Chapter 182: Nintendo’s New Rival
An angry Gunpei Yokoi took the purchased handheld game console back to the office and without any delay, he opened the outer packaging in no time.
This time when I touched this so-called GAME BOY with my bare hands, its smooth and shiny texture was more obvious.
Gunpei Yokoi was a little confused. The workmanship was so fine, but the price was much lower than Nintendo's handheld game console.
Can this competitor, whose name I haven’t thought of yet , really make a profit?
With such doubts in mind, Gunpei Yokoi gently pressed the power button.
"Ding~Dong~" A pleasant music sounded, and the familiar logo appeared on the screen again.
There is actually sound? Yokoi Gunpei felt a little pressure, because his handheld game console did not have such a function at the moment.
Moreover, such workmanship and such sophisticated design are definitely not something that can be produced by a small, unknown company.
If this is the case, then it is obvious that the other party has no intention of making a quick buck by copying the original product.
This will be another strong rival for Nintendo in the future, Gunpei Yokoi thought subconsciously.
As the game console started up, the first game loaded was "Raiden", which the two children had just happily played in the convenience store.
The game is not difficult to get started, it is a typical shooting game.
However, the level difficulty and game rhythm are designed to be very compact, and waves of enemies stimulate your nerves all the time.
The attack methods of players and enemies occasionally change, and the unique sound effects create a strong sense of immersion.
After experiencing it for a while, Gunpei Yokoi switched to GAME B. He wanted to see what the two so-called games were like.
The gameplay of "Snake" is simpler and it is extremely easy to get started.
This game obviously takes a different style from the first one, focusing on leisure and entertainment.
After playing the two games for about ten minutes each, Gunpei Yokoi put down the handheld game console with a serious face.
Things were more serious than he had imagined. It could be said that from appearance design to gameplay, Nintendo's GAME WATCH was completely crushed.
It has only been a short time. Less than two months after its own handheld game console was released, such an excellent competitor has already appeared.
Even Gunpei Yokoi himself didn't believe that the other party was not well prepared.
However, it is definitely impossible to make such a perfect handheld game console in such a short time.
Did Nintendo have the same idea as the other party? Did Nintendo get ahead of the game by accident?
Gunpei Yokoi couldn't help but begin to doubt his initial judgment.
However, he didn't know the specific facts, but he knew the seriousness of the matter.
Without delay, he immediately picked up the handheld game console and left the office, heading upstairs.
…
"Is this the rival you mentioned for Nintendo?"
In the office, Yamauchi Bo, with his hair combed neatly and wearing brown glasses, was playing with the handheld game console in his hand, seemingly lost in thought.
Although he is already in his fifties, his complexion is ruddy and his eyes are bright, without any signs of old age.
"Huh?" Yokoi Gunpei nodded seriously. "Both the workmanship and the content are first-rate."
It is not just first-rate, our own GAME WATCH is simply second-rate compared to it.
It was just that the proud Yokoi Gunpei was still a little arrogant in his heart, and he was too embarrassed to say it in front of Yamauchi Ushio.
"My peers have never let me down." Yamauchi Bo smiled very freely, "How is its performance? Has it affected our products?"
"It has just been on the market for two days, so its performance is not clear yet. But..." Gunpei Yokoi looked hesitant, he didn't know how to express it.
Judging from the reactions of the two children outside just now, this competitor should not be underestimated.
However, there is no data yet, and it seems inappropriate to jump to conclusions in front of the president.
After all, Yamauchi Bo's reputation as a "tyrant" is not just a joke.
Irresponsible speculations that make him angry are still scary.
"Feeling the pressure?" Yamauchi Bo seemed to have guessed what Gunpei Yokoi was thinking and expressed his hesitation.
Yokoi Gunpei was stunned for a moment, then nodded and responded honestly, "Yi."
"Tell me about their advantages compared to Nintendo." Yamauchi pursed his lips slightly, and his expression became a little serious.
“Their workmanship is better than ours, and some of their designs are very unique.
Especially the square cross key, which is very smooth, sensitive in direction and has no delay. "
Yokoi Gunpei was deeply impressed by the design of the cross key. The other party must also have a strong hardware design expert.
"And the game content..." He paused and decided to answer truthfully, "It's also very interesting, even more interesting than ours."
After hearing the last sentence, Yamauchi Bo's face finally turned serious.
If it was just an excellent hardware design, he wouldn't be too worried.
Because he knows very well that as an entertainment game console, interesting content is its core competitiveness.
If Nintendo loses this battle, the consequences for the future will be self-evident.
"It's really impressive," Yamauchi Boqing couldn't help but sigh.
"By the way, President. This company's logo looks familiar to me."
Gunpei Yokoi, who had just hurried upstairs, didn't even have time to check which company's product this was.
"Shirakawa Electric"
"Huh?" Gunpei Yokoi was a little slow to react.
Yamauchi Bo pointed at the newspaper on the table, and the latter turned his eyes away.
"Shirakawa Electric has officially settled in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture with a huge investment of 6 billion yen.
At present, the reporter has learned that the construction of Shirakawa Electric's new factory has officially started today..."
"Shirakawa Electric?" Seeing the familiar logo, Gunpei Yokoi finally realized, "Aren't they a manufacturer of audio equipment?"
He was also involved in the much-publicized infringement case in the first half of the year.
But he didn't expect that the melon would fall on his head in the blink of an eye.
“ That’s why it’s so impressive.”
In fact, when Yamauchi Bo first got the handheld console and saw the familiar logo, he was as surprised as Yokoi Gunpei.
In addition, the bold black words "6 billion yen" on the newspaper made him envious. How rich the man was.
You have to know that Nintendo still owes a lot of debts at the moment. The fact that it can immediately come up with 6 billion yen shows that its strength should not be underestimated.
In fact, he had no idea that the newspapers were deliberately exaggerating.
This investment will be completed over several years, and Shirakawa Electric's first capital investment was less than 2 billion.
But none of this matters. What matters is that Yamauchi Bo knows that Nintendo has a new rival.
Moreover, the other party's capital strength may be even stronger than Nintendo. However, as an old player who has been immersed in the entertainment and gaming industry for many years, Nintendo also has its own advantages.
“Pay close attention to the performance of the other party’s handheld game consoles, if the sales figures are higher than Nintendo’s.
Then we can also refer to the other party's advantages, whether it is content or hardware."
"Hayi"
Both Yamauchi Bo and Yokoi Gunpei took all this for granted.
There is no worry at all about the infringement issues that may arise, even though Shirakawa Electric has just dealt with an infringer.
Why? Because at this moment, Japan's video game industry is still in the wild era of competition among kings, and everyone is growing wildly.
In the arcade field, Taidong is the leader. Their game, Space Invaders, has been a hit since two years ago.
Those who have money go to negotiate cooperation and get authorization, while those who don’t have money just copy it directly without changing the image or content.
This is the leader in the arcade field, but everyone ignores it.
At that time, if you could get on the "Space Invaders" one day earlier, the profits you could make would be like robbing money.
At that time, 100 yen coins were out of stock on the market due to the popularity of this coin-operated game machine.
This shows the money-making ability of super popular games.
So did these copycat companies fail as a result of the lawsuit? The answer is no.
These small companies are very cunning and never try to expand, or they do it secretly.
The purpose is to make a fortune. Sometimes Taidong Company doesn’t even realize that it has been copied .
As a listed company, what did Nintendo do when faced with a superstar like "Space Invaders"?
Nintendo released a game very similar to Space Invaders, Space Fanatics.
The game content and the monster images are exactly the same. This is the answer given by Nintendo.
Faced with peers plagiarizing each other and not making progress, Taito's president Cohen is very sad. He said this.
“We should strive to make something unique, rather than something that is hard to tell at first glance.”
Regarding the mass copying of Taito's products, Yamauchi Bo responded in the following way.
“The gameplay is not a patent, so if you want to copy it, just copy it.
I think it’s important to put aside the idea of secrecy and communicate with each other to develop excellent things.”
Listen, is this human language?
These are the words spoken by Nintendo President Bosushi Yamauchi himself.
I wonder what he will think when he sees Nintendo’s games being plagiarized in the future.
The above-mentioned plagiarism incidents occurred in 1978 and 1979, which was last year and the year before last.
So at this moment, both Yamauchi Bo and Yokoi Gunpei wanted to refer to Shirakawa Electric's excellent ideas.
There is no psychological burden at all, and we are even used to it. With such a big environment, we are not afraid to run red lights together.
In fact, it is not just Japan that is like this, the United States across the ocean is almost the same.
Everyone is copying each other, and so far, there has not even been a single successful case worldwide for copyright infringement of video game content.
Can you imagine? It’s 1980, but plagiarism is rampant in the video game industry.
The main factor is that video games are a nascent field and infringing content is difficult to define.
The legal response speed is obviously a beat slower.
It is precisely for this reason that Gunpei Yokoi has taken the Shirakawa Electric handheld game console to study it.
He wanted to see what design aspects this audio equipment manufacturer, which had begun to dabble in game console manufacturing, had.
It’s just that it’s hard to say about the gameplay content. As for the hardware, eh ~
Looking at Gunpei Yokoi's departing back, Yamauchi Bo began to fall into deep thought again.
Due to its strong growth momentum, GW handheld game console has now become Nintendo's fastest growing profit business.
Considering the huge debt Nintendo is in at the moment, the GW handheld must be foolproof.
