Do sales really matter?

In some ways, Sid Meier was even more extreme than Will Wright in many instances.

Rather than artists, these two seem more like stereotypical STEM guys when it comes to game design.

It extracts the most essential and interesting parts from a series of otherwise complex and obscure real-world systems and presents them to players.

Although there are obvious differences between the two designs.

Just like Sid Meier would never create a completely open-world sandbox game like SimCity.

But in essence, the two are highly similar.

"Slap"

Bill heard the sound of something falling to the ground behind him.

Then came a flurry of hurried footsteps.

He turned around in confusion and saw his brother running wildly toward the door.

Bill then remembered to look at the business card in his hand.

[Lin Lixin, Chairman of GAMENOVA]

"Mr. Lin, it's quite a coincidence, we were just playing Gamenova's new game, SimCity."

The two led Lin Lixin to the PC and showed him the city, which, though not large, was already quite well-developed.

Lin Lixin could tell at a glance that Sid Meier was seriously experiencing this game.

This is a well-functioning city.

His income wasn't particularly high, but it was stable and substantial, consistently providing him with the funds needed for expansion.

"Wow, that's impressive! I restarted the game five times during the trial. This game is actually quite difficult."

Lin Lixin was somewhat surprised.

The original SimCity did not make as many adjustments for casual players as later installments.

Or rather, most games of this era are not simple things.

Even with some tweaks to the details and improvements to the disaster system, this game is still no simpler than Fire Emblem.

"As expected of Mr. Lin's work, it's as ingenious as ever, yet surprisingly fun."

Sid Meier greatly appreciates this kind of fun based on logic and absolute rationality, which aligns well with his design philosophy.

"Strictly speaking, this was actually designed by another developer at GAMENOVA. Trust me, you'll definitely have a lot in common."

Lin Lixin laughed heartily. These two developers, who were contemporaries in the same field of gaming history, never hesitated to praise each other in interviews in later years.

Will Wright's later designs were influenced by Sid Meier.

vice versa.

The seemingly insurmountable mountain in the SLG game genre, the immortal monument of Civilization, is inextricably linked to Will Wright and his SimCity.

And their fates were strikingly similar.

Such interesting IPs naturally cannot escape the eyes of capital.

Microprose was acquired during a period of business downturn, and after several changes of ownership, it finally fell into the hands of Hasbro in 1998 and officially closed down in 2003.

Although Sid Meier later rebuilt a new studio called Firais, it also lost its most golden decade of seizing the initiative.

Even in later generations, Firais remained just one of the developers of 2K Games under Take-Two.

"I wonder if Mr. Sid Meier would be interested in continuing your creative work at Gamenova?"

Sid Meier never expected to hear such words and stood there stunned for a moment.

Join GAMENOVA?

This is an opportunity that countless game developers would dream of.

"Gamenova is definitely the greatest game company ever—but—"

Sid Meier spoke slowly, a polite smile on his face, "Microprose is my home, Mr. Lin. Only here can I freely develop the works I want."

Microprose was something he and Bill started in a small basement.

Just like typical startups.

For Sid Meier, Microprose held extraordinary significance.

To put it bluntly, he's not short of money right now.

Although their works haven't reached the level of super blockbusters in the past two years, they have sold quite well, making them Fortune independent long ago.

For Sid Meier, making games is now more of a way to achieve self-realization.

A free, independent studio is perfect for him.

Gamenova's greatness is also a constraint; the more it develops, the less it can focus on the games themselves like smaller companies like themselves.

What they need is a blockbuster game that sells well.

"Mr. Lin, if possible, we would be willing to develop games for GAMENOVA. It would be our honor to become a third party for GAMENOVA."

Sid Meier doesn't want his ideas to be driven by capital.

Upon hearing his refusal, Lin Lixin remained silent for a moment.

Sid Meier is not Will Wright.

He is already in his thirties, the prime of his career.

For a gamer who has no financial worries and no financial pressures, the greatest pleasure might be simply sitting in this office coding.

Lin Lixin approached Sid Meier's PC and gently picked up the packaging box.

"SimCity is indeed an excellent game."

He was talking about SimCity, but his mind was actually on another game— Civilization.

He even thought of renowned masterpieces such as "Hearts of Iron" and "Stellaris".

Are they fun?

That was so much fun, fucking so much fun!

That's a masterpiece that can truly keep players sitting in front of their computers all day long.

However, they all share the same problem.

It received critical acclaim but failed to attract large audiences.

Electronic Games gave this game a very high score of 9 out of 10.

Sid Meier listened with a frown, not understanding what Lin Lixin was trying to say.

But then—

"By the time I boarded the plane and arrived here, its sales had just surpassed 500,000 units."

Although this game has only been released for a week, its performance is definitely at the bottom among GAMENOVA's titles.

It's worth noting that even an incredibly difficult and hardcore game like Fire Emblem achieved a staggering million-level sales figure in Japan.

Not to mention a super blockbuster like "Tetris" with tens of millions of copies sold.

So little?

Sid Meier didn't react much to the number, but Bill, who was in charge of their sales, immediately realized the problem.

This data is almost identical to some of the flight simulation games they produce.

If this were a game from an independent company, this achievement would definitely be considered outstanding.

But that's Game Nova; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was a box office flop.

If we remove the hype generated by the Game Nova name, how much of its sales actually come from genuine casual buyers?

This number is definitely not good.

"Well, I'm not trying to play the victim or anything, I just want to say that game sales don't matter to me at all."

"Ha?"

Is game sales irrelevant to a game company?

"I only have one requirement for games: they have to be fun!"

"Besides that, I can fund the hardware requirements and help with technical difficulties."

"As long as it's interesting enough, I don't care if it doesn't sell 100,000 copies."

Lin Lixin paused for a moment, then said, "To put it bluntly, GAMENOVA isn't short of money."