Chapter Thirty-six: Adam Edgar

  Jester is very worried about "Tieban Array", extremely worried, he is crystal clear that this game has caused what kind of sensation and had how much impact.

  This is the best-selling shooting game on FC, selling more than Contra, which is known as a textbook for clearing levels. Moreover, this game performed monstrously in arcades and was a global phenomenon after its release. To what extent did it become popular?

  Occupying seventy percent of the global arcade market share!

  It was also the great success of this game that allowed Namco to establish its position as one of the six major video game companies, and with just the profits from this game alone, Namco was able to build a brand new office building.

  In the gaming community, this building is also jokingly referred to as the "Iron Plate Array Building".

  Facing such a dominant game, it's impossible to say that Jester isn't worried. The classic "American Block" is not bad, but the most suitable platform for this game is not the arcade, due to the limitations of the subject matter, static screen games are far less impressive on arcades than scrolling games.

  But to say that it will definitely lose is not necessarily true. Puzzle games always have a large player base, and to be honest, players can't play one game forever. Even if it's Tetris, no matter how classic or fun it is, there will come a day when they get tired of it. The same goes for Iron Plate Array, and in terms of replayability, what does Tetris have to fear?

  Jester watched as Suzuki Yu played a trial version of Puzzle & Dragons, which was the first game he chose to play after hearing the introductions.

  He wasn't interested in the curved mouse that many players were interested in, but instead was very focused on the game. Jester could see Suzuki Yu replaying the game over and over again, for more than a dozen times, before he finally left with some reluctance to play two other arcade games.

  These two games also seemed to have given Suzuki Yu a lot of surprises, which can be seen from his somewhat excited expression. However, it's clear that he wasn't as interested in these remaining two games as he was in the first one, "Gemstone Labyrinth". He only played them for a few times before losing interest and no longer playing, and his face didn't have the same serious expression as before. After finishing, he quietly asked the staff next to him a few questions, and after hearing their response, Suzuki Yu looked at Jest with an incredulous expression.

  Then Jester saw Suzuki Hiroshi quickly walking up to his side and bowing ninety degrees again.

  "President Li's talent for game design is simply unmatched. This 'Gem Puzzle' and 'American Block' are perfect in digging into the player's psychology, I've learned a lot from them, and have new ideas on how to make excellent games, so I think I should call you 'teacher' to express my gratitude."

  Suzuki Hiroshi said with a sincere and respectful attitude.

  "I may have said too much, but it's just that I've gained some experience in designing a certain type of game." Jester helped Suzuki Yu up again, and then avoided the topic, saying instead, "I wonder what you think of these three games, Mr. Suzuki? Is Sega interested in distributing them?"

  Yūhei Suzuki composed himself, clearly still reeling from the three games he had just played. When asked by Jester, he hesitated for a moment before letting out a deep sigh and replied honestly: "To be frank, I didn't think it was interesting... but as a designer, that's not a fair answer. The truth is, even within Sega HQ, there wasn't a unified voice on whether to bring over Tetris... if Nakayama-san hadn't pushed for it, it probably wouldn't have happened. And now, to introduce three games at once..."

  Then Jester only saw Suzuki Hiro biting his teeth and nodding heavily, as if he had made up his mind.

  "President Lee, I take back what I said earlier. These three games are excellent enough. I will bring them back to President Nakayama for review. With his insight, it shouldn't be too difficult to get approval. And I don't want to see Sega continue to decline like this. As long as we can hold on for a while longer, by next year...” Suzuki Yu suddenly stopped speaking, seemingly having touched upon some internal secret of Sega's that he didn't continue to speak about.

  Jester knows what the other side is saying, to deal with the fc of the hell, Sega's ms next year will be born, this machine can explode the mainframe of fc, Sega has high hopes for it, in the eyes of Sega people now, as long as ms comes out, fc can directly become a past tense.

  But Sega never dreamed that Nintendo would blanket all of Japan in just two and a half years, and lock up the six strongest third-party developers with creative licensing agreements.

  When the MS, who was given high hopes by the world, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of FC, who were far inferior in strength, they finally realized the importance of a third party.

  Jest also knows that Ren Diyu is now making a fortune, but he has no way to stop it because this is the trend. Ren Diyu's FC is selling like crazy in Japan, unless Jest can release his console with Super Mario right now and take down Ren Diyu's market share, otherwise, he has no way to stop it, any scheme is useless in front of such a strong trend.

  But by the time their home console was released, Nintendo's licensing plan had already been laid out, and they could only rely on their own strength to fight against them.

  It's also fortunate that I remember many good games from this period, enough to win the early stages. As long as my own territory is solid, then even with a harsh royalty system like Hell, it will naturally lead to dissatisfaction among third parties, and their internal alliances will naturally collapse.

  In the heyday of Namco's dominance, Hudson was secretly developing games for NEC Japan's PC-Engine due to the strict royalty system. What more now with their own?

  The system of rights and interests only has binding force when the occupation rate is high enough. Once the occupation rate is not high, the outcome will be deserted by all.

  Isn't Sony's PS a good example?

  Their future failure is already predetermined by their current greed for power and wealth.

  However, Jester did not explain these reasons to Yu Suzuki, and Sega was only a temporary partner in his eyes, and in the future, they would also become one of the competitors.

  "Well, in that case, let's continue the discussion about the licensing of 'American Block'." Jester said with a bowing gesture, and Suzuki Yutaka followed him back to the previous office.

  As both parties had no objection to the content of the agreement, after Jester let his company's legal advisor review the contract and found no problem, he also signed the contract with Suzuki Yuzuru. Because the amount of this contract is too large, in a few days, Sega's president Nakayama Osamu will personally go to the United States to complete the formal signing with Jester.

  And in the agreement, at Suzuki's suggestion, a clause was added that Sega would agree to take on the manufacturing contract for the three arcade games, regardless of whether they could be licensed or not. The specifics of quantity and price would be discussed after the game was completed.

  This also let Jester put down a worry, he has been worried about whether these three games will be popular in the past few days, what he is most worried about is that his game console cannot be produced.

  Now that Sega has agreed to outsource, everything is fine.

  Suzuki Yu declined Jester's invitation to stay for a meal, and he wanted to return to Japan as soon as possible to report his findings and the details of this negotiation to Nakayama Hayao.

  Of course, when he left, he also took with him the three circuit boards of "Gemstone Maze", "Puzzle Bobble" and "Zuma".

  "I'm really looking forward to meeting with Nakayama Hayao in a few days, Mr. Suzuki, please give him my regards." Jester bid farewell to Suzuki Yutaka like this.

  "It's a deal." Suzuki Yu shook hands with Jester and walked away satisfied with the rough draft of their agreement.

  For him, this trip to America was a success after all.

  Jiest looked at the back of Suzuki Yu, and somewhat expected to meet the one who was later hailed as the greatest president in Sega's history, the one who never spoke defeat, never retreated, and had a strong fighter's heart.

  It's just unknown whether he will go against himself in this life or not?

  "I live to make those who have gone through hell uncomfortable." This famous quote from Nakayama Kōji still gives Jester a thrilling and blood-boiling feeling even now when he recalls it.

  A respectable and admirable old man.

  "Huh? Someone wants to see me?" After sending off Suzuki Yu, Jester finally received a report from his employee, saying that someone who had played all three of his games wanted to meet him and claimed to be a merchant with a big business deal regarding his new trilogy.

  After a moment's consideration, Jester nodded and ordered the employee: "Let him in, then."

  Jester was a bit curious, and I really wanted to know what the other party meant by "big business".

  "Adam Edgar, nice to meet you." Adam Edgar looked a bit chubby, so he seemed older, but in fact, he was not old at all, only just twenty-five years old. His speech was a bit fast, "At least I didn't expect you to be so young."

  Jester curiously looked at his counterpart, pinching his business card in his hand, but he didn't look at it, instead spinning it around with his fingertips before putting it aside.

  "So, what's this big business of yours?" Jester didn't have time for small talk. He had only decided to see the person on a whim, and if their answer wasn't satisfactory, he wouldn't hesitate to throw them out.

  "Cough...cough..."

  Adam Edgar was confident, clearing his throat first, his sharp eyes blinking constantly, and speaking in a slightly faster tone: "Your game is excellent, but your business talent... tsk tsk..."

  He said with a somewhat disdainful tone, clicking his tongue, and then continued in the same tone, "Basically zero."

  "Oh." Jester nodded expressionlessly, then revealed a bland smile. "Sir, if you're just here to pretend to be profound with this nonsense, I'll have security escort you out."

  Then, Jester looked down at the watch on his hand and muttered to himself: "One more minute..."

  At Jester's words, Adam Edgar's face turned pale, but returned to normal the next instant.

  He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, which had unknowingly appeared, and hurriedly said in a loud voice: "Don't think I'm talking nonsense, I've carefully studied your previous sales plan. In fact, this sales plan is outdated. Why let those distributors share your profits? You should establish your own distribution channel..."

  "You have ten seconds left." Jest said calmly, looking at his watch.

  "...you should set up logistics centers in each state, flagship stores in central cities, and cooperative retail merchants in small and medium-sized cities..." Adam Edgar was also getting anxious, his speech was getting faster and faster, his face was flushed bright red.

  Jester didn't listen carefully, just got a rough idea, but he still looked at the face of this somewhat fat man with a hint of surprise.

  His proposal was surprisingly similar to a plan he had discussed with Carrie Teri over the phone for many days prior.