game trailblazer

Chapter 347 Sega's Choice

"...

According to the survey, online games that are likely to land in the mainland market in the near future include "Dark Light" represented by Yuzhi Ketong, and "Stone Age" represented by Huayi International...

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According to the investigation, the inside story of the dissolution of the former Daewoo Information Co., Ltd. is actually related to the listing plan of the head of the family, Li Yongjin. It is called OTC), but because the capital structure of Daewoo Information itself does not meet the requirements of listed companies, he adopted a tortuous approach. First, he established a Tianshuo Information Co., Ltd., and then acquired the entire company through Tianshuo Information. The products and liabilities produced by Daewoo Information's original operations bear its existing research and development achievements and human resources, and follow its various operations.

After the completion of the acquisition, Tianshuo Information moved to the current office location, 166th Floor, No. 16, Jianyi Road, Zhonghe City, Taipei County (Far East Science Park), and then disbanded the old Daewoo Information on September 9 of that year. Shuo Information changed its name to Daewoo Information Co., Ltd., and completed one of the necessary adjustment steps before going public. In fact, in this process, whether it is Daewoo Information or Tianshuo Information, the management and key employees have not changed. It's just a necessary technical adjustment.At present, the new Daewoo Information is actively working on the related matters of listing, which is expected to be completed in the middle of next year.

On August 8 this year, Daewoo Information Investment established a subsidiary, Daewoo Global Network Technology Co., Ltd., whose office is located on the fifth floor of No. 11, Section 66, Heping East Road, Daan District, Taipei City. Its main business is the operation of online games.

At present, Daewoo Company is in close contact with South Korea's Eyagi Company, and the online game "Hero" under development by Eyagi Company is expected to be launched this month (November). It is a large-scale online game with a western-style fantasy world as the background. It also won the "Best Popularity Award" in the video game section at the International Comic Con... According to the analysis of the situation, Daewoo Information's first agency game is likely to be this "Hero".

According to reliable information, a certain game development team within Daewoo Information is also developing an online game, and this game under secret development is very likely to be Daewoo Information's signature game "Xuanyuan Sword".

Other game companies in Taiwan also have many online game development plans. According to investigations, Zhiguan Electronics is secretly developing a new online game in addition to "Internet Three Kingdoms" currently in operation. According to intelligence, it is very likely to be " The online version of "The Legend of Jin Yong Heroes"... The agency company Huayi International is not only operating "Stone Age", but also organizing manpower to develop an online game. According to the leaked pictures and text, this is a martial arts style game. online game called "The Legend of the Knights"..."

Sitting on the balcony on the second floor, Zhang Lexing is seriously looking at the work emails on the laptop, and occasionally turns his head to look at Chen Zishan who is enjoying the sunshine downstairs, looking at her happy face and her growing belly , There will be a burst of sweetness in his heart.

As Chen Zishan became more and more disabled, Zhang Lexing spent more time at home. Fortunately, many things can be communicated through the computer network these days. Although it is not as convenient as face-to-face, there are ICQ and satellite video conferencing With the help of Zhang Lexing, Zhang Lexing can basically control the operation of his company, and by the way, he can also help Chen Zishan manage her research institute. Of course, he will go out for a walk when necessary, but usually he will finish his work with Come back as fast as possible.

Online games are one of Zhang Lexing's current concerns. He hopes to use his foresight to help his company seize a favorable position at the right time. This is also the main reason why Yuebai Studio launched the "Legend" project.Originally, Zhang Lexing thought that his actions were considered fast, but after reading the email version of the survey report on online games in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, he discovered that many people have already focused their attention on online games.

Perhaps the bursting of the Internet bubble cut off many people's refinancing plans, and they had to find new projects to support themselves, or perhaps some people were keenly aware of the huge potential of the online game market, so they put all their eggs in one basket or put all their efforts into it. In the agency and development of online games, the reasons for this may not even be grasped by professional investigation companies.

Although it seems that there are many competitors, Zhang Lexing is not in a hurry. Anyway, the layout he should do is basically done. Whether it is the Internet or other environments, neither has reached the stage of explosive development of online games, so he just needs to wait patiently.

In fact, Zhang Lexing is more concerned about home game consoles now. After all, DreamBox 128 was launched by him with all his strength, and it is an important part related to the future of the game industry. Although the marketing process has been relatively smooth, there are Nintendo, With a powerful enemy like Sony on his side, he didn't dare to take it lightly.

So Zhang Lexing opened an email about the latest information about the video game market, and read it carefully: "...On October 10th, RB Tokyo News, Sega Corporation announced its latest management system and future policies, and disclosed Sega's internal leadership Class changes and program performance revisions..."

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Time to go back to RB Tokyo on October 10th, in the meeting room of the Roppongi Hotel...

The slightly pale-faced Isao Okawa sat on the stage with executive director Hideki Sato, while Tetsu Kazan, who used to show up frequently, was nowhere to be seen. Although Isao Okawa said nothing, many media reporters in the audience were already keen Sensing that Sega might undergo major changes again, some reporters who loved Sega's games and have been following and reporting on Sega for many years couldn't help sighing: "I don't know when Sega will return to its former glory..."

Isao Okawa adjusted the microphone in front of him, and then began to introduce the content of today's press conference: "...From November 11st, the current executive director Hideki Sato has been promoted to representative director and vice president, and will assist me in the future as a The top executive representative of the business leads Sega Corporation, and the former ISAO president Yuo Oyama and Tetsu Kayama who are proficient in the network market and technology will serve as directors of the company... In the future, under the leadership of Vice President Sato, Sega will increase investment in the network, Maintain and develop the current advantages over other companies in servers, systems and content, and increase talent cultivation in the future to provide development opportunities for more young Internet talents..."

As soon as Da Chuan Gong’s words fell, the media reporters in the audience were already boiling. Unexpectedly, the big change that everyone speculated would really happen. Xiangshan Zhe, who was originally regarded as Da Chuan Gong’s successor, was suddenly adjusted. Does this mean another round of Civil unrest is about to happen.Many reporters raised their hands one after another, hoping to seize the opportunity to dig out some insider information. Unfortunately, Okawa Kou did not give them this opportunity, and rejected the reporter's idea of ​​asking questions on the pretext that the time for questioning was not up.

Looking at the commotion in the audience, Isao Okawa himself was not at peace. Xiangshanzhe was invited by him last year, when Xiangshanzhe was still the president of a game publishing company invested by Likulut Group.Isao Okawa has taken a fancy to Xiangshan Zhe's ability to develop new businesses, as well as his extensive interpersonal relationships in game companies such as Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment. He hopes that Xiangshan Zhe can bring a little turn for the fate of the Dreamcast console.

In the early days, Isao Okawa had a lot of trust in Xiangshan Zhe. He almost entrusted Xiangshan Zhe with the power of the entire Sega company, and accepted almost all of Xiangshan Zhe's suggestions, including the branching of the game development department. This proposal was even more unimaginable before.However, with the passage of time, conflicts gradually developed between Da Chuan Gong and Xiangshan Zhe. Da Chuan Gong hoped that Sega would continue to develop, and he was unwilling to give up the Dreamcast mainframe easily. He did not hesitate to contact old rivals Nintendo and Sony Computer Entertainment.

However, Xiang ShanZhe is like a mature entrepreneur. He treats the Dreamcast console that Isao Okawa is unwilling to give up like a business.If it was placed last year, or even at the beginning of this year, if someone dared to give up game hardware and specialize in game development in front of Isao Okawa, he would definitely not accept it, but now the dilemma faced by the Dreamcast console makes him have to consider This kind of proposal, but he still has a bottom line, unfortunately, Xiang Shanzhe has already touched his bottom line.

Just a few weeks ago, Kazan Zhe formally proposed Sega's proposal to abandon game hardware and transform into a game software developer. In this proposal, Sega will not only give up investment in home game console hardware research and development, but even shrink its arcade business. Originally, Isao Okawa also planned to consider this proposal, but Zhe Xiangshan should not have asked to abandon the Dreamcast network plan in his proposal. That was a glimmer of hope that Isao Okawa reserved for Sega to return to game hardware.

On that day, Dachuan Gong had a fierce quarrel with Xiang Shanzhe for the first time, which even caused him to be admitted to the hospital for observation.Since then, Xiangshanzhe has lost the trust of Da Chuangong. It is impossible for him to give his only hope to someone who can easily let go. However, before officially giving up Xiangshanzhe, he has to find a suitable successor. Executive director Hideki Sato came into his field of vision, so there was today's press conference.

With a soft breath, Isao Okawa temporarily put aside these messy memories in his mind, and continued to introduce: "...From November 11st, Sega Corporation will officially change its name to 'SEGA Co., Ltd.'. From now on, the company's main The strategic goal is online games, and will work towards the goal of the world's No. 1 online game service company. The new strategy is divided into three steps. The first step is being implemented. In addition to continuing to develop games on the Dreamcast console, Sega will also provide PC , I-Mode (RB's popular mobile phone) and other games above; the second step is to combine the Dreamcast console and develop various models in line with the market; the third step is to develop games across platforms and expand the software market.

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In the future, Sega will consider developing games for other companies' game platforms, and even does not rule out developing games for Nintendo's GameBoy and Sony's PS game consoles...

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In order to cope with the adjustment of Sega Corporation, the investment in arcade machines for business will be gradually reduced in the future, and the Yaguchi office in Qianye will be closed in December this year to cope with the increasingly sluggish domestic arcade machine market. Manufacturing of arcade machines for business will be outsourced to other companies to gradually reduce the cost of arcade machines…

......"

Hearing what Isao Okawa said, many media reporters in the audience were not surprised. In fact, it is almost an open secret that Sega is preparing to transform. With the help of "Shenmue" and others, Sega's deficit this year is as high as 280 billion yen. If it wasn't for Okawa Isao's willingness to use his personal property to fill this hole, maybe Sega wouldn't be able to survive the second half of the year.Even so, Sega's current predicament still hasn't improved much, it's just that they have more liquidity to squander, and if they can't find a solution to the problem, it's just a matter of living a little longer.

Many people think that Sega has come to this day because it is too rigid about the hardware platform. It always expects to open up the market with a sophisticated game hardware platform. This is true for arcade machines and home machines.Perhaps this strategy has brought some sweetness to Sega in certain periods of time, but now they don't have much strength to repeat the previous trick of repeated defeats, so they finally made the decision to abandon the hardware platform and transform into a professional The decision of the game developer is not unexpected at all.Now that it has been released, Sega is just like any other game development company. If it develops games for Nintendo, Sony, or even other game platforms, it will be entirely up to Sega's pleasure, that is, to reduce the investment in arcade machines a little bit. A little unexpected.

……

That night, in a high-end club in Ginza, Sato Hideki held a small porcelain cup and paid respects to Ken Kutaragi who was sitting opposite him, and then the two drank the sake in the cup.

Putting down the cup, Ken Kutaragi said with a smile: "Congratulations to Sato-kun for fulfilling your wish, and you can make great achievements in the future!"

"Where is it?" Hideki Sato waved his hand and said politely, "I can't be what I am today without the support of President Kutaragi!"

"Haha!" The two looked at each other and smiled, picked up the refilled small porcelain cup, respected each other, and drank it down again.Both of them are in a good mood now. Sato Hideki is because he overwhelmed his competitor Koyama Tetsu and snatched a shortcut to the future president of Sega. Very pleased with the change in wind direction.

A long time ago, there were many factions within Sega. After Okawa Isao's strong rectification, the current situation has improved. However, due to the weakness of the Dreamcast console itself, there were differences in the direction of choosing future partners. On one side, Kazan Tetsu, Headed by Yuji Naka, they are more optimistic about the cooperation with Nintendo. The other group is headed by Hideki Sato and Yu Suzuki, who prefer to cooperate with Sony Computer Entertainment. None of these people can make a climate.

In the past, Isao Okawa himself was more willing to cooperate with Nintendo. He didn't like the strength of the DreamBox128 platform, and he didn't bother to cooperate with a shallow upstart like Sony Computer Entertainment. This was one of the reasons why he supported Xiangshan Zhe to come to power.However, the stubborn old man in Yamauchi is still putting on airs, unwilling to accept Sega's surrender, and even dismissing the Dreamcast console compatibility plan proposed by Isao Okawa, which makes Isao Okawa very unhappy, and he has no choice but to choose Sony Computer Entertainment, so Kazan Tetsu's team has become an obstacle to future development, so there is also a bridge where Hideki Sato turns to the top.

Regarding this situation, Ken Kutaragi is happy to see the results. Although he has not regarded Sega as a serious competitor for many years, but a skinny camel is bigger than a horse, Sega still has considerable strength. Strong technical strength, if he is willing to develop games for Sony Computer Entertainment, Ken Kutaragi will certainly not object, he is still worried that there are too few game development companies to sign contracts with, Sega's decision can be said to kill two birds with one stone for him, He Le Instead of...

……

In fact, Zhang Lexing didn't really mind what Sega would become. Anyway, no matter how much blood was transfused by Isao Okawa, Sega was just a douchebag that couldn't be helped. At least in his impression, Sega would only grow more and more after the Dreamcast console. The more you deviate from mainstream game companies, you give up game hardware and online games. You only see Sega giving up constantly, but you don't see any improvement in them.

Of course, Zhang Lexing will not be negligent towards Sega, after all, with him as a variable, perhaps many things will become different from before.However, although he wanted to exert influence on Sega, he has been unable to do so. The voice of support for DreamBox128 within Sega has always been very weak, which may have a lot to do with Isao Okawa's views.

Right now, with the failure of Xiangshan Zheyi, who supported the cooperation with Nintendo, Sega’s internal voice for cooperation with Sony is getting louder and louder. This is an opportunity for Zhang Lexing. As the saying goes, the enemy of the enemy can become a friend. Originally, he was against DreamBox128 Xiang Shanzhe's attitude, perhaps after the current change, the thoughts in his heart may change.

Thinking of this, Zhang Lexing clicked to send an email, and wrote in it: "In view of the current internal changes in Sega, please pay close attention to its follow-up changes, and strengthen contact with Xiangshan Tetsu and others... Keep an eye on what's going on inside Nintendo..."

After writing the email, Zhang Lexing clicked send, then leaned back on the chair behind him, and breathed a sigh of relief...

(End of this chapter)