Silicon Valley

Regarding the development of video software, Henry intends to put it under the banner of IMDB holding company. The IMDB website has the most complete movie database. The video software is backed by such a background, and the start is naturally much higher!

Henry came to IMDB Holdings and let CEO Marcy Fillimon set up RealNetworks, a video player subsidiary. Henry couldn't wait for this company to be established, so he just built it himself! The company's only current task is to develop the rmvb streaming video format, and then launch the RealPlayer player!

Henry was afraid that these developers did not know how to develop the rmvb video format, so he gave them a lecture: "As we all know, the still pictures and moving pictures of a movie have different requirements for the compression sampling rate! If you always maintain a fixed bit rate, it will compare Special use causes waste. Therefore, on the basis of ensuring the average compression ratio, the encoder will set dynamic different bit rates according to the complexity of the picture changes. For example, use a higher bit rate for complex dynamic pictures ( Songs and dances, flying cars, wars, etc.), and flexibly switch to a lower sampling rate in static images, so that bit rate resources can be used reasonably. Video files can not only be compressed to a small size, but also the audio-visual effect. It will be very good, so that the file size and clarity can be combined!!!"

"This technology, I call it VBR technology, dynamic bit rate technology!!!" Henry said, and wrote three letters "VBR" on the blackboard.

Since Henry was the first to propose VBR technology, the developers below were all excited. Although the concept of VBR is very simple, it is very difficult to come up with this idea!

"The chairman is indeed a genius, his brain is flexible!!!" The developers looked at Henry with admiration and thought in their hearts.

Henry paused for them to digest, and then continued: "In addition, RMVB will also adopt a technology. This technology, I call it 'atomization' technology. Generally speaking. After the picture is enlarged, there will be a 'mosaic' ', which is caused by traditional drop-frame technology! But what we do is. It's to make the picture appear a little blurry, so that it can't be seen clearly!"

"Combining VBR technology and atomization technology, the rmvb format will be an epoch-making video format!"

"Finally, I would like to make a request. Due to the limitation of the network speed. Therefore, we also need to design a video in the rmvb format that can formulate different compression ratios according to different network speeds, so as to achieve low network speeds. Real-time transmission and playback of video data on the Internet!!!”

The developers nodded, this is a good design. Fast internet. You can watch high-definition video; if the network speed is slow, you can watch plain video (normally clear).

Henry finished his class and left.

The developers behind him watched Henry leave with incomparable admiration, and then, one by one, excitedly rubbed shoulders, ready to make a big fight in the field of video formats! ! !

In 1992, Microsoft launched the avi video format, and RealNetworks launched the rmvb video format. In comparison, Microsoft looks like it is about to be hanged again. Past life 1995. RealNetworks launched the rm format, which became popular all over the Internet, and in the era of the enhanced version of the rmvb format, it occupied more than 80% of the Internet market! ! !

now? It can only be said that when Microsoft met Henry, it was a tragedy...

August is approaching. After several months of design work by the architectural design company, the overall design of the Williams Center has been completed, and then it is ready to participate in the bidding!

Henry also hopes that the Williams Center can start construction earlier, so the bidding meeting is scheduled for August 1. Only a few days left now! In this regard, John Chambers is temporarily in charge, and Henry went to Blizzard Blizzard.

They said last time that there was still a month before the production of "Warcraft 1" was completed, and now that the date is approaching, Henry came to take a look. If it's done, then play two games by the way, the long-lost "Warcraft", Henry has not played for a long time...

After coming to Blizzard, CEO Mike Moraimi took the company's executives to welcome Henry's arrival.

"Welcome Chairman!!!"

"How about it, has the game been developed yet?"

"Almost!" Mike Moraimi said embarrassedly.

I knew it! ! !

Hearing this, Henry was not surprised, and immediately said: "Although "Warcraft 1" will be the world's first real-time strategy game that can be played on a local area network, I hope that it can be made to be able to be played on the Internet. The battle game! The parent company, Firefly Games, will establish a firefly battle platform, and all its games will be launched on this game platform in the future!”

"Chairman, don't we sell game CDs?"

"Yes, we don't sell CDs!" Henry said, "We sell activation codes!!!"

"Activation code??" Mike Moraimy and others looked puzzled.

Henry smiled and explained: "First register an account on the Firefly game platform, and then spend money to buy the activation code for "Warcraft 1" before you can play the game online! The activation code is a set of serial numbers and is bound to the Firefly account. So, even if others know the activation code, they don't have it! Because this activation code only belongs to this Firefly account!"

"Chairman, but this way, many people can play stand-alone games without spending money!!!"

"What's so fun about single-player games," Henry said indifferently, "they get tired of playing, and sooner or later they will spend money to play online games! I'm very experienced in this point... ahem, I mean , I'm very sure of this!!!" Henry said, suddenly realizing that he had leaked something, and quickly explained.

This is the first time to make an online game, where is the experience?

Mike Morhaime and others didn't doubt anything, and after listening to Henry's words, they looked contemplative.

Henry continued: "Because we only sell activation codes on the Internet, there is no manufacturing cost, and the cost of sales is almost negligible. Therefore, we can price the activation code a little lower, and set a price for most games. A price that fans don't mind! For example, $20!!!"

"$20???" Mike Morhaime and the others couldn't hold it any longer, and couldn't help but exclaimed.

"Warcraft 1" is too cheap to sell for 20 dollars. In general, a game CD sells for 60 to 70 dollars, or even hundreds of dollars, not to mention a large-scale production such as "Warcraft 1"! ! !

In terms of pricing, Mike Morhaime and others have carefully considered it before and are ready to price a game disc at $100. Now, when Henry said $20 and cut off $80, why aren't everyone shocked?

"Chairman, we have negotiated before that the price is $100. If you set the price at $20, how will the company make money?!" Mike Moraimy said.

Henry asked with a smile, "How many game discs do you expect to sell?"

Mike Morhaime thought for a while before answering: "We are very confident about this game, so 400,000 copies..."

"Okay, let me assume that you can sell 400,000 game discs. Then, excluding manufacturing costs and sales costs, you can earn as much as $50 from a single disc, which means that selling 400,000 game discs can only make $20 million. Have you ever thought about how many activation codes we can sell if we sell them for $20?"

Henry glanced at everyone and said, "Don't say too much, since it's sold at such a cheap price, then there must be one million! Twenty times one million, it is already 20 million US dollars!! Could it be that 20 Is it possible to sell only one million for a US dollar game activation code? I believe two million, three million, or even more are possible!!! While selling computer game CDs, few of them exceed one million Quantity! First, the price is high, and second, the offline sales channels are limited after all!”

"But I believe that as long as he goes online, he will definitely know the Firefly game platform and "Warcraft 1"! I still have this confidence!!!" As an Internet giant, Henry almost monopolized the entire Internet. He wants netizens to see dogs, but netizens can never see cats! ! !

"In addition, the main group of people who play games are young people. They generally have access to the Internet. Therefore, selling game activation codes online is more targeted! Besides, with the development of the Internet, every household has begun to open the Internet..." Henry said lightly.

Mike Moraimy thought for a while and replied, "Chairman, what you said seems to make sense..."

Henry smiled, "Actually, we can also collect money by updating the map. For each new map, we charge one dollar. You think, as long as there are more users, a map can make a lot of money. We update one map a month. Maps, how much money will be made in one year? When Warcraft 2 is released and the game is updated, it will cost another 20 dollars, and all the maps in the previous version 1 will be invalid, and we can continue to make money by updating the maps!”

Henry said so much, in fact, there is another purpose, that is, to develop the Firefly game platform!

How much does a Warcraft 1 make? Henry's ambition is very big. To develop the Firefly game platform into the world's largest game platform, as long as the platform is popular, naturally other companies' games are very willing to land on this platform, and the Firefly game platform can sit on commissions and earn pots. Full bowl!

Maybe make more money in a month than Blizzard makes in a year! ! !

The platform is the channel, and the channel is the king!

Look at Nintendo in Japan, be a game console as a platform, and earn the value of other game companies like crazy.

Look at the world's largest Steam platform in the future, Nima, the company's people have nothing to do, travel all day, and earn N times as much money as those companies that work hard to develop games! ! Even if it earns too much, Steam does not dare to disclose the sales data, because the sales are too good, for fear of angering retailers...

There is also the EA-manager platform, which is also more powerful than printing money! ! !

Therefore, Henry doesn't really care about whether "Warcraft 1" can make a lot of money, but whether it can bring more popularity and make the Firefly game platform grow and develop! ! !

(To be continued ~^~)