Madness Week 1

Chapter 32 The First Week of Madness (Please Read On)

They sold 313 machines in one morning, earning $370,000, which was a very large sum in the United States in 1975.

After a simple calculation of the profit sharing, Ethan's face lit up with joy at the thought of earning two and a half years' worth of wages.

Although he didn't become a billionaire, the speed at which he made money was much faster than the potato seller next door.

After a brief period of celebration, Nolan Bushnell had Atari staff begin deliveries in the afternoon.

More than a hundred employees pitched in, two people per pickup truck, and sped off.

It was only then that Ethan realized that most of Atari's employees held multiple positions.

When they pick up rulers and brushes, they are engineers; when they put on formal uniforms, they are receptionists; and when they get into their cars, they are the company's deliverymen and dispatched repairmen.

The first two points were fine, but the third point, the use of a private car for public purposes, impressed Ethan immensely.

Decades from now, if capitalists dared to let their employees do this, it would surely cause public outrage and lead to riots and protests.

Of course, Atari, or rather Nolan Bushnell, didn't let them work for nothing.

In addition to their regular wages and fuel expense reimbursement, they receive an extra five-dollar bonus for each machine delivered.

A normal person can earn twenty dollars in half a day by hauling four trucks in one vehicle.

That's most people's daily wage!

With such generous rewards, Atari's staff were incredibly motivated.

Watching the bustling scene, Ethan, who was acting as supervisor with his hands behind his back, looked satisfied. At the same time, he exclaimed, "Nolan, is this the key to your success? To crush the other competitors as quickly as possible?"

Although Nolan Bushnell didn't understand what "rolling death" meant, he knew Ethan was saying that Atari's execution was amazing.

So he put his hands on his hips, laughed, and said, "There's nothing I can do about it. Back then, the video game industry valued timeliness above all else."

"If we can't deliver the goods to customers within two days after they place an order, their stores may be filled with counterfeit products from our competitors by the third day."

"Imitation is that fast!"

"Therefore, for those of us in this line of work, time is life!"

"The faster the machines sell, the faster we have to deliver them! We must make sure that businesses looking to make money love us!"

Ethan liked this approach, and under his watchful eye, the Atari guys displayed astonishing efficiency.

We set off around 1 p.m. and returned around 5 p.m.

Those signed contracts meant that stacks of green Franklin had been received.

Even more impressively, at the same time, Nolan Bushnell made hundreds of phone calls to his colleagues who remained at the company, contacting partners in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

The content of the communication was also very simple.

First, they introduced themselves politely and then presented the facts, saying that they had held a new product launch event that morning, and their old friends in San Jose and San Francisco had been very supportive, buying 626 units directly.

Then I explained that our machines this time can limit players' game time. If you're interested, I can reserve a few for you, considering we've always been friends and work together.

If you're unsure whether you can get it, that's okay. We'll be having events in Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego tomorrow.

Just come directly when the time comes.

When the facts are presented, relationships are built, and past collaborations are combined into a single strategy.

The other party readily agreed that they would definitely be there tomorrow.

Some people were even more impatient and placed their orders immediately.

And then...

In just one afternoon, Nolan and his team achieved sales of over 100 units in nearly 200 phone calls.

After all his subordinates returned, Nolan arranged the delivery for his business trip the following day that very evening.

When the second evening arrived, Ethan went to Atari to check his results right on time after dinner. He was overjoyed to find that he had sold 200 units in the morning but was still short by dozens of units that evening.

However, just as Ethan was pondering that at this rate of shipment, it wouldn't be long before Snake Game's shipments reached a thousand units, Nolan Bushnell issued an order to all Atari employees—

"Everyone, starting tomorrow, or rather, starting right now, we will no longer be making complete game consoles for *Snake Game*. Everyone will only be making circuit boards. Please note! I said we will no longer make complete consoles! Everyone will only be making circuit boards! Only circuit boards!"

'???'

This decision was somewhat incomprehensible to Ethan.

He didn't understand why Nolan Bushnell would suddenly give up on selling complete units.

Because the sales of complete systems are going very well right now!

Given that the profit margin for complete PC builds is higher than that for gaming motherboards, it's clearly more profitable to build complete PCs!

While he was pondering the reason, Steve Jobs provided the answer.

"When selecting the first batch of invited customers and the second batch of delivery customers, we will choose some who are easy to talk to."

"They are open to new things, but that doesn't mean they will accept our sales pitches entirely."

"If we had told our customers from the beginning to replace all the arcade machines in their stores with Snake Game, they definitely would have disagreed. The market has never tested Snake Game's capabilities, so they would rather spend money to buy complete machines and let time test Snake Game's effectiveness and witness its success with their own eyes."

"And after they take this step..."

"Those who understand that Snake Game can really make money, along with other businesses, will definitely stop accepting the purchase of complete systems."

"Since new games are more profitable than older ones, why don't they just upgrade their consoles? That would save them a lot on inventory costs!"

"And for us, we actually like this model too."

"Because a pickup truck can only carry a few arcade machines, but it can haul a whole truckload of circuit boards."

"Believe me, we'll be swamped in a week at most!"

"Because those guys will call in like crazy, saying they want to replace the circuit board!"

"I see?"

Having only learned about the arcade industry through various rumors and never having personally experienced it, Ethan felt that he had learned something new.

While Ethan waited, Atari's phone was ringing off the hook just three days after the first batch of Snake Game shipped out!

Merchants who had previously collaborated with Atari expressed their desire to buy the game!

Merchants who didn't have a partnership also wanted to buy arcade machines!

At first, the Atari staff took notes politely.

But afterwards, their attitudes became worse and worse.

"Okay!" is a good response.

Phrases like "I fucking know, you just wait!" are becoming increasingly common.

This terrible service attitude made Ethan, who was acting as the supervisor, somewhat dissatisfied.

He immediately declared that customers should be treated with the utmost gentleness!

But when he personally went down to the scene and demonstrated to the staff how to answer the phone...

I had barely picked up the receiver when a heart-wrenching scream erupted—

"Oh! Sxxt! Atari, is it? Atari, is it? You bunch of sons of bitches!"

"I bought ten arcade machines from you guys last year! Ten arcade machines!"

"I'm such a supporter of your business! How could you release a new game without telling me?!"

"Damn it! The nightclub next door took two machines from your place! Two machines!!"

"And I made two hundred dollars in just one night!!!"

"MFxxk!!! That's two hundred dollars!!!"

"My guests! All my guests have been stolen by that bitch!!!"

"You bunch of animals! I'm giving you one day! Bring me ten gaming motherboards!"

"Remember your grandfather's name! I'm in Sacramento! I'm the great Tim!"

"..."

"It was just an accident."

Ethan gave an awkward laugh and wrote "Stupid Tim" on the paper.

Then he answered a second phone call—

"Huh? Atari? You bunch of sons of bitches, are you looking down on me?"

Why have all the shops around me received notifications about new product launches, but I haven't?

"MFxxxxx! Your animalistic behavior has caused me to lose a lot of money!"

"..."

"You idiot, I'm your dad!"

Ethan ignored him and hung up the phone.

Then he smiled and waved to the Atari staff, "Continue, you can continue."

Steve Jobs chuckled at Ethan's frustrated reaction.

He leaned closer. "Why do I get the feeling you're really interested in selling gaming motherboards?"

"Of course I'm interested! Because it all means money!" Ethan rolled his eyes at Steve Jobs.

At the same time, he was secretly thinking, 'I can't exactly tell you I'm here to steal your skills, can I?'

Seemingly sensing Ethan's thoughts, Steve Jobs chuckled and said, "Oh, Ethan~ Do you want to know how we replace motherboards for other people? For example, the original machine casing was 'Pong,' and the game inside was also 'Pong,' but now we've replaced the game inside with 'Snake Game,' but the outer casing is still 'Pong.'"

The tongue-twister-like words made Ethan raise his eyebrows.

Although somewhat confused, he understood: "Didn't you just bring those arcade machines back and replace their motherboards?"

"That was true before, but not anymore, because that's too much trouble!"

Steve Jobs said, "We change everything on the spot now!"

"ha?"

This fact piqued Ethan's curiosity. "Change it on the spot?"

"Yeah? Changing it right here!" Steve Jobs nodded. "Interested? Come with me and take a look!"

(End of this chapter)