Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 181 Crisis, but also opportunity

The arrival of Takashi Nishiyama and others quickly supported the construction of the arcade department of Xinghai Games.

It is estimated that after some time, we will be able to produce high-quality game products.

Only the PC gaming department is still in an empty shell state.

However, neither Masato Takeshita nor Rogers are in a hurry about this.

Although the PC gaming market is small, there is a lot of talent and it is easy to form a team.

"President, how is the response to Street Fighter in the United States?"

Star Ocean Games made basically no changes to Street Fighter, except to change the Japanese version to English, so the finished product was completed very quickly and had already been shipped to the most suitable American market.

"The president is really amazing. The game we bought from Capcom is trending in the United States. I estimate that it will be no problem to produce another 5000 units."

Rogers never expected that such a game that had failed in Japan would have a new lease of life in the United States.

However, this is normal.

"Donkey Kong" produced by Nintendo Shigeru Miyamoto was also not available in Japan at the beginning.

As a result, the game became a hit in the United States, and then was exported and sold domestically, and it also gained considerable popularity in China.

Street Fighter should also continue this trend.

Of course, there are also examples of tours that do not exist in China, are very popular abroad, but are still not popular in China.

The most typical examples are "The King of Fighters 97" and "Dino Fighter", which are very popular in China.

"The King of Fighters 97" was a national-level game in China back then.

However, in Japan, its popularity was completely overshadowed by "The King of Fighters 98".

But what's even worse is "Dino Crisis".

In China, it is the second most popular horizontal scrolling game after "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but in Japan, there is no such game at all.

Most arcade players have never heard of it.

"Well, as for the production, you can handle it. I think after the game becomes popular in the United States, it should also have good sales in Japan."

"Well, Japan is quite fond of American pop culture."

Japan at this time is a bit similar to China before 2020, and people are very keen on pursuing European and American culture.

Anything that is popular in the United States will quickly spread in China.

As for the reverse, that is very difficult and requires a combination of the right time and place.

Street Fighter is important and quite profitable.

But today Masato Takeshita came over mainly for another game.

He changed the subject and asked, "Have you compiled the sales statistics for Snowman Brothers?"

"Snowman Brothers" is the first game produced independently by Star Ocean Games in the true sense.

Masato Takeshita attached great importance to it. During the production period, he would inquire about the work almost every week and provide production suggestions.

The quality of the finished product is great, and it almost restores the memories of the previous life.

The only regret is that this game was not developed until December and failed to catch up with Black Friday and Christmas shopping in the United States.

However, it doesn’t make much difference if it is listed in early December, and there will still be good business opportunities in the US market.

This is a festival similar to the Chinese Spring Festival. As long as the product is sold before the festival, there will be good business opportunities.

If the United States is a little late, Japan is just right.

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan fixed the Spring Festival on January 1st of the Gregorian calendar. It will be on the market in early December and will be a perfect New Year gift for children.

Of course, it doesn’t matter if it can’t be a New Year’s gift.

At this time, many children will have New Year tax money, so it is completely fine to buy it for yourself.

"We launched the product simultaneously in the US and Japan. The first week sales in the US reached 34.5 copies; the sales in Japan were slightly less, but still reached 27.3 copies."

"Based on the sales patterns of other FC games, there is a great chance that sales will exceed one million copies in both the US and Japanese markets."

"Snowman Brothers" is a very classic vertical level-passing game, and there is no arcade version yet in this life.

It is a relatively normal result that sales in the United States and Japan can exceed one million at the same time.

"Very good, have you informed everyone?"

"Not yet. I was thinking of waiting for you, the president, to make the announcement."

Masato Takeshita is not a traditional type of chairman and often provides guidance on the company's development.

Rogers knows this very well, so he is prepared to leave the highlight moment to him.

"You should come first. There's no need to wait for me for this kind of thing."

"Understood, President."

After knowing the sales of "Snowman Brothers", Masato Takeshita felt more confident and his tone gradually became more cheerful.

"When sales drop to less than 10,000 copies per week, should we port the game to arcade machines as well?"

Although the mainstream these days is to port arcade games to console platforms, the reverse operation also exists, but the number is relatively small.

This is related to the capacity of the Famicom.

Masato Takeshita didn't know whether "Snowman Brothers" was suitable, so he asked the more professional Rogers with a smile.

"It's better not to port it. This kind of game is hard to sell well if it is ported to an arcade."

"OK, I understand."

After talking about "Snowman Brothers", the two talked about "Farm Story" which is still in development.

The difficulty of developing this game, which was also designed by Masato Takeshita, was a bit beyond his imagination.

Even the simplest time-based farming system took a lot of time to develop.

"I think the game needs to be streamlined a little bit more. If the game content is not cut, the game's launch time may be delayed a lot later."

“More streamlined?”

Takeshita Masato was a little dumbfounded.

Considering the configuration of FC and the development level of the staff, Youth has cut a lot of content.

If the cuts continue, the game will be seriously lacking in content.

“Yes, there is still too much content now.”

"Okay then, it's up to you."

Masato Takeshita doesn't know much about the technical aspects, and since Rogers said there is still too much content, of course he has to follow the opinions of professionals.

"Don't worry. Even if we cut some of the content, the game will still be fun. It may not sell as well as Snow Brothers, but it will definitely make money."

Rogers is very confident about Farm Story.

This is the world's first farm game. It may be difficult to sell over a million units, but it is impossible to lose money.

"Ah That's good."

Masato Takeshita never thought that the sales of "Farm Story" would exceed that of "Snow Brothers". After all, farming games have been a niche game for a long time.

What he values more is pioneering spirit, which will be the capital for bragging about the company's history in the future.

However, even in the niche gaming field, it is still possible to produce a hit.

"Stardew Valley" is the most typical example. Its sales have exceeded 10 million, making it one of the most well-known independent games in the world.

The farm game was still under development, so Masato Takeshita quickly moved on.

"I don't know when Kojima-san's game will be available on the market."

"Kojima-san's development speed is still very fast. I estimate that the game will be online in January."

"Not bad. How's the quality of the game?"

Hideo Kojima has a lot of freedom in the StarCraft game, so Masato Takeshita is not very clear about his research and development progress.

He recruited Hideo Kojima not for money, but just like the farm game, it was to enhance the company's reputation.

He hopes that StarCraft will achieve the same reputation as Nintendo and Blizzard before 2010 in the future.

When it comes to Star Ocean games, I give it a thumbs up.

"It's quite interesting and unique." Rogers couldn't judge the sales of the game, but he did feel the unique charm of the game.

I can only say that our president has a really good vision.

"I see. That's good."

After talking about work, Masato Takeshita quickly stood up.

"Okay, I won't disturb you from working. I have some things to do at Xinghai Semiconductor, so I'll leave first."

"Oh, okay. Take care, President."

"Yeah." Takeshita Masato responded, and then said to his assistant: "Qingqian, let's go."

"Yes."

As soon as he left the Star Ocean game and came downstairs, Masato Takeshita felt an earthquake.

"Oh no, there's an earthquake, quickly hide in an open area."

Masato Takeshita realized something was wrong and immediately pulled Lin Qingqian to run towards the parking lot not far away.

It is too dangerous downstairs, and it is easy to encounter objects falling from high places.

"Phew, it's safe."

Masato Takeshita was very fast and pulled the girl to the parking lot in no time.

There is plenty of space to hide here, and it is difficult to encounter fatal danger.

"Thank you, thank you, President. Thank you for saving me."

Lin Qingqian was also still in shock at this time, and looked at the boy with gratitude.

When the earthquake happened, she was a little dazed and didn't realize what was happening.

"No, there's no way this can be saved."

Soon, Rogers and others from Xinghai Games also ran quickly from the building to the parking lot and naturally gathered around Masato Takeshita.

"Boss, please count the number of people and see who hasn't come out yet."

“Everyone is here. No one is missing.”

Just when Masato Takeshita was puzzled as to why Rogers could come up with the answer so quickly.

Shigeru Ikeda at the side interrupted, "Chairman, President Rogers informed us that an earthquake had occurred, and he also ordered us to evacuate, and he was the last one to leave."

Another section chief of Xinghai Games, Aoki Hideyuki, also responded with admiration: "Because of President Rogers' calm command, we retreated quickly."

"I see. As expected of Rogers-san."

The goodness of Rogers' character dominated, so he couldn't stand the killing and chose to leave the mold.

Similarly, in his previous life he was always thinking about the inventor of Tetris.

Later, not only was Alexei taken away from the turbulent country, but he was also introduced to a great job.

"No, this is what I should do."

Rogers was very humble. He smiled and waved his hands, not taking it too seriously.

The shaking didn't last long, but because we were worried about aftershocks, we didn't prepare to leave until 12: in the afternoon.

"You won't be working today or tomorrow. Everyone should take a rest or call their loved ones."

Since an earthquake has occurred, it is natural for everyone to have a good rest and relax their tense nerves.

"Wow, I actually have three days and a half off. That's great."

Although the earthquake was unfortunate, the employees of Star Ocean Games were still very happy to be able to rest for three and a half days in a row.

"Yes, but you must be careful."

Masato Takeshita doesn't want everyone to be fine during the earthquake and end up getting injured while resting.

"I'll leave Xinghai Games to you. I still need to check out other companies."

"Understood. Please rest assured, President."

"Ah."

Masato Takeshita was still very confident in Rogers's work.

After arriving at Xinghai Semiconductor by car, the young man first asked if there were any casualties.

"very good."

After learning that no one was injured, Masato Takeshita breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he immediately issued the same order as Xinghai Game, that there was no need to go to work today and tomorrow.

After giving the order straightforwardly, Masato Takeshita immediately called Matsumoto Manufacturing and Xinghai Finance.

After learning that the employees of both companies were safe and sound, the heavy stone in my heart finally fell.

"There weren't any casualties."

Masato Takeshita felt very fortunate that there were no casualties in such an earthquake with such obvious tremors. The Xinghai Group was really lucky.

After finishing the company call, the young man started making personal calls.

First it was my parents and girlfriend, then my sister and brother-in-law.

Again nothing happened.

After calling his relatives, Masato Takeshita naturally would not forget his friends, business partners, and political supporters.

The calls lasted until around 5pm.

"Wow, everyone is fine. It seems that the casualties of this earthquake should be small."

Masato Takeshita's guess was correct. The casualties in Japan's 1987 Kanto earthquake were very few, which was indeed rare among earthquakes of the same magnitude.

"In that case, it looks like this is an opportunity."

Masato Takeshita came up with a good idea to promote his own products.

But think about it, now is a time of national mourning and the company's employees have already had holidays.

He plans to discuss and improve it at a meeting next Monday.

"Hey, Qingqian, you're still here."

Masato Takeshita had been busy on the phone and was surprised to find that his assistant had not left.

"I am your assistant, so I cannot leave before the president leaves."

The girl smoothed her hair and lowered her head in an unnatural response.

"Is that so?"

Masato Takeshita smiled and did not continue asking questions. Instead, he changed the topic and asked with concern.

"Have you called home? It's such a big thing, your family may have already known about it."

"Yes, I did. I've already told Mom and Dad."

The girl pursed her lips slightly and responded with a little joy.

"That's good. It's so late, you must be hungry, how about going to eat something together?"

Masato Takeshita didn't know whether the girl was hungry or not, but he was hungry anyway.

I've been making phone calls all afternoon, and I didn't eat anything for lunch, so I'm starving.

"Ah."

Maybe it was because of the earthquake, many restaurants were closed.

In desperation, Masato Takeshita had to choose the McDonald's that was still open.

"This is all I have. I wanted to treat you to something good."

“McDonald’s is good. I like it very much.”

"That's good."

Although McDonald's and KFC fast food are considered junk food, they are really delicious.

If their health conditions allow, I believe many people would buy and eat it often.

(End of this chapter)