Chapter 111: Selling, Selling, Selling!

[Producer of "Snake Game" Releases New Work! "Pac-Man" Takes North America by Storm!]

[The Greatest Work in the History of Video Games has Been Born! The Yellow Dot-Eating Character Wins Praise from Countless Professors!]

[The Era of Artificial Intelligence has Officially Arrived! "Pac-Man" Perfectly Embodies It!]

[Famous Hollywood Director Steven Spielberg says, "Ethan Jones is the most creative game producer I've ever seen! When he closes his eyes, he envisions the future of electronic games!"]

[Ralph H. Baer states, "Ethan Jones has proven to me that the era of circuit boards is dead. Video games will evolve towards sophistication, and I am glad to have witnessed his arrival."]

After the "Pac-Man" release conference, within just two days, related promotional materials spread throughout America. The three major newspapers, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times, all covered "Pac-Man" extensively. The extravagant wording and overflowing praise in these reports left everyone astonished.

At a certain moment, those who bought these three major newspapers even suspected whether Ethan Jones, the producer of "Snake Game," had paid them all. Otherwise, why would these newspapers unanimously praise his new work, "Pac-Man"?

In response to this, Ethan Jones only wanted to say that, yes, he did pay, but not entirely.

The reason for saying he paid was because on the day of the "Pac-Man" release conference, he indeed invited some media to witness it.

And saying not entirely was because President Fred Truman, who had already seen the game demonstration, felt that those small California newspapers were too slow in delivering the news. So, he personally stepped in and brought editors from the three major newspapers.

While those journalists were on the side, collecting money for attending the conference and witnessing a miracle, the enthusiastic exaggeration began, especially when the audience consisted of industry giants. The reports became even more sensational.

To be honest, during the initial interviews, Ethan felt that all this fanfare was a bit over the top.

But...

*Cough, cough...*

With strength standing here, he couldn't stay low-key! After all, America didn't follow Mr. Zhou Shuren's doctrine of compromise; their values were pragmatic!

So, Ethan reluctantly played along.

Yeah, just a tiny bit, not worth mentioning.

Hehehe~

Of course, as fame rose, Destiny Games also received a flurry of orders.

Although the new product launch was on Sunday, the reports from the three major North American newspapers appeared on Wednesday. However, by Friday evening, the company's fax machine was already overwhelmed. In just two days, they received more than sixty orders, totaling a thousand units to be delivered.

Yes!

Within two days, Destiny Games had already sold a thousand electronic arcade machines!

The reason for using fax, a high-end ordering method, was purely because the buyers were all from North American universities! When those universities learned that the concept of artificial intelligence, proposed for two decades, was unexpectedly interpreted in the civilian gaming field, almost everyone called to verify the facts. After confirming with industry big shots who attended the conference one by one...

Placing an order became inevitable.

Of course, North American universities capable of supporting AI research were limited. Theoretically, it was impossible for them to order a thousand electronic arcade machines. However, many universities, when verifying the information, approached President Fred Truman.

Upon hearing that these fellows wanted to place an order, President Fred Truman immediately declared:

"One electronic arcade machine can only accommodate a few students for research and observation at the same time. Your school has so many students; queuing for use would be a waste of time. So, the minimum order is ten machines to alleviate the teaching pressure."

"Moreover, an electronic arcade machine is not expensive, just two thousand dollars. Ten machines only cost twenty thousand dollars. In the field of research, this amount of money won't yield much, but now, with twenty thousand dollars, those students who only know how to study can touch the latest cutting-edge inspiration! Let students get more excellent ideas! So... will you buy them?"

"Buy?"

"Okay! Place the order!"

"What? Just the circuit boards?"

"Oh! Damn it! You guys are from Harvard, right? Can't you come up with twenty thousand dollars? Are you embarrassed?!"

"Still want the circuit boards? I'll tell you, no!"

"As long as I, Fred Truman, am still at Stanford, our company will not sell circuit boards!"

"Destiny Games is our star enterprise! You cannot trample on the support project of our school like this!"

"That's it, I've decided for you. Harvard, take twenty! I'll only give MIT fifteen!"

"I'll make them regret it!"

"Hung up!"

This kind of sales pitch truly opened Ethan's eyes!

Indeed, the man who dug into Harvard's territory on the Harvard campus!

Too awesome!

And the price, which jumped from twelve hundred dollars to two thousand dollars, and the declaration not to sell circuit boards, made Ethan deeply grateful to the old president. He immediately decided to donate twenty "Pac-Man" arcade machines to Stanford. For what? Research?

Well, Ethan actually thought that when the game appeared, there might be more people immersed in it.

But Ethan temporarily had no time to deal with these things because after a large number of orders appeared, his main focus became production and delivery. According to Ethan's initial plan, the sale of "Pac-Man" should be a gradual process. First, hold a new product launch, then recruit people for ground promotion. During the ground promotion, simultaneously purchase a factory, hire workers, and start production, keeping inventory at a minimum.

Unfortunately, when Stanford approved the use of the memorial chapel, and President Fred Truman decided to participate, Ethan sensed an unusual smell. So, he immediately ordered Damian Dean to quickly purchase a factory and hire workers for early production.

Thus, ten days ago, they acquired an abandoned electronic factory in Sunnyvale for a hundred thousand dollars.

Five days ago, they recruited thirty circuit board engineers with experience in production.

Like Nolan Bushnell, Ethan provided employment opportunities for socially idle individuals. He chose the hippie group, which also needed social assistance, so in terms of expenses, they received a certain level of humanitarian care. A hundred dollars per person per week, and each person had to produce ten arcade machines within five days of eight hours each. If efficiency increased, for each additional machine, they received a fifteen-dollar bonus.

To be honest, it was cheap and practical.

As for materials...

That was even simpler.

Chuck Peddle's company could cover all of Ethan's chip needs, and for circuit board materials, Ethan purchased them from the San Francisco Electronics Supply Company. Yes, at this time, Ethan remembered his dear Mr. Foster, who had been offline for a long time.

And when Mr. Foster drove his own car to Stanford, he was furious!

Because Ethan didn't invite him to the "Pac-Man" new product launch!

But when Ethan took a marker, drew a dot-eating character on his white T-shirt, signed his name, and explained that this conference was for technical exchange, so it wasn't suitable to invite him, then promised to send him a "Pac-Man" arcade machine so he could slowly play in the store, this highly vigilant Mr. Foster hummed a few

times arrogantly, not bothering with Ethan.

Of course, it must be emphasized—

"Ethan! If you don't invite me next time, we can't be friends!"

This sulking remark made Ethan nod with a smile.

"Okay, okay, okay, next time for sure, next time for sure."

Production problems were easily solved, but transportation was troublesome because electronic arcade machines were high-value items and couldn't be easily transported.

Just when Ethan was worrying, Thomas Johnson took the initiative to help.

"Ethan, our family orchard has seventy-six permanent workers, and twenty-seven of them have been with me for ten years."

"These people all have families and children, so you can completely trust their character."

"Moreover, these twenty-seven people all have experience driving trucks because every year, they help me transport oranges to the port."

"So, if you need manpower on your end, they can help with delivery."

"However, you have to pay them a regular wage. For instance, when I had them help me with transportation before, each person received a ten-dollar subsidy per day, and it was calculated as a round trip total distance. If you can accept this, I can talk to them."

"If you still think manpower is not enough, I can also help you borrow people. Do you remember those uncles from before? The ones I brought home for a drink after "Snake Game" sold well. They have many old employees who have worked for over ten years, and many of them can drive trucks. If I tell them, I can get fifteen to twenty people for you in three days, forming a convoy of a hundred people."

Oh!

This was truly a pillow when one felt sleepy!

"Oh, Thomas, I love you—"

Ethan smiled and hugged Thomas. "No need to borrow people for now; our twenty-odd people at home are enough for the time being."

"Wages are no problem; I won't shortchange them!"

"Whatever standard you give them, I'll adhere to it!"

"But... what about the orchard if you let them help me?"

Thomas's concern made Ethan wave his hand, saying, "Don't worry about the orchard; I can hire some temporary help."

"Then this money should be on us." Ethan quickly declared.

However, Thomas shook his head and smiled. "Oh, Ethan, I can afford these wages! Your company hasn't recouped the capital yet; don't increase expenses!"

"You guys work well, so that when I go out for a drink later, I can boast to my friends!"

"I hope that when the time comes, I can introduce myself like this—I, Thomas Johnson, cultivated the world's richest man!"

"Hahaha—"

At this point, Thomas was so amused that he even pounded the table.

Ethan couldn't stop the smile on his face and kept shaking his head. "Rest assured, Thomas, that day will come."

"By then, you can tell others that the world's richest man is the one you raised with a lot of hard work."

"Hahaha—Thomas laughed even louder.

"Thump, thump, thump!" Five fingers formed a fist and knocked on the table.

Tears glistened in his eyes.