game trailblazer

Chapter 21 Hawkins
Seeing the establishment of the research institute day by day, Zhang Lexing's attention shifted to the new version of Kylin operating system and the PC version of spreadsheet software for the company's development projects. Of course, this did not affect his attention to the activities of the investment managers of Honghe Fund.Every week, a detailed feedback report will be sent to Zhang Lexing's desk, and there are also some introductions of rejected projects, but there has been no one that interests him.

Day by day, when another Mid-Autumn Festival came, Zhang Lexing decided to take half a day off for himself, and made an appointment with Yang Xinxin to go to Dr. Yu's house in the evening, but there was still one thing to deal with before that, the investment manager Anderson has a project that is not very promising and needs Zhang Lexing to make a decision.Seeing that it was almost noon, Zhang Lexing decided to make an appointment at a nearby Chinese restaurant to chat while eating, so as not to affect his afternoon vacation.

As soon as Zhang Lexing walked into Jufengyuan Chinese Restaurant, he saw someone standing up and waving to him in the partition not far in front. This person was Anderson.When Zhang Le walked to the partition, he found that there was another person sitting next to Anderson, with parted hair, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a little blue chin. He was wearing a twill shirt and a tie around his neck. He looked very energetic, and It looks familiar.

Zhang Lexing said hello, and then sat down, but found that the table was quite clean, so he asked, "Anderson, the dishes haven't arrived yet?"

"Not yet..." Anderson looked embarrassed.

Zhang Lexing understood immediately, probably this old man didn't know what to order at all, it seemed that the place he chose was not suitable for him.But now that we’re here, it’s hard to change. Zhang Lexing picked up the menu and ordered two of his favorites. In order to cater for the tastes of the two in front of him, he ordered a few American-style Chinese dishes, plus a soup. solved.

"Anderson, is this gentleman...?" After finishing the meal, Zhang Lexing began to pay attention to the familiar stranger in front of him.

"Well, he's Mr. Tripp. The project I'm going to talk about this time is related to him, so he came along." Anderson explained.

"Mr. Tripp, hello." Zhang Lexing stretched out his hand, feeling that this person in front of him should have seen him before.

"Mr. Zhang, you can call me Hawkins. Nice to meet you." Hawkins shook hands and said enthusiastically.

"Trip Hawkins?" Zhang Lexing suddenly remembered that he had met this person last year, "Aren't you at Apple?"

"I don't do it at Apple anymore, and now I start my own business." Hawkins had a smile on his face, and it seemed that nothing unpleasant happened.

The first time Zhang Lexing and Hawkins met was shortly after arriving in the United States last year, because VisualSystem launched two best-selling games on the Apple II, which even drove up the sales of the Apple II, which aroused Hawkins’ interest. He is still the head of Apple's marketing department, and he didn't expect that in just one year, things have changed.But now is obviously not a good time to talk about the past, Zhang Lexing wants to know what project makes Anderson so unsure, and Hawkins needs to come to talk about it in person.

"Anderson, what exactly is that project you mentioned?" Zhang Lexing couldn't wait any longer. Although two dishes had already been served on the table, he had no appetite at all.

Anderson hesitated for a moment, and opened his mouth to say something, but Hawkins said first, "I know this project best, let me talk about it."

"Go ahead." Zhang Lexing signaled Hawkins that he was ready to listen.

"Mr. Zhang, the project I started this time is a game development company. I was very interested in game development before, and I always wanted to develop a popular American football game. This is also one of the motivations for my business. .” Hawkins briefly introduced his thoughts.

Games, or video games, computer games, these words are very familiar to Zhang Lexing.Zhang Lexing liked playing games very much in his previous life, and the initial motivation for choosing the computer industry as his career was to play computer games more conveniently.Back then, Zhang Lexing was also considered a veteran player, from the earliest Apple II, Little Genius (a replica of the Nintendo Famicom), to the later MD, SFC, PS, and the computer that accompanied him for the longest time, Zhang Lexing was also considered The above is well-informed.After playing a lot, Zhang Lexing inevitably came up with the idea of ​​making two games of his own. When domestic game companies were on the rise, he also thought about joining the game industry, but it has not been realized due to many reasons. His dream of making games It has also never been achieved.After being reborn, Zhang Lexing didn't think about getting into the game industry. Unfortunately, the pressure of real life made him have no choice. After all, it would be more convenient to do anything after having some basics.According to Zhang Lexing's plan, the game industry will take some time to consider. The most important thing right now is to continue to consolidate the leading position in the operating system and open up new profit growth points for the company. Of course, next year's Nintendo Famicom Zhang Lexing will not Give up, this is the game console platform he is most familiar with, and it is a gold mine for making money.

"Cough..." Seeing Zhang Lexing lost his mind, Hawkins coughed lightly, then took out a document and handed it over, "Mr. Zhang, this is my proposal."

Zhang Lexing, who came back to his senses, blushed slightly, and hurriedly took over the documents and looked through them.This business plan is not complicated, and three important concepts are mentioned in it: one is to use its own patented technology and tools to carry out efficient and organized cross-platform development; the other is direct logistics to retail stores; the third is Treat software design as an art, and let software designers unleash their creativity like an artist.In addition, two ambitious business goals have been formulated: one is to develop the company to a scale of 10 billion US dollars within six years; the other is to develop truly valuable software that can promote the popularization of personal computers to homes.The first two concepts mentioned in the plan are quite consistent with the future development trend of the game industry, which makes Zhang Lexing very optimistic about Hawkins' ability, and the latter goal is also very exciting.

Turning to the last page of the plan, it says the name of the company: SoftArt. In Zhang Lexing's memory, there is no such number among the future game giants. It seems that it is another young company.Zhang Lexing's interest suddenly faded, but it was not easy for Hawkins to make a special trip, so it was better to give him another chance to chat more, anyway, it was still early.

"Hawkins, as a game development company, which platforms are you going to choose to develop games?" Zhang Lexing decided to learn more about the SoftArt company.

"We plan to choose Apple II and the newly launched Commodore* microcomputer. Apple II is more popular, and Commodore* performance is more suitable for developing games. Of course, we will follow up with more suitable platforms in the future. Our goal is cross-platform." Hawking S replied.

The choice of the two platforms is not bad, at least not considering the Atari game console that is about to go wrong, it should not be easy to lose money, Zhang Lexing then asked: "Hawkins, does your company's name mean anything?"

"SoftArt means that future game software will become a new art. Our company was originally called Amazin'Software, but the partners who joined later felt that the name was not loud enough, so we changed it to SoftArt. But then we I found that the name was too similar to another company, so I thought about another one before I came here, but I haven’t had time to change the plan.” Hawkins introduced the origin of the company’s name in detail, and it seems that the name alone is It took a lot of effort.

"What's the new name of your company?" Zhang Lexing once again had a new interest.

"ElectronicArts, because we all like Arts, it represents art." Hawkins said proudly.

"ElectronicArts? EA!" Zhang Lexing felt overwhelmed instantly. EA is a big player in the game industry in the future. Although the company's management style is not very popular with players, this does not prevent Zhang Lexing from falling in love with EA. Some of the games released, such as Sims, Sim City, and more importantly, this company will be relatively profitable in the future, and it is a pretty good investment project.

Moreover, after investing in this company, Zhang Lexing can also set up a game development studio to play with himself. It’s not that he wants to create something shocking to the world, it’s just to experience the process of game development, and he can make games for himself in the future when he returns to China. The industry should make some technical reserves.There is another important reason for this. Zhang Lexing was not familiar with computer games in the 80s. He was only impressed by a few games such as Sim City, Civilization, and Prince of Persia. If it doesn't come out, Zhang Lexing doesn't think he can figure out any innovations with his half-toned ability.Of course, if design masters like Sid Meier and Will White can be fooled, Zhang Lexing is still looking forward to it. Even if he learns some design concepts, he will benefit endlessly in the future. Thinking of this, he can't help but Laughed twice.

Hawkins noticed that Zhang Lexing was distracted again, and this time it was even more exaggerated.Hawkins felt that this trip was in vain, and he muttered a lot, but the guy on the other side didn't know if he understood it, so he started to pack his things and prepare to leave in a little disappointment.Zhang Lexing, who was proud of himself, suddenly realized that there was something wrong, and Hawkins got up to leave. How could he fly away with the duck that was not available.

"Hawkins, don't leave, your project has just passed." Zhang Lexing grabbed Hawkins who was about to leave, and asked to stay.

"Ah! Passed?" Hawkins was stunned by the sudden transfer.

"That's right, Hawkins, I think we can sit down and discuss the investment amount now." Zhang Lexing said with a smile.

The next thing was very simple. The two parties quickly finalized the investment amount and the rights and obligations of both parties. Hawkins left satisfied with the check and the contract.Things are easy to handle when you have money, and it didn't take long for Hawkins' EA company to be officially established in San Mateo, Western California.Stimulated by this, Zhang Lexing was once again tempted by the establishment of a game studio, but he could only be tempted.

(End of this chapter)