Chapter 37
provides a one-chapter review of the data from Chapter 36.
Chapter 37 provides a response to the data in Chapter 36.
First of all, thank you for reading this far. A friend just told me that some readers said there was an error in the data in my previous chapter. I looked at it carefully and found that it was probably because my writing style was easy to misunderstand.
First of all, the arcade industry is the worst industry in the gaming world. This statement was heavily subjective, and I apologize if it caused any misunderstanding. However, where did this statement come from? It actually comes from what that reader with the digital ID said: "Arcade profit margins are very high, higher than the Famicom." What he said is true, but a lot of the money doesn't end up in the developers' pockets.
Take the example of the book reviewer with the digital ID, *Space Invaders*. In 1982, a book called *Video Games*, written by Daniel Cohen, recorded the sales figures for *Space Invaders*. Pages 15 and 16 stated that in 1978, 100,000 units of *Space Invaders* were sold in Japan, generating $670 million in revenue. Each unit was said to earn nearly $50 per day, averaging $5 million per day, or $18.25 billion per year. However, Taito, the developer of *Space Invaders*, did not receive any of this money.
In other words, Space Invaders earned $18.25 billion in 1978, but Taito only received 36%. This figure has to be reduced by the cost of making the arcade machine. The actual money he received was several times more than Gabe Newell's cut.
It is on this basis that I said that arcade games are not profitable for developers, and that it is the worst thing I could say.
Of course, I know my words are very absolute, which is wrong, but when I wrote this paragraph, I really put myself in the mindset of a game developer. Imagine you work your butt off making a game, and you only get 20% of the profits? That's just too unfair!
And another point, as that reader correctly pointed out, is that arcade games are incredibly lucrative, something I overlooked in the previous chapter. In "Game Over: The History of Nintendo's Global Conquest," by David Sheff, the author recounts the situation when "Donkey Kong" was a bestseller. When "Donkey Kong" became a huge hit, 100-yen coins were so popular that banks couldn't even exchange them, but a lot of money went to arcades. What truly made "Donkey Kong" famous for Nintendo was its porting.
So, from the perspective of making money quickly, arcade games are indeed very impressive. Space Invaders earned approximately $139.2 billion, but when the game was at its peak, Taito's revenue from Space Invaders was $30 billion, and that wasn't even profit.
I believe you can all understand what this gap means to capitalists, right? Seeing others make a fortune from their products is worse than killing yourself.
Especially when the protagonist is a time traveler with memories of his past life, not to mention anything else, Rockstar's cost and revenue for the Grand Theft Auto project were much higher than for Space Invaders.
So it's true that arcade games can make money quickly, but it's also true that the developers or development companies get a very small percentage.
Perhaps because I didn't describe it clearly, or perhaps because my subjective opinion was too strong, the preceding text may have misled you. I apologize if I have conveyed any inappropriate ideas.
Finally, I want to say that I read the comments, but my author account is banned, so I can only respond to you by writing a separate chapter, which actually greatly affects the reading experience.
Therefore, I often try to avoid writing separate chapters. If I can say a few words at the end of the chapter, I will say them at the end of the chapter. The main reason for writing a separate chapter today is that I didn't finish writing the notes for the previous chapter. There is only 500 words on it, which is not enough for me to write.
But there's one thing I can clarify first: to make the story seem more authentic, most of the information actually has a source. Only a small part, such as the little-known fact that Ralph Bell reconciled with Atari, which I mentioned earlier, will be explained in advance.
Even so, because of the long period of time—the historical span is longer than my age—I cannot truly verify whether many of the materials have been falsified. If you discover any errors, I would be very happy to point them out. After all, I chose this niche topic because I like it. I like that era, which can be described as a golden age for humanity, and I admire the inventions made by many scientists who were actually working to benefit mankind.
Finally, thank you all for reading my rambling.
Luckily I didn't go.
22 PM on July 13, 2023.
(End of this chapter)