"As the person in charge of the company, you should have a broader horizon, and consider the problem from the perspective of the previous technical developer, but from a high-level perspective to make decisions!

For example, if it is the same Three Kingdoms theme, the people in the project team below are thinking about how to make a good game! And you, as a manager, need to consider how to maximize profits? Can you fully tap the potential of this theme?

Now the company has just launched a fighting book, so if it succeeds, can it take advantage of the hot situation and quickly launch other Three Kingdoms-themed games. For example, in strategy management games, the protagonist is no longer a military general to fight and kill, but to become a master, strategize, and win a thousand miles!

This kind of strategy management game is definitely not suitable for the arcade platform, but we also have the FC game console platform! The people below only need to be responsible for their own projects, and the people in the arcade department will definitely not think about the FC platform. But as a senior manager, you need to consider all issues from the perspective of the whole company!" Li Xuan analyzed.

Du Wenqiang nodded in admiration, he really didn't think about it so far-reaching. Although Li Xuan has always trusted him, the experiences of yesterday and today also made him feel pressured and found that he still had many shortcomings.

Fortunately, Li Xuan didn't criticize him too harshly, and instead asked another topic: "How is the FC-2 project progressing?"

FC-2 is the next-generation home game console platform planned by Oriental Games Company to replace the FC game console that is now on sale.

"Actually, the prototype of the FC-2 was made as early as the end of last year, but I have frozen this project for the time being! First of all, the sales momentum of the FC has been very strong. Monthly sales worldwide remain above 1 million units!So we don't need to rush to launch the FC-2 to replace it, after all, it is risky to launch a new model!

Secondly. The FC-2 uses an ERM-1 processor, which is now too expensive for a home console. The factory price of our FC console is only around $110. But the lowest price for the ERM-1 processor that Orient Commercial reported to us was $249.

If the ERM-1 is used as the processor of the FC-2, its ex-factory price will be around $400, and the retail price will be at least $500! Such a price is too high, and it will greatly weaken the market competitiveness of the FC-2 game console! The company recently lowered the price of the 'Kemodo-64' home computer, and the latest market retail price has dropped to $395!" Du Wenqiang explained helplessly.

In fact, the ERM-1 processor was even more expensive when it first came to market, with a wholesale price of up to $350 per unit for a single purchase of more than 100 pieces. However, before Intel's 80286 processor went on the market last year, Oriental Commercial lowered the price of ERM-1 to $299 per unit in order to eliminate competitors.

The 80286 processor sold for as much as $360 when it hit the market. In addition, its performance is slightly inferior to that of the ERM-1, so sales are completely cold. Previously, the industry had not been optimistic about the future prospects of CISC (Complex Instruction Set) processors, so this eventually led Intel to hastily end the follow-up research and development of the x86 architecture and turn to the RISC (Reduced Instruction Set) camp.

After that, as Dongfang Semiconductor gradually improved the yield rate of the ERM-1 production line, and the R&D cost was rapidly reduced after the large-scale production of the processor. As a result, Oriental Trading, which was entrusted by the Oriental Research Institute to be responsible for the global sales of ERM-1 processors, lowered the wholesale price of ERM-1 to $249 again at the end of last year.

As for the Kemodo company mentioned by Du Wenqiang, it can be regarded as a strong opponent that the Eastern Bloc has faced recently. The company has been one of the leading manufacturers of personal computers in the United States. The previous VIC-20 computer was the best-selling model in the low-end PC market in the United States.

However, the company continued its low-cost route and launched a new computer "Kemodo-64" last year. Like the ABC-1, the PC uses the same 6502 processor, but it sells for just $595.

However, the CEO of Kemodo is still not satisfied with this price, in order to further reduce costs. He simply acquired MOS Technology, the developer of the 6502 processor. In the face of the price strangulation war launched by Kemodo, Aikang Company had simply stopped producing the unprofitable ABC-1 computer as early as last year.

And this "Kemodo-64" home computer, although under the banner of a person. But one of its most important features is actually playing games. After the collapse of Atari Inc., the FC home game console of Oriental Games Company swept the entire market. But after all, it is impossible to achieve a 100% monopoly.

In fact, a large part of the market that Atari has ceded has been seized by the "Kemodo-64" computer, which is advertised as "both a computer and a game console". In the past, third-party game development companies relied on Atari's home console platform. There are also some people who are reluctant to accept the recruitment of Oriental Game Company, and instead start to develop games for Kemoduo Company.

Although the dominance of FC game consoles in the U.S. home console market has become unshakable, Du Wenqiang has always been highly wary of this new competitor. In particular, the price of the "Kemodo-64" is constantly decreasing, and according to the company's internal cost analysis of this new model, its latest retail price of $395 has made the company almost unprofitable.

After achieving a monopoly, the Oriental Game Company released a new model in the name of modifying several small details. As a result of the new FC game mechanics, Ben was virtually unchanged, but the national retail price increased from $199 to $229 in the United States.

According to the analysis of the news fed back by Oriental Commercial Company from the U.S. market, Kemodo Company may continue to reduce prices. And if the price of the "Kemodo-64" computer drops further, the price gap between him and the FC game console will be further narrowed. There are bound to be many customers who are willing to spend more than $100 and take home a gaming console with a computer.

"No company can eat 100% of the market, and I would welcome such a rival to be watching. At least there is its storage zài. It will spur you to raise your spirits and take it seriously!"

Li Xuan's laughter made Du Wenqiang a little ashamed. He decided to enroll in CUHK's MBA programme as soon as he returned to improve his business management skills.

Li Xuan didn't notice that Du Wenqiang was in a complicated mood at the moment. He continued to say to himself: "When the new ERM-2 processor is launched in January next year, the price of the whole series of ERM-1 processors will be uniformly reduced, and the new price is estimated to be within 200 US dollars!"

Although both use the ERM-1 architecture, there are some differences between the ERM-1 processor for ABC series computers and the ERM-1 processor for home game consoles. Oriental Research Institute will specifically target gaming applications by removing or enhancing certain modules inside the ERM-1 processor.

"In short, the idea of using ERM-1 as the core CPU of FC-2 game consoles must not be shaken! From FC-2 onwards, home game consoles and computers must adopt a unified architecture. This is more conducive to cross-platform porting of the game! As the hardware performance becomes more powerful, the complexity of the game program will definitely increase!

If the architecture is not uniform across platforms, the effort to port across platforms is almost as much as rewriting a new game. Even trying to keep the essence of an old game can be even harder than writing a new one!

The development progress of FC-2 is in your own hands, and with the current momentum of FC game consoles, it will not be a problem to become popular for another year or two. However, FC-2 needs to use another CPU with a new architecture, and the compatibility with FC cannot be perfect. Therefore, when you determine the timeline for the launch of FC-2 development, you should give the market sufficient time to digest it, after all, it takes a process for players to recognize a new console!"

R&D timeline for the next generation of home consoles. Li Xuan didn't interfere too much. In addition to the cost factor, the performance of the processor is also a key factor in replacing the old 6502 processor in the FC-2 with the new ERM-based processor in the FC-2.

The ERM-1 is a 16/32-bit processor. The computing power is much more powerful than that of the 8-bit 6502 processor. And this means that new games developed with ERM-1 technical indicators will run on the 6502 processor at all. Once the FC-2 is launched, the focus of Oriental Games' R&D will definitely shift to the new FC-2 platform. The new game is bound to not work on the old FC consoles.

As a result, sales of new FC-2 consoles were blocked as soon as they appeared. The original FC consoles have become less attractive because they cannot run new games, and the position of Oriental Games in the home console market is likely to be shaken.

So updating your console is a very risky thing. Oriental Games Company is bound to conduct detailed and cautious investigation and analysis, and will only act after finding the best time node.

Watching Du Wenqiang walk out of the office, Li Xuan couldn't help but shake his head. The rise of the Eastern Company was too fast. In 1979, when Du Wenqiang followed Li Xuan to start his own business, he was just a young man who had just graduated from college and loved video games. In just four years, he has become the president of a game company with an annual output value of more than 20 billion Hong Kong dollars.

With the current scale of Oriental Video Games, let alone the small pond of Hong Kong, even in the world, a company with annual sales of more than 3 billion US dollars will not be ignored in any country.

Although Du Wenqiang has grown up rapidly in recent years, he is still too immature compared with Han Peng, He Guoyuan and others. Before Han Peng joined Dongfang Electronics, he was already the second-in-command of Ampex Xinda Hong Kong, the boss of Hong Kong's electronics industry in the 70s. Before joining Dongfang Electronics, He Guoyuan was also the manufacturing director of Philips Hong Kong, and both have rich management experience.

Even John Martin, the president of the computer park company, who Li Xuan felt that his talent was a little mediocre, has been immersed in the computer industry for nearly ten years, starting from the bottom salesman step by step, and he has a lot of experience.

And Du Wenqiang is obviously not a qualified executive yet. It's just that every step of the development of Oriental Game Company has stepped on the most correct node, and the entire process of rising has hardly encountered any obstacles. And with the current power of Oriental Game Company, there is enough space for Du Wenqiang to mature slowly.

In the final analysis, Li Xuan is still a nostalgic person, Du Fatzi was already a veteran under his command when he was engaged in a copycat arcade machine in Keji Company, and he was willing to give the other party more opportunities.

In fact, not only Du Wenqiang, but even Li Xuan himself in the savage growth of the Eastern Group, even with the help of the reborn golden finger, it is still impossible to be perfect. After all, his brain is not a Baidu or Google god, and there will always be some blind spots in his memory.

For example, now, Li Gang, the president of Dongfang Application Software Company, has brought some disappointing news.

"Mr. Li Sheng, Mr. Wang Jialian rejected our request to acquire CA Company!" Li just walked into Li Xuan's office and reported.

Li Xuan shook his head helplessly, he had completely forgotten about this character before. Wang Jialian on the East Coast and Wang An on the West Coast were the two most famous Chinese-American giants in the US IT industry before the 90s. And Yang Zhiyuan and others did not begin to emerge slowly until after ninety-five years.

Compared with Wang An's computer company, which has gradually weakened since the 80s, Wang Jialian has become a giant in the software industry step by step with the CA company he founded. And he has used more than 100 mergers and acquisitions throughout his career, and is known as the "software shark" in the industry.

Wang Jialian founded CA in 1976, and the reason for starting his own business is also dramatic. The boss of the company he worked for was about to lay off his software sales department, when a Swiss CA company approached him and asked for a sales agent for mainframe software in the United States.

So Wang Jialian simply persuaded the boss that he would take over the software sales department of the original company and cooperate with the Swiss CA company to establish a CA subsidiary in the United States. But after only six or seven years of development, Wang Jialian's American CA Company not only annexed the Swiss parent company, but also successfully went public in 1981.

Wang Jialian used the $3.2 million cash raised by the IPO, combined with equity swaps, to swallow a number of software companies. This time, Li Xuan valued Wang Jialian's CA company at $35 million, which is already 15% higher than the actual market value of CA companies. But Wang Jialian was obviously very ambitious, and rejected the merger and acquisition of Dongfang Electronics Company in one bite.

In fact, Wang Jialian's actual shareholding in the CA company is very limited, and if Li Xuan is willing to continue to increase the offer, it will not be difficult to successfully acquire the CA company. But what Li Xuan really likes is not the CA company, but the talent Wang Jialian.

"As the so-called twisted melon is not sweet, since the other party has no intention of this, we don't have to force it!" Li Xuan shook his head and said. (To be continued......)

PS: Chapter 2 may be a little later