At the main booth, Yamashina Castle after demoting the game.

There is still no mention of battery life.

Rather, it says another thing that interests the player.

That's the price of this WonderSwan handheld.

14,999 yen.

Hearing this number, the players in the audience cheered again.

Obviously, this price is for elf entertainment.

Genie Entertainment's Pokeball 2 handheld sold for fifteen thousand.

I'm one yen cheaper than you, and it's a color screen version.

For players, this is simply a full value for money.

However, after Hanyu Hideki and Satoshi Iwata heard this price, their expressions were unmoved.

When arranging the order of the main booth press conference, Nintendo was deliberately placed on the first day, not for this.

Let Nintendo make a move first, and Elf Entertainment will respond to all changes with the same and strike later.

Color screens, sold at the same price as Genie Entertainment monochrome screens.

Obviously, these two companies have made up their minds to seize the market at a loss.

"If you want to play a price war, then come on." Hideki Hanyu murmured in a playful tone.

And after listening to the offer.

Although the press conference of Nintendo and Bandai has not yet ended, he has no interest in the bragging words that followed, and left straight away with Satoshi Iwata.

Back in the backstage of Elf Entertainment's booth, Hideki Hanyu looked at Satoshi Iwata and said with a smile.

"Iwata-san, tomorrow's press conference of Elf Entertainment will announce your appointment as the official president, do you want to postpone it?"

Hideki Hanyu was clearly joking.

deliberately used this way to relieve the pressure of Satoshi Iwata.

After all, before that, Elf Entertainment had been smooth sailing.

As a result, Satoshi Iwata was going to officially become the president, and Bandai and Nintendo came together to give Elf Entertainment a big gift.

Facing his unscrupulous boss, Satoshi Iwata smiled bitterly.

"It's all this time, so don't joke about it."

"What do you think of the new handheld consoles from Bandai and Nintendo?" Hideki Hanyu asked directly.

"I'm more concerned about that game, as for the handheld......"

When Satoshi Iwata talked about the handheld, his tone was slightly paused, and his expression was obviously not too nervous.

Then he continued, "Yamashina Castle was hiding a bit about battery life when he introduced the handheld. ”

As soon as Satoshi Iwata said this, Hideki Hanyu knew that the other party thought of him together.

However, he did not express his opinion, but continued to ask Iwata Satoshi, "Oh......, what do you think they are hiding?" ”

"President, last year when I introduced you to the Pokeball 2 color screen upgrade, I said that the battery life problem could not be solved, the screen technology they use is the same as ours, and the screen size is larger than ours, in this case, the battery life of their handheld will definitely not be optimistic."

Satoshi Iwata spoke his mind.

Hideki Hanyu nodded, "yes, our energy-saving optimization research and development has not stopped, even earlier than they started, I don't believe they can optimize this problem." ”

Satoshi Iwata shook his head, "This kind of fundamental problem in hardware cannot be optimized unless the technology is iterated. ”

Hideki Hanyu asked, "How long do you think their WS console lasts?" ”

Satoshi Iwata said categorically, "It is absolutely impossible for such a large color screen to last more than two hours." ”

"At the end of the press conference, if Nintendo sends a prototype to the game base, let Koji Takida immediately conduct an extreme test and publish the test results in the magazine as soon as possible."

Hideki Hanyu said this, emphatically, "Remember, you have to be objective. ”

He used the word objective on the other, and he used extra accents.

"I see." Satoshi Iwata said.

Satoshi Iwata, of course, understood what Hanyu meant.

What Hanyu wants is not to discredit the WS handheld, but to publish the real data.

As long as the battery life of the WS handheld is the same as they expected.

Elf Entertainment is definitely going to add fuel to the fire and start publicity.

A handheld machine, no matter how good the performance you have, no matter how gimmicky the game, if the battery life is too short, you can only use the AC power supply system to play.

What's the difference between that and buying a console and keeping it at home.

After talking about the endurance, Hanyu Hideki commanded again.

"Inform the former Yuan Zhensheng and Kusamura Junzhong to come here for an impromptu meeting to discuss the pricing of our upgraded models at tomorrow's press conference."

Nintendo and Bandai are here to fight a price war.

With their little size, they dare to fight a price war.

As the overlord of the handheld machine, Genie Entertainment has no reason to be afraid.

Although Elf Entertainment is not listed, it cannot burn the money of shareholders.

But with the market share of the Pokeball 2 handheld, if you lose ten yuan by selling a handheld, you can earn back a hundred yuan by selling the game.

This is a virtuous circle, which is much stronger than simply burning money.

After Hanyu Hideki gave the order, Satoshi Iwata immediately went to inform the two of them.

After hearing that the two of them would come over as soon as possible.

Hideki Hanyu didn't wait all the time backstage at the booth.

Taking advantage of the absence of the two, he decided to go and see this year's TEPCO Expo.

He didn't come last year, but this year he can take a turn.

Before leaving, Hideki Hanyu disguised himself a little.

In addition to the mask, he also took a hat from the backstage of the "Knock on the Ice" game, with sunglasses and a polar bear hat buttoned on his head, incarnating a veteran game enthusiast.

Perhaps the camouflage effect was too good, and as soon as he left the backstage, he was stopped by a female employee of the game base.

Enthusiastically asked him to fill out a questionnaire.

The questionnaire is simple, and it is mainly about rating the most popular games on the market last year.

This is the game base magazine, which has added an award section at the TEEK Expo since last year.

On the last day of the four-day TEPCO exhibition, the organizers will announce several annual awards at the main booth.

The award is composed of three parts, one is the rating of the game base magazine itself, the second is the score of the magazine receipt of previous players, and the third is the on-site questionnaire.

After carefully completing the questionnaire.

The female employee also gave a small gift to Hideki Hanyu.

Perhaps because Hanyu Hideki was wearing a polar bear hat with sunglasses, the gift from the other party was a small stuffed fur seal, also from the game "Knocking on Ice".

In this way, Hideki Hanyu continued to carry his small gift and began to visit the exhibition.

After stopping and seeing, there were many popular booths.

Hideki Hanyu unknowingly came to the edge of the exhibition hall.

Here are some exhibitors who are not very popular.

It's similar to Genie Entertainment's first participation in the International Consumer Electronics Show.

And most of the booths here, Hideki Hanyu is very unfamiliar, and he can't arouse any interest in visiting.

hurried forward, and just as he was about to walk out of this remote corner, he unconsciously stopped in front of a booth.

As for why it stopped, it was only because the name of this booth was "SQUARE".

Translated into a name familiar to domestic players.

That's "Square Enix".

This booth with the name SQUARE on it is very small, and it is the kind of small booth that does not even have a backstage.

There are only two staff members inside who are introducing their game to a visitor.

It is a machine combat game developed based on the PlayStation console platform.

Anyway, tourists don't seem to be very interested.

Square Enix and this game, Hideki Hanyu had seen it before when he was looking at fax materials in Xiangjiang.

It was released in early February, and the production of 1,000 cassettes was bought at Elf Entertainment.

He didn't pay attention to the sales, but looking at the situation of the booth, it should be on the street.

In this case, don't say that Elf Entertainment returns the premium.

Even if it is the production cost, the share of the host platform of Elf Entertainment, as well as the share of the sales channel, I am afraid that it will not be able to earn back.

But there's no need to worry about Square Enix.

After all, Square Enix's boss, Masashi Miyamoto, as the young owner of the Electric Friends Club, belongs to the kind of rich second generation who was born and stood at the end of the line.

How could you care about losing this amount of money.

In 1983, just after graduating from Masashi Miyamoto University, he relied on his father's sponsorship of 10 million yuan to establish the "Square Enix" club affiliated to the Electric Friends Club.

Masashi Miyamoto hadn't developed a game, but that didn't bother him.

Fifty computers were bought and a free "Internet café" was opened near the university.

In today's era when there is no even a Windows system, using a computer is not an easy task.

Therefore, even if it is free, people who can come and play are basically computer savvy.

By providing computers for free, Masashi Miyamoto recruited Square Enix's first employees.

Among them is a person who studied music and taught himself programming and game development named Hironobu Sakaguchi.

And Hironobu Sakaguchi also has a title, that is, the father of Final Fantasy.

And just as Hideki Hanyu looked at Square Enix's booth and thought about the information about this club.

Inside the booth, the visitor who wasn't interested in the game was finally gone.

The two staff members who lost their introduction looked very interested when they saw Hideki Hanyu, who was wearing a game peripheral hat and holding a plush doll in his hand, dressed as a "veteran game enthusiast", standing motionless in front of the booth.

One of them hurriedly greeted him, with a warm invitation on his face, "Sir, please come and learn about our SQUARE game." ”

Hanyu Hideki, who didn't expect to be invited, was slightly stunned, but quickly replied, "Then let's take a look." ”

"Great, thank you for your support."

After the staff with a happy face brought Hideki Hanyu into the position, he began to introduce him.

"Then I'll introduce you next, my name is Hironobu Sakaguchi, and I developed this game myself......"

Hanyu Hideki didn't expect that this young man with a beard on his upper lip was the father of "Final Fantasy" that he remembered just now.

Since this one is here, needless to say, the young man with glasses next to him should be Masashi Miyamoto.

After discovering the identities of the two, Hideki Hanyu suddenly had other thoughts in his heart.

When Hironobu Sakaguchi finished introducing the game and asked him what he thought of the game.

Hanyu Hideki didn't say anything polite, but evaluated it seriously.

"The graphics look terrible, and it's clear that your development capabilities are limited, and you don't take advantage of the performance of the PS console at all."

"Huh......?"

Hironobu Sakaguchi was a little surprised.

Masashi Miyamoto next to him also looked over.

Square Enix's booth was deserted, but it still received some players in the morning.

But with such a straightforward evaluation, Hideki Hanyu is still the first one.

Hanyu Hideki didn't care about the reaction of the two, and continued to evaluate on his own.

"The backstory was well designed, but the data growth was poor, and it was ......"

Next, Hideki Hanyu reviewed Square Enix's first game on the PS console platform from head to toe.

Although some of the virtues are praised, most of them are fault-finding.

Faced with Hideki Hanyu's evaluation, Hironobu Sakaguchi said with an unnatural expression, "This gentleman is really ...... It's really professional. ”

And he's still good, Masashi Miyamoto on the side has already got up from his chair a little angrily, and looked at Hideki Hanyu with round eyes.

Then he spoke in an angry tone.

"It's been months of our work, why are you ......?"

But before he finished speaking, he was covered by Hironobu Sakaguchi.

And whispered a warning, "This is a tourist, you can't ......"

Although the voice was low, Hideki Hanyu heard it.

It is nothing more than to persuade the young owner of the electric friend club not to be impulsive.

Hanyu Hideki didn't care, but asked directly and poignantly.

"Sir seems to be unconvinced, then I would like to ask, how is the sales of this game of your club?"

If I'm not mistaken, around the same time as in his previous life, Square Enix of Masashi Miyamoto also released a game.

However, at that time, Square Enix signed with Nintendo's FC console platform.

But the ending of the game after its release is the same, that is, to hit the street until Square Enix is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Masashi Miyamoto almost went home in tears to inherit the family business.

Hironobu Sakaguchi, who is still studying at university and often absents from work in order to develop games, has also successfully achieved the achievement of "repeating a grade".

If he didn't want to be dropped out of college, Hironobu Sakaguchi had to choose between developing games and continuing his studies.

Don't think that the rich second generation is not afraid of burning money.

In this day and age, the investment in game development is only part of the cost.

Because there is no online platform like Steam, if you want to make money, you have to sell cassettes offline.

A game cartridge is basically sold for about 5,000 yen in Neon.

For example, the cartridge with button battery and storage cartridge of Elf Entertainment will be more expensive.

The prices are so expensive, the cost can be imagined.

Nintendo's FC platform costs 1,000 yen for a single cassette without counting the royalty.

Elf entertainment is actually not cheap much.

Counting the royalties, platform shares, and sales channel shares, the cost pressure on game developers is huge.

Of course, just like the distribution of films, there are some fees that can be paid in advance as a distributor's channel.

However, the production cost and royalty cannot be saved.

In this case, Square Enix would have needed more than 1.5 million yen just to buy a production of 1,000 game cartridges.

Masashi Miyamoto's start-up capital is only 10 million yen, and excluding game development expenses and company operating costs, a game failure is enough to break the bones.

So, while it's the golden age of video games, small companies are still walking on thin ice.

Only manufacturers like Genie Entertainment, Nintendo, and Sega who control the platform can make a steady profit.

This is also the reason why Genie Entertainment and Sega, as later competitors, still learn from Nintendo to engage in royalties and control production.

Even if the bayonet of the killing was red, they tacitly did not touch this benefit.

Asked by Hideki Hanyu.

Masashi Miyamoto, who was still angry just now, suddenly became a little dumbfounded.

But he was still unconvinced and said, "Even if it doesn't sell well, it doesn't prove that my game is not good." ”

Hanyu Hideki didn't argue, but asked with a serious look in his eyes, "Really?" ”

"Yes!" Masashi Miyamoto continued to be hard-mouthed.

"It's good, as a game producer, if you don't even have confidence in your game, then how can you make players like it."

"Uh......"

If Hideki Hanyu keeps denying it, Masashi Miyamoto may continue to be stubborn.

But Hideki Hanyu suddenly "praised" like this, and Masashi Miyamoto didn't know what to say.

Although Hironobu Sakaguchi on the side was younger, he was more calm, he seemed to have noticed something, and asked tentatively, "What do you call Mr. ”

"Hideki Hanyu."

Hanyu Hideki didn't hide it and said his name directly.

"What!"

Masashi Miyamoto, who was still stiff-mouthed just now, stood up straight after a while.

Asked in a surprised tone, "You're Hanyu-sensei?" Is it Hanyu-sensei of Genie Entertainment? ”

As a game enthusiast and game practitioner, Masashi Miyamoto is not too familiar with Hideki Hanyu.

Hanyu Hideki is handsome, the books sell well, and Masashi Miyamoto doesn't care.

All he cares about is the games developed by Hideki Hanyu.

He's played every single one, and he loves it so much.

Hideki Hanyu is his absolute idol in the game industry.

As for Hironobu Sakaguchi, who asked the question, there was a sense of excitement that I had guessed correctly.

"I have no reason to pretend to be myself."

Hideki Hanyu said as he took off his mask and showed his face in the eyes of the two.

Seeing that handsome face that is unique in the game industry, Masashi Miyamoto and Hironobu Sakaguchi determined that the person in front of them was Hideki Hanyu.

"Hanyu-sensei, I didn't expect to see you here, can you sign my name?"

As he spoke, Masashi Miyamoto pulled out a Super Mario Bros. game cassette from nowhere and handed it to Hideki Hanyu.

Looking at the cassette in front of him, Hideki Hanyu inexplicably felt a novelty.

Notebooks, postcards, books, records......

He's signed so many things, but this is the first time he's signed a game cartridge.

Pulling out a pen, Hideki Hanyu skillfully signed his name.

Seeing Masashi Miyamoto put away the cassette with a happy face, he asked casually to find a stool in the booth and sit down.

Then he said to the two people in front of him.

"You can see that you are very passionate about game development and have a lot of ideas in game story design, but you don't seem to be good at developing the genre you just had, so you don't have the game you want to make?"

"My favorite games with Sakaguchi-san are actually Dragon Quest from Mythic Studios and The Legend of Zelda from Fantastic Studios."

Masashi Miyamoto, who was still very unconvinced just now, was somewhat unable to let go of Hideki Hanyu at this time.

Thinking of his own hard mouth, I feel embarrassed.

"Want to develop an RPG game? Any thoughts? Hanyu asked.

"We have some ideas, let's let Sakaguchi-san say it." Masashi Miyamoto looked at Hironobu Sakaguchi.

Hironobu Sakaguchi was also not timid, and spoke to Hideki Hanyu about his thoughts on game development.

This is more than ten minutes.

After listening to it, Hideki Hanyu thought that there was still a big gap between his thoughts and the "Final Fantasy" in his memory.

Looking at Hironobu Sakaguchi, who was expecting and waiting for his advice, and Masashi Miyamoto, Hanyu Hideki wanted to talk a little more.

But when I looked at my watch, I found that the time I had made with the former Yuan Zhensheng and Juntada Kusaomura was approaching.

"I'm optimistic about your ideas, but developing an RPG requires more than just passion."

After Hanyu Hideki finished speaking, he took out a business card and handed it to Masashi Miyamoto.

"If you really have the intention of taking action, you might as well wait for the exhibition to end, come to Elf Entertainment to talk to me specifically, and then I have other work to do, so I will leave first."

"Hanyu-sensei, goodbye."

Hideki Hanyu said goodbye and left.

In Square Enix's booth, Hironobu Sakaguchi looked at the business card in Miyamoto's hand and asked, "Are we going?" ”

"Of course I want to go, this is an invitation from Hideki Hanyu." Masashi Miyamoto said.

Although he is a rich boy, it does not prevent him from worshipping Hanyu Hideki in the slightest.

After all, Hideki Hanyu is a successful businessman in addition to his ability to make games.

The wealth created by the other party in just a few years can be said to have surpassed his family.

Communicating with such a person is only good for him.

Hironobu Sakaguchi said, "He can't just be interested in games. ”

Masashi Miyamoto glanced at their small booth and said with a wry smile.

"Sakaguchi-san, I'm a club like I'm about to go bankrupt, what is there to covet."

Saying that, he spread his hands, "We are now sure that this game has failed, I don't want to go home, and you don't want to give up developing the game.

Moreover, Square Enix's current financial and technical capabilities simply cannot support us in developing the RPG we want.

If Genie Entertainment can really help us, I think it's a good thing.

At least I can prove to my father that my career hasn't failed. ”

"Then when the exhibition is over, let's go and have a look."

"Of course, I'd like to pay a visit to Yuji Horii and ask him to sign my Dragon Quest disk."

"I want to meet Toshihiko Nakago, his skills are ......"

Just when Square Enix's boss and chief game producer were looking forward to meeting in four days.

Hideki Hanyu has returned to the booth of Genie Entertainment.

Together with Satoshi Iwata, he started an impromptu meeting with Maemoto Maemoto, the head of the sales department, who had just arrived, and Juntada Kusaomura, the head of the production department.

Satoshi Iwata, who served as the moderator of the meeting, first introduced the content of the previous Nintendo and Bandai press conferences to the two, and then said.

"Now it's clear that our Pokeball 2 upgrade has to respond in terms of price."

"If it's just the same price as them, it's not enough to completely suppress their sales, and the price must be more advantageous than them."

Maeyuan Zhensheng suggested.

Satoshi Iwata looked at Juntada Kusaomura, "Minister Kusamura, what is the lowest cost and price of our upgraded model?" ”

Juntada Kusamura replied, "If it is produced in a factory in Southeast Asia, the cost can be reduced to a minimum, and the price of monochrome and color models is ...... respectively."

After Juntada Kusamura reported two figures, he did not forget to remind, "The yen is still appreciating recently, which means that overseas production costs are decreasing." ”

Next to him, Hideki Hanyu, who had not spoken, couldn't help but sigh in his heart after hearing the production cost in Kusamura's mouth.

The production cost of electronic products in this era is really expensive!

Although the production cost is already much cheaper than when the Pokeball 2 was launched two years ago.

And with the development of semiconductor technology, in another five years, this production cost price can be cut in half.

In another ten years, even the production cost of a color handheld will not exceed 3,000 yen.

For example, the WS handheld that Nintendo and Bandai are now using to fight a price war.

In later generations, the retail price was only 4,800 yen.

Next, Satoshi Iwata, together with Maesei Maemoto, Juntada Kusamura, and others, began to discuss the retail price of the Pokeball 2 upgrade model around the production cost.

As for Hideki Hanyu, he had already gotten angry with Satoshi Iwata in advance.

This price war, even if Genie Entertainment loses money, it will continue.

In the handheld market, since Genie Entertainment has an advantage, it must not give its opponent any chance.

More than an hour later, the impromptu meeting ended.

The retail price of the two upgraded versions of the Pokeball 2 handheld has been confirmed.

Next, just wait for tomorrow to surprise Nintendo and Bandai.

Secretly poke and poke friends, elf entertainment is professional.

(*^▽^*)

(End of chapter)