Rebirth of the Tech Madman

Compared with home video game consoles, the arcade machine industry, which originated in the early 1970s, has a longer history, and the industrial economic scale has naturally grown accordingly. In 1981, that is, this year, it grew to 8 billion US dollars.

EA entered this field at the beginning of this year. As a result, the Xiaobawang arcade machine equipped with Motorola processors and its own display core, with the attitude of the most powerful product, attacked cities and conquered territories everywhere, and laid a large area.

This devastating offensive benefits from the rich and excellent game content of Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Mario, Thunderbolt, Tetris, etc., otherwise There is no hardware platform, even if the performance is superior to the crowd, it is also a rootless tree.

Platformization is also one of the design goals of Xiaobawang Arcade, so its price is also the most expensive in the market, but it quickly won the favor of customers due to the feature of easy game replacement and high-quality game library.

Although it didn't get Pac-Man with sales of millions of copies like in the original time and space, Atari's income is also enviable, breaking through 900 million U.S. dollars, driving Warner's stock price to 70 U.S. dollars and go.

Atari's success is also due to high-quality game content, such as the early authorization of Space Invaders for home game consoles.

The performances of EA and Atari, the duo of the video game industry, are astonishing, and the huge gap between the two is even more shocking to the onlookers.

People always like to sum up the science of success, and the performance of EA's dominance is no exception, and the final conclusion is eloquent and eloquent.

For example, a powerful hardware platform with a perfect match of technology and cost, game design and development capabilities that lead the industry...

Actually, these are all hindsight. Colleagues have seen it clearly for a long time, and this can also be seen from the targeted competition.

The relationship between many game companies and Atari is one-on-one, and the advertisements are extremely cynical. Inside and outside the words are the contempt and jealousy of how can the Atari 2600, which has outdated technology, make such money.

As for the attitude towards ea, everyone except buying its products back and slicing them for research. They are often silent and have nothing to say.

In addition, the current development trajectory of ea is also quite different from that of its peers. Many game console manufacturers came from other industries because they saw the current market is good. Frequent acquisition of assets in traditional industries.

For example, real estate used as service centers in major central cities, United Artists in Hollywood, major league teams, toy manufacturer Hasbro, independent TV station ktvu, etc.

ea's move made peers feel a kind of maverick alienation. It seems that everyone is not grabbing food in a trough.

After the financial report was released, Warner optimistically predicted that Atari, whose performance would grow from US$75 million to US$900 million within a few years, would increase by 60% or even higher in the next year.

As for ea, the growth rate was lowered to 40%.

Although ea's chassis is already very large, it is not easy to continue to leapfrog development, and it is reasonable to be cautious, but with its current market monopoly position, there is no reason to be so conservative. Didn't you see that Wall Street is very satisfied with you, and the stock price has entered the $50 range.

If you don't understand, don't force it, anyway, follow EA as a listed company. More and more information has been disclosed, and colleagues no longer have extravagant hopes of how to overthrow this lofty giant in the short term, but instead cast malicious eyes on Atari, because everyone agrees that their own The product is obviously better than the Atari 2600, there is no reason to let the other party live so well.

Some data in ea's annual report blinded the eyes of many people, so that the 65% asset-liability ratio was ignored intentionally or unintentionally.

But Tang Huan, who created this game monster single-handedly, has a clear mind, taking advantage of the good time. After sorting out the capital structure, it should be possible to go crazy at the end. Get some assets.

A boss who does not operate in debt is not a qualified boss.

As for paying dividends. Let's wait until 1984. Now the company is in a period of expansion, and the cash in hand is still very useful.

Of course, I hope that at that time, the North American home game console industry will not collapse too badly.

But the question is, is it possible?

All signs are showing that history will repeat itself, and some of the situations that Hawkins is reporting can be used as evidence.

The lawsuit between Atari and Activision has come to an end. The judge ruled that Activision, as a third party, develops games for the Atari 2600 platform, which does not constitute infringement. Hawkins frowned, obviously he did not understand this As a result, it will have an impact on the entire industry.

Activision was founded by four of the music industry's top programmers -- Jim Levy and Atari: -- David Crane, Larry Kaplan -- Larry Kaplan, -- Alan Miller, head - Bob? Whitehead.

In July 1980, Activision released its first product - a game cartridge used on the Atari 2600 game console,

The quality of the works of these four game development masters can be imagined, and they were well-received and well-received. They directly compared their old club, Atari, to the embarrassment.

In this regard, Warner's anger can be imagined. Not only has it lost face, but every time Activision buys a game, it may also mean that it has lost millions of dollars in revenue in disguise.

These traitors from Activision are simply sucking the blood of the old master, which is really hateful.

The following developments are not difficult to guess. Warner took Activision to court, hoping to kill the other party.

The ass determines the brain. As far as his position is concerned, Hawkins certainly does not want his subordinates to make such a fuss one day. The huge profits that ea has obtained so far rely on the monopoly of its own technology.

Tang Huan pondered for a long while. Wei Wei shook his head, Third-party development of games is legalized, and the rules of the industry will also start to change. It's not easy to eat alone, and EA has to make some necessary preparations.

Many people are now cheering for this. They are even eager to try it. The most exaggerated thing is that the Chicago-based food group pany-Quaker Oats announced its entry into the video game industry.

Speaking of this, Hawkins showed disgust on his face, This company is poaching people everywhere, it is simply a shit-stirring stick that breaks the rules.

As a leader in the industry, EA's engineers should be very popular, right? Tang Huan asked with interest.

In order to satisfy game engineers in terms of both interests and honor, Tang Huan set up a corresponding system at the beginning of EA's establishment.

The packaging of each released game is similar to a record, with the names of the producers, programmers and other participants printed on it, but this name is not the real name, but a nickname given to oneself by the individual to prevent competitors from following suit. Digging.

In this way, in addition to getting extra bonuses based on project performance, engineers also take care of their sense of honor.

but. No matter how well thought out the means of winning people's hearts are, it may not be foolproof.

Just like the martial arts in the world can only be broken quickly, as long as the disruptor is willing to pay the capital. If you lure them with heavy profits, you can always find a breakthrough.

So Tang Huan doesn't think that his EA can be completely monolithic, but his mentality is very relaxed, and the technology is not all. Once there is a threat that is not within the calculation range, the cash flow that Zheru has been preparing will be used on the spot. Eliminate the opponent in the bud.

In the Internet era in the original time and space, many promising emerging companies were bought by giants such as Apple and Google who had a lot of cash. Get its latest technological achievements.

Some people did leave, but the level is limited. It will not affect the overall work. After Hawkins finished speaking, there was a look of dumbfounding on his face. I have communicated with them, and many of these people were actually lured away by the job promotion from ordinary engineer to project manager.

It's understandable to prefer a chicken head to an oxtail. Tang Huan laughed, It seems that the gold content of EA engineers is quite high.

...

In order to acquire AT\u0026T's largest subsidiary, Pacific Bell, Tang Huan had set up a company called Galaxy Communications, and the first batch of committed funds from all parties had already been put in place.

Among them, the Kuwait Investment Committee is US$2 billion, the Singapore Government Investment Corporation is US$1.8 billion, the various Japanese consortia are US$2.3 billion, Tang Huan is US$2.7 billion, the Wang family of Baodao, and others such as Warren Buffett and Motorola. US investors totaled $1.2 billion.

Although this financing ability is not as good as that of the well-known private equity investment company - KKR, but such an acquisition scale is enough to write a strong stroke in the history of the 1980s.

When some shareholders of AT\u0026T saw the money, they were drooling on the ground. Zhuang Menghua described it vividly.

Since the little girl was admitted to Harvard from Xiangjiang, Tang Huan naturally placed high hopes on her and tried to help her find some internship opportunities in big companies.

With the acquisition of Pacific Bell, Zhuang Menghua once again got a chance to do odd jobs, and at the same time, he also took on the responsibility of keeping an eye on the subtle developments for Tang Huan.

Since you are so tempted, why does the progress of the negotiation seem to be stagnant? Tang Huan asked casually while flipping through the documents.

Isn't this because things were accidentally exposed to the media some time ago? Some guys became timid, afraid of being accused of being too greedy and only caring about their own interests. Zhuang Menghua replied with a deep sense of humor .

So they are entangled in some twigs? Tang Huan snorted disdainfully, The US Department of Justice, the US Federal Communications Commission and other official checkpoints have passed, but in the end they were held back by these guys .”

At this time, Tang Huan happened to see some clauses, and Tang Huan picked up a pen to give some instructions.

AT\u0026T hopes that after Galaxy Communications acquires Pacific Bell, it can continue to purchase the equipment of its own subsidiary in a tacit understanding. Otherwise, it is impossible to use the technological achievements of Bell Labs.

Tang Huan swiped his pen and wrote, Don't take Bell Labs as a threat. It is a treasure in your eyes, but it is not indispensable to me.

Zhuang Menghua poked his head for a few glances, and suddenly laughed, Isn't it appropriate for you to write documents like this?

If I don't write like this, I can't express my dissatisfaction. Tang Huan casually added an exclamation point at the end of the sentence.

The next clause was that AT\u0026T wanted to buy a stake in Fangyuan Computer at a price of $10 per share.

Tang Huan became more and more upset when he saw it, and immediately gave a quick answer, I am not Apple Computer, and you are not Xerox. History will not repeat itself. If you want to buy shares, the price is 20 US dollars per share, and this It's still a friendly price, don't be ungrateful.

Between the lines, there is a strong resentment. Zhuang Menghua, who was deeply amused, laughed even louder.

My Fangyuan Computer Company, if it goes public in 1983 as planned, its value will definitely be more than 15 billion US dollars, no worse than Pacific Bell. They want to take such a bargain, have they considered my IQ? Tang Huan was annoyed Put a cross on this clause.

You do have the capital to disrespect AT\u0026T. Zhuang Menghua stopped laughing and nodded seriously, Who told you to use only two 'telephone can get rid of the shackles of cables' and 'telecommunications network'? 'The future is data, not just voice' can coax so many people into giving you over $10 billion.

Kids, don't use words indiscriminately. This is not coaxing, but cooperation. Tang Huan wrote at the end of this document while talking, My patience can only be reserved until December, and I hope to reach an agreement as soon as possible.

Bring this document to the people at Goldman Sachs. I don't want to waste any more time, and I don't want to have long nights and dreams, so I'll work hard. Tang Huan handed the document to Zhuang Menghua and solemnly ordered.

...

The autumn of the second half of this year is scheduled to be held in Las Vegas on November 19th for a period of three days and lasts until November 22nd.

With the success of business operation, the influence of the industry summit forum organized by him is gradually increasing. If anyone has the opportunity to speak a few words on this occasion, it definitely shows that he has a widely recognized position in the industry .

Undoubtedly, Tang Huan is one of the heavyweight speakers. The theme of his discussion on industrial development this time is From Data Processing to Network Communication. (to be continued)