Chapter 333: Chapter 329: Just 500 dollars, bringing the latest model console home to the family!
Translator: 549690339
Alex spent the entire afternoon in Night City.
After briefly going offline for dinner and finding out that the signed photos had already been sent, she returned to Night City.
She continued to work in the venue where the virtual concert was to be held until 8:30 in the evening.
As a songwriter who mostly stayed at home, she didn’t really care about online gossip and was unaware that people at Cloud Dream usually finished work at 5 o’clock.
She still assumed that it was normal for everyone to be busy until late at night preparing for something as complex as a concert.
Everyone else was more or less accommodating her, especially Quentina, who seemed nothing like a mature middle-aged woman and was staring at Alex intently, like a young girl.
Finally, Princess Camille Victoria couldn’t stand it any longer and went to Alex’s side, whispering an explanation to her ear.
Only then Alex realized that the people in the venue had been decreasing in number.
Unknowingly, it was already less than a third of the original crowd.
So, she smiled awkwardly but gracefully apologized to everyone, saying they would continue another day.
In her view, the current conditions in the virtual world, where anything could be created from scratch, made it a waste to design the concert according to the standard format.
She wanted to raise the standards to the highest level.
Not only Lincoln and Fred, but also all the Cloud Dream employees involved in the project were supportive without hesitation.
It wasn’t solely because of Alex’s personal charm.
Despite their humble appearances, the Cloud Dream employees were all proud at heart.
They hadn’t aimed for the highest level before because they didn’t know enough about the relevant fields.
When seeking advice from industry professionals, they also based their explanations on existing cases according to their personal experience.
Alex was different. Not only did she have experience performing with top-level equipment, but she herself was also the most professional “behind-the-scenes worker.”
She had not only the highest level of experience but also the ambition and experience to break through the top level and seek even better results.
This ambition, which was almost impossible to achieve in reality due to restrictions of technology and venues, could be fully realized in the virtual world.
Of course, breaking through existing experience and exploring further possibilities would require a lot of time to explore and balance.
In the following days, Alex was likely to spend much more time at Cloud Dream than initially anticipated.
Most Cloud Dream employees, especially Quentina, were more than happy to accommodate her.
Lincoln only found out about the “concert configuration upgrade” the next morning.
He and Princess Camille Victoria had welcomed Alex and spent the whole afternoon watching her.
After listening to just half of a song, Alex felt the effects were not good enough, and so she started focusing on the equipment’s sound quality.
Lincoln quickly realized that the employees could easily meet Alex’s demands, and he was just a bystander, so he left on time when his shift ended.
After all, if there really was a problem, he could log back in at any time.
As a result, no one paid attention to him, allowing him to sleep peacefully until the next morning.
And today was already Saturday, a day off for the entire Cloud Dream team.
Even the marketing department group, which was still in the process of acquiring IPs, had stopped and started their weekend, not to mention Fred’s “Speedy Chase” development team.
Alex, who had a bunch of ideas she came up with in the virtual world, now could only keep them to herself.
Finally, all she could do was send a text message to Camille Victoria, complaining, “Why did you choose such a lazy company for your internship? How can they survive in the fierce market competition without any sense of crisis?”
Princess Camille Victoria was speechless.
The hundreds of people at Cloud Dream indeed had no sense of crisis at all.
Not even a little bit.
As Camille Victoria was comforting Alex, the player community was silently looking forward to an upcoming event.
Although nearly 10 million people were anticipating it, there was hardly any discussion on the Internet.
They wondered if Cloud Dream would release the console this week.
And if they did, it must be the second generation Mirage console, right?
Cloud Dream’s speed in gaming, R&D for prosthetic limbs, and IP acquisitions are well known among players.
Basically, when Cloud Dream tells you, “I’m going to do this,” it usually means that it will be accomplished soon and will be introduced to everyone.
With Lincoln’s release of the limited-edition commemorative badges, everyone had high expectations for the console release this week.
However, no one was discussing it, nor were they reminding other players.
“It’s best if others aren’t prepared so that I don’t have to worry about not getting one!” thought Super Tomato, who wasn’t live streaming and wished that fewer people would focus on the console sales.
Under this strange understanding, the clock finally struck eight.
The web page refreshed, and the console went on sale!
The inventory showed an astonishing 20 million units!
The second generation of Mirage products, thanks to the removal of many cables and the unchanged main structure, made the adjustments to the assembly line extremely simple and efficient.
After completing the last batch of orders for the first-generation console, the production line began adjusting.
Under Zhou Jingzheng’s management, the Unmanned Factory has been constantly expanding production under Lincoln’s guidance and has adjusted the production line the earliest.
Thus, after this round of upgrades, they could grab half of the share straight away.
Apart from their own Unmanned Factory, there are now only two collaborating factories left, with each taking on a quarter of the production share.
These two were the earliest factories to establish cooperation with Cloud Dream and have also undergone several capacity increases.
The other factories have, however, terminated their collaboration, and the auxiliary production software installed by Mavis has been remotely uninstalled.
20 million is a number that Lincoln considered because the second-generation console is a newly-launched device, which may cause a surge in sales, hence the increased production capacity.
He only thought there would be a surge, but underestimated the intensity of this surge!
The moment they went on sale, the available stock quickly plummeted.
To make it convenient for players, Lincoln made it so that [Mirage 2.0] and [Mirage 1.0] didn’t share a cooldown time for limited purchases.
In other words, the limit of being able to purchase only one console every six months only applies to consoles of the same generation.
Under these circumstances, even if someone just bought a first-generation Mirage console last week, they could still purchase a second-generation console this week.
This led to a repeat of the boom that occurred when the first-generation Mirage was initially unveiled on the Internet!
In just one minute, a whopping 2.3 million [Mirage 2.0] units were sold!
After that, the sales curve showed no signs of slowing down, with stock rapidly decreasing every second.
It wasn’t until their inventory had been reduced by 10 million units that the speed of new orders coming in finally slowed down, entering a normal sales rhythm.
“Mavis, how many people who own the first-generation Mirage have also purchased the second-generation console?” asked Lincoln.
“So~ many!” exclaimed Mavis: “Right now, there are already over 6.4 million people! And there are still players placing orders.”
“How could there be so many?” Lincoln was quite surprised and felt somewhat conflicted.
To say he’s very happy, well, he isn’t; he’s more interested in having more users, not more money.
However, if he were to say he’s not happy at all, that wouldn’t be the case, since he’s earned even more money.
Who would turn against money, after all?
Super Tomato, on the other hand, wasn’t surprised at all by what Lincoln found surprising.
As soon as the console was available, he was well-prepared and quickly clicked to buy almost simultaneously.
The original price was 12,000 dollars, with a first-month discount of 2,000 dollars, leaving a balance of 10,000 dollars.
During the payment, he deducted the 500-dollar balance from his account as a result of purchasing the first-generation console, leaving 9,500 dollars.
It felt—like it was even cheaper than the first generation!
This was because he wanted to keep the first-generation console and wasn’t willing to opt for an exchange.
As a video uploader who doesn’t lack money, he felt that the first-generation console had a high collector’s value and, in the future, it might skyrocket in value as a collectible.
—Of course, he had no intention of selling; he decided to have his own collection.
Though collecting a gaming console that had just come out of the factory less than four months ago might seem a bit strange, Super Tomato didn’t mind at all.
He even went ahead and cleared a spot in his display cabinet, waiting to clean the first-generation console thoroughly and put it into the glass cabinet as soon as the [Mirage 2.0] arrived.
And it needs to be in the most prominent spot!
He believed that due to Mirage’s status in gaming history, it was definitely worth that treatment!
However, Super Tomato knew that not everyone shared his hobby of collecting outdated consoles.
Compared to keeping the first-generation console and even anticipating its future appreciation, more people would choose to trade in their old for new and enjoy the immediate benefits.
After all, with all the discounts, [Mirage 2.0] has only 9,500 dollars left, and trading in old for new can offset a full 9,000 dollars!
What kind of concept is that?
For just 500 dollars! A [brand new – revolutionary – virtual reality gaming console – wireless model] could be taken home!
It’s practically a gift!
Who could resist?
Super Tomato even believed that the reason there are still almost 10 million consoles left in stock is that many players haven’t realized this yet.
Once everyone realizes that Cloud Dream’s discounts can be combined without any restrictions, and new consoles can be traded in for just 500 dollars, the remaining consoles might be cleared out today!
With that in mind, Super Tomato swiftly opened his live broadcast room, intending to remind his fans.
He also planned to help Cloud Dream promote their products voluntarily, thinking that Lincoln would definitely be grateful, right?
Today you help me, tomorrow I’ll help you; that’s the sophisticated way to interact with others among the high-end uploader circle!
“Good morning, dear audience! I’ve started an emergency broadcast to share some great news with you: for just 500 dollars, you can take home the latest virtual reality gaming console!”
“I swear on the life of a small dog!”
“For just 500 dollars, there’ll be no loss or deception!”