Chapter 186: The Future Money-Making Beast
Masaya Nakamura began to understand what the other party meant, and Shirakawa Kaede's subsequent explanation confirmed his guess.
"Mr. Nakamura, your arcade games are excellent. Shirakawa Electric plans to port them to Game Boy.
This will not only spread their influence, but also bring additional income to Namco."
Although Namco only started producing arcade games in 1977, the "Bee" and "Maze Racer" released in the past two years are both excellent games.
"Bee" is the anti-Brick Breaker, and "Maze Racer" is a new type of racing game.
Both of these games performed very well in the arcade market and were ranked in the top ten arcade games of the year.
Since there are such a large audience, it would not be too bad if it were ported to a handheld console.
Masaya Nakamura carefully considered what Shirakawa Kaede said and felt that this might be a way to expand the business.
Nangong Meng started out by selling children's toys in a rooftop garden in a shopping mall.
It's a rocking horse, "What's your dad's dad's name~"
Well, that's probably it.
Later, they gradually produced coin-operated machines, and only in the past two years did they start to enter the arcade market.
For Namco, the electronic gaming industry is just a first step.
It hasn't even established a firm foothold yet, and any of Taito, Nintendo, or Sega in the arcade market can beat it.
Therefore, Masaya Nakamura also had a sense of crisis. When he heard Shirakawa Kaede's proposal for game porting, he immediately started to plan in his mind.
Although handheld game consoles are extremely popular now, Namco does not have the technical capabilities to make them.
Moreover, it was obviously a very unwise choice to invest the company's limited resources into new areas just as the arcade industry was starting to pick up .
In this case, licensing the company's existing games to other platforms and earning licensing fees can be considered as developing new business.
"I am very interested in the game porting that Mr. Shirakawa mentioned. But has Mr. Shirakawa also considered porting your company's games?"
Masaya Nakamura thought more and expanded his thinking on this basis.
"Huh?" Baichuan Feng was stunned at first, then reacted.
"Shirakawa Electric is happy to cross-license games with your company." Mr. Nakamura is worthy of being the president of a company, and he has a very flexible mind.
When Masaya Nakamura heard Shirakawa Kaede's answer, he nodded in satisfaction.
He had also heard of the famous "Raiden" on the other party's handheld console. If it were ported to an arcade machine, it would definitely be a hit.
However, he was thinking about Shirakawa Electric's "Thunder", and Shirakawa Feng was also thinking about the other party's good stuff.
"I heard that your company recently developed a new arcade game called Pac-Man?" Shirakawa Feng asked casually.
"Mr. Shirakawa is right. The game has been tested and will be launched on the market soon."
Masaya Nakamura was not too surprised that Shirakawa Kaede was well-informed. After all, the Pac-Man arcade game had been tested on the streets in May, so it was normal for him to know about it.
"Shirakawa Electric is preparing to release Pac-Man on its next handheld game console."
Shirakawa Kaede's words surprised Nakamura Masaya, so fast?
"The development cycle of handheld games is relatively short." Baichuan Feng explained considerately.
In fact, it’s not that the cycle is shorter, the real reason is that Shirakawa Electric has already started.
I just came by today to talk about copyright. After all, as a small but well-known company, we can't just copy it directly.
Reputation is also a very important thing, and Baichuan Feng has now begun to take good care of his reputation.
Besides, I just acted as an anti-plagiarism fighter, and as soon as the incident happened, I turned around and plagiarized others.
Isn't this like being that and establishing that ?
So they could sit down and discuss business properly, and Baichuan Feng didn't want to take any shortcuts.
Masaya Nakamura did not delve too deeply into Shirakawa Kaede's explanation. After all, they had just agreed to mutual authorization.
"By the way, Mr. Nakamura, can Shirakawa Electric also develop the home console copyright of your company's game normally?"
Masaya Nakamura's expression froze again. This sentence revealed some very important information.
And Baichuan Feng also looked at him openly, not feeling worried at all about exposing the company's next strategy.
"Excuse me, when will your company's home console be released?"
Games also require time effects. Only by launching them on all platforms when they are popular can profits be maximized.
Once that window of opportunity is passed, the effect will be greatly reduced.
Therefore, Masaya Nakamura is very cautious about the home console licensing that is still in the plan of Shirakawa Electric.
"Within five years" Baichuan Feng gave a very vague answer. Of course, he couldn't give a specific time just because he was joking.
Five years? Nakamura Masaya hesitated. If that were the case, there would be no immediate benefits.
However, the other party's manufacturing strength should not be underestimated, and it also has its own set of marketing techniques.
Once it goes on sale, the sales volume will surely not disappoint, and Nangong Meng will also get a considerable share of the profits.
After pondering for a long time, Nakamura Masaya spoke again.
"Except for Pac-Man, the home console licenses for other games can be given to Shirakawa Electric."
Seeing that Shirakawa Kaede wanted to say something, Nakamura Masaya added another sentence.
"Of course, the local home console license for Pac-Man can be given to Shirakawa Electric, but the US market..."
The reason why Masaya Nakamura singled out the US market is because Namco has cooperation there.
As the company that promoted video games, Atari and Namco are currently in a honeymoon period.
Even Atari's branch in Japan was acquired by Namco due to poor management.
Therefore, when it comes to the US market, Namco first considers its old partner Atari.
After all, their home consoles have already been developed to the second generation, but Shirakawa Electric has not even seen a single one.
What a pity, this is Pac-Man. But Shirakawa Kaede hasn't given up yet.
"Mr. Nakamura, Shirakawa Electric can give up the US market for Pac-Man. But can you consider markets other than the US?"
Masaya Nakamura was puzzled by Shirakawa Kaede's persistence, because even he himself didn't know what the future market would be like for this newly developed game.
It is not one of the popular shooting games nowadays, and it is even more girl-oriented, which seems to be a style that goes against the market trends.
However, it was Baichuan Feng's persistence that touched him. After all, this was also a recognition of Nangong Meng's strength.
"In this case, Nangong Meng can consider cooperating with your company in markets outside the United States."
"Happy cooperation!" Baichuan Feng stood up and stretched out his right hand.
"It's a pleasure to work with you!" Masaya Nakamura nodded with a smile and also extended his right hand.
Once the preliminary intention is finalized, the foundation for mutual cooperation has been laid.
As for the more detailed rules of cooperation, they will be handled by each party’s professional teams.
Now Baichuan Feng no longer participates in these details.
The mutual authorization and porting of games between the two parties are generally calculated based on the profit sharing.
Especially for popular games, no one is stupid and they will definitely not choose to buy out the copyright.
For example, Namco's Pac-Man was ported to Shirakawa Electric's handheld game console.
The final income will be calculated based on the sales volume of the handheld console. For each copy sold, Namco can earn tens to hundreds of yen.
Similarly, Shirakawa Electric's Raiden was ported to arcade machines by Namco.
Shirakawa Electric can also obtain a certain commission based on the number of arcade machines produced.
It’s just that because arcade machines are more expensive and their sales volume cannot be compared with handheld game consoles, the commission is also relatively high.
But these are not important. There are two really important gains today that make Baichuan Feng very satisfied.
First, Pac-Man! In Neon, it's called Pac-Man.
I believe countless people have played and heard of this game.
The Guinness World Records once awarded it the title of "the most installed coin-operated arcade machines in the world": 293,8222 units.
Since then, the Guinness Book of World Records has awarded Pac-Man as the "most famous video game in the United States." It is known to 94% of Americans, higher than Mario's 93%.
Although this is only a statistic of popularity in the U.S. market, it also indirectly illustrates the great fame of "Pac-Man".
It is said that the total revenue of "Pac-Man" later reached as much as 12 billion US dollars!
Now Shirakawa Electric has acquired the global copyright for the handheld game console, and has also obtained the authorization for the home console market outside the United States.
Baichuan Feng is not greedy. He would be satisfied if he could get a small fraction out of the 12 billion.
That's the US dollar. Its ability to attract money is simply unreasonable.
So what is the second gain?
Established the first step of game content cooperation with Namco.
Shirakawa Kaede knows very well that his own HAL Research Institute cannot support the game console business in the long run.
In other words, it can survive, but it won’t survive very well. As for competing with giants like Nintendo and Sony in the future, it is estimated that it will be even further behind.
Then seeking second-party and third-party game content producers is a very necessary plan.
Although Namco now focuses its main business on arcade games, the cooperation between the two companies has only been limited to mutual licensing of games.
But Baichuan Feng knew that the market for game arcades was limited and its future prospects were almost visible to the naked eye.
And Nangong Meng has no plans to expand into other fields , so its future financial prospects are worrying.
If Nangong Meng seeks a breakthrough in business at that time, Shirakawa Electric can quietly extend an olive branch.
Hey, stop being in the arcade game business! Why don't you make games for Shirakawa Electric?
Look, our handheld and home consoles are selling well, so we have a lot of money!
Look, isn’t this business done?
This step is to plan for the future and establish cooperative relationships in advance.
This is the main gain of Nangong Meng’s trip today.
Baichuan Feng would not do anything without benefits, otherwise he would not have needed to personally take charge of just a few game licenses.
Speaking of which, the arcade market in Japan is still very hot, but why doesn't Shirakawa Electric enter the market from here?
Because he knew that this area was difficult to deal with.
Not to mention the well-known manufacturers such as Taito, Nintendo, Sega, and Namco, which are almost losing their minds in the arcade market.
Moreover, arcades are highly dependent on physical stores, and the investment is relatively large.
In addition, since ancient times, places like game halls are naturally full of people from the underworld and other gray areas.
Baichuan Feng didn't want to have anything to do with them. It was easy to get on the boat but difficult to get off.
Once you get involved with them, it won't be easy to get rid of them later.
As far as he knew, Taito and Sega had clashed in the arcade market.
Sega also mobilized gray power, but the honest and upright president Taito finally came forward to negotiate with Sega in person to calm the matter down.
But overall, Taito suffered a great loss as the license for its most popular game, Space Invaders, was easily taken away by someone else.
It is said to be a joint operation, but in fact it is just freeloading.
That's why Shirakawa Kaede was so cautious about the arcade market and finally chose the handheld game console market.
It is better to be more stable in the consumer electronics industry and focus on survival and development first.
However, now that the gaming business has made another breakthrough, it is time to consider the problems of Shirakawa Electric itself.
