Reborn America, this is my time

Chapter 148 If I Can Survive Kneeling, I Will Break My Knees for the Future
October 1977, 7, Kyoto.

As night falls, the downtown lights of the ancient city flicker, street lights, billboards, and neon light boxes of Coca-Cola and Sony, making people feel like they are in the brightly lit white night of Las Vegas.In the bars on the street, tall bottles of beer are placed in front of the men, and warm sake is filled in exquisite cups. When the golden or white liquid flows down the throat, the busyness of the day is like a fragile worm The cocoon flakes off, and their bodies are full of vitality again.

Correspondingly, it is on the other side of the river in Kyoto, the quiet and silent ancient city. Although the Nintendo office building located here is brightly lit at the moment, there are only a handful of employees who really work overtime.Except for a few female receptionists in light blue overalls and short skirts who are still on their posts, the rest are all in an office on the top floor without a doorplate.

There's a large wooden table flanked by sofas, and the rug is an industrial gray with a beige pattern.Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was wearing rubber sandals, was sitting on the sofa on one side of the low table at the moment, and there were two people on the other end corresponding to it, one named Hiroshi Imamishi and the other Mino Arakawa.

"...that's how it is."

Minoru Arakawa, who flew back from San Francisco, succinctly described his experience.

After listening, Hiroshi Yamauchi directly picked up the high-quality Scotch whiskey that had been opened on the low table, and poured three points into a thick crystal tumbler filled with ice.

The wrist shook and made a crisp sound, and the jingling sound made him close his eyes, "So Ethan Jones feels that everything that is happening now is a conspiracy we planned in advance?"

He asked in a flat tone.

"Yes." Arakawa nodded, and said: "Although I told Ethan Jones the possibility of the accident according to your intention, but when multiple accidents are superimposed at the same time..."

Arakawa looked at his father-in-law cautiously, and said what was in his heart.

"If it were me, I wouldn't believe it either."

"Heh—" the son-in-law's honest words made Hiroshi Yamauchi laugh.

"So he threatened me?"

"Threatening me not to tear up the contract?"

"Threatening me to continue to perform?"

"Threatening me to bring the game Star Wars to our country, drowning Pac-Man in that bang after bang 'The Force'?"

Hasty words suddenly appeared.

Hiroshi Yamauchi, who had closed his eyes and listened, suddenly opened his eyes.

He shook his wrist vigorously, and the amber whiskey swirled in the glass instantly, "I, Hiroshi Yamauchi, have been in charge of Nintendo since I was 21 years old!"

"I've never been afraid of anyone since then!"

"Those old people in the company who started with my grandfather dare to sell their old ones in front of me?"

"what--"

"I just fired them all!"

"I also founded a taxi company. When the company started to make a profit, those bullshit driver unions kept booing and demanding that I increase their salary and benefits!"

"No one can take money from me that I don't want to give!"

"So I just canceled the company!"

"No one dared to threaten me after that!"

"Because they know that I will smash their jobs! Let them go!"

"Snapped--"

There was a roar and a crackling sound.

Hiroshi Yamauchi smashed the crystal cup in his hand to the ground.

The glass splashed, the wine flew, and the ice cubes in the glass shattered, blasting a beautiful ice flower on the gray carpet.

Arakawa shook his body and instinctively lowered his head.

And Jinxi Hongshi next to him was like an old monk in meditation, with his eyes downcast and unmoved.

At this moment, only the sound of Yamauchi Hiroshi's heavy breathing remained in the huge space.

After panting for a while, Hiroshi Yamauchi, who finally calmed down, asked with a gloomy expression: "Hiroshi Imanishi, evaluate the threat level of Ethan Jones to us."

Before the words were finished, the guy with a strong physique, good facial features, and a bit like a Rottweiler raised his head.

As a "veteran" who joined Nintendo in the early 60s, he has worked in administration, finance, planning, personnel and other departments. He even created a company in 1969 to accommodate Gunpei Yokoi and Masayuki Uemura in accordance with Hiroshi Yamauchi's request. Takeda Xuanyang's Nintendo Game Department, and served as the first development director, and now, he is the Nintendo General Affairs Minister handpicked by Hiroshi Yamauchi.

As a true confidant of Hiroshi Yamauchi, the guy who graduated from the Faculty of Law of Doshisha University has the right to intervene and supervise all projects in the company, and it is precisely because Hiroshi Yamauchi trusts him so much that when Hiroshi Yamauchi asked him for his opinion, he also Without hesitation, he leaned forward and said, "President, in my opinion, Ethan Jones' threat to us has a great chance of success."

"There are three reasons."

"The first point is that "Star Wars" is indeed a very good game. According to the reports of the North American media and the witness of Arakawa Minoru, 3 people have appeared on the streets of North America in the one month since the game was released. Multiple electronic arcade machines, this number was unimaginable in North America before."

"In the past few years, the arcade market in North America has indeed been booming, but because of the large area and sparse population, they can't sell electronic arcade machines as crazy as we do. Arcade machines will only exist in big cities, because the population in remote villages cannot support local Merchants expect revenue from game arcades. Therefore, when the merchants in major cities are fully covered, those merchants who pursue the ultimate profit will not purchase.”

"It's different this time. Even though the North American theaters are the first to distribute the goods, which hurt the interests of the original merchants, they still showed enough enthusiasm for the arcade after entering the venue, because the people in North America are all crazy about games and movies. Then That unquenchable wave of fire is what makes Star Wars arcades resellable, and when that fire hits our country..."

"Personally, I think Pac-Man probably can't beat them head-on."

"It's not a question of whether the game is good or bad, but the Star Wars game has a companion movie, and that George Lucas movie..."

Having said that, Hiroshi Imanishi stretched out his voice, and turned his head to look at Arakawa Minoru.

The young man who felt the movement of the other party sighed and said, "Father-in-law, I can swear that "Star Wars" is the best movie I have ever seen. If I have to describe it, it can only be invincible."

"I don't know if the movie "Star Wars" will set off a wave of astonishment in our country as in North America, but I know that the directors in our country may not be able to make such a movie. The unparalleled effect, Really amazing."

Although Minoru Arakawa's words meant that others' aspirations would destroy his own prestige, Yamauchi Hiroshi didn't care. After venting, he picked up a glass of whiskey again, and asked while tasting: "What do you think, "Star Wars" How many units can the game sell after it is registered in our country?"

Estimating sales was not difficult for the two people present.

After looking at each other, Arakawa Minoru, who has seen the power of the game, took the lead and said: "One hundred thousand units."

"Aha—" this number made Hiroshi Yamauchi laugh, ""Snake" sold [-] units, and "Pac-Man" is expected to sell at least [-] units, and now you tell me, "" The estimated shipment of Star Wars is [-] units? If it's just that number..."

"One year." Arakawa added.

"What?" Hiroshi Yamauchi's smile stopped abruptly.

"One hundred thousand units a year." Arakawa Miki repeated seriously.

Hiroshi Yamauchi narrowed his eyes for a moment.

He looked at Imam Hiroshi, who pursed his lips and nodded.

"Oh, then Ethan Jones is really good."

Hiroshi Yamauchi froze for a moment, then smiled and said, "But it's useless, right?"

"Our country has special management standards for the import of movies. Generally, there is a long gap between imported movies in our country and the original release period of other countries."

"The purpose of this is to protect our local films."

"For example, Ethan Jones' good brother Steven Spielberg's movie "Jaws" was released in North America in the summer of 75, but it didn't enter our country's theaters until December?"

"It's a good time difference."

"Half a year will allow us to sell a lot of "Pac-Man" arcade machines."

Hiroshi Yamauchi said with a smile.

"That's the second reason."

Before his words fell, Hiroshi Imanishi added: "President, although our country has special management standards for film imports, there are often exceptions, right?"

"'Star Wars' has already caused a wave of excitement around the world. When Fox brings the film to our country to apply for approval, it will definitely be faster than other films."

"And if among them, Ethan Jones really licensed the game "Star Wars" to Fox, those manufacturers who want to get the game agency from Fox will definitely be more eager than movie manufacturers. Saw the movie show."

"Even if we can get Pac-Man to run early, what's the use of that?"

"We couldn't sell [-] arcade machines in that empty half year."

"more importantly……"

"If we do sell it, we have to give Ethan Jones 14.00% per unit."

Imanishi Hiroshi sighed.

"..." Hiroshi Yamauchi took a breath.

Although Arakawa had already mentioned this matter when he relayed the words of Ethan Jones, and he used the perspective of Ethan Jones, but when everyone said that the big sale of "Pac-Man" would only be cheaper After Ethan Jones, Hiroshi Yamauchi instantly felt his heart being grasped by a pair of invisible hands, and the sudden pressure made him breathless.

At this moment, the idea of ​​killing "Pac-Man" even appeared in his head.

But in the next second, he knew that he couldn't be impulsive.

Because they signed a guaranteed release contract between Nintendo and Destiny Games.

Even if they don't sell "Pac-Man", when the time comes, they still have to pay Destiny Games a share based on the guaranteed factory quantity, otherwise, it will be a breach of contract.

Such a fact made Hiroshi Yamauchi lean on the sofa.

Head slightly tilted, eyes slightly narrowed.

When his body sank into the soft sponge, his face under the yellow glasses became a little pale under the light, "What about the third reason?" he asked.

"The third reason is more difficult." Hiroshi Imanishi said: "Because of Ralph Bell's video game patents, there are only three companies in North America that can freely make video games."

"One is Mirov with the patent."

"An Atari company that holds low-price patents for a long time."

"In order to get the support of Ralph Bell, one family doesn't care about patents at all, let alone pay for patent fees, and only pays a small amount of consulting fees."

"Besides, as long as all other companies dare to bypass them to make video games, they will face crazy lawsuits from Mirov. If it was said that Mirov's asking price was more reasonable before, then after they were caught by Ethan After Jones blasted the hammer twice, they wanted to kill all other competitors. Therefore, many game companies in the United States have discovered that they may not be able to make video games without relying on the three companies. The three..."

"There is no one to cling to."

"Needless to say Mirov, dozens of lawsuits in the past two years have ruined their reputation. Needless to say, Atari, they are currently the weakest game company in North America because they started by plagiarizing. Although Destiny Games is famous He is the tallest and has the best reputation, but everyone can see that Ethan Jones is not the kind of person who can accept mediocre games. So far, Destiny Games has only issued an announcement to the outside world. Therefore, if there is no accident, when the remaining game companies find that North America is no longer suitable for their survival, the vast majority of game companies will flock to our country.”

"For example, Sega..."

"Since they were sued by Mi Luohua, they have never launched a new game."

"They can no longer survive in North America, and their branch in our country also intends to acquire the headquarters in turn. If they do so, it means that the next video game war will start in our country .”

"And after losing the support of Ethan Jones..."

"Whoever can get the agency of "Star Wars" will get the first chance in this war."

"When we piss off Ethan Jones, it's not a duel between us and him."

"Because Taito, Namco, Bandai... They have all announced their official entry into the video game market in the past few years, and they can't wait to cut off our heads and give them to Ethan Jones as a vote..."

Imanishi Hiroshi's eyes flickered.

In his sight, Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was leaning on the sofa with his back facing the sky, was somewhat decadent.

In fact, as early as last year, when Hiroshi Yamauchi said that Nintendo must win the authorization of 6502 and "Pac-Man", he opposed the advancement of the COLOR TV GAME project.

In his opinion, they can lose a little money in the early stage of this project to cover up their ambitions and exchange for the scene of eternal peace, but... Hiroshi Yamauchi denied his idea.

At that time, President Yamauchi felt that no matter how powerful Ethan Jones was, it would be impossible to launch a game that was more powerful than "Pac-Man", because there was an upper limit to a person's inspiration, even if he was a famous artist. , it is impossible to break through for a lifetime.

They will definitely have their own peak!

Up to a period of time!
Then it's bound to go downhill!
But now?

"Special code!"

Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was leaning on the sofa, suddenly cursed.

"Ethan Jones is a monster!"

"How did his brain grow?"

"Why does one of his games sell better than the other?"

"Why don't we have such artists?"

"what--"

Hiroshi Yamauchi made a fist with his right hand and slammed it hard on the sofa beside him.

The dull thumping sound told of his unwillingness.

In fact, when he learned that Ethan Jones had smashed Atari's new generation and Mirov's Apollo in just three days, he wanted to kill the COLOR TV GAME project in his hands .

But unfortunately, it was too late.

The advertisements for COLOR TV GAME have already been launched, 6 and 15 have produced 8000 units each, and they have been distributed in department stores in major cities of the book. In addition to the loss of tens of millions of goods due to temporary cancellation, there are also sales from Mitsubishi. Huge liquidated damages, based on five times the compensation, plus advertising and dealers' compensation, their losses will definitely exceed [-] million...

Although they could afford to pay, Hiroshi Yamauchi was also willing to pay, but the revocation at that time would only make Ethan Jones feel that they were acting guilty!
and so……

Even if he has a hand and eye in the book, he can only watch the machine sell smoothly!

The fluke at the beginning made them a lot of money, but now...

How much do they have to pay for this profit?
Hiroshi Yamauchi didn't know.

But what he knew was—

"We have to give Ethan Jones an explanation right now?"

Hiroshi Yamauchi, who was facing the sky, murmured.

"We can't let other companies get him, can we?"

Imanishi Hiroshi did not say a word, but Arakawa Minority said: "Father-in-law, I want to ask you one thing, I can know, how correct is Ethan Jones' guess?"

"Pfft——" This question made Hiroshi Yamauchi laugh.

His whole body was still paralyzed there, but his head was lifted vigorously under the force of his neck.

There was no emotion in those cloudy eyes, and the words in his mouth were even colder.

"Is this important?" he asked.

"Of course." Arakawa nodded seriously, "If we haven't done it..."

"All."

Before he finished speaking, Hiroshi Yamauchi smiled and said:
"Ethan Jones is right. I did not know until I received a call from Mirov that Ethan Jones has the cheapest chip in the world."

"And I did know the location of Ethan Jones from Mi Luohua."

"Although Mi Luohua didn't mention their new console development plan to me at the time, I do know that Mi Luohua wants to kill the game of destiny..."

"I called Ethan Jones to the capital because I wanted to help Mirova!"

"Because Ethan Jones is too strong!"

"After seeing his game, I can't think of a way to deal with him at all!"

"But this feeling of powerlessness must never appear in a shopping mall, you know?"

"If he, Ethan Jones, dominates the entire North American game market with a devastating force, then he will definitely come to clean us up next!"

"You should know why I said that, right?"

"If we Nintendo can clear the obstacles in our own market like him, then I will also raise the banner and try to occupy all overseas markets!"

"And, when I first met him! I've seen the light in his eyes!"

"And when he came to Tokyo—"

"He's standing in Akihabara! His pupils are full of longing!"

"Since then, I've known that what he wants is more!"

"So what we have to do is to let him stay in North America! Let North American game companies keep fighting with him! Let us get more development time!"

"but--"

"Atari and Mirov are really two trash!!!"

"They're just two piles of shit!!!"

The hysterical roar made the blue veins on Hiroshi Yamauchi's neck congest and burst with blood.

Instantly flushed cheeks made Arakawa lower his head.

Although Hiroshi Yamauchi admitted everything, Arakawa didn't think there was anything wrong.

He has been used to business struggles since he was born, and he understands that the mall is a place where winners and losers have always been. People will only see the winners, but what about others?

losers——

"So we have to kneel and beg him to forgive now, right?"

Hiroshi Yamauchi stared at his son-in-law for a few moments, and sighed helplessly.

When he shifted his gaze to Imamishi Hiroshi, he asked, "What satisfying answer do you think Ethan Jones wants? Money? Or an apology?"

"Why should we apologize?"

Imanishi Hiroshi said: "President, when did you do those things?"

"Those were accidents, and we've investigated them multiple times."

"It's impossible for us to apologize for being an accident."

"Yes." Hiroshi Imanishi's question made Hiroshi Yamauchi laugh, nodded and said: "We Nintendo will never betray our allies, everything is an accident."

"So—" he asked.

"So we will discuss cooperation with him normally." Hiroshi Imanishi said: "Like "Pac-Man", we appreciate "Star Wars" very much, and we want to obtain the agency of "Star Wars". For this reason, We are willing to redefine the guaranteed minimum shipments and share of "Pac-Man."

"All the previous ones are invalidated. The new plan now is to guarantee a minimum shipment of 15 units, with a share of 20.00%, and the price of a single machine should not be less than two thousand dollars."

"In this way, the share they reap can go from more than 2000 million to a guaranteed 6000 million."

"At the same time, we also need to sign a "Star Wars" agency agreement with them, so that the movie will be released next year, and at the same time, we will sign a guaranteed shipment of 20 units of arcade machines with them, and the share is also 20.00%. Less than two thousand dollars."

"This transaction can bring them a net profit of at least 8000 million."

"In these two transactions, we made a profit of 7000 million."

"I believe this large sum of money can fully prove our innocence in the accident."

"At the same time, as a show of sincerity, we also invite them to send a commissioner to supervise."

"Ethan Jones has shares in the chip factory, right? Let him directly send a director and a supervisor to work. We at Nintendo have always been upright and not afraid of any supervision."

Imanishi Hiroshi looked at Hiroshi Yamauchi with a smile.

Hiroshi Yamauchi shifted his gaze to Minota Arakawa.

The young man at this moment still bowed his head, but Hiroshi Konishi gave him an elbow.

"Ah?" Arakawa Minoru who came back to his senses hastily raised his head.

Immediately afterwards, he found that his father-in-law was looking at him with a smile.

"Arakawa, please take a trip—" Yamauchi Hiroshi said.

"If I can live on my knees, I'll smash my knees for the future—"

"And all this—"

"I'm counting on you—"

(End of this chapter)