Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 88: Delicious Buns

Five minutes later, Ethan entered the second-floor reception room of Kismet Game.

As he appeared, the middle-aged man sitting on the sofa immediately stood up, extended his right hand towards Ethan in a friendly manner, and introduced himself.

"Hello, Mr. Jones, I'm David Rosen, CEO of Sega, nice to meet you."

As the saying goes, don't hit the smiling person.

Ethan responded politely to the oncoming enthusiasm. He stretched out his right hand and shook hands with the other. At the same time, he did not stop talking and said directly: "Mr. Rosen, I am also very happy to meet you. I have heard of your name, and I admire your legendary experience very much."

Ethan: This is not bragging.

After all, the person in front of him is the founder of Sega, the guy who dared to fight guerrilla warfare against the US Army in history.

When Sega's slot machines appeared one after another in US military bases in Hawaii, Japan, and Southeast Asia, its unrivaled sales ability was truly astonishing.

"Oh, Mr. Jones, you're too kind. Compared with your creativity, my sales are nothing." David Rosen smiled and shook his head.

After a few simple greetings, Ethan invited the other party to sit down and asked the administrative clerk Julis Noble to serve two cups of tea.

That's Twinings black tea, brewed with cold water.

Ethan doesn't like to drink, but business entertainment requires a taste for the general public.

After Julis Noble disappeared, David Rosen stated directly the purpose of his visit.

"Mr. Jones, I am visiting your company this time to discuss something with you, something about Snake Game."

"Mr. Jones, we at Sega have actually noticed that after you and Atari terminated their cooperation, no company in North America anymore produces Snake Game arcade machines."

“Although from the current market feedback, the merchants on the market are quite satisfied with the stock of Snake Game arcade machines, because the more than 10,000 electronic arcade machines on the market can meet the current people’s gaming needs, but to be honest, there is still a certain sales space for Snake Game arcade machines in the North American market. According to our estimate, the number should be around 3,000 to 5,000.”

"If it's vacant...it would be a real waste..."

David Rosen smiled and spoke sincerely.

Although his intentions were not clearly expressed, Ethan already understood his purpose.

It's nothing more than wanting to be the agent for the production of "Snake"!

In fact, after terminating the cooperation with Atari, Ethan also thought about whether the game "Snake" still had value and whether it needed to continue to be produced and sold. But at that time, the patent for video games and training devices was like a sword of Damocles hanging over his head, making him dare not engage in arcade production at all.

So he put this issue aside.

But when he solved the patent blockade and was able to continue production, he found that making new games was the best option.

Firstly, although Snake is profitable, the shipment volume is just as David Rosen said, at most three to five thousand units.

If it is purely an arcade machine, the profit is still considerable, with a maximum gross profit of 1.8 million. However, if the motherboard is mixed in half, the profit will at least be reduced by the first one.

When such a large fluctuation occurs, it is very difficult to control the cost of setting up a factory to produce "Snake".

Because no one knows how much of this thing should be produced.

What's more, no one knows where else in America is in need of a large number of Snakes.

If it is point-to-point precision sales, then this business is still profitable.

If Quanmi were to redistribute its products, then there would be no point in doing this business.

Selling dozens or hundreds of units in a state, this kind of money accumulated purely by time, is a business that all companies hate.

The efficiency is too low!
As for the second point, new companies need new products.

At present, all the Snake arcade machines on the market have the Atari logo on them.

In other words, almost anyone who has heard of the game "Snake" knows that it is an Atari game.

Because Ethan used Atari's channels, Atari's brand, and took advantage of Atari's market value.

When Ethan chooses to take shortcuts to make quick money, he has to pay a price.

Now, he can indeed re-release Snake under the name of his own company, Destiny Games, but this kind of release does not make any sense for the company's brand building.

If Ethan had no memory of his past life and was just a North American native, he believed that he would definitely squeeze the IP of Snake. But with three trump cards in hand and enough funds, it would be better to show a new game to the players instead of promoting the old game to confuse them!

With the support of these two reasons, Ethan decided to temporarily stop the subsequent production of the "Snake Game" project. When he himself did not do it, Sega's founder David Rosen hinted to him that Sega wanted to obtain the agency rights of "Snake Game"?
Go dream!

It’s all in the dream!
Ethan simply thought about it for a while, and then directly refused.

"Mr. Rosen, Snake Game is the first game I ever made, and it has a very special meaning to me."

"I thought the collaboration with Atari would be a good start, but no one expected it to end like this."

"Atari hurt me and the game I made, which makes me very painful, but fortunately, the people who love Snake Game have not been hurt, which may be the best result."

"If nothing unexpected happens, I think we can't cooperate for the time being, because we don't plan to continue producing Snake Game in the short term. If people like it, they can find happiness in the existing arcade machines on the market. If people forget it, let this piece of history go with the wind..."

Ethan's words were somewhat sad.

The reason why he packaged himself as a literary youth was that he hoped David Rosen would give up.

Because he knows that successful businessmen all have one characteristic, which is that they will never give up until they achieve their goal.

What annoyed him the most was when others harped on about one thing for a long time.

After listening to his words, David Rosen, who was sitting on the sofa, nodded and said with emotion -

"Oh Ethan, I also know about your affairs with Atari. Nolan Bushnell's behavior is really terrible. His despicable means and shameless character have brought shame to Atari, a glorious brand that pioneered the electronic arcade industry!"

"I can understand your feelings and your pain, so..."

"I'm very sorry."

'great!'

Ethan nodded in response with a smile on his face, but in his heart, he snapped his fingers happily.

As long as you don't get entangled, everything will be fine!
However, just when he thought that David Rosen had given up and would leave after saying a few more polite words.

The guy sitting opposite him was silent for a moment, then said, "Mr. Jones, although I understand your thoughts and respect your decision, I also think that an excellent game should not be retired like this."

"While Snake Game has brought great joy to the people of our country, the rest of the world has yet to see its wonders!"

"We in the United States have a population of 200 million, but the world has 4 billion people!"

"There are still 3.8 billion people who haven't played your game yet!"

"There are still 3.8 billion people who have not experienced the happiness you bring!"

"So... we actually still have room for cooperation, right?"

David Rosen looked at Ethan with a smile on his face, and raised his right eyebrow as he finished speaking.

The delicate facial expressions and movements showed his humor, and the suddenly high voice made Ethan laugh.

This time he really understood!
Sega came here this time, not to seek the North American agency of "Snake"! It was obviously to obtain the overseas distribution of "Snake"!

And this is indeed a huge market.

Apart from anything else, the purchasing power of the notebooks alone is no less than that of arcade machines in North America.

Although Europe is not well-known, there is still a market worth hundreds of millions.

This is all hard cash, there is no reason not to make money.

That's right!

At this time, Ethan no longer cares about feelings!
There's nothing we can do about it. Who made him have such a flexible moral bottom line?

Hehe ~
But how to make this money?

He actually doesn't have a complete idea yet and needs to think about it.

So, Ethan smiled and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Rosen, Snake Game is not a game for me alone, so I need to communicate with my sister before I can reply to you."

This answer made David Rosen smile and nod, "No problem, I will wait patiently for your call."

As he spoke, he looked around again, and when he saw the handbag on the sofa, he picked it up directly.

Then, he took out a stack of documents and handed them to Ethan, "Mr. Jones, this is the cooperation plan we Sega has drawn up."

"Please take a look at it with your sister."

"Okay, sure." Ethan nodded with a smile.

After sending David Rosen away, Ethan returned to the office.

Put the documents on the table, then lock the door and leave.

Although the overseas distribution of "Snake Game" is very important, he is a little anxious now.

As for the cause of the incident, he probably drank the Twinings cold tea. He went to the toilet and spent ten minutes to take care of it.

When he came out after washing his hands, he felt relaxed both physically and mentally.

However, just as he was about to return to the office to check the documents, a figure suddenly emerged from downstairs.

Looking closely, it turned out to be another administrator, Damio Dean.

Not only that, after seeing Ethan, he said directly: "Mr. Jones, there are two Asians visiting our company downstairs, saying they want to see you. At the same time, they also said they are from Japan, and the leader even said he is the president of Nintendo."

'what? '

Ethan, who was shaking off the water, was startled.

'Nintendo is coming?'

"Isn't it also for Snake Game?"

With this in mind, Ethan asked Damio Dean to lead the two men into the reception room.

When he appeared again, two middle-aged men came into his sight.

One of them, wearing a black suit and tie, sat upright.

The other one was wearing a beige plaid suit and holding a pair of light brown frog sunglasses.

After seeing Ethan coming, the two men stood up decisively and bowed slightly to Ethan.

Then, the man in the beige plaid suit said, "Hello, Mr. Jones. We are representatives of Nintendo, a Japanese company. I am Hiroshi Yamauchi, the current president of Nintendo, and this is my companion. Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to meet us."

Such words made Ethan nod slightly and respond appropriately.

Because everyone was unfamiliar with each other, not much polite words were said.

When Ethan asked about their purpose, Yamauchi Hiroshi, who led Nintendo to the top of video games in Ethan's previous life, smiled and said, "Mr. Jones, our purpose is very simple. The Snake Game you invented is an excellent game. We want to bring it to Liben so that more players can experience the joy of video games."

While he was speaking, his companion beside him opened the briefcase he was carrying and took out a stack of documents.

After Yamauchi Hiroshi took it, he handed it directly to Ethan.

"This is the plan we have drawn up. I would like to trouble you, Mr. Jones, to take a look at it."

'really! ’

'These people are here for Snake Game too!'

Ethan smiled and nodded, taking the document.

Since the single bid turned into a call auction, Ethan decided to wait and see.

He had no intention of opening the document in front of Yamauchi Hiroshi. After chatting for a few minutes, he got up and left.

When he returned to the office with the documents, he was full of curiosity and directly opened the plans of the two companies.

After a quick glance, Ethan closed them again.

look up.

Looking to the sky.

Everywhere you look, it's all white.

After staring at the ceiling for a long while, Ethan lowered his head again.

When he opened the plan again——

Good guy!
He swallowed his saliva immediately.

Because in his eyes, he could only see one word——

Just have money!
Sega has proposed two cooperation plans, one is buyout and the other is profit sharing.

The buyout plan is simple. Sega wants a five-year cooperation at a price of three million US dollars a year.

At the same time, they demanded to monopolize the sales rights of the Snake arcade machine in countries other than North America.

Although this price is far from the value of the Snake IP, if calculated according to the contract Ethan signed with Atari before, when Sega quoted a cooperation price of 15 million, it meant that they were confident that they could sell at least 100,000 electronic arcade machines within five years!

What is this concept?
According to Atari's previous shipping speed, they could only produce 20,000 motherboards a year through distribution!

Now, Sega thinks it can sell 100,000 video arcade machines worldwide! Not the motherboard!

This shows that they are very confident in their own supply chain system!
But this is normal. Sega has been making arcade machines for decades. If it didn't even have this capability, it would have died long ago.

“Is this the strength of an established company?” Ethan smiled with emotion.

Looking further down, the contract regarding profit-sharing becomes a bit complicated.

In terms of profit sharing, Sega also sought a five-year contract. To this end, they promised that when the global shipment of Snake arcade machines was less than 40,000 units, Ethan would receive 16% of the game licensing fee for each arcade machine.
When the global shipments of electronic arcade machines exceed 40,000 units and are less than 80,000 units, the standard commission rate for game licensing fees is 14%;

When the global shipments of electronic arcade machines exceed 80,000 units and are less than 120,000 units, the standard for the game licensing fee is 12%;
After the global shipments of Snake exceeded 120,000 units, the commission rate for game licensing fees was calculated at 10%.

Ethan initially thought that this was a range contract.

For the first to the 40,000th machines, he was allowed to take 16 percent; for the 40,000th to the 80,000th machines, he was allowed to take 14 percent; and so on, in descending order.

But when he looked at it carefully, he found that it was a decreasing contract similar to a bet on sales volume.

If Sega only sold 20,000 video arcade machines in the first year of cooperation due to production reasons, they would give Ethan a commission of 16% of the selling price.

But if in the second year, because the production chain has caught up, their output comes out and they sell 40,000 units, and the cumulative sales in two years are 60,000 units, then the licensing fees for the 60,000 electronic arcade machines will be recalculated at 14%.

In the first year's settlement, the 2% overpayment for the 20,000 arcade machines will be deducted from the second year's settlement.

The situation is the same afterwards. As the quantity increases, the licensing fee commission rate decreases.

At first glance, this method of deducting licensing fees is indeed unpleasant.

But at the same time, Sega was actually implicitly promising the number of machines to be shipped.

Only when they felt that the "Snake" arcade machine could sell at least 120,000 units within five years, did they dare to make this plan!
Not only that, at the end of the document, there is a handwritten message.

'Mr. Jones, I am very sorry that we did not receive you well during your last visit. The employee who received you felt that he was not suitable for working in our company, so he resigned yesterday. I approved it. - David Rosen'

Such words made Ethan laugh——

"Hey, Sega, you guys have come to this day!"

“I asked you to be my agent before but you didn’t want to do it. Now… hehehehe~”

To be honest, Ethan actually always remembered that when he was promoting the "Snake Game" arcade machine, he was rejected by Sega.

He didn't mention this in front of David Rosen, not because he was magnanimous, but because he hadn't decided whether to cooperate with Sega.

If they really wanted to cooperate, he would definitely say more about this matter during the negotiations and try to gain more benefits.

But now...

David Rosen is quite tactful!
However, it is useless to be sensible, because compared with Sega, Nintendo's plan is actually more explosive.

There are also two options: buyout and profit sharing.

But in terms of regional agreements, Nintendo and Sega differ, they only want the books they are in.

But even so, Nintendo is willing to pay 20 million for five years for the single market of this notebook.

In terms of profit sharing, they are more brutal than Sega.

Five-year contract, fixed price, 14% of the selling price. Not only that, they also promised to ship at least 50,000 units.

This number is really full of sincerity.

Because as long as Ethan signs the contract, Nintendo will have to pay him a minimum licensing fee of $8.4 million.

Compared with the lump sum price of 20 million, it may be a little less, but in a profit-sharing contract, the bet is on the shipment volume.

When these two plans appeared, Ethan said he was not surprised, they were all fake.

At the same time, he had a feeling in his heart——

"The three industries of pornography, gambling and drug trafficking are really profitable!"

"These gambling tool makers are richer than each other!"

Note: ① There is one thing I want to make a special note of. Only North America sells arcade machines in pieces. According to Arakawa Minoru, the son-in-law of former Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi and former Nintendo of America President, it is very troublesome to sell arcade machines in North America because the area is vast and sparsely populated. It would be a big loss to sell arcade machines directly. Therefore, they would sell arcade base boards, even though the profit of the whole machine is higher than the board. He himself did personally install arcade machines, just like I wrote about selling Snake in my previous article. This paragraph comes from an interview with Arakawa Minoru by Playboy magazine in the 1990s. ② The sales volume of arcade machines in North America is indeed a mystery. When I explained the data in Chapter 39 in a single chapter, I said that Space Invaders could sell 100,000 units a year in the original version, but North America could not sell that many. The most outrageous thing is that the popular Donkey Kong in North America has been sold for several years, and the cumulative shipment volume is only 68,000 units. I have never really figured out what this number is, and no professional has analyzed the reason, so the data I wrote in this article can only be estimated. You may think that the gap between the world and North America is too big, and you think it is outrageous. In fact, I also think it is outrageous, but I really don’t know the reason. ③The Hanafuda sold by Nintendo is called playing cards, but it is actually that.

PS, there is only one chapter today. I was really unlucky last night. A couple living upstairs from me had a quarrel. It was so intense that it lasted from 12 o'clock to 3:30. The process was quarreling, smashing, stopping, quarreling, smashing, stopping, in an endless cycle. My brain is so exploded today that I can't write at all.

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(End of this chapter)