"Hurry up, use the Cherry Bomb!"
"No, no, no, put a Jalapeno there! It'll save you 25 sun."
Within an hour, no fewer than twenty people were crowded behind Richard. Half the gaming club was watching the action on his computer screen.
Everyone enthusiastically discussed plant placement strategies. After clearing level 19, Richard's defense started to get messy, and he was finally overwhelmed on level 25.
"Ah, what a shame!"
"Richard, you idiot! I told you to put down a Wall-nut earlier!"
"Come on, let someone else have a turn. He can't hog the computer all day."
"You idiots, why are we all crowding around this one computer? William has the CD! We can all install it and play!"
"That's right!" someone shouted, the crowd immediately turning their attention to William. "Come on, man, hand over the CD!"
The game CD was immediately snatched up by the quickest student, and they began passing it around to install the game one by one.
Watching this group of gamers rush to play, William felt a secret sense of relief. It seemed a classic was a classic, no matter what. Strategy games like this already had a loyal fanbase in Europe and the US.
He stayed in the gaming club for two hours, watching as everyone became engrossed in *Plants vs. Zombies*. Even students who arrived later were taken aback by the feverish excitement in the room. William finally let out a huge sigh of relief.
No one who gets into the University of London is a fool. Many of them were now looking at William with new eyes.
Checking his watch, he saw it was almost noon. William walked to the front of the room, near the blackboard, and clapped his hands loudly. "Hey, hey! Guys, can I have your attention? Everyone, look over here!"
After he called out a few times, people began to pause their games and look up. They were all avid gamers; they knew a good game when they saw one. Many were already thinking that a student at their own school was about to make a fortune.
Once he had the attention of more than half the room, William said, "We all know games are designed to be played, but the ultimate goal is also very practical: to make money."
"So, I want to ask you all now: if this game were for sale, would you buy it for five pounds? Of course, as a thank you for your time today, I'll give each of you a copy for free."
He didn't have to wait long for an answer; the room erupted in a clamor of voices.
"Five pounds? Of course, I'd buy it! Most popular games sell for at least eight pounds right now."
"William, I'll buy four copies right now!"
"No problem at all. That price is a steal."
Seeing that most people were willing to accept a five-pound price point—with many even feeling it was cheap—William grew more confident about his plan.
He quieted everyone down again and said, "Guys, we're friends here, and many of you know my family situation. I don't have the money to get a big game company to help me promote this, so I came up with an idea. I'm hoping you'll be open to it."
Robert Carter, who was on good terms with William, offered some friendly advice. "Hey, man, whatever your idea is, I think your game is going to be a hit."
"If I were you, though, I'd get the copyright registered now to avoid any trouble down the line."
Robert was black, and William's skin color was, of course, no issue for him. After meeting at the gaming club, they had hung out a few times and become friends.
"Thanks, man, but I already took care of it. I registered the copyright a few days ago—all of it."
Hearing this, a few of the students who did part-time development work themselves couldn't help but look disappointed.
"I have the certificate already. So, since everyone seems to think five pounds is a fair price, and many of you even think it's low... What if I sold the game to you, wholesale, for four pounds a copy, and you could then sell it to your classmates and friends for six pounds? Would you be interested in that?"
The gaming club erupted again.
"That's a great idea! I'd place an order right now. The last EA Sports game I bought cost me twelve pounds. This game is way more fun. I bet I could sell a hundred copies, easy."
"Pfft, only a hundred? I bet I could sell two hundred in my neighborhood. There are so many families there. The kids would go crazy for a game like this."
"Hey, Ryan, you marketing majors really think differently. Why didn't I think of selling them in my neighborhood? With all the communities in London, making a few hundred quid for living expenses shouldn't be too hard."
"Maybe we could set up a demo area here on campus. Put out a few laptops and let other students try it. If it gets big at our school, we could take it to other universities. What do you guys think?"
"That's a great idea! Guys, let's set up a sales team. The on-campus demo won't cost us much time or money. Who wants in? Come sign up with me."
"Count me in!"
"Me too! I bet if we apply to the school in the club's name, we could get a response by tomorrow."
William listened, a smile blossoming on his face as the students discussed his sales plan. In the end, about fifty people agreed to the terms: they would buy the game from him for four pounds and sell it for six.
William knew the price was a bit low, but the game had no brand recognition yet. A low-price promotion was more important than short-term profits. Besides, he'd be making over three pounds profit on every four-pound sale, and he'd be getting fifty people to promote the game for free. Even if some of them sold it for a higher price, that would only increase their enthusiasm to sell. After all, they earned a cut for every copy sold. These students were all gaming veterans; many had even developed games themselves, so they knew a good one when they saw it.
William found Robert and several other top students from the law school and hired them as his legal advisors for the friendly price of twenty-five game discs each.
They all discussed the terms and details, and once the legal questions were sorted out, William took out a pen and paper and started taking down names and order quantities.
Most of them were new to sales and placed small orders, but even the smallest was for ten copies. Several students from the marketing department, however, ordered more than two hundred each.
After tallying the list, William was shocked. The total came to 1,050 copies—an average of more than twenty per person.
Once Robert and his team finished drafting the legal documents, they read them aloud for everyone to hear.
William collected the four-pound payment for each disc upfront, framing it as a deposit, and promised to have the discs ready for everyone within a week.
Everyone knew the going rate for disc duplication in London: £0.80 per disc for orders under ten thousand, £0.60 for orders between ten and fifty thousand, and £0.50 for any order over fifty thousand.
Therefore, no one quibbled over the price. After all, in the worst-case scenario, they could just sell the games at a discount and still make their money back. Most, however, were optimistic about making a reasonable profit.
Once everyone had paid and signed the simple contract, William excitedly held the £4,200 in his hands. It was the first money he'd earned since his rebirth. He never expected the first step to be so easy.
He took the money and the game's master disc back to his dorm, then rushed over to the disc duplication service that the gaming club often worked with.
In reality, according to the duplication service, they could produce an order of this size in less than three days. Promising the discs in a week just gave him a buffer in case of any unexpected delays.
Upon arriving at the manufacturer, William spent £4,000 to order a run of five thousand discs.
With the remaining £200 from the order, plus the few hundred he already had, he planned to register a company within the next few days.
After all, he knew that in England, personal income over £150,000 was taxed at 50%, while the corporate tax rate for annual profits over £300,000 was only 26%—a rate that would drop to 24% in 2012.
Registering a company was therefore imperative.