The first reaction when he heard the news was definitely unbelievable for Jester, because no matter who it was, it was impossible to believe that in this case, the other party would do this kind of thing that would hurt 10,000 enemies and damage 800 themselves, and this enemy was not a direct competitor before, but a partner who cooperated seamlessly.

But, after the surprise, Jester's mind raced to the ground.

He was thinking about what he could take advantage of here, but after thinking about it, it seemed that this matter did not have much to do with him, and besides, no matter what the outcome of this time, it would be a big loss for Nintendo, at least whether their new console could be released or not became a complete variable, and what about Sony, a behemoth?

"It seems to be back to the old ways!"

Although the process is not the same, the result is so surprisingly unique, in the history that Jester knows, Nintendo and Sony's close cooperation from the closeness to the final disintegration, is also so unexpected, even more than ever.

Nintendo and Sony had just announced their cooperation to develop a Super Nintendo CD-ROM model named PS together, but just one month later, Nintendo unilaterally announced that the cooperation between the two sides had completely broken down without prior notice to Sony, and that a cooperation agreement had already been signed.

And this is also the initiator of Sony's firm entry into the game industry, Nintendo thought that their actions at that time were to stop a greedy wolf, in fact, what they didn't know was that they put in a tiger that was much more terrible than a wolf.

At the beginning, Jester read a reminiscence article about Ken Kutaragi, and in this article, he introduced the beginning and end of this incident in detail.

It was the morning of May 29, 1991, on the platform of Tokyo Railway Station, Line 21. As he prepares to take the Shinkansen to Kyoto on the Shinkansen, the purpose of which is to make a final run with Nintendo at the PSX joint presentation at the CES Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, USA, two days later, he is full of confidence in the bright future of development.

Just as the Shinkansen was about to depart, Nobuyuki Idei, who was the director of Sony Broadcasting's publicity at the time, appeared in front of Ken Kutaragi with a stern expression: "Kutaraki! Things have taken a serious turn, Nintendo will be ready to break the contract with Sony, and Philip will replace him......" Kutaragi Ken was shocked: "This is absolutely impossible!" The two hurried to the VIP reception room at the end of the train, and made an emergency call to the headquarters of Phillips in Orlando, USA, through the international telephone, but still could not get the essentials.

After arriving in Kyoto, I took a taxi to the Nintendo headquarters of Tofukuji Temple, and the two of them were relatively silent in the car. After arriving at the Nintendo headquarters, Yamauchi Pu and even Masayuki Uemura, who had been working closely in the past, avoided all of them, and the greeting was actually Minoru Arakawa, the president of NOA (Nintendo of the United States), whom he had never met. Then he replied word by word: "Don't worry! Nintendo will definitely keep its promises. ”

After receiving such an answer, Ken Kutaragi temporarily relieved his heart, and they felt that as the recognized successor of Nintendo, the number two person of Nintendo, a company with a grand international reputation, it was impossible to deceive himself in such a strict matter.

So, a few days later, on June 1st, Sony officially announced the corresponding release of the SFC expansion CD-ROM console Play-Station at the CES exhibition as scheduled, which was the result of their previous discussions with Nintendo, and awaited them. It was Nintendo's ruthless betrayal.

The very next day, the next day, June 2, Nintendo was at the same venue. Held a press conference with Philip, and it was at this conference that Nintendo unilaterally announced that they would jointly develop a CD-I standard console for SFC mounting. This move immediately caused an uproar in the industry, because it is well known that the war on CD specifications is inside. So the CD-ROM and Philip's CD-i are a pair of mortal enemies.

Of course, Sony could not tolerate this betrayal, but they were also troubled by this unexpected situation, and Kenichi Fukunaga, the head of the Public Relations Headquarters at the time, immediately went to Nintendo to question after this incident, and Nintendo's reply was: "The CD-console developed in collaboration with Philip and the Play-Station are the same extension products, and there is no conflict with Sony's original contract." ”

This is obviously nonsense, treating Sony as a fool, of course, it is impossible to satisfy Sony, but Sony in order to save their cooperation with Nintendo as much as possible, has been negotiating on this matter for a whole year, which shows Sony's sincerity at that time, but under the instruction of the ruthless Yamauchi Pu, this negotiation is worthless, and it was not until May of 92 that Sony announced that the cooperation with Nintendo was officially broken.

This unexpected ordeal left Kutaragi Ken with a physical and mental pain that he had never felt before, and he felt extremely resentful of the sudden betrayal that Nintendo once thought had more in common than some of his colleagues. Sony originally planned to terminate the supply plan for SFC's audio processing chips as a retaliation for Nintendo's breach of the contract, but the resulting huge loss of billions of yen was unbearable for Sony, which was in a bad situation at the time, and many colleagues who had opposed the digital business in the past accused Kutaragi of damaging Sony's face by his abrupt move.

For a long time, Kutaraki was silent with a gloomy face, and Tokunaka Tetsuhisa, the head of CMG's crisis management organization who was not familiar with him at the time, once described it to others later: "At that time, Kutaragi was like a moving active volcano, and there was a danger of erupting at any time, and I was always worried that he would make some amazing moves." ”

However, Ken Kutaragi did not lose his mind, he was just constantly reflecting and adjusting, and in his February 1992 business report, it was clear that his strategic vision had undergone a major transformation: "The times are about to usher in a new revolution, the consumer psychology of young people is also changing, and Nintendo's superior position is about to collapse. ”

After the official breakthrough of the cooperation with Nintendo in May 1992, the argument of a complete retreat from Sony's internal game console business took over the mainstream for a while, and many people believed that Sony could not compete with Nintendo, which had dominated the TV industry for many years, and even President Norio Ohga thought so.

Only Ken Kutaragi dissented. On June 24, a management meeting chaired by Norio Ohga was held at Tennoyama, at which the advance and retreat of the game console business were discussed, and the vast majority of the top executives believed that it was the best policy to immediately announce the retreat, and even more, a certain veteran believed that Sony could not even sell a console without the help of Nintendo. Ken Kutaragi calmly listened to the speeches of his colleagues before standing up to speak: "As it stands, Sony has three paths to choose from. The first is to fully support Nintendo's current 16-bit console, the second is to develop Sony's own game consoles, and the third is to fully retreat. As far as my own choice is concerned, the second route is Sony's choice. ”

This was a confrontation that went down in the history of Sony, and the two sides of the question were Norio Oga, the de facto controller of the Sony Group at the time, and Ken Kuta, who insisted that Sony must enter the video game industry, and could hardly find the support of his peers.

Norio Ohga asked, "What is the reliable basis for success for Jun's choice?" ”

Ken Kutaragi replied, "Utilizing Sony's existing technological capabilities, we will develop a three-dimensional graphics technology that is completely different from that of previous game consoles, and provide sensory effects that are absolutely astounding to consumers......

"How much LSI do you estimate would be needed for such a program?"

"The initial idea should be around 1 million integrated circuits."

Norio Ohga couldn't help but laugh dumbly when he heard this, as far as Sony's technical strength was concerned, it was only possible to realize the production of integrated circuits with a scale of about 100,000, and there were only a handful of manufacturers in the world that could manufacture 1 million integrated circuits.

Ken Kutaragi seemed to have foreseen Oga's ridicule, and he replied unhurriedly: "To compete with the game industry tyrant Heaven, it is necessary to develop a product that it cannot follow, and as for the LSI of 1 million circuits, with Sony's technical foundation, it will soon be able to achieve it lightly in the near future." ”

Norio Oga is a well-known elegant gentleman in the Japanese business world, his usual hobbies are playing the piano and serving as an orchestra conductor, and his daily actions are indescribable, but Kutaragi Ken seems to have already grasped his psychology, and his words continue to tease with "Nintendo" and "Sony's technical strength", and Oga's suppressed resentment of Nintendo's betrayal and deep trust in Sony's technical strength gradually rise.

"Shall we try it then?"

Ken Kutaragi, an ordinary employee, actually launched a final challenge to the president at this moment: "Please make a decision immediately!" ”

The air finally reached a critical point, and Norio Ohga suddenly got up and slammed his fist on the table, while shouting loudly, "do-it!! ”

And like the rupture of the Soren Alliance in history, it was truthfully staged in this time and space, of course, Sony, who had been prepared, was not as embarrassed and embarrassed as in history, because this time they were the first to breach the contract, and they were also prepared, but now Ken Kutaragi is also facing Norio Ohga in the headquarters of Sony, as well as inquiries from Sony's top management. (To be continued......)