game trailblazer

Chapter 326 Target Nintendo

Zhang Lexing smiled: "Mr. Arakawa, you misunderstood. I didn't ask you to betray Nintendo's interests. I just wanted to know your thoughts. If you are willing to regroup, then I will support you."

"Mr. Zhang, it's not that I don't believe you, but I really don't understand how you can influence Nintendo's decision-making." Arakawa asked puzzled.

"This needs to be kept secret for the time being, but I believe you will know it soon." Zhang Lexing smiled mysteriously, pointed to the big screen TV and said: "Mr. Arakawa, why don't you watch the game first, it's very exciting of."

Seeing that the other party talked for a while and then changed the subject, Arakawa became anxious for a moment. He didn't come to BJ to watch WCG.Of course, he also knows that if Zhang Lexing really wants to do him such a big favor, he must have something to ask for. If he doesn't say anything now, it will only be more troublesome in the future, so he hurriedly asked: "Mr. Zhang, how can you do me?" No matter, but there is one thing I want to ask, what do you need me to do?"

"Mr. Arakawa is in a hurry." Zhang Lexing said with a smile on his face, spreading his hands, "If I say that I don't have any requirements, you probably won't believe me. In fact, my request is very simple. I want to buy no less than 20% of Nintendo's products." shares."

Arakawa frowned. In fact, the acquisition of shares is not a big deal, especially if it is only 20%, that is, it can have a certain number of seats on the board of directors. It does not mean that it has much power, especially in the case of other shareholders.Thinking of this, he asked suspiciously: "Mr. Zhang, I don't know why you bought 20% of Nintendo's shares, and it seems that you don't need to ask me about this matter."

In fact, there is still a word that Arakawa has not said. If DreamBox128 first landed on RB, there were still people who were researching the origin of Blue Bird Co., Ltd., then now I am afraid that only some ignorant RB players do not know the background of Blue Bird Co., Ltd. where.Anyway, Arakawa already knew that the one standing behind Blue Bird Co., Ltd. was VisualSystem Group, a famous American software company, and the other was Dongfang Industrial Group, which was in charge of him beside him, a comprehensive group with strong game development capabilities. According to unconfirmed information, Universal Entertainment Group seems to be one of the supporters of DreamBox128.

As a new army in the game industry, the performance of DreamBox128 game console is even stronger than that of the original PS game console. Judging from the current performance, the global sales of more than 5000 million units can be said to be invincible.In the home game hardware market, Nintendo exists as a competitor. According to Arakawa Minoru's thinking, the person next to him should be thinking about knocking the competitor to the ground, and then stepping on a few feet is the right way.Buying 20% ​​of Nintendo's shares does not seem like an action, because the old man Yamauchi directly holds about 11.2% of Nintendo's shares, and the company also holds 9.7% of treasury shares, plus some 29.3% are held by closely related financial institutions. In this way, almost 50.2% are on the old man's side. It is very difficult to acquire Nintendo.

If they do not intend to acquire Nintendo, then if Oriental Industrial Group holds 20% of Nintendo shares, it will not play a very important role, that is, they will speak on the board of directors. If they cannot unite with other shareholders, they will not even have the right to veto. .Minoru Arakawa himself has also invested in investments. Nintendo North America has also been involved in industries other than the game industry in recent years, but he has never tried to invest money in his competitors, and it is still on the premise that he cannot acquire the opponent.In this case, there are nothing more than two kinds of results. One is that due to the funds you provide, the competitors develop and grow smoothly, which brings you a lot of trouble; No matter what kind of ending it is, Arakawa feels that it is unacceptable. He is a little confused now, why the gentleman next to him insists on giving money to Nintendo.

But it’s really hard for Arakawa to say this in person. One is someone else’s secret, and the other is a competitor. It’s a very strange thing for him to appear here. If you want to ask the other party why he gave money to the competitor, He seemed to have no position to ask this question.

Zhang Lexing looked at Arakawa Minority, his lips moved, as if he wanted to explain something, but he didn't seem to want to say it.At this moment, Wang Mengyao knocked on the door and hurried in with an anxious expression on her face.

"What's going on, so flustered!" Zhang Lexing asked slightly dissatisfied.

"Boss..." When Wang Mengyao was talking, she glanced at Arakawa Minoru who was on the sofa, her posture was obviously that confidential information should not be passed on.

Zhang Lexing waved his hand and said, "It's okay, Mr. Arakawa is a friend, just talk about it."

"Yes, boss!" Wang Mengyao responded, and then handed over a piece of information in her hand: "I just received the news that Sega and Sony have started cooperation!"

"What!" Zhang Lexing jumped up from the sofa in "surprise", and immediately read the information after receiving it from Wang Mengyao.

"Sega and Sony are cooperating!" Arakawa Minoru was shocked. If this is true, it is definitely not a good thing for Nintendo.A Sega that has been defeated repeatedly, coupled with Sony, a former new player in the game industry that has created a new situation, Sega has a strong technological strength that other companies covet, and Sony has abundant funds, global influence, and flexibility and aggressiveness strategy, their cooperation may create a future that is hard to imagine.

Immediately, as if a flash of light flashed across Arakawa's mind, he vaguely felt that he had grasped the reason why Oriental Industrial Group planned to acquire 20% of Nintendo's shares, perhaps in response to the possible cooperation between Sega and Sony.Although the exact news was only received today, Sega and Sony have been rumored to have scandals before this, and there is even a figure of Nintendo in it. Arakawa still remembers that some time ago, many media followed up and reported on Hiroshi Yamauchi and Daikonkawa. , Ken Kutaragi and Ken Kutaragi appeared in a high-end club in Ginza at the same time. At that time, there were various theories. The most exaggerated one said that Nintendo, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Sega would merge into one to become the world's largest game industry giant.At that time, Arakawa knew that there might be a chance between Sega and Sony, but it would never be possible for Nintendo as long as the old man Yamauchi was there, and the current situation really confirmed this point.

Arakawa thought about it. If Sega and Sony really cooperate, the threat to Nintendo will definitely be greater than it is now, even the DreamBox128, which is at the forefront of this round of game console competition.The biggest trouble for the menacing PS2 game console is the lack of enough game software, especially the lack of support for major titles with enough weight. The situation of the already mature Dreamcast console is much better. If Sony gets the support of Sega, Then the lack of game software that plagued them will be alleviated in the short term. If Sony can survive this most difficult period, maybe there is a chance to create a new PS myth, which is simply a big deal for NGC whose release plan is lagging behind. a disaster.

If Nintendo has the opportunity to cooperate with Dongfang Industrial Group, Arakawa thinks it is a good choice for Nintendo at the moment. Although the old man Yamauchi refuses to admit it, since the N64 period, due to the lag in the release of new game consoles and conservative specifications For other reasons, Nintendo's influence in the home game console market has been continuously declining. If NGC suffers another failure this time, it may be unsustainable for Nintendo to continue to develop new game consoles.

In Arakawa’s view, the constantly updated game console is a black hole that devours funds. With the continuous advancement of technology in the future, the corresponding research and development costs will only increase. It will be more difficult to earn profits by selling game hardware. Even the royalties collected will have to continue to decrease due to fierce competition. In this case, instead of spending limited funds on this endless "arms race", it is better to invest funds in profitable businesses. In terms of business, such as game development, game accessories, etc., it can even be an industry that is completely unrelated to games such as real estate.Of course, Arakawa, a portable handheld with relatively low R&D costs and higher sales volume, thinks that it can continue to do it. After all, Nintendo maintains an absolute advantage now, as long as it invests appropriate funds to stay ahead.

After such a calculation, Arakawa feels that cooperation with Dongfang Industrial Group is a match made in heaven. Nintendo can continue to hold the dominance of portable handhelds, and Dongfang Industrial Group can be responsible for the failure of NGC (in Arakawa’s view, unless there is a miracle, NGC has already been defeated. If NGC fails, Nintendo can also adapt the copyrighted game to DreamBox128, which can also make money, and as a partner, the royalties are definitely easy to negotiate.Thinking of this, Arakawa really felt that his trip was not in vain.

……

Zhang Lexing took the information handed over by Wang Mengyao and looked at it pretendingly, but at the same time, his eyes were still paying attention to the changes in Arakawa Minority's expression.In fact, Zhang Lexing has heard about the cooperation between Sega and Sony. It is said that Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment, and Pachinko manufacturer Sami have jointly established a new company, planning to adopt a multi-platform strategy and develop games. and digital entertainment products.But Wang Mengyao had actually seen the information sent by Wang Mengyao yesterday, and the reason why he had to wait until today to bring it out solemnly was to hope that Arakawa could really think of it.

In fact, Zhang Lexing took advantage of the sharp drop in Nintendo's stock price two years ago to quietly absorb part of it. Up to now, he has indirectly controlled about 14% of the shares through several small companies. If he can acquire another 20% this time, he will be able to reach A relatively safe ratio.As for the acquisition, Zhang Lexing has already made arrangements. Anyway, according to the current share capital structure of Nintendo, foreigners hold 41% of the shares. He can find a way out of it. If it is not enough, he can try to contact those who hold Nintendo shares. Even if these people are not willing to sell it now, when something really happens to NGC, these people may have to ask him to buy it instead.

Originally, Arakawa didn't really have anything to do with it. This guy doesn't even have the status of a director now. Apart from having a negligible amount of Nintendo shares on hand, he basically has no say in the acquisition of shares.However, Zhang Lexing hopes to have a spokesperson for Nintendo in the future, and it is best to have a certain influence within Nintendo. There are too few people who meet this standard.For example, Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda, Shigeru Miyamoto has a unique concept of game production, but he is more of a genius in game production than business management. More importantly, when Junpei Yokoi left Nintendo, his apprentice What he did seems to be not so glorious.And Genyo Takeda was one of Nintendo's "Three Heroes of Hardware" in the past, and he had a very keen sense of innovation in hardware technology. At that time, his low-key life made him lack sufficient influence.

As Yamauchi Hiroshi's candidate for the future president, Iwata Satoshi is not bad in all aspects, but Zhang Lexing does not intend to make Nintendo achieve another glory, so in comparison, the more adventurous Arakawa Minoru is a good candidate, and now it is him At the most embarrassing moment, without Zhang Lexing's support, maybe he would be kicked out of Nintendo by his father-in-law in a short time.Helping Arakawa right now is like sending charcoal in a timely manner. As long as he is promoted to the position of Nintendo president, Zhang Lexing will be able to plan slowly in the future. After all, it is not impossible for a company as large as Nintendo to take it down in a short time. , but there will definitely be very troublesome sequelae, such as brain drain, internal turmoil and so on.

After so many years of experience, Zhang Lexing's patience is now very good. He can spend about eight years preparing his own game console, and he can also spend many years slowly cultivating the domestic game and animation market. It can also slowly erode Nintendo, and gradually take it into your own hands bit by bit.He didn't want the essence of Nintendo to be lost because of his haste, it wouldn't be worth it.As long as he can win Nintendo, Zhang Lexing believes that no matter how hard Sony Computer Entertainment tries, even if it is really buying Sega, he doesn't have to worry about it.

According to Zhang Lexing's vision, the future game market will be mainly divided into arcade machines, home game consoles, portable handhelds (including future mobile phones) and PCs.The arcade market will definitely shrink in the long run. With the continuous improvement of the performance of home game consoles and PCs, as well as the continuous growth of network coverage, the number of people entertaining at home will definitely increase. However, at this stage, there are still some It is necessary to use the arcade interchangeable substrate with DreamBox128 technology to suppress competitors and win over game companies to join the DreamBox128 platform.

Home game consoles and PCs will be the key development goals of Zhang Lexing, to occupy the future home entertainment market, and through the underlying support of the operating system, the two platforms can be gradually integrated. This is something that other game companies, even Sony Computer Entertainment A bit hard to do.According to Zhang Lexing's plan, the center of the future will shift from the hardware platform to the software platform. At that time, it doesn't matter whether players use home game consoles, PCs, or even portable devices. They can play the same games. All this only needs to be based on an account similar to "GameLiveNetwork".At that time, Zhang Lexing, who has laid out the "GameLiveNetwork" in advance, will definitely have the upper hand, and once he has a huge user base, it will be half the effort to start any business based on this.

As for portable handhelds, Zhang Lexing is planning to use them to hang Nintendo in the short term, so he will not release his own handhelds for the time being, but the corresponding research work will continue to be carried out. During the period of "cooperation" with Nintendo, accumulate more Some research results, make more preparations, and when the time is right, they can be officially launched, making up for the lack of game strategy.Although it is not possible to blatantly develop portable handhelds during this period, Zhang Lexing has already thought of an alternative method. He can start with emerging mobile games, so as not to have a direct conflict with Nintendo, but also to seize an emerging market. , It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

……

Among the two people who had their own concerns, Arakawa woke up first, he glanced at Zhang Lexing who was reading the materials, coughed twice, and then asked: "Mr. Zhang, what do you think of the cooperation between Sega and Sony? "

"Oh," Zhang Lexing smiled, and said, "I think it's better to consider our cooperation. I believe that if Nintendo and Dongfang Industrial Group can form an alliance, Sony or something is nothing. Mr. Arakawa, what do you think?"

Hearing that the other party personally admitted to cooperating with Nintendo, Arakawa smiled happily. It seems that he guessed right. If the two companies really cooperate, even if Sega and Sony Computer Entertainment merge, they don’t have to worry about it. Given its position in the console market, Nintendo will surely have a good life in the future, at least it won't have to worry about the brutal competition of home console hardware all the time.

"That's right, as long as our cooperation is good, Sega and Sony are just floating clouds." Arakawa actively extended his hand and said, "Mr. Zhang, I hope we can have a happy cooperation in the future!"

"Mr. Arakawa, happy cooperation!" Zhang Lexing held the hand extended by Arakawa, and the smile on his face became extremely bright.

(End of this chapter)