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Chapter 159 : A Game Console at the Price of a PC
California, inside a game store.
"Hello, I would like to pre-order three copies of GAMENOVA's new game *Civilization*."
Frank finally finished waiting in the long line that wrapped all the way to the parking lot outside the store, and stood in front of the counter he had been waiting for so long.
Today he came with a mission.
Facing a great work like *Civilization* that was destined to be epoch-making, Frank naturally wouldn't miss the precious pre-order opportunity.
E n u m̂а
His roommates at UCLA felt the same.
"Damn it, if I had rolled a 3 on that turn I could have made a comeback, and now I have to line up for them."
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Frank thought to himself.
Who doesn't know how long you have to line up to snap up GAMENOVA's works.
In order to pick out an unlucky guy, the three of them hit it off and decided to use GAMENOVA's *Monopoly* to decide.
This was absolutely the most regrettable decision Frank had ever made.
Еn u m̃ а̀ . іd̄.
"Okay sir, please pay here."
The clerk nodded and began to input the new pre-order information.
Immediately, she looked up at Frank in front of her and reminded him according to the rules:
"By the way sir, *Civilization* is launched on GAMENOVA's next-generation new console."
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"New console?" Frank was stunned.
This news itself was much more explosive than *Civilization* opening for pre-orders.
E ñu̇ m̃ а̃ .ï d̃
The topic of game console generation changes had always been highly discussed in the gaming circle.
From the NovaBox to the NovaPocket, countless players had been looking forward to when new hardware would debut.
According to somewhat unreliable rumors, Sega and Nintendo were both plotting the research and development of next-generation new consoles.
Only GAMENOVA had never had much news leak out.
Although paparazzi had dug up information about GAMENOVA poaching IC studios everywhere and reaching strategic cooperation with multiple PC manufacturers.
But when it came to the console itself, they couldn't dig up any useful information at all.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Although manufacturers like Sega, Nintendo, SNK, and NEC were in a similar situation, at least there was news proving that the next generation of 16-bit consoles was indeed on the way in R&D.
Yet right before his eyes, pre-orders were directly opened?
Frank blinked his eyes. He had at most not paid attention to news in this area for half a month, this leap was too big.
"Yes, the new generation 16-bit home console NovaXeno, pre-order deposit is $80, sir."
"How much? 80 bucks? Then what's the full price?"
"$339.99, sir."
Е̂n ů ḿ ӓ . і d̃
About $340, for a game console…
Frank's hand, which was taking out his credit card, trembled and froze in place.
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The first-generation NovaBox's high price of $250 was already very heaven-defying, and now it was nearly a hundred dollars more expensive on top of that price point.
This was simply robbery!
This price could already barely assemble a low-end PC.
It wasn't that Frank hadn't thought the new console would definitely be expensive, but the problem was…
Ẃ е̃ b n̄ ŏv̆ е̂l̂ Ѐn u̇m̄ а
This was too expensive!
Seeming to see Frank's hesitation, the clerk lady smiled sweetly and patiently explained: "Sir, this is the price for the Deluxe Edition. You can also choose to pre-order the Standard Edition for $259.99."
"Deluxe Edition? Is there any difference?"
Frank scratched his head in confusion. This was a full $80 price difference; it definitely wouldn't be a meaningless premium like a different appearance.
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"The Deluxe Edition has a built-in CD-ROM drive and can read all future GAMENOVA first-party works. The Standard Edition can only read floppy disks."
The clerk pushed a flyer on the table forward and pointed at a concept diagram, "Sir, look, other than this, the specs are completely identical. Even if you purchase the Standard Edition, you can also purchase an external CD-ROM drive separately."
W e b̈ ǹо́v е l Ėnùm̊ӑ
"Huh…"
Frank carefully looked at the spec sheets of the two models on the diagram and confirmed there was indeed no difference.
"A 16+8 processor?! And 256KB of RAM! F**k, no wonder it's so expensive."
The specs recorded on this were simply inconceivable.
You have to know that the Famicom's RAM was only 2KB.
This was a full 128 times increase!
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It was completely not a console of the same era anymore.
Amidst his surprise, Frank's gaze fell on that external CD-ROM drive.
Hundreds of megabytes of capacity…
This kind of brute-force storage medium, paired with GAMENOVA's production capability…
Frank shivered, and then continued: "Let me just ask, the storage medium for *Civilization* is…?"
"CD-ROM, sir."
W eb ń о̄v̆е l Ěn ŭmа̊
I should have known!
Which meant that if he wanted to play this new work, he had to buy the version with the CD-ROM drive.
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This was really killing him.
"Then… pre-order one Deluxe Edition."
Frank couldn't make the decision on this matter himself anymore.
If his roommates weren't happy with this thing, he would probably have to cover the money himself.
Ӗn u̇m̃ā. і̇ d
One CD-ROM version of the NX could at least let them see the true level of *Civilization*.
For a next-generation console, what level of sales would be considered passing?
There was no exact answer to this.
But the first-week pre-sale result of the NovaXeno was… 230,000 units.
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Lin Lixin looked at the report submitted by Sam, looking at this exaggerated number, and was somewhat silent for a moment.
You have to know that they hadn't done any promotion for the NX yet, only broadcasting the *Civilization* video on TV stations.
Еńu m̃ а
It could be said that the vast majority of these 230,000 units were brought by *Civilization*.
There were still 4 months until the official release.
It was hard to imagine what an exaggerated number the final pre-sale result would lock onto once the discussion fermented further.
This result was undoubtedly a success.
——
"Not bad, invest in promotion where it should be invested, the money for this part will be recovered very quickly."
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Lin Lixin calculated the price in his mind.
Just like the NovaBox, even with the NovaXeno's CD-ROM version priced as high as $340, it was actually selling at a loss.
It was just that thanks to the maturity of OEM manufacturing and in-house design over this period, the cost of chips was already much lower than in the past.
It could only be said that although it was still a loss, the loss was smaller.
Lin Lixin's gaze moved down the report to the line for *Civilization*'s pre-sale results.
253,000 copies.
W̌ еb̂ n̈.оv̊ е̄ l̃ Е̄ n u̇ ḿ а̄
"It's actually more than the sales of the NX?"
Lin Lixin was stunned, but then immediately understood.
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Players who had experienced the buying frenzy during Black Friday last year were very clear that games produced by GAMENOVA could be treated as financial products.
It was no exaggeration to say that if someone had managed to snap up a launch copy of *Pokémon* back then, and planned to sell it to recoup some blood after playing through it, the final transaction price would even be higher than the original purchase price.
Which meant they played *Pokémon* for free without spending a dime, and even made a profit.
Just this point alone made the cost-effectiveness of snapping up launch copies and pre-orders of GAMENOVA's games extremely high.
W̄еb ṅо v el Ë n u m̊а́
"In these sales… the water content from scalpers is very high."
Shaking his head, Lin Lixin didn't plan to dwell on this.
Anyway, sold is sold, let Hayek's invisible hand adjust the market matters itself.
Even if he wanted to create a more modern digital distribution model or technology like a game pass, it was completely impossible relying on the current network environment.
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Being able to make the multiplayer mode of *Civilization* was already the result of the entire development team working their livers out with one heart and mind.
As for the rest, leave it to time.
Èn u m̂ а̊
(End of Chapter)
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