Chapter 106 Use games to change the world
Although the well-known Sony Computer Entertainment will not be established until the end of 1993, as early as 1986, Ken Kutaragi, who has been working for Sony for 11 years, has already started working on home games that have left his own strong imprint. machine.
And on the day that Roland fell into a time loop, January 1, 1990, Sony announced the PS-X, an epoch-making home console model, and they will develop a game console with a large-capacity CD-ROM specification with Nintendo to achieve Completely unify the specifications of home computers, and position its own technology as the benchmark in the industry.
Of course, the contract signed by the two parties maintained the usual ambiguity of the island country’s commercial contracts. Sony stated in the contract that it could formulate a specification to make CD-ROM and Nintendo’s SFC interchangeable. At the same time, Sony was using Nintendo’s SFC After the influence is opened up, they can also use the contract loopholes to develop consoles compatible with the original game specifications, but Nintendo cannot be compatible due to contract reasons. In this way, Nintendo's market dominance will be taken by Sony .
After discovering this situation, Nintendo, who realized the potential aggressiveness of Sony's future strategy, turned back on May 29, 1991. They turned to Philips, which has similar mass-storage technology, to keep Sony at bay.
However, in that country where 18 lawyers had to go over the contract before signing it, the formal announcement of the breakdown of the cooperation was dragged on infinitely long until May of this year (1992), when they announced the termination of the relationship.
At this time, Sony’s president Norio Oga wanted to officially withdraw from the home console industry. They felt that it was not a wise decision to fight Nintendo, but Ken Kutaragi wanted to fight Nintendo once.
He wants to bring Sony into the home console industry when the embezzlement plan breaks down.
...
"You also heard the news in May?"
"It seems that no matter how chaotic Los Angeles is, it can't stop us from playing games..."
When Roland tentatively reported the name Sony, Spielberg laughed and knocked on the table, got up and searched for a long time in the pile of documents on the side, and then threw a thin stack of documents into the On the table.
"Take it and see."
The casual words were like a cute cat's paw, constantly scratching Roland's heart. He wanted to run away with the script, coughed, pretended nothing happened, and sat down again. went back.
That heartfelt move also made Spielberg smile and take a sip of tea, and after taking a sip, he explained: "Now Sony wants to make its own home game console, which is the PS-X they announced last year. "
"We all know that the fundamental development of game consoles is not the performance of the console, nor the game parameters that the public can't understand, but the games that are rooted in the console, and those games that make game fans willing to pay for it."
"So, they found me through Sony Pictures Entertainment, hoping to buy the game rights of "Jurassic Park."
"Because they can't find a game manufacturer willing to cooperate in the development of games now."
Yes, despite the fact that the PS game console is one of the three giants that will dominate the game industry in the future, but in the early stages of development, no game manufacturer was optimistic about them. Square Enix, which made the "Final Fantasy" series, set the research and development condition for the PS console to be released. It reached 3 million units, and Enix, who made the "Dragon Quest" series, told Sony that with a shipment of 3 million copies, the RPG games they produced would not lose money. As for Capcom? They even asked Sony to customize the machine specifically for them.
Faced with this severe situation, Sony had to rely on external forces if it wanted to develop.
The gamification copyright of Spielberg's works is the best external force.
That's right, even if Spielberg's "E.T. Aliens" is the last straw that destroys the arcade market in North America, games related to him, even if they are made of garbage, can sell more than one million copies in North America every year .
To put it bluntly, even he himself doesn't understand how many diehard fans he has in the game circle.
And these diehard fans are what Sony needs most now. In their view, players who can accept Spielberg's adapted shit-like game will definitely hear "Jurassic Park" After the game came out, I bought a PS game console that I had never heard of. As for the reason? Maybe it's Spielberg's personality?
Because of this, when they decided to enter the field of home game consoles, they sent Spielberg a cooperation invitation. For them, as long as Spielberg nods, their game console production target has been completed three times. One-tenth.
"but-"
"What does this have to do with me?"
When Roland quickly read the five thin pages, there was only envy on his face.
Because the terms offered by Sony are really generous.
As long as Spielberg licenses the game copyright of "Jurassic Park" to them for ten years at a price of one dollar, they will give Spielberg five dollars for every PS console sold in the next ten years Remuneration, every time a box of the game is sold, they will also give a profit of three dollars. If it is calculated according to the shipment volume of the previous PS console in Roland's memory, as long as Spielberg nods, in the next ten years, this guy can be stable. Earn 500 million.
That’s right, the first generation PS console sold 100 million units.
Five billion!
Don’t worry about anything, just sit at home and get free money!
Thinking differently, if Roland is Spielberg, then he...
Well, if he didn't have the memory of his past life, he wouldn't have signed this contract either.
because-
"Nintendo also wants copyright?" Looking at the second contract thrown by the other party, Roland felt that he had picked up a ton of lemons.
Those staring eyeballs almost fell out of their sockets!
Roland's shock was actually expected by Spielberg, "Yes, Nintendo paid 20 million yuan to buy out the game copyright. Not only that, they are also willing to give 15 points of the game share."
After Spielberg's name is attached to all film works, their derivative copyrights will increase exponentially.
And this kind of growth rate is something that no novel author on Dianniang dare to write.
Because readers will think it is too exaggerated, how could the copyright of games in the 1980s and 1990s be sold at such a high price?
But the problem is, people sell it at this price!
For Roland, the invitation and contract that Spielberg threw at him was simply opening the door to his new world. The copyright of the game can be sold for eight figures? Is this called an IP production machine?
Surprised is surprised, and puzzled is puzzled. After hastily flipping through the two documents, Roland still didn't understand why the other party showed these things to himself, "Uh...Steven, I don't understand what you mean ..."
"I don't seem to be able to help with this kind of transaction?"
Roland never underestimates others, and he doesn't think highly of himself either. Yes, he can indeed become a sweet momo now, but when it comes to behemoths like Sony and Nintendo, he can only look at it.
No way, he is a giant.
Facing a guy who can kill himself with money, he can't do anything!
However, Roland's bewilderment did not make Spielberg frown. After Roland asked, he said again: "Can't help?"
"No, you can help."
"Tell me, after seeing these two documents, who would you prefer to cooperate with?"
"Who do you prefer to cooperate with?" Roland didn't think about it, and said directly: "Is there a need to ask? Of course it is Sony!"
"What's the reason?" Spielberg asked again.
"Of course it is..." However, before he finished speaking, Roland stopped.
He knows that PlayStation can produce 100 million units, but Spielberg doesn't know!
So, his thoughts suddenly changed, and he quickly changed his rhetoric, "Because Sony is not Nintendo."
Such a subjective answer made Spielberg stunned on the spot, and stared at Roland for half a minute with straight eyes under the lens, and then smiled, "Yeah, yeah, yeah...Sony is indeed not Nintendo."
Youdao is hard to buy, I am willing!
Spielberg was already worried about Nintendo's **** of the North American game market. In this case, when Roland emphasized his tone and said Nintendo, how could this guy not understand that Roland's starting point was to hold vengeance?
But he understands better that all business activities cannot carry their own emotions.
If you do business with emotions, it will only make you worse, "but that's not the fundamental reason."
"Nintendo's global shipments will allow me to earn 50 million in this transaction."
"so…"
"I need you to convince me not to cooperate with Nintendo now."
When Roland heard the dull words, he, who was still at a loss, immediately understood that Spielberg didn't want to cooperate with Nintendo, but he didn't believe that Sony's home console could do it. .
This is actually a very simple thing—
The current games are different from the future computer games. They are not actually the cheapest way of leisure, because if you want to play, you must buy a console, and once you want to buy a console, it will make adults feel like playing with things. Don’t think that The idea will only appear in China. In fact, as early as when Marvel and DC were fighting, there was a saying of "comics harming the country" in Amerika at that time.
After all, the entertainment method of movies has passed the test of time, and it exists for a short time, so it will not occupy the children's life time for a long time. The most important thing is that the current parents and adults have been watching movies since the age of watching movies. They came here, but video games are different. Not only are they not accepted by parents, but they will occupy children’s lives for a long time. In this way, if you want to use an unknown machine to compete with Nintendo, which already has a broad market, It is very difficult to lay in the early stage.
As a result, it is naturally not favored by people in the industry.
But these are not problems for Roland.
Now that I understand that Spielberg has been entangled, and know that the other party really doesn't want to cooperate with Nintendo, then—
He only needs to talk about Sony's good, and that's it!
And Sony is good, only games?
of course not!
"Steven."
"Um?"
"Actually, it is in our best interest to cooperate with Sony."
"Why? If they fail, then this copyright is equivalent to a net loss."
"But are we making games now?"
"Don't do it."
"That's right! We don't make games now! Our foundation is still movies! But Sony wants to develop games into their fifth pillar industry! If we cooperate with them now, then we can actually plan their first The four pillar industries, that's why they asked you to do it—”
"Movie…"
When Spielberg himself said the word movie, he looked at Roland, and he had already got Roland's idea.
Movies are their roots! And this is what Sony wants!
Unlike the eight major industries of Sony in the future, Sony now only has finance, semiconductors, image products and film industries. The games they are about to develop can only be ranked fifth. Music, one of the three major industries in the future, will have to be developed after the millennium. They have a plan, and when the film industry is half dead and the game is struggling, only the first three can really make money!
In this case, things become very simple.
Sony spent more than a billion to develop games?
No problem, Spielberg can license the game copyright of "Jurassic Park" to them without paying a penny.
Why?
Because money is useless to him, what is really useful is the Columbia Samsung International Publishing Group under the name of Sony.
In fact, as early as 1920, the eight major Hollywood companies had already deployed their overseas distribution agencies all over the world, but at that time the transportation was inconvenient and the transmission of information was inconvenient. How to take it seriously, apart from collecting local newspaper film reviews, business conditions among peers in the same period, audience composition ratio, public opinion's reaction to the film and many other information, they have nothing else to do.
It wasn't until the 1980s, when the transportation was convenient and television brought news to millions of households, that they began to really pay attention to overseas distribution.
But this year, their overseas release speed cannot be compared with the global simultaneous release in the future.
As for overseas distribution companies?
Most are losing money.
United International Pictures, like Universal, Paramount, and MGM, has offices in 16 countries around the world and has authorized cooperation with 43 countries, but the high cost also makes them unable to persist.
And in the case of MGM's continuous losses, he can only withdraw...
As for Disney's Bowei International, they established the company in 1930 and have only released seven works so far.
The cost is too expensive to afford.
They are more willing to distribute overseas distribution to agency companies, and they are too lazy to run by themselves.
Too much trouble.
But after Sony bought Columbia Pictures and Samsung Pictures, the situation was different.
Since 1990, they have made seven films released overseas, and they will make five more this year.
As foreigners, they knew very well that this thing must be done, otherwise they would be blocked by other giants in Hollywood.
So they would rather lose money than support companies that issue overseas.
The reason is to live.
But in fact, they can't bear it.
Because before the advent of the Internet age, to distribute a movie globally, the person in charge had to break through four figures.
If the energy cannot be issued continuously, then supporting these people is giving away money for nothing.
And if the box office of the released movie dies suddenly, it will only lose more.
This is also the reason why many second- and third-tier film companies would rather be stuck by the giants than do their own distribution.
One is that they are monopolized by the giants and cannot do it, and the other is that even if they break through the monopoly of the giants, without a steady stream of film sources, they can lose 100 million in cash flow a year...
It is easy to issue, but difficult to maintain.
Otherwise, Universal, Paramount, and MGM would not have joined forces to mess with international distribution companies.
In the previous life, DreamWorks was actually focused on establishing and distributing films, because Spielberg's film production ability is too terrifying, and all giants know that if he makes a distribution, then no one else will have anything to do, especially in the When George Lucas and Steve Jobs were waiting for Spielberg's distribution company, the three of them played together, and there would be no Disney in this world!
And when DreamWorks, Pixar, and Lucas merged...
The IPs on the film history box office list are all in their home.
As for no capital?
You know, even in 2019, even after the acquisition of Fox, Disney Chairman Bob Iger said that if Steve Jobs was still alive, then Disney had merged with Apple...
Not to mention, it was Microsoft that supported DreamWorks at the beginning.
Unfortunately, DreamWorks in the previous life did not make it. Even if Spielberg got Microsoft's investment, they would not be able to release it under the circumstances that the giants jointly blocked it, but—
Roland hoped that they could do it in this life.
In addition to Spielberg giving himself too much help, he actually hopes that the bigger his umbrella, the better.
He never thought that he was an all-rounder. If he was really that smart, he would have already been outstanding in his previous life.
As for starting your own company? Invest yourself? Make a film yourself? Publish it yourself?
Oh come on...
These things cannot be handled by one person.
It is Roland's creed to let the people in the meeting do the right thing.
What's more, when he didn't do anything, he was able to get "Terminator 2", "Jurassic Park" and the default "Spider-Man". These resources alone have allowed him to see the future—
Want to make a movie?
Just make a phone call, and someone will help him get the copyright.
No need for him to speak, the people up and down have already formed it.
What, is this daydreaming?
When Spielberg threw Sony and Nintendo offers to him, he knew he wouldn't daydream.
Besides, even if Spielberg is now talking to Sony about overseas distribution, no one else will stop him.
because-
"Jurassic Park" is not out! "Toy Story" is not out! The "Star Wars Episode" series did not come out!
Those giants in the previous life wanted to block them, because their movies sold so well!
But now, Industrial Light and Magic has not revealed its ferocious minions, Pixar has not yet told the world what computer 3D is, and the American national IP of "Star Wars Episode 1" has not been seen at all!
In this case, even if Spielberg talks about overseas distribution, people will only think that he wants to marry Amblin into Sony...
And this is the best chance to change the world...
so-
When Spielberg said the word movie, Roland stood by the table, looked at each other seriously, and said:
"Steven, Amblin is one less distribution company."
"A distribution company that can lay out channels both locally and overseas."
"You've seen it before, what happened when we were filming Captain Hook in America, and the guy in London would notice something was wrong and tell us by email..."
"How convenient..."
“The Internet is the trend of the future. I believe you know this better than me.”
"And when the whole world is connected by the Internet, it will not be a dream to release a movie simultaneously around the world."
“So, right before the internet, we need a distribution company.”
“A distribution company that we can use.”
“It’s a good thing that Sony needs your Jurassic Park rights now.”
"Because we can give him the copyright in exchange for their overseas distribution group shares."
"Sony wants to make a game console now, and he needs your fame. For them, Columbia Samsung International is actually a burden they have to carry. If they withdraw from United International Pictures like MGM, they will lose If it is released overseas, they will definitely not live for five years..."
"We intervene at this time, not only can we help them with games and disgust Nintendo, but also can eat as much as possible of their distribution company's shares, and in the field of movies, they have always wanted to cooperate with us, so..."
“Personally, I think choosing Sony is a very good deal…”
"After all, everyone has a day to go it alone..."
When Roland looked at Spielberg with serious eyes, Spielberg admitted that the little guy's words said that he was in his heart. He hated Nintendo, and he never wanted to cooperate with Nintendo, but he couldn't find it. , the reason for refusing money.
In fact, after "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List", he has no film arrangements, because his filming contract with Universal has expired, and then, it is his own time.
He wants to form an entertainment company involving live-action movies, animation, and music.
and release, is the problem he has been pondering.
Now, Roland proposes that, like Universal and Paramount, share a distribution company with Sony?
Well, although Sony’s distribution company is not as fast as United Pictures, in general, it’s actually only two months away...
“This is indeed a persuasive proposal.”
"I like…"
After pondering for a moment, Spielberg finally laughed.
And when he said 'It'stomyliking', Roland also heaved a sigh of relief.
However, just as he picked up his teacup to drink water, Spielberg asked again:
"So, student Roland Allen, how do you feel that I have the idea of going it alone?"
"How did you know about United International Films?"
Spielberg is not a fool. What Roland said just now has proved that he knows too much.
However, when faced with such a question, Roland was not nervous. Instead, the gentleman said frankly: "I have listened too much."
"Of course I know."
"Listen too much? Who said it?"
"James Cameron…"
Roland knows more people, so he can throw the blame at will.
Anyway, Spielberg would not ask Cameron about this matter, so Roland was not worried at all, and he would be exposed.
And Spielberg also asked casually.
Originally, he just wanted Roland to help him find a way to reject Nintendo, but now, he is trying to exchange the game copyright of "Jurassic Park" for shares in overseas distribution channels?
This idea can indeed be tried.
Money is actually not important to him anymore. How to expand the business and make the company unique is what he wants to do most, but now...
Looking at the guy in front of him who brought him enough surprises, Spielberg sent out an invitation: "It's past four o'clock, and I can go home. How about it? Go to my house for dinner?"
"Okay, but you have to take care of my driver and assistant's dinner, and they have to send me back at night." Roland nodded readily.
"Oh, why don't you go to Malibu to buy a villa? There is a house next door to my house for sale, and it's only over 20 million."
"More than 20 million yuan? Steven, are you killing me? How can I have so much money?"
"Don't pretend, I know everything about Ronald, and he made 100 million in three months? Who has money if you don't have money?"
"Shh... can you talk about this matter casually? And I bought Berkshire Hathaway stock with my money!"
"Hey, I get a headache when you talk about it. Why do you only buy Warren Buffett's stock? You can invest in other companies too! If you buy Microsoft with all your money, you can become a minority shareholder... "
"Yeah, I am a shareholder, and then the information is announced, right?"
"No, I have William's phone number. You haven't met the disclosure standard. I can ask him not to announce it."
"William?"
"Oh, William is Bill Gates..."
"Hiss... Forget it, I'll look for you when I want to buy it... Hey, tell me, you really wanted to sell the game copyright of "Jurassic Park" to Nintendo?"
"If Steve is still at Apple, and he also wants to make a home game console, then I will definitely sell him."
"Then now?"
"Didn't you say that it would be more cost-effective to sell to Sony? Then I'll send someone to talk to Sony, but I think that group of them should agree, because—they have long wanted to form a long-term cooperative relationship with me."
Note: ① The development history of Sony game consoles is not written, it is too long. Back then they really wanted to buy "Jurassic Park". On January 1, 1990, at the joint press conference between Sony and Nintendo, they released a demo image of Jurassic dinosaurs. After Pierberg rejected them, Ken Kutaragi still released a computer-made dinosaur DEMO at the industry developer conference. ②I actually don’t know why Spielberg’s copyright can be sold so expensive, but they can sell it so expensive. ③When the game console was first made, there was indeed no game manufacturer Bird Sony. Because of the cold reception, Sony later acquired game studios frantically. ④ Overseas distribution, now only Sony, Warner, and Disney do it alone. One is Warner International, the other is Bowei International. Columbia Samsung International was integrated into Sony International in 1995. Universal and Paramount have been They all went to United International Pictures, and it is the same now. It is really a loss to do distribution. If the volume cannot be achieved or there is no blockbuster, then it is a waste of money, but if there is no such thing, it will be blocked. So in fact, as early as the 1990s, Sony wanted to pull Panasonic’s Universal together. We did, but Universal was sold by Panasonic before Universal withdrew from United Pictures. This is why it was integrated in 1995. Originally, we wanted to wait for Panasonic to come up with a name. Moreover, at that time, Sony had been licking Spielberg through his former agent, trying to compete with Universal. The Jewish gang in the 1980s and 1990s was too fierce. In the top ten of the year, at least four were theirs.
(end of this chapter)