“…… Yesterday, the three giants of home game consoles, Sega President Ko Ogawa, Sony Computer Entertainment Club Ken Nagata Nagataki, and Nintendo President Yamauchi Pu appeared at the same time in a high-end club in Ginza, and the following is a photo and text report sent back by the special reporter of this newspaper on the spot...... "[The front page of the well-known newspaper "Game World" in the Tokyo game industry - "The Big Three Gather, the Industry Pattern Faces Great Changes"]

“…… A few days ago, Sega President Ko Ogawa, Sony Computer Entertainment Club Ken Nagata Takagi, and Nintendo President Ura Yamauchi met in a certain club to talk about advanced game industry forms and exchange their views. The following is a detailed report sent back by the reporter of this newspaper in Tokyo...... [Special issue of "F Newsletter", a well-known magazine in the game industry in Kyoto - "New Trends in the Game Industry"]

“…… Sega President Koyo Ogawa met last weekend with Sony Computer Entertainment Ken Nagata and Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi, and the three exchanged views on the situation in the advanced game industry and discussed the possibility of in-depth cooperation...... "Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun 3rd Edition - "Home Game Console Big Three Gathering"]

“…… The world's largest game company, S.S.N., is about to be born, and last week's meeting between Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo made new progress...... If Sega, Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo merge, it means that a giant game company with a scale and sales of more than one trillion yen will be born, and with Nintendo's strong game development strength, Sega's strongest technical strength and Sony Computer Entertainment's strong financial backing, it will be unmatched by other game companies on the planet, and the unification of the home game console format that players have been looking forward to may also be realized...... A special issue full of speculation - "The Birth of S.S.N."]

……

Contrary to Ken Kutaragi's expectations, he originally thought that the meeting with Okawa Gong and Yamauchi Pu was very secret, but he didn't expect to find a related report when he read the newspaper the next day, and the "high-end club in Ginza" mentioned in the report reminded him of the man who went to the wrong room that night, and it seems that the guy is not simple.

The subsequent reports were even more overwhelming, because the three parties did not come out to clarify, nor did they make a statement on this, and even the reporter's interview did not refuse, so all kinds of speculations flew all over the sky, some said that the three parties talked about cooperation, some said that the three old men enjoyed the nightlife, and the most exaggerated report also said that Okawa Gong could not play anymore, and planned to see which party Sony Computer Entertainment and Nintendo bid high, and the meeting of the three parties in the club was for the on-site bidding.

However, Kutaragi Ken did not plan to come forward to explain, he believed that Okawa Ko and Yamauchi Pu also had the same idea, otherwise a press conference would have been held a long time ago. In fact, contrary to many people's speculations, the three parties did not talk much about substantive content that night, and more listened to Okawa Ko's complaints, such as Sega's current predicament, such as the dilemma of losing 10,000 yen for every unit sold by the Dreamcast console, but still having to sell, etc., and intentionally or unintentionally mentioned the technical strength of the nine professional game development companies owned by Sega.

Kutaragi Ken understood what Okawa Gong meant, and he believed that Yamauchi Pu, an old fox, also understood that Sega was a little unsupportable, and planned to switch from the combination of software and hardware to pure game development, which he still welcomed, anyway, isn't there a new game development company. Of course, Ken Kutaragi also knows that Ko Okawa will definitely not hang himself from the tree of Sony Computer Entertainment, and if he really turns to game development, he will definitely engage in a multi-platform strategy.

In order not to add bricks to the competition, Kutaragi Ken also did his best, and after that night of talking, and later secretly communicated with Okawa Ko, the two sides temporarily reached a non-public agreement, in the next year, Sega's game development will be PS, PS2 and PC as the preferred platform, and a year later to consider other platforms. Although Okawa Gong has nodded, he knows that the binding force of this agreement is not large, the key is the popularity of the game platform, if you can sell 30 or 50 million units, some people are crying and shouting to develop games for you, if you can't even reach the scale of 20 million units, then it's different, maybe you pay someone to develop it, and no one may come. So, now Sony Computer Entertainment is desperate to sell as many PS2 consoles as possible, even if it is a little money to lose a little money, and Ken Kutaragi believes that with the support of PS game consoles, they will be able to survive this most difficult time.

Yamauchi flipped through the special issue of "F Communication" in his hand, smiled contemptuously, threw the magazine aside, picked up the progress report of the two major projects of the "Dolphin" console and GameBoyAdvanced, and read it carefully. Yamauchi didn't care at all about the "Big Three Gatherings" that have appeared frequently in the newspapers recently, and the reason why he went to the Ginza Luming Club that day was just to give Okawa Gong that old guy a little face. Sega's old rival, Yamauchi Pu has always looked down on him, that is, Genesis (MD American version of the console) gave him a little "surprise", and then Sega can be said to be getting worse and worse, and even when N64 leaked so much cowardice, he couldn't seize the opportunity, but instead achieved Sony Computer Entertainment's PS.

As for the new army Sony Computer Entertainment, Yamauchi Pu also looks down on it, he thinks that Kuda Ragi Ken is taking a crooked path, and he doesn't understand the true meaning of the game at all, in his opinion, a good game should be "thin and short, interesting and high-completion", rather than larger and larger capacity, more and more boring game process, and more and more boring game experience. Therefore, Yamauchi Pu didn't pay attention to what Okawa Gong said that night, he put more of his mind on the wine in the cup and the beautiful woman beside him. It's just that in the end, Yamauchi Pu feels that Ken Kutaragi and Ko Okawa seem to have reached some kind of tacit understanding, but he is not worried at all, with Nintendo's heritage, he believes that sooner or later he will be able to regain his former glory.

Okawa was in a good mood for the past two days, and he was not affected by the random newspaper reports in the slightest, because he had already found a way back for Sega's future. During this time, the situation of Sega was not good, although Okawa Ko took out 50 billion yen of personal private assets, and although the branch action streamlined the company's organization, if it continued to go down the Dreamcast mainframe, only the only hope left was networking. Originally, the networking of the Dreamcast host was a one-man meal, but the Oriental Industrial Group obviously noticed this, and launched the "DreamBoxLive" with the VisualSystem Group, and the development of Sega was also affected, at least according to the current growth rate of users, it is impossible to reach their expected number of 22 million units in the short term.

Judging from the current situation, the suggestion put forward by Shoichiro at the beginning is actually very reasonable, so Okawa Gong specially invited Yamauchi Pu and Kuda Ragi Ken to come to the Luming Club together, and secretly expressed his meaning, Yamauchi Pu may be too focused on studying the "depth" of the people next to him, but he just said a few words of nonsense without pain, but Kutaragi Ken seemed to understand, and made a special appointment to meet, and then the two sides verbally reached some kind of tacit understanding, ready to establish a joint venture company in the near future, gather game talentsTaking the multi-platform development strategy can be regarded as arranging a back road without affecting Sega's current policy.

……

“…… Japanese game developer Jaleco Ltd. has accepted our offer to acquire 81% of Jaleco's shares at a 20% premium to the latest closing price, or HK$2.27 billion, by way of a takeover offer...... According to the schedule, the two parties will complete the corresponding settlement within two weeks......"

“…… The "Heavy Loader" development team led by Takaji Yamamoto has moved to Shanghai Zhangjiang High-tech Zone, and has established a new game studio "METAL", which will be responsible for the development of the "Heavy Loader" series purchased by DATAEAST, as well as the development of some original games......"

“…… Last weekend, Sega President Koshi Okawa, Sony Computer Entertainment Club Ken Nagataki, and Nintendo President Uru Yamauchi met at the Ginza Shikamei Club in Tokyo, and the details of the discussion were unclear, but two days later, Kutaragi Ken had contact with Okawa Koko...... At present, it is suspected that Sony Computer Entertainment and Sega may have some kind of cooperation, and the details are under investigation......"

“…… According to the latest statistics today, the global sales of PS game consoles have reached 73.35 million units, the new PS-One game console has sold a total of 250,000 units, and the PS2 game console sales have reached 4.92 million units...... Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that it has postponed the release date of the European version of PS2 from the original date of October 26 to November 24, according to the investigation, the main reason is that the PS2 game console is not enough to meet the needs of both the North American market and the European market......

“…… After nearly a month of operation, the current number of registered users of "King of Kings" has reached 130,000, and the number of online users has reached 9,560, approaching the scale of 10,000 people......"

"...... launch date of "Network Three Kingdoms" has been postponed again, and it is expected to start operation in mid-September......"

“…… Moonwhite Studios' Legend has completed beta testing and is being adjusted based on the issues found, and is expected to be in open beta in 32 days......"

“…… Preparations for the WCG have been put in place and the divisional rounds have ended, with a total of 430 participants from 37 countries competing in the finals in Beijing...... The WCG finals will start on August 20 and end on the 26th......"

Zhang Lexing clicked the mouse and closed the last work email. Maybe it's because of the summer vacation, during which the game industry is very unstable, and something happens from time to time, such as Sony Computer Entertainment releases the PS-One console, "King of Kings" is officially launched, "Might and Magic" is preparing to develop an online version, "Tomb Raider" movie version is planned to shoot a trilogy, "Diablo 2" has sold more than one million, "Final Fantasy 9" has been launched, and so on.

These situations are all expected, and there are relevant personnel to deal with them, Zhang Lexing has seen it, but today he saw a new situation, Okawa Gong actually took the initiative to invite Yamauchi Pu and Kutara Wood Ken, which made him feel a little uneasy. In Zhang Lexing's impression, Sega, Nintendo, and Sony Computer Entertainment did not merge, but Sega seems to have developed games for the other two after turning to professional game development. It stands to reason that Zhang Lexing shouldn't have to worry about it, it's just one more multi-platform game developer, but due to the influence of his own variable, he is worried about some unforeseen situation, in case Sega merges with Sony Computer Entertainment or Nintendo, the result will not be good.

As it stands, Nintendo doesn't seem to have made much movement among the three, but there is some ambiguity between Sega and Sony Computer Entertainment, and it is very likely that something will happen. Zhang Lexing felt that it was necessary to send someone to investigate in detail and find out the situation before he could respond.

Thinking of this, Zhang Lexing clicked on the email system and selected several main persons in charge of the game department from the address book as recipients, and put his opinions "...... Be sure to arrange for someone to investigate the movements between Nintendo, Sega, and Sony Computer Entertainment, especially the latter two, and if there is any intention of merging, be sure to find a way to sabotage the ......" into the body of the email, and then click the flow button to arrange the work.

Exiting the corporate office system, Zhang Lexing thought about it, took out his PalmIIIe handheld terminal, flipped through the address book, found a required number from it, and then dialed the phone on the table, and after the phone rang five times, the phone was connected.

"Mr. Arakawa, I haven't been in touch for a long time, how are you doing?" Zhang Lexing held the phone handle and said with a smile.

"Mr. Zhang!" Minoru Arakawa was surprised on the phone, saying that since the two met at the wedding in February last year, they had not been in touch for a long time through two or three phone calls in the middle, and it was really surprising and happy for him to suddenly receive a phone call at this time.

"Mr. Arakawa, I heard that you were named the president of Nintendo North America some time ago, and now you can show your strength according to your own ideas, congratulations." Zhang Lexing deliberately said slightly apologetically: "It's just that my news is a little late, otherwise I would have called you a long time ago." ”

"President?" Minoru Arakawa smiled bitterly, although he was nominally already the president of Nintendo North America, but he had lost his more important position as a director, so that now he has no place to speak on the board of directors, and even he felt that it was not as good as when his old friend Howard Lincoln was there, although he was not the president at that time, he could do no worse than the president, and now he is almost a statue.

"Mr. Arakawa, it seems that your tone has not been very comfortable lately, are you interested in going out for a walk, there is a world e-sports tournament WCG in Beijing at the end of next month, why don't you come and relax." Zhang Lexing sent out an invitation, in fact, he wanted to go earlier, but Chen Zishan's current situation made him reluctant to go far, although her body has always been normal, but how to say that it will take at least three months for him to rest assured to do his own things.

Hearing Zhang Lexing's invitation, Arakawa Minoru was silent for a while, he knew that the other party would definitely not go to watch any e-sports tournament together, there must be other reasons, and he could vaguely feel it. If it was before, Arakawa didn't even think about it, after all, Nintendo North America was like his child at that time, but now many things are different, his old friend Howard Lincoln is gone, he was vacated by his father-in-law, and many things that he was in charge of were gradually taken over by a guy from Kyoto, and it won't be long before he was even kicked out at the end of this year.

If he was really kicked out of Nintendo, although Arakawa Minoru was unwilling, he was helpless, after all, it was his father-in-law, the most powerful person in the entire Nintendo, even if he wanted to resist, he was just powerless. In fact, he didn't work hard, but unfortunately the painstaking arrangement was; The old man sent it away lightly, that is, at that time, let him completely recognize who is the boss of Nintendo.

Now that Arakawa Minoru's heart has fallen silent, he no longer thinks about fighting for anything, because he knows that he can't fight for anything, but Zhang Lexing's invitation has ignited a glimmer of hope for him, just relying on his own strength, he will definitely not be able to fight his father-in-law, but if there is help from outsiders, the ending may be a little different, at least no matter how bad it is, it will not be worse than now.

Thinking of this, Minoru Arakawa immediately said on the phone in a very pleasant tone: "I was quite busy with work some time ago, so it's good to relax now, just in time to go and watch that world e-sports tournament." Mr. Zhang, thank you, let's meet in Beijing then. ”

Zhang Lexing was also very happy: "Okay, the WCG will be held on August 20~26, Mr. Arakawa, don't miss the time." ”

"Mr. Zhang, please rest assured, I will definitely be on time." Minoru Arakawa's tone on the phone became more relaxed.

Putting down the phone, Zhang Lexing breathed a sigh of relief, and then it will depend on the situation of the meeting next month, but before that, you need to make some preparations......

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