Reborn as a tycoon in Hong Kong

After several expansions, the hardware R\u0026D department of Galaxy Games has become larger and has more personnel.

The head of the hardware department is Yokoi Junpei. Yokoi Junpei is responsible for managing the hardware department and is also the main developer of the hardware.

When Lin Baicheng came to the hardware R\u0026D department, Yokoi Junpei was leading his R\u0026D talents to conduct research and development work. Lin Baicheng did not disturb him, but watched silently through the glass outside.

Although Lin Baicheng did not bother him, Yokoi Junpei stopped what he was doing after being reminded by his subordinates, arranged for people to continue research and development, and then walked out of the research and development room.

"President!"

"Yokoi, let's go to your office and have a chat."

Seeing Yokoi Junping come out, Lin Baicheng didn't say anything.

The two went to Yokoi Junpei's office. As the supervisor and main R\u0026D personnel, Yokoi Junpei was usually very busy, so the company assigned him a secretary.

After the secretary poured coffee for the two of them, he went out first.

Lin Baicheng said to Yokoi Junpei: "Yokoi, I want to know to what extent the company's host development is, please tell me."

"Okay, President."

Everything related to game consoles was in Yokoi Junpei's mind, so he said directly: "We have already decided on the configuration of the console. The development technology of the console is actually not too difficult, but the difficulty is to bypass Atari. patent, so this requires continuous research and development to verify new technologies, which takes time. According to the current progress, if there are no accidents, the research and development will probably be completed by this time next year."

The hardware R\u0026D department now needs money and people, so Yokoi is full of confidence. Of course, the premise of all this is that you are not stuck on a certain key technology. If you suddenly encounter a technology that is difficult to overcome, there will be no solution.

Similarly, if there are R\u0026D talents who suddenly have flashes of inspiration and overcome difficulties one after another, the R\u0026D time will be advanced. However, this possibility is also very small and is not included in the normal time.

"Tell me a little bit about the differences between the configurations of the console and those of the Atari console."

It only took more than a year in total. Although a lot of money was spent, Lin Baicheng was still satisfied with the progress.

Junpei Yokoi nodded in response: "First of all, let's compare the most important processor for the host. Atari uses a 1.19MHz MOS 8-bit 6507 processor, while we use a 1.5MHz 6502 processor. It can make the host run more smoothly. Then there is the screen resolution. Atari uses a 160*192 display, but we use a higher resolution, which results in clearer pictures."

"Then there's the memory. Not only is the memory of the console higher than that of the Atari console, but also the memory of the game cartridge. Atari's memory capacity is 4KB, but we support 10KB. The higher the capacity of the game cartridge, the more games you can create. It will become bigger.”

"As for other more common accessories, we think there is no need to increase them, because if the configuration of all accessories is improved, it will only continue to increase the cost of the game console. Nowadays, the cost of our game console is already very high. The higher self is worried that we will lose money every time we sell a piece of equipment.”

After listening to Yokoi Junpei's words, Lin Baicheng asked: "Based on the current configuration standards set by your hardware department, how much does it cost to produce a game console? Let's first consider the cost based on the production volume of 1 million consoles."

For electronic products such as game consoles, the more produced, the lower the cost. Of course, you can't just keep increasing production capacity just to keep costs down. If the products you produce cannot be sold and sit in the warehouse gathering dust, you will only suffer more losses.

However, Lin Baicheng is very confident in the game console market. As long as the console product has no problems and is equipped with high-quality software and games, there will definitely be a market for this game console, so there is no need to worry about this.

"President, I can't give you a specific cost price now, because the cost price of the host depends on how much discount each accessory manufacturer can give us."

Yokoi Junpei shook his head. If he wants to make 1 million consoles and have enough accessories, he can naturally negotiate with the manufacturer on the price. But how much can be negotiated? How can he know now?

Lin Baicheng nodded to express his understanding: "I know this, you just need to give me a rough price."

"That's it."

Yokoi Junpei thought for a while, and after making a rough estimate in his mind, he said: "As long as the accessory dealers don't suddenly raise prices a lot, the highest cost price of a host should not exceed US$250, which is roughly around US$220. It depends on the details. How did you discuss it with the parts supplier?"

With that said, Junhei Yokoi explained: "President, it is true that Atari's console sells for $199, but our configuration is better than it, so the cost will naturally be higher."

"I understand."

The higher cost was within Lin Baicheng's expectation, and the current cost price did not exceed Lin Baicheng's price, which he could accept. Although there is no way to make money through the console at such a price, because it is impossible for the console to be sold too expensively, and there is even the possibility of losing money, but it is okay to lose some money on the console, as long as it can be earned back from the cassette.

"Yokoi, let me ask you, if our company wants to make its own chips, displays, memory, processors, etc., can we do it?"

"President, this is simply impossible to do."

Yokoi Junpei was a little surprised that Lin Baicheng would ask this, but he still said truthfully: "We don't have the relevant technology. Even if we want to start from scratch, we have no clue. Unless we acquire relevant companies and obtain relevant technologies, even if it is not the most advanced technology in the world, it will be impossible." You can slowly catch up, but the amount of money it will cost will be astronomical.”

"Money is not a problem. Let me tell you in advance that the company will master important accessory technologies in the next few years, starting with display and memory technologies."

Lin Baicheng said that he, who comes from the future, is very aware of Western countries' technological blockade against China, so he needs to prepare early. Although the initial investment will be very large, and there is no hope of recovering the cost in a short period of time, it is a necessary investment.

If Lin Baicheng wants to make mobile phones in the future, he must master technologies such as chips, displays, and memory.

After hearing this, Yokoi Junpei couldn't help but think of the Sharp Company where he once worked. Sharp Company mainly produces electronic appliances, and display screens are also Sharp's main business, and it does a good job. Therefore, if the company needs it, he can use the relationship with Sharp to introduce display technology from Sharp.

But it was still early to say this, so Yokoi Junpei did not express his thoughts. As a hardware R\u0026D engineer, the company boss wants to master more technologies. Yokoi is happy to see this happen, but he just doesn’t know if the boss will have the money to make electronic products in so many industries in the future.