing box office revenue, they will report it immediately.

Not only that, they also do some data collection work. For example, after the release of "Star Wars", the survey team under Fox will conduct a questionnaire survey in movie theaters across the country, directly asking fans whether they like the movie "Star Wars", and asking them what characters and actors they like. After the audience answers the questionnaire, they will also give positive feedback to those who participated in the questionnaire in the form of small gifts.

Since the first-hand feedback they produce is basically true and reliable, these things have become bargaining chips for Hollywood film companies, actors, and directors. When all these people are started, the intelligence they collect is generally trustworthy.

And it is precisely because they are trustworthy that Steve Ross was shocked!

Because the documents in his hand showed that last night, at least 50,000 people in the vast America went to various streets and airports to inquire about the new products of the Destiny Game!
Although there are definitely people who have been counted twice, as the documents show, more than half of the people will leave and continue searching after their inquiries have yielded no results.

But at the same time, there must be people who have not been counted!

Because not everyone has a TV at home!
Not everyone was able to watch the PBS news broadcast last evening!

Not everyone can sit through the boring TV speech by the former governor of California!

If all these factors are taken into account, the impact of repeated calculations in the file on the actual data will be very, very small, or in other words -

This number of 50,000 people may not even reflect the influence of the Game of Destiny in America!
According to the film industry's commonly used algorithm for sequels of hit movies, 50,000 people rushing around searching for it in the first place means that the film has at least 500,000 core fans!

The number of moviegoers attracted by word of mouth could reach 10 million!

Although this data is not that impressive in the film industry, based on the average ticket price, 10 million moviegoers is actually equivalent to a box office of less than 20 million.

But if we apply this data to the game of fate...

Ten million potential customers willing to pay for Ethan Jones' new game?

"MFxxk!"

"This special one will make their arcade machines sell like hot cakes!"

Steve Ross slammed the document onto the desk with great force!

In his opinion, these data can generate hundreds of millions of revenue no matter how you calculate it!

"Keep an eye on their factory! I want to see how much they can produce!"

“And then keep your eyes on MGM, Disney and Paramount!”

"I want to know what these idiots are doing!"

"Why haven't they released a new game yet!" Steve Ross's roar caused Warner's executive to leave immediately.

When he called his subordinates and issued tasks, the heads of MGM, Disney and Paramount had actually gathered together and were enjoying breakfast.

In fact, as early as a few months ago, when Destiny Game started to contact various arcade buyers in America, they already knew that Ethan Jones was going to make a move.

They are somewhat worried about this kind of thing, but they are more expectant because they are new players in the field of electronic games. With their own small investment, even if Ethan Jones' new game sells well, it will not have much impact on them.

Not only that, the better Ethan Jones' new game sells, the more it proves that the video game industry has great potential and that there is no problem with their involvement.

When this fact was placed before them, even though they were in competition with Ethan Jones, the pressure they were under at this moment was far less exaggerated than that of Warner Communications.

So, when they learned that many players took to the streets last night to look for new games, the three people who were drinking coffee immediately laughed.

"Wow, Ethan Jones's Destiny game has 10 million potential customers? The video game market is probably worth 1 billion," said Disney CEO Dwayne Tatum.

"At this rate of development, the video game market will soon surpass our film industry." Michael Eisner, president of Paramount, said with some emotion, "More importantly, the craziness of game players can actually be equated with the loyal fans of movies."

"Draw an equal sign? No! No! No!"

His words drew a rebuttal from MGM CEO Frank Rosenberg.

He shook his head and said, "I think game players are crazier than loyal movie fans, because movie fans are crazy, and they go to the theater to see the story told by the director. If the movie shot by the director does not suit their taste, they will spit on it. But video games are different. Players are creating a world. When they can participate in the construction of the world, the madness brought by the sense of substitution is the real charm of video games. That's why so many people wanted to taste Ethan Jones's new game last night. They are looking forward to the arrival of a new world."

Such high praise made the other two look at each other and then laughed at the same time.

"Okay, Frank, you're right."

Disney CEO Dwayne Tatum had no intention of refuting.

Paramount President Michael Eisner raised his coffee and asked MGM CEO Frank Rosenberg, "When are you going to release the game at MGM?"

"If I remember correctly, we agreed at the beginning that each of us would take one season?"

“Summer is here, where are your products?”

"Could it be that because Ethan Jones has already released a new game, you're afraid and decided to delay it? If that's the case, we at Paramount disagree!"

"We didn't want to take the fall schedule in the first place. Not only are there no statutory holidays during this period, but the children also have to go to school. When I got this schedule, my boss scolded me severely. If you MGM still want to squeeze our space, my boss will definitely kill me."

"So, don't make it hard for me, okay?"

"uh-huh?"

Disney CEO Dwayne Tatum pursed his lips when he heard Michael Eisner's words of encouragement.

He put down the coffee cup in his hand, picked up the coffee spoon and started stirring it gently.

As Ethan Jones said, alliances based on interests are not stable.

If they hadn't wanted to get into video games and Philips hadn't wanted to unite all of them against Ethan Jones, they wouldn't have actually been sitting at the same table for breakfast.

As early as when they were discussing the details of the cooperation, they had already done a scene -

Philips felt that Disney, which offered Mickey Mouse, was the most sincere, so it agreed to Disney releasing the game in winter, because that was the most important time of the year, Christmas.

And summer, the second best time of the year, was handed over by Philips to MGM, which owns Tom and Jerry, hoping that they could make a good start;

In this case, the worst fall schedule in any industry can only be attributed to Paramount, which has no more high-profile characters.

This distribution made Disney and MGM very happy, but it was a shame for Paramount.

But since all three companies agreed, they had no choice but to agree to the patent. When Michael Eisner signed the contract, his face was longer than a shoe horn, so... when MGM now needs to deal with Ethan Jones's direct impact? He immediately laughed without disguising himself!

After all, no matter how great the market potential of an industry is, consumers' spending power cannot be increased instantly. In this case, the less others earn, the more beneficial it is for them.

Michael Eisner's attack made MGM CEO angry. But he had no intention of fighting back, because he knew Michael Eisner was a second-generation player!

When their boss at MGM used some tricks to acquire Columbia Pictures, if they dared to go against Michael Eisner, Eisner would most likely destroy their acquisition of MGM in anger, and MGM could not accept this.

So, after staring at Michael Eisner for a few seconds, the CEO of MGM just laughed and said, "Don't worry, it will be available on July 1st."

"Okay, I'll watch." Michael Eisner raised his eyebrows unceremoniously.

This gesture made the CEO of MGM take a deep breath and then nodded.

Disney's Dwayne Tatum had to hold back his laughter at the silent look of the man. Just when he felt that today's trip was worth it, the CEO of MGM suddenly opened fire on him.

"Tang En, there's no problem on my end. I hope you guys at Disney don't make any mistakes either."

The CEO of MGM laughed at Disney's CEO Dwayne Tatum, "I heard that Roy Disney from Disney appeared at the new product launch of Destiny yesterday? Wow wow wow wow wow... Are you Disney trying to be a spy?"

"..." The sudden words made Disney's CEO Dwayne Tatum pause.

At that moment, the smile on his face froze.

"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with us at Disney." He replied sternly.

"I have something else to do, I'll leave first." He threw down the spoon and stood up to leave.

The MGM CEO felt relieved by the angry figure walking away, and when he turned his gaze back to the dining table, he found that Paramount's president Michael Eisner was looking at him with his arms folded.

That rich face was full of amusement.

"I have something to do too, so I'm leaving too." The CEO of MGM also threw away the coffee in his hand.

The porcelain cup hit the porcelain plate, making a crisp sound. Eisner, who stayed in the restaurant, smacked his lips. "I have something to do, too!" He imitated the other two's tone and said it, then made a sound with the tip of his nose -

"Humph!"

"Two clowns!"

He also left the restaurant.

Although the alliance meeting between Disney, MGM and Paramount ended in a bad mood, even so, they still watched the game of fate with a good attitude.

They really want to know what kind of answer the game of fate can give.

They want to know more about where the ceiling of the video game industry is.

However, the smiles on their faces did not last long, because when they ordered people to keep an eye on the Miaobida factory in the Destiny Game... they discovered that there was something extremely problematic about this factory!
The crazy shipments in the first three days are understandable.

The crazy shipments in the first week can also explain it.

But a week after the new product launch, when the game music could be heard as far away as Boston, the Destiny game factory was still shipping products. There was something wrong!
"Boss! Something's wrong! The Destiny Game has been shipped for ten consecutive days!"

"According to our calculations, their arcade shipments are at least 20,000 units!"

"This doesn't make sense at all!"

"It's not a question of whether they have the goods or not, because they notified the buyers in March that they would hold a new product launch conference this month. Three months would allow them to prepare enough goods. The real unreasonable thing is why they were able to sell so many machines!"

"According to our people, one of their four games was not well received by the buyers at all. That means that the remaining three games sold 20,000 units at once!"

"Although it's okay for this to happen to Ethan, the only game that's really attractive here is Snake 2, right? Suppose it sold units? Then the remaining two games shouldn't have sold units in such a short time! There must be something wrong here!"

When MGM, Paramount, and Disney received reports from their subordinates, they immediately frowned at the strange delivery rhythm! This was even more true for Warner Communications. Steve Ross even felt like his ears were broken after hearing the reports from his subordinates!

"Twenty thousand in ten days?"

"What the hell are you kidding me?"

"An average daily shipment of 2,000 units means they ship over 50 vehicles a day!"

"The guys squatting on the front line might be mentally ill. Are you mentally ill too?"

"If they say there are 20,000 units, do you believe there are 20,000 units? Then if I say I am Jesus, do you believe me?"

"will not!"

"You would rather believe that Ethan Jones sold 20,000 arcade machines in ten days than believe that what I, Steve Ross, coded was Jesus! MFxxk!"

"Check again! Check again!"

"Get to the bottom of this! I want to see if Ethan Jones is faking it!"

In Steve Ross's opinion, producing 20,000 units in ten days is impossible.

Because Destiny Game only invited 150 buyers to attend the new product launch conference, and no matter how awesome these people are, it is impossible for them to consume 40 million worth of goods at one time!
If the Destiny game is really being shipped all the time, there is only one possibility -

That means Ethan Jones' goods can't be sold!
He's bluffing!

As for whether the sales of Destiny Game this time will be as dazzling as the sun?
Ah--

When the sales of North American cinemas were cut off by Disney and others, how could retail stores on the American continent possibly have such horrific point-in-time sales volumes?

He! Doesn’t! Believe!
Note: ① Regarding the attitude of the former governor of California towards video games, in reality, he is actually on the fence. I am not exaggerating like I wrote. He supports it when it is favorable to him, and he does not support it when it is not favorable to him. The same is true for Arkansas. When it is favorable to them, they openly hold Game Boy and play Northland Cube, and when it is not favorable to them, they come up with game ratings. ② The Hollywood survey written in this chapter does exist in reality. In the past, that is, in the 1960s and 1970s, this survey was done by them themselves. Many sequels of movies were even made according to the audience's satisfaction and favorite characters, including "Star Wars". When the third part of "Star Wars" was launched in the 1980s, it was already a movie made to sell toys, so all the book-eating that you see is for money. And this is what Gary Kurtz, the producer of "Star Wars", who is also the president of the film company under the name of the protagonist I wrote in the article, broke the news himself. There is no art, only money. And now, Hollywood still uses on-site surveys to obtain the most accurate word of mouth, but they don't do these things themselves, they are all outsourced.

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(End of this chapter)