Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 97: Roll, roll, roll!
Thomas' timely help really helped Ethan out of his urgent need. In the days when the logistics industry was not well developed, long-distance cargo transportation was a nightmare for all manufacturing companies.

Why did Atari only sell 8,000 units of Pong after three years of sales?

That's because they can't find the right person to deliver the goods!

When a company finds a group of trustworthy drivers, free delivery across the country can be achieved. Although it takes two days to drive from San Francisco to New York without eating or drinking, when a product is sold for two thousand dollars and the cost is less than five hundred dollars, then no matter which boss it is, he can appropriately increase the delivery cost to fully reap the profits.

Yes!

Ethan is not going to sell circuit boards anymore!

This is not only because the production of "Pac-Man" uses new technology. Once the CPU is involved, the on-site replacement and debugging of the circuit motherboard will become more troublesome, but also because selling arcade machines makes more money than selling circuit boards.

Based on current pricing, the gross profit of an arcade machine is $1,500, while the circuit board costs a maximum of $500.

Based on the distribution quantity of 10,000, the profit of the video arcade machine is 15 million, while the profit of the circuit board is only 5 million.

Although this algorithm is rough, even extreme, the extreme gap is so terrifying.

Previously, due to limited conditions, each game company could only make corresponding choices.

But now, with the latest technology, the strongest creativity, and the most reliable team, of course I want them all!
When all the links of purchasing, production and distribution were opened up, the entire Destiny game factory was a scene of bustling activity. In just fifteen days, Ethan had delivered a thousand arcade machines that were "voluntarily" purchased by major universities. In the process, social orders also came in one after another. There was no other way. North America is so big, there are always some vendors who are willing to pay for a try after seeing the news reports.

And these first batch of people who eat crabs...

You can make money right away!

"Hello! Destiny game? Do you have any Pac-Man arcade machines left? We need fifty in Sacramento!"

"Yes, yes, yes! We purchased this jointly from several merchants!"

"Oh! Sxxt! Who doesn't know that your game is super fun? Merchants in San Francisco said that they can make at least $150 a day with one machine! And it's different from the previous situation where the game only attracted boys! Many girls like to play this game! You know, as long as someone plays the game, many people will gather around! Many people! A lot of people!"

"Ah huh? You guys are asking about other games?"

"Who has other arcade machines in front of their store now?"

“Isn’t it a waste of electricity if no one is playing?”

"Even your boss, Ethan... Ethan... Ethan Jones! Yeah, yeah, yeah! No one plays his Snake Game anymore! Now people only want to play your new Pac-Man game!"

"Oh! Hua Q! Can you please stop asking! Ship it to us! Ship it to us!"

"What? Distributed distribution may take several days?"

"Oh! No! You just need to deliver the goods to a place for us! We will pick them up ourselves! That should be fine, right?"

When Ethan heard this conversation, he immediately smiled as brightly as a flower.

"Sure enough, as long as the product is good enough, it can change people's living habits!"

Fixed point delivery?
Merchant pickup?

Oh!
This is something that many sellers dare not even dream of!
Looking at the extremely busy office, Ethan waved to Julis Noble who had just finished answering the phone.

"What's up, boss?"

Perhaps because she has been too busy recently, the girl's face was full of fatigue and her voice seemed a little hoarse when she spoke.

Seeing this, Ethan looked apologetic.

"Oh Julis, I'm so sorry that your workload has suddenly increased because of my poor judgment."

"To make up for my mistake, I have decided to give you an additional bonus of $500 this month."

"At the same time, I am also planning to recruit another group of employees, including about four to eight administrative staff, to reduce your work pressure."

"I wonder if you would like to be the supervisor of this group of new people?"

Julis Noble blinked at these words.

She suspected there was something wrong with her ears.

But the next second, those tired eyes flashed with joy, "Oh my boss, you finally did something human."

"I've been going crazy answering calls in the past half month!"

"There are dozens of them every day!"

"The most important thing is to record the address! Record the demand! Communicate with the factory about production! Communicate with the fleet about delivery!"

"This is really..."

"Oh God, I can finally relax a little!"

The girl's words made Ethan smile and nod.

Now that the company is on the right track, the necessary positions cannot remain vacant.

Ethan was going to hand over production issues to Damio Dean, a guy who graduated from Stanford School of Engineering. As for order records, cargo delivery, and business reception, he put them all under the administration basket and handed them over to Julis Noble.

As for the financial and cost aspects?

That was Alan Massey's responsibility.

After three days of operation, the staff size of the Destiny Game increased significantly, with six additional administrative staff, four women and two men, and two accountants, one man and one woman.

Looking at the small but complete company, Ethan felt a sense of accomplishment.

Although he has lived two lives, this is also his first time starting a business.

And the first time I started a business, I could do this...

He is still pretty awesome!

Just when Ethan was thinking that he had been busy for a long time and could finally take a break, the phone in the office rang again.

When he picked up the phone, he found out that it was Chuck Petrus calling.

"Hello~ Chuck, what's the matter?" Ethan was in a good mood, so he started joking directly, "Are you going to celebrate the success of Pac-Man for me? Oh - I don't have time recently - I'm very busy now - hahahaha~"

However, just as his laughter died down, Chuck Pete's heavy voice came from the other end of the phone: "Oh Ethan, I also want to celebrate the success of Pac-Man with you, but I really don't have the time now because there is a problem at the factory."

“It’s a hit.”

"WTF?" These words made Ethan sit up straight.

"We have a problem with our chip production line? It's on fire?"

"Oh! Sxxt! Is this burnt?"

"Is it serious?"

Ethan suddenly became anxious.

Because in his memory, fires in chip factories are common! Whether it is TSMC, Hynix, Samsung, or Micron, as long as they are chip manufacturers, their homes have caught fire!

Ethan didn't know the reason because he was not a professional in this field.

But he knew one thing, that is, there was no intention to increase the price of their MOS 6502!
And when they didn't want the price of chips to go up, something went wrong at the factory?

Special code!
I'm afraid this fire wasn't started by Intel!
Just as Ethan was guessing, laughter suddenly came from the other end of the phone -

"Hahahaha—Ethan—you're scared by me, right—"

"It's not the production line! It's not the production line! It's the orders that are exploding! It's the orders that are exploding!"

"You know what? After Pac-Man came out! MOS 6502's orders increased percent!"

"Seventeen game production companies have already placed orders for chips from us!"

"Wow... I really didn't expect that the chip I designed could be used in this way!"

"And in order to cope with the orders, the company has added two more production lines!"

"If nothing goes wrong, our chip sales in the first half of this year will reach 50,000!"

'...'

Chuck Pete's excited words left Ethan speechless.

Damn it, he thought it was his own chip company’s production line that burned down!

The result is that the orders exploded?

This……

Pretty good!
To be honest, Ethan did not expect that the emergence of Pac-Man would boost the sales of MOS 6502!
After all, this kind of game that relies on programming is not something that a circuit board game company can handle.

But since those companies want to roll in, he can't stop them, right?

If he was just an ordinary gaming company, he would definitely be a little anxious.

But the problem is...

The cheapest chip production line on the market is his!

Buying chips from peers?
Shouldn't Intel, massage parlors and Motorola be the ones that are anxious?

Hehe ~
Ethan felt very happy. He wanted to laugh, but he didn't want to laugh too loudly.

Because that's too rude!
While he was feeling depressed, Chuck Pete said, "Oh Ethan, in addition to the surge in orders, I have something else I want to tell you. Our team has already discussed it and wants to continue research and development and develop 16-bit chips."

"So the company's dividend issue... probably won't happen in the next one or two years."

Upward research and development?

This is a good thing for Ethan.

Because he has lived two lives as a human being, he has witnessed the increase in productivity brought about by technology.

Although he knew that Chuck Peteau's design in his previous life did not defeat Intel's X86 architecture, the monopoly in the low-end consumer product market, Intel and the massage parlors combined, was not enough for Chuck Peteau to defeat with one hand.

The term "low-end" may not sound good, but for a game company like Ethan, it has unparalleled appeal.

Because this way he can have an unrivaled cost advantage.

So, after hearing Chuck Pete's proposal, Ethan smiled and said, "Oh Chuck, I told you, that's your company."

"From the day I decided to support you, I will not impose any restrictions on your research and development."

"Because I am just like you, looking forward to technology changing the world!"

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

After a moment, Chuck Peteau chuckled and said, "Thank you."

"I won't keep you waiting."

"In one year at most, I will be able to show you a 16-bit CPU."

"Because I'd also like to know what you'd do with it."

After hanging up the call with Chuck Petrus, Ethan also started happily spinning his pen in the office.

no way!
Who says the happiest thing in the world is when your competitors are rushing to give you money?
Just when Ethan's mouth was about to stretch to his ears, the phone on the table rang again.

I picked up a can and Steve Jobs' roar came out -

"Oh Ethan! You know what! You know what! We've received five hundred orders! Five hundred orders for APPLE 1!"

"We sold 666 units! That's over 300,000!"

"I've never seen so much money in my life!"

"And do you know why our orders suddenly surged?"

“That’s all because of Pac-Man!”

"After learning that Pac-Man was made with Apple 1, many game companies wanted to buy Apple 1 and try to develop games!"

"After learning that Pac-Man was made with Apple 1, many computer enthusiasts wanted to buy it to program!"

"real!"

"When I received the call, I was completely stunned!"

"I never thought that Pac-Man would have such an advertising effect!"

Ethan was also shocked.

He also didn't expect that how a lousy game developer like him could be involved in three industries?

Was Pac-Man an advertisement for Apple 1?

what is this?
Is it an accidental success?
It's outrageous!
but……

he likes!
Electronic games, central processing units, and personal microcomputers are all emerging industries!
How can you companies sleep well at such a young age?

Get up and roll up!
Thanks to [cjll][book friend 20171206211516411] for the reward of 100 Qidian coins.

Note: ① In reality, Chuck Petrus did develop a 16-bit CPU, but he did so after leaving MOS.

PS1, in response to a comment, it was normal for hippies to make arcade games. This should have been noted before. This is a topic that both Nolan Bushnell and Steve Jobs have talked about. As for why they worked so hard, there is no official explanation at present, and I personally have two reasons for verification. The first point comes from the book "1973: Rock at the Crossroads", which says that in 71, the hippie culture had already shown signs of ebb. Although there were more children with long hair in high schools, there were fewer people walking in groups on the streets. By 73, one-third of the stores in the hippie mecca, Haight Ashbury, were closed due to the decrease in traffic. At that time, the hippies who returned to their normal track needed a job, so they entered the employment state in large numbers. The second reason comes from Jobs' own recollection. He said that many hippie families were not poor, so they were able to work well after returning to life. However, because they had been out of society for a long time, they could only find job information in newspapers such as the San Jose Mercury News. Of course, there were also some who were too aggressive when they were having fun. Although they worked, they still spent their final salary on psychedelic drugs.

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(End of this chapter)