Chapter 315: Dune

In Santa Monica, inside the conference room of Daenerys Entertainment's headquarters, after listening to the management team of EA present their company operations report, the meeting turned to the day's main topic.

A document was distributed, and everyone in the room began to recall information about the novel series called "Dune" mentioned in the material.

"Dune" is not a single novel but a series of science fiction novels centered around the planet of Dune.

The renowned North American science fiction writer Frank Herbert launched his first "Dune" novel in 1965. Until his death in 1986, he continued to expand the "Dune universe" with several sequels like "Dune Messiah," "Children of Dune," and "God Emperor of Dune," all set on the desert planet of Arrakis.

In the distant future, a substance known as "spice" is discovered on the planet Arrakis. Spice has various benefits, including extending human life and assisting in space travel, making it crucial for humanity's exploration of the cosmos. Arrakis is the only known source of spice, leading to many stories revolving around this desert planet.

Due to the comprehensive background and grand narrative structure of the "Dune" series, it quickly became popular upon release, even being dubbed the space equivalent of "The Lord of the Rings."

Like "The Lord of the Rings," there has always been interest in adapting this story to the big screen.

In 1984, De Laurentiis Entertainment, with David Lynch as the director, spent $40 million to bring the story to cinemas. However, the outcome was disappointing. With a $40 million budget, the North American box office return was just over $30 million.

In the conference room, Simon was curious about what led the owner of De Laurentiis Entertainment to entrust David Lynch, a director known for his artistic style, with a commercial sci-fi epic, especially with a budget of $40 million in 1984.

De Laurentiis Entertainment had since gone bankrupt, and Simon quickly refocused, moving to the whiteboard at the front of the room to write down a few words: Real-Time Strategy Game (RTS).

EA's strength lies in sports games, and Simon had no intention of changing that trend.

While maintaining EA's dominance in sports games, he planned for EA to focus on developing real-time strategy games, which were popular in the '90s. Due to their gameplay mechanics, RTS games are particularly well-suited for the PC platform.

Although planning to port many of EA's games to console platforms, Simon also wanted EA to maintain its stronghold in the PC domain.

For this meeting, Simon had done extensive research and prepared the document based on his memories and information.

RTS games began to emerge in the early '80s but didn't reach their peak until the '90s with the release of games like "Warcraft" and "StarCraft," when the RTS concept was finally perfected. At present, various RTS games existed only in a rudimentary form, lacking mature elements like resource gathering, troop production, and real-time combat.

Simon didn't immediately bring up iconic RTS games like "Warcraft" and "StarCraft" due to hardware limitations at the time and to allow EA to gain experience.

The RTS game genre matured over a decade of exploration and accumulation. EA, lacking experience in this area, might ruin the classics Simon remembered if they dived in too hastily.

In the original timeline, the "Dune" series adaptation into RTS games was quite successful, which is why Simon instructed Nancy to secure the game adaptation rights for "Dune" at a high price.

Daenerys Entertainment promised the "Dune" rights holders a deal similar to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," with a base adaptation fee of $500,000 and a 5% net profit share from all "Dune"-related video games. Despite other competitors' inquiries during Nancy's negotiation process, the rights ultimately went to Daenerys Entertainment.

The $500,000 adaptation fee was secondary; if "Dune" achieved the success of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" game, even a 5% profit share would be significant.

The failure of David Lynch's 1984 "Dune" film made this highly sought-after series suddenly unappealing. Having already stumbled with film adaptations, the "Dune" rights holders were cautious not to make the same mistake with game adaptations.

Compared to the failure of the "Dune" film, games adapted from "Dune" were very successful.

In the original timeline, Blizzard's "Warcraft" was recognized as a game that followed the trend set by the 1992 RTS game "Dune II."

Simon detailed the development focus of RTS games, including resource gathering, real-time combat, and troop production systems, to the attendees. He also briefly mentioned the potential of online multiplayer battles, concluding, "That's about it. The detailed plan needs your own exploration. I'm very optimistic about the development prospects of RTS games. This genre can maximize EA's strengths in the PC domain, so I hope everyone treats this project with great care."

EA's current chairman and CEO, also the company's founder, Trip Hawkins, responded after Simon's speech, "Simon, based on what you've said, the development of this game shares many similarities with 'SimCity,' which we launched this summer."

Simon nodded, "I've reviewed 'SimCity' and even played it. The first iteration wasn't a success, mainly due to hardware limitations. If it could be further refined into a 3D version, it would undoubtedly be very popular. However, 'SimCity' lacks a combat system; it's a different concept from the RTS games I just mentioned."

Another EA executive then asked, "So, Mr. Westeros, you're saying the core of this game is combat?"

"Not exactly. If it were just combat, it would become another game concept entirely. I believe the key to developing this game is the integration of the real-time combat system, resource gathering system, and troop production system. During development, I hope you can spend a few months perfecting the game's setting without rushing. Since this is our first attempt, accumulating experience is most important."

The conversation opened up, and other attendees began to ask various questions.

The meeting continued until noon before finally concluding.

Simon had to rush to a luncheon hosted by the Qintex Group at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel. As he was leaving the conference room, Nancy followed him out, whispering, "I haven't finalized the salary package with the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' development team. About half of them are planning to resign and start their own studio."

Blizzard Studio's first game was a phenomenal success, naturally raising the development team's profile.

In this era, game development did not require the hundreds of coordinated team members needed years later; even one or two people could complete a game. Due to the anticipated huge profits from "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," the development team had various salary demands, which Nancy had been dealing with recently.

Still, it was unsuccessful.

However, Simon didn't seem too concerned.

The developers probably only saw the hundred-million-dollar profits "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" brought to Daenerys Entertainment without considering the extensive investment Daenerys made in the game's distribution.

Without Blizzard Studio and Daenerys Entertainment's financial and channel support, those

 who believed they understood some game development secrets could replicate the miracle of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" were naive.

Moreover, with the advent of the 32-bit console era and further development of the PC platform, the era of developing a game by one or two people was coming to an end.

Entering the '90s, video game development was destined to evolve into team efforts, with dozens or even hundreds of people developing a single game. The risks involved could not be borne by just a few individuals. Even if these developers found other backers, replicating the success of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" remained highly unlikely.

After all, although "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" didn't reach the heights of "Super Mario," it was a phenomenon-level game capable of selling millions of cartridges.

Simon, leveraging his foresight, could determine the game's success only after significant investment. Even if these developers had some game development tricks up their sleeves, they could only rely on luck for future projects.

Luck, obviously, is the least reliable factor.

"Let them leave if they want. The industry is never short of technical talent."

Simon said this, noting Nancy's face showed no concern. His female executive clearly understood that Daenerys Entertainment held far more advantages than just a game development team. The departure of a few technicians would mainly affect the development pace of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" sequel, but Daenerys Entertainment wouldn't grant studio equity just because of one successful game.

Hearing Simon's words, Nancy said, "I'll start recruiting new talent soon. If necessary, we can also borrow some technicians from EA."

"Actually, I've been thinking about the game studio situation recently..." Simon began, but as they reached the ground floor, he simply said, "How about you join me at the luncheon in Beverly Hills and we can discuss it on the way?"

Nancy nodded without hesitation and accompanied Simon to his luxury car.

As the car left Daenerys Entertainment's parking lot, Simon continued, "I think it's hard for game studios to maintain long-term vitality. It's rare for a studio to develop one or two successful video games in its lifetime. So, Daenerys Entertainment could adopt a development model similar to film projects. Assemble a team, invest in a project, and if there's a need to develop a sequel, the team stays. If not, the development team is disbanded."

In reality, Simon was considering the tendency for excellent game studios to decline rapidly after being acquired.

At the moment, this situation hadn't occurred, and EA was far from being labeled as a 'studio ender.'

Originally, as an observer, Simon disliked EA's practice of 'ruining' one studio after another. Now, standing as a boss, Simon's thought process inevitably changed.

The reason those studios declined after being acquired by large game developers might be due to interference from the parent company. However, another possibility is that the game teams gradually lost their creativity. Game companies need to make profits and cannot support a studio indefinitely just because it once developed a hit game without considering costs or returns.

Moreover, frankly, when game companies acquire these studios, they are more interested in the successful game rights the studios hold.

Given this, it might be better to invest in promising game projects from scratch, significantly reducing costs.

For example, acquiring Blizzard Studio, which holds rights to popular games like "Warcraft" and "StarCraft," might cost billions of dollars. But investing in the development of "Warcraft" and "StarCraft" might only require a few million dollars. There will be many failed projects, but if one or two phenomenon-level games emerge from ten projects, it would be a success.

After all, video games typically have a long lifecycle. A successful game can lead to many sequels.

After Simon shared his thoughts, Nancy agreed, "We could try that. Additionally, to motivate the development teams, we could promise them profit sharing. This could also help reduce upfront development costs."

Considering long-term benefits, most people are willing to accept lower initial salaries.

The current state of video game development might not reveal it, but in the era when dozens to hundreds of people develop a single game, labor costs will become the most critical factor affecting a project's budget.

"Take some time to think about this and come up with a plan," Simon said, then joked, "Speaking of salaries, do you want a raise?"

Nancy gave Simon a sidelong glance, "Are you planning to give me a raise?"

"That depends on the situation. If you threaten to leave unless I give you a raise, I'll definitely give you one."

"Then I'll end up like Lem."

"Possibly. I'm actually quite generous, but I'm not used to people demanding things from me."

"That's an unreasonable way of thinking."

"I'm too busy to reason with you all."

"…"

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