Rebirth of the Tech Madman

When Tang Huan was spitting out lotus flowers in high spirits to sell his own router, the atmosphere at the Warner headquarters in New York was much more dull. n∈,

In 1982, Yada contributed more than one-third of Warner's operating income. Now that this golden egg with such an important status is beginning to fade, Warner's top executives can't believe it.

In the movie industry, the ups and downs of the box office are quite common. Everyone is used to the high risk that it might rain on which cloud, but the sharp depression in the home video game console market still inevitably catches people off guard.

Not to mention the sense of loss in Warner boss Steve Rose's heart, the most aggrieved thing for him is that he can't show it yet, he has to hold on with his mouth, otherwise his prestige will be lost.

Previously, the popularity of the E.T. Alien video game during the Christmas period really made Steve Ross proud.

Look, this is the boss's brilliance—he won the video game authorization of e.t. Alien without hesitation, and he also won Spielberg by the way. Now the money is rolling in, there is nothing better than this what?

However, after the sales volume of the e.t. Alien video game exceeded 10,000 copies, it encountered a downturn in the entire industry, and the momentum was obviously failing.

The sales have reached tens of millions of dollars, which is regarded as being squeezed into the list of Atari's best-selling games, but compared with the tens of thousands of dollars paid for the e.t. Aliens video game licensing fee, it is obviously not enough .

And now there are nearly 10,000 copies of the E.T. Alien video game lying in the warehouse. Even if they are willing to deal with it at a low price, no one is willing to take it over.

Gein, a game that was shoddy due to rush work, has been sprayed on the street by players who have come back to it.

It can be said that Steve Ross made a loss-making deal that made him feel heartbroken.

at this time. Atari's new chief executive officer, James Man——James Morgan was sitting across from him, reporting on his work.

The Great Depression in the home video game console market is inevitable, and Atari is getting older. Atari has basically failed. We must take decisive and effective measures to reduce operating costs.

Then tell me about your plan. Steve Ross nodded slightly with no expression on his face.

First,

I plan to close the game console factories in the Far East. James Morgan, who has just passed the age, is in the prime of his life, and he speaks. It's called a dry one.

Steve Rose's cheeks trembled slightly, and he said slowly, If I remember correctly, the factory in Xiangjiang has only been in operation for a year.

It doesn't make much sense for us to reduce manufacturing costs. Everyone's products are now unsalable. James Morgan explained carefully, And Silicon Valley will also lay off employees. I made a rough estimate. The first batch To reduce the burden of many people.

Steve Ross is a decisive shopping malls tycoon. In his eyes, layoffs are just a simple subtraction operation, so that it will not hurt the old and the old. The reason why he showed an unhappy expression just now was because he was not reconciled.

In fact, he had expected James Morgan's plan to reduce operating costs, after all, there were not many options left for Atari.

What Steve Ross really cares about is whether Atari's decline can continue to drag down Warner's stock price, and how to save this once golden egg.

He found a new CEO for Atari, which shows that he still holds the hope of continuing to operate. After all, Atari's assets are hundreds of millions of dollars, and this candidate also shows that he is satisfied. courage.

So Steve Ross nodded slightly, and said in an affirmative tone: These measures are exactly what the question should mean.

In addition, Atari still has a place that can significantly reduce operating costs. Its research and development are disorganized and wasteful. Many researchers have consumed the company's resources for two years, but so far they have not gained anything. The current Atari can't be Bell Labs, these research projects that are destined to be useless must be cut off. James Morgan once again raised the butcher knife in his hand.

Steve Ross pondered for a moment noncommittally, You only mentioned measures to reduce expenditure, what about open source?

Although the market for home video game consoles has gone downhill, the arcade business is not affected. Atari's background in this field is no worse than any competitor, including EA. James Morgan, who took it as his duty to turn the tide, looked There is a lot of ambition in it.

What about the personal computer? Steve Ross asked expectantly, Isn't Atari's follow-up model, the Atari xl, released not long ago? The personal computer industry is very profitable now. Fangyuan Computer Company not only Hundreds of millions of dollars have been circled, and the current market value is over 100 million dollars. Others eat meat, so we should be able to drink a few sips of soup.”

I'm about to report the performance of the personal computer business in detail. Of course, James Morgan felt that his boss was so envious of Tang Huan, a competitor, that he almost felt resentful.

We have fallen into a vicious circle in the research and development of personal computers. The projects I emphasized to be cut just now are based on this reason.

James Morgan pondered and said: Other companies that develop personal computers simply develop such products, but Atari develops personal computers on the basis of game consoles. Factors come into play.

Speaking of this, James Morgan sighed angrily, Atari, and now the Atari xl, have additional radiation shielding covers on the circuit board, which directly puts us at a cost disadvantage , This is simply a very ridiculous thing. And the differences between us and the Federal Communications Commission on radiation standards are still continuing, which brings another business risk to the company that cannot be ignored.

Steve Ross, who was completely uninitiated in high technology, felt dizzy when he heard James Morgan rambling on so much.

He frowned and interrupted James Morgan irritably, The reason why you are invited to serve as Atari's CEO is to solve these problems. I just want to ask, do you think Atari can still Make a difference?

Of course Atari hasn't reached the point of collapse yet, but it will take time to reform. James Morgan shrugged. I just hope that the headquarters will not interfere too much with the operations of Silicon Valley as before.

Steve Ross, with a slightly hot face, gritted his teeth and nodded, Okay, then I will give you time, but you have to understand that time is also limited. (To be continued.)