Chapter 129 The reason why Microsoft does not do electronic payments

Author: Crow One

Chapter 129 The reason why Microsoft does not do electronic payments

Zhou Xin raised his head and glanced at the luxurious and exquisite lighting on the ceiling of the hotel lobby, and said lightly:

"I hope so. I have always believed that as the performance of personal computers develops, video games will become more and more abundant, and the value of Riot Games will become increasingly prominent.

In the future, the market for virtual items will grow at an unimaginable speed, which is also an opportunity for Riot Games.

We will be involved in the transaction of game items in the future. In other words, Riot is not just a game channel, it will penetrate into all aspects of video games."

After the Internet companies of later generations develop into giant models, they will try every means to build an ecosystem.

This is true for Chinese Internet companies, and the same is true for American Internet companies. Taking Microsoft as an example, from MSN, Bing to OpenAI, they have always maintained an aggressive attitude towards the Internet service field.

Google has also acquired a large number of Internet products, from YouTube to the Android operating system.

Zhou Xin’s idea is not unusual to Bill Gates, who agreed: “In fact, I think we can spin off Microsoft’s gaming department and merge it with Riot Games in the near future.

The only thing missing from Riot Games to offer a full range of video game products and services is game consoles.

I know that Microsoft's game console project is still in the internal research and development stage, and at the same time it faces external competitors, such as Nintendo, Sony and Sega, so it is difficult for Microsoft's game department to set a price.

After we make the product and it is fully verified by the market, we can have in-depth discussions on this matter."

Zhou Xin asked: "What are your thoughts on the way Microsoft operating systems are sold online?

That is what we have communicated before, putting the download link of Microsoft operating system on the official website. After downloading, users have a one-month trial period. When the one-month period is up, they need to purchase a verification code through electronic payment before they can continue to use it.

"

Bill looked embarrassed: "Newman, from the bottom of my heart, I really hope to adopt this method.

Using online sales can greatly reduce our costs.

Microsoft's channel costs, marketing costs and production costs are very high costs. If we adopt online sales, we can save these costs and give part of the profits to users.

Windows 98 se, which we launched this year, sells for about US$180 to US$210, of which at least half is channel cost and production cost.

Using the online method, the price can be reduced to US$120, and our profits will be even higher.

It is also conducive to Microsoft's nationwide unified pricing.

But this involves a relatively large adjustment of the entire company, and it is difficult for me to make a decision so quickly.

Because online sales mean that prices need to be re-priced, and contracts with our original retailers, distributors and other partners must be renegotiated. On the production side, from making CDs to packaging materials to user manuals, all aspects of the supply chain are involved.

All downstream companies need to re-plan their annual production targets.

These involve all aspects, which does not mean that I can implement them immediately after I decide.

You mentioned it to me before, and I asked our internal strategic research department to make a detailed research report, and conducted a detailed investigation on the impact if we adopt an online sales model.

The final result is that we can’t do it yet, but we will do it sooner or later in the future.”

Bill paused for a moment and continued: "I actually agree with you about video games.

Moore's Law determines that the performance of chips is constantly improving. The better the performance of the chip, the memory and CPU will improve accordingly, and the game content and game graphics that the hardware can support will qualitatively improve.

In 1980, I was only 25 years old, and I was helping IBM develop the PC-DOS operating system. The most popular video games at that time were "Space Invaders" developed by Taito and "Pac-Man" developed by Namco.

From today's perspective, the graphics of these two games are very simple, and the most popular games last year were "Angry Birds" and "Plants vs. Zombies".

In 1980, the hardware and monitors at that time could not support the creation of games such as "Angry Birds" and "Plants vs. Zombies".

Plants and zombies may only be very abstract pixels.

In the future, with the advancement of hardware equipment, we will have more and richer games.

I think 3D technology is one of the directions of future video games.

In the ten years from 1990 to 1999, game platforms continued to iterate. Nintendo evolved from the Super Nintendo to today's Nintendo N64. Sony's PS became a great success after entering the market.

The game types have also changed from single action and role-playing games to today's real-time strategy games and shooting games.

The global electronic game market has grown from US$10 billion in 1990 to US$60 billion today, and it still maintains a high-speed growth trend today.

In short, the video game market has achieved significant growth in the past decade. Platform competition, diversification of game types, global market expansion, emerging distribution channels and mature retail markets and other factors have jointly promoted the prosperity of electronic games."

Because Microsoft has a long internal debate process on whether to enter the field of console games, Bill Gates, as the leader of this strategy, has read these demonstration reports more than once.

He is very familiar with the history of video game development in the past and is very optimistic about the future development of video games.

Of course, I won’t start the Xbox project if I’m not optimistic about it.

Zhou Xin and Bill Gates clinked their goblets again: "Since you are so optimistic, why do you think I will merge Riot Games and Microsoft's gaming department?"

"There is no competitor to Riot Games on the market. Yahoo, the only possible competitor to Riot Games, has been unanimously rejected by players because of its plagiarism.

The challenges that Microsoft's project faces are from Neon giants, Nintendo, Sony and Sega. Even with Microsoft's support for this project, Microsoft's game console is still facing a very severe test."

Bill Gates turned sideways and looked at Zhou Xin: "I agree with your point of view, Riot Games can survive well without merging with Microsoft's gaming department.

After the merger of Microsoft's game department and Riot Games, we can gain a certain initiative in the competition with Neon's console manufacturers.

Riot has become a brand. Although Microsoft is very famous, in the field of gamers, its reputation is not as good as Riot.

I don’t deny this. Just as users recognize Yahoo’s portal, their acceptance of MSN is limited.

If Riot merges with Microsoft's gaming division through a stock swap, I will make concessions elsewhere.

For example, make NewPay the only payment software available online for Windows operating systems.

What do you think of this chip?

The stock exchange for the merger will still proceed as usual, and this is my bargaining chip to promote this matter."

Zhou Xin was not surprised that Bill Gates realized the importance of NewPay to Zhou Xin. He would only overestimate and not underestimate Bill Gates' vision and strategic thinking.

"I still need to think about it."

"Newman, I know that NewPay is the most important company to you among all your companies. You will sell Quora and list Riot, but you will never let NewPay go public. Even if you raise financing, it will be in the form of A/B shares.

There should be many people who see this. NewPay is very valuable and can become the infrastructure of the Internet in the future.

I am not surprised that it will become the American Bank of the Internet in the future. It has this potential, but there are many competitors who also see the potential in the electronic payment field.

Windows operating system is the only payment channel for online sales. This should have some attraction for NewPay to become the Amerikan Bank in the field of electronic payment?"

Amerikan Bank is Amerikan's largest personal bank.

Zhou Xin asked back: "Since you realize how important it is to me and know the potential of electronic payment, why doesn't Microsoft do electronic payment?"

Microsoft never got involved in the field of electronic payments when Bill Gates was in charge. It was not until 2016, after Bill Gates retired, that Microsoft launched Microsoft Wallet.

Microsoft Wallet is somewhat similar to Apple Pay and Googlepay.

Microsoft Wallet allows users to store credit card, debit card and membership card information in one application and complete payments through NFC technology.

Bill Gates said: "Because it's not interesting.

Electronic payment is really boring in my opinion.

I hope to do some more creative and imaginative work. Electronic payment is nothing more than realizing the credit card system through computers.

I'm not saying it doesn't make sense, it makes sense, I'm also using NewPay, it's very convenient, more convenient than a credit card in some cases.

But I find it boring to make such a product. I just need to think about what traditional payment methods can be implemented using computers."

Bill Gates spread his hands with a helpless expression.

After a pause, Bill Gates continued: "I often go to China, and I know many rich people in China.

When rich people in China get rich, they like to buy water, electricity, natural gas companies, and real estate.

Their investment strategy is very conservative and they hope to ensure the appreciation of their assets through these areas.

In my opinion, electronic payment is actually somewhat similar to these companies, and its functions and values ​​are also very similar."

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