"Awesome, I admire you." Henry Morgan gave a thumbs up and said, "If I had known you were prepared, I wouldn't have to worry so much."
"Actually, in the electronic product market, disruptive technologies may appear at any time. Therefore, we must not expect to dominate the world with one product. Besides, even if arcades can be popular for a lifetime, our games may not be able to do so." Chen Zhiwen Said with a slight smile.
In the past few years, Midea has developed four games, and he still knows that there are not many games that will be successful, because in the past few years when arcades were just born, there were only a handful of games that could be suitable, and even more Famous games such as Mario are too complex and require too high algorithms, and current chips cannot yet achieve this capability.
And whether it is him now or the companies that succeeded in the arcade in the previous life, they all relied on the new market where few people entered the market to make a fortune quickly. However, as time goes by, an exponential number of entrepreneurs enter the market, so what good will happen? The probability of the game will be greatly increased, especially as chips become more powerful and many ideas can be realized, Chen Zhiwen's prophetic advantage may not be so strong.
Of course, there will still be advantages. For example, if nothing else happens, Mario will still be popular all over the world, but his market share will definitely be lower and lower. Whether it is the future arcade market, home game consoles, handheld consoles, and computer games. So true.
"Maybe I thought too much and expected to be in this profession for the rest of my life." Henry Morgan said with a smile.
"In fact, it may not be so desperate." Chen Zhiwen said: "The arcade market will indeed decline, but it can last for a long time. And even if Midea develops home game consoles in the future, future games will be released on arcades first. We’ll wait until the market is ready before launching a home game console.”
"Really?" Henry Morgan said with emotion. Arcades mainly rely on bars. Midea needs to cooperate with him on this point, but something as small as a home game console is sold to end players. It will definitely be placed in supermarkets. With him It doesn't matter anymore, but if Midea's games are released in arcades first, there will always be a certain market.
"Of course, and you don't have to worry about home game consoles for at least the past three years. We will run the arcade market well in these three years. As for after three years, we will see the specific situation. We are just It's just speculation," Chen Zhiwen said.
Even in the process of Nokia being replaced by smartphones, it was still the world's mobile phone sales champion in 2013. Replacement also requires a process, not only to seize new products and new technologies, but also to squeeze out the last drop of profit from old products.
"That's right, do your best now." Henry Morgan said with a smile: "Eric, when will your next game, Pac-Man, be released?"
"The sales of "Space Invaders" are pretty good right now, right? It's estimated that it will have to wait until the second half of the year to be released. The arcade market is limited, and releasing two games at the same time will only lead to internal fighting." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said.
Not to mention the United States, some places in Europe and Asia also follow this strategy. The market for such expensive arcade machines is very limited, so they are sold in a staggered manner to ensure high prices and high profits. In Japan, they sell games from two years ago, which are much cheaper.
"Okay, I'm just asking. If that's the case, I'm relieved." Henry Morgan said: "There's another piece of good news. I know that one of your trading companies is always trying to get through the major supermarket chains in the United States. I have been following this route recently. You also know that many large supermarkets have cooperative relationships with our J.P. Morgan, so I know a lot of people. They have agreed to accept some of your trading company’s products. Let’s try it first. Give it a try, and if it goes well, there will be more cooperation in the future.”
"This is good news, thank you very much." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
He has always had a cooperative relationship with Henry Morgan. In the process, Midea gradually gained the advantage, but Henry Morgan did not give up. Although it was impossible for him to do anything else in the arcade field alone, outside of arcades, he had always He uses his connections to help Chen Zhiwen's other businesses to increase his own value. The most important thing is that he has been using his connections to open the doors of European and American supermarkets for Galaxy Trading.
The most successful one was Henry Morgan's entry into Celtic, the largest supermarket in the United States, for Midea fans and daily necessities from Galaxy Trading. This is a large supermarket with a turnover of tens of billions of dollars, and its status is like Wal-Mart in later generations.
Orders for Midea's electric fans doubled last year, thanks to Celtic. Galaxy Trading also began to rely on high-quality and cheap daily necessities, gaining recognition from Celtic. With some special customer service, Kyle Te's share of orders in the Galaxy Trade has almost reached 30%, but this is just a drop in the bucket for Celtic.
Sure, Walmart, Costco and even Europe’s Auchan Carrefour are the future of galactic trade, but Celtic is the present.
"You're welcome, you and I should help each other." Henry Morgan said with a smile. Chen Zhiwen has business ideas and cheap industries in Hong Kong. He has the resources of the United States. If the two parties cooperate, even if there is no arcade machine, they can still Many parties become stakeholders, and that is his purpose now.
Over the years, he has watched Chen Zhiwen reach the top step by step. From an entrepreneurial young man who was not worth as much as him to today, he is far more than him. Whether it is Midea, Red Bull, Galaxy Trading, Costco, any one can become a JP Morgan Chase level A big customer of the bank, and Henry believes that this is far from the end of Chen Zhiwen.
"Henry, if you believe me, you can transfer part of your funds to Hong Kong. The real estate market here will never let you down." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and then said. He actually understood what Henry Morgan meant. So If you help yourself, you have to reciprocate. If nothing else, it’s okay to inform the other person of some opportunities to make a fortune.
"Hong Kong's real estate market? I don't understand real estate, let alone Hong Kong, and I can't stay in Hong Kong forever." Henry Morgan said with a frown.
"You don't need to stay in Hong Kong. You can just invest in some companies. I will give you the names of a few companies later. You can consider buying the stocks of these companies. These companies are all of which I am optimistic about, and I am also optimistic about them." I invested part of it," Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"Okay, let me think about it. It happens that I still have a sum of funds in a Swiss bank, and I still need to pay interest there. I can also invest in Hong Kong." Henry Morgan nodded and said.
In the evening, Chen Zhiwen took Lei Shengli and Henry Morgan to have dinner together at a nearby Chinese restaurant. Henry got excited and tasted a little liquor. Then he got very drunk in the afternoon and was sent to the hotel.
Chen Zhiwen and Lei Shengli were much better, but they went back to rest separately. The next morning, when Lei Shengli rushed to the company, Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "Lao Lei, you have a pretty good drinking capacity. I'll call you in the morning." I went to ask Henry, he is still sleeping."
"I can't do it anymore. I can't compare to Chen Sheng. I just went to bed last night. I felt a little uncomfortable when I woke up in the morning. It's better now." Lei Shengli said with an embarrassed smile.
"I'll have to drink less in the future." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Smoking and alcohol are not good things. He will never touch cigarettes in his life. He should try to control his drinking. Fortunately, with his current status, it is not a bad thing. You have to drink with someone, and you won't drink a lot. Henry has a good relationship with him, so he made an exception.
"Sometimes you still can't escape, but I heard that there are some mysterious hangover medicines in many places in Southeast Asia. Next time I will drag people to find some to try." Lei Shengli said with a smile.
"It's better to touch less of those things." Chen Zhiwen shook his head, and then said: "You also know what Henry Morgan came to see me yesterday. What do you think?"
"Henry Morgan was the first to discover the potential of arcade machines, which shows that his vision and business sense are very powerful. This time he also discovered the potential of home game consoles. He is really capable." Lei Shengli nodded and said.
"So it is useful to cooperate with him." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said: "What I told him yesterday is correct. Arcade machines are estimated to have two to three years of glory. By that time, home game consoles will inevitably become If it becomes popular on a large scale, even in countries like Europe and the United States, it will become like household appliances, with every household having one, or at least several households having one.”
"Atari's home game console only costs 500 to 600 US dollars each. At this price, European and American families can indeed afford it. If only a few families had one, this would probably be a multi-billion or even 10-billion-dollar market. ” Lei Shengli said.
"So next, our task is to develop such a similar home game console. The American team has almost disassembled and analyzed it. The follow-up is to study our own." Chen Zhiwen said.
Chen Zhiwen alone knows that when Atari was at its peak, its home game consoles sold up to 10 million units in the United States in a single year, and almost three families had a game console. Such a market was much larger than that of arcade machines, even if In the future, the existence of computers will impact home game consoles, but this is not a relationship like smartphones replacing feature phones, where only one will live, but a relationship similar to mobile phones and computers.
Smartphones of later generations will impact the computer market, but they will not destroy computers. Similarly, computers and home game consoles have the same relationship. Furthermore, developed countries can popularize computers on a large scale, but developing countries are far behind. Yes, the market here is also huge.
Chen Zhiwen will naturally not let go of a market that has existed for a long time. This is actually more significant than arcade machines.
"In terms of research and development, I have also discussed with the engineers in Hong Kong. I am afraid that they are not capable of this and have to rely on the United States. But this investment is huge. Atari previously spent 2,000 I didn’t develop the research for US$10,000. Later, I had to sell myself to Time Warner to get the follow-up funds. I spent US$100 million on research and development, and so much money was given to the United States. I was a little worried.” Lei Shengli said with some worry. .
"Your concerns are very reasonable. Therefore, I am not going to develop a game engine like Atari. Our first-generation game console only needs to be able to adapt to a few of our own games." Chen Zhiwen said.
"Only for our own games? In this case, the cost will indeed be much lower, and the technical difficulty will be much lower." Lei Shengli said after thinking for a moment.
"Yes, our games have proven their success in arcades. Putting these games on home game consoles can theoretically be successful. When this first-generation game console earns a lot of revenue in the international market, Then use these proceeds to develop a second-generation universal game engine." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
In the development of the semiconductor industry, the existence of games is a very important guiding factor. For example, in the 21st century, when the performance of computers can meet the commercial needs of most people, people's desire to replace them will be greatly reduced, and chip manufacturers' orders will be greatly reduced. It will also be greatly reduced, and there will not be enough funds for iterative production. At this time, the existence of the game can stimulate a large number of players to purchase high-configuration computers. These computers require high-end chips, completing a closed business loop.
In the same way, the same is true for the smartphone industry. Many times, high-end mobile phones are sold based on the gimmick of being able to beat a certain game.
Now, the game engine is actually similar to a computer. Atari's original idea was to make it a platform. In the future, you only need to write the game software into the card, and you can play it directly, which can accommodate all games.
This requires very strong compatibility, and at the same time, signal transmission with the TV and the signal transmission of the controller must be considered. The difficulty is far beyond that of an arcade machine that welds a game to a big iron box.
Moreover, the space of the arcade machine is large, and there are special large cooling fans. In the development of home game consoles, even the heat dissipation problem can kill countless people in one summer. This also requires the ability of the chip to be applied to the extreme, and it must not be too hot. Consider manufacturing costs.
Taken together, the difficulty of developing a game engine is no less difficult than developing a state-of-the-art computer, and it is far more complicated than the current Apple Computer 2.
The success of Apple 2 is actually the first introduction of the concept of personal computers. Other big brands did not react, but when they did and spent several years developing their own products, the price/performance ratio of Apple 2 was not that high. , according to the original history, after it went public in the 1980s, Apple spent hundreds of millions of dollars plus annual profits on it, but developed two failed products. This also led to Jobs being kicked out of the board of directors and subsequent Apple's Decline foreshadowed.
Chen Zhiwen is well aware of the high risks of high-tech research and development, so when there is insufficient funds in the early stage, he will never resort to this method. After acquiring Wharf, there is no big problem with funds, so he can invest appropriately. .
However, it is still too early to develop a comprehensive game engine like Atari. This requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and can only be done in the United States. The risks are also too high, and success may not be possible.
In this case, if we only develop a home game console for a few of our own games, the risk and investment will be much smaller, and we can also avoid the collapse of Atari game consoles in later generations, because Atari's home game consoles , after becoming popular, third-party platforms were opened, but they could not control the quality of the third-party games, resulting in all kinds of junk games running rampant.
In the end, Atari's own rubbish game became the straw that broke the camel's back. Otherwise, given Atari's scale, it would not have gone bankrupt if it had just released a rubbish game.
Besides, there are no games on the market in the past few years that can beat our four games.
"Okay, then I'll go to the United States and communicate with the team there. It's a pity that Woz has left, otherwise it would be much more convenient." Lei Shengli said with some regret.
"The significance of personal computers is far more important than games. It cannot be kept by others. Besides, our relationship is not bad. You can also go to him for consultation. A home game console specially adapted to our three games may be a good choice for him. The difficulty is not very high." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"Okay, I will also go to Apple then, just in time to see what this company, known as the hope of the future of Silicon Valley in the United States, is like." Lei Shengli nodded and said.
"It's good to go and have a look. You should have heard of Steve Jobs, and you can also get to know him. But he is quite crazy, so don't be angry with him." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
Apple was the first to launch a personal computer, and at the same time claimed that every home should have a computer. This ambitious goal has made him an entrepreneurial hero in Silicon Valley. Woz, who only engages in technology, is much more low-key. Outside of Apple, Basically no one knows him.
Under the spotlight, Jobs also began to become irritable, perhaps because his long-term vision for the market exceeded his current technical capabilities, but this temper was also one of the reasons for his future failure.
"I've heard about it too. Anyway, it's just a matter of making acquaintance. After all, Chen Sheng, you are also Apple's major shareholder." Lei Shengli said with a smile.
"I can only say one thing. Apple has gone through several rounds of financing. Although I followed a little, it was still diluted." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile. Apple's financing is not for money, but to attract resources. This kind of In this case, all three original shareholders need to have their shares diluted, and it is impossible to hold 33.3% all the time.
(End of chapter)
