After careful consideration, Ken Kutaragi went to the head office alone and found the current president, Nobuyuki Idei.

The two had an in-depth exchange and discussion on the recent acquisition of Sega by Pokeni.

Nobuyuki Idei covered his forehead, which was already irritable enough.

Since he took office, there has been a lot of skepticism, which has put a lot of pressure on his shoulders.

Mainly because Norio Ohga directly promoted him from the bottom of the board of directors to the top leader, many people in Sony are not convinced.

They have said that Nobuyuki Idei may not have the ability to take over such a big stall as Sony.

It's normal to think about it, Sony has a lot of business, not only some sub-products, music, music equipment, but also film and television, TV, and game consoles......

The tentacles extend to almost all high-tech fields, and the industry covers the world, and such a large group cannot control it without sufficient capabilities.

I don't know how many people are waiting to see Nobuyuki Ino's joke.

Schulhoff, the president of Sony North Rice, is the first one.

There are more and more foreign debts, and there is still internal separatism and small collectives...... Internal and external troubles, high doubts, all kinds of subordinates do not listen to orders, Nobuyuki Izui is really a head and two big.

But this is the test that Norio Ohga gave him, if he succeeds, then the position of CEO and even the future chairman of the board of directors is his, if he is not successful, then he will carry the pot, and when the board of directors makes a decision, he will have to resign and leave immediately.

Hard.

It looks glamorous, but it's actually hell difficulty.

President Norio Ohga is a complete old fox, these people at Sony are not fuel-efficient lamps, and I, an old man in my 60s, actually have to be ordered to be in danger, and any question on my face makes people feel like they want to vomit blood.

During this time, Nobuyuki Idei only felt that his vitality had been lost a lot, and there were too many things, too difficult and too chaotic, and he didn't give him time to breathe at all.

If it weren't for the fact that his body was still quite strong, he would have been unable to bear it a long time ago.

But at this juncture, there was such a scene.

When Qing Zhiyuan had dinner with him some time ago, didn't he swear that he would support him?

Why did you suddenly acquire Sega at this time?

Although it can be explained by business behavior, sometimes the plan does not change quickly, and when encountering such an opportunity, Qing Zhiyuan grasped it, which is his ability and his life.

You can't interfere either, Pokeni is also a commercial company after all.

Damn it!! Hateful!!

Qing Zhiyuan, this guy will only give others problems.

However, Nobuyuki Idei always felt panicked in his heart.

……

"So what do we do now?" Ken Kutaragi asked, "Anyway, Sega will not give up the console, and will always be the enemy of Sony, even if Pokeni was our most important third party before, but now that Qingzhiyuan has acquired Sega, it is bound to continue the previous console development strategy."

Inevitably, we will become in competition.

However, if you abandon pokeni, it may cause a lot of damage in the future, and P Company has contributed to the fact that PS has been able to achieve such high sales results in a short period of time. ”

"Hmm." Nobuyuki Idei silently listened to Ken Kutaragi's words and motioned for him to continue.

"If we are not tough enough, will it make many third parties think that since we can develop games on the Sony platform, we can also develop on other game platforms in the future?

Do we want to show our attitude by blocking pokeni? ”

Kutaragi asked.

That's what he's most concerned about, and today's conversation will depend on what he does in the future.

Nobuyuki Idei was silent, silently thinking.

"Do you want to force a third party to choose one or the other?" Nobuyuki Idei asked.

"Hmm...... I haven't figured it out yet. Kutaragi Ken hesitated, "Seriously, I'm actually a little worried. ”

"Worried about what?" Nobuyuki Idei looked at him with a dark and sharp gaze.

"I'm worried about repeating the mistakes of Rentian." Ken Kutaragi said bluntly, "Rentendo used to have such an era, but it wasn't too long, and the era of FC and SFC was dominated by Rententen, and more than 90% of the market was theirs."

President Yamauchi's iron-blooded methods, anyone who makes him unhappy, can block you with one sentence.

It is because of this that it has led to countless third-party dissatisfaction.

If it weren't for President Yamauchi's toughness and arrogance, neither Pokeni nor Square Enix, would have been on the opposite side.

Then there would have been no later PS successes.

This is something that worries me a lot, and I always feel that I should learn from President Yamauchi's lesson. ”

"So what?" Nobuyuki Idei continued to ask.

Kutaragi Ken frowned and gritted his teeth, "But...... It is difficult to evaluate whether President Yamauchi's iron-fisted rule is right or wrong.

I couldn't understand it before, but I always felt that President Yamauchi was too tough.

But when I really came to this point, I saw that Sony's game consoles had a strong enough monopoly effect, the market was ours, and the users were ours.

I've often thought about this question-

If you whip those disobedient guys, anyone who wants to leave Sony, or wants to be left and right on other game platforms, will be taught a hard lesson, even if it is a small manufacturer, after blocking it, will it have the effect of killing chickens and monkeys?

So will third parties be able to honestly develop games on top of Sony's platform? ”

"Hmm...... I understand your thoughts. Nobuyuki Idei said, "This is the law of the lions." When you don't become a lion king, you always want to challenge the old lion king.

I can't wait to attack it.

When you become the lion king, any lion who wants to challenge your authority, if you don't knock it down, then more and more lions will come to challenge you.

As soon as the other lions see your weakness, you are in danger. ”

Kutaragi Ken twisted a bitter face like a twist, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it was a dead end.

……

"The war has begun. Don't leave anything to chance. ”

Nobuyuki Idei sighed and covered his forehead, only feeling that one head was two big.

Pain, splitting headache.

This is also the problem that Pokeni gave him.

"Judging by the facts, Pokeni has gone against us since the acquisition of Sega, whether we admit it or not, but it is the truth.

So in the future, in the console market, it will definitely be our battle with Pokeni.

Get ready for battle. ”

Kutaragi Ken was stunned for a moment, although he was a little hesitant, but he was relieved to hear this assertion from Nobuyuki Idei.

Because it was not him who made the final decision, but President Idei.

"Then I'll go back and ban Pokeni." Kutaragi Ken said.

"Stupid!" Nobuyuki Idei scolded softly.

"Huh?" Ken Kutaragi was a little stupid for a while.

"Let's release pokeni's new game on PlayStation first!" Nobuyuki Idei said.

"Huh?" Kutaragi Ken asked suspiciously, "Why, didn't you just say that war is inevitable and that we must be ready for war?" ”

"That's right,"

Nobuyuki Idei took out a handkerchief from his coat pocket and wiped the sweat from his forehead, it was too hot in June.

"But it's not up to us to cut it."

"Huh?" This Kutaragi Ken can't understand.

"Pokeni hasn't torn his face with us yet, and if he wants to turn his face with him just because Qing Zhiyuan bought Sega, this reason is also difficult to establish." "We haven't signed any agreement with Pokeni before, and they're not our second party, so there's no breach of contract.

And Qing Zhiyuan did not say whether he wanted to cut us off, there is no need to act radically at this time. ”

Nobuyuki Idei wiped the sweat from his forehead again, and said with a sneer, "This is the problem that Pokeni gave us, to let others see our attitude, whether to beat him to death as a challenger and become like Yamauchi Pu, or whether we can cooperate while competing and take a different path."

But the latter is significantly more difficult.

In the former, we have a first-mover advantage.

If Qing Zhiyuan wants to compete with us head-on, he will take the initiative to cut, and at that time we will activate the first-mover advantage to block him, so that pokeni's game cannot be landed on the PS platform, which will be more secure. ”

Nobuyuki Idei said, "Don't panic, stabilize the third party first."

Don't repeat the mistakes of Paradise. ”

Throwing the puzzle back to Pokeni instead of staying at Sony was a judgment made by Nobuyuki Idei.

"Oh, I see." Kutaragi Ken had a look of sudden realization, "Waiting for Pokeni to cut, we also have a saying to the outside world, Sony did not abandon the third party, but the third party abandoned us, so we have to block them." ”

"Well, that's it."

Nobuyuki Idei took a deep breath, "I'll wait until I get rid of Shulhoff before I go back and clean them up." ”

Solving Sony's internal hidden dangers is more important and tricky than Pokeni, and the biggest problem that Norio Ohga puts in front of him is not from external pressure, but from within.

Sony's president of Beimi, Shulhoff, has not been eliminated for a day, and Nobuyuki Idei will not be able to concentrate Sony's forces to carry out an effective attack, let alone make the reform he has in mind.

There is a lot of resistance at every step.

Pokeni could really go back a little bit.

"What if Qing Zhiyuan doesn't plan to cut us off?" Kutaragi Ken continued to ask.

"Wouldn't that be better?" Nobuyuki Idei glared at him, "Pokeni sells tens of millions of games every year, and they make money on the PS platform, so we make money."

Why should you have trouble with money? ”

"yes, I see."

"Moreover, Qing Zhiyuan will definitely cut it, there is no reason to buy Sega and not start a war." Nobuyuki Idei frowned and said, "Kutaragi-san, in fact, in the final analysis, what you have to fight for in the end is hard power.

If the strength is strong enough, the third party will always be ours, and we still have a first-mover advantage, such a big advantage cannot be reversed all at once.

And money is also part of hard power. ”

When the time comes, a price war or something is also a means.

Although Nobuyuki Idei didn't say it explicitly, Ken Kutaragi was a smart person and quickly got what he meant.

The success of PS is, to a certain extent, also burned money, and Sega Saturn lost 5 or 6,000 yen every time it was released.

Isn't PS a loss?

It's just that after burning money to gain the market, the soft-hard ratio is high enough to make up for the loss.

At least from this level, Sony actually has a very advantage, PS occupies the market, and in the future, PS2 will be able to make pokeni lose blood as long as it burns money, and the comparison is their own hard power.

Whether it is in terms of hardware technology or capital, Kutaragi Ken believes that there is no possibility of losing.

Of course, all this is like what Nobuyuki Idei said, and it can only be completed by resolving internal disputes within the company and stopping internal friction.

Otherwise, every department will have to spend money, especially on the North side of the company, Schulhoff Acquisition Company has not considered the overall revenue situation of the group at all, Sony earns more and spends more, and no matter how much it continues, in fact, no matter how large the volume and earning capacity can not be carried on.

Nobuyuki Idei's reform is, first, to lay off some of the company's departments that are very cost-effective or even lagging behind, and second, to sweep out the company's black sheep and take back power.

After doing this, he moved into new areas and concentrated his money and power to realize the Sony digitalization he envisioned.

The Sony Group is currently in debt of 1.9 trillion yen.

It is not easy to open up sources and reduce expenditure, but also to develop.

If you really want to fight Pokeni, you have to be prepared for everything.

Not only technical reserves, but also capital reserves are also a key part.

In fact, just like Satoshi Iwata analyzed before, the current Nobuyuki Idei, before he killed Shulhoff, he didn't want to make any trouble.

"Okay, I've got it all." Kutaragi Ken nodded earnestly and prepared to leave.

"Still." At this moment, Nobuyuki Idei stopped him again.

"Huh?"

"About the lion pack effect.

One thing to keep in mind is that our attitude is important for third-party game providers right now.

They never cared what happened now, and they followed whoever won in the end.

Look at Square Enix.

Look at SNK again, where are the forever partners.

To put it bluntly, as long as we can defeat Pokeni in the future console wars, then they will fall on us. ”

"Okay, remember." Kutaragi Ken replied earnestly.

Seriously, today's conversation was better than Kuta-Ragi Ken imagined, and many people in the outside world felt that Nobuyuki Idei's ability was not good.

But Ken Kutaragi doesn't think so.

Nobuyuki Idei's ability and means are actually quite clever, and in the future, the company will inevitably be pinched together by him, and it is only a matter of time before he gets rid of Shulhoff, the president of North Rice.

Ken Kutaragi believes that under the leadership of Nobuyuki Idei, Sony will become even stronger in the future.

……

Now that the analysis has been made clear, Jiu Taliang Mujian has no worries, and directly invites Qing Zhiyuan out for dinner.

Kick the ball back to him.

As soon as they met, Ken Kutaragi laughed, "Congratulations, Pokeni has acquired Sega." It's really remarkable. ”

Qing Zhiyuan hadn't sat down yet, and he couldn't help but laugh when he looked at the smile on his face.

"Where, where, it's just the right time."

"Come on, come on, President Qing sat down and said." Kutara Kiken greeted warmly.

Qing Zhiyuan sat down.

The two of them chatted while eating.

"Kutara-san," Qing Zhiyuan said with a smile, "you know, right? A company is a company, an individual is an individual, and we've always been good friends, right? ”

"Of course." Kutaragi Ken poured him a drink, "I like President Ao, every time I eat and chat with you, I can learn a lot of new things." ”

Ken Kutaragi is really a person who has a clear distinction between public and private, so he was able to eat with Hideki Sato, the head of the console R&D department of rival Sega, and still maintain a long-term and deep friendship.

Kutaragi himself thinks very clearly, thinking about Sony in Sony, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the future will really always be at Sony, and today's enemy may be his friend tomorrow.

Maybe one day he'll go to Pokeni too?

Therefore, it is unwise for people to substitute corporate relationships with personal feelings.

"Where, where, it's obvious that I learned from you."

Now that the two parties have reached a consensus on "friendship" and "separation of company and individual", the rest of the content is easy to talk about.

After three rounds of drinking, both of them were a little drunk.

Kutaragi Ken jokingly complained, "President Ao, you can make me miserable this time." ”

"Huh?" Qing Zhiyuan squinted and laughed, "What do you say?" ”

"You're obviously our important third party, and you directly bought Sega, President Qing, aren't you for the development of game consoles in the future?"

"Hahaha......" Qing Zhiyuan laughed.

This guy is so cute.

"Well, I don't know, we bought Sega just because we felt that Sega had his value, but I promised President Okawa that I would not interfere in Sega's operation."

, this little fox.

Kutara Wood Ken thought to himself, Qing Zhiyuan is really leaky, and if you answer this question, it's like not answering.

However, the problem is that Sega is now developing consoles.

In fact, it is equivalent to tacitly entering the console market.

"So, will Pokeni still be a third party of Sony in the future?" Hiroaki Kutaragi smiled and asked, "I think your new game looks like it's about to be released, right?"

What's it called?

"Bug Master".

Yes, Bugmaster. ”

"That's for sure." Qing Zhiyuan smiled and responded, "The insect master is about to be released, haven't we already passed your review before?"

Since it has already been decided, it will definitely be released.

Why can't you get along with money? ”

"Ah......h

A hint of panic flashed in Kutaragi's eyes, but it quickly calmed down.

"Well, that's great."

"Yes, please take care of Kutaragi Santado." Qing Zhiyuan laughed.

However, although the two people are harmonious on the surface, when they see each other's eyes, they already have a judgment in each other's hearts-

"Bug Master" is likely to be the last game that Pokeni and Sony will work on.

Qing Zhiyuan didn't tear his face, and Sony didn't tear his face directly.

Say goodbye, the future is a matter of silos.

I guess that's the kind of realization.

tacitly, neither of them said anything, but from another angle, this may be the best way to say goodbye, and it can also allow both parties to maintain the greatest decency.

"That's good."

Kutaragi Ken sighed heavily.

"Come on, Qingsang, have another drink."

……

Early the next morning, Qing Zhiyuan returned to the company, and the first thing he said was-

"Guys, get ready for war!"

"The battle between us and Sony has begun!"

……

……

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There is no update tonight

Thank you

See you tomorrow (end of chapter)