บท 19: Chapter 19: Three Rejections
In fact, before coming to Exidy, Ethan had already mentally prepared himself for failure.
Because in the past two months, while in Magnavox, he had witnessed firsthand the lives of game developers in this era.
Ethan's job was a marketing specialist, earning a weekly salary of eighty dollars. Currently, similar jobs on the market also paid around the same.
But what about the engineers who created electronic games?
As Pete Kaufman had mentioned, they were earning a weekly salary of two hundred dollars.
At first glance, the engineers seemed to have a better position than the marketers, with their salary being two and a half times more.
However, the issue was that sales came with commissions.
Engineers, on the other hand, received a fixed salary.
Yes! No matter how good the games they created were! These guys wouldn't get a penny!
And in Ethan's previous life, that was almost impossible!
You see, in the future, a hit game could make numerous people achieve financial freedom!
Programmers for games like "King of Glory" flaunted million-dollar salaries, and Xu Zhuce, who left the game company after creating "Dream Journey" and started his own company, could even afford to maintain a football team!
But in this era, no one cared about this group of people.
Almost all practitioners believed that people liked video games because the thing itself had an extraordinary charm, and it was a manifestation of the public's curiosity about new things.
In this philosophy, bosses eager to make money naturally wouldn't pay developers much, and when someone brought their creativity to them?
A flat-rate buyout—that was their idea of generosity!
There was no choice; capitalists were all the same.
So, even though Exidy rejected a partnership, Ethan Jones wasn't discouraged.
Heading south, driving along Highway 5 for six hours with occasional stops, he finally arrived in Los Angeles at four in the afternoon.
No interest in visiting the Hollywood Walk of Fame or admiring Beverly Hills, after arriving in the most prosperous city in California, Ethan drove his car straight into the gates of Magnavox.
In the future, the well-known Sega, in this era, was actually a well-known American company.
Founded in 1940, initially, their business was not that legitimate; they manufactured slot machines and sold them to military bases in Honolulu, where stationed soldiers gambled.
Later, due to the introduction of the "Gambling Device Transportation Act," mainland America didn't allow slot machines. So, Magnavox expanded its business to Japan, selling slot machines to military bases there. After saturating the market, they extended to Southeast Asia, still serving American soldiers in military bases.
Until the 1960s, the annoyed U.S. Air Force finally took action against this gambling business invading the military. Magnavox reluctantly changed its business to evade responsibility, and the founder sold Magnavox to a company affiliated with Sega. It was only at this point that the company's nature changed.
Of course, it was just a change in appearance; the majority of the shares still belonged to Americans.
Therefore, when Ethan visited with Snake, the game's receptionist was a white man.
After seeing the gameplay of Snake, the well-dressed white man's eyes revealed greed.
"Mr. Jones, will you sell it for twenty thousand dollars?"
"That's impossible." Ethan Jones shook his head and refused, saying, "Exidy offered fifty thousand, and I didn't accept."
"Oh! That's really unfortunate!"
The white manager smiled and said, "Mr. Jones, I admit that 'Snake Game' is a good game. However, at the same time, I want to honestly tell you, I don't think any company in the market will accept your profit-sharing proposal. If you really want to get into the video game industry, I suggest you make the machine yourself and sell it on your own. Don't show this machine to other companies again because that might lead to a tragedy like 'Pong.'"
Although Sega's manager's wording was very cautious, and the tone was sincere, Ethan Jones knew clearly that this guy was just a smiling tiger trying to inquire about the registration status of the game copyright.
If he appeared very nervous, Ethan believed that after sending him away, Sega would definitely rush to create an imitation proposal and register the copyright at the copyright office within a day.
For such common tricks in the business world, Ethan Jones had a simple answer.
"Sir, thank you very much for your reminder. I appreciate your kindness, but I think in California, no one would be foolish enough to plagiarize my work. Before coming, Professor Barbara Babcock of Stanford Law School had already assessed the rights of this product. She said that we could successfully defend our rights one hundred percent in the face of plagiarism."
'?'
Ethan's answer surprised the Sega manager.
"Mr. Jones, are you from Stanford?"
"No, I'm not from Stanford, but this work is."
Ethan smiled slightly and said, "Because the inventor is busy, so he asked me to help sell it."
"..."
The white supervisor was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "It seems I was overly concerned."
"Wish you good luck."
"Thank you."
Since Sega wasn't willing to cooperate either, Ethan left directly.
Continuing south, he headed to San Diego to negotiate with Gremlin here.
As a company established around the same time as Exidy, which had already monopolized all arcade game manufacturing companies in the San Diego area, Gremlin, like Exidy and Sega, was also interested in Snake. However, the conditions they offered were just about the same.
No profit sharing, only a flat buyout.
This fact also made Ethan Jones shake his head and express his refusal.
After hitting the wall three times in a row, Ethan Jones had actually visited all the game companies in Southern California. If he wanted to continue, he could only go north. Before that, he returned home after covering a thousand miles.
His tired appearance received concern from his family. After listening to his story, Thomas immediately put down his knife and fork.
"Oh, Ethan, actually, I don't understand. Must this arcade business collaborate with other companies?"
"I mean, can't we do it ourselves?"
"Evelyn may not have time, but hiring a few apprentices to assemble shouldn't be a problem, right?"
"If it's a matter of money, I can invest a hundred thousand for you."
"You know, we are a family."
Evelyn felt that her old man's proposal was quite good.
Meanwhile, she, leaning on the table with her elbow, said, "How about I submit another entrepreneurial application to the school? If I establish a company in my name, Stanford can provide free entrepreneurial space. It's not troublesome at all. Entrepreneurship is quite common among students in our engineering school, and the professors in the school can directly sign, and the school can sponsor $5,000."
"Oh, Thomas, Evelyn, thank you."
Ethan, sitting at the dining table, clasped his hands together, smiling in gratitude, "But... it's not necessary."
"As for the reason, I mentioned it to you before. If it was two years ago when there weren't so many electronic arcades on the market, Thomas, if you said you would give me $100,000, I would definitely ask you for $200,000. If you said $200,000, I would ask you for $400,000 because more money meant we could seize the opportunity."
"But now, it's impossible to gain a large market share with money. Thomas, those arcade owners buying electronic arcade machines for over a thousand dollars each are like delivery trucks in our orchard. You spend $5,000 to buy a delivery truck, and then, in just three to five years, others ask you to replace the entire set. Are you willing?"
"Hmm?" Ethan gave a light hum.
Ethan snorted at the issue related to his own interests, "I'll twist the salesman's neck!"
"Even though I can afford it, money shouldn't be spent like this!"
"Yeah," Ethan nodded with a smile, "So, it's not a matter of money now."
"It's a matter of market acceptance."
"I think, Thomas, you should understand this."
"Hmm." Thomas nodded.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Although Ethan is not making money right now and has encountered troubles on the road to making money, Thomas likes Ethan's current state. "Is there anything I can help with?"
"To be honest, I really like your current state."
"Much more energetic than when you were working before."
"Thank you," Ethan smiled and thanked, while saying, "Thomas, if you really want to help me, then lend me Ford for a few more days. There's still a company in Sacramento, and I'll go see if they want to cooperate."
As Ethan recalled the name of the company in Sacramento, suddenly, the phone rang.
Thomas got up to answer the phone and shouted at Ethan after a few words, "Ethan, it's for you."
"For me?" Ethan was puzzled.
Because he clearly remembered that he didn't leave his number for Sega and Gremlin.
"Could it be that Exidy changed their mind?" Ethan Jones muttered to himself.
And as he answered the phone, he heard a voice he really didn't want to hear on the other end.
"Ethan Jones? It's Frank! Frank from San Francisco! Do you remember me?"
"Oh, of course, I remember, Mr. Fabulous."
Frank's voice made Ethan unhappy.
Because it reminded him of the threat he faced that day.
That was really bad!
Ethan said without a good temper, "Do you have something for me?"
"Hi, brother! I don't like the nickname you gave me!"
The head of the San Francisco electronic supply company on the other end of the phone screamed and then said, "But in consideration of the apology you're about to give me, I'll forgive you first!"
"..."
Ethan Jones was inexplicably speechless.
"I don't understand what you mean. Brother, if you don't have anything important, I'm going to hang up."
"No! No! No!"
Ethan Jones's threat elicited a scream, and the guy on the other end of the phone raised his voice, "Don't hang up! Otherwise, you'll regret it! kid, if I remember correctly, your company probably didn't receive an invitation to the video game exhibition in San Francisco that's about to be held? And I, the great Frank, have an invitation in hand!"
"Brother, last time I misunderstood you! So I decided to apologize to you with this invitation! How about it, accept or not?"
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