PDLP Chapter 209 will take 3 months.
Chapter 209 will take 3 months.
4 PM, Irvine, California, Blizzard Entertainment office building.
Mike Morhaime's office wasn't large, but it was piled high with gaming peripherals and design sketches. Original Diablo artwork hung on the walls, and early StarCraft concept art sat on the bookshelves. He sat behind his desk, looking at Jim Olsen and his accompanying Microsoft technical director across from him.
"Three months is the fastest we can go," Mike said. "We have an agreement with StarCraft for a three-month exclusivity period. During that time, we can't release a Windows version."
Jim leaned forward: "We can compensate you for your losses. Microsoft can cover the revenue difference during the exclusivity period. In addition, we can send an engineering team to help you with the porting and optimization. The best people on the DirectX team will arrive next week."
Mike shook his head: "It's not about money, and it's not about technology. An agreement is an agreement. And..." He paused, "StarCraft provided a lot of low-level support. Two people from their kernel team have been stationed here almost constantly for the past six months, helping us solve graphics driver and memory management issues. If we suddenly switch, it will affect the development schedule."
"We can provide equal or even better support," the Microsoft technical director interjected. "DirectX 6.0 will be released next year with many new features. If you start adapting now, you can use it immediately."
Mike smiled. "Dave, I respect your team. But StarCraft's approach is a bit different... They grant kernel-level modification privileges. We encountered a performance bottleneck, and their engineers directly modified the kernel memory scheduling algorithm, releasing a new version for us three days later. You can hardly match that level of collaboration."
Jim felt his mouth go dry. He loosened his tie. "Mike, Blizzard has always been one of the most important partners for the Windows platform. How many copies of Diablo have sold on Windows? Two million? Three million? StarCraft has even greater potential. Don't you want it to reach as many players as possible?"
"Of course we want to," Mike said, "so we'll release the Windows version in three months. But for now, we have to abide by the agreement."
"Can we move it forward? Even by a month?" Jim asked. "To February, not March."
Mike glanced at the calendar: "I'll ask the development team, but don't get your hopes up too high. The current version is heavily optimized for StarCraft; porting it to Windows will require rewriting many low-level calls. Three months is already a tight deadline."
The conversation lasted another twenty minutes, with Jim trying various angles—market prospects, long-term cooperation, and even hinting that Microsoft might provide Blizzard with more support at the operating system level in the future. Mike remained polite but firm throughout.
Finally, Jim stood up and shook hands with a firm grip: "I hope you'll reconsider. If you need any resources, feel free to call me."
Mike walked them to the office door: "Thank you for coming all this way. StarCraft is a great game, and I believe it will eventually succeed on all platforms."
Jim forced a smile, turned, and left.
As they went downstairs, Technical Director Dave whispered, "Their optimization is probably really deep. I just noticed the frame rate on their test machines... at least 20% higher than the Windows machines with similar configurations in our lab."
Jim didn't say anything. Reaching the parking lot, he opened the car door and glanced back at Blizzard's office building. The glass facade reflected the California sunset, its orange-red light blinding.
After getting in the car, he took out his phone and called Ballmer.
"How did the talks go?" Ballmer's voice came through.
"Three months isn't enough to fix it," Jim said. "Their collaboration with StarCraft is closer than we thought. Technically, StarCraft provided them with kernel-level support."
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.
"And another thing," Jim continued, "I heard from the side that StarCraft has signed contracts with more than just Blizzard. They also have partnerships with id Software, Epic, and several independent studios. They trade technical support for exclusive periods or priority compatibility."
"Ecology," Ballmer said. "They are building their own ecosystem."
"And the speed is very fast. That Spark Internet Cafe now has seven locations across the US, all opened in the last two months. The game is popular, and the hardware sales are following suit. Their mouse and keyboard sales have increased by 300% this month."
"Jim," Ballmer's voice turned serious, "when you come back, I need a complete solution. Games, hardware, brick-and-mortar stores... StarCraft is launching a full-scale attack. We can't just keep focusing on the browser anymore."
"clear."
After hanging up the phone, Jim leaned back in his chair. The driver started the car and drove out of the parking lot. He looked out the window; in the window of an electronics store on the street, a television was playing a news channel. The scene cut to Silicon Valley, where a reporter stood at the entrance of the Spark Internet Cafe, with a crowd of people queuing behind him.
The reporter said, "...This is not just the success of a game, but the beginning of a new model. Combining hardware and software, and driving sales through offline experiences, the Star System is entering the market in an unexpected way..."
Jim turned off the sound.
8 PM, Spark Internet Cafe in Silicon Valley.
The last rush hour had just passed, but the restaurant was still about 70% full. Chen Lingling was checking accounts at the front desk, the sounds of keyboard typing and game audio mingling together. The door opened, and Ling Yun walked in.
He wasn't wearing a suit, but rather a Star Technology T-shirt—featuring a minimalist star pattern on the chest. Chen Lingling looked up, startled: "President Ling? What brings you here?"
"Come and take a look," Ling Yun said, walking to the front desk and looking into the store. "Business is good."
"We sold fifty-three sets of games and thirty-two sets of keyboards and mice today," Chen Lingling showed him the sales records. "The reservation list is already booked until the day after tomorrow."
Ling Yun nodded, his gaze falling on the shelf. Most of the StarCraft boxes had already been sold, leaving empty space for samples of the Starfire optical mouse. A customer was trying it out in the demo area, the screen displaying a StarCraft battle scene.
"The people from Microsoft went to Blizzard today," Ling Yun said, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather.
Chen Lingling looked at him.
"Mike called me," Lingyun continued, "They wanted an earlier Windows version, but it didn't work out."
"That……"
"Just stick to the plan." Ling Yun turned around. "The Palo Alto store opens next month, and we're also negotiating locations in New York and Boston. Remember, an internet cafe isn't just an internet cafe; it's an experience center, a sales channel, and a brand window."
Chen Lingling nodded earnestly.
Ling Yun walked to the demo area and stood behind a customer trying out the game, watching for a while. The customer was using the Spark Mouse to micro-manage a machine gunner, and the units on the screen responded quickly. After the game ended, the customer took off his headphones and let out a long sigh of relief.
"This mouse is good," he said, turning to Lingyun. "It's more comfortable than a Logitech."
"We're in optoelectronics," Lingyun said, "more accurate than a rolling ball."
"The system is good too, it doesn't lag." The customer stood up. "Do you sell these computers?"
"Sell," Ling Yun said, "It's an alien brand, the Star System. The configuration can be customized."
"I'll think about it." The customer walked towards the front desk, then glanced back at the screen. "This game is really addictive."
After the guests left, Ling Yun sat down at the computer he had just been using. He opened StarCraft, selected Terran, and quickly started a game. The controls were smooth, and the graphics were stable. After playing for ten minutes, he switched to the system monitor—memory usage was 62%, and CPU load was stable.
He turned off the game and stood up.
"President Ling," Chen Lingling approached, lowering her voice, "What if Microsoft...?"
"Yes," Ling Yun said, "they will make a move. But we've already secured a three-month window of opportunity. Three months is enough time for more players to get used to StarCraft and Starfire's hardware."
He walked to the door, then stopped: "By the way, I've reviewed the Christmas promotion plan, it's acceptable. Increase the discount a bit more; we're after market share, not profit per unit."
"clear."
Ling Yun pushed open the door and went out. The night breeze in Silicon Valley was cool, and the streets were brightly lit. He looked up and could see that several buildings in the Microsoft R&D center not far away were still lit.
He took out his phone and dialed a number.
"Li Mo, are you asleep?... How's the patent progress for the optical mouse back home?... Okay, speed it up. Also, I'll come back next week to see the prototype of the next-generation keyboard. And tell Mr. Ni that we're expanding the chip design team again; money isn't a problem."
After hanging up, he stood for a moment, then walked towards the parking lot. A silver Rolls-Royce Silver Spur was parked in the corner, and Zhao Hu stood beside it.
"Back to the company?" Zhao Hu asked.
"Hmm," Ling Yun opened the car door, "I still have some emails to process."
The car drove into the night. Ling Yun leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. The car radio was tuned to a technology news channel, and the host was discussing today's industry trends:
"...Analysts believe that the success of StarCraft may be a turning point for the StarCraft operating system in the consumer market. Although Microsoft still holds an absolute advantage, StarCraft is building barriers in niche markets through vertical integration. This operating system war may have only just entered a new phase..."