The sales explosion of Mortal Kombat exceeded everyone's expectations.
Although Lin Lixin was mentally prepared, this thing would probably be very much to the United States ' liking.
But from his Asia perspective, he really didn't expect this game to become such a hit.
It's still a huge hit!
Sales on the first day were just over a thousand units.
For an arcade game, this number is already incredibly impressive.
But they are Gamenova, so they can only be described as barely acceptable.
But this number is growing at an alarming rate every day.
At its peak, daily sales even exceeded 5,000 units.
That works out to an average of over 100 units per state, all in one day!
Even after the market gradually became saturated, this number continued to grow at a rate ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand units.
As an arcade machine, it was undoubtedly a commercial success. Unfortunately, due to performance limitations and its target market, it couldn't be released on Gamenova's own console platform.
Even Sega Genesis, which had almost completely deregulated its content, found it difficult to tolerate this work that existed in the underground world.
"Let it continue to shine in the arcade scene; American fighting games need their own space too."
Lin Lixin tossed the report aside and pondered the current situation.
In 1991, the Gulf War had just ended, and it was on the eve of the takeoff of the Golden Age.
It also Japan the end of Japan's economic bubble era.
According to data transmitted back by Satoshi, land prices have begun to show initial signs of decline.
The stock market was also affected by the chain reaction, plummeting by more than 40% in the entire last year alone.
It is estimated that the economic bubble will completely burst within a year at most.
For consumer electronics and semiconductors, this bubble will likely burst later than that of real estate and finance.
It's estimated that it won't be until around 1992 to 1995 that the pressure will gradually become unbearable and an avalanche will occur.
They're still hovering around their peak right now. Lin Lixin doesn't have accurate data on how severely Nintendo and Sony were affected by this bubble.
But at least for Gamenova, they've survived almost unscathed until now.
Thanks to gamenova's almost restrained real estate transaction strategy, gamenova actually has very few branches in Japan.
Apart from Gamefreak and Roppongi Agency, which are truly their own companies, all other departments were either sent to Sega for temporary accommodation or were simply acquired by them.
The property in Gainax is just a dilapidated three-story office building, not worth much.
Compared to the extravagant spending of Japan giants who readily construct their own skyscrapers, Gamenova appears quite low-key and restrained.
As for stocks and the financial industry, that's even less of a problem.
Sega posed the greatest financial risk, was acquired by itself several years ago and has long since said goodbye to the stock market.
Gainax has practically become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.
The money all came from Gamenova headquarters, so the balance sheet is still relatively healthy.
In the end, although the bubble was huge, it did not have a significant impact on Gamenova's core business, except for causing problems with market spending power.
Lin Lixin's strategy has been clear from the beginning: people-oriented, focusing on retaining talent rather than assets.
Even if Gainax falls, people like Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Takami Akai, Hideaki Anno will eventually return to his control after several twists and turns.
Yu Suzuki, Yuji Naka, Sato Hideki of Sega, and of course, Hayao Nakayama, president of Sega Adhesive, who was well-versed in the art of managing subordinates.
These are all rare talents, and can be considered as reserves at the level of "sect foundation".
As long as they are still alive, their souls will never be lost.
"So... how far are we from the next generation?"
Lin Lixin looked at the small glass display stand on the table.
Inside the transparent casing, a beautiful chip was placed at an angle.
This is the first batch of tape-outs for Athena.
Thinking it would have great sentimental value, he chose a good one and made it into a table decoration.
"A processor that's already outdated before it even had a chance to be implemented..."
With Moore's Law continuing to exert its influence, the initial advantage that Lin Lixin gained with his unparalleled architecture has long been erased by time. Athena is strong, but its strength lies in its architecture and its philosophy, not in its technology and specifications.
MIPS has already developed its own 1-micron process 64-bit chip, while Intel has begun to attempt to break through the 0.8-micron level process.
The i486dx2 can achieve terrifying parameters of 50/66MHz under the complex instruction set architecture of CISC.
With Intel's unique and mature instruction set, the i486 and the upcoming Pentium are destined to be the king of the PC field for a long time to come.
In a few more years, we will be able to step into the deep submicron era of 0.35 micrometers, which is the Legend processor.
Intel Pentium Pro
Pentium series!
If we want Gamenova to keep pace with the upcoming semiconductor boom...
Whether it's Athena, graphics cards, memory, or flash memory chips, all require a comprehensive improvement in manufacturing processes!
The Athena architecture is not outdated; the problem lies in the manufacturing process.
The cleanroom must be upgraded! The etching equipment must also be upgraded!
Testing equipment, engineering team, ion implanters, vapor deposition equipment, photomasks, lithography machines... everything needs upgrading!
"Hiss..."
Lin Lixin mentally calculated the costs and then felt a headache coming on.
Semiconductors are a bottomless pit...
Don't be fooled by the fact that Nexus is burning through cash almost every day to expand its sales volume.
But Micron is the real money-burner; it either doesn't spend at all, or it spends hundreds of millions of dollars at a time.
In short... we still need to make money!
Not only do we need to make money, we need to make tons of money!
Arcade games are a stable source of income, but their initial surge is short-lived; the long-term, steady revenue they generate can't compare to that of semiconductors and console games.
We still need to focus on console games.
Or... handheld games?
In terms of installed base, the fastest way to generate revenue is probably to continue developing new games for NPCs and non-NPCs. However, with such limited capabilities, it's really difficult to come up with anything truly innovative.
"This is troublesome... Graphics cards and broadband have already exhausted the market's consumer spending power, so it's not so easy to promote any new hardware now."
Lin Lixin rubbed his temples.
"Isn't there a way to sell both hardware and software cheaply?"
Combining semiconductors and video games is the fastest way to make money.
Ideally, most of the existing production lines could be coordinated together.
Processor production lines, screen production lines, memory chips, flash memory chips, lithium-ion batteries...
If all of these things could be connected, given the current number of NP handheld consoles in existence, the market would be unimaginably huge...
"Why?"
Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in Lin Lixin's mind.
There is indeed a suitable option here.
It can integrate all current hardware, software, IP, user ecosystem, and even products from strategic allies and its affiliated studios... " Sam, prepare the car! I'm going to find Vivian!"
"Pets? You mean something like Gloria Elisa Mia EVA Lyn VI?"
Vivian opened the door of the small cage, took out the ball of flesh inside, and rubbed it in her hands.
This thing is a pet hamster.
As its name suggests, this is already the sixth generation.
Although they are not related by blood, the original was actually the mouse that was used as a source for the creation of " Hamsterball ".
In a sense, Gloria Lynn I is actually the prototype of zhuzhupets.
After the project ended, Vivian took a lot of care for the little guy and decided to keep him at Micronova as their mascot.
Unfortunately, hamsters have relatively short lifespans, and various unexpected situations, coupled with Vivian's inherently confused nature and the fact that her car wasn't very good at taking care of babies, all contributed to the problem.
The one in front of me was actually a meal replacement I found at a pet store.
"Yes, but it's electronic, a completely digital 'electronic pet'." Lin Lixin nodded.
If there's anything that can connect the vast majority of the current hardware and software industry chain, it would definitely be this.
" Tamagotchi "!
Bandai launched its first-generation electronic pet machine at the end of 1996.
It was also the originator of the "electronic pet" concept, pioneering a completely new field.
In that era when Conglomerate B's performance was sluggish and it seemed on the verge of collapse.
Tamagotchi sold over 40 million units in just two and a half years after its creation.
40 million!
At its peak, every high school girl would own at least one of these machines.
This trend is even spreading rapidly to the entire youth population.
After this battle, Bandai, which was on the verge of collapse, successfully turned around and completely reversed its financial crisis.
It even directly led to the cancellation of Bandai and Sega's merger plan. It can absolutely be said that it changed the timeline.
However, what brought him success also brought him failure.
Whether it's the negative social reaction caused by excessive enthusiasm, or the influx of counterfeit and imitation products into the market due to extremely low manufacturing barriers, it's all due to the pandemic.
The Tamagotchi craze quickly faded within just a few years.
Ultimately, this led Bandai to repeat Atari's mistakes.
Over-optimism about the market led to overproduction.
In 1998, the Tamagotchi project caused Bandai to suffer a loss of 4.5 billion yen, breaking the company's once-straight backbone.
Choosing Tamagotchi is a perfect product for Gamenova.
Everything it needs can be solved with Gamenova.
With the Pokémon IP at its core, coupled with the popularity of the egg hatching system added in Pokémon Gold and Silver, Tamagotchi is a natural fit for an electronic pet machine like Tamagotchi.
The company has its own TFT-LCD production line, which is paired with blue LEDs, although the yield rate is low, it is gradually getting on track.
Theoretically, they could produce LCD screens with shockingly low power consumption. In a small-size environment, the cost issues caused by low yield rates could be greatly alleviated, eliminating commercialization problems.
Of course, the most important thing is also the lithium-ion battery, which was just launched last year and is still being iterated and matured.
The NAND flash memory chips are more than enough to store my digital pet.
The use of high-speed SDRAM memory chips also allows it to support more modern features.
Micrometer-scale wafer fabs can directly design a dedicated SoC in one step.
It can even be integrated with Pokémon Center and ADSL infrastructure ecosystems to further expand its possibilities.
With the addition of simple infrared communication functionality, it can also achieve seamless compatibility with both NPC and non-NPC communication in one step...
Gamenova has already put all the pieces together in the puzzle.