Global Monopoly of Technology

People in the game industry are strongly aware that a wolf is really coming.

Cote d'Azur's high-profile announcement to enter the home game console market not only shows its ambitious side, but also puts it into practice, and it is true to the hard steel of Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and other established manufacturers.

As far as the leading technology level displayed by game consoles is concerned, with such a capital to rely on, everyone has to expand.

Now the old-fashioned big manufacturers do not have next-generation consoles, and only the currently listed consoles can't fight at all, and the possibility of holding their positions is too low.

Some third-party developers who are afraid of the Cell chip architecture have also shaken their original thoughts. Although Ubisoft's game works are not exclusive, they have been determined to be launched on the platform, and Luo Sheng has not played on the exclusive road. Sony is so heartless, relying on strong annihilation of third parties to support itself.

Most of them are game companies that are invested and controlled by them. The works released by Rockstar, 2K Games, etc. are only exclusive to the host platform for half a year, and then they can be logged on other host platforms.

Not only that, Luo Sheng also made a promise to his subsidiaries that every time a set of his works is sold in the past six months, Cote d'Azur will subsidize a set, which means that a standard 3A masterpiece retails for $60. Selling a set of Côte d’Azur will subsidize $60, and selling 10 million will subsidize $600 million, which is equivalent to selling 20 million.

Such benefits are almost envious of other third-party game developers. Now the Cote d'Azur is not bad for this amount of money, and a technology giant with a quarterly revenue of nearly 20 billion US dollars is really not bad.

Moreover, for Luo Sheng, this subsidy is equivalent to changing the left hand for the right hand. These subsidiaries have consolidated financial statements with the parent company, Bluestar Technology Group, and Bluestar Technology is also a company controlled by Luo Sheng. In the end, most of the funds will still be Back to the parent company, because it's not investment money, it's income.

As for the funds deposited in the game subsidiary, this can actually promote the development and expansion of the subsidiary. Only with sufficient funds can we further develop new works and form a virtuous positive cycle.

...

At the press conference, as the game development director of "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood" stepped off the stage, Luo Sheng took the stage again.

"Assassin's Creed will definitely have a lot less bugs running on it."

Luo Sheng said such a sentence as soon as he came up, and the audience immediately burst into laughter, and the vice president of Ubisoft sitting in the audience also laughed awkwardly but elegantly.

In the player group,

As we all know, "Assassin's Creed" is also known as "BUG Creed", and Ubisoft's server is also known as "Potato Server", which is made of potatoes imported from Siberia.

After the episode, Luo Sheng spoke again: "We have prepared three models for players to choose from, namely standard model, model, and model. So what price should we determine for such an excellent next-generation console?"

While speaking, Luo Sheng pressed the small remote control, and everyone looked at the big screen, and the players at the scene suddenly exclaimed.

The standard version of the console costs $299.

This price surprised everyone. Players thought that the console must be $200 more expensive than the Sony PS3, but they never imagined that it was $200 cheaper than the Sony PS3 standard version. You must know that the PS3 basic version is priced at $499. Almost double the price of the competition at the time of its launch.

As a brand new next-generation console, it shows such a world-leading technical level, especially the stunning 4K rendering technology, which has raised the quality of the game to a level that is enough to enshrine the gods at the moment, and the price is actually quite satisfactory.

The price of $299 for the basic version is undoubtedly an extremely dazzling figure for international friends such as Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and other established manufacturers.

A group of international friends and businessmen just want to spit out the fragrance in their mouths.

At the press conference, Luo Sheng said with a smile: "We hope that such an excellent product can be delivered to more consumers, just have a good time."

Some industry elites off the field heard this and immediately complained in their hearts: Come on, I believe you, if you were not a challenger in the home console market and needed to quickly open the market, would you sell this price?

It was really guessed by people in the industry. As a new player in the game console market, Cote d'Azur has no foundation. The first-generation products cannot excessively pursue profits. As a challenger, the first task is to seize more market share from opponents. is the priority.

What's more, even $299 can earn 15% of the profit. Although it is incomparable to the horrific profits of Azure mobile phones, Azure mobile phones are pioneers in the field of smartphones, and their identities are different. Naturally, they cannot be generalized.

When the price was announced, the players on the scene were already boiling, and the applause came so loud that Luo Sheng had to stop and continue to announce the price of the high-end version.

At this moment, the voice of the players is one word: buy! purchase! purchase!

The game console instantly marked the high quality and low price in the minds of many players, and such products are definitely rare.

Well, it's the norm that you can afford game consoles and can't afford games.

After all, one game console is enough, but there are a lot of games, and you want to play them all. The standard price of a 3A masterpiece is $60. If you start with ten AAA games, the $600 will be sucked away.

And the worst thing is that there is a fat G next door who is also staring at the player's wallet, and as long as fat G stares at it, the wallet in his pocket.

After many excited players at the scene calmed down, Luo Sheng just continued: "The standard version is priced at $299, while the price is $499 and the price is $699."

Knowing the price of the model console of $699, the players on the scene also slapped their lips secretly. As a game console, the price of $699 is not only not cheap, but also extremely expensive.

Well, that's normal operation on the Côte d'Azur.

But for game enthusiasts, there is definitely a reason to start one.

The Pro model and Plus model are more expensive on the hard drive, especially the Plus model, which has a 1TB mechanical hard drive space and an additional 256GB solid state drive.

In the 2010s, gamers who weren't particularly rich really couldn't afford SSDs.

The reading speed of solid-state hard disks is more than 8 times that of traditional mechanical hard disks, and it is safer than traditional hard disks. Because of its structure, it is not afraid of shocks, and it will not hang up when it is uncertain like traditional hard disks. This is very obvious on the notebook.

In addition, the solid state drive has zero noise because it does not have the structure of a mechanical hard drive, so you don't need to worry too much about its heat dissipation when installed in the host.

Solid state drives are good, but the downside is that they are expensive.

The positioning is also aimed at high-end players and enthusiasts. The sales volume is definitely not comparable to the standard version of $299, but the profit is 891% of the standard version, which is equivalent to the profit obtained for each Plus version of the host. The profit is equivalent to 8.91 Standard Edition.

The profit of the Pro version is also equivalent to about 445.9% of the standard version.

Quite exaggerated profits.

Obviously, the purpose of the Cote d'Azur is to use the standard version to let the host seize market share, and to allow the Pro version and the Plus version to reap as much profit as possible to recover the comprehensive cost of the project plan.

The comprehensive investment cost of the first-generation host is as high as 2.8 billion US dollars, of which 1.9 billion US dollars was invested in research and development. This is not counting the 1.685 billion US dollars spent on the acquisition of the Cell chip business from Sony that year, if it adds up, it is 4.485 billion US dollars. , excluding exchange rate changes, it is about 30.5 billion yuan.

This is undoubtedly an astronomical investment. You must know that this is already twice the research and development budget of the first-generation Azure mobile phone, and it is also nearly $500 million more than Sony's investment in Cell chip research and development.

If you only rely on sales of hardware revenue, it means that the global sales of the standard console version must exceed 100 million units to recover the cost. After 100 million units are sold, before making money, the subsequent sales are the beginning of making money.

The host with sales of over 100 million is definitely the existence of a phenomenon-level explosion in the industry.

If it can reach the performance target of 100 million sales within three years, it is not a failure. To achieve this goal within two years is a success. Within one year, it will be a phenomenal product, no doubt.

Because compared with the PS3 console launched by Sony in November 2006, it will be almost four years in 2010 this year, and the cumulative total sales volume is only 30 million units.

Of course, such a dismal sales volume is also a sin of Sony's own making. It was killed by the Cell chip, and it's no one's fault that he almost killed himself.

Fortunately, the PS3 has paid for itself, which is a blessing in disguise for Sony.

As for the sales of the first-generation consoles, if the proportion of the three versions is evenly distributed, the total sales of the three versions can reach 45 million units, and the cost can be recovered. After all, the Pro version and the Plus version are very profitable. The former sells One unit is equivalent to selling four standard editions, and the latter is equivalent to selling nine standard editions.

At the press conference, Luo Sheng on stage spoke again.

"The new products will be released simultaneously in the global market except for the Greater China market on Christmas Eve on December 24 this year. The value proposition is clear and the choice is up to the players. We invite the audience to experience it in the lobby next door after the conference. 100 models of consoles plus 4K TVs, I guarantee that after you experience this next-generation console, it's time to say goodbye to the old antiques at home, thank you for being there, that's all for today's conference."

"Hahaha"

"Oh oh oh"

The audience immediately roared and shouted. Before Luo Sheng left the stage, they all stood up and applauded continuously.

His words were undoubtedly a wave of AOE firepower, highlighting the word "crazy", but after reading the whole content of the press conference, he had to admit that he did have crazy capital.

The field of home game consoles has ushered in a menacing new player, unabashedly wanting to challenge established international manufacturers, and it is the kind of hard steel on the front. As a challenger, game consoles join the truly competitive game Machine war, whether the new king ascends the throne, or the challenge and failure become a laughing stock, now the entire industry is looking forward to it.

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