Tokyo: Being coveted by my wife, I just want to play games

Chapter 340 Old Fox

A black Mercedes was driving on the seaside road from Kyoto to Tokyo.

Outside the window was a beautiful spring sea view. Sitting in the back row, Kaori Akiyama crossed her legs in black stockings and took a sip of her coffee.

She was still wearing a black suit and a white shirt today. Her long, fluffy and slightly curly hair was just below her shoulders and naturally thrown over her shoulders. Her delicate and bright little face was painted with bright red lips. The overall beauty gave people a formal yet slightly charming feeling.

It was very beautiful, but at this moment, as she looked at the scenery outside the window, her brows were slightly frowned.

SATE's Managing Director Kuriyama will host the [Japan Game Coordination Conference] in Ginza, Tokyo tonight.

SATE is the largest game manufacturer in Japan and even in the world. Executive Managing Director Kuriyama is the one with real power among them. He took the lead and today almost all the game-related bigwigs in Japan flocked to Tokyo. It can be said that the momentum is huge.

This matter seems to have nothing to do with their Akiyama family, but two-thirds of their Akiyama family's business is related to the game electronics industry, including the production of game cartridges and discs. This is also one of the reasons why she wants to cooperate with Dongchuan Che.

NICO and SATE did not compete with each other much before. Akiyama could make handheld game cartridges for NICO and console game discs for SATE. But things became more complicated when SATE joined the Hawaii Game Alliance and started to enter the handheld game field.

SATE was fine, and still allowed third-party companies that they had cooperation with to make cassettes for NICO, but NICO had already talked to Akiyama several times last year, saying that if they did not cut off SATE's business, they would lower their contract price in the future.

Very troublesome.

On the one hand, this will affect the current profits of the Akiyama family. On the other hand, Nico is afraid to fight back against SATE and Juyin after being beaten, and only dares to vent his anger on the people under his own company.
"The giant ship NICO is already rotten and cannot withstand the tide of the new era. We must get off it as soon as possible."

Thinking of this, looking out the window at the cyclist being left behind at a high speed, Akiyama Kaori picked up the coffee cup and took another sip of the bitter coffee from her red lips painted with bright red lipstick.

In her opinion, NICO is now corrupt, but more importantly, she feels that a new era in the gaming industry is coming.

The rise of the Japanese gaming industry was due to the Atari crash in the United States in 1982.

After that incident, the North American market, which was the most developed gaming market at the time, completely collapsed, and a large amount of capital and talent fled. That was also the time when Japan signed the Plaza Accord.

After the agreement was signed in 1985, the US dollar depreciated sharply and the Japanese yen began to appreciate sharply. As the yen continued to rise, capital and talent naturally flowed into Japan.

Money from all over the world is pouring into Japan, but this money will not just sit in the bank earning interest, because all players know that this prosperity is only temporary.

On the one hand, the appreciation of the yen is a means for Europe and the United States to reap Japan. Secondly, the sun will set when it is full, and the moon will wane when it is full.

Whether it is Japan, the United States or anywhere else. Since the birth of this world, there has never been a place or country whose economy has been strong all the time, not to mention that Japan is not like the United States, which can draw blood from the whole world to survive. All the capital pouring into Japan will try to seize this opportunity to make a fortune, rather than helping Japan develop its national strength.

This led to a double bubble in Japan's real estate and stock markets. After all, these two areas can be leveraged and have the strongest ability to attract money in the short term.

On the other hand, some of the funds also poured into the gaming industry, and it happened that it was not long after the Atari crash, and Japan then experienced the "lost thirty years".

The lost thirty years do not mean that Japan has no money, but that the Japanese people's desire to start a business, consume, and take out loans and invest has plummeted.

Therefore, whether it was the economic crisis in the 1990s or the quantitative easing of the so-called "Abenomics" and "Abe's Three Arrows" later, the Japanese government's response strategy was essentially to print more money, hoping to stimulate the Japanese people's desire to consume, borrow money and start businesses by means of currency devaluation and lower loan interest rates.

But unfortunately, after experiencing the ups and downs of the 1990s, the Japanese were like people who had taken too much Viagra and rushed for days and nights. No matter how stimulated they were, they could not get up again. They were the type of people who would not invest or consume their money if it depreciated in the bank. After all, Japan at that time had also begun to enter an aging society with low youth desire, and domestic demand further declined. The depreciation of money in the bank would only result in a loss of a few percent each year, but if they went out to invest, they might lose everything in a month because there were simply no good industries to invest in.

But again, after the bubble burst, many people did jump off buildings and many companies went bankrupt. But overall, there are still a lot of rich people, but because the needs and desires of the middle and lower classes, who have the largest base and can spend the most, are decreasing, all industries are in recession. At the same time, the Japanese government also used policies to restrict foreign currency exchange, causing Japanese companies to reduce foreign investment, and the Americans physically blocked the upper limit of Japan's technology tree, which led to a large amount of capital in the hands of Japanese rich people having nowhere to go and was idling in banks. This also indirectly led to the prosperity of Japan's cultural industry in the 1990s.

In Japan at that time, cultural industries such as animation, games, and music were the few industries in Japan that could be exported globally and capture the global market, and it was not long since the Atari collapse.

The country had funds, talent, and a large number of players eager to play games. It needed more jobs and tax revenue due to the economic crisis, so it provided a lot of policy support. At the same time, the giants in the gaming field at that time brought their own destruction, leaving a large blank market.

The time, place and people are favorable.

All of this prompted Japan to take over the baton in the gaming industry from the United States in the early 1990s.

But now, European and American game manufacturers have caught up with and surpassed Japan, regaining the right to speak in the game industry. At the same time, the big country in the west with a population of 1.4 billion and a profound historical heritage, the superpower that has gone through a similar path, is now gradually turning its attention to this field.

The rain is coming and the wind is all over the building.

She, Kaori Akiyama, likes to read history, and she majored in history in college, which is a very rare major.

Although the mountain rain had not yet arrived, she could already smell the damp moisture in the cloudy air.

Dragons and snakes rise from the land, and murderous intent is emitted from the sky!
To cope with this major change, ability is important, but standing firm is equally important!

"Tonight will be the beginning of the official cooperation between SATE and Dongchuan Che. NICO's reaction speed has been rotten internally, and there is a high probability that they will not be able to beat the combination of SATE and Dongchuan Che, not to mention the future competition from China and Europe and the United States. If we don't grab a good position now, we will probably be slow at every step in the future."

"It would be great if I could meet with Executive Director Kuriyama tonight. It would be even better if I could talk to him in person. But..."

Thinking of this, Kaori Akiyama frowned slightly again.

If you want to continue discussing cooperation with SATE, it would naturally be more convenient to talk to Executive Director Kuriyama. But although Executive Director Kuriyama and Fuyukawa Che are peers and they occasionally drink together and talk about industry development, in fact, not everyone can meet a powerful executive like Kuriyama who controls SATE games and game-related sectors.

The only person in the Akiyama family who was qualified to meet Kuriyama was the eighty-year-old lion in their family. "It's a bit troublesome."

There was some annoyance in Akiyama Kaori's eyes, but more of it was determination. At this time, Mercedes-Benz also drove down the coastal highway and entered the city of Tokyo.
.
Managing Director Kuriyama sat in the boss chair. On the wall behind him hung a simple and elegant ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting. On the wave pattern of the calligraphy and painting, there was calligraphy written with a brush: "The mountains never get too high, the sea never gets too deep, Zhou Gong spits out food to feed his guests, and the people of the world are at peace."

"Brother Dongchuan, take a look at this Chinese calligraphy that I paid a lot of money for. What do you think of it? Do you know this poem?"

Executive Director Kuriyama threw a cigar to Toru Fuyukawa and spoke with some pride.

Opposite him, Dongchuan Che, who was sitting on the sofa, smiled and shook his head, picked up the cigar, tilted his head to let Ohara Chika help him light it, and then smiled and said, "Who doesn't know Cao Mengde's poems? I just don't know if your president would take off your official hat if he saw you use Cao Cao's poem."

"Yoshi! I knew that brother Dongchuan and I have the same taste. He even knew the story of Cao Mengde holding the emperor hostage to control the princes! I am not alone in my path, I am not alone in my path, hahahaha."

"."

Looking at Executive Director Kuriyama who was laughing, Toru Fuyukawa took a puff of his cigar, his eyes full of silent smiles.

Managing Director Kuriyama was a little out of control at this time, but this is normal.

SATE is indeed the top gaming giant in Japan and even in the world, but with the development of chip technology in recent years, as PC computers began to widen the gap in performance with PH consoles, and as OTTO seized a large market share in the gaming market, SATE's days are indeed becoming more and more difficult.

Although SATE has not announced the sales of games, Fuyukawa Tetsu has also seen the sales of games on Sony's PS console in his previous life. The famous "God of War 4" only sold million copies four years after its release.

This sales volume is already very impressive, but to be honest, compared with the IP influence and reputation of the "God of War" series, this sales volume is actually not that exaggerated. Take a look at "Phantom Palu" on PC, which sold over 2077 million copies in five days after its launch; "" also sold over million copies in its first ten days.

This is because the size of the PC market is much larger than that of the console market.

It can be said that the console game market has not been able to open up, and even has some signs of sluggishness. Executive Director Kuriyama has been under a lot of pressure in recent years. Of course, he also tried to find OTTO to discuss cooperation, but the problem is that OTTO's dominance on the PC side is too strong, and it is in an absolute leading position during the negotiations.

On the one hand, OTTO requires that when their company's games are launched on PH consoles, SATE is only allowed to charge a 3% commission, purely as a service fee; on the other hand, when SATE's games are launched on OTTO, OTTO will take a minimum commission of 12%, and requires that SATE's games can only be exclusive on PH for one year, and then be launched on OTTO.

Although this kind of pure overbearing clause is somewhat like asking for too much, waiting for bargaining, this starting price also shows OTTO's attitude. Unless the positions of both parties at the negotiation table change, it is impossible to reach a satisfactory result for Kuriyama. What's more interesting is that SATE is a console manufacturer. If they go into PC platform at this time, what will happen to the console channel?
After the game is made, should it be exclusive to the console platform for two or three years?

If it is exclusive, the PC platform does not have enough traffic, so why would people use their PC platform?

If it is not exclusive, is it necessary for console users to buy the next-generation console?

He was caught in a dilemma, and the appearance of Tokawa Tetsu was undoubtedly a life-saving straw for Executive Director Kuriyama. However, even though Executive Director Kuriyama was now offering cigars and laughing heartily,
In fact, for Dong Chuan Che, today's banquet was more like a Hongmen Banquet.

There is no other reason. Managing Director Kuriyama needs his gaming platform, but is afraid of being completely controlled by him. Therefore, today's banquet is actually mainly for this old guy Kuriyama to bring a group of younger brothers to show off his muscles to Toukawa Che.

To put it simply, they banded together to demand better contract terms, such as lower commissions before they were willing to log on to the GOGO platform. But Dongchuan Che was not unhappy. The business world is full of ups and downs. Even if they are half drinking buddies, when it comes to personal interests, normal people will put their own interests first. He also used this routine when dealing with the Hawaii Game Alliance.

Moreover, at the current stage when the GOGO platform is preparing to take off, it is indeed very weak. Even if Kuriyama did not come out to take the lead, someone else would have jumped out, and it is almost inevitable to make concessions in the early stages.

In fact, when Executive Managing Director Kuriyama dared to try to outmaneuver him at this stage, he actually admired this old man who had a strong ability to seize opportunities and did things without dragging his feet.

Thinking of this, Dong Chuan Che exhaled a puff of mist, and a smile and more sharpness gradually emerged in his eyes!
As if sensing his gaze, Executive Director Kuriyama also smoked a cigar and said with a smile, "Brother Fuyukawa, I know you must be saying that I, Kuriyama, am not doing things right. But there is no way, I have tens of thousands of people to support under SATE, not to mention that I need you, and you need me as well.

Without our SATE's years of accumulated game lineup to help you fill your game library, even with your Shengguang Society's production capacity of one masterpiece a year, it will take at least five more years to have enough appeal on the platform. As for those other manufacturers gathering around me, just think of it as me taking advantage of my age, being born a few years earlier, and having more connections. "

Executive Director Kuriyama continued to talk incessantly.

Now his relationship with Dongchuan Che is very delicate. Both sides need each other in the general direction of development, but there is competition in local areas.

And
Dongchuan Che has been in the limelight for more than a year. Although he admires Dongchuan Che's ability, because Dongchuan Che is too strong, this old man with a strong personality has never been able to pretend to be a senior in front of Dongchuan Che. Even Dongchuan Che knows more about Chinese culture than he does, which makes him secretly competitive and always wants to get back at him.

Thinking of this, Executive Director Kuriyama's face became more and more smug.

He really wanted to see Dongchuan Che's frustrated look. But in his slightly confused eyes, Dongchuan Che put out his cigarette, stood up, stretched and smiled: "Not bad, you are quite capable. If you feel uncomfortable in SATE one day, come to me and I will make you a department head."

".?"

Executive Director Kuriyama was totally surprised to hear this answer from Toru Dongchuan. He just stared at Toru Dongchuan with his eyes wide open, and the cigar in his hand even dropped in the air.

He thought that Dongchuan Che would be angry, that Dongchuan Che would be depressed, and even thought that Dongchuan Che would directly confront him, but he never expected that Dongchuan Che would actually issue a recruitment invitation to him in the SATE executive office. He was a big shot who could tremble in the Japanese gaming industry with a stomp of his feet.

numb.

But after being stunned, Executive Managing Director Kuriyama's eyes narrowed again.

Suspicious.

Does this kid have any backup plan?
(End of this chapter)