This is important for Bill. Gates is also crucial.

Because having this is much easier for him to convince the board than not not knowing.

Even without Sega's hardware development team, he was confident that he would be able to convince the board of directors, but the effort and effort involved were not comparable.

It was at this time that Bill. Gates suddenly thought of one thing, that is, Jester mentioned that Sega intends to withdraw from the field of console hardware, since Jester asserts that the other party will make this conclusion in a year at the latest, does it mean that they already have this idea now?

He doesn't know much about the inside world of video games, but he can ask Jester about it.

Jester didn't hide it, because there was no need to hide it, it wasn't a top-secret thing, basically those who had an in-depth understanding of the industry, it could be seen that Sega was already at the end of the crossbow at this time, and now it was just struggling to support, everyone was waiting for the day when Sega couldn't support it, and then swept the goods casually in this big supermarket.

"If my guess is right, Mr. Okawa should have made up his mind in his heart, but I don't think it's so easy for him to give up so quickly, he will definitely let Sega hold on for a while, and ......" Jester thought of Okawa Ko's will before he died, donating all his personal property to Sega for free, but this matter is too shocking, and there is no need to give it to Bill. Gates said.

To be honest, if it weren't for Okawa Gong's property donation, Sega might have really fallen completely this time.

"And, I don't think Sega will necessarily agree to talk to you about it now, but it will certainly not reject you outright, if you can show enough sincerity. I don't think Okawa will stick to it, because he has already made up his mind. ”

Jester said this very clearly, that is, stopping the hardware department was something that Okawa had decided a long time ago, the difference was that he hadn't decided when to stop.

But as things get worse for Sega, that time will eventually come.

In that case, it's not as good as Bill. Gates himself went to talk to Okawa about this matter, and if it could be negotiated, it would be of great benefit to both parties, first of all, Bill. Gates was able to get what he wanted, and he got a consistently excellent hardware development team. In a short period of time, you will be able to come up with a console that can be comparable to PS3 or even Dreambox4.

Secondly, that is, Sega was able to get a good income at the most critical moment, although this did not have much effect on saving Sega from the predicament, but at least it could delay the time of the final explosion, which is also good.

Although this time Bill. The dinner that Gates invited did not achieve its original purpose.

But it would be nice to know another solution from Jester's mouth, so, when it was time to leave. Bill. Gates was in a good mood.

And Jester naturally invited Bill. Gates had the opportunity to visit California.

Not long after Jester returned to Mars Entertainment, a big event happened in the industry, that is, Microsoft's chief administrative officer, Steve Lee. Ballmer visited Japan and had a private meeting with Sega's President, Mr. Ko Okawa. No one knows what the two discussed, but according to Sega insiders, it is said that Microsoft also wants to enter the TV game industry.

So, this time, Ballmer wanted to inquire about the feasibility of acquiring Sega. But this inquiry was rejected by Okawa.

Whether it's true or not, but after Ballmer's return from Japan, Microsoft suddenly made several acquisitions. None of these acquisitions are huge, but they have a clear target: game development companies that are engaged in the production of TV games.

You know, Microsoft doesn't have a TV game project, and this time they are constantly contacting the TV game development company - this also shows that Microsoft really intends to enter the industry.

Then the argument that they approached Sega and asked about the possibility of Sega's acquisition was greatly strengthened.

In fact, Microsoft's ability to enter the game industry so quickly in its original history is inseparable from the decline of Sega.

If it weren't for the help of Sega's hardware department and the help of Sega's software department, then Microsoft's first generation of XBOX would not necessarily be the end, and the reason why there is such an excellent console as XBOX is also related to the participation of the elite of Sega's hardware department.

However, Ballmer's trip to Japan did not achieve the original idea, at least that's what the industry thinks. Gates and Jester's private meeting with few people who know about it, and Jester's statement that he will officially retire after the completion of WOW development, many people wonder if Microsoft intends to buy Mars Entertainment.

However, this claim was quickly disproved.

That was Ballmer's trip to Japan, and he met Sega with Ko Okawa in Bill. Gates and Jester's meeting will come later.

That is, Jester was rejecting Bill. Gates's proposal.

Of course, this is all speculation, but according to an unnamed senior executive at Microsoft, Bill Murphy. Gates did propose the idea of acquiring Mars Entertainment to the other party during the meeting with Jester, and quoted a price that was difficult for people to refuse.

But the other party rejected them almost without much thought.

As for how much Microsoft offered, no one has revealed, but it is speculated that it will probably not be lower than fifty dollars, or even higher.

Even, maybe Bill. Gates also proposed a share swap.

Jester didn't ask Bill. Gates' final offer package did not include the conditions for the share exchange, but at the time Bill Bill was not included. If Gates had quoted a price of $7 billion, it would not have been his bottom-line price.

And in all likelihood, the bottom line price is to replace it with Microsoft's shares. A solution that Gates doesn't want.

However, if he really had the idea of selling at the time, then Bill. There's a real chance that Gates will bring it up.

As for Bill. The simple reason that Gates doesn't want to adopt is that Jester himself has a stake in Microsoft. It's not much, but it's definitely not too little.

If the share swap is carried out, then Jester will become a shareholder with great weight and voice within Microsoft, and Jester himself is also very tough in his career. The reason why Gates doesn't want to.

He was afraid that his power would be provoked.

Actually, it's a lot of thinking.

Sega's DC did not improve much in the next time, and it was still tepid, the main reason is that the lack of high-quality games has made players not have a strong urge to buy consoles, let alone **. Since the release of DC, Mars Entertainment and Sony have suddenly made significant price cuts on their consoles and games.

On some festivals, the price reduction is even more than 30 percent.

This extremely sniping method has made DC and the sales of games on DC even worse.

It can't be said that there are no good games on DC.

For example, there are as many as four or five games that have sold more than one million.

And the highly anticipated "Shenmue" was also in a good reception, and the sales volume was close to two million copies.

However, these are too insignificant for the DC host.

Most importantly. It's been nearly ten months since DC was released, and there are no more than fifteen developers willing to develop games for DC!

The third party has already made the games on DC, and there are not even twenty games.

Quality aside. Just this amount is already the death sentence of DC and Sega.

And Microsoft's layout in the past six months has become clearer and clearer, and the mystery of the meeting between Ballmer and Okawa Gong, which was still somewhat mysterious, has also been revealed, because in this half a year. Several core members of Sega's hardware development department have also left Sega one after another to join Microsoft's gaming department.

Microsoft's gaming division was founded very early. However, they were only responsible for the development of PC games before, but there are several very famous PC games, such as "Earth Empire", which is very similar to Genjest's "Age of Empires", because the graphics are better and the AI is better, and "Age of Empires" has not released the latest works in recent years.

Therefore, in similar games, there are more people playing "Earth Empire".

But Microsoft was previously only in the PC gaming department, and this time they brought in some console development engineers from Sega, what is the reason for this?

Could it be that Microsoft is also planning to enter the video game industry?

Although the industry is speculating about Microsoft's next move, whether the game industry is about to enter a giant beast again, but, the fall of Sega, has basically become the consensus of everyone, since Sega is now willing to give up its own hardware development department, that is, Sega may not have the next hardware development plan.

As for how long DC can hold out, it is unknown, although in a recent Sega earnings report, it was very ugly and caused turmoil in the stock.

Many people have lost patience with Sega and have sold their Sega shares.

However, Okawa took out 50 billion yen of personal assets to buy Sega's shares, so it didn't make Sega's stock price fall too much, but it can also be seen through this incident that investors have completely lost patience with Sega, this time Okawa can take out his personal assets to save Sega once, can he save the second time next time?

Most importantly.

Another bad news for Sega is that Mr. Okawa has been hospitalized for physical reasons, and it is basically impossible to deal with Sega's affairs.

Sega is deliberating internally about who will replace Koshi Okawa in the company's affairs during this time.

Finally, after a fierce internal discussion, Kayama Tetsulai temporarily handled the company's affairs.

Of course, the president is still Ko Okawa.

In the hospital, despite the advice of the doctor and his family, Okawa Ko had a long talk with Kayama Tetsu, which lasted for five hours, you know, this was carried out in the case of a serious illness, and no one knew the content of the conversation, but after all, Okawa Ko could not escape Okawa Ko's decision on Sega's future.

Okawa Gong's hospitalization can be regarded as casting a shadow on the future fate of Sega, which is already in turmoil.

However, during this time, Jester's WOW development team has not made any big moves, but every once in a while, about three or five months, some game development ideas will be announced, as well as screenshots of the game, so that players can YY it on their own.

Therefore, the most anticipated WOW is extremely anticipated, and the number one most anticipated game on IGN or GS is this new game by Jester.

Despite this, due to the lack of information known to the outside world, players can't find any place to discuss it.

But that doesn't mean there's no news about Mars Entertainment.

Mars Entertainment has not shown the slightest sign of weakening because of Jester's withdrawal from the development of console games, and Mars Entertainment, which already has a large number of top producers, is still irresistible to other game companies for the time being.

Even some game studios that are just starting their debut titles have erupted in unimaginable glamour.

For example, the Rock Star that was founded a few years ago.

At that time, Jester was saying that they were developing a game with the theme of American gangsters, which was not actually recognized by the vast majority of industry insiders in the game industry, and now judging from the content of the game called "GTA3" that broke out by Rock Star, it is indeed not the type of game that can be accepted by the vast majority of industry insiders.

Without him, the game is just too violent.

Therefore, during this time, there were many people who criticized this game on major forums, and many even began to spray Iwata Satoshi.

Because this game is in the eyes of many people, it was only after Jester announced that he would no longer care about Mars entertainment, and Iwata Satoshi came to power, if Jester was in Mars Entertainment, he would definitely not give this game so much support.

Even not only from the outside world, but even within Mars Entertainment, there are some people who have great opinions about the company's importance of a game that is violent, bloody, or even pornographic.

Because this kind of development idea has gone against Jester's original concept that you can't just know how to use a certain psychology of the player to make a game. (To be continued.) )