But that's not what bothers Jester the most. wco⊕m

Because these things, whether it is game development, or hardware development, are traceable, they can be targeted against each other, these seem to be powerful, in fact, it is the same thing, as long as you can firmly grasp the player's heart, then no matter what means the other party has, the best result is only a two-way world, and it will never become a unified country.

But being able to expand their share as much as possible is something that must be done, but the biggest advantage Sony has is precisely the biggest factor that prevents them from doing this, that is, they have money.

It looks tacky, but it's practical, it's simple, Sony has money, there is a lot of money, they can be willful.

For example, they once used a loss to buy hardware to grab market share in the battle with Sega and Nintendo's PS1 era, although Sega has also used this method before, but Sega can make up for the loss of hardware through the collection of platform royalties in Guò games.

In the early stage of the PS1 era, Sony was doing this kind of thing completely by losing money.

As for the PS1 era, Sony lost money because of the sales of hardware, there is no official accurate statement, but it can be reminiscent of the loss of Microsoft's game department in the first year when Microsoft entered the game industry.

There was a very famous interview at the time.

It's an interview with Bill. Gates, as we all know, Bill. Gates has been a game fan since he was a child, and Microsoft's official entry into the game industry also has a lot of accidents, they didn't make a decision after careful thinking before Sony first entered the game industry, in fact, some things, chance really accounts for a large part of the reason.

This is because a hardware product specially created by Microsoft personnel to test one of their optimized software is only for testing in principle, but after Microsoft's high-level experimentation, it can't help but have a whim. Can't we turn him into a real console?

Even the birth of the name Xbox is interesting, but this is a different story.

In fact, at the time, on November 15, 2001, before the start of the Christmas season, no one thought they would succeed because Sony was so powerful at the time that PS2 grabbed the entire market share with an almost unbelievable speed.

Even Sega had to announce the official launch of the home console market scramble.

In order to ensure its vitality, Nintendo even participated in the Tokyo Game Show that year for the first time. You know, this is a game show held by Sony, before that, Nintendo has not participated in even one session, the former chief home game manufacturer, can only rely on the promotion of handheld computers to ensure their market share and the loyalty of fans.

It was in this situation that everyone was not optimistic that Microsoft's Xbox officially entered the market.

The fight was tragic.

It was in the same interview that Jester had seen that the interviewer asked Bill. Gates, the questions asked were very skillful. Full of traps, but also extremely sharp.

"Do you think you're translating the market response to Xbox in the last year?"

That's the first question.

Bill. Gates did not doubt him, and immediately replied: "Satisfied." ”

At this point, the interviewer immediately activated the trap that had been planted. Because Microsoft previously announced the revenue of their game division in the last fiscal year, the figures are astonishingly terrible, not terrible profits. It's the terrible loss of the entire Microsoft gaming division in the last fiscal year. In total, there was a loss of two billion dollars.

"So, the loss of two billion dollars is also in your expectation?"

This question is very tricky and cunning, very difficult to answer, coupled with the digging of a previous question, it seems that Bill. Gates was in a dilemma, and he had no choice but to answer the answer that a reporter wanted him to answer.

That is to eat the two words of satisfaction before.

But Bill. Gates smiled very easily and said something earth-shattering.

This sentence not only made people understand the strength and arrogance of Microsoft at that time, but also made more people realize the cruelty of competition in the video game industry, which is simply unbearable.

Bill Gates replied: "Yes, the loss of two billion dollars was expected by us. ”

Expected.

This is the sentence that Jester felt most shocked when he watched this interview at that time, but unfortunately, it is very regrettable, because this reporter did not interview Bill Gates more than ten years later, if he interviewed Bill Gates more than ten years later, he did not know that such a sentence was added after Bill Gates's expected answer.

"So, since the launch of Xbox, Microsoft's gaming business unit has never been profitable for more than a decade, is this also what you originally expected?"

When faced with this question, how should Bill Gates answer?

Oh, Jester suddenly remembered at this time, more than ten years later, Bill Gates had already retired from Microsoft, and naturally he could no longer be interviewed about Microsoft's internal affairs.

This incident is Microsoft's anecdote about Xbox, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with Sony, but from Bill Gates's reply to the first year's loss of two billion dollars, you can see the tragedy of this industry, Sony was poor and white, of course, this is just a metaphor, just to describe their almost no accumulation in the game industry, not that they are really poor.

You know, Microsoft was not poor in the game industry at that time, they had a rich accumulation in the PC game industry.

Then, in the PS1 era, the top three will be tied, and in the PS2 era, the heroes will be tied up, and they will seek defeat alone, and it is foreseeable that Sony will pay a lot of price in this.

After a market pattern is formed, if you want to join this market and get a piece of the pie, you must need to use money to smash it, at the beginning of the market can be expanded, but after the previous generation has expanded the market that can be expanded, the latecomers can only use money to smash it.

Sony is not short of money, technology, talent, and consumers in their market, so flawless, and the inevitable opponent is not terrible, so what kind of opponent is terrible?

Jester, who returned to the headquarters, contacted the Japanese branch as soon as possible, and the first question he asked was about Sony's game console, that is, they had reached a settlement with Nintendo on game consoles? The two sides jointly use the console they jointly developed before, use it as their own platform, and then independently develop the game?

After that, Jester just waited slowly, waiting for a reply from the Japanese side.

This kind of waiting is very boring, but this is related to the release strategy of their new console Dreambox2 in the future, which is the most important thing for Mars Entertainment at present, and it has to be cautious, so Jester can only wait for a reply without leaving for a moment.

It's not that there is nothing to do, the problems of the RTS game setting are too many, after he has done the big framework, the details have been completed by his subordinates, and he doesn't need to worry about it for the time being, other things such as Jester played Sid on the computer. Mel's Civilization.

The release time of "Civilization" has been officially confirmed, and at the end of January, the official version has also been confirmed, and the part that Jester is playing is the version that is ready to be officially launched.

I have to say that since the first generation of "Civilization", this is a weapon to kill time, it seems that his bloodline is like this, when playing this game, Jester did not have the technical gap in the early game because of the era at all, and played with relish.

It seemed that he couldn't feel the passage of time, and when the phone he specially answered overseas calls rang, he subconsciously glanced at the clock, and he unknowingly played the game "Civilization" for more than six hours.

When I picked up the phone, it was a call from Japan.

After inquiring in many ways, I got a confirmable news, that is, both Sony and Nintendo have reached an agreement not to fight on the ownership of new consoles, although the specific information is not yet available, but one thing that both sides did at the same time is still on a certain date, expressing this information.

That is, the two sides are almost at the same time, and the production line under their command has issued an instruction for the rectification of the production line, and the rectification instructions are almost the same, all of which are to adapt to the mass production of the next generation of hosts for the rectification of the production line, and the time requirements are very close, and the rectification must be completed within half a month.

But looking at the previous speed, it is good to be able to complete it in a month.

And this can also lead to the conclusion that before a new console is launched, at least a month of inventory will go through the stock period, and it will be the best result for them to be released in early March.

Jester thought of his dreambox2 again, and now this console has begun to officially survive, if possible, it can be released in early February, which is also the date agreed between Nintendo and Sony before, and Jester also specially chose such a date for sniping.

But now he is facing a situation where it is impossible for Sony and Nintendo to release in early February, and their best structure is in early March, or even at the end of March.

Nintendo itself can not care, but Sony, itself cannot not care.

However, now Sega's MD console sales momentum is very strong, and one day a night is a new loss of market share for itself, let alone a month?

Do you want to change the release date?

Jester hesitated. (To be continued......)