There were many people present who were interested in Hastings' VR equipment, and they were eager to try it, and they all wanted to experience this high-tech product, and even Zhang Ran tried it.

Zhang Ran found that the VR glasses brought by Hastings this time were much clearer than those at home, with smaller pixels, and the sandwindow effect was almost invisible. Zhang Ran smiled: "This resolution should be 4K per eye, right?"

Hastings said proudly: "This is a prototype that we have made with SMI technology after the completion of our acquisition of SMI. Equipped with Samsung's 4K screen with a resolution of 4K per eye, a refresh rate of 120, and a viewing angle of 140 degrees, which is close to 160 for the human eye, we intend to present our prototype at E3 in June this year. ”

The pixel dots and sandwindow effect of 4K is not very obvious anymore, and 8K can solve this problem completely. Zhang Ran said: "When will it be able to reach 8K in one eye?"

Hastings said helplessly: "Technically, the problem is not particularly big, the key is that the hardware is not up to it." 4K glasses run large games, and the computer is not the top configuration and can't be moved, let alone 8K. It may take two or three years for more powerful CPUs and GPUs to come out before this problem can be solved. ”

Hastings looked at Zhang Ran and said slowly: "In fact, 4K watching movies and playing games is no longer a problem, and 8K glasses may be available in two or three years." However, VR not only faces technical problems, but also content problems. If we want to be ahead in VR, we don't just have to be ahead in technology, the equipment is expensive, and glasses alone cost $6,700. If there's not enough content, there's not enough movies, there's not enough games, who spends so much money on a toy?

It's a paradox that users won't buy VR because there's less content, and because there's too few users, game companies won't develop VR games. I develop ordinary games, and I can sell millions of sets, but there are very few VR users, and I must lose money when I make VR games, so why do I still develop VR games? In the end, it becomes that consumers don't buy VR equipment, developers don't develop VR games, and no one buys our VR. To break the deadlock, we can only start by taking the initiative to produce VR content, so that consumers can have games to play and movies to watch, so that the entire VR industry can really become popular. ”

Zhang Ran nodded and said: "It is definitely impossible to do a platform without content, the reason why indos and Android are so powerful is that if you want to succeed, you need VR movies, VR videos, and VR games." Movies and videos are not difficult for us, and we will gradually roll out VR movies and VR videos. I've been idle for more than a year, and every once in a while, I might make a VR short film of more than ten minutes. The game was a difficult problem for us, though, because we hadn't been involved in the game. Zhang Ran looked at the universal treadmill, then at Hastings, and said, "You moved this set of equipment, I'm afraid you have a fancy to which game company, and hope that we will acquire this game company and then launch a special VR game, right?"

Hastings thought to himself, this guy is such a monster, I didn't say anything, I guessed that I wanted to buy a game company and launch a dedicated VR game, he nodded and said, "Yes, I think to build a VR platform, to really push VR away, games are particularly important, and maybe even the most important breakthrough." If there is a VR game that is particularly popular, with millions, or even tens of millions of users, then there will be more game manufacturers who invest in the production of VR games, and VR will become more and more popular. ”

Many people present were nodding, but Wu Ruide said: "I think you are too optimistic, this set of equipment may add up to one or two thousand US dollars, and I am afraid that it will cost one or two thousand yuan to exchange for RMB, and the hardware requirements are particularly high." After buying this set of VR equipment, I also need to change the computer. How many people will buy something that is so expensive, and how many people can afford it?"

Zhang Ran is not too worried about this: "If there is a fun enough game, even if the equipment is more expensive, the problem is not too big, and it can be promoted through Internet cafes and experience stores." In recent years, Internet cafes in China have declined on a large scale, and Internet cafes in many places have closed. A lot of internet cafes are looking for a way out, and if there really is a VR game that is particularly fun, much more fun than ordinary games. It is definitely a blessing from heaven for the Internet café industry in distress, and we will definitely introduce our VR equipment. The key is the content, whether there are any fun games to attract users to play!"

Zhang Ran has been thinking about the promotion of VR in the past two years, and he feels that it will be a very long process for VR to be popularized, which may take one or two decades, just like the original computer. Before that, there were only other ways to let the audience get in touch with VR and understand VR, so he thought of Internet cafes.

More than ten years ago, there were still a small number of people in China who could afford computers, but this did not affect everyone's access to computers and embrace the Internet, because there were more than 100,000 Internet cafes in China. He thinks that VR can also be used in this form, allowing netizens to surf the Internet, play games, and watch movies through the VR equipment of Internet cafes, so that everyone can like VR. In this way, when the price of VR equipment drops, VR will quickly enter thousands of households.

Everyone present was amazed and felt that the plan was feasible. Now that the Internet café industry is in decline, if VR can bring customers back, there will definitely be a large number of Internet cafes that will introduce VR equipment, which will promote the development of the entire VR industry.

Ye Lin was also greatly admired: "More than ten years ago, when Internet cafes were just emerging in China, at that time, domestic Internet cafes were basically one-third of legends, one-third of CS, and one-third of people chatting about QQ. At that time, the graphics of the game were very poor, and the computer was very stuck, but everyone was very happy about it. If there is a fun game, VR Internet cafes can definitely become popular, just like back then! Now CS games are still very popular, and last year's global online game revenue ranked first was Tencent's "Crossfire", 957 million US dollars, very popular. Playing CS in VR is many times cooler than playing directly with the computer, and if we can launch a game similar to CS, it will definitely be popular!"

Zhang Ran originally planned to convene a board meeting after the Chinese New Year to start the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, but now it seems that the plan to acquire DreamWorks can only be put on hold for the time being. Complementing VR and building an ecosystem is much more important than acquiring DreamWorks. He said, "Who developed CS and how difficult is it to acquire?"

Hastings said: "CS is a game developed by valve, which not only has CS as a game, but also the world's largest game platform, steam. But the acquisition of Valve is unlikely, the company is not listed, the owner is not short of money, and he is still an avid game enthusiast. He once said that if anyone buys Valve, the company will be wronged, he will not do anything, and when the contract expires, he will leave with all the employees. The most important thing for a game company is the planner, and if the planners are gone, the company will be an empty shell. ”

Zhang Ran heard Hastings say this, and knew that he should have an acquisition target in mind, so he said, "What is your suggestion, to acquire Blizzard?"

Hastings smiled and said: "The most suitable game for VR is driving, as well as gunfight games, Blizzard is not particularly good at it, and it is too expensive, with a market value of more than $17 billion, and if you want to spend money on acquisitions, it may need more than $25 billion, which is completely unnecessary." Ubisoft is a good choice, Ubisoft is cheaper, but this one can't be acquired, Ubisoft is a French company. The French government has regulations that allow the government to intervene in domestic companies in the entertainment sector, and the French government must agree to acquire companies in the French entertainment sector. Ubisoft is the pride of the French and the French government will certainly not agree. There are also a lot of good game companies in Dongying, but there are not many that are good at gun and car games, and there is only one that is really suitable, and that is EA!"

Yellin laughed when he heard that Hastings wanted to buy EA.

EA is a company known for its acquisitions, and for more than two decades, they have acquired many famous game studios. When the sequels or new titles of these studios don't perform well, EA throws away the brands that still have a lot of fans, and by the way, the studios are disbanded. Many game fans grit their teeth with hatred for EA, saying that EA is a cancer in the industry.

I didn't expect that EA, which is famous for acquiring others, will also be acquired one day!

Zhang Ran knew EA, and the game rights of his movie "Time Warrior" and "Future Apocalypse" were sold to EA. The film "Future Apocalypse" will be released later this year. However, Zhang Ran didn't know much about EA, so he said: "Car and gun games, is it a car and shooting game?"

Hastings explains: "Yes, it's the driving genre, and the shooter genre, both of which are particularly suitable for VR, and that's the fundamental reason why I suggested acquiring EA. In addition, EA has its own gaming platform, the Tangerine platform, with nearly 100 million users. It is important to have a game platform, because it is necessary to have a game platform to gather popularity, and independent game developers can put their own VR games on this platform and then make a profit. Only when game developers make money, more people will join, and the VR ecosystem can be gradually established. ”

At this time, someone raised his own question: "Last month, the Defense Daily criticized EA's "Battlefield 4" for smearing China. The Ministry of Culture also named "Battlefield 4", believing that it was a cultural invasion. If you buy EA, there may be trouble if the game that will be launched at that time has content that smears China!"

Zhang Ran is not worried about this problem: "If we buy EA, we will definitely not allow the existence of games that are crazy about smearing China." If the other party quietly adds some smear content in the game, it is not a big problem. "The Devil is Coming" was voted by Huayi, the movie was banned, Jiang Wen was banned, but the country didn't take Huayi well. It's not a big problem!"

"EA has been in a difficult situation in recent years, and in July of last year, EA approached private equity giants such as KKR and Providence to sell the company. At that time, EA's stock price fell to $13, and EA intended to sell the company at $20 per share, but in the end there was no negotiation. Now EA's share price is back to $25, with a market capitalization of $7.5 billion, which would be around $12 billion if we bought it. ”

Zhang Ran didn't know much about EA, and didn't know if there was a business other than games, so he said, "Is there a risk in the acquisition?"

Hastings said: "No, EA is a pure game company, CFIUS will definitely not get stuck, and the image of Century Summit in the United States is relatively good, and Netflix and Blockbuster Online have provided nearly 100,000 jobs in the United States." Any member of parliament who wants to find trouble at the peak of the century has to weigh it!"

Zhang Ran turned his head to look at Wu Ruide and asked, "Old Wu, what do you think?"

In Wu's view, a good acquisition should meet three criteria: whether it can expand the company's potential market share, whether it conforms to long-term usage and technology trends, and whether it is helpful to the company's core business and overall purpose. The acquisition of EA clearly meets these three criteria. He nodded and said: "As long as we can promote the development of the VR industry and let us be in a leading position in the VR industry, I will definitely support it." However, the entire acquisition will cost more than 10 billion, and such an acquisition must be supported by data!"

Zhang Ran nodded and said to Hastings: "You get a feasibility study report on the acquisition of EA as soon as possible, and after the report comes out, we will discuss this matter in detail." ”