The world is in trouble

Chapter 310 Microsoft Backed Down! (New Alliance Leader: A Hard-Boiled Egg z)

(Congratulations to the new leader, Egg Z! Thank you for spending the money.)
Because it wasn't considered a mainline sequel, Fallout: New Vegas wasn't promoted as extensively as Fallout 3.

But at this time, it was almost the most eager time for Fallout game fans around the world. Two years had passed since the release of Fallout 3. Although global sales had not yet exceeded 20 million copies, the number of players accumulated was far more than 20 million.

Fallout 3 is so good that they've played it over and over again, for hundreds of hours now.

Meanwhile, Ergou Studio is working on The Last of Us, so Fallout 4 probably hasn't even started yet, let alone started creating new folders. Who knows when that will happen?

At this point, Fallout: New Vegas became the thirst-quenching elixir for countless gamers.

Historically, this game has received good ratings, with several mainstream media outlets giving it around 8.5 points. While it may not be as good as Fallout 3, it is still considered excellent.

This time, neither Er Gou Studio nor Obsidian Studio engaged in any particularly deliberate public relations efforts.

However, to everyone's surprise, the scores from major global gaming media outlets were higher than ever before, and by a significant margin.

IGN gave it a high score of 9.2.

"This game is undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the year, even more so than Resident Evil 5."

"Fallout 3 achieved unprecedented success, but Erdogan Studios did not continue with the Fallout series. Instead, they focused all their manpower on The Last of Us, and Fallout: New Vegas was handed over to Obsidian Entertainment for development."

"I believe this news will create a sense of division among gamers worldwide. It's undeniable that the Fallout IP has been fractured since the release of Fallout 3."

"Some of the radiation flavor still belongs to the original IP, to the former Black Island Studio. The other part of the radiation flavor belongs to Er Gou Studio."

"Fallout 3 almost completely reinterpreted the Fallout IP, giving it a brand new look and feel, and it was accepted by gamers worldwide. However, now that the IP is being handed back to Obsidian Entertainment, does this mean another tearing apart? How will the 'Two Dogs' style and the 'Obsidian' style' be blended together? This will be the biggest challenge for the entire game."

"Obsidian's radiation is more hardcore, more demanding, but also more niche. Er Gou's radiation is more interesting, more massive, and more story-driven."

"Therefore, in the eyes of many people, Er Gou's decision to hand over the game development rights to Obsidian is more like a money-making scheme, which makes people worry that it will overdraw the vitality of the Radiation IP."

"And now the answer has emerged."

"It was a courageous attempt, and it was also a near-perfect attempt."

"Because the two types of radiation smell blended together so well."

"You can clearly feel the Black Isle style, the father of Fallout, throughout the entire story. But you can also feel the influence of the new father of Fallout, the Second Dog, especially at certain key moments."

"After playing this game, we had a special conversation with Fergus Urquhart, the founder of Obsidian Entertainment. He clearly stated that as the boss, Er Gou Jiaozhu (the founder of Obsidian Entertainment) gave them a great deal of creative freedom, but was very insistent on a few points."

"That is to elevate the status of the two camps, increase the mystery and ritual of Caesar's Legion, enhance the weaponry and equipment of Caesar's Legion, and add several epic scenes."

"That's exactly why we gave this game a higher score. As a spin-off game, Fallout: New Vegas was actually very difficult to develop because it couldn't be like Fallout 3, but it couldn't lose its essence."

"If it had been made exactly as Obsidian Entertainment planned, it would still have been a great game. But after Er Gou elevated the game's script and world-building, the game became truly awe-inspiring."

"Especially when the two major camps were engaged in a decisive battle, the magnificent scene, the thousands of troops, and the feeling of countless black eagles falling were so shocking."

"According to an ancient Chinese saying, Master Er Gou's enhancement of this game has completely achieved the finishing touch."

"Of course, there is another huge surprise in this game, which is the further exploration of the limits of game graphics. Fallout 3's graphics were already top-notch back then, and they are still top-notch even today, but Fallout: New Vegas has improved in this aspect, so it is still the game with the best graphics to date."

"If you are a Fallout 3 player, you should buy it without hesitation. It will bring you a huge surprise and even a completely different experience."

"Even if you're not a Fallout 3 player, we recommend you give it a try, because it's really cool."

GameSpot gave it a high score of 9.1.

"The Second Dog Cult Leader and Obsidian can actually produce such a strong chemical reaction!"

Eurogamer gave it a score of 9.3.

"The best game of the year, bar none!"

Similarly, this game also forgoes the Xbox 360 platform, opting instead for a first release on PC and PS3.

Because it's not a mainline title, neither Sony nor the studio had high sales expectations; their main goal was to enrich the Fallout universe.

result……

A week later, sales (including pre-orders) exceeded 600 million!
After this data came out, Lin Xiao and Er Gou Studio were once again filled with disbelief.

This is not only much better than historical sales, but more importantly, it surpassed Fallout 3 in first-week sales!
Going crazy!
Where do these sales figures come from?
Then I checked the backend and saw that sales in China reached 180 million!
Holy crap!
In China, first-week sales exceeded the entire sales cycle of Fallout 3?
It's important to know that there are almost no physical game stores in China; all users make purchases through Facebook.

And this game is very expensive, 299 RMB in China and 60 USD abroad.

Moreover, many users posted in various communities.

"Uh, I admit one thing: I played Fallout 3 and The Witcher pirated copies, but this time I bought Fallout: New Vegas legitimately."

"2012 is so awesome, so I'm buying Fallout: New Vegas."

"I feel like I owe Master Er Gou something, so I bought it."

After reading these posts, Lin Xiao had only one deep feeling.

The lag in restoring reputation.

When he made Fallout 3, he did his best to cram a lot of Chinese elements into the game, even giving the protagonist a half-Chinese system and including many Chinese faction storylines.

As a result... it failed to please domestic gamers, sales were mediocre, and word-of-mouth was not explosive; it only became a hit in traditional game regions such as Europe, America, and Japan.

Surprisingly, Fallout: New Vegas has absolutely no Chinese elements. Although it has a proper simplified Chinese translation and professional Chinese voice acting, neither the game's factions nor its plot have anything to do with China.

As a result... it became a huge hit in the domestic market.

Moreover, this popularity actually occurred alongside the release of "2012".

Half a month later!

This game has sold over 900 million copies worldwide, with over 330 million sold in China!
Unexpectedly, a brand new sales miracle was born, and no one had anticipated it.

It even boosted sales of Fallout 3 on Facebook.

Many players played Fallout: New Vegas first, and then felt like a new world had been opened up before playing Fallout 3 and The Witcher.

Then, Facebook in China inexplicably discovered that it had become the largest single-player game sales channel in the country, and by a huge margin.

With just three single-player games, monthly sales exceeded 15 billion RMB.

Because the event happened so suddenly, Fallout 3 and The Witcher didn't even have time to go on sale; they were sold at full price.

Not only domestic game developers, but even global game developers are somewhat bewildered.

Isn't China a wasteland for the single-player game market?

How did they suddenly become so awesome?

This is just the beginning. In just a few years, the Chinese market will become the world's largest single-player game market, accounting for nearly one-third of the market share.

To Sony's surprise, Kazuo Hirai discovered that the previously flat sales curve for the PS3 had once again become steep.

Sony's biggest project this year is Resident Evil 5, and the game has not disappointed. It sold 4.4 million copies in March, 570,000 copies in April, and has now sold over 6 million copies.

However, Resident Evil 5 was not a PS3 exclusive launch, but rather launched simultaneously on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms.

However, Fallout: New Vegas stubbornly excluded the Xbox platform, so before the end of August, the game had already sold over 3 million copies on the PS3 platform, bringing Sony a net profit of 60 million US dollars.

This only includes the revenue share from game sales; it does not include the increased sales volume for the PS3.

Kazuo Hirai called Amy Pascal of Sony Pictures.

How much did 2012 gross worldwide?

“It’s $8.6 million now.” Amy: “The key is that the upward momentum is still going strong. All the authoritative institutions are now predicting that this movie will eventually gross more than $11 billion worldwide. You’ve seen it, Sony’s stock price has been rising.”

Kazuo Hirai sighed.

Amy Pascal: "Still no results from Sony Ericsson?"

Kazuo Hirai: "No."

At that moment, both of them were cursing inwardly.

To this day, Sony Ericsson has remained indecisive regarding its smartphone strategy. The chairman of the Sony Group stated that they would support the X operating system and quantum technology. However, the Sony Ericsson executives directly denied this. Then, under pressure from the group, they said they would actively push forward, but to this day, there's still no sign of a phone running the X operating system.

The conflict between Sony and Ericsson is intensifying, and Sony's proposed full acquisition is still mired in endless wrangling.

Therefore, some suggested that while the acquisition negotiations continued, the development of smartphones should not be stopped, a point Sony Ericsson agreed with.

However, Sony Ericsson was still debating which operating system to use.

Sony insisted on using the X operating system, while Ericsson insisted on using the Android system.

In fact, the current trend is already very clear.

The future mobile phone market will definitely move towards intelligence.

In recent months, sales of the iPhone 3GS and quantum phones have skyrocketed, and even the much-criticized Samsung I7500 has seen a surge in sales.

Lin Xiao's aggressive strategy brought the inevitable smartphone wave to a head earlier than expected.

This tide was so powerful that all the producers involved benefited.

A classic example of the Blue Ocean Effect.

........................

Meanwhile, the domestic market has entered into another frenzy.

The fact that "2012" grossed 4.6 million yuan in its opening week was already astonishing.

The box office reached 5.6 million in the second week!
Everyone knew that the box office mark of 1 billion RMB was a must-pass. But no one expected it to happen so quickly, so fiercely, and so decisively.

Within two weeks of its release, the film grossed 10.2 billion yuan.

This led to a frenzy in the entire market and a frenzy in the public opinion.

The only two product placements in the film were the quantum phone and WeChat.

The sales boom of quantum phones in China has passed. Although this movie has stirred up some waves, it will be extremely difficult for it to be particularly exciting.

However, it does have a certain impact on WeChat.

Daily active users have finally seen another strong surge.

However, neither the Lightning Group nor Lin Xiao dared to have any greater hope.

Because as long as it's WeChat on a computer, it's unlikely to cause much of a stir.

The reason for the continuous investment in advertising and the overwhelming publicity is mainly to implant a certain idea.

This concept can be that it doesn't bloom now, or even this year, but it can bloom next year, the year after, or the year after that.

........................

Meanwhile, in California, the lawsuit between Google and quantum technology was still raging.

Obviously, there will be no results in the short term.

However, the ongoing lawsuits have given the entire courtroom and even the entire tech industry a new understanding.

The X operating system has indeed registered a huge number of patents worldwide.

The current reality is not just that Android and iOS are infringing on each other's patents, but that iOS, iOS, and Android are infringing on each other's patents.

It's just that iOS is keeping a low profile and making a fortune while watching its two operating systems, Android and X, fight each other.

Meanwhile, the judges in the Northern District of California had already grasped the idea that Android infringed on more patents related to the X operating system.

Therefore, this lawsuit will continue for a very long time, and there is no possibility of a settlement between the two parties.

At this moment, Google and Android were experiencing both pain and joy.

The early arrival of the smart technology wave has led to a surge in sales of the Samsung i7500, with prices rising despite criticism.

The increasing prominence of this trend has prompted many mobile phone giants to make a firm decision to accelerate their transformation towards intelligent technology.

Therefore, more and more mobile phone manufacturers are contacting Google.

The core reason for this is that Google doesn't manufacture phones itself. Quantum Technology, on the other hand, not only promotes its operating system but also manufactures its own phones.

Many people think that it's unacceptable for someone to be both an athlete and a referee.

..............................

In late August, another Android phone was released with great fanfare.

Motorola's Droid!

This is currently the most significant product in the entire Android camp.

Many people may have the idea that Motorola eventually went bankrupt, and that it went bankrupt in the smartphone era, so its first smartphone was a failure.

On the contrary, due to brand inertia, coupled with the strength of their own products.

This phone sold exceptionally well. Historically, its product capabilities far surpassed Google's G1 and Samsung's I7500, hence its significantly higher sales.

Historically, it was the most popular Android phone of its time, second only to the iPhone in sales.

Perhaps it was Motorola's arrogance and domineering nature that allowed it to maintain its own pace.

It uses Texas Instruments' OMAP3430 SoC, which has nothing to do with quantum technology. It is a proprietary technology of Texas Instruments and can be sold to other manufacturers.

Undoubtedly, Texas Instruments is the biggest ally in quantum technology. The two companies have collaborated on the development of the X1 chip and the X1.5 chip. Currently, they are developing the most aggressive X2 chip, which is designed directly according to the 32-nanometer process technology. At present, TSMC, the foundry, has not even mastered this process technology.

However, this cannot stop Texas Instruments from cooperating with other mobile phone manufacturers. They cannot do business with only one company, and besides, Texas Instruments and Motorola have a longer history of relationship.

However, due to the influence of quantum phones, the screen of this phone has also changed from 3.7 inches to 4 inches.

Its resolution is even higher than that of quantum phones, reaching 854×480. Moreover, the display quality of this screen is no less than that of quantum phones, and its clarity is even slightly better.

Originally, this phone featured a slider design that retained the keyboard, but still managed to keep the thickness to 13.7 millimeters, making it the thinnest slider phone on the market.

The failure of Google's G1 last year and the success of the quantum phone led Samsung and Motorola to abandon their original designs. Motorola also abandoned the slider and keyboard and used virtual keys instead.

As a result, it directly controlled the thickness to within 9 millimeters, becoming a product even thinner than the quantum phone.

Its CMOS sensor doesn't aggressively adopt 800 megapixels, but instead uses 500 megapixels, yet the overall image quality is very high, almost on par with quantum phones.

Such product strength, coupled with Motorola's strong momentum among mobile phone users and its enormous brand power.

Therefore, once it is released!
This phone exploded immediately.

Especially in the US market, because he released it several months earlier, when the iPhone 4 hadn't even appeared yet.

Therefore, its popularity and sales in the United States immediately surpassed those of the iPhone 3GS, making it the hottest mobile phone in the country.

Unlike the Samsung I7500, which received mixed reviews, this Motorola phone was generally praised more than criticized.

At this point, Google could almost see the victory in sight.

Because if this continues, the release of just these two phones from Samsung and Motorola will cause Android to surpass the market share of OS X.

Not to mention that Lenovo, LG and other giants will be releasing new Android phones, and the most important one is the Nexus One.

According to their estimates, by May or June of next year at the latest, the Android system will have completely crushed the X operating system.

........................

Faced with the strong sales of Motorola's phone, the most anxious party is not Quantum Technology, but Microsoft.

All of this happened so fast.

Windows Mobile was doing well last year, with a very high market share. How come it suddenly plummeted?

The key is a trend.

In the past year alone, the shipment volume of mobile phones using the three operating systems—Android, Quantum, and iOS—reached nearly 4000 million units.

Moreover, this trend is becoming increasingly evident.

And the culprit behind all of this is HTC.

For a long time, HTC was the biggest supporter of Windows Mobile. But last year, they suddenly switched to the Android camp.

When interviewed, a reporter asked HTC's CEO if they had betrayed Microsoft and completely sided with Google.
HTC keeps denying that this is true, and we have always been Microsoft's staunchest supporters.

What happened? In the next two or three years, it released ten phones, nine of which were Android and only one was Windows Mobile.

So a few years later, Microsoft relentlessly attacked HTC in the US market, even banning its sales.

Faced with this clear trend, Microsoft had to make a decision, which certainly wasn't to acquire Nokia.

Instead, they want to develop a completely new Windows Mobile system, but... judging from the current situation, it's clear that it might be a bit too late.

By the time they release operating systems on par with iOS and Android, the market share has already been taken over by other operating systems.

As for acquiring Apple? Absolutely not.

Acquiring Android? That's even less likely.

These two companies are now very powerful, with market capitalization almost comparable to Microsoft's.

So the only path facing Microsoft is quantum technology!

Moreover, this time is different from the last time; Microsoft has to adopt a humble attitude and back down.

So Microsoft called Lin Xiao and asked if he had time.
The person in Lin Xiao's office answered the phone and apologized profusely, saying that Mr. Lin had been very busy lately and would be staying in China, so he probably wouldn't have time to go to the United States.

Nobody believes you.

In less than a month, you've come to the United States twice, once for a movie and once for Fallout: New Vegas.

So Microsoft held an internal meeting and made a decision immediately.

The chairman of Microsoft personally led a delegation to visit China.

The most important target of the visit was Lin Xiao's quantum technology.

Previously, you were the ones who came to Microsoft headquarters to pay homage. This time, we are the ones who need your help, so we took the initiative to visit Quantum Technology. Isn't that a great show of sincerity?

Mr. Lin Xiao, haven't we given you enough face this time?

Then, Microsoft called Lin Xiao's office again, requesting access.

Soon, Lin Xiao returned the call personally.

“We are very honored to invite the Microsoft team to China and to visit Quantum Technology. If Mr. Bill Gates has the time, we would very much like him to come as well.”

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Note: Finally finished writing! If you have any monthly votes, please keep sending them to me! Thank you...

(End of this chapter)