hollywood system: art

So many purchases in such a short time had once again made Billy's backing the only thing keeping the company from plummeting. An accounting deficit of -400 million painted a grim picture for a business that had made over 2 billion the previous year. It looked unsupported, unstable.

–I heard from my friends at Pixar that you're planning to invest a serious amount of capital. – Lucas remarked.

–I'll do it gladly. My company keeps growing, and I see no limits to its technological potential, although we're facing a few challenges in microchip development. – Billy replied.

In front of them was a backgammon board.

–One day, you'll get tired of it all and want to take a break from everything you're doing. – Lucas said, pressing his fingers against his temple. They had just finished watching the first episode of Star Wars: Clone Wars, one of the 90s masterpieces. Lucas was more than delighted. The details alone, many would say, were ahead of their time.

–Just a few hours ago, I criticized the animators for being mediocre. – Billy sighed, moving another piece after a favorable roll.

Lucas frowned, now cornered. One more move from 6 to 8, and he'd lose any chance of winning. He was on the ropes.

–Well, it's always good to keep our teams on their toes. Though this is top-tier work, movie-level quality… I suppose it's still not quite what you'd expect for your timeline. – Lucas responded, understanding that sometimes being good wasn't enough to bring a vision to life in a way that felt believable or manageable.

He rolled a small number—3—and twisted his lips while making a random move, spreading his pieces in a chaotic blend of chance and miscalculated strategy.

–It's true, it's the best for the public, but not the best for me. – Billy commented, aware of the mistakes that seemed to grow more frequent. His companies were slipping into a state of stagnation, clustering into similar points. But Billy, always one step ahead, knew it wasn't enough.

–But you're on the right path. Now that the old guard is happy with their work, fresh blood—some dreamer with high-value innovations—will always get people talking. In development, I've seen in Hollywood that the right ears can be vital for discovering a new wonder. The kind that sometimes gets canceled. And you wonder, Why didn't I see what was right in front of me? – Lucas said, losing the game as he clicked his tongue.

–I think we could go get something to eat downtown. – Billy suggested.

Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise. It was rare for Billy to give him more than an hour.

–Sure, we can eat. I've been meaning to talk to you about Cowboy Bebop—it's a work of art. I heard you've got a series ready to premiere. – Lucas said.

–I do. More than that, it's a gift for a partner… I've got all the time in the world. And my next investment isn't a villa. – Billy said, leaning toward Lucas. –How about buying the rights to Madame Tussauds? Not just showcasing clean-cut star scenes, but also great film icons and epic memories, for our museum?–

Lucas's eyes lit up. He finally understood more of what Billy had in mind. The statues of Madame Tussauds, owned by The Tussauds Group and Merlin Entertainments, could lead to the acquisition of Legoland theme parks.

–The idea is to target a toy company that's technically for sale, though very expensive. I want to invest enough to buy it. I see massive potential in Lego and the entire toy-based celebration concept. But only a tempting offer could pull it off—and those kinds of offers break the mold. Lego. – Billy said.

–Lego. – Lucas murmured. –I know a bit, but nothing that brings back any strong memories.–

–The purpose is simply to place a bet. – Billy suggested.

Lucas laughed.

–You don't bet. You must know something… or maybe I'm missing something that you're not. And now I'm wondering, what am I not seeing? – Lucas said.

The matter was simple. Lego was powerful—so long as it had the right franchises to play with: Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, and classic cartoons. It had the muscle to enter a market that would soon swing wide open. If Billy could align that with the parks and smart use of museums, he'd need nothing more to succeed.

–Well, I doubt your intentions are those of an oppressive capitalist… We as a community get that. But you've been testing my patience lately. It seems your goal isn't cinema in general—you're after a different market. A conglomerate, – Lucas said.

Billy's eyes lingered on Lucas, weighing how hard it was to grow as a company and as a business.

Among Billy's companies was one that refused to settle for just being a video game studio. The world left many with shattered hearts. Billy's gaming demands were becoming harder and harder to meet. And maybe amidst the chaos, the maniacs at ID Software were pouring their souls into something grand. Their next project was no doubt their most ambitious yet. After three months of hard work, the first roots of Halo were already sprouting.

The biggest leap had been the past semester when teams expanded from 15 to 19 people to 30 or even 50 in production, aided by a game company.

That was the case with Paralex and Raven Software. Building on ideas, they crafted gameplay styles inspired by Max Payne and Spyro for their next big investment. All adapted to the graphics of the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 1, which pushed 128-bit performance to its peak. But Halo aimed to break that ceiling—games that would push servers to their limits.

–This is complete madness. – said John Romero, watching 60 people gather for the Halo development conference. From a team of three to fifteen, and now sixty—and that was only half. Many were in other states, playing their roles in different studios.

Ever since Epic Games created the Unreal Engine, it all came down to your creative value—how far you could push to make something that challenged the norm, that fed the hunger for change.

–It's spiraling out of control, no doubt about it. – John Carmack whispered.

–It forces a kind of introspection… How far will our games go? We keep making games of the highest quality, but the tasks feel so tough now, it's impossible to see a limit. It's like slamming a fist on the table that never stops. And now we're driven to go above and beyond. – John Romero added, once thinking his Doom games were enough. That was a mistake. They were something else entirely.

Innovation, progress, grit, and peer-driven creation—he now understood that in the East, their games were studied as future sources of inspiration. This challenge carried a growing sense of horror for both programmers, whose brains exploded with daily effort. Each masterpiece drained their hearts, but filled them with a strange peace, being part of gaming history.

–Let's just focus on the characters who shoot and the weapons. This time, Billy gave us a stockpile of different weapons, each captivating in its way. – John Romero said.

Billy, drawing from his knowledge, outlined the narrative. He wanted better clarity: to start with the Spartan for games one and two. But he could also begin as in games three and four—spin-offs tested by ordinary humans, marines, and a backstory for the first Spartan's origin. Then, introduce a new alien species, far more dangerous. A threat so serious, it forces villains to unite against something even worse.

And finally, explain the true nature of Halo in game six, after using Halo: Reach and Halo 3. With new concepts—unconventional weapons, space rifts, bombs, new ships… even genres drifting toward horror, and others toward more practical gameplay.

–That's why we're using Daft Punk for the game's soundtrack. – Alexa Rilley's words fell like shooting stars, promising $100 million from Lux Animation: half for expansion, hiring, and asset purchases, and $50 million for investing in Halo and Tony Hawk. The latter would not only feature the legendary skater but bring in other big names for a flashy tribute to the stars of the skating world.

No way.

–The theme is space. We want to create something that rewrites history. Microsoft sent us the test units for the console that'll revolutionize the industry. But it's expected to use double the power. – Alexa Rilley said.

What was the value? No one could believe it. Double? Triple? No—quadruple the functional power. The alliance with Nvidia, Intel, and HP created a processor beast. The GPU they were planning was a dinosaur that could break any wall—16MB of RAM, up from the 2MB and 4MB of Nintendo and PlayStation 1. And that was only half of it. They aimed to add 32MB of RAM, plus a graphics card from Silicon Graphics—a console built to last a decade.

–Billy's insane, man. The guy wants to turn space into complete madness. – John Romero said, baffled at how a console with that much processing power wouldn't be outrageously expensive.

What they didn't realize was that Billy wasn't trying to make money selling consoles. He wanted to sell games. With a console of that caliber, and the right titles to justify it, all he had to do… was break the rules.

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