Tokyo Video Game Tycoon: Chapter 74 I want to invest more

 Chapter 74 I want to increase investment

As good as the NES is here, the PN game console next door is just as bad.

Within a month after the release, the game development team did produce four more games. They were completely focused on winning by quantity. Each game was priced at a minimum price of 3,000 yen for NES games. It seemed that they felt that their The game is also worth 3,000 yen.

 This time, they have a little experience in making games, but they have not made any particularly low-level mistakes, such as uncomfortable screen flickering and other bugs.

But the game is still not fun enough.

There is no game industry system yet, and they have no idea how to make games. They are just crossing the river by feeling the stones.

They created four games of different categories in one go, including a role-playing game similar to Dragon Quest, a baseball game, and a type they developed themselves, called a shooting game. You play as a camera and specialize in capturing people around the world. Landscapes and occasional supernatural events, the last genre is a jumping game similar to Mario.

I can only say that these programmers are really good. Employees from large companies all have two skills, and they can still squeeze out four playable games for you in a month.

 The feedback is just in terms of sales volume, which is very unsatisfactory.

In the next month, the sales of the PN game console were just barely better than the first week's sales, with more than 20,000 units, which can be said to be a real hit.

The money in the hands of players is not blown by the strong wind. They will naturally not hesitate when putting something in front of them that everyone unanimously praises. As for the PN game console, no one has discussed it since Super Mario 3 came out. It’s clear which one to buy.

No one is discussing it because they have been dazzled by the excellent games of the Famicom and have forgotten to complain about how bad PN games are. Of course, there are still some scoldings on the Internet.

 For example, those who didn’t have much money originally, gritted their teeth and bought a PN game console to show off.

 They were quite happy when they bought it and played with it, and thought it was worth buying.

 But this thing is afraid of comparison.

 When they went to a friend or colleague’s house to experience the fun of the Famicom, they had only one idea in their minds.

How on earth did I have the nerve to buy such a thing?

They want to throw this thing directly into the trash can, and are embarrassed to let their colleagues know that they bought this thing frugally.

The director in charge of the electronic game business department of Suri Electronics immediately cursed at this meeting.

 He doesn’t even care how difficult the game is.

 He just saw that hit games can appear on the Famicom and in about the same time, so why can't they do it here?

Does the company over there have monsters with three heads and six arms working around the clock to help?

These programmers also have troubles that they can’t express.

In Japan, where superiors and subordinates are very strict, not everyone dares to contradict their superiors. Those who dare to do it are either really capable and have climbed to high positions, or they are simply forced to pack up and get out. .

 At least these people in front of me are not that kind of people.

They can only swallow their anger. At least when their boss scolds his subordinates, he should just listen.

"Our sales volume is very poor. Although the superiors have not made too many demands on us, we must be responsible for the trust of the company! Looking at the current results, I am simply embarrassed to explain to the superiors. During meetings with the superiors, I It’s the most humble!”

Everyone was silent.

No one dares to get into trouble now.

 Let’s wait until the minister’s anger subsides and then talk for a while, but I feel that it will have no effect.

 Obviously, this minister seems to be a little anxious to achieve results.

“You guys are all mute when talking. I need to know why we are doing better, but the Famicom is still crushing us.”

One of the programmers really wanted to say something.

This is not to overwhelm us, but to overwhelm a destroyer directly.

 Super Mario 3 alone is a peak that they will never surpass in a short time.

They feel that no matter how creative they are, they can never compare to the endless gameplay in Super Mario 3.

 It’s like there will never be enough fun.

Many of them, in order to experience the so-called competitor's game, found themselves addicted to it while playing, which actually caused delays in their own work. Is this considered a kind of malicious competition from competitors? Deliberately making such a fun game to get programmers like them addicted to it? If you sue the other party like this, the judge will probably treat you like a fool.

"According to the data we secretly investigated, the sales of Famicom have exceeded at least 300,000 units, and are rapidly expanding at a rate of more than 5,000 units sold every day. There is also Super Mario 3. My rumor is that they are the first The weekly sales volume reaches 100,000 boxes, do you know what this concept is?"

The following group of programmers did not show any surprise after hearing this number.

 One hundred thousand?

Isn’t this normal? This game is worth 100,000 sales.

 Let alone the 300,000 Famicom consoles you surveyed, if there are 3 million, they have reason to believe that the sales of this game in the first week can directly exceed one million.

This is no exaggeration.

“Their price for a box of cassettes is 5,000 yen, and they sold 100,000 cassettes in the first week. I don’t need to help you calculate the money anymore, right?”

Of course money cannot be calculated in this way. Marketing costs, cassette production costs, and merchant costs must also be taken into account.

 But based on the sales figures in the first week, everyone knows that this company must be making a lot of money.

In fact, more than 400,000 Famicom units have been sold, but the daily increase in sales is indeed around 5,000, and it is still rising slowly. The sales of Super Mario Bros. 3 have exceeded two 100,000, joining Dragon Quest, Tetris, Contra and Super Baseball Series in the 200,000 sales camp.

 Bang bang.

There was a slight but rhythmic knock on the door. The minister looked at the door impatiently: "Who is it?"

 The door was slowly pushed open, and an old man who looked energetic came in wearing a suit.

His eyes were as sharp as an eagle, and he seemed to regard everyone as his prey. He was full of aura as soon as he entered, making everyone feel a strong sense of oppression.

“President...President?! Why are you here?”

The thirty-year-old minister’s eyes widened. The president usually only appeared in ministerial meetings, and he, a small minister of a second-level department, did not have any right to speak in ministerial meetings.

Seeing the president's sudden arrival, he who had previously been talking about lotus to his subordinates immediately became very humble. He lowered his head and bowed deeply to the president Kentaro Hayakawa.

Everyone else in the office also quickly stood up from their seats.

“Everyone, sit down. I’m here to take a look at the situation of this newly-established department and see if you have any difficulties. If so, you can mention it to me directly.”

Kentaro Hayakawa was uncharacteristically changed from the imposing look just now to a very kind one, with ease.

 He can be polite when dealing with ministers, but he is much more cordial to his subordinates, making him a rare leader in Japan.

This made everyone stunned.

“President…President, I’m very sorry that our department failed in previous business.”

 “Well, I already knew this before I came here.”

 Kentaro Hayakawa nodded, and then walked to the position where the minister was just now. The minister almost rolled over and immediately gave up his position to the president, while he stood at the side waiting for dispatch at any time.

“Video games are a very good emerging field, and maybe this will be the next breakthrough for our company’s development. So, even though you are just a second-level department, I have been paying attention to it.”

 Everyone's breathing was stagnant.

 So it turns out that the trends on your side have always been paid attention to?

 Everyone, including the minister, was breaking out in a cold sweat. Of course, the minister was sweating more because he is his immediate superior and will be the most directly blamed for problems in the department.

“President, the video game industry doesn’t seem to be big now, so we have been cautiously testing for fear of causing too much loss to the company.” The minister asked cautiously.

"Not big? Is there something wrong with your data?" Kentaro Hayakawa glanced at the minister with doubts in his eyes.

The minister immediately lowered his head.

“This... I have been paying close attention to the trends of Youxing Electronic Entertainment. We have been updating their data, so there should be no problem.”

Kentaro Hayakawa raised his hand and said, "Then show me the data you collected."

The minister immediately handed over the data file he had placed on the desk.

With a few glances, Kentaro Hayakawa put the documents on the table.

“The data is out of date, and your investigation is still not detailed enough. If nothing else happens, Youxing Electronic Entertainment’s game console sales should have reached more than 400,000, and the sales of four of its games have exceeded 200,000.”

 The data survey is wrong and the difference is huge. This can be said to be a serious mistake.

 Seriously speaking, this will obviously cause management to misjudge the development of the entire industry.

As for how Kentaro Hayakawa was able to obtain more detailed data, he naturally had his own channels. The old man always had some unknown trump cards.

"From the time the company Yuxing Electronic Entertainment was founded to the present, it has achieved huge profits in about half a year relying solely on the field of electronic games. This shows that this industry is now a gold mine. How much potential does it have now? No one can find out, and it would be a pity if we gave up."

Now the minister doesn’t even dare to speak.

The big mistake in the data has left him with no choice but to apologize, and anything he says now is just quibbling.

“So, I have decided to increase investment in capital and manpower for your business department. Even if it is not yet a first-level business department, it will still be the most favored department among the second-level departments.”

 Increase investment in capital and manpower? Does this mean that the president doesn't mean to accuse them?

　　Everyone seemed to have heard the words, and couldn't help but feel happy in their hearts, especially the minister, whose eyes lit up. Does this mean that his real power will be higher?

So it seems that failing occasionally is not a bad thing?

"However, I think the position of this minister needs to be changed. It seems that it is still difficult for you to take on a big job. You can temporarily serve as the deputy minister. A new minister will take over tomorrow."

The minister, who had just taken office for more than a month, had not been happy for long, and now his heart was suddenly thrown into the icy lake.

 It’s over.

This is tantamount to demotion, and once you are demoted in a company like this, it basically means your future has stopped.

Coming from a direct order from the president, there is almost no room for anyone to intercede. It is obvious that Kentaro Hayakawa has really started to take video games seriously.

In fact, even the management shareholders of Surui Electronics don’t understand this person’s thoughts, and they don’t understand why they are suddenly very optimistic about the field of electronic games.

But they all focus on money. As long as the dividends at the end of the year are large, multiple departments are nothing.

 (End of this chapter)