Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 309 The outcome is decided

April 1st is April Fools' Day.

No one can explain its true origin, but everyone knows that on this day, playing a joke on friends and playing a prank on each other is a common practice.

As long as one's behavior does not violate the law, it does not matter even if it violates public order and morality. The person who is fooled should not only not get angry, but even have to accept the nickname of "fool" after being fooled.

Of course, most of the time people don't take things too far, at most they would say some harmless jokes like "I'm your father", "The Queen of the UK has an illegitimate child", "The Federation is considering re-issuing the Prohibition Act", etc. But today, what people said the most was -

"Have you played Godzilla? In the game, Godzilla stepped on Mickey's head and pooped!"

Because Sega and Disney bought a lot of press releases in the past two months, "Godzilla" attracted the attention of countless people on the West Coast as soon as it was released.

Even though today is a weekday, working people who need to go to work and students who need to go to school cannot rush to the market to taste the games right away, but jokes related to it have already appeared in the early morning. After everyone has spent a noisy and busy day, some curious figures suddenly appear in the amusement halls on the roadside, at the entrances of major cinemas, and at the entrances of shopping malls with large customer flow.

The guy lying at the door kept looking around like a badger in a melon field.

After seeing the horned monster howling towards the sky, they immediately took out round coins from their pockets and stuffed them into the coin slot with skillful movements.

There was a crisp sound, and the 'Godzilla' logo on the TV screen suddenly flashed. Amidst the exciting music, a 'PLAY' appeared instantly.

Tap the round button on the control panel, and with a clang, the letters 'PLAY' instantly enlarge, and then the challenge levels from bottom to top appear in front of the player.

Although there had been no similar games on the North American continent before today, the North American people were knowledgeable after all, and they figured out the rules of the game in just a few seconds.

then……

That is to listen to the sound of frogs.

"Wow! Is this game so easy? Avoid Godzilla's attacks and jump to the exit? It's not difficult at all! No wonder Disney is the agent, this is simply a baby-level game!"

"Wow! Oh my god! I was so excited about this game? I'm such a fool!"

"Wow! I finally figured out why this game was released on April Fools' Day! I feel like I was screwed by Disney! MFxxk! I paid 25 cents for it! I'm such an idiot!"

Perhaps it is because people have been spoiled by the crazy baptism of the god of games in the past few years, but it may also be because they feel that playing a low-intelligence game on April Fool's Day is stupid. So, when many new players found that the game "Godzilla" was too simple, wails broke out from their mouths one after another.

But even so, they did not put down the joysticks in their hands.

There's nothing I can do about it. Twenty-five cents isn't cheap these days.
If we get together, we can go to McDonald's for a meal.

Therefore, even though they felt that they were fed a mouthful of defense by the designer and Disney, they were ready to swallow it. Not to say that they would finish it all, but at least they could not spit it out completely.

Because once they complain about it, they won’t be able to complain about the game’s shortcomings to their friends the next day. And if they can’t even complain, then won’t they seem even more stupid for having spent the money?

It is this feeling of "it's stupid to play and even more stupid not to play" that fills every player's heart, so those who stand in front of the arcade are holding their anger. They want to replicate the one-coin clearance that only exists among masters, and let the designers see what real cruelty is.

Then, they discovered that as they continued to pass the levels, some subtle changes occurred in the new levels. For example, the climbing passage became narrower and narrower, and the intervals between the ascending passages became larger and larger, making it impossible for people to jump easily. This fact made them exclaim "Huh".

“Is it more difficult?”

"But even if that's the case, it won't be a problem for me!"

“Even if the bricks are getting farther and farther apart and the landing points are getting smaller and smaller, it’s still just a climbing game!”

"When Godzilla is the only enemy you face, reaching the end is inevitable! Huh?!!"

Before those young people could finish shouting, the game screen turned black and white.

Looking at the naked Game Over, they instantly felt like they were being mocked.

"Oh Sxxt! This game actually has traps?"

"MFxxk! How can a designer be so disgusting?"

"Oh! My! God! I actually died in such a simple game???"

"No, no! Open it again!"

Feeling insulted, the players reached into their pockets.

But soon, three or five minutes later, they got the same result.

The screen turning black again made them feel like their intelligence was insulted.

Keep inserting coins and start over. As the game progresses, players gradually discover that not every ascending step is good! Not every bush can be stepped on!
Play again and report again——

They also discovered that even Godzilla that was free from the interface could still be killed by them!

Not only that, after they defeat the monsters with their mortal bodies, they can also get huge score rewards and a fast clearance channel. When the 'bug' that makes time stop and the score increase appears...

The crisp sound of tinkling flowers is like continuous spring rain, covering the earth.

At the same time, the boss who stopped to watch only felt golden numbers popping up in his head -

Gold +0.25
Gold +0.25
Gold +0.25
This fact made them smile...

Smiling along with them was the chairman of Walt Disney.

On April 10, at the Disney shareholders meeting, Don Tatum smiled and read out Disney's report card to everyone present. "In the just-concluded fiscal year of 1979, our Disney Group's operating income was 378 million, an increase of 11.5% compared to 337.95 million in fiscal 1978. The total cost and expenditure for the whole year was 312 million, an increase of 4.52% compared to 298.5 million in fiscal 1978."

"But even so, our full-year net income still reached 66 million, with net earnings per share of $1.36. Compared to 59.5 million and $1.22 per share in fiscal 1978, our net income increased by 11.8%, and earnings per share increased by 11.5%..."

"Of course, we also have shortcomings. For example, we haven't done very well in PG-rated movies. Last year, we launched the special effects movie Black Hole, which cost 26 million US dollars. We tried to replicate the success of Star Wars, but we failed. Its total box office was only 35 million US dollars. North American people didn't like it at all."

"In addition, our animation department has seen a large number of resignations. Fifteen percent of animators resigned under Don Bluth's leadership, which will cause a huge crisis in our animation business. Not only that, under my leadership, the Motion Picture Association of America, Hollywood's review and rule-running organization, has also seen a historic turnover of members, which has caused a crack in Hollywood's stability."

"Because all of the above problems occurred during my tenure, and I did not use appropriate means to control them, which led to the current situation where it is difficult to resolve, I, Twain Tatum, have decided to officially withdraw from the Walt Disney Group effective immediately."

“This is my resignation letter…”

When Dwayne Tatum presented a letter of resignation with today's date on it to the participants, the huge conference hall suddenly fell into silence.

Although the outside world still didn't know that this long-standing fairytale kingdom had already been riddled with holes, the shareholders who were able to attend the meeting today all understood that the war between the Roy Disney family and the Walt Disney family had entered a white-hot stage. And now, a member of the Walt Disney family actually chose to resign? And he even left directly? This... is too outrageous, right?

Roy Disney in the meeting room had a cold expression on his face, because after Dwyane Tatum announced his resignation, he found that Ron Miller gave him a smug smile.

That's showing off!

It's even more of a demonstration!

Just as he pursed his lips and his eyes were blazing, an institutional shareholder at the scene raised his hand and said, "Uh... I have something to say... Although this may not be in accordance with the procedure..."

At present, as group companies have been around for hundreds of years, the operating procedures of shareholders' meetings have long been perfected. According to general procedures, the company secretary, lawyer or official who presides over the meeting will read out the company's financial report for the previous year. After completing the business reporting process in ten to twenty minutes, the election of directors and the voting on shareholders' proposals will then begin. At this time, shareholders can speak in a pre-determined order, and there are time and number restrictions. Of course, if the chairman of the board allows an extension or extension, shareholders who want to speak will still have the opportunity to speak freely.

And now, Don Tatum has exercised his power. "I know this happened suddenly and no one is prepared, so everyone can get more inquiries and more time for inquiries today. Of course, the meeting has a time limit, so please use simple language."

This certainly gave the institutional investor the microphone, and he then asked in a serious tone, "Mr. Tatum, I want to know the real reason for your resignation. Because from the financial report, although Walt Disney made a lot of operational mistakes last year, both revenue and profit grew in both directions. With the company's momentum so good, why do you want to leave the company?"

"That's an easy question to answer, because our company had more money-losing businesses in 1978," Don Tatum said without hesitation. "That year, we invested a lot of money in the video game business, but the games we made didn't sell as well as we expected."

"So even though last year's profit was higher than the year before, I don't feel proud, but rather ashamed because I didn't make up for the losses in the past few years."

"Video games? I personally think your layout in this area is great."

Another shareholder representative raised his hand and asked for the microphone, saying, "Although you failed in 1978, you obtained the patent license for video games for the company. This transaction is the basis of your continuous success in the past two months. So, can you reveal..."

“The sales of the arcade machine Godzilla?”

Such a question made Don Tatum chuckle and shook his head, saying, "This is actually the credit of Ron Miller. Without his efforts, we at Disney would not have been able to get involved in this deal."

“As for sales…”

"In the past fourteen days, we've sold a total of four thousand two hundred arcade machines."

"The entire West Coast is filled with the image of Godzilla." "This deal brought us 8.4 million in operating income and more than 1 million in agency fees. According to our expectations, in the next month, our revenue from video games will quickly climb to 30 million, and the agency fees will reach 3.6 million, contributing about 2% to the annual revenue and a small increase of 1.5% to the net profit."

Roy Disney closed his eyes when he heard the prepared numbers.

But the shareholders present nodded repeatedly.

Someone else raised his hand and asked, "Mr. Tatum, can you tell us about your cooperation with Sega? What I want to ask is, when will they bring Disney games to Neon?"

This question made Don Tatum look at Ron Miller next to him.

Ron Miller also laughed at the right time and turned on the microphone in front of him, "If nothing goes wrong, they will put our arcade machines in Neon in the middle of this year."

"Since Sega has a fixed arcade in Neon, the first batch of arcade machines will not be less than 3,000, and the rest will be added according to market demand."

"According to our calculations, the first phase alone will bring us at least $5 million in revenue, adding another growth point to this year's revenue."

Although this business of several million dollars seemed a bit small compared to other companies with revenues of hundreds of millions, Ron Miller's words still satisfied everyone present.

After all, in this day and age, a company with an annual revenue of over 400 million can already be firmly listed on the Fortune 500. Not everyone can make money in the hundreds of millions. Most of the time, it is about small profits but quick turnover, and firmly grasping every possible million-dollar project.

The more satisfied the shareholders were, the smuglier Ron Miller's smile became. When he cleaned up the meeting room, he found that the vast majority of the shareholders at the meeting had given him looks of approval...

The next second, he turned his gaze and looked at Roy Disney.

As he watched, Roy Disney also forced a smile, as if to congratulate him.

…………

"So, Ron Miller won?"

Ethan leaned back on the sofa with his head drooped, listlessly asking about the latest developments.

"From the current situation, yes..." Steve Ballmer looked at the documents sent by Roy Disney and said, "Although Disney shareholders accepted Dwayne Tatum's resignation, he did not leave Disney and remained on the board of directors as honorary chairman of the executive committee."

"The new chairman is Kaden Walker, Ron Miller's supporter, who also serves as the CEO of the Walt Disney Group."

"As for Ron Miller... he became Carden Walker's deputy. In name, he was helping Carden Walker manage the entire Disney Group, but everyone knew that he was the main manager."

“So, judging by Disney’s current structure, they are…winning by a large margin.”

This fact made Ethan nod slightly.

Then he casually asked, "What about Roy Disney?"

"Roy Disney's position has changed slightly. While he retains his position as head of the animation department, he has become the chief director of the Walt Disney Group at the Motion Picture Association of the United States, and he also serves as the creative director of Walt Disney Parks."

At this point, Ballmer couldn't help himself, shrugged, and said, "In fact, Ron Miller just officially handed over the position we fought for Roy Disney to him."

"Because Roy had already taken control of these places before this."

"When this fact came out, it became clear to everyone that he..."

"Lost."

The deep voice made Ethan sigh. Although he had known for a long time that he and Roy Disney had no chance of winning this time, the abrupt change from being sure of victory to the current sad ending was still hard for him to accept.

But there was nothing they could do. With financial capital secretly stirring up trouble and Ron Miller's counterattack out of defiance, they really had no good way to deal with it.

And maybe this is life. No one knows which will come first, an accident or tomorrow.

“What was Roy Disney’s response?” Ethan asked.

"He wants to rest first." Ballmer replied: "He said he is a little tired."

Ethan understood why Roy Disney said that.

When the enemy is in the ascendant, low-key development is inevitable.

"Okay." Ethan nodded and said, "Let's see if Disney has any other breakthroughs today."

"If not, then we still have a chance. If yes..."

"That would be troublesome."

If Disney can come up with a few good news this year, then according to the nature of Wall Street capitalists, they will definitely find ways to continue to expand this plate. With Disney's stock price rising year after year, it will be a very troublesome thing to continue to help Roy Disney control it.

But if Disney doesn't have any other good news this year...

Then they still have a chance.

Of course, these are just some beautiful ideas, because even Ethan himself doesn't believe that Ron Miller will not strike while the iron is hot to maintain his own power.

And the fact is...

After discovering that IPs like "Godzilla" can sell well, Universal Pictures, which holds a lot of monster copyrights, immediately jumped out to announce that they are setting up their own video game production department and are preparing to develop the "King Kong" IP. The game will meet the public at the end of this year.

Not only that, their CEO Sidney Sheinberg also emphasized that -

“When all the neon monsters can bloom on our North American land, our own original monster King Kong must be born and let the world witness its might!”

"We believe that the monster theme is a theme that is deeply loved by the public!"

“And what the public likes, that’s the direction we produce!”

When the announcement was made, Universal's stock price also rose slightly.

Although this matter had nothing to do with Disney, Universal did not want to buy the video game license from Philips at a high price. So, when Ron Miller once again represented Disney and wanted to be the agent of Universal's games...

Ethan suddenly discovered why Ron Miller could beat Roy Disney.

Because he is impotent!

If not, why would he keep pursuing power, the best CY in the world?

Okay, just kidding.

Now he is finding joy in suffering.

As he expressed his helplessness, Steve Ross at Warner headquarters also picked up the receiver.

He called the office of the chairman of Komodor.

After the call was connected, he said, "Let's do it."

"Are you sure?" Jack Tramiel asked softly.

"Of course." Steve Ross nodded vigorously and said, "Although the process is different from what we expected, the result remains the same, isn't it?"

"Since all the necessary conditions for action have appeared, then..."

"Why should we hesitate?"