Rebirth of Hong Kong 1981

   Chapter 332 Entering the game industry

  In the 1980s, most of the development costs of various video games were not a few dollars, and the cost was mainly spent on hardware, but game development was not very particular.

  In the development of games in this era, as long as no one cares about them, if they are a little better, they will be able to make money back. If they are better, they will make money. If they are popular in the market, they can make you change your guns.

  The success of Nintendo mainly depends on the game content attracting players to buy their game consoles, thus establishing a huge player base and controlling the channel.

   Then use channels as bait to let third-party game providers provide them with more and better games.

   No matter the channel or the game content, the two complement each other. If the game is not good, the channel will not be huge.

   Because history has proven it.

   In November 1976, Fairchild Semiconductor released an epoch-making game console C&F. This console is equipped with an independent CPU, and its computing power is far stronger than all previous game consoles.

  Because it can disassemble the game card and replace the game content, the game console is completely out of the category of "toys".

   Fairchild C&F was not a commercial success, but it inspired arcade giant Atari.

  The latter launched the famous Atari2600 home console in September 1977. The basic structure of this console was similar to that of the home computer at that time, using an independent CPU and cassette storage, as well as a standardized joystick controller.

   With the support of powerful computing power, Atari2600 can run color games, and the graphics performance is greatly improved, thus opening the door for more complex gameplay.

  Although it has made a huge breakthrough in technology, the sales of Atari2600 can only be considered tepid, and only one million units were sold in two years.

   After all, the size of the entire home game console market is that big.

   Of course, it is mainly limited by the content of the game.

   Last year, the Japanese arcade game S&r was ported to the Atari2600 console.

   History has changed. The originally tepid Atari 2600 sold seven million units in one year.

   And the S&r game card ported to the console, followed the best-selling all the way, and became the first home game with sales exceeding 100 million US dollars.

   So far, Atari has become unstoppable. It continues to port excellent arcade games to its home consoles, and has launched new models such as Atari 2700 and 5200, and its technical parameters have been continuously improved.

   At Christmas, kids all over America are clamoring for gifts from Atari consoles.

   This year, Atari has become an "unstoppable monster".

   Later records show that Atari’s annual sales revenue reached US$1.1 billion, making it the largest subsidiary of Warner Communications, accounting for 75% of the global video game market.

   However, no one thought that the once-prosperous Atari would completely collapse in just one year.

   Among them, the biggest problem lies in the game content. Affected by the hot game market, a large number of developers have poured into the video game industry.

   They firmly believe that the market is big enough and players are stupid enough that even if the product developed is garbage, users will buy it back.

  Because no one manages it, the home game software market is in a disordered state. Anyone can develop software and distribute goods through channels.

   Because there is no brand awareness, it is difficult for users to select products based on word of mouth. Plus Atari has no control, or interest, in game distribution.

  Many developers have entered the game industry, but they have never thought about making games well.

   The reason why Atari directly caused the market to collapse in just one year was mainly because of a movie.

  This movie, I believe many people have heard of it, is called "E.T.".

  According to Atari's idea, since the movie is successful, the game will certainly be successful.

   Therefore, Atari turned "E.T." into a game, and many American players were looking forward to the birth of this game for a while.

   There is no doubt that this game was a success under the expectations of many players.

   1.5 million copies sold, which can be regarded as a very successful.

   However, it is precisely because of the success of sales that Atari has been pushed into the abyss by countless players.

   When the player bought the game card back and actually played the game, he was stunned by its crudeness.

  Atari and a bunch of developers who just want to make money underestimate the IQ of players, thinking they can accept any shoddy game.

  The video game counters that used to be overcrowded suddenly became unattended. The sales of console games in the United States dropped from a booming sales in 1981 to a critical point in 1985.

   The size of the entire game software market has dropped from a few billion dollars to less than 100 million dollars, and even the sales of S&r games that were originally ported to Atari game consoles are not comparable.

  The game market plunged, dozens of game developers collapsed, and most retail channels even decided to permanently cancel the video game counter.

   Even the most popular arcade games were affected, 15% of arcade halls closed, and the average revenue of surviving arcade halls fell by 40%.

   In just a few years, the US game market has dropped from tens of billions to more than 10 billion.

   As the culprit, Atari was finally split and sold by the parent company Warner Communications, and it is no longer an important game company.

  When the U.S. game industry paid for the "Atari collapse", Japan on the other side of the ocean, Nintendo was proud.

   Last year, Nintendo released the G&W game console, one of the world's first portable game consoles (handheld).

  Although the computing power is weak and can only display small black and white images, it is supported by excellent industrial design and high-quality game content.

  This product has achieved a total sales of 40 million in a long life cycle, becoming Nintendo's first successful game hardware product.

  No one could have predicted that after the collapse of Atari, Nintendo would begin a more than ten-year **** of the global game industry, and no one has been able to replicate this **** since then.

   Of course, according to normal circumstances, this is indeed the case, but with the appearance of Yang Chen in this life, it may not be so easy for Nintendo to dominate the global game industry.

   In order not to be overloaded with building his own grain and oil empire and retail empire, Yang Chen decided to enter the game market.

  The reason why he didn't enter the game market for the first time before was mainly influenced by the richest man in Houma.

   The halo of the richest man on the other side's head is quite stressful. Because of developing games, he is loved and hated by others. Thinking about it makes people shudder.

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   (end of this chapter)