Hollywood Hunter

Being played by her own boss, Nancy Brill could only roll her eyes, thinking about this kind of thing, after all, it involves too much, and it is really unlikely that a man will confess to her, so he can only say: "Okay, boss, we still Talk about business."

Simon nodded, and did not continue to gag, once again lowered his head and glanced at the "Diablo" sales report in his hand, and said: "The first month of sales was 2.1 million copies, which is a very amazing result, and it is expected that the total sales will reach 10 million. However, you must also pay attention. This time, 2.1 million, online sales accounted for 1.4 million, and offline sales were only 700,000. So, what I want to say is that Daenerys Entertainment can build its own online game mall."

Hearing this, Nancy Brill widened her eyes again: "Boss, I have asked you this question a million times, how did you agree today?"

"In the past, the timing was wrong. In the embryonic stage, we need to concentrate resources on Igrete, so as to cultivate users' online consumption habits to the greatest extent. Now, both the network environment and consumption habits have passed the initial growth period. , even if we don’t do it, there will definitely be other manufacturers, so it’s better for us to compete with ourselves.”

Nancy Chicken nodded several times in a row like she was pecking rice, as if she was worried that Simon would go back on it, but then she asked again, "Boss, have you discussed it with Igret?"

"certainly."

What did Nancy think of, she still did not discuss this topic in more depth, but couldn't help but ask: "Boss, does this mean that this antitrust investigation, um, you plan to take the initiative to dismantle Igret. Minute?"

Simon looked at Nancy's childish face as before: "Don't you think your curiosity is too strong?"

Nancy curled her lips: "Looks like I guessed right."

"No, you guessed wrong," Simon shook his head: "Igret has such a strong advantage now, I won't make concessions."

Nancy pouted slightly: "Boss, has anyone ever said that you are hypocritical?"

"Well, Jenny said that to me the other day."

"..."

"Okay, don't digress," Simon returned to the subject and said, "You have to understand, Nancy, this is not an easy task. I will give you two years to do this well. For ea mall, we Let's settle on this name, ea mall, not only to publish the self-produced games under Daenerys Entertainment, but also to introduce games from other manufacturers into our platform. In addition, I don't want to see your side and yi. Great game mall conducts malicious price competition, because this will not only affect the interests of the two companies, but even damage the fundamentals of the entire game industry."

Nancy suddenly grimaced: "Boss, then you're embarrassing me too much."

Simon ignored the bitterness of the smaller executives and said, "Daenerys also has an advantage, isn't it, the online battle platform that started from the "Dune" series, this technology is not available on Igret's side ."

The online battle platform is actually a reference to the Battle.net system launched by Blizzard in 1997.

However, this time, Igret has been launching since the "Dune" series of games in previous years. After acquiring Blizzard's predecessor Silicon and Neurokey Studio, two "Warcraft" and "Diablo" released last month. ", all directly connected to the online battle platform.

In fact, Simon initially hoped to develop a complete online game, but in recent years, if you don't count the two phenomenal casual games "Happy Farm" and "Happy Ranch" launched on the Igreit platform, the others are not. It is too successful, but the online battle platform is more and more popular with users.

Up to now, not only the real-time strategy games of the "Dune" series and the "Warcraft" series, but also the sports games that ea company is best at, as well as some role-playing games, have launched online networking modes.

This is also the most advantageous technology in the game business of Daenerys Entertainment.

Nancy of course understood the advantages of her own game department, she heard the words: "So, boss, can we do this, our online battle platform client is directly transformed into the ea mall instead of using the web mode under the IE browser ecology ?"

The ie browser ecosystem can be said to be the foundation of Igreit's monopoly on the Internet interface.

Over the years, in order to ensure the uniqueness of the IE interface and the IE browser ecosystem, Igreat has gone head-to-head with many technology companies.

Nancy said this, and basically did not report too much hope.

However, what surprised her again was that Simon nodded directly: "This is a good idea, but the website still has to be opened."

Nancy was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but say, "Boss, you... have you been stimulated recently?"

Simon shook his head calmly: "No, but there are indeed a lot of women, and the bed is too tired."

"..."

"Okay what's the problem?"

"A lot of questions."

"Then don't ask," Simon refused decisively, and said, "All in all, your goal is to build ea mall within two years. In addition to Daenerys's own games, you also need to attract external customers. Igret There will provide us with the necessary technology and ypay payment interface and other authorizations. My request is also very simple. It is definitely to compete with Igreit, but it cannot compete viciously. Your goal should be placed on other lines than us. on the game store."

Nancy nodded earnestly to take note.

Simon glanced at the memo around him and said, "Also, next, continue to expand acquisitions.

Strength, as long as it is a potential studio, it can initiate acquisitions. "

Nancy immediately objected: "Boss, there is no need for this, as a film director, you must know that it is very rare for a creator to create one or two classics, and it cannot last forever. In fact, game studios are even more That's it."

"You can change the acquisition model appropriately, but the strategy of expanding acquisitions remains the same," Simon insisted: "Nancy, of course I know what you are talking about, but our acquisition targets are not those teams at all, but It's a game idea."

"Boss, I remember you seem to have said before that creativity is the cheapest."

"Creativity is of course cheap. The problem is that it is not cheap to turn ideas into games, and the chances of turning ideas into popular games are even smaller. Nancy, the games at this stage are still dominated by 2d, but you It must have been found that the trend of 3D games is becoming more and more obvious. Compared with 2D, if you think about the cost of Pixar's animation production, you can know that the production cost of 3D games will increase rapidly in the future. At that time, transforming ideas into games, The cost will be very high. The most secure strategy is to make a sequel, which is different from movies, because actors and other factors are often difficult to escape the curse of the trilogy, and the game can continue to be produced, and even a series can be the tenth or even the The twentieth is not impossible, like Japan's "Super Mario". So, now is our last chance to collect hot ideas at relatively cheap prices, or should not be called ideas, but intellectual property, ip, like Dan All kinds of copyrights owned by Neris Entertainment, so, do you understand?"

Nancy no longer refuted, nodded and said, "Understood."

"This is the first thing," Simon looked down at his memo again, looked up again, and said, "The second thing, about Blockbuster, no accident, Sony, Toshiba and other manufacturers will officially launch DVDs by the end of the year. Players, Blockbuster’s online operations have been very successful in recent years, but with the advent of the DVD era, if Blockbuster does not want to be eliminated, the online operation strategy also needs to be changed.”

"Boss, I have also noticed this problem. However, compared with video tapes, the emergence of DVDs will definitely promote the proliferation of piracy."

Simon remembered that China was actually based on the vcd industry in the piracy industry chain, and of course he had a deeper understanding than Nancy, and said: "This is inevitable, but, just like the video tapes of the year, some people questioned the possibility of video tapes at the beginning. The result is that videotapes have more than doubled the size of Hollywood's film industry. As for DVDs, the same is true. We can't make the mistake of the record industry's resolute resistance to the Internet in recent years, so we must actively embrace and even control this trend."

"In that case, boss, what should Blockbuster do?"

"It's very simple, increase the layout of online business, increase the construction of Blockbuster's logistics system, and the ultimate goal is to abandon the physical storefront and achieve a complete network operation."

Nancy felt a little breathless for some reason: "Boss, isn't it too aggressive?"

"You can do some tests now," Simon didn't answer directly, but said, "The mailing test for DVDs is different from Blockbuster's current semi-online mode where you have to go to a designated store to collect videotapes when you place an online order. It can be delivered in one step, directly to the user’s home, and also recycled by mail. You know, compared to video tapes, the mailing cost of DVD discs is enough to support this operating model.”

"However, boss, I think Blockbuster's current business model is already very good. Otherwise, Blockbuster's current market value would not be as high as $37 billion."

"If we don't eliminate ourselves, Nancy, we'll end up being eliminated by others."

The expression of the small executive who has always been a strong woman finally showed some entanglement: "This is very painful."

Simon is serious: "It hurts a little in the early stage, and it will be very comfortable later."

Nancy blushed suddenly and glared at Simon: "Boss, you will be sued for harassment sooner or later if you look like this."

"Are you going to sue?"

Nancy paused, then nodded threateningly, "Yeah."

"Okay, no kidding," Simon continued: "In fact, DVD and even the high-definition DVD that Sony is developing is still just an excess. The ultimate form of Blockbuster should be streaming media. Completely abandoning physical models such as video tapes and DVDs, It is purely for online streaming, so one day in the future, if Blockbuster doesn’t want to be eliminated, it will have to suffer again.”

Nancy did not cooperate with the car this time, but said, "In this case, boss, should we buy out Blockbuster?"

"The stock price is a bit high right now, which is not appropriate."

"I understand, but I mean, start preparing now, and then the dotcom bubble bursts."

Once Blockbuster, with the advent of the Internet era, it is rapidly declining.

And this time, it is precisely because the successful half-line model fits the new technology concept that is most sought after by the capital market, so the market value is as high as 37 billion US dollars. However, Daenerys Entertainment’s shareholding in Blockbuster has dropped from the initial 35% to 28% due to some mergers and acquisitions and equity incentives over the years.

Although as the largest shareholder, Daenerys Entertainment still maintains strong control over Blockbuster, but after all, it does not even have absolute control. Since her own boss values ​​this company so much, Nancy feels that it is undoubtedly the best choice to buy the whole company and hold this company in her hands.

Simon considered for a moment and said

: "Now that we, as Blockbuster's largest shareholder, have been frequently questioned as monopoly, next, if there is an opportunity, we only need to buy more shares to achieve 51% absolute control, which is smaller than the resistance completely. a lot of."

Nancy pondered for a moment, found the same, and nodded in agreement.

The two chatted about some details again, and did not end their morning work until lunchtime.

Actually, there's something about music.

As one of the two presidents of Daenerys Entertainment Group after Amy Pascal, after many adjustments, Nancy is now mainly responsible for the three major sectors of games, music and home entertainment. Speaking of which, if you want to seek breakthroughs for the continued growth of Daenerys Entertainment, these three major businesses are all good directions.

Of course, there is actually another cable TV business, run by another president, Robert Iger.

In general, in addition to the core movies, Daenerys Entertainment's TV, games, music and other aspects still have great potential to be tapped.

Especially games.

This is the top priority that Simon has always been very concerned about. After all, this part is done. According to the previous statement, it is more profitable than drug trafficking. Moreover, the most important point is that the size of the game industry is no less than that of movies. In fact, it is also the reason why Simon suddenly relented and decided that Daenerys Entertainment could build its own online game store to compete with Igret.

The plate is big enough to hold two of the top online publishers.

It also promotes competition.

Simon has always attached great importance to maintaining competition. Born out of anxiety and dying in comfort, any industry, if there is a lack of competition, not to mention high-sounding reasons such as affecting the consumer experience, just the industry itself will definitely stagnate. not forward.

Speaking of music.

In recent years, due to the rise of the Internet, the record industry has been falling at a rapid rate of collapse, especially after the launch of iplayer, the decline has been even more rapid.

Simon is of course well aware that the record industry is the foundation of hardware products.

However, due to the stubborn resistance of the record industry, Simon's attitude is to allow the industry to decline in a short period of time, even if it severely damages Daenerys Entertainment's own music business, until the major record giants take the initiative to do what they should. Compromise and cooperation. Moreover, at that time, through acquisition, Daenerys Entertainment can further expand its own record business.