Chapter 89 of 100

Chapter 89

16 min read4,061 words

"Beep—! Beep—!"

Tomonari Chino was engrossed in playing a game when the alarm on his handheld game console suddenly started ringing, snapping him out of his trance. Xiao Zhi turned his head to look out the train window and noticed that the train was slowing down, gradually coming to a stop at the Shizuoka station platform.

Tomonari Chino reluctantly turned off the power switch on his GameBoy and put it in his pocket. He then gathered his belongings and prepared to get off the train. His home was in Chiyoda, Tokyo. Taking advantage of the weekend, he had specially taken the Shinkansen early in the morning to visit his grandparents in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Last week, Xiao Zhi's desk mate had bought a GameWatch game console, which instantly made him the center of attention in the class. This made Tomonari Chino very envious. So, yesterday, he took out his piggy bank, counted the pocket money he had saved up, and found that he had a total of 8,700 yen.

Tomonari Chino originally planned to go to the toy store to buy a handheld game console like his desk mate's. However, when he arrived at the toy store, he found that it was full of a new handheld game console called GameBoy.

This GameBoy handheld game console was 800 yen cheaper than the one his desk mate had bought. According to the owner, this machine had just been released, and it was a rare opportunity. Under the enthusiastic recommendation of the owner, Tomonari Chino picked up a demo unit and played for a while.

To Tomonari Chino's great delight, the game pre-installed on the GameBoy was his favorite, Hong Kong Blocks. Previously, Xiao Zhi had never really liked going to the smoky game arcades, but when he was dragged there by his classmates, he was deeply captivated by a stacking game called Hong Kong Blocks.

"Was Hong Kong Blocks invented by Hong Kong people?" Tomonari Chino wondered. According to his parents, Hong Kong was a shopping paradise where you didn't have to pay taxes, making it cheaper to buy things there than in Japan.

After playing the Hong Kong Blocks arcade game for the first time, Tomonari Chino, although still disliking the polluted air in the game arcades, always found himself unable to resist going in for a quick play whenever he passed by after school, as long as he had coins in his pocket.

Now, he wouldn't have to go to those noisy places anymore. Without hesitation, Tomonari Chino decided to buy a GameBoy. Moreover, he had 8,000 yen with him, which was enough to buy a game cartridge after purchasing the game console.

Xiao Zhi deliberated for a while between "Tank Battalion" and "Highway," and finally decided on "Highway." His father was a racing enthusiast who had taken Xiao Zhi to various racing events since he was young. Although "Highway" wasn't a racing game, it involved driving on a road and dodging obstacles, which gave him a sense of familiarity.

Since buying the GameBoy, Tomonari Chino had been inseparable from the handheld game console. Before leaving to visit his grandparents today, he had specially brought the game console to pass the time on the journey. However, because he was so engrossed in playing, he accidentally missed his stop on the subway and had to get off and go back, which delayed him and almost made him miss the Shinkansen's departure time.

Tomonari Chino finally understood the purpose of the alarm on the GameBoy. He guessed that it was specially designed for players to set a game time. On the speeding bullet train, Tomonari set the alarm according to the Shinkansen's arrival time at Shizuoka, and then started playing.

Sure enough, when the train arrived at the station, the alarm on the GameBoy rang on time, reminding him that it was time to stop. Therefore, Tomonari Chino felt that he no longer had to worry about missing his stop because he was too engrossed in playing games.

Tomonari Chino was just one of the many players who bought the GameBoy as soon as it was released in Japan. Although the Eastern Electronics Japan branch couldn't immediately and accurately count the sales nationwide, from the feedback of several major distributors, the sales of the GameBoy were very promising, and some areas were already experiencing a shortage of stock, requiring urgent replenishment.

This was definitely a good sign, and it allowed people like Suzuki Ichiro and Ye Chengkang to breathe a sigh of relief. However, Li Xuan was more concerned about whether the sales of Nintendo's GameWatchBall had been affected.

Before the release of Eastern Electronics' GameBoy, Nintendo's GameWatchBall was selling very well. Normally, this would be the time for Nintendo to expand production and rapidly capture the market.

If the GameBoy could suddenly curb the sales momentum of the GameWatch at this time, it would cause a sudden surplus of products for Nintendo, which was already heavily in debt, dealing a significant blow.

However, Li Xuan couldn't immediately determine the extent of the impact on GameWatch and could only ask the Japan branch to collect relevant data.

Meanwhile, Ye Chengkang, following Li Xuan's instructions, personally met with Nakamura Masahiro, the president of Namco, to propose that Eastern Electronics buy the overseas copyright for the Pac-Man game. President Nakamura did not outright refuse.

"Master Xuan, Namco indeed has plans to sell the copyright for Pac-Man!" Ye Chengkang reported the results of his meeting with Namco. "I initially offered 800 million yen, and President Nakamura seemed noncommittal. Later, I heard that, besides us, an American game manufacturer called Midway also showed significant interest in Pac-Man!"

Li Xuan frowned. Midway was the company that would later release the Mortal Kombat series in the 1990s. He didn't expect them to be involved in the arcade industry so early. With competition, it was impossible to lower the price. To avoid delays, Li Xuan decided to resolve the matter quickly.

"Continue negotiating with President Nakamura tomorrow. My limit is 2 billion yen, but I require the complete package of all subsidiary rights for Pac-Man, including arcade, handheld, TV, and computer games," Li Xuan said seriously.

2 billion yen was approximately 8 million US dollars, which was roughly equivalent to the pure profit from 8,000 arcade machines. This was almost the performance of a hit arcade game. For a game that was considered a flop, being able to recover so much cash from the overseas copyright was enough for Namco to celebrate.

Li Xuan wasn't worried about losing money by paying such a high price. Instead, he was concerned that Namco's Nakamura might change his mind if Eastern Electronics offered such a high price upfront. If they decided to enter the American market themselves, it would backfire.

Therefore, Li Xuan didn't personally participate in the negotiations, as his acting skills were far from perfect. If he were to sit at the negotiation table, it would be easy for the other party to see through his bottom line. This professional work was better left to professionals like Ye Chengkang.

2 billion yen made Ye Chengkang take a deep breath. He didn't understand why his boss was so focused on this Pac-Man arcade game. But this price was definitely not what a flop game could match. Could this Pac-Man be a hidden gem? He suddenly felt the weight of his responsibility increase.

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