The next morning, the entire Bullfrog Studio mobilized.
Those with families are busy making arrangements for their family members, while those with a strong work ethic are simply packing their bags and ready to go.
A direct flight from London Heathrow Airport to Los Angeles, United States, takes over ten hours.
There are about twenty people in total. It's not a large group, but it's considered medium-sized for an independent game studio. It would definitely be inappropriate to cram them all into Gamenova's headquarters.
To this end, Gamenova directly rented another house near Blizzard Studio in Southern California for these people to use as an office.
To coordinate the work, Lin Lixin simply sent Will over.
This guy has become quite the Godfather of simulation games by now.
Within a week, everyone at Bullfrog Studio, except for those who couldn't come due to family reasons, had officially settled in.
Molyneux was the most proactive, directly initiating porting work for multiple PC platforms.
This week, Gamenova did not disappoint Bullfrog, releasing a "Gold Edition" of SimCity, which was essentially just some content updates and additions.
Subsequently, as part of the initial launch event, it was bundled with " The Populous " and sold as a package.
The bundle price is also very generous, offering a 40% discount, which is practically like getting a free copy of SimCity: Gold Edition with the purchase of Populous. Such substantial support is enough to demonstrate Gamenova's recognition of Bullfrog Studio.
only...
"The first week's sales figures... are in."
Will scratched his head, his face slightly flushed.
He beat Lin Lixin to it and found Sam to inquire about the data for " The Populous ".
After all, these were friends he had introduced, and their grades were essentially equivalent to his.
"What? Not ideal?"
Seeing his appearance, Lin Lixin already had a guess.
"Yes... this week we only sold... uh... a little over 690,000 units, which is about 700,000 units."
This result is only slightly better than the original SimCity, and compared to other Gamenova titles, it's a complete flop.
"Huh? What's there to be dissatisfied with?"
Lin Lixin was taken aback, then shook his head helplessly. "Have you been spoiled by our grades? You don't even know what normal data is anymore?"
700,000 units—what does that mean?
When Blizzard released Warcraft II, it only sold 50,000 copies in its first weekend.
The so-called "best-selling PC games" generally sold around 200,000 to 500,000 copies in their first week.
In the PC gaming industry, if a game can sell over 300,000 copies in its first week, it's basically guaranteed to be a phenomenal hit.
And the sales figure for " The Populous " was... 700,000 copies!
Don't be fooled by the fact that this number often reaches millions or even occasionally tens of millions of copies in the handheld and console gaming industries; this number seems like just a fraction of the total.
But what is the overall penetration rate of PCs?
How many of these people are actually willing to play games on a PC?
Of these gamers, what percentage have computer systems compatible with " Populous "?
The PC gaming market is already a huge funnel.
After layers of screening, the truly effective market share is actually quite small. The fact that " The Populous " has achieved this level of success is already incredibly impressive.
It's almost certain that the vast majority of people who noticed it chose to buy one.
"The benchmark for PC game profitability is around 10,000 copies sold, and 700,000 in the first week... Magic Bull and the others are probably already having a celebration party right now, aren't they?"
Lin Lixin smiled, not at all worried about the performance of " The Populous ".
Even without the Gamenova bonus, this thing could sell 4 million copies in its previous life; now, its sales would only be even more staggering.
Perhaps this trend could even give SimCity a second spring.
"Go ahead, don't miss the party. Oh, and remember to tell them to come see me tomorrow; I have an interesting project I'd like to test the waters with."
Bullfrog Studio ' working style is very similar to companies like Gamenova and Bethesda; they are typical creative companies.
According to rumors, in their spare time they even use BB guns for live-action CS team building activities.
In fact, this was usually something that Molyneux, as the founder, would lead the way in.
Just like Lin Lixin leading everyone in playing video games or Christopher leading the Bethesda tabletop role-playing game team.
It is precisely this relaxed and pleasant development environment that fosters truly excellent ideas and products. "Lin, aren't you coming? Molyneux said he got a few bottles of good wine from the United Kingdom and was planning to open them when you arrived."
"I'd like to."
Lin Lixin waved his hand.
"But a friend is coming to visit me today, so let's talk about it another time. There's plenty of time."
"All right."
Will shrugged and didn't press the matter further.
Running off to party halfway through work is perfectly normal at Gamenova.
In the afternoon, Lin Lixin's friend arrived at gamenova as promised.
"Hey, your place is getting more and more impressive. I should probably try to set up a proper headquarters like this."
"Shaopin, I heard you made tens of millions of dollars in your branches in West Germany and Canada?"
Lin Lixin was delighted. In just a few years, the young man had grown into a respectable entrepreneur. Michael Dell, chairman of Dell., was also an important member of the Gamenova Alliance.
Guess why I called you to California?
Seeing that Lin Lixin seemed to be in a good mood and even had the energy to joke with him, Dell relaxed a bit and gave a slight smile.
"Make PCs, huh? What else can we do? Dell can't make games."
He had originally planned to visit Ireland in Europe these past few days to assess the environment and find a place to build Europe production center.
However, having received a call from Lin Lixin, even if the matter was urgent, it had to be postponed for now.
Dell knows which side is more profitable.
"Pretty much. Gamenova is planning to research PC games recently."
I guessed so.
Dell was not surprised by this.
When the " Simulation Twin Stars Bundle—All Fun!!" for " Populous " and " SimCity " was released not long ago, he knew that Gamenova was definitely up to something again.
Dell knew perfectly well why they approached him instead of SGI or Next from within the alliance. Unlike SGI's positioning as a high-end graphics workstation and Next's positioning as a mid-range productivity tool, only Dell's IBM-compatible machines were targeting the lower-end market with their cost-effectiveness.
If you're looking to buy a reliable PC for a few hundred dollars, going through Dell's direct sales channels is a sure way to avoid getting a bad deal.
What are you planning to do? Release software? Promote gaming PCs? Or sell new graphics cards?
Dell 'Dell most valuable assets are its customer base and mature market framework.
Faced with his question, Lin Lixin did not rush to answer, but instead turned his gaze to an SGI PC in front of him.
They used this thing to handle routine chores, like recording data.
What changes do you foresee in the PC market by the 1990s?
"Changes? What else could change? Commodore continue with their Amiga, Apple will iterate on their Macintosh, and IBM and we'll just keep making IBM-compatible machines."
Dell believes that the current PC market landscape has largely stabilized, or even become stagnant.
They chose the best time to enter the market and also took the last piece of the pie in the compatible PC market.
The PC market is unlikely to see significant fluctuations for at least the next ten years.
However, after hearing his answer, Lin Lixin shook his head. "I don't think so."
How so?
Intel and Microsoft.
Lin Lixin mentioned two well-known technology companies, but neither of them made PCs.
In the 1990s, a theory called " Andy-Bill's Law " was popular.
Andy refers to Intel CEO Andy Grove.
And this Bill is, of course, Bill Gates of Microsoft.
The so-called Andy-Bill's Law can be summarized in one sentence:
"Andy gives, bill takes away."
(Provided by Andy, taken by Bill )
The general idea is that whenever Intel releases a more powerful hardware product to the market, Microsoft will follow suit by improving its software to absorb and adapt the performance of the new hardware.
The performance gains from hardware are quickly consumed by software. As a result, users are constantly having to upgrade their hardware to adapt to new software, and hardware purchased not long ago quickly becomes obsolete.
Coupled with Moore's Law, a formidable IT empire rapidly rose to prominence in the 1990s.
Wintel, a business alliance between Microsoft and Intel.
It was this formidable new alliance that ended the era of fragmented, chaotic competition in the PC gaming industry.
"If Microsoft and Intel join forces, relying on their vast library of DOS software and Intel's commitment to backward compatibility, no one will be qualified to directly confront them in the future."
When that time comes, the closed system ecosystem will inevitably embark on a path of decline.
Even Apple, the leader of a closed ecosystem, had to bow to the Wintel system at its peak, switching to Intel's x86 chips and achieving DOS compatibility through emulation.
The advent of Windows 95 and the Pentium completely ended the struggles of all the strange and monstrous companies in the PC market.
"Um..."
Faced with the terrifying scene described by Lin Lixin, Dell's expression also turned serious.
This sounds like... well, it's not just a baseless fantasy...
Even now, the vast majority of PCs sold by Dell are products within the Wintel ecosystem. Compatible PCs are replacing IBM's original market share, and these two companies are the biggest beneficiaries.
So what are your thoughts?
Dell looked at Lin Lixin.
Since the other party has said that, he must already have a general plan in mind.
"My thoughts?"
Lin Lixin rested his chin on his hand, his expression suddenly Panasonic.
" Motorola made strategic mistakes, Zilog remained stagnant, the MIPS ecosystem was fragmented, and ARM... having just become independent, was extremely short of funds."
In addition, at the University of Helsinki in Helsinki, Finland, there is another talent who has been successfully targeted by Ubisoft France and is waiting to be acquired.
"My idea is that we need to pull off a big heist and take down Intel."