Digital Harvest
October was the season of harvest in the Digital Revolution. Though Yoo Jae-won's profession was not that of a farmer, he could certainly feel the sensation. It was because he had sown so many seeds under the name of ID Technology, resulting in a wide variety of incoming revenue streams.
The harvest began with Electronic Arts. "Our partnership is now invincible!" In mid-October, on the day of quarterly settlements, President Hawkins called with an excited voice. Wolfenstein, distributed through Electronic Arts, had achieved its expected victory. There had been no surprises. Steady advertising had built anticipation, and on the release date, without any delays, a massive number of packages had been deployed. Thanks to Yoo Jae-won's review, the game's completion level had reached its absolute peak. From graphics to stage composition, everything was flawless, and the final touch was the network-based multiplayer.
Even open-world games boasting vast map sizes quickly grew tiresome when played alone, but player-versus-player combat introduced unpredictable variables that kept things fresh. Above all, while Keyboard Warrior had supported a maximum of four players in network play, Wolfenstein increased that to a standard eight. This was when using a single user's computer as the server. If a high-performance computer installed the dedicated Wolfenstein server program, up to sixteen players could connect for 8-vs-8 brawls. Naturally, Aegis Shield was also applied to the title. Network play required a genuine copy, which further accelerated genuine sales. As a result, within a month of release, the prepared one million copies had all sold out—faster than Keyboard Warrior by a full month.
President Hawkins had not even waited for the first print run to sell out completely. Watching the speed at which inventory moved, he immediately produced and released a second batch. The settlement funds were deposited right away. Wolfenstein's wholesale price was forty dollars, with a 5:5 split. So far, 1.2 million copies had sold. That meant ID Technology's share was 24 million dollars, minus an 8.6% withholding sales tax. The actual amount deposited was therefore 21.936 million dollars. President Hawkins declared they would aim for a double-million title next, then hung up.
But Yoo Jae-won's work was not yet finished. If ID Technology had created Wolfenstein entirely on its own, the full amount would belong to him. However, it was an ID Software title. Only half belonged to Yoo Jae-won; the other half went to ID Software. Therefore, he also had to settle accounts with them. He could have delayed the settlement date to generate interest income through minor exploitation, but ID Technology was not a small company desperate for such marginal gains.
Yoo Jae-won immediately connected via messenger with Remington in Silicon Valley. Following Choi Kang-wook's advice, financial management was being handled from Seoul. The settlement funds from Electronic Arts were also being deposited directly without passing through the Silicon Valley office, so Remington would not know the exact revenue until informed.
"I expected as much, but it really is a mega-hit. We have to acknowledge the boss's skill." Remington sounded as pleased as if it were his own achievement. At the same time, he showed no hesitation in praising Yoo Jae-won.
"Haha. This is just the basics!" Yoo Jae-won replied as if it were obvious, and Remington accepted it without question. This was already the third hit title, so he had no choice but to acknowledge the skill.
"The settlement for Wolfenstein is 21.936 million dollars."
"Wow, I expected it, but hearing it directly is incredible. John might die of shock when he finds out." Remington made it clear he was quite close with John Carmack, the lead producer at ID Software. It was inevitable—after Wolfenstein's release, Carmack had contacted him via messenger every single day without fail to ask about sales figures. Electronic Arts sent regular weekly updates and irregular reports when unusual sales occurred, but Carmack's daily inquiries had become momentarily annoying. Still, after playing network games together in Wolfenstein and sharing many conversations, they had naturally grown close.
In truth, John Carmack wanted to become closer to Yoo Jae-won. However, Yoo Jae-won was not constantly logged into messenger, and the time difference between Texas and Korea was even greater than with San Francisco, making it difficult to coordinate.
"Shall I deliver the news?"
"It's fine. Looking at the messenger users now, John is online too. Instead, Remington, you have something to do."
"Yes, what is it?"
"Purchase eight BMW M3s."
"Whew~! Rewards for the ID Software friends, I see."
Correct. Yoo Jae-won had promised that if Wolfenstein sales at ID Software exceeded one million copies, he would give each of them a nice car. They had worried about how many copies their game would sell, but for Yoo Jae-won, who already knew the outcome, it had simply been a promise to buy cars. Among the cars owned by the ID Software friends, the best was John Carmack's old Impala. It was so worn that it often failed to start. While BMW's recognition would skyrocket in the 21st century, it was already at a respectable level now. Moreover, it was not an ordinary model but the performance-tuned M series, so they would surely be delighted. Of course, given the current results, even buying Ferraris would not be excessive. But he planned to save Ferraris as rewards for the next project. There were many potential blockbusters at ID Software that would surpass Wolfenstein.
After a brief exchange with Remington, Yoo Jae-won accepted John Carmack's conversation request. Since Carmack had been requesting a chat ever since Yoo Jae-won logged into messenger, the connection was immediate.
“10.96 million.” As soon as the chat connection was established, Yoo Jae-won entered a single number.
"Hi! Boss, what's been keeping you so busy lately…… Waaaaah!"
John was a person with good intuition. While typing a greeting, he saw the single number and immediately understood its meaning. At the news that their share would be a full 10.96 million dollars, his keyboard flew into the air. Though Yoo Jae-won was the president of ID Software, operations had been delegated to John Carmack. When acquiring the shares, Yoo Jae-won had promised a free development environment, and that promise was being thoroughly upheld. The distribution of the settlement funds being deposited this time was also John Carmack's responsibility. Whether to divide it equally among colleagues out of loyalty or to differentiate based on performance was entirely up to him.
The second harvest was ID Office. Although it had borrowed some of Electronic Arts' distribution network, most of it was ID Technology's independently developed channels. The results were extremely encouraging. They had signed direct contracts with approximately three hundred retailers across the United States. Compared to Electronic Arts' thousands, the number was modest, but these were specialized stores selling enterprise software rather than games, and they were quite large in scale. For such specialized stores, the usual split ratio was 7:3. Selling one 120-dollar Office package meant ninety dollars for ID Technology and thirty for the retailer. They had also signed distribution contracts with several major wholesalers handling professional software in the U.S., where the split was 6:4.
Performance varied greatly by wholesaler. Western and eastern states, with larger populations and higher incomes, saw strong sales of ID Office, while central states had smaller, more scattered populations, making sales less smooth. However, since ID Technology began the Security Challenge event, encouraging results had started to emerge. As an office program perfectly suited for high-performance PC users with 386 or better processors, and especially known for its strong security, demand from businesses was surging. State governments in the U.S. had inquired about discounts for bulk purchases, and this had led to actual orders of hundreds of copies. For bulk purchases, calling ID Technology directly for purchase was the cheapest option. For single units, buying from retail stores was easier.
The flagship store had also achieved the feat of selling a thousand packages on its opening day alone. Though the excitement had cooled somewhat as autumn arrived, it was still selling over a hundred units steadily each day. Because the distribution channels were so diverse and complex, settlements were somewhat complicated. The flagship store recorded sales immediately upon daily closing. In contrast, products distributed through wholesalers required at least a month. Therefore, only now, in mid-October after the August 15 launch, had proper sales figures finally emerged: 375,000 copies. Compared to Wolfenstein's 1.2 million, it was only one-third the number. But considering ID Office was a specialized professional program, it was an enormous sales volume. Especially given the high package price of 120 dollars, the revenue was tremendous.
After deducting package production costs, distributor margins, advertising expenses, and promotional costs, the net profit had decreased somewhat significantly. 23,083,200 dollars! After subtracting all costs and withheld taxes such as sales tax, the net profit came to 23.083 million dollars. What was most frightening was that ID Office's sales were only just beginning. The full-scale signal for European expansion had also been raised. Furthermore, unlike games, which ended once purchased, Office was different. Since there were no online games yet implementing monthly subscriptions, once users bought the package and cleared it to the end, their motivation to play disappeared. That was why network play had been added to Wolfenstein, but even that would eventually grow tiresome with constant play. ID Office was different. It was a program directly tied to one's livelihood, and as the number of users increased, the files created with ID Office would explode in volume. To open office program files such as IDW, IDS, IDP, or IDD, ID Office was required, naturally leading to genuine purchases.
What made office programs frightening was version upgrades. The business environment was constantly and fiercely changing, and new technologies were continually demanded to respond. While such new technologies would also be distributed via patches, powerful features could be included in the next version. For maintenance purposes, people had no choice but to purchase new versions. This policy might cause complaints from those who had bought previous versions. However, simply providing upgrade packages with a slight discount made it easy to avoid controversy. This was all a path paved by Microsoft.
"By the way, how much should we give the Silicon Valley team?"
The development of ID Office had been led by Yoo Jae-won. From the program's design to the algorithms for its core functions, he had done almost everything himself. The development team in Silicon Valley, led by Dave Rogers, had fleshed out the framework Yoo Jae-won had designed to complete ID Office.
"This is tricky." Appropriate compensation for performance was the most important virtue in leading an organization called a company. Rewarding too generously might feel good in the moment but carried a high risk of problems later. Team members might overestimate their abilities, and when performance declined, complaints about reduced compensation were likely. Yet giving too little would build resentment and reduce work efficiency. Teamwork could easily break under external shocks. Last time, Microsoft had sent headhunters after Dave Rogers and several developers proven to have considerable ability within the team, but none had responded.