Chapter 305: EA

As Hollywood's most watched rising star, Daenerys Entertainment's foray into the gaming industry had been a focal point for many media outlets from the beginning. The September issue of Forbes magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans even made special mention of Blizzard Studio.

Blizzard Studio's test project, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," quickly became popular since its inception in 1984, and after the game was announced in February, it was rated by some magazines as one of the most anticipated video games of the year.

However, developing the ARPG (Action Role-Playing Game) version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" took Blizzard Studio a full eight months, far exceeding the average development cycle of three to five months for video games in this era.

By the time the outside world had almost forgotten about it, Nancy finally started the official promotion of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" video game in October.

Because Daenerys Entertainment had created too many miracles in recent years, projects produced by Daenerys naturally carried a halo that attracted media and public attention, creating great convenience for the promotion and distribution of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game.

With a comprehensive marketing budget of only $1 million, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" achieved what other gaming companies might not achieve with $5 million.

By November 3rd, when the game officially hit the shelves, it was already well-known among gamers in both Japan and the United States.

The New York Times commented before the game's release that "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" for Blizzard Studio was like Atari's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."

The poor quality of "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" led to the infamous "Atari Crash," but it still sold a blockbuster level of 1.5 million units, relying on the immense popularity of the "E.T." movie globally.

As for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," The New York Times concluded that the game, with the attention brought by Daenerys Entertainment's fame, was almost guaranteed to succeed commercially; the question was just how much it would earn. However, if "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" failed to gain player approval and even received criticism like "E.T.," then after this game, once the halo faded, it would be very difficult for Daenerys Entertainment to gain a foothold in the gaming industry.

Simon and Nancy understood the logic of The New York Times; otherwise, Blizzard Studio's first game would not have been polished to such an extent that it took eight months.

With all the attention, the ARPG version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" went on sale in the United States and Japan on November 3rd.

The first batch of 100,000 game cartridges was priced at $60 in the United States and 7,000 yen in Japan.

To create the biggest buzz, Simon indirectly contacted Nintendo through relationships in Australia, and the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game even landed on the cover of the November issue of Nintendo Power magazine.

In the following days, alongside discussions about Simon Westeros's Boeing 767 private jet, reviews for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game also started coming out.

Nintendo Power gave "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" a score of 8 out of 10, which of course included the effect of Daenerys Entertainment's PR, but Nintendo's official positive attitude towards the game was also undeniable.

Other professional gaming magazines also primarily gave high scores.

Of course, there was bound to be criticism.

The Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu accused "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" of imitating many details from Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" and Konami's "Castlevania."

"The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" and "Castlevania" were both side-scrolling ARPG games released in previous years, and the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game was also a side-scrolling ARPG.

After writing a rough game plan based on the Konami version from memory, Simon indeed had the game design team try out several famous side-scrolling ARPG games like "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past" and "Castlevania," but that was largely just for reference.

Even if the Blizzard Studio team wanted to directly copy, Nancy, who was closely monitoring the project, would not have allowed it. Moreover, with side-scrolling games flooding the market in recent years, including phenomenon-level games like "Contra" and "Super Mario," Famitsu's accusation was insignificant.

Game sales data were not as timely as movie box office figures, especially when launching simultaneously in the United States and Japan.

However, from November 3rd to November 9th, the original batch of 100,000 game cartridges quickly sold out, and Daenerys Entertainment urgently placed an additional order of 200,000 cartridges with Nintendo.

On November 13th, the first week's sales figures for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" were officially released, with a total of 263,000 units sold in the North American and Japanese markets, generating sales revenue of $15.7 million.

Compared to movie box office figures, the sales curve of video games resembled that of music albums, possessing strong vitality.

The first week's sales of 263,000 units for "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," although it did not break the industry's record of first-week sales of four to five hundred thousand units for many games, shocked many. Because the previous sales records were mostly for sequels, whereas "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was an original work.

With first-week sales of 263,000 units and considering the game's excellent quality and reputation, a total sales volume of four to five million units within the next year was entirely feasible. An estimated total sales volume of 5 million units, although it could not reach the sky-high level of the "Super Mario" series, definitely belonged to the category of phenomenon-level video games.

Game sales essentially meant market recognition. Daenerys Entertainment immediately invested in a second wave of extensive promotion, further increasing attention and inevitably driving another round of sales for the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game.

Best-selling phenomenon-level video games typically have a long lifecycle.

Thus, the success of just this one game, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," through subsequent sequel developments, could easily sustain Blizzard Studio for at least five years, undoubtedly meaning that Daenerys Entertainment had firmly established its foothold in the gaming industry.

Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters.

It was November 15th, Wednesday.

In the conference room.

With the success of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game, Nancy began to plan the next expansion for Blizzard Studio.

"Game cartridges priced at $60, compared to Capcom and a few other manufacturers that can produce cartridges themselves and have royalty advantages, our studio's gross profit margin is only around 30%. However, with just this one "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game, the first week's sales of 263,000 units have already allowed us to recoup all of Blizzard Studio's investments over the past half-year and realized a net profit of $2 million. In the coming year, this game's expected net profit scale will reach $100 million. My next

 plan is to expand into the PC gaming field. Starting from scratch is too slow; since we already have some understanding of the gaming industry, I hope to expand through acquisitions."

Before Simon could speak, Amy, who had done quite a bit of work recently, asked, "Nintendo's exclusivity is very strong, Nancy, how do you plan to solve this problem?"

Nintendo could almost be said to dominate the console gaming market, with the NES having a market share of over 90% in both Japan and the United States. This company was therefore in its strongest phase, and even the six closest manufacturers to it could be banned at any moment, not to mention second and third-tier game developers.

Nancy had obviously considered this issue, saying, "We can keep the PC gaming department operating separately, without intersecting with Blizzard Studio. Moreover, we will not cooperate with Nintendo's competitors like Sega and Atari. After acquiring a PC game developer, we can choose some excellent PC games to port to the Nintendo platform, which can greatly reduce Nintendo's hostility."

Amy obviously did not agree and turned to look at Simon.

With the sales performance of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" being so outstanding, she did not see the necessity of expanding into PC gaming.

The scale of the PC gaming market at this time was far from comparable to console gaming. If expanding into the PC field angered Nintendo and resulted in Blizzard Studio being targeted, it would be a loss.

Simon also did not believe that the autocratic Nintendo would allow Daenerys Entertainment to be 'indecisive.' However, he was equally unwilling to tie Blizzard Studio to Nintendo's ship, which was already declining. He asked, "Have you identified a suitable target?"

Nancy nodded, handing two documents to Simon and Amy, saying, "Electronic Arts (EA), a video game developer based in San Francisco, founded in 1982, initially developed games for the Atari console. After Atari's decline, EA began to focus on PC game development and has accumulated a series of very successful sports game brands over the years."

Simon, browsing through the documents, couldn't help but admire his petite female executive's vision.

EA, indeed.

Although infamous as the 'studio killer,' EA was undoubtedly one of the largest game publishers and developers Simon remembered, with a market value nearing $50 billion at its peak.

Nancy noticed a fleeting odd expression on Simon's face but continued, "EA just went public a month ago, then encountered the stock market crash on October 13th. The company's current market value is only $170 million, with a P/E ratio of 13 times. If we extend a friendly acquisition offer and get a response, $300 million should be enough to acquire it. EA's performance in recent years has been very outstanding, and an acquisition at a P/E ratio of up to 25 times would be acceptable."

Simon asked, "What if the friendly acquisition offer is not responded to, or if other competitors suddenly appear?"

Nancy replied, "In that case, we can increase our offer by $50 million."

"Then do it. You have a budget of $350 million to acquire this company," Simon didn't beat around the bush. He then looked at Amy and said, "Discuss this matter amongst yourselves; you can also involve Jim. I'm going to Europe with Janet this weekend, and for a long time to come, I'll try to let go of the company's affairs as much as possible. Don't disappoint me."

Amy and Nancy, already aware of Simon's plans, almost simultaneously thought that their boss couldn't possibly stay away from the company's affairs for long.

It's hard to change one's nature.

A control freak saying he won't control the company anymore.

Who would believe that!

Therefore, neither objected to Simon's plan to 'take a long vacation.'

After the meeting, Amy and Nancy went about their business, and Simon rushed to participate in the auditions for the male lead of "Misery."

The original "Misery" starred James Caan and Kathy Bates, with Kathy Bates winning the Oscar for Best Actress for her role.

However, Simon did not plan to use the original cast this time.

Simon had seen the original film; Kathy Bates' performance was indeed not bad, but Simon believed that her winning the Oscar was more due to the role and PR.

The Oscars' fondness for various mental illnesses is well-known.

Because so many characters with mental illnesses, murderers, and maniacs had won Oscars, the Oscars were once jokingly called a psychiatric hospital.

At the same time, Kathy Bates was under CAA, and without Simon's presence, CAA would definitely have been Hollywood's most dominant talent agency in recent years. This was evident from CAA still managing to secure a second Oscar for Dustin Hoffman at the beginning of the year, despite Daenerys Entertainment's sniping.

However, compared to the original Kathy Bates' portrayal of Annie Wilkes, which only made the audience feel tense and manic, Simon also hoped the new female lead could bring a strong sense of danger to the audience, making them empathize with the tortured writer character.

Thinking he had encountered a romantic encounter, but instead heading towards hell.

To achieve this effect, looks definitely needed to be considered.

Considering appearance, acting skills, and some inevitable personal considerations, Simon ultimately chose Susan Sarandon.

Susan Sarandon, 43 years old this year, was about the same age as Kathy Bates and also matched the rough setting of Stephen King's original female lead.

Moreover, Susan Sarandon had already received her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 1981, proving her acting skills.

Despite being over forty, Susan Sarandon maintained herself exceptionally well. In the movie "The Witches of Eastwick" two years ago, this actress's charm was not inferior to Michelle Pfeiffer and Cher.

Susan Sarandon also co-starred with Kevin Costner in the very successful sports-themed romance film "Bull Durham" last year. In the film, Sarandon was ten years older than Costner, but the two appeared very compatible, with no sense of age difference.

Speaking of which, Simon was particularly impressed with Susan Sarandon's performance in "The Hunger."

Most people might only feel that Catherine Deneuve was the core of "The Hunger," but Simon had no feeling for Deneuve's slender figure; instead, it was the scene where Susan Sarandon, playing Deneuve's mother, lay sideways on the sofa for a photoshoot, resembling a beautiful classic painting, leaving a lasting impression.

Upon receiving Simon's invitation, Susan Sarandon, although hesitant about playing a manic, extreme fan, quickly agreed to take the role.

This actress clearly saw the breakthrough potential this role could bring her.

As for the male lead, Simon's requirements were not very high, which inevitably led to many appeals for favors.

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