Traveling Through the Tokyo Bubble Era

Chapter 363 Square’s booth

At the main booth, Shanke City was demonstrating the game.

Still no mention of battery life.

Instead, it tells another thing that interests players.

That's the price of this WonderSwan handheld console.

14999, [-] yen.

Hearing this number, the players in the audience cheered again.

Obviously, this price is aimed at Elf Entertainment.

Elf Entertainment's Pokeball 2 handheld console sold for [-].

I'm one yen cheaper than you, and it's the color screen version.

For players, this price/performance ratio is simply amazing.

However, when Hideki Hanyu and Satoru Iwata heard the price, their expressions remained unmoved.

When arranging the sequence of the main booth press conference, Nintendo was deliberately placed on the first day, not just for this reason.

Let Nintendo take action first, while Elf Entertainment remains unchanged in response to the ever-changing situation and strikes later.

The color screen is sold at the same price as the monochrome screen of Elf Entertainment.

Obviously, these two companies have made up their minds to seize the market even if they lose money.

"If you want to play a price war, let's do it." Hideki Hanyu murmured in a playful tone.

And after listening to the quotation.

Although the press conference between Nintendo and Bandai was not over yet, he was no longer interested in the bragging that followed, and left directly with Satoru Iwata.

Back at the booth of Elf Entertainment, Hideki Hanyu looked at Satoru Iwata and said with a smile.

"Iwata-san, tomorrow Elf Entertainment's press conference will announce your appointment as the official president. Do you want to postpone it for a while?"

Hideki Hanyu was obviously joking.

This method was deliberately used to relieve Iwata Satoru's pressure.

After all, Elf Entertainment has always had smooth sailing before.

As a result, Satoru Iwata was about to officially serve as the chairman, so Bandai and Nintendo came together to give Genie Entertainment a big gift.

Facing his crooked boss, Satoru Iwata smiled bitterly.

"It's now time, President Hanyu, stop joking."

"What do you think of Bandai and Nintendo's new handheld consoles?" Hanyu Hideki asked directly.

"I care more about that game. As for the handheld console..."

When Satoru Iwata talked about the handheld device, his tone paused slightly, and his expression was obviously not too nervous.

Then he continued, "When Shanke City introduced the handheld console, it concealed something about the battery life."

As soon as Iwata Satoru said this, Hanyu Hideki knew that the other party wanted to be with him.

However, he did not express his opinion, but continued to ask Satoru Iwata, "Oh..., what do you think they are hiding?"

"President, when I introduced you to the Pokeball 2 color screen upgrade last year, I said that the battery life problem cannot be solved. The screen technology they use is the same as ours, and the screen size is larger than ours. In this case, they The battery life of this handheld device will definitely not be optimistic."

Satoru Iwata speaks his mind.

Hanyu Hideki nodded, "Yes, our energy-saving optimization research and development has not stopped, and it was carried out earlier than they did. I don't believe they can optimize this problem."

Satoru Iwata shook his head, "This fundamental problem in hardware cannot be optimized unless the technology is iterated."

Hideki Hanyu asked, "How long do you think the battery life of their WS console will be?"

Iwata said categorically, "It is absolutely impossible for such a large color screen to last more than two hours."

"After the press conference, if Nintendo sends a prototype to the game base, let Koji Takita immediately conduct the extreme test and publish the test results in the magazine as soon as possible."

When Hideki Hanyu said this, he emphasized, "Remember, you must be objective."

He put an extra emphasis on the word "objective".

"I know." Iwata said.

Of course Iwata understood what Hideki Hanyu meant.

What Hideki Hanyu wants is not to discredit the WS handheld, but to publish real data.

As long as the battery life of the WS handheld is as they expected.

Elf Entertainment will definitely add fuel to the flames and start promoting it.

For a handheld console, no matter how excellent the performance or the games are, if the battery life is too short and you can only use the AC power supply system to play games.

What's the difference between that and buying a host and putting it at home?

After talking about battery life, Hanyu Hideki gave another order.

"Notify Maemoto Shinsei and Kusamura Juntada to come here for an impromptu meeting to discuss the pricing of our upgraded model at tomorrow's launch."

The pricing set by Nintendo and Bandai is due to a price war.

With their size, they dare to engage in price wars.

As the overlord of handheld devices, Elf Entertainment has no reason to be afraid.

Although Elf Entertainment is not listed, it cannot burn investors' money.

But with the market share of the Pokeball 2 handheld console, if you pay ten yuan for selling a handheld console, you can earn back 100 yuan by selling the game.

This is a virtuous cycle, which is infinitely better than simply burning money.

After Hanyu Hideki's instructions, Iwata immediately went to notify the two people.

After hearing that the two of them would rush over as soon as possible.

Hideki Hanyu did not wait behind the booth.

Taking advantage of the time when the two of them were not here, he decided to go and see this year's Tokyo Electric Power Exhibition.

He didn't come last year, but he can make a visit this year.

Before leaving, Hideki Hanyu disguised himself a little.

In addition to the mask, he also took a polar bear hat with sunglasses from the game "Knock on the Ice" from the backstage and put it on his head, turning into a senior game enthusiast.

Perhaps the disguise was too effective. As soon as he left the backstage, he was stopped by a female employee of the game base.

Enthusiastically asked him to fill out a questionnaire.

The questionnaire is very simple, mainly to rate the most popular games on the market last year.

This is the awards section that Game Base Magazine has added to the Tokyo Electric Power Show since last year.

On the last day of the four-day Tokyo Electric Power Exhibition, the organizers will announce several annual awards at the main booth.

The award attribution consists of three parts, one is the Game Base magazine’s own rating, the other is the magazine’s feedback ratings from past players, and the third is an on-site questionnaire survey.

After carefully completing the questionnaire survey.

This female employee also thoughtfully gave Hanyu Hideki a small gift.

Perhaps because Hideki Hanyu was wearing sunglasses and a polar bear hat, the gift given by the other party was a small stuffed seal dog, also from the game "Knock on the Ice".

In this way, Hanyu Hideki continued to carry his small gifts and began to visit the exhibition.

After walking around and looking at many popular booths.

Hanyu Hideki unknowingly came to the edge of the exhibition hall.

Those here are all exhibitors who are not very popular.

It was similar to Elf Entertainment’s first participation in the International Consumer Electronics Show.

Most of the booths here were unfamiliar to Hanyu Hideki, and he had no interest in visiting them.

He hurried forward, and just when he was about to walk out of this remote corner, he unconsciously stopped in front of a booth.

As for why we stopped, it was just because the name of this booth was "SQUARE".

Translated into a name familiar to domestic players.

That's "Square".

This booth with the name SQUARE is very small, the kind of small booth that doesn't even have a backstage.

There were only two staff members inside, introducing their game to a tourist.

It was a machine combat game developed based on the PS console platform.

What can I say, the tourists don't seem very interested.

Hideki Hanyu had seen Square Enix and this game before when he was reading fax materials in Hong Kong.

It was released in early February and Elf Entertainment purchased a production volume of one thousand cassettes.

He didn't pay attention to the sales volume, but judging from the condition of the booth, it was undoubtedly a hit.

In this case, let alone Elf Entertainment returning the royalties.

Even if it is the production cost, Elf Entertainment may not be able to earn back its share of the host platform and sales channel share.

But there is no need to worry about Square.

After all, Square's boss Masashi Miyamoto, as the young owner of Denyou Club, belongs to the kind of rich second generation who stands at the finish line from birth.

How could you care about losing this little money?

In 1000, Miyamoto Masashi had just graduated from university, and with [-] million sponsored by his father, he founded the "Square Club" affiliated with Denyousha.

Masashi Miyamoto has never developed a game, but this doesn't bother him.

I bought [-] computers and opened a free "Internet cafe" near the university.

In today's era where there is no Windows system, using a computer is not an easy task.

Therefore, even if it is free, the people who can come and play are basically those who understand computers.

By providing computers for free, Miyamoto Masashi poached Square's first employees.

Among them was a man named Hironobu Sakaguchi, who studied music and taught himself programming and game development.

Hironobu Sakaguchi also has a title, that is, the father of "Final Fantasy".

And just when Hanyu Hideki was looking at Square's booth and thinking about the information about this club.

In the booth, the tourist who was not interested in games finally left.

The two staff members who had lost the target of the introduction saw Hideki Hanyu, wearing a game-related hat and holding a stuffed animal in his hand, dressed as a "veteran game enthusiast", standing motionless in front of the booth, seemingly very interested. .

One of them hurriedly came out with a warm invitation, "Sir, please come and learn about our SQUARE games."

Hideki Hanyu, who didn't expect to be actively invited, was slightly startled, but quickly replied, "Let's take a look."

"Great, thank you for your support."

The staff who looked happy brought Hideki Hanyu into the booth and began to introduce him.

"Then let me introduce you to you. My name is Sakaguchi Hironobu. I developed this game myself..."

Hideki Hanyu didn't expect that this young man with a beard on his upper lip was the father of "Final Fantasy" he just remembered.

Since these people are here, needless to say, the young man wearing glasses next to him should be Miyamoto Masashi.

After discovering the identities of the two people, Hanyu Hideki suddenly had other ideas in his mind.

When Hironobu Sakaguchi finished introducing the game, he asked him what he thought of the game.

Hanyu Hideki did not say any polite words, but made a serious evaluation.

"The picture looks terrible. It is obvious that your development capabilities are limited and you have not taken advantage of the performance advantages of the PS console at all."

"Um……?"

Hironobu Sakaguchi was a little surprised.

Miyamoto Masashi next to him also looked over.

Although Square's booth was deserted, it still received some players throughout the morning.

But Hideki Hanyu was the first to make such a straightforward evaluation.

Hanyu Hideki didn't care about the two people's reactions and continued to comment.

"Although the background story is well designed, the data growth is very poor, and..."

Next, Hideki Hanyu reviewed Square's first game on the PS console platform from top to bottom.Although some merits are praised, most of them are fault-finding.

Faced with Hanyu Hideki's evaluation, Sakaguchi Hironobu said with a somewhat unnatural expression, "This gentleman is really... really professional."

And he was pretty good. Miyamoto Masashi on the side stood up from his chair angrily and looked at Hanyu Hideki with wide eyes.

Then he spoke in an angry tone.

"We have spent several months working on this, why do you..."

But before he finished speaking, Sakaguchi Hironobu covered his mouth.

And warned in a low voice, "This is a tourist, you can't..."

Although the voice was very low, Hanyu Hideki still heard it.

It was nothing more than advising the young boss of the Dianyou Club not to be impulsive.

Hanyu Hideki didn't care, but asked directly and heart-piercingly.

"Sir, he seems very unconvinced. Then I would like to ask, how is the sales volume of this game in your club?"

If I remember correctly, around the same time in my previous life, Masashi Miyamoto’s Square Enix also released a game.

But at that time and space, Square signed a contract with Nintendo's FC console platform.

But the outcome after the game was launched was the same, that is, Square was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Miyamoto Masashi almost went home in tears to inherit the family business.

Hironobu Sakaguchi, who was still studying in college and often missed work in order to develop games, also successfully achieved the achievement of "repeating a grade".

If he doesn't want to be dropped out of college, Sakaguchi Hironobu must choose between developing games or continuing his studies.

Don't think that the second generation of rich people are not afraid of burning money.

When starting a game company in this day and age, investment in game development is only part of the cost.

Because there is no online platform like Steam, if the developed games want to make money, they have to sell cartridges offline.

A game cartridge basically sells for about [-] yen in Neon.

Cartridges with button batteries and storage like Elf Entertainment's are more expensive.

The selling price is so expensive, the cost can be imagined.

For Nintendo's FC platform, the production cost of a single cassette is one thousand yen, excluding royalties.

Elf Entertainment is actually not that cheap.

Including royalties, platform sharing, and sales channel sharing, the cost pressure that game developers have to bear is huge.

Of course, just like movie distribution, there are some expenses that can be advanced by the distributor's channel.

But production costs and royalties cannot be saved.

In this case, Square would need more than 150 million yen just to buy a thousand game cartridges.

Miyamoto Masashi's entrepreneurial capital was only 1000 million yen. Excluding game development expenses and company operating costs, the failure of a game would be enough to break the bones.

Therefore, although this is the golden age of video games, small companies are still living on thin ice.

Only manufacturers such as Genie Entertainment, Nintendo, and Sega that control the platform can make a steady profit without losing money.

This is why even though Elf Entertainment and Sega were later competitors, they still followed Nintendo's example of collecting royalties and controlling production.

Even if everyone's bayonets are red, they have a tacit understanding not to touch this benefit.

Hanyu Hideki asked this question.

Miyamoto Masashi, who was still angry just now, suddenly became a little angry.

But he was still unconvinced and said, "Even if the sales are not good, it does not prove that my game is not good."

Hanyu Hideki did not argue, but asked with serious eyes, "Really?"

"Yes!" Miyamoto Masashi continued to be stubborn.

"Very good. As a game producer, if you don't have confidence in your game, how can you make players like it?"

"Uh……"

If Hanyu Hideki keeps denying it, Miyamoto Masashi may continue to be tough.

But Hideki Hanyu suddenly "complied" like this, and Masashi Miyamoto didn't know what to say.

Although Sakaguchi Hironobu was young, he was calmer. He seemed to have discovered something and asked tentatively, "What is your name, sir?"

"Hideki Hanyu."

Hanyu Hideki did not hide anything and directly said his name.

"what!"

Miyamoto Masashi, who was still talking harshly just now, stood up straight after a moment.

He asked with a surprised tone, "Are you Teacher Hanyu? Are you Teacher Hanyu from Elf Entertainment?"

As a game enthusiast and game practitioner, Miyamoto Masashi is not too familiar with Hanyu Hideki.

Hanyu Hideki is handsome and his books are selling well, but Miyamoto Masashi doesn't care at all.

All he cares about are the games developed by Hideki Hanyu.

He has played every one of them and loves them immensely.

Hideki Hanyu is his absolute idol in the gaming industry.

As for Hironobu Sakaguchi who asked the question, he felt excited that his guess was indeed correct.

"I have no reason to pretend to be myself."

Hanyu Hideki said, taking off his mask and showing his appearance to the eyes of the two people.

Seeing that handsome face that was unique in the gaming industry, Masashi Miyamoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi were sure that the person in front of them was Hideki Hanyu.

"Hanyu-sensei, I didn't expect that I would see you here. Can you sign your name for me?"

As Miyamoto Masashi spoke, he took out a "Super Mario Bros." game cartridge from somewhere and handed it to Hanyu Hideki.

Looking at the cassette in front of him, Hanyu Hideki felt an inexplicable novelty.

Notebooks, postcards, books, records...

He has signed so many things, but this is a first for a game cartridge.

Taking out a pen, Hideki Hanyu signed his name skillfully.

Seeing Masashi Miyamoto put away the cassette with a look of joy on his face, he casually found a stool in the booth and sat down.

Then he said to the two people in front of him.

"It can be seen that you are very passionate about game development and have great ideas in game story design, but it seems that you are not good at developing the type just now. Don't you have the game you want to make?"

“My and Sakaguchi-san’s favorite games are actually Dragon Quest by Shinhwa Studio and The Legend of Zelda by Fantastic Studio.”

Miyamoto Masashi, who was still very unconvinced just now, seemed a little unable to let go when facing Hanyu Hideki who revealed his true appearance.

Thinking of my harsh words just now, I felt even more embarrassed.

"Want to develop an RPG game? Do you have any ideas?" Hanyu Hideki asked.

"We have some ideas, let's let Sakaguchi-san talk about it." Miyamoto Masashi looked at Sakaguchi Hironobu.

Sakaguchi Hironobu was not timid and told Hanyu Hideki his thoughts on game development.

This said, it took more than ten minutes.

After listening to it, Hideki Hanyu thought that there was still a big gap between his thoughts and the "Final Fantasy" in his memory.

Looking at Sakaguchi Hironobu and Miyamoto Masashi who looked expectantly, waiting for him to give advice, Hanyu Hideki wanted to chat for a while.

But when I looked at my watch, I realized that the time I had made with Maemoto Shino and Kusamura Juntada was coming soon.

"I'm very optimistic about your ideas, but developing an RPG game requires more than just enthusiasm."

After Hanyu Hideki finished speaking, he took out a business card and handed it to Miyamoto Masashi.

"If you really have plans to take action, you might as well wait until the exhibition is over and come to Elf Entertainment to talk to me in detail. I have other work to do next, so I'll leave now."

"Hanyu-sensei, goodbye."

Hideki Hanyu said goodbye and left.

In Square's booth, Hironobu Sakaguchi looked at the business card in Miyamoto Masashi's hand and asked, "Are we going?"

"Of course I want to go. This is Hanyu Hideki's invitation." Miyamoto Masashi said.

Although he is a rich man, it does not prevent him from admiring Hanyu Hideki.

After all, in addition to his ability to make games, Hanyu Hideki is also a successful businessman.

It can be said that the wealth created by the other party in just a few years has surpassed that of his family.

Communicating with such people can only do him good.

Sakaguchi Hironobu said, "He can't be only interested in games."

Masashi Miyamoto glanced at their small booth and smiled bitterly.

"Sakaguchi-san, a club like mine that is about to close down is worth coveting."

As he said that, he spread his hands and said, "Our game has definitely failed now. I don't want to go home, and you don't want to give up developing the game.
Moreover, Square's current financial and technical capabilities are simply unable to support the development of the RPG games we want.

If Elf Entertainment can really help us, I think it's a good thing.

At least I can prove to my father that my career has not failed. "

"Then when the exhibition is over, let's go and see it together."

"Of course, I also want to visit Yuji Horii-senpai and have him sign my Dragon Quest disk."

"I want to see Toshihiko Nakago, his skills..."

Just as Square's boss and chief game producer were looking forward to their meeting in four days.

Hideki Hanyu has returned to the Elf Entertainment booth.

Together with Satoru Iwata, he started an impromptu meeting with Masao Maemoto, the head of the sales department, and Juntada Kusamura, the head of the production department, who had just arrived.

Satoru Iwata served as the host of the meeting. He first introduced the previous press conferences of Nintendo and Bandai to the two people, and then said.

"It's now clear that our Pokeball 2 upgrades must be priced accordingly."

"If the price is just the same as theirs, it won't be enough to completely suppress their sales. The price must be more advantageous than theirs."

Suggested by former Yuan Zhensheng.

Iwata looked at Sumita Kusamura, "Mr. Kusamura, how low can the cost and price of our upgraded model be reduced?"

Kusamura Juntada replied, "If it is produced in a Southeast Asian factory, the cost can be reduced to the lowest. The price and production cost of the single-color model and the color model are..."

After reporting the two figures, Kusamura Junchuan did not forget to remind, "The yen is still appreciating recently, which means that overseas production costs are constantly decreasing."

Next to him, Hanyu Hideki, who had been silent for a long time, couldn't help but sigh in his heart after hearing what Junchu Kusamura said about the production costs.

The production cost of electronic products in this era is really expensive!

Although the production cost is much cheaper than when Pokeball 2 was launched two years ago.

And with the development of semiconductor technology, in another five years, this production cost price will be cut in half.

In another ten years, the production cost of even a color handheld computer will not exceed [-] yen.

For example, the WS handheld console that Nintendo and Bandai are currently using to compete on price.

The retail price in later generations was only [-] yen.

Next, Iwata, together with Maemoto Masaki, Kusamura Juntada and others, began to discuss the retail price of the Pokeball 2 upgraded model around production costs.

As for Hanyu Hideki, he has already expressed his anger with Satoru Iwata in advance.

This price war will continue even if Elf Entertainment loses money.

In the handheld market, since Genie Entertainment already has an advantage, it must not give any chance to its opponents.

After more than an hour, the impromptu meeting ended.

The retail prices of the two upgraded versions of the Pokeball 2 handheld console have all been confirmed.

Next, let’s wait for tomorrow to give Nintendo and Bandai a surprise.

Secretly criticizing friends and businessmen, Elf Entertainment is professional.

　(* ^ ▽ ^ *)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)