America: My Time

Chapter 22 Huge Order
Chapter Twenty-Two: Huge Orders

A new company that has mastered the most advanced technology in the industry—everyone knows it has a bright future, at least for the first few years. As for what it will be like in the future, they don’t need to think about it, at least not now.

Seeing the excitement of theater chains and retailers, executives from Japan's three major home appliance giants were also very excited. They knew very well that the number of orders for the game world this time would be terrifying and would exceed their predictions. Currently, only the three of them were present, and this order was extremely important to any of the companies, so they would not back down.

Meanwhile, executives from the three major home appliance giants also understand that it is impossible to win all three major game console production orders in the gaming world. They must make some choices. However, all three companies value the arcade market in the gaming world, so the competition for arcade orders is likely to be fierce.

Fortunately, there are few competitors. No matter how the three companies fight, they will not leave empty-handed in the end. This is the best thing. There is no need to worry about losing everything and being unable to go back and explain. They can compete with the other two companies without any worries!

John felt quite helpless facing the arrival of only three major electronics giants: Sony, Panasonic, and Hitachi. After all, Game World was just a little-known company. But could these three companies fulfill Game World's orders? This order volume was absolutely insane, especially for home game consoles; the number of orders would be staggering. If sales were good during the summer, the Christmas season would be even more phenomenal!

Unfortunately, it's not entirely up to us. If they don't want to come, we can't just force them to our own press conference to see how good and powerful our game console and games are.

After John finished his speech, the media representatives seemed to wake from a dream, all astonished. The game world's layout was too astonishing; the decision to abandon production was incomprehensible to them. In almost everyone's mind, production was the most crucial element of a business. If even production was to be abandoned, what would become of the game world?
John didn't care what the media thought; even if they didn't understand, it wouldn't affect the game world's development. While the production phase offered good profits, the current game world lacked the resources to complete it—it didn't have the massive funds or the time and effort required to build a production facility.

If the game production process were kept in the US, I would have a lot more fun. I might have to deal with those bossy employees from time to time. Moreover, the orders in the game world today are enormous, which is something the US simply cannot handle. Giving up the production process is the best choice!

Panasonic, Sony, and Hitachi, the three major home appliance giants, are not eyeing orders, but rather the licensing and production of game consoles. Game consoles are not limited to the North American market; the Japanese market is also huge, the Asian market is not small, and the European market is no less than the North American market. The overall volume is astonishing!
Theater operators and retailers are not fools either; they naturally understand that arcade games are a good business for them. As long as the machines in the game world are not too expensive and the production speed is fast enough, it is perfectly fine to put a few in cinemas and shopping malls.

Following the press conference, a massive number of orders for arcade machines emerged, along with decent orders for home and handheld game consoles. Now is the time for the three major home appliance giants to vie for profits and compete for game console licenses!
The ensuing competition shocked John. The three major electronics giants—Panasonic, Sony, and Hitachi—were not vying for their most prized home video game consoles, but for arcade machines. They were all desperately trying to suppress each other, hoping to monopolize the arcade market. This situation left John somewhat bewildered.

From a developmental perspective, home video game consoles clearly have a broader market prospect than arcade games. But why don't the three major Japanese electronics giants see this and insist on competing in the arcade market, leaving home video game consoles and handheld game consoles aside?
Although this was slightly different from their plans, the press conference still ended successfully. Sony secured the arcade license, Panasonic secured the home game console license, and Hitachi obtained the handheld game console license. All three companies benefited.

Of the three major contract manufacturers, Sony was the happiest, while the other two were somewhat unwilling, as if they had lost something important!
After the bidding process ended, John finally understood from the three giants why they valued arcade machines so much—the reason lay within themselves. Panasonic, Sony, and Hitachi were all electronics giants; arcade machine manufacturing required television sets, and every arcade machine would generate the sale of one television set. The profit margin for producing a single arcade machine was much greater than he had imagined!
After understanding all this, John sighed softly. He realized he still didn't understand the production process well enough. What he valued might not be what others valued; differences in position could lead to fundamentally different perspectives. This reminded him to be more cautious in dealing with every problem in the future. Perhaps his thinking was good, but reality was not always so!
The North American arcade market is huge; millions are no problem. Millions of arcade machines translate to millions of television sets sold. No home appliance giant can afford to ignore it. Moreover, there's Europe outside of North America, offering an even broader market. If the gaming world continues to develop and more games are added, the number of arcade machines will increase, which is why the three giants are competing so fiercely for arcade machine production licenses.

Atari was the slowest to react in this game bidding. By the time the media started bidding, they were stunned to learn of the massive orders from theaters and retailers presented at the Game World launch event! Their faces were slapped in the face; the 20 arcade machine orders shocked everyone, along with millions more for home and handheld game consoles. This single order placed Game World at the pinnacle of the gaming industry, allowing them to look down on the major game companies that had looked down on them! At this point, no one mocked Game World's overestimation of its capabilities or John's arrogance anymore. The entire media shamelessly lauded Game World and John, and Game World's reputation resounded throughout North America!

With fame came trouble! The game world production license was leaked by these media outlets that weren't afraid of making a scene, causing a lot of trouble. Some guilds were getting restless, and the fact that no manufacturing company in the entire United States was involved in the production of the game world made them very dissatisfied. All of this was naturally driven by the industry.

John had anticipated this sudden trouble. When he decided to enter the gaming market, he expected attacks from Warner Bros. and difficulties from guild organizations. The biggest problem was that the game's production wasn't in the US; it couldn't create jobs there, naturally attracting attacks from guilds!
Before anything even began, John was prepared. The enemy either wouldn't make a move, or if they did, they would become the target of John's counterattack!
Atari is under immense pressure from the looming threat of the gaming world. Although they only gleaned bits and pieces of information from the media, they understood that their games and the gaming world were products of completely different eras. If the gaming world went all out, Atari's market share would soon suffer a major blow.

No, it should be said that Atari's market has been impacted since the release of Game World. Retailers have stopped placing orders with Atari and are all waiting for the Game World console to be released. Atari is in trouble!
When Atari realized that its products couldn't beat its competitors, its first thought was to acquire them. If that failed, it would poach their employees and then use banks to put pressure on them, forcing them to compromise!

Who is behind Atari? It's the media giant Warner. When they realized they couldn't handle the gaming world, they immediately reported it to Warner, asking them to step in and solve the gaming problem.

Warner Bros. is indeed a Hollywood giant, but it is also at a loss when it comes to the gaming world.

First, Game World is a new company, and they refused an acquisition offer. They tried to pressure them through banks, but they refused to take out loans. As for suppression, that's out of the question; nobody cares. Even theater chains with good relations with Warner Bros. wouldn't accept it. The interests are obvious; no one would be foolish enough to accept Warner Bros.' pressure. It's about interests, and nobody is willing to sacrifice their own interests for Warner Bros.!

Warner was powerless against a company that wasn't short of money. If there was any influence they could exert, it would be to suppress Legendary Entertainment, owned by John. However, each company within Legendary Entertainment was small, and none of them faced financial pressure, making suppression difficult.

This is the advantage of being small. When money is no object, the quality of the work is guaranteed. Even if you are a giant, you can't do anything about it. At most, you can only cause some trouble in the publicity and distribution process, but the impact is still not significant. Good works cannot be solved by suppression. Moreover, Warner Bros. is not the only giant in the United States.

Giving up on suppressing John, giving up on the gaming market, giving up on Atari? That was impossible. Warner Bros. would never bow down to a mere upstart like John. Acquisition failed, and pressuring through banks didn't work either. The only option left was to poach talent. Warner Bros. quickly turned its attention to the employees of the gaming world, aiming to disrupt its development plans.

(End of this chapter)