Chapter 28: Arakawa Minoru

  Jester really dislikes eating Japanese food.

  It's not because of the taste - any country's dishes, as long as they are cooked by a master chef, will not be bad, hmm, maybe Britain is an exception.

  But it was the kind of restraint, strictness and rigid atmosphere that pervaded Japanese cuisine, filled with a petty bourgeois air that made him feel extremely uncomfortable.

  This is a psychological aversion rather than a physiological one.

  Jester is a carefree and easy-going person, in his past life as a northerner he liked to drink large bowls of wine, eat large chunks of meat, and live a life of freedom with no worries about money, rather than eating delicate Japanese dishes that are like intricate paintings, mixed with vegetables and worrying about every penny for half the day.

  However, Arakawa Minoru, who came from a traditional Japanese aristocratic family, clearly had great admiration for Japanese cuisine. His dining movements were elegant and rhythmic, as if he was performing some sort of dining etiquette. Especially in this restaurant, which specialized in Kansai-style dishes, the smooth tofu soup and fragrant flavors rolling on his tongue made him nostalgic for the tastes of his hometown.

  His hometown is Kyoto, Japan's fourth largest city and one of the birthplaces of Kansai cuisine.

  Like Chinese cuisine, which is divided into eight major schools: Lu, Chuan, Yue, Min, Huaiyang, Zhe, Xiang and Hui, Japanese cuisine is also divided into three categories or two broad styles based on region, cooking methods and ingredients.

  These two major schools refer to Kanto cuisine and Kansai cuisine.

  Kansai cuisine has had a greater influence, and Kansai cuisine is longer in history and more famous than Kanto cuisine.

  Kanto cuisine is also known as Tokyo cuisine, and the Japanese are accustomed to calling it "Edo-mae", which refers to the Tokyo Bay in front of the Edo River, where fresh seafood can be used to cook a variety of delicious dishes.

  Edomae-style boiled fish is a representative Kanto dish, and during the Edo period it was also known as "samurai's food" because of its bold flavor, which is why Kanto cuisine is sometimes referred to as "masculine cuisine".

  As the name suggests, Kanto cuisine is known for its rich and heavy flavors. Famous dishes include Tempura and Shikaji Rice, which originated from the abundance of small fish and shrimp in Tokyo Bay during the Edo period. Local chefs used these ingredients to create delicious tempura and shikaji rice.

  Kansai cuisine mainly refers to the representative dishes in the Kyoto and Osaka areas, while Osaka cuisine, also known as Naniwa cuisine, is considered the essence of Japanese cuisine, earning Osaka the nickname "Japan's food capital".

  Kyoto's cuisine is known for its high-quality water, and as the ancient capital of Japan for over 1,000 years, it has a rich tradition of temple cuisine. The local specialties are characterized by their use of expensive ingredients and complex preparation methods, with many dishes steamed or boiled to bring out their flavors, such as tofu soup. Of course, Osaka is also famous for its own unique style of cooking.

  Kansai cuisine is characterized by its light flavor, which allows the freshness of the ingredients to come through. The ingredients used are more refined than those in Kanto cuisine - the flavors of Seto Inland Sea seafood are also famous. Additionally, the water quality in Kansai is better than that in Kanto, resulting in better-tasting vegetables. Therefore, generally speaking, Kansai dishes are better than Kanto dishes.

  At the dinner table, Arakawa was not in high spirits and seemed a bit strange. He had been in the US for many years and all the Americans he knew loved Japanese food, especially the delicacy of it, which made them reluctant to put down their chopsticks.

  In order to make Jest eat comfortably and facilitate the subsequent negotiations about "American Blocks", he enthusiastically introduced the anecdotes of these dishes, the etiquette of dining, hoping to use this to improve Jest's appetite.

  But Jester, who was used to his father's authentic Sichuan cuisine with its bold flavors and oily dishes every day, couldn't muster up any interest in these bland Kansai-style dishes. The only thing that caught his attention was the pan-seared beef that was so tender it just melted in his mouth.

  Mark Sennett was very interested in these and listened with relish.

  This made Jester roll his eyes and despise him in his heart. You've even eaten Chinese food before.

  "Mr. Arakawa!"

  Jester finally couldn't bear it and interrupted Arakawa's self-satisfied monologue, pointing at the almost-finished small portion of stir-fried beef and said: "Can I have two pounds of this stir-fried sauce beef? I really love this dish from your country, but can you add more chili peppers? The flavor is still too bland for me!"

  Then Jester could clearly see a flash of anger in Arakawa Minoru's eyes, but it was quickly suppressed.

  Arakawa Minoru's face showed a apologetic expression, and his attitude was very respectful.

  "I'm really sorry, I didn't ask about Mr. Li's food preferences beforehand, so I took the liberty of choosing this restaurant from my hometown, originally wanting you to try some of Japan's delicious cuisine."

  Seeing others' posture so low, Jester didn't think it was good to continue making trouble out of nothing. However, he still secretly cursed in his heart: "Damn it, Japan also has the nerve to call itself a food paradise? It looks pretty good, but apart from being exquisite, it can't even fill your stomach."

  But he couldn't express it directly, and could only smile hypocritically and say: "I'm not saying that Japanese food isn't delicious, it's just that I'm used to the strong flavors of Sichuan cuisine, and these light flavors really don't interest me. It's not just Japanese food, even Huaiyang cuisine from our own China is the same for me."

  Seeing a flash of disdain in Arakawa's eyes, Jester's mood turned sour again. Was it because I said I wasn't used to eating your Japanese food that you look down on me?

  Anyway, he didn't plan to discuss the "American Block" with him, just wanting to get some information from his mouth about when Araki Hirohiko would sell NES in America. However, Araki's lips were tight, and Jast's several probing questions did not get any useful response, nor is it clear whether he was intentionally hiding something or if Araki simply had no plans to release it in the US yet.

  This also made Jester feel somewhat disheartened.

  "Since we've lost interest in continuing to eat, let's just talk quickly. Everyone's time is limited." Seeing that the time was almost up, Jester decided to directly discuss the collapse of the company with Ren Diyu. He still had to go back to the company to check on the completion status of those three new games. After all, he could only get a general idea from what Marc Senni said.

  Aragaki didn't catch the negative tone in Jester's voice, and he naturally thought that selling them a game copyright would be something to be excited about for both parties, after all, it was a win-win situation.

  But he had no idea that the company in front of him, which had just released a small-scale game, was also planning to enter the home console market, and it was in such a bleak market environment.

  It's actually that Arakawa was not doing his job thoroughly, or he simply didn't take Sega into consideration. To be fair, Jester had recently poached the entire development team of Atari VCS 7200 from his father.

  Maintaining a hardware R&D team is no easy task, it's not for personal gain, and absolutely won't be such a waste of money.

  If he had received this intelligence, Arakawa Minoru would have known what Mars Entertainment wanted to do even if he was a fool, and naturally there wouldn't have been this completely unnecessary negotiation.

  "Mr. Li, your company's 'American Blocks' is doing extremely well, and the market response in the US has fully proven this point. I wonder if your company is interested in further expanding its influence?" Arakawa Minoru's face wore a humble smile, his English spoken with a standard New York accent, without the usual Japanese pronunciation issues.

  "Hmm." Jester muttered a silent curse at the hypocrisy, and deliberately feigned ignorance to ask, "I wonder what Mr. Arakawa means? Are you saying that Hell wants to acquire Mars Entertainment or 'American Blocks'?"

  "It's not all." Arakawa Minoru didn't waste words, he was a shrewd businessman, and the charm of "American Blocks" was extremely important to him, especially when it came to his father-in-law's American strategy plan proposed at the high-level meeting in June.

  However, he was only interested in "Monumental", and had little interest in the game company that Jester had just set up - not to mention their own game development team from hell, but his father-in-law's royalty plan was being planned, and if it succeeded, they would not lack excellent game development teams at all.

  "We at Ren Tianxia highly value your company's 'American Blocks' and think it's an excellent game that is very suitable for home consoles. Therefore, we hope your company can sell the console rights of 'American Blocks' to us, and our offer is extremely sincere." Arakawa said with a serious tone.

  "Very sincere?" When Jest heard these four words, he sneered in his heart. Since when could the hell be associated with sincerity?

  Relying on the popularity of FC, Yamaguchi's iron-fisted monopoly policy, which was made possible by the royalty system, has nothing to do with integrity. Not to mention that they will only rehash old ideas and make a fortune from loyal fans' hard-earned money without any remorse.

  And Jester had no intention of selling either.

  So, Jester's face changed immediately, and a look of anger appeared on his face. He said sternly: "Minecraft is my first game, it means to me like my child, I am absolutely not going to sell it."

  Arakawa Jitsu heard Gest's statement and didn't think much of it, he never believed that there was anything in this world that couldn't be sold, it just depended on the price.

  However, he didn't want to rush the other party either. He wasn't determined to buy the home console rights of "Merricat" as long as he could get their authorization.

  So he just smiled and his smile was as usual, his tone was still sincere.

  "Mr. Li, you're worrying too much. We don't want to buy the ownership of this game from you, but rather we just need you to license the copyright of this game on home console platforms to us, and of course, the price will definitely satisfy you."

  "Home console rights? Just home console rights? You don't want the arcade version, do you...?" Upon hearing Arakawa's words, Jester's eyes flashed as if he had thought of something, and then unconsciously wanted to blurt out his doubts. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and closed his mouth, not revealing the most important information.

  Arakawa looked at Jester with some confusion, not understanding what he meant by "that palm" just now.

  Of course, Jester had no intention of explaining anything either.

  However, Jest still got a very important piece of information from Arakawa Minoru's mouth, that the plan for handheld game console BAME-BOY was not yet started in hell, otherwise they wouldn't even mention the copyright issue.

  The designers of Renegade must have seen how powerful AmeriDarts would be on a handheld.

  Then Jester had another inspiration, as if there was still other information hidden in Arakawa's words.

  For example, regarding the scope of authorization for home appliances.

  Jest's face showed a thinking expression, his eyebrows furrowed tightly, and after a minute or two, he intentionally asked in a probing tone: "Are you guys wanting the home console rights for 'Merrill Lynch' in Japan? If that's all it is, then it's not impossible to discuss."

  A glimmer of displeasure flashed in Arakawa's eyes, but his face remained expressionless as he continued to speak with utmost sincerity: "No, we want the authorization for 'Merricat' on all home consoles worldwide, not just in Japan."

  "You guys want to do it in the US too? The current US market doesn't have much of a future... " Then, Jast seemed to think that was enough and intentionally raised his tone, feigning shock, with an incredulous look on his face, he stared at Arakawa Miki and said, "Are you guys planning to sell the Famicom in the US? Can't you see what the Atari game console is like right now?"

  "Hehe."

  Arakawa smiled nonchalantly and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. He didn't directly answer Jester's question, instead continuing to speak in that tone that involuntarily made people feel good.

  "This is the company's decision, and we don't want to deceive Mr. Li, we are truly sincere. After President Yamauchi saw the Tetris game I sent to your esteemed company, he immediately gave instructions, and the directive I received was that no matter what, we must obtain the home console rights for Tetris. Please take a look at this document, after reading it, you will naturally understand our sincerity this time. If you are not satisfied, we can continue to negotiate."

  While saying that, Arakawa Minoru pulled out several sheets of white paper filled with writing from a briefcase on one side and handed them to Jester.

  Jie Si took it over with a smile, anyway he didn't mean to respond, just lowered his head and pretended to look at it.

  Jester watched with a mixture of amazement and curiosity, thinking that the conditions given by Hell were too good to be true. It was completely unlike the tyrannical rule of Hell in the 80s, where those who obeyed prospered and those who disobeyed perished.

  Firstly, upon signing the agreement, the one-time payment for authorization would be $20 million, and every time a copy is sold, Mars Entertainment Company, which owns the copyright of "American Blocks", will receive a dividend of $5.

  Jest is just a rough estimate, he can't remember the sales of Tetris, he only roughly remembers that it's over 50 million, top ten in FC historical sales.

  Assuming 50 million units at $5 per unit, the revenue would be $250 million. Adding the $20 million spent on licensing, that's a total of $270 million.

  This is a very sincere price, you know, at the calculation of 50 yuan per game card, 5 million copies would only be $2.5 billion in sales, if we exclude labor costs and other expenses, the pure profit may not even reach $2 billion.

  That is to say, Huo Yan Entertainment doesn't need to do anything, just authorize the home console version of this game to Ren Diyu, and they can take away a quarter of all the profits from this game!

  Jester's face also changed color when he saw this. Yamashita and Arakawa were indeed a good match.

  It seems that Tencent has already set its sights on the US market, it just needs a game that can stir up the stagnant waters of the American video game market.

  Are they going to make "American McGee's Alice" the game that will thoroughly activate the American video game market?

  The only purpose of people buying game consoles is to play games. Only games that are excellent enough to make people want to play them can drive console sales.

  It seems that Ren Diyu has taken advantage of this point, otherwise they wouldn't have been so generous this time, which doesn't match Ren Diyu's stingy and miserly style at all.

  And Jester couldn't help but think that in the original timeline, the NES was released in October of the following year in America, while their crown jewel Super Mario was released in September.

  Of course, before the official sale, Ren Di had done some trial sales, but the effect was not very ideal.

  Jester recalls watching a documentary about the history of video games, which featured an interview with Reggie Fils-Aimé, who was then president of Nintendo of America. The die-hard Nintendo fan said that at the time, Nintendo brought out various tricks, including the Zapper and R.O.B., but sales of the NES did not improve until Super Mario Bros. arrived in America, after which everything began to change.

  For Ren Tianyou, the most direct change is: NES sold like crazy.

  It was Super Mario that gave Yamauchi the confidence to release the NES in America.

  Jester made his own inference based on the known information.

  Seeing the incredulous look on Jester's face, Arakawa thought that the opponent was thoroughly stunned by the price on this contract, and a confident smile involuntarily appeared on his face: "How about it? Mr. Li, are you satisfied with our sincerity?"

  Jester took a deep breath and slowly folded up the agreement.

  It's impossible to not be excited, but to agree is absolutely impossible. Jester gazed deeply at Arakawa Riichi, he indeed admired the tactics of Nether Hell. Just seeing a game that only became popular in the US arcade market, for a home console market whose success was still unknown, they dared to take such a huge risk and spend $45 million to buy an opportunity that might succeed. If I were in their shoes, would I dare do it?

  Jester thought silently in his heart and then shook his head. If he didn't know the history, he would absolutely not have made this decision.

  The risk is just too great.

  "I disagree with this quote." After about five minutes, Jester lifted his head from his contemplation and looked into Arakawa Minoru's eyes, enunciating each word of his answer.

  This answer is not difficult to make, before this negotiation, Jester had already made up his mind.

  "Alright, we'll do it on... what? Refuse?! Eight Gaa!" Originally hearing Jester's reply, Aragaki thought the other party had agreed to the conditions and showed an excited expression. But after reacting, his face darkened in an instant. He looked at Jester with a somewhat incredulous gaze, shouting in a nearly hysterical voice, "Mr. Li, do you know what you just refused?! Please reconsider!"

  "I have considered it carefully, Mr. Arakawa. I appreciate the importance your company attaches to this, but the price you offered is really too low, far below my bottom line. I'm afraid I cannot sell my hard work at such an insulting price to your side. Please forgive me."

  Jie Si Ban's face was stern as he spoke with a strong sense of justice. After finishing his words, he stood up straight and left without looking back.

  Mark Senyei also stood up and followed Jester out.

  He didn't say a word throughout the negotiation because he already knew what the outcome would be before the negotiation, and this was also the result of his discussion with Jester.

  Only Arakawa was left, his eyes wide with astonishment, still looking incredulous, muttering to himself: "At least 20 million dollars, an insulting price..."

  "Ah-ah!"