Rebirth of America, this is my time

"Julis, do you think Sega's behavior is a little abnormal?"

After reading Julis Noble's report, Ethan put down the file and stared at his subordinates.

"Yes, boss, I think there's something wrong with Sega."

Julis expressed her thoughts, "I thought that Sega's acquisition of Esco Trading was just to expand their real estate business in Neon and use the excuse of operating arcade games to invest heavily in Neon real estate. But unexpectedly, Sega The target actually turned out to be a game.”

"Although Sega has never had any friction with us in the past few years, it does not mean that we are not competitors. Since our main business conflicts, when Sega chooses to leave North America , after Neon arrives, all their actions will pose a threat to us."

"For example..."

"What Sega is doing right now is reverse selling."

"This behavior strikes me as extremely ambitious."

Reverse selling is a marketing term, and there are many explanations related to it.

But now, what Julis is talking about is Sega's behavior of doing marketing first and then deciding on distribution.

The normal process for a company to sell goods is to first communicate with wholesalers, introduce its products to wholesalers, and then push the goods to the market through their channels.

This is how Destiny Games sells arcade machines.

Ethan communicates with arcade machine buyers from all over the country and sells the goods to them. After these people obtain the arcade machines, they place them in their own shops for the final consumers to come and consume.

But everything Sega is doing now is the opposite. It avoids buyers when products are launched and directly carries out consumer-centered marketing promotions, that is, selling products directly to retail outlets.

Although this method cannot allow them to gain a large market in a short period of time, it can save them a large amount of marketing expenses and slowly win the favor of the people in a steady and steady way.

After waiting for other dealers to discover that their products are indeed good...

Procurement related to it will appear naturally.

On the surface, this kind of marketing seems petty, but in fact, it is a manifestation of a company's ambitions. They want long-term success in this industry, so they don't care about temporary sales. They are like wild wolves in the jungle, patient enough to wait for their prey to reveal flaws, and willing to wait for their products to slow down. Slow fermentation.

"So, you are trying to say that Sega's patience will make them a dark horse in the video game industry? Their stability will make them successful?" Ethan asked.

"Yes." Julis nodded and said, "I feel like Sega is like a poisonous snake hiding in the darkness, and may show its fangs at any time."

"And their choices are very smart."

"When they discovered that manufacturing video games on the North American continent required high patent fees, they decisively shifted their development focus to Neon, which has no patent protection and a huge market."

"This behavior not only allows them to save a lot of patent expenses, but also allows them to test whether their games will attract market attention."

"When a game has passed the test of a country's market, they can confidently and boldly introduce it to North America. This behavior allows them to gain success at the minimum cost."

"After all, everyone now knows that North America is our preserve."

Ethan understood.

Julis came here today because she wanted to tell him that Sega was dangerous and they should be careful.

And this advice...

Ethan thought it was okay.

Because in his previous life, Sega was a video game giant that could compete with Nintendo.

In his memory, the fight between Sega and Nintendo was very physical. Their home console SG-1000 and Nintendo's home console Family Computer were released on the same day, and the hype and marketing related to them was very noisy. The sky is dark and the earth is dark.

Not only that, at the same time that Nintendo launched "Mario", Sega also launched "Sonic" without giving in. The fight between tit and head was a classic battle in the video game circle of Ethan's previous life.

When Nintendo became a big business and already had a monopoly in the video game market, Sega was still not afraid and fought them to the end. This crazy and biting character proved that they would definitely be a difficult opponent, especially Hayao Nakayama. After the guy who led Sega to the top has appeared...

At this moment, Sega's risk index is actually no lower than Nintendo's.

"Okay, Julis, I understand what you mean."

"I understand your worries. You did a good job this time."

"Reminded me when I almost forgot about Sega, thank you."

Ethan affirmed Julis’ behavior.

At the same time, he also wanted to know what the game "Godzilla" looked like.

Because he could not search for relevant information from his past life memory.

After Ethan said that he wanted to play the game "Godzilla" up close, Julis, who came to report the news, looked embarrassed and said: "So far, Sega has not officially sold this game to the outside world. It’s a game, so playing it at close range may not be possible in the short term.”

This current situation makes Ethan a little regretful.

But the next second, Julis changed the topic again and said: "However, I used a tape recorder to take a live video of the arcade. Although it looks a bit blurry, the specific gameplay has been included."

"Oh, really?" Ethan was a little surprised, "Where's the videotape?"

"At this."

Julis handed a palm-sized black box to Ethan.

He stood up and inserted the black box into the Philips projector, pressed the play button, and the Sony Trinitron screen suddenly flashed. After playing the invalid recording on the front end, a shaky picture appeared in front of Ethan.

Since the game "Godzilla" is not publicly available, you must enter an arcade controlled by Sega if you want to play it. Therefore, in order to avoid alerting the snake, Julis had to avoid the scrutiny of the store clerk during the recording. Therefore, the perspective of the entire video It's very weird, it was shot from a looking-up angle.

But Ethan doesn't care about these details.

Stare at the screen with all your attention.

With the appearance of colorful pictures, an interesting level-breaking game appeared in front of him.

"Godzilla" is a vertical screen level-breaking game. The map cannot be pulled left and right, only up and down.

At the beginning of the game, a human character will be born in the lower left corner of the screen. At the top of the screen, there is a towering Godzilla. What the player needs to do is to control the human character to run to the upper right corner of the map. Just touch The level is cleared when you reach the portal with the same aperture.

And this process is not simple.

First of all, there is not a complete road on the map. The designer set up obstacles for players in three stages. The first layer close to the player is a fixed brick. The player can only climb away step by step by controlling the game character to jump upward.

The second layer is a long wooden pile with red spikes on it. If the player touches the spikes, he will die immediately. The third floor is the giant monster Godzilla. Every five seconds, it will move towards the player's direction, and at the same time, it will open its bloody mouth and spit out a large mouthful of thick phlegm at the player.

Ah, no, it's light waves.

If hit by light waves, the player will die immediately.

As for the way to avoid...

It is very simple for future generations of players.

Just move the character to a safe location through operation.

But for people in this era...

This kind of gameplay is very novel.

So every time a player performs a wonderful operation in front of the arcade, there will be a burst of cheers, and if someone performs operations such as continuous jumps and triple jumps...

The sudden loud exclamation will make them the most handsome people in the scene.

Of course, if this game only has evasion gameplay, players will definitely lose interest in this game after playing for a long time. Therefore, when the level reaches a certain level, players can use terrain weapons to attack Godzilla. Fight back.

For example, the spikes on the wooden piles are divided into red and green. After touching the red spikes, the player will die directly, but if the green spikes are touched, the spikes will instantly rise upward toward the top. Godzilla sped away. If the player hits Godzilla in this way, Godzilla will wail and disappear instantly. This level is considered to be cleared. However, if the player misses the hit, Godzilla will enter an angry state and continue to fight. Attack players at a fast speed. Previously, the interval was five seconds, but now the interval is three seconds.

For another example, a blue light ball will appear on the map. After eating it, the character controlled by the player can reflect damage once. The player who has obtained the Buff only needs to stand still and wait for Godzilla's attack. But this light ball is not easy to get. It only exists for three seconds, so players need to find the right time.

In addition, in order to encourage players to fight against Godzilla, the scoring rules of this game are also closely related to the player's operations. For each level cleared, the player will receive 50 points, as well as the remaining time to clear the level. Bonus points, each level is limited to sixty seconds. If the player clears the level in fifteen seconds, the remaining forty-five seconds are bonus points. If the player clears the level by defeating Godzilla, the player will also receive a One hundred percent kill points.

To put it simply, the faster a player clears a level, the higher their score will be.

At the same time, the fewer levels a player passes but the higher their score is, the more proof they are that they are awesome.

For ordinary people, this algorithm makes little sense.

But in the arcade, scores symbolize status.

"This game is pretty good. How many levels are there in total?"

After watching the videotape, Ethan turned his attention to Julis again.

"I don't know." Julis shook her head and said, "This game has only been in operation for a month. It seems that no one has cleared it yet? Because I haven't heard any news about it."

"Then do you know how much this game will cost?"

Ethan continued to ask questions.

"have no idea."

Julis shook her head again.

"Before I came back, Nakayama Hayao only announced that he would discuss sales with other arcades, but did not officially sell it, so I don't know what the price Sega will price this machine."

Maybe it was the situation where she didn't know anything that made Julis feel embarrassed, but it was also possible that the girl felt that a single game was not important, so after shaking her head repeatedly, Julis said: "Boss, although there are many details related to Sega None of us know, but one thing is for sure.”

"If Sega wanted to bring this game back to North America, they would have to go to Paramount."

"Because there are no royalties to distribute games through Paramount."

"Although I don't know when they will make that decision."

"But I believe that day will come soon."

"Because this game is really good."

"When they make such a choice, the alliance of Philips, Disney, Paramount and MGM will officially be dissolved, although this alliance is now bankrupt..."

When these words entered Ethan's ears, he was stunned for a moment.

The next second, Ethan finally understood what the purpose of Julis's trip was.

Is Julis coming back this time to tell him to be careful about Sega?

certainly!

This is why Julis came back!

But this kind of caution is only the most superficial meaning of what Julis wants to say!

Even if Sega may announce its return at any time!

What she really wants to say is that the enemy's camp is likely to collapse!

Previously, in order to maintain its poor share of the video game market, Philips took the initiative to form an offensive and defensive alliance with MGM, Disney and Paramount.

Philips took out its video game patents and awarded them to three other companies at a low price, while MGM, Disney and Paramount took out their well-known copyrights and turned them into games, hoping to Ethan Jones dominates the video game market.

In that confrontation, MGM was the winner because their games sold well;

Paramount was a mixed bag, and while they sold a lot of arcade machines, they also had a bad rap;

As for Disney...

When Ethan launched "Starry Sky", the video game produced under the leadership of Ron Miller directly became the soul of the Destiny game, and it could not die anymore.

When the fact that both companies were harmed by their cooperation emerged, the Miffy group fell into an awkward situation. They could continue to attack, but no one wanted to be beaten by Ethan on the head.

More importantly, in the first half of last year, the entire North American continent was talking about the National Video Game Competition. In the second half of last year, countless players were discussing the "Star Sky" game.

There are only 365 days in a year, but Ethan can show 366 faces in front of the people. This fact caused the Miffydi Alliance to fall into silence last year.

When an alliance that was originally built for profit failed to make any money for a whole year, it became inevitable to fall apart. And now, Sega has achieved success again?

This situation will definitely put Paramount out of the league!

After all, everyone knows that Sega and Paramount have the same father!

When this fact appears, Philips and the others will definitely feel as uncomfortable as eating shit!

Because they sold the patent but failed to successfully snipe Ethan Jones!

This is simply losing your wife and losing your troops!

And the reality is...

At the end of February 1980, Neon Sega's head Hayao Nakayama announced that they had sold 13,000 "Godzilla" arcade machines in just two weeks, making a profit of more than 2,660. million.

Dollar.

"This result can prove that our country's development speed in the field of electronic games is not far behind that of the United States! Even if they develop first! Even if they get ahead of the game! Our Neon designers are still not completely impressed by them. Get rid of it!”

“In the past, American games were very popular in our Neon. That was because the Americans had the advantage of being inventors and had the help of time. But now, what I want to say is that when we Neon people officially start to exert our efforts, All the advantages of Americans will be wiped out!"

"'Godzilla' is the best proof!"

"You know, the sales of 13,000 units in two weeks has surpassed the record held by Destiny Games, the giant in the current gaming industry! Because when they first entered the video game industry, the total sales of "Snake" in North America was only one Ten thousand units! And this is the result of them selling it for several months!"

"When we broke the blockade of Destiny Game with the thunderous gesture and set a new sales record, we dared to tell everyone with our chests that the future is ours! It is our Neon's!"

"And what we have to do next is to sell your favorite video games to North America!"

"We will cooperate with Paramount! Let North American players taste our creativity!"

"Although this transaction has just been carried out, we believe that today is the end of the United States' export of games to us!"

"Tomorrow, they will definitely be under our excellent inspiration——"

"Shiver!"