game trailblazer

Chapter 124 VCD Shows Up
In a blink of an eye, it was time for the seminar to end, but unfortunately, Zhang Lexing's speech did not arouse much response. Except for Bian Xiaochun, a pioneer cartoon, there was not even a splash, which made Zhang Lexing very disappointed.

After the meeting, when Zhang Lexing was about to leave, Bian Xiaochun walked over, and Ma Guanghai took a step forward to stop him.

Zhang Lexing patted Ma Guanghai and said, "Brother Guanghai, it's okay to let him come over."

Ma Guanghai moved to the side, Bian Xiaochun sized him up, then turned his eyes to Zhang Lexing, walked up to Zhang Lexing with a smile on his face, stretched out his hand and said, "Mr. Zhang, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Bian Xiaochun from Pioneer Cartoon. I saw you two days ago, and I thought I was mistaken, but I didn't expect it to be you."

"Bian Xiaochun? Oh, you said at the meeting just now that you are currently studying the Three Kingdoms game, and you seem to be interested in making one yourself."

"I can't say it, it can only be regarded as an idea. I have studied Nintendo's red and white machines, and the most I can do with that kind of performance is the "Continent of Overlord". Just choose a platform, so I was more interested in the computer game development you mentioned just now."

"Let's go outside to talk, don't interfere with their cleaning up." Zhang Lexing noticed that some staff had come in and started cleaning up the venue, so he walked out. Bian Xiaochun nodded and walked out after hearing the words, while Ma Guanghai was tight Follow behind Zhang Lexing.

Walking out of the conference room, Zhang Lexing continued to ask: "Then, is your pioneer cartoon interested in turning it into a game on the computer platform?"

Bian Xiaochun shook his head: "We, Mr. Lin and Mr. Zhang, think that the number of computer users in China is still too small, and that Nintendo's red and white machines are more mature, so we probably won't change them in the past few years."

"Is your game development on the Nintendo Famicom going smoothly?" Zhang Lexing asked casually.

"Well," Bian Xiaochun showed embarrassment, hesitated for a while, and said, "It's going well..."

Zhang Lexing could see that Pioneer Cartoon must have encountered some difficulties, but since others were unwilling to tell, he couldn't force himself to be a good person.However, Zhang Lexing didn't want to miss this opportunity to meet him by chance, so he took out a business card and handed it over, saying, "Sorry, I have to leave first. If you need any help, you can find me."

After speaking, Zhang Lexing and Ma Guanghai left, leaving only Bian Xiaochun there holding a business card and wondering what he was thinking.

……

Not long after Zhang Lexing and Ma Guanghai returned to their residence, Cai Min and Duan Yongping came to the door by coincidence.Tianzhiyuan (Shanghai) is mainly for overseas markets, and has not developed games on the Pyramid learning machine, so naturally there is no cooperation with Shenzhen Pyramid Company. Cai Min and Duan Yongping only met a few times, which is not considered An old acquaintance.However, after this domestic game industry seminar, both of them have become member units. Although the operation of the two companies will not change in the future, the relationship between the two is much better than before.

Zhang Lexing, Cai Min, and Duan Yongping came to the sofa and sat down. Cai Min first said: "Boss, I just received news that the foreign game console market may undergo major changes. In addition to the 3DO console announced by Panasonic at the beginning of the year, there are also The PC-FX console launched by NEC in conjunction with Hudson (HUDSON), the new console code-named SEGA Saturn (SEGA Saturn) that Sega is secretly developing, and SNK also claims to release the NEO-GEO game console using discs soon, and Nintendo is said to be Cooperate with the famous American Silicon Graphics Corporation (SGI) to carry out the research and development of the first-bit host (codenamed "real"), coupled with the PS-X plan of the home appliance manufacturer Sony. The future home game console market may no longer be what it is now I'm afraid it will be more chaotic than it is now, we are very confused now, don't know which one to support in the future?"

In fact, it would be easy for Zhang Lexing to choose. Anyway, he remembers which game consoles will sell more in the future. The number one is of course Sony’s PlayStation (PS), which is said to have sold more than 7000 million units worldwide. No. 2 is Nintendo* (N*), the first host of Nintendo, which is said to have sold more than 3000 million units worldwide, but the sales volume in RB is very low. No.3 is Sega’s SEGA Saturn (SS), which is said to have sold only 800 units worldwide. More than [-] units, most of which are in RB.For any game development company, Sony's PS is definitely the top choice, and Nintendo's N* is not bad (although Hiroshi Yamauchi's decision to insist on using cassettes is very speechless, but after all, there is a certain base), Sega The company's SS is really too disappointing (of course, what is even more disappointing is the minds of Sega who always make stupid decisions).

However, it is still too early, and the reason for determining the development platform according to the sales volume is still not on the table, so Zhang Lexing had to think of something else: "I already know what you said. I have been paying attention to the competition. Although the news is flying all over the sky, no one has actually produced an actual product. Don’t rush to make a decision, just wait and see. But don’t consider the 3DO platform. That kind of console is said to be a game console. It’s more like a video player, which may be more suitable for Hollywood, but it may not be as good for a professional game development company like us as the Super Nintendo.”

"Okay, boss, let's observe first." Cai Min nodded, letting go of his thoughts for the time being.

Duan Yongping continued: "Boss, I don't think the learning machine market is a long-term solution. Although it seems that the annual sales are not bad, judging from market feedback, there are signs of saturation."

In fact, Zhang Lexing had expected this kind of thing long ago. Now the storm of computer popularization in mainland China has begun, and this learning machine is not a computer no matter how good it is. .

"Well, if this is the case, you can use price cuts to open up new markets. The domestic market is very huge, and large and medium-sized cities may be saturated. Then develop to small and medium-sized cities, and even some rural areas with better economic conditions. Development. Your profit from the original standard selling price is already high, and now it is time to lower the price.”

Duan Yongping worried: "Boss, if this happens, the profit of the pyramid will be greatly reduced."

"It doesn't matter," Zhang Lexing said with a wave of his hand: "In the future, all the learning machine production lines in Pyramid's hands can be transferred out, and new products will be launched soon. I have a document here for you to take a look at first."

Zhang Lexing got up and took out a document from the bedroom, handed it to Duan Yongping, and then sat back down.Duan Yongping took the file and looked at it for a while, then shouted in surprise: "VCD?"

"That's right, it's VCD. A U.S. research and development company developed a decoding board based on MPEG1 technology called CL450 at the request of a private enterprise in AH (Wanyan). Later, Wanyan developed a decoder board based on CL450. A machine that can play moving images from CDs. On September 9, Wanyan Company displayed the prototype of the world's first moving image CD player named CDK4 at the BJ International Broadcasting and Television Exhibition, which caused considerable excitement at that time. It was a sensation, and later this product was named "Compact Disc Player" (referred to as Mini Disc Player) by the Committee of Experts of the Broadcasting and Television System, but I prefer to call it a VCD player."

"But what does this have to do with our pyramid? Do you want us to switch to producing this kind of VCD player? As far as I know, last year the state launched a "one-stop video recorder" project to support designated VCD production plants. It is believed that the price of video recorders will drop significantly after the implementation of the project for the highly vertically integrated scheme of upstream and downstream. In this way, compared with VCD players, video recorders can play both images and record, which is better than VCDs that can only play images. Players are so much more powerful, will anyone still buy them?"

Zhang Lexing has never heard of the "one-stop video recorder" project, but it is clear that the final winner of the battle between video recorders and VCD players must be the VCD player. On the surface, the functions of the video recorder appear to be more powerful, but the inherent cost of optical storage of the VCD player The advantages are not comparable to video tapes, especially after the D-version discs joined the competition, the advantages of VCD players are even more irreversible.

"Someone will buy it," Zhang Lexing pointed at the document in Duan Yongping's hand, and said, "Turn to page 140 of the document, where there is a forecast of the future market size."

Duan Yongping turned back the information in his hand suspiciously, and when he turned to page 145, he took a closer look and exclaimed, "What? 1000 million units? How is this possible? I remember the annual output of domestic video recorders last year. It seems that there are only more than 50 units, how can there be so many VCD players in the market four years later?"

"This is an analysis I asked a professional survey agency to make based on factors such as the current domestic situation and the production costs of CDs and video tapes. In fact, the main reason is that the popularity of video recorders is not high, so the potential demand for VCD players is so huge. If you change In areas where VCRs are more popular in Europe and the United States, I’m afraid they won’t be sold at all. Of course, considering the market incubation period, the estimates made in the first three years are not high. How about it? Do you want to do it?”

"Do it, definitely do it. The market size of more than 1000 million units is enough to make everyone crazy." Duan Yongping nodded again and again, but after thinking about it, he felt something wrong: "Boss, it seems that the main research and development of this product is Wanyan Company. If we do it ourselves, if we want to produce it, don’t we have to develop it from scratch, and there is not enough time?”

"You turn the information forward to page 97. There is a block diagram of the technical scheme of the VCD player on it. Apart from the peripheral auxiliary circuit, there are two main parts, one is the VCD movement, and the other is the decoding board..." Zhang Lexing He paused, waited for Duan Yongping to find the information, and then continued: "The key is that we have mastered these two components. The company that develops the decoder board is our holding company, and the VCD movement is Hong Kong Applied Technology Research. The technical support provided by the hospital, you should understand what this means."

"Boss, you mean that if we want to produce VCD players, we can do it anytime?"

"That's right, but I'm not asking you to switch to VCD production, but to directly produce VCD movements."

"Why not just make VCD players? Wouldn't that make more money?" Duan Yongping felt incredible.

"Have you heard the story of the gold digger and the water seller?"

Duan Yongping thought for a while, and suddenly he understood: "Boss, what you mean is to seize the upstream core products, and then encourage the downstream enterprises to scale up, which reduces the risk of our market development. , and can obtain greater profits.”

"That's right, with a scale of 1000 million units per year, even if only 50.00% of the VCD movements are shipped from you, if you calculate it at 300 yuan per set, you will have at least 15 billion in income a year, which is comparable to today's tinkering with learning machines. I have made a lot of money, and in addition to producing VCD movements, I can consider producing some electronic products in the future, such as electronic dictionaries. The Wenquxing electronic dictionaries on the market are selling well, but the functions are a little simpler. After the level rises, it may be possible to produce a handheld learning computer with more powerful functions than the current learning machine.”

Duan Yongping nodded again and again, as if a broad avenue full of money and scenery appeared in front of his eyes, a smile appeared on his face involuntarily.

"For those companies in the learning machine alliance, you can choose a few companies with high management and technical levels who are willing to switch production, and support them in the production of VCD players in the future. But don't worry too much, Wanyan is still using the simplest CL450 decoder board. , the R&D company in the United States is currently researching the CL480 decoder board with a higher level of integration. After the CL480 is developed, we will go online, so that the level of integration will be higher and the cost will be lower. Your immediate task is to go to Hong Kong Get in touch with the Applied Technology Research Institute to set up a VCD movement production plant as soon as possible. It must be put into production before the end of next year. The first phase will not be less than 20 sets, and then expand to an annual output of more than 600 million sets as soon as possible. These years of learning A lot of money has been made on the machine, and the switch to VCD movement should not be short of money.”

"Boss, I promise to complete the task." Duan Yongping patted his chest and agreed.

(End of this chapter)