Chapter 140
Chapter 140 "Space Invaders" is now on the market! Global order revenue reached US$670 million! !
Xu Qingsheng is in charge of Dongyang.
Plus the Nishikado Tomohiro effect.
A steady stream of talent in the Japanese gaming industry has been poached to Hong Kong by Imperial Group and Imperial Gaming Company with high salaries.
During the month that Tomohiro Nisikado and others were in Hong Kong, hundreds of talents from the Toyo gaming industry joined Imperial Games.
Under the guidance of Yang Ming and Nisikado Tomohiro.
"Space Invaders" will accelerate research and development, breakthroughs and improvements on the original basis.
April 1, 1978.
April Fool's Day.
Empire Group Gaming Headquarters.
In addition to Yang Ming, chairman of Empire Group and Empire Games Company, Meris, general manager of Empire Group, and Barlow, deputy general manager of Empire Games Company.
Tomohiro Nisikado, director of the design department of Imperial Games, and others.
Attend this very grand "Space Invaders" game conference.
at the press conference.
Tomohiro Nisikado officially introduced the game "Space Invaders" to media reporters from Hong Kong and overseas.
The market for arcade games is not big in Hong Kong.
However, because it was a press conference held by Empire Games, a subsidiary of Empire Group, many reporters came to attend the press conference.
Most of the people who pay more attention to this game are reporters from Japan and Country M.
At the press conference, Tomohiro Nisikado introduced this game in detail.
This is a masterpiece in the gaming world and arcade market.
The first interactive style game.
The first game to use high score recording.
The first game to save player scores.
A game where the first player fights off hordes of monsters.
The first game to use a backing track and variations.
The first game to move from the real world to the virtual world.
. . .
When this game was shown to the reporters present by Tomohiro Nisikado, even though some reporters had never even been exposed to arcade games, they still fell in love with this game at first sight.
At this time, what consumers are most concerned about is what the unified retail price will be after this game is launched.
"Director Tomohiro Nisikado, what is the launch price of this game? Can ordinary consumers afford it?"
Early arcade game consoles were really not cheap.
This is caused by various aspects of the environment during this period.
Yang Ming, Tomohiro Nisikado and others discussed it for a long time, and based on the current price of arcade game consoles around the world, as well as the price of this game hardware.
The final global retail price is US$6,500.
Converted to Hong Kong dollars, that would be 35,750 Hong Kong dollars.
Converted to Japanese yen, that's 1.3 million yen.
The price is really not cheap.
Except for some wealthy families or the middle class in Europe and the United States who can afford it, it is difficult for ordinary families to afford it.
In addition, there are some merchants who can also afford it.
Historically, from April to December 1978, Taito Co., Ltd. installed more than 100,000 Space Invaders game consoles in Japan, generating revenue of US$670 million.
As of June 1979, Taitung had manufactured approximately 200,000 Space Invaders consoles in Japan.
These machines can earn 10,000 yen every day.
Space Invaders was licensed overseas to Midway, and by the end of 1979, global sales of Space Invaders reached 750,000 units.
From 1978 to 1980, Space Invaders was the top player in the arcade industry, second only to Pac-Man.
In 1982, its total revenue exceeded US$3.9 billion, and Taitung's annual profit reached US$500 million that year.
In 1980, Space Invaders was launched on the Atari 2600, and 2 million units were sold in the first year.
When Tomohiro Nisikado announced the price, the reporters present were shocked.
It costs US$6,500 per unit, which even journalists like them may not be able to afford.
Some businesses in Xiangjiang can operate game console bars so that ordinary people may have the opportunity to play such games.
After the press conference.
This news still shocked many reporters from Hong Kong, as well as reporters from Japan and Country M.
Now "Space Invaders" is officially released.
Next, in addition to receiving orders, this arcade machine will be mass-produced in companies in Hong Kong and Toyo.
Tomohiro Nisikado is leading the team to develop a second new game.
"Pac-Man"!
Pac-Man is a brand new game, historically, designed by Toru Iwatani of Namco and published by Midway Games in 1980.
Pac-Man is considered one of the most classic arcade games in the 1980s. The image of the protagonist of the game, the elf, has even been used as a popular cultural symbol or a representative image of this industry.
However, Yang Ming was the first to propose it and register the relevant patent.
Talents from the gaming industry such as Tomohiro Nishikado and others were shocked that their boss could come up with such a game.
However, in Nisikado Tomohiro's view, the more powerful the boss Mr. Yang is, the better their future will be.
Now, in addition to abundant funds, Imperial Games also attaches great importance to their talents. It is precisely because of that that Tomohiro Nisikado discovered that they can use their talents better than in the Japanese gaming industry.
The game "Space Invaders" quickly became famous and popular in the Japanese, European and American game circles.
Tomohiro Nisikado and his team have begun secretly developing "Pac-Man" and strive to have this game available globally in the second half of the year.
. . .
One month later.
May 2, 1978.
Tuesday.
Yang Ming had just arrived at the office of the chairman of the Imperial Group.
Come down from upstairs.
Fujiwara Akiyoshi, the head of the sales department of Imperial Games, personally reported to Yang Ming the status of the "Space Invaders" order.
Fujiwara Mingyi turned out to be a subordinate of Nishi Kado Tomohiro, and he also followed him to Xiangjiang this time.
At first, he planned to continue working in the R\u0026D department with Tomohiro Nisikado. Tomohiro Nisikado found that he was better at sales work, so he recommended him to Yang Ming for a sales job.
Fujiwara Akiyoshi has changed from an ordinary R\u0026D staff to the current deputy director of the sales department of Imperial Games Company.
The sales director position is now vacant, so he is the head of the sales department.
"Boss, "Space Invaders" has just been on the market for a month yesterday, and now it has become popular all over the world. Among them, orders from Japan are nearly 50,000 units, and orders from the United States are more than 30,000 units. In addition, Xiangjiang, Bayan, Nanyang and other places combined There are also 10,000 units, and there are 10,000 units in Europe.”
In other words, in just one month, the order volume of "Space Invaders" has already reached nearly 100,000 units.
What is the concept of 100,000 units?
Based on the price of 6,500 US dollars per unit, the order revenue has already reached 670 million US dollars. If converted into Hong Kong dollars, that is 3.575 billion Hong Kong dollars.
This is revenue, not pure profit. However, game consoles are still quite profitable now.
Moreover, Yang Ming believes that the order volume for this model will continue to skyrocket.
"The order is good." Yang Ming said.
The popularity of "Space Invaders" was something he expected.
With orders now just over 100,000 units, he is nothing.
Because he knows that this is inevitable.
"Fujiwara Akiyoshi, the orders for "Space Invaders" will continue to skyrocket. As the deputy director of the sales department, what you do is to maintain cooperation with merchants."
"Yes, boss."
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