In the hotel, Les Edgar made a long-distance call to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
He needed to report the situation to everyone in the company who were still anxiously awaiting the results.
Like early versions of Gamenova, or smaller companies like Sid Meier's, Bullfrog Company's structure is not complex.
Les Edgar was responsible for operations and logistics, handling various administrative tasks.
And Peter Molyneux, the game's producer and lead programmer, who later became known as the Magic Bull.
This time, I made a special trip to the United States to discuss the distribution business, and naturally, it was Les who handled it.
"Beep... beep... beep..."
" Peter? I have good news and bad news."
"Stop keeping us in suspense, everyone's about to reach their limit..."
On the other end of the phone, Molyneux glanced at his brothers beside him and sighed helplessly.
London is a full eight hours behind California, so it's already midnight.
If the outcome of today's meeting hadn't been so crucial, Molyneux would have been fast asleep by now, given his usual schedule. Not to mention, everyone else in the company was also staying up with him, waiting for the results.
"First, the bad news: Activision didn't give us a direct answer. Mr. David said that because the subject matter is quite special, they want to discuss it further."
This kind of talk is actually a polite way of refusing, telling him to go back and wait for notification, and it most likely means there won't be any further developments.
"And the good news?"
Molyneux's voice sounded somewhat urgent.
Activision's rejection was a bolt from the blue, meaning that their efforts so far had not been recognized by the other party.
As Gamenova's largest video game publisher, missing this opportunity is essentially equivalent to losing their first choice.
"Good news... Will Wright, a developer at Gamenova headquarters and producer of SimCity, happened to be at Activision at the time, and he said he wanted to take the demo back to show him."
"Huh? What nonsense are you talking about?"
Molyneux's voice trembled slightly on the other end of the phone, but he quickly regained his composure.
Being able to latch onto Activision is already a huge achievement.
By Activision's standards, a title that gets the Activision rights must have a media score of at least 7.5/10. Even if it doesn't sell a million copies, hundreds of thousands are easily within reach.
"It's... it means exactly what it says. Mr. Will took one of our floppy disks."
Les scratched his head, unsure how to phrase things to convince them of what had happened that day.
Although it sounds outrageous, it actually happened.
Molyneux was silent for a moment before hesitantly replying:
"It's probably similar to Mr. Will's style; he's planning to use it as a reference, right?"
"But he said he was taking it to..."
Do you think this is realistic?
Molyneux interrupted Les, and then both fell silent.
Yes, perhaps this is just to appease them, using nice-sounding words.
Making a game that catches the eye of that important figure is incredibly difficult. But after the silence, what they ultimately have to face is the future of Bullfrog Company.
"So what do we do? Find another publisher? EA? Or Sierra?"
Activision didn't accept them, but Bullfrog can't just give up on the United States market because of that; they still need to find a publisher willing to accept their work.
"I've contacted several companies, and the best offer... is from EA. I'll continue negotiations tomorrow."
"... Okay, thank you for your hard work."
"Yes, you should all get some rest too."
After hanging up the phone, the atmosphere in Bullfrog Studio became somewhat oppressive for a moment.
The weather was humid, the room was stuffy, and it was pitch black at midnight.
Although the group of developers couldn't hear what was happening on the other end of the phone, they could guess what was going on based on Molyneux's words, actions, and changes in his demeanor.
I failed the exam.
Molyneux had confidently assured them that the work would be a huge success. "I'll invite everyone to my house for a celebratory party!"
He said this in the afternoon.
"You've worked hard, everyone should go home and get some rest."
This is what he's saying now.
The group looked at each other, exchanging bewildered glances, but all remained silent and left the studio in twos and threes, leaving Molyneux alone sitting there.
He stood before the Amiga computer, an expensive machine that cost thousands of dollars and had once been filled with his dreams and expectations.
Now there's nothing left.
When a work is rejected, the one who suffers the most is naturally the producer.
Looking at the blank face reflected on the screen, Molyneux patted his face, forcing himself to cheer up.
I can't fall asleep, and the night is still long, so I might as well play some games to distract myself.
The Populous
"It's actually quite fun..." He dragged the Gamenova ergonomic mouse around the level's sandbox.
Moving mountains and filling seas to change the terrain.
In the quiet of the midnight hour, playing a game like this is truly comforting.
Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour...
Around 3 a. m., or 7 p. m. Pacific Ocean Time, the office phone rang out of nowhere.
Who would call them at this time?
Molyneux, who was already drowsy and about to fall asleep, suddenly jolted awake and grabbed the phone receiver.
"Hello, this is Bullfrog Studio, I'm producer Peter Molyneux..."
"Good heavens! I knew you weren't asleep yet, Peter! Something absolutely terrible has happened! Peter, it's a huge deal!"
Les, he was clearly at his most emotional moment.
"Hmm? Les, what's wrong with you?"
On the other end of the phone, Les held the receiver, but his eyes remained fixed on Will Wright in front of him... and Lin Lixin sitting behind his desk. He was, frankly, right here at Gamenova headquarters!
"That demo, Peter, it's that demo! You were right, f**k, we did it!"
"Calm down, buddy, what are you mumbling about?"
Molyneux was already feeling incredibly sleepy and his mind was foggy. With Molineux's ramblings making things even worse, he didn't understand a thing.
"I mean, I mean..."
The voice on the other end of the phone suddenly became quieter, as if the receiver had been pulled away.
Then, the speaker changed.
"Hello, I'm Will, a developer at Gamenova. Lin has seen the demo and is very interested in your project."
"In short, Lin wants to ask if you're interested in moving to the United States, to California, to become a third-party developer for Gamenova..."
Is this a dream?
Molyneux admitted that his mind was completely offline. The exhaustion from staying up all night and his chaotic thoughts were all mixed together at this moment.
A massive amount of information was poured into his head in the simplest and most unadorned sentence.
If this is a dream, then don't let yourself wake up.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry, Lin didn't mean a third party... He asked if you were interested in becoming our wholly-owned subsidiary."
Lin Lixin listened to the three people's conversation in silence.
Is there anyone in this company who can speak like a normal person?
Why does setting up a studio have to be so complicated?
"Ahem, anyway, Gamenova has recently been thinking about developing its PC game business, and simulation games are a genre I quite like, so why not give it a try?"
This is actually true. As the industry has evolved to this day, whether it's arcade games, consoles, or handhelds, there are many excellent titles to showcase their capabilities.
However, in the PC gaming sector, Gamenova's production capacity has always been severely constipated. They might release only one game a year, or even none at all.
The only game that can be considered a PC game this year, "Screeps," is also a cross-platform web browser game.
This isn't because Gamenova intentionally created platform exclusivity to sell more hardware; rather, it's because the overall performance of a PC is simply insufficient for video games.
Unlike the later era of booming home consoles, PCs in this era were still expensive means of production.
Even the Commodore 64, known for its cost-effectiveness, or Apple's Apple II, often cost six or seven hundred US dollars.
Compared to the price of a game console, it's ridiculously expensive.
If it were more expensive but the performance was reliable, that would be fine, but that's precisely the problem.
Unless it's a dedicated workstation, it simply can't compete with dedicated gaming devices in terms of performance.
Not to mention that the computer's operating system itself also consumes a portion of hardware resources.
The actual performance available for video games is not very generous.
This is evident from Bullfrog Studio's " The Populous ".
Keep in mind that the Amiga from Commodore is a high-end machine priced over $1200, but even so, the performance of " Populous " was only mediocre. It couldn't achieve the same level of hardware-intensive development as console games, let alone the complete freedom of development that arcade games offered.
This is one of the reasons why Lin Lixin rarely develops games specifically for PC.
Having the ability to squeeze out the best from limited resources to achieve good results doesn't mean he's willing to do so.
The most enjoyable thing is tinkering with arcade machines, where the problem can be solved by simply piling on the best parts.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to create a miracle like Ace Combat.
Lin Lixin gently picked up the floppy disk on the table.
Bullfrog Company was one of the strongest pillars of EA in the 80s and 90s, and an important member of the team that helped EA become a publisher.
Without this crucial piece of the puzzle, it's hard to say how far EA can go.
3DO's research and development is probably still in the laboratory stage. With so many giants involved in this project, funding is definitely not a problem.
The impact of NPCs on it has not yet fully erupted.
Taking advantage of this juncture, I might as well dig a few more holes and cut off EA's last chance of survival.
PC gaming market.