"Good heavens, Mr. Lin, why didn't you tell me? This is quite a 'surprise'!"
Steve sat in the meeting room, his eyes constantly darting around.
This was his first time visiting GAMENOVA's new headquarters.
"You mean Minesweeper? That's just a small game, a friend asked me to make it."
"No, it is a mini-game, but it's surprisingly fun."
Steve reminisced about his experience playing games on a friend's newly built PC.
Compared to GAMENOVA's recent releases, Minesweeper feels like a tiny, inconspicuous embellishment that should belong in some obscure corner of a game.
This is a scrap piece with a very small workload.
But it was practically made for PCs.
No, it's more like it was created specifically for the mouse, a peripheral that was rarely used in the past.
"Is Mr. Lin planning to develop PC games?"
GAMENOVA has never interfered in the PC business.
They have been deeply involved in the arcade and console gaming market until now, and even now, despite their ongoing feud with EA, their new titles are still being released on NovaBo.
"Is this a small experiment? Mr. Dell contacted me saying he wanted to order two games to promote the mouse, and since we were also preparing to add some useful peripherals for NovaBo, we hit it off immediately."
"I see. It's such a shame that Minesweeper wasn't officially released to the public. If it could be available on other PCs..."
"Upper... wait, two models?"
Yes, two models.
Texas, Round Rock.
PC's Limited, or Dell Computer Corporation.
"Hello, this is Dell Computer."
The salesperson answered the phone, listening to the customer's request, "How many NMD mice would you like to order? --- Oh, sir, the promotion offering Minesweeper game has ended ---"
It's over.
If you'd like Minesweeper, you can order our Mouse Entertainment Bundle on floppy disk for only $39.99 now.
"That's right, sir, the bundle. In addition to Minesweeper, it also includes Spider Solitaire, a new game also developed by GAMENOVA."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.
"----purchase!"
To be honest, neither Minesweeper nor Spider Solitaire are particularly groundbreaking next-generation titles for players familiar with DOS games.
Judging from the gameplay alone, they are all inspired by past card games or mathematical puzzles, and packaged into the form of video games.
This is quite different from the concept of "video games" that everyone is familiar with.
There are no complex graphic displays, no immersive stories, and no role-playing.
It simply moved those familiar things to the computer.
It's just solitaire, nothing new.
But it succeeded.
And it was a huge success.
This matter----
Logically speaking, it shouldn't have much to do with anyone.
This thing, called the " Mouse Entertainment Bundle," didn't end up on the shelves of major game stores like Sierra's PC games, nor did it steal any niche from PC game publishers.
But that doesn't mean no one has any objections to it.
The meeting room at EA was eerily quiet.
Trip, arms crossed and resting on the table, had been silent for a long time.
However, no one dared to be tactless and provoke him at this time.
Trip had never felt such a strong sense of powerlessness and anger.
"This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!"
Although the failure of " One on One " far exceeded his expectations, it was not enough to break him.
As the first title released on the NES, this achievement is not entirely unacceptable.
At least the development costs have been successfully covered.
Although they were thoroughly humiliated by Gamenova in EA's area of expertise.
But as long as the core of PC games remains solid, we can simply regroup and fight again another day.
To put it bluntly, even without games, EA is a successful publisher.
Trip glanced at Larry Probst, who was in his second-in-command position.
This key vice president of sales at Electronic Arts, along with his brilliant sales model, transformed EA from a production company into a comprehensive conglomerate in just two years.
The strategy is simple: bypass the publisher's middleman and sell the game directly to retailers.
This has always been EA's core competitive advantage.
However, less than a month after the failure of " One on One ", GAMENOVA suddenly surged ahead, and surprisingly partnered with Dell to launch two PC games in one go.
This Dell happens to have a sales model similar to their EA (Easy and Availability) model.
"Learning tools? What a load of rubbish! This is clearly just making Dell their publisher!"
Trip spat angrily.
With the help of Dell's established customer network, GAMENOVA's two new titles quickly found their way into every household, as if they had a cheat code.
As a result, Dell's order volume surged to an exaggerated level.
One game actually boosted PC sales!
That's not some cheap home console like the NES or NovaBo; a PC is a productivity tool that can easily cost thousands of dollars.
Even their best-selling titles are merely attempts to compete with established PC giants like Sierra for existing market share.
GAMENOVA carved out a new market from among white-collar workers who didn't play video games.
Although this action wasn't explicitly targeted at anyone, everyone in the industry knew exactly what was going on.
This is an attempt to eradicate the very foundation of their EA (Economic Alliance).
A purely entertainment product with no office value has seen its sales rival those of office software, becoming one of the must-have software programs.
Trip now felt like he had been kicked by someone while simply walking by.
They kicked him as hard as they could.
Once they lose control of the PC market, it will truly be too late to recover.
Looking back on my career, I have never felt so sad.
Trip believed he had acted cautiously enough to avoid any potential conflict.
Instead of directly confronting Sierra, he focused on developing his own sports gaming arena.
They also don't compete with major manufacturers like Konami for the fiercely competitive arcade market.
He simply focused on cultivating his own little plot of land, which theoretically wouldn't offend anyone.
Out of the blue! An undeserved disaster!
"Boss."
Finally, Probst mustered his courage and spoke up, "I have an idea."
Trip tried to calm his anger and nodded, signaling him to continue.
"Look at these two GAMENOVA games; they're completely different from GAMENOVA's previous style."
"I think this might not be intentional, but rather a reflection of their genuine lack of experience and technical expertise in PC game development."
Trip frowned slightly.
"It's possible—DOS and home console development are completely different fields."
EA's foray into making games for the NES wasn't as smooth as they had imagined.
Without the help of engineers from NOA and Konami, it would have been impossible to achieve such a high level of sophistication.
"Neither Sierra nor Borderbund will ever cooperate with them."
PC games have their own sphere of influence.
The market share is limited, and these companies have already divided up their share of the pie.
Although on the surface the companies appear to be fiercely competing, they actually share an unspoken understanding.
Just like Sierra wouldn't come here to play sports games.
"We need a top-tier PC game to sweep them back into the console market."
"Hmm... Contact Interplay. Aren't they trying to get investment for that new game called ' Wasteland '?"
Interplay, a long-time partner of EA, has been planning a new RPG with a completely different world view since the end of the Bard's Tale.
Tell them we can provide them with an improved graphics engine using 16-color EGA technology!