Chương 112: Chapter 112: Rolls after Rolls!
Thomas's timely assistance was truly a lifesaver for Ethan. In an era where the logistics industry had not yet fully developed, long-distance freight transportation was a nightmare faced by all manufacturing enterprises.
Why did Atari's sales of "Pong" only reach eight thousand units after three years on the market?
Because they couldn't find reliable delivery personnel!
However, when a company found a group of trustworthy drivers, nationwide free delivery became possible. Even though it took two days to drive from San Francisco to New York without eating or drinking, when a product's selling price was two thousand dollars, and the cost was less than five hundred dollars, any boss could appropriately increase the delivery cost to maximize profits.
Yes!
Ethan wasn't planning to sell circuit boards anymore!
This decision wasn't just because "Pac-Man" utilized new technology, making on-site replacement and debugging of circuit boards more troublesome after involving the CPU. It was also because selling arcade machines was more profitable than selling circuit boards.
Based on the current pricing, the gross profit of an arcade machine was fifteen hundred dollars, while a circuit board barely reached five hundred dollars.
Calculating with a distribution quantity of ten thousand units, the profit for electronic arcade machines was fifteen million, while circuit boards only amounted to five million.
Although this calculation was rough and extreme, the ultimate difference was terrifying.
Previously, due to limitations, game companies had to make certain choices. But now, with the latest technology, the strongest creativity, and the most reliable fleet of vehicles, Ethan wanted it all!
When the entire process of procurement, production, and delivery was streamlined, the scene in the Destiny Game Factory became lively. In just fifteen days, Ethan delivered one thousand arcade machines that various prestigious universities had "voluntarily" purchased. During this process, social orders also kept coming in. Well, North America was so vast that some merchants, after seeing the news reports, were willing to pay to try out the new product.
And those early adopters...
They hit the jackpot directly!
"Hello! Destiny Games? Do you still have 'Pac-Man' arcade machines? We need fifty in Sacramento!"
"Yes, yes, yes! Several merchants here are joint purchasing!"
"Oh! Sxxt! Now, who doesn't know that your games are super fun! Merchants in San Francisco have said that they can make at least one hundred and fifty dollars per machine per day! And unlike the previous games that only attracted boys, many girls like to play this game too! Do you know? As long as someone is playing the game, a crowd gathers around! Many people! A lot of people!"
"Ah? Asking about other games?"
"Now, who still puts other arcade machines at the storefront?"
"If no one plays them, isn't it a waste of electricity?"
"Even your boss, that Ethan... Ethan... Ethan Jones! Yes, yes, yes! The 'Snake Game' he made is no longer popular! Now, people only want to play your new game, 'Pac-Man'!"
"Oh! Stop asking! Just send us the goods! Send us the goods!"
"What? It might take several days for individual deliveries?"
"Oh! No! Just deliver the goods to one place for us! We'll pick them up ourselves! That should work, right?"
When these conversations reached Ethan's ears, he immediately burst into laughter, as bright as flowers.
"Indeed, as long as the product is excellent, it can change people's habits!"
Scheduled delivery? Merchants picking up the goods?
Oh! This was something many sellers wouldn't even dare to dream of!
Looking at the extremely busy office, Ethan waved to Eulise Noble, who had just finished a call.
"Is there something, boss?"
Perhaps due to recent busyness, the girl's face was filled with fatigue, and her voice sounded a bit hoarse as she spoke.
Seeing her like this, Ethan expressed his apologies.
"Oh, Eulise, I'm sorry. Due to my misjudgment, your workload suddenly increased."
"To make up for my mistake, I've decided to give you an additional bonus of five hundred dollars this month."
"At the same time, I plan to hire another batch of employees, probably four to eight administrative staff, to relieve your workload."
"I wonder if you would like to be the supervisor for this new group?"
Upon hearing this, Eulise Noble blinked her eyes.
She suspected her ears were playing tricks on her.
But the next moment, joy flashed in her eyes, despite the weariness on her face. "Oh, my boss, you've finally done something."
"I've been answering calls almost every day for half a month!"
There are dozens of them every day!"
"The most important thing is to record addresses, record demands, communicate with the factory for production, and coordinate with the fleet for delivery!"
"This is really..."
"Oh, God bless, I can finally relax a bit!"
The girl's words made Ethan nod with a smile.
Since the company had taken the right track, vacant positions couldn't remain unfilled.
Regarding production issues, Ethan planned to entrust them to Damian Dean, a Stanford engineering graduate. As for order records, goods distribution, and business reception, he assigned all of that to Eulise Noble under the administrative umbrella.
And what about financial and cost-related matters?
Those would be handled by Alan Massey.
In just three days of operation, the personnel of Destiny Games suddenly increased. There were four female and two male administrative staff, one male and one female accountant, making the company small but complete.
Looking at this sparrow-sized but fully equipped company, Ethan felt a sense of accomplishment rising within him.
Although he had lived two lives, this was his first time starting a business.
And to achieve this on his first attempt...
He was quite impressive!
Just as Ethan was pondering that, thinking that after being busy for so long, he could finally take a break, the phone in the office rang again.
Answering it, he discovered it was Chuck Peddle calling.
"Hello~ Chuck, what's up?" Ethan was in a good mood, so he directly cracked a joke, "Are you planning to celebrate the success of 'Pac-Man' with me? Oh, I'm busy lately, you know. I don't have time right now. Haha~"
However, his laughter had just subsided when Chuck Peddle's voice on the other end turned heavy. "Oh, Ethan, I'd love to celebrate the success of 'Pac-Man' with you, but I really don't have the time right now because there's an issue at the factory."
"It's on fire."
"WTF?" Ethan sat up straight at this statement.
"Our chip production line has a problem? It's on fire?"
"Oh! Sxxt! Is it burning?"
"How serious is it?"
Ethan suddenly became anxious because, in his memory, factory fires for chip manufacturers were quite common! Whether it was TSMC, Hynix, Samsung, or Micron, as long as they were involved in chip production, their facilities had experienced fires!
Ethan didn't understand the reasons behind this because it wasn't his field of expertise.
But one thing he knew for sure was that their MOS 6502 hadn't shown any signs of a price increase!
And in a situation where they didn't want the chip prices to go up, the factory had an issue?
Damn it!
Was this fire possibly caused by Intel!
Just as Ethan was speculating wildly, laughter suddenly came from the other end of the phone.
"Hahaha, Ethan, did I scare you?"
"It's not a problem with the production line! It's not a problem with the production line! It's the surge in orders!"
"Do you know? After the release of 'Pac-Man,' orders for the MOS 6502 increased by 500%!"
"Seventeen game development companies have placed orders for our chips!"
"Wow... I really didn't expect that! My designed chip could be used like this!"
"To meet the demand, the company has added two more production lines!"
"If things go as planned, our chip sales for the first half of this year will reach fifty thousand units!"
"..."
Ethan found Chuck Peddle's excited words somewhat amusing.
Damn, he thought there was a fire in their chip company's production line!
But it turns out the orders exploded?
Well, that's good!
Honestly, Ethan didn't expect the release of 'Pac-Man' to boost MOS 6502 sales! After all, games created through programming weren't something traditional circuit board game companies could easily handle.
But if those companies wanted to jump on the bandwagon, he couldn't stop them, right?
If he were just a regular game company, he might be a bit anxious.
But the thing is...
His chip production line is the cheapest in the market!
Competitors buying chips?
Shouldn't Intel, Massage Parlor, and Motorola be the ones in a hurry!
Hehe~
Ethan felt a sense of satisfaction. He wanted to laugh, but not too loudly, because that would be impolite! Meanwhile, Chuck Peddle continued, "Oh, Ethan, besides the surge in orders, there's something else I want to tell you. Our team has discussed it, and we want to continue upward with research and develop sixteen-bit chips."
"So, regarding company dividends... it probably won't happen for the next couple of years."
Upward research?
For Ethan, this was a good thing.
Because having lived two lives, he witnessed the productivity improvement brought about by technology.
Although he knew that Chuck Peddle's design in his previous life didn't defeat Intel's x86 architecture, in the market of low-end consumer goods, monopolizing Intel, Massage Parlor, and Motorola together couldn't match what Chuck Peddle could achieve with one hand.
The term "low-end" might not sound good, but for Ethan's game company, it meant an unparalleled cost advantage.
So, upon hearing Chuck Peddle's proposal, Ethan smiled and said, "Oh Chuck, I've said it before; it's your company."
"Since the day I decided to support you, I won't impose any restrictions on your research."
"Because, like you, I'm looking forward to technology changing the world!"
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
After a moment, Chuck Peddle chuckled, "Thank you."
"I won't keep you waiting for long."
"At most, within a year, I'll show you sixteen CPU cores."
"Because I'm curious about what you'll do with them."
After hanging up with Chuck Peddle, Ethan happily started doodling in his office.
No choice!
Who wouldn't be delighted when competitors were eagerly handing over money!
And just as Ethan's smile was about to reach his ears, the phone on his desk rang again.
Picking it up, Steve Jobs's roar burst out—
"Oh, Ethan! Do you know? Do you know? We've received five hundred orders! Five hundred orders for the APPLE 1!"
"We're selling them for six hundred sixty-six each! That's over three hundred thousand!"
"I've never seen so much money in my life!"
"And do you know why our orders suddenly surged?"
"It's all because of 'Pac-Man'!"
"After many game companies found out 'Pac-Man' was made using the APPLE 1, they want to buy the APPLE 1 to try developing games!"
"Many computer enthusiasts, upon learning that 'Pac-Man' was made using the APPLE 1, want to buy it for programming!"
"Really!"
"When I got the call, I was stunned!"
"Why didn't I think 'Pac-Man' would have this kind of advertising effect!"
Ethan was also astonished.
He didn't expect a guy making games to influence three different industries?
Did 'Pac-Man' advertise the APPLE 1?
What's going on?
A stroke of luck?
Outrageous!
But...
He liked it!
Electronic games, central processors, personal microcomputers—all thriving industries!
How can you companies sleep peacefully at such a young age?
Wake up and join the game!
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