Chapter 88

"Oh, this game is so hard!" Zhong Chuhong failed again and couldn't help sticking out her little tongue.

"Your hands are too stiff. Don't always grip the joystick so tightly. You just need to gently control the direction when turning!" Li Xuan patiently explained the game techniques to his girlfriend, "Do you see those four bright spots in the four corners? They are called power pellets. When your little Pac-Man eats them, the ghosts' movement speed will slow down significantly for a few seconds, and they won't be able to attack until they return to normal. So you don't need to dodge; you must take advantage of this time to eat as many dots as possible!"

Li Xuan and Zhong Chuhong were currently at the Namco booth, trying out a game called Pac-Man. Unfortunately, this arcade game didn't seem to be very popular, far less so than the shooting games like Galaxian nearby.

Li Xuan was very surprised. Pac-Man, known in Chinese as "Pac-Man," was Namco's most classic masterpiece. The yellow Pac-Man character later became the company's corporate image. This simple puzzle game, which debuted in 1980, quickly swept the globe, ending the shooting game craze sparked by Space Invaders and leaving a significant mark in the history of video games. In 2010, on the 30th anniversary of the game's release, Google even designed its homepage logo to resemble a Pac-Man game, highlighting the game's global impact.

Li Xuan had considered preemptively plagiarizing this game, but he remembered that Namco had started developing it as early as 1979, so he didn't dare to act. He never expected that such a classic game would receive such a cold reception at the electronics exhibition.

Li Xuan and Zhong Chuhong toured a few other booths in the game exhibition area and finally returned to the Oriental Electronics booth. Oriental Electronics was primarily promoting the Game Boy handheld game console, and the booth was covered with large posters of the Game Boy and the promotional images of the games released simultaneously, such as Tetris, Tank Battle, Snake, Gomoku, and Highway.

The booth was already crowded with enthusiastic visitors. Li Xuan saw Ye Chengkang standing nearby with a smile and walked over to whisper a few words to him. Li Xuan asked him to immediately gather information on Namco's new Pac-Man arcade game and hand it over to him. Ye Chengkang nodded in acknowledgment.

Zhong Chuhong and Li Xuan didn't stay long at the Oriental Electronics booth. The colleagues responsible for the exhibition had already organized everything according to the plan. Li Xuan was nominally in Japan to personally oversee the launch of the Game Boy, but in reality, he was taking the opportunity to tour Tokyo with his girlfriend. Since the company was on track, he could just be a hands-off boss, leaving the specific tasks to his subordinates. Seeing that he couldn't help much, Li Xuan took his girlfriend to continue exploring other areas. They decided to look for some fun new gadgets to buy as gifts to bring back to Hong Kong.

That evening, Ye Chengkang delivered the information Li Xuan requested to his desk. The Japanese branch had collected data on every new arcade game that had appeared on the market recently, especially from major competitors like Sega, Taito, and Namco, with very detailed information.

Namco's new Pac-Man arcade game had been officially released for sale half a month ago, but its market performance over this period had been mediocre. According to the information gathered by Oriental Electronics, the total sales so far were less than a thousand units. Normally, this should have been the stage of explosive growth for a new game, but Pac-Man's sales remained lukewarm, a stark contrast to Namco's successful Galaxian from the previous year. It was rumored that even Namco itself had admitted the failure of the Pac-Man project and was actively selling the overseas rights to try to recover some of the costs.

Li Xuan put down the information and shook his head, puzzled. In his previous life, Pac-Man had been a huge hit worldwide. American players had gradually grown tired of Space Invaders and its many imitators. Pac-Man, with its fresh and comfortable gameplay, quickly won the hearts of players of all ages, including women and children. The puzzle game's popularity soared, and its sales in the U.S. market alone exceeded 100,000 units. Over the next few decades, it was developed into various merchandise and games.

Could it be that Pac-Man was a case of being popular abroad but not at home? Li Xuan suddenly felt excited. Could he take advantage of Namco's oversight and directly buy the rights to the game?

The arcade market had indeed undergone some small changes due to Li Xuan's influence. Tank Battle and Tetris, two games that had never appeared on arcades in his previous life, had been dominating the global market for the past six months. The popularity of Tank Battle further fueled the shooting game craze initiated by Space Invaders, leading other companies to rush out their own shooting games. In recent months, several arcade games imitating Tank Battle had appeared in the U.S. market, with two of them blatantly copying the game's concept, only slightly changing the background. Oriental Electronics' legal department had already sent stern letters to these companies, demanding they cease their infringement immediately.

In such an environment, a fresh and light puzzle game like Pac-Man would be a perfect change of pace for players. This was already reflected in the orders for Oriental Electronics. The number of new orders for Tank Battle had started to slow down, while the steady orders for Tetris had seen a slight increase.

What Li Xuan didn't know was that several famous arcade games had failed in the Japanese market but later succeeded in the U.S. market, including Namco's Pac-Man and Nintendo's Donkey Kong, which was to be released next year. It was in Donkey Kong that the famous plumber Mario first appeared in the history of video games. In this life, Li Xuan had already instructed Oriental Electronics to develop Mario Bros. ahead of schedule. If Nintendo's Donkey Kong still featured a plumber next year, he wouldn't mind sending them a lawyer's letter. Of course, it would be best if Nintendo were acquired by Oriental Electronics due to debt issues before next year.

"Brother Kang, it's Li Xuan!" Li Xuan picked up the phone and called Ye Chengkang, "I have a task for you to handle tomorrow! This morning, I asked you to find some information about Namco. Yes, I'm very interested in their latest arcade game called Pac-Man. Namco is selling the overseas rights to this game. Go and feel them out to see if we can buy the rights outright!"

Li Xuan hung up the phone, a mischievous smile appearing on his lips. He felt a bit guilty about Namco, but only for a few seconds before he threw the feeling into the trash.

A beautiful woman in a light silk nightgown was leaning against the bedroom door, seductively smiling and sending him a flirtatious look. Her curvaceous figure was barely concealed by the sheer nightgown, exuding an irresistible allure.

Li Xuan couldn't resist any longer. He immediately stood up from the sofa and strode over in two steps, scooping Zhong Chuhong into his arms and carrying her to the large bed in the bedroom.

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