The sales of "Shenmue" fell rapidly.

Although on the Internet or in the media, his reputation is very high, and many people in the industry call it a masterpiece.

But there are also some light gamers who play games for fun, unlike those hardcore gamers, who start looking for something other than fun.

It can't be said that sales are bad.

However, in the end, it was not possible to achieve the kind of effect that Sega wanted to achieve at the beginning, in Sega's eyes, what they hoped was that "Shenmue" could reach the level of "Hero", and at the beginning, "Shenmue" did have a tendency to become the second in "Hero", and the sales were simply unparalleled.

And with the sales of "Shenmue", the sales of DC consoles are naturally growing at a very fast rate.

However, this trend did not last long.

After only a week, this growth trend has slowed down, and DC sales seem to have reached a bottleneck, although they are still growing every day, but not too fast.

This, of course, made Sega extremely frightened.

Because for them, DC's early rival has been listed for so long in order to alleviate their current poor economic situation, and the reason why they have invested so much in "Shenmue" is also to copy the miracle of the original "Hero", but unfortunately, the current situation does not seem to be what Sega people like to see.

One month after the DC release.

Sega held the first high-level meeting of the new millennium.

At this meeting, even Hayao Nakayama, who was already in semi-retirement, personally attended this meeting.

You must know that Hayato Nakayama has gradually stopped caring about the company's affairs because of his health, and founders like Okawa Ko are all present.

The process of the meeting was dull.

There is only one issue, and that is what to do next.

DC's dilemma. Sega's dilemmas, and how it can be changed.

After not saying a word for a long time, Hayakuo Nakayama looked at this scene, and he also sighed and grieved, he didn't expect that it was only a few short years. Sega, which used to be a leader in the game industry, has weakened to this point, and, just before this meeting, he personally inquired about the company's financial situation, and found that it had deteriorated incomparably, if not a rectification.

That whole Sega ......

But looking at this scene now, even Hayao Nakayama has a sense of powerlessness, and it is easy to say that Sega is rectified. But it is extremely difficult to do.

Seven development companies, with chaotic functions and cross-abuse of resources.

Hayao Nakayama also knows this, and he also knows the dangers involved, if these seven companies can be completely rectified and concentrated, Sega may not have the possibility of getting out of this embarrassing situation.

But......

When I think of this. Hayao Nakayama touched his chest, he had a heart attack. The current body is far from what it was decades ago, and if this is the self of decades ago, no, or even the self of ten years ago, I have the courage to carry out a complete overhaul of Sega.

But this time......

Hayabusa Nakayama shook his head. He was out of his power.

Moreover, the relationship within Sega is now complicated, and even the whole of it is very time-consuming.

It's not something you can do if you want to do it.

Throughout the meeting, there were some painless issues that were discussed, although everyone knew the purpose of the meeting. But no one wants to get to the core.

Yu Suzuki felt that this atmosphere was a little depressing, "Shenmue" did not meet the previous expectations, and some people within Sega had a lot of opinions about him, and even many people said that investing so much in the development of "Shenmue" was a complete waste, if it wasn't for so much investment in the development of "Shenmue", the current Sega would not have to face this dilemma of financial exhaustion.

Words like these would reach his ears from time to time.

Although he was angry, he didn't know how to distinguish it, but it was an indisputable fact that the development of "Shenmue" did cost a lot of money.

However, this matter is not a decision made by oneself, and I am not qualified to make a decision on something like this.

At the beginning, he just put forward his own plan, and then the miracle of "Hero" was still vivid at that time, and it was the entire management of Sega who agreed to it, and as for having so many unrealistic fantasies about "Shenmue", and even some people said before that "Shenmue" would copy the miracle of the original "Hero", he was not involved.

Moreover, he would never agree with this view.

Indeed, the sales of "Heroes" and "Heroes" have played a huge role in the popularization of Mars entertainment consoles, but this is definitely not just the role of "Heroes".

You know, what kind of game lineup was the game lineup under Mars Entertainment at that time?

Top producers, one after another works that are not inferior to "Heroes" take turns.

Final Fantasy 7, Metal Gear Solid, Zelda...... This name after name is the key to Dreambox3's dominance and domination of the market, "Hero" has played a great role, but it is definitely not a decisive role.

He knows these words, and he has also told others, but others can't listen to them at all, in fact, the reason is very simple, that is, there is no way to replicate the strength of Mars Entertainment, and the game "Heroes" can be copied, and in the absence of a way, choosing a possible path to go down is also a solution.

It's a pity that Shenmue doesn't solve this problem.

"The sales of 'Shenmue' are still quite good."

Suddenly, someone said this, and Yu Suzuki heard someone mention his game, and he glanced at the person who was talking, who was his friend.

The people of Sega do not object to this, and now "Shenmue" is indeed the most popular game sold on DC, and it has almost reached a one-to-one sales ratio with DC, which can be said to be the biggest contributor to DC sales so far. However, a total of $100 million was invested in the game, and the follow-up investment in the release reached more than $50 million.

This is almost the largest investment ever made by Sega.

To be able to achieve such results, in the eyes of many people, is a matter of course.

There's nothing to be proud of.

Of course, as the company's meritorious Hiroshi Suzuki. Ordinary people will not offend blatantly, at most they will complain a few words behind their backs.

"So about the follow-up additional investment in "Shenmue 2", ......"

Unexpectedly, before this sentence was finished, it was interrupted.

"I think it's better to talk about it later, Shenmue 2 requires too much investment, and we still have several projects underway, and we don't have enough money to develop Shenmue 2."

This view is shared by many people.

Yu Suzuki just watched all this quietly, and he himself knew that the current Sega was indeed more difficult, and the flow of funds was not too much. Almost every penny has to be spent on the steel blade, not only "Shenmue 2", but even several other best-selling games, have temporarily canceled the follow-up additional investment, because for Sega, the most important thing now is to ensure the production of DC.

Originally, DC's production capacity was tight, so. Some funds are needed in case of emergency.

According to the results of "Shenmue", the development of the second part should have started long ago. However, because of the lack of liquidity, so far, although the plot of "Shenmue 2" has been designed, there is no official project.

For Yu Suzuki, "Shenmue" is the one story he most wants to finish, but so far. This story is just the beginning.

He really wanted to keep the story going on.

However, the development team of "Shenmue" is very large, and there is no way to maintain such a large team without additional investment as soon as possible, so although Yu Suzuki does not want to participate in the power struggle within Sega. But if he doesn't speak this time, the team of "Shenmue 2" may be disbanded.

When he spoke, it immediately attracted everyone's attention.

And Yu Suzuki is not ambiguous and goes straight to the point.

"I know the situation of the company is very difficult now, but the game development must still be carried out, otherwise, the team will not be able to maintain it, about Shenmue 2, I hope to get a clear answer, if you want to continue to do it, then at least let me maintain the team first, if you don't do it, then give an accurate statement."

This is said by Yu Suzuki very directly, but if it is direct, not everyone may like to hear it.

Suddenly, as soon as Suzuki Yu's words were finished, several people immediately changed their faces, and they seemed to be very dissatisfied with Suzuki Yu's direct statement, but Suzuki Yu didn't care much, and in the entire Sega, the only people who could make Suzuki Yu care about were probably only two meritorious veterans, Hayato Nakayama and Okawa Ko.

In fact, after Yu Suzuki finished saying his words, he looked directly at the two of them.

Hayao Nakayama groaned, and Okawa didn't speak.

The scene fell silent again and again.

After a while, Okawa Gong's somewhat old voice sounded: "What Suzuki said is still very reasonable, I have seen the sales of "Shenmue", it is indeed very good, if we don't continue to invest in such a game, then what game are we going to develop?" However, the company's finances are indeed a bit tight right now......"

When he said this, Okawa Gong paused slightly.

Frowning, as if he was thinking about something, after a few seconds, he sighed and said, "That's it, Shenmue 2 will be established as soon as possible......"

As soon as this sentence was spoken, a director of the Ministry of Finance immediately turned his face to the side, and he wanted to speak out, but as soon as he showed that he wanted to speak, he was blocked by Okawa Gong directly waving his hand.

"I know it's hard for the company to come up with enough money to develop Shenmue 2, but Shenmue has been developed for so many years, and even if Shenmue 2 is developed, it will last for many years, so there is no need to invest so much money at one time, so let's invest 20 million dollars in the first phase of development funds first, Suzuki, what do you think?"

After Suzuki Yu heard it, he also felt that Okawa Gong's words were true.

He is right, "Shenmue 2" will be in development for at least three years, so there is no need to put all the development funds in place at once, and the $20 million is enough for the entire development team to spend a very long time.

Of course, according to the development investment of up to 100 million funds for the first part of "Miki", if "Shenmue 2" also wants to reach the level of "Shenmue", then the investment will definitely not be lower than this level.

But if the current Sega wants to come up with $100 million to set up the project, they may not have the ability.

It's not that Sega doesn't have $100 million.

Rather, there are many more places where you need to use the already small amount of liquidity.

"Thank you, President Ko Okawa."

After getting the answer he wanted, Yuya Suzuki stood up and bowed slightly to Okawa to express his gratitude.

And Okawa just waved his hand.

There was still no smile on his face, a sad countenance.

"Everyone also knows that this period may be the most difficult period for our Sega since its inception, but our Sega has been established for more than 40 years, we have experienced enough setbacks, enough suffering, we have persevered until now, believe us, this time, we will definitely be able to get through this difficulty, difficulty."

Speaking of this, Okawa probably felt that what he said was a bit pessimistic, so he himself smiled first.

continued: "Actually, we are still in a good situation now, DC sales are good, it has only been on sale for a month now, and our sales have exceeded one million units, I remember that Saturn does not have this speed, right? Shenmue was also very popular, selling a million units in a month, and although it was still a bit short of what we expected, it was already one of our best-selling games. ”

"Everything is developing in a good place, as long as we can take advantage of the people's time for a year and establish a certain advantage, we still have a lot of hope."

Okawa didn't say what hope.

The crowd didn't want to know, and they knew that it was definitely not the hope of turning defeat into victory, because they couldn't defeat Mars Entertainment at all.

If it is not the hope of turning defeat into victory, what hope can it be?

In the position of the host manufacturer, just survive.

But does such a survival make sense?

A lot of people at Sega are thinking about this, and in fact, Ko Okawa is also thinking about it.

If DC really doesn't get the desired effect, then is it necessary for Sega's console to continue to do it? Or is it that after the SS fiasco, DC itself was a mistake? (To be continued.) )