Video Game Empire

The Oriental Economic Research Center was quietly established in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. [First Release] On the day of the establishment, all the senior executives of Dongfang Electronics Company in Hong Kong were present, and the presidents and vice presidents of CUHK were also invited to attend.

However, the entire inauguration ceremony was very low-key, neither media reporters were widely invited to make news headlines, nor were dragons, lions and firecrackers blaring. Just rented three offices in the Zhongda office building, put a pair of flower baskets at the door, and hung a sign. Even most of the students at CUHK are not aware that such a new institution has been added to the campus.

In contrast, a week ago, Dongfang Electronics officially announced the wholly-owned acquisition of Jiahua Bank, and the ceremony of re-listing and changing its name to Dongfang Bank was undoubtedly very lively.

From the initial valuation of 5 billion, to the acquisition of ATV, to the sale of some shares of Aikang Computer to cash out 1.1 billion not long ago, and now the acquisition of Jiahua Bank, Dongfang Electronics has made big moves one after another over the past six months. And ordinary citizens have a dizzying feeling.

Many Hong Kong citizens have begun to jokingly call Li Xuan the reincarnation of the God of Wealth. After hearing about the acquisition of Jiahua Bank by Oriental Company, many people came to the bank to open an account to save money, wanting to get a touch of the wealth of "Little Lisheng". Far from causing operational shocks, Orient Bank's equity change resulted in a slight increase in deposits, which surprised the entire management team.

Because the new Orient Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orient Holding, Orient can restructure its board of directors without holding a general meeting of shareholders. After Han Peng took office as the new chairman of the bank's board of directors, the first task he started was to significantly adjust the loan structure and reduce the proportion of Oriental Bank's property market loans through a series of measures.

In fact, from the perspective of value investing. Now is not the best time for Li Xuan to acquire the bank. Because the next few years should be the most turbulent years in Hong Kong, property prices and stock prices have plummeted. The exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar also depreciated sharply. From the current 1 US dollar to 5.1 Hong Kong dollars, it depreciated to 9.6 Hong Kong dollars to 1 US dollar at the lowest point. Later, the Financial Services Bureau of the Hong Kong Government took decisive action. Using the linked exchange rate system, the exchange rate was controlled at about 7.8 Hong Kong dollars per US dollar.

In the next few years, many banks in Hong Kong will certainly face enormous pressure. Especially those small and medium-sized banks whose loan structure is unreasonable and a large number of loans are invested in the real estate industry. Their ability to resist risks is not strong in the first place. As long as Hong Kong property prices plummet, they are likely to have a large number of bad debts. Once the confidence of depositors is affected and triggers a run crisis, they may go bankrupt and liquidate at any time.

Therefore, from the point of view of profit maximization, Li Xuan should wait for the banking industry to experience a crisis. It is most beneficial to take over the buy at the low point. But Li Xuan's acquisition of the banking industry is not just for profit, but more importantly, to use credit leverage to guide and control Hong Kong's electronics industry.

Now the rising trend of property prices in Hong Kong is getting slower and slower, but there is still no U-turn down. Therefore, as long as Oriental Bank sells the credit assets related to real estate projects at a slightly lower price, it is not worried that other financial institutions are willing to take over.

Li Xuan read several documents on the bank's strategy adjustment and knew that Oriental Bank was carrying out reforms according to his intentions, and that the funds returned would gradually be inclined towards manufacturing companies with promising development prospects, so he did not pay much attention to this matter. The first batch of arcade machines of "Mario Brothers" have been listed all over the world one after another, and the popularity of players is no worse than the previous games of Oriental Games.

Dongfang Game Company has received the second batch of orders flying like snowflakes, and the total contract sales of "Mario" game consoles have reached 125,000 units. Dongfang Electronics' three foundries in Hong Kong are producing at full capacity. 25,000 arcade machines can be shipped every month. Sales of the company's other three arcade machines fell slightly due to the launch of new games, but sales remained at around 25,000 units per month.

That is to say, the monthly sales of arcade machines of Dongfang Game Company suddenly exceeded 50,000 units, and it can create a net profit of more than 50 million US dollars for the company every month, which is definitely easier than robbing a bank. It is with such a powerful retreat. Only Li Xuan has enough confidence. Next, computer giants like IBM will wrestle their arms on personal computers, because even if they fail, his foundation will not be shaken.

The success of "Mario Brothers" is expected in Li Xuan's view. But it was definitely a bolt from the blue for other companies, with Sega being the first. Forced by the strength of Dongfang Electronics in the past year. Sega's two bosses, David Rosen and Hayao Nakayama, appease the other major shareholders in the company. On the other hand, we are working hard to develop new games.

Brand new in 1981, Sega finally released a heavyweight game in the North American market - "Frogger" (). The task of each level of this game is for the player to send five frogs home one by one. The frogs must first cross a turbulent road, and then cross a dangerous river before they can get home safely.

The game map of "Frogger" is the same as that of "Tank Wars". The frog first appears at the bottom of the screen and first crosses a road in the lower half of the screen. There are endless trucks, bulldozers and even big racing cars on the road. The frog must Avoid these vehicles and take responsibility for being hit and killed.

The upper part of the screen is a river with hidden murderous intentions. Frogs must step on the fulcrums that appear on the river such as turtle shells, crocodile backs and driftwood to cross the river. Once they fall into the water, they will drown. On the way home, the frog has to avoid deadly elements such as traffic, poisonous snakes, otters, and crocodile mouths, but extra points can be added if they eat bugs and go home with the female frog on their back.

The game is very easy at the beginning, players can get started quickly after putting in coins, but the more difficult it goes, the more and more cars are on the road and the speed is getting faster and faster, and the dangerous elements in the river gradually increase and become more and more difficult. active.

For example, the turtle shell on the river, which seems to be a stable fulcrum, may sink at any time. Maybe you have already delivered the frog to your door, but suddenly a crocodile emerges from the water and eats the frog. All of these quickly stimulated players' desire to continue to challenge, because the moment when I tried my best to break through the difficulties, this sense of achievement is especially joyful!

After "Frogger" went on sale, it aroused enthusiastic response from players. Sega finally swept away the previous decline and had a coin-eating behemoth that could compete with Dongfang Game Company. The arcade sold over 5,000 units in its first month in North America. Just when David Rosen was in high spirits and prepared to fully promote the game, "Mario Brothers" was launched.

"This is an epoch-making game. When other companies are still spinning on fixed maps, Dongfang Games has taken the lead in launching a new concept of scrolling maps!" - This is British game journalist Wayne Rooney after returning to London. A compliment used in the introduction of the new arcade game "Mario Brothers" in an issue of cvg game magazine.

Under the intentional guidance of Li Xuan, Dongfang Games has opened a technological gap with other game companies. What's more, the excellence of "Mario Brothers" is not only reflected in the scroll map. It first established a series of game production concepts that can be used for decades, such as roles, game purposes, process distribution, operability, hidden elements, and miscellaneous soldiers. It can be called the best model of action game.

Under the requirements of Li Xuan's excellence, the operability of "Mario Brothers" has reached an unprecedented height in this era. In addition, a large number of hidden elements such as water pipes and secret houses are also set in the game, which can be explored and discovered by players.

The configuration of props such as gold coins, mushrooms, and golden flowers that appeared throughout the game also made the game process without a cold scene from beginning to end, and mini-games such as flag-jumping bonus points can greatly stimulate players' desire to challenge.

Under the superposition of all factors, "Mario Brothers" can indeed be regarded as an epoch-making game for the arcade market in 1981. And it is undoubtedly an epoch-making tragedy to compete with such a great game on the same stage.

The subsequent sales performance of "Frogger" failed to grow as wildly as Sega's president David Rosen had hoped. decline.

Because it was greatly squeezed by the subsequent launch of "Mario Brothers". Many small business owners in grocery stores, laundromats, and gas stations who were going to buy Frogger arcades changed their minds after hearing about a more profitable game console.

In all fairness, "Frogger" is a wonderfully creative and well-made game, but it's a pity that he met an opponent who was not at the same level at all, so he was crushed without the ability to fight back. It can be said to be a crime of non-war. .

And the best proof of the strength and excellence of "Mario Brothers" is not only how many game consoles it has sold, but also how many less consoles are sold by other opponents. UU reading www. uukanshu.com

Just when David Rosen was gnashing his teeth and frantic in Sega America's office, another person's life was not easy. The very successful listing of Apple on the Nasdaq stock exchange late last year brought enormous fame and fortune to several of its founders.

But at the same time comes the enormous pressure that public companies have to release financial statements every quarter. If a company's revenue data fails to meet the market's expectations, the censure of bearishness will come, and the stock price may fall along with it. If this situation cannot be changed, the position of the management's buttocks will not be changed. stable.

Now, Jobs really felt the pressure. Apple2 personal computer sales figures in recent months, significantly lower than the company had expected. The apple 3 computer, which was urgently delisted in order not to affect the company's listing, was re-launched after improvement, and the sales data can only be described as bleak. (To be continued..)

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