Chapter 39: I Don't Even Want My Face, Can't I Make More Money?

In this small office, three individuals were present.

A senior gentleman with white hair and a well-worn suit sat behind the desk, in front of him, a stack of documents neatly arranged.

Two others, one chubby and one tall, stood in front of the desk, hands crossed over their stomachs, faces tense, eager for release.

"I want to know, is this the investigation result you've given me?" the old man asked.

He gently closed the file in front of him, tapping the desk with his index finger.

The rhythmic tapping seemed to probe the hearts of his subordinates, and the ensuing questioning was an outpouring of inner fury.

"Have you read this report? Ethan Jones worked at our Magnavox for three years! But this report states that Ethan Jones shouldn't be familiar with any internal research secrets at Magnavox? Moreover, it's noted here that in the past three years, he shouldn't have had any contact with our company's engineers? Do you believe this? Do you believe it? Do you believe it?"

The sudden rise in tone made the two middle-aged men standing in front of the old man shiver.

Facing the direct inquiry, they shook their heads like tambourines.

The slightly chubby man standing on the left side of the old man struggled to speak, "BOSS, to be honest, we don't believe it either. But..."

"This result should be true."

The slightly chubby man looked embarrassed, saying, "BOSS, after receiving your order for a thorough investigation, we contacted our California branch and had them write a report on Ethan Jones's work at Magnavox over the years."

"After receiving the report, we found that Ethan Jones's first task upon joining Magnavox was to work with the marketing department on promoting the Odyssey product and writing guest invitations. In this process, he filled out an invitation belonging to Nolan Bushnell. So, after Atari created 'Pong,' the marketing department in California, or rather, Ethan Jones's superiors, in order to absolve themselves, directly severed Ethan Jones's regular work. They only let him do some basic outsourcing business, waiting for us to pursue and dismiss him. So..."

"BOSS, the awkward content in the report also emerged."

At this point, the slightly chubby man stopped.

He cautiously glanced at the elderly man, seeing no signs of anger, he continued, "BOSS, if everything goes as expected, this document should be the final result now, and it might be the most authentic result. 'Snake Game' should be Ethan Jones's own creation, and his collaboration with Atari should be a coincidence."

"Because after receiving this report, we personally checked the work log of the engineering design team and found no creative ideas similar to 'Snake Game,' or even anything remotely resembling it, so..."

However, before he could finish speaking, the old man slammed the table with a loud "bang"!

"Oh!!! Damn!!!"

He angrily stood up, glaring at his subordinates, roaring, "Are you saying that 'Snake Game' is a clean game, right?"

"Or are you trying to tell me that Ethan Jones and Atari had a good collaboration, huh?"

"I..."

The slightly chubby subordinate hesitated, unsure of how to respond.

But the old man didn't give him a chance to speak, continuing to yell, "Do you think this result can satisfy me?"

"Or can it be accepted by the board of directors?"

"Can our parent company accept it?"

"You know, we finally pushed Atari down so hard! We finally grabbed their game development by the neck! We just proved to the market that Magnavox is not to be messed with! Not anyone can bully us!"

"And then?"

"Nolan Bushnell seizes the opportunity through an agent to release a new game?"

"More importantly, this new game is made by our former employee?"

"If everything is fine with this, what are we? Clowns?"

Spittle flew everywhere.

The white-haired old man, a ferocious sight.

The bulging veins on his neck resembled the roots of an old tree, and his crimson cheeks looked like skyrocketing blood pressure.

After catching his breath for a moment, he sighed, "Do you know? When the Los Angeles Times reported on 'Snake Game,' the leaders of our parent company who were in contact with us called and asked me why Ethan Jones, the inventor of 'Snake Game,' was our former employee? Why, for the past three years, he hasn't achieved anything while at Magnavox? And immediately after leaving Magnavox, he creates a classic?"

"He also asked me, why three years ago, as soon as Ethan Jones entered the company, he facilitated the birth of Atari? Three years later, just after we fired him, he rescued Atari from falling into hell again?"

"He doesn't understand how all this happened, he doesn't believe it's a coincidence because even Hollywood scriptwriters wouldn't dare write such a plot. So... do you understand what I mean?"

Although the old man's tone had calmed down, the two subordinates standing in front of him felt a stronger pressure.

They lowered their gaze, not daring to look up.

But at the same time, they understood their BOSS's intentions.

Simply put, he wanted to find and solve the problem.

The former, finding the problem, referred to Ethan Jones.

This guy, after being fired by Magnavox, directly invented a game that's now trending, a fact that astonished Magnavox and even made them suspect that Ethan Jones copied their internal ideas.

Well, who wouldn't be a bit paranoid when they're already dealing with PTSD from dozens of intellectual property lawsuits? The results were not yet settled, and their recently dismissed employee had created a hit game.

If only that were the end of it, it would be fine. However, after their investigation, they found no connection between 'Snake Game' and Magnavox, purely an accident.

But the publisher of 'Snake Game' forced them to continue investigating this supposedly unproblematic matter.

Because the collaboration between Ethan Jones and Atari was too damn coincidental!

It was so coincidental that it made people suspect if someone had orchestrated it intentionally!

You see, I fire an employee, and he immediately creates a hit game; I take down a competitor, and they promptly release a hit game. More importantly, these two guys seem to be collaborating...

When such absurdly coincidental events come together, who wouldn't suspect something is off!

But the problem is, after their investigation, they indeed found nothing suspicious.

This result really makes things difficult.

Thinking about this, the slightly chubby man exchanged a glance with his thin colleague.

The tall and thin one took a deep breath and said, "BOSS, we understand what you mean, but making Ethan Jones bear the responsibility for our poor management is really hard to achieve."

For example, we can suspect a premeditated alliance between Ethan Jones and Atari, but no one would believe it, including ourselves. After all, when Odyssey was launched, almost everyone, whether it was us, IBM, or Motorola, didn't think home gaming consoles and electronic games were affordable entertainment for the masses.

"So, even if we forcefully claim that Ethan Jones is a spy inserted by Nolan Bushnell into Magnavox, because after we fired Ethan Jones, he handed his newly invented game to Atari for release... I think even if the court accepts our case, the judges and jury would think our minds have gone haywire."

At this point, the thin colleague nervously glanced at the leader.

The elderly man, after a moment of silence, nodded. "You're right."

The leader's understanding relieved the two subordinates.

However, the old man continued, "I know Ethan Jones may genuinely have no issues, but we must make him appear problematic now. Because these things are too coincidental, and the companies we're dealing with no longer trust us. Or, the board of directors is suspicious, suspecting that Odyssey's failure isn't due to the product itself but our advertising methods and internal management issues."

"If we have no problems, why did Atari, who stole our ideas, succeed? And why, after firing an employee, did his ideas also succeed?"

"Such a thing might be passable once, and I could report to the board saying it was an accident. But after two or three times, they no longer believe in accidents, only in inevitability."

"So, to let the board and the leaders of the parent company know that we are not at fault, Ethan Jones... must have an issue. It's not about the truth, but about how to keep our jobs."

"I think you should be able to understand this point?"

The leader's question made the two people in the room tense.

The office fell into silence again.

The eerie quietness seemed to be engaging in a serious psychological struggle, but after a moment of deep breaths, it was the best proof of a thought-out plan.

The slightly chubby guy looked at the old man and said, "BOSS, I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

"At what point do we prove that we have no problems? Is it initiating a successful lawsuit, winning a lawsuit, or getting the other party to propose a settlement?"

The leader thought for a moment and said, "Although I know the likelihood of winning a lawsuit is almost zero, to completely eliminate the board's suspicion of us, we must win the lawsuit."

"Okay, BOSS, I understand." The chubby man nodded and said, "So, we can only sue Ethan Jones and Atari for infringing our patents."

'?' The old man narrowed his eyes and asked, "They infringed our patents? When did that happen?"

The chubby man's expression turned serious as he said, "As long as we are willing to sue, they can infringe at any time."

This statement furrowed the old man's brow because he didn't understand what the chubby man was talking about.

But the next moment, the thin colleague had already spoken, shocked, "You're not thinking of using the patent Sanders Industrial authorized to us, the 8480, to sue them, are you?"

"That would ruin our reputation!"

"So what?" The chubby man shrugged, "From the perspective of that patent, Ethan Jones and Atari did infringe!"

"You know, our goal now is not to find the truth but to clear the board's suspicion of us."

"In this situation, as long as the lawsuit can be successful, what does a little loss of reputation matter?"

"You..." The thin colleague's Adam's apple moved, wanting to say something.

But when the words reached his lips, they couldn't be uttered.

The conversation between the chubby and thin men made the old man furrow his brow.

Although he didn't understand, it didn't matter because the confident words of his subordinates were the answers he wanted.

"Very well." The old man's face, serious the entire day, finally showed a hint of joy. "I think you guys already have a plan."

"So, from now on, I'll leave this matter to you."

"No problem." The chubby man nodded. "BOSS, rest assured, I will communicate with the legal department. We will file the lawsuit no later than September this year, and you'll hear the good news within a month at most."

The leader liked the sound of his subordinates having everything under control, but he also had some doubts.

"September? It's only June now. Why such a long interval?"

The leader's curiosity made the chubby man smile, "BOSS, it's simple. 'Snake Game' hasn't sold enough yet. We need to wait until it's sold nationwide. Only then can we maximize our profits."

"When we've already sacrificed our reputation, is making a little more money excessive?"

In the dimly lit office, the features of the chubby man were somewhat blurred.

But his half-joking words brought a nod of approval from the old man, "Not excessive."

The old man's lips curled slightly, "In fact... quite right."