Chapter 16: Ju Ping's Sister and Uncle Dong
Wasn't $5 supposed to be the bottom line? This bottom line has changed really quickly...
Alex took the paper and saw the conditions listed by Yang Yun, he sucked in a breath of cold air: "Yang! Do you really think Nintendo's Game Boy sales will exceed 10 million units?"
Yang Yun smacked his lips: "10 million units are nothing! Maybe there will be more! If they don't agree to this condition, then you drag them along, they can't take it!"
Until 2000, Game Boy sales exceeded 100 million units, not counting the number of game cartridges! If the Japanese didn't accept it, Nintendo's hundred-year celebration would be ruined. Without Tetris, Game Boy would have been a flop in the North American market!
Alexei found it unbelievable, but the contract proposed by Yang Yun was indeed beneficial to them. He would strive for it and should get the consent of the Japanese.
After parting ways, Yang Yun returned to State-run 938 Electronics Factory to meet with old friends, while Alexei went back to the Edward Building to inform Nintendo.
"Mr. Uchiyama, this is my new proposal."
"Still divided? Hmm, segmented authorization by sales volume? Please wait a moment, let me take a look."
Uchiyama carefully looked at the scheme document provided by Alexey, which stated that if the sales of game cartridges containing Tetris in North America were within 1 million sets, the patent fee would be $1/set, sales between 10-100 million, the patent fee would be $2/set, and sales exceeding 100 million, the patent fee would be $3/set.
And this segmented licensing agreement is for all game cards, Game Boy and Famicom can be transplanted, charged by the number of copies.
This is the bottom line set by Yang Yun, which is indeed much cheaper than the $5 per suit plan, almost conceding 50%, but the scope has expanded and targeted the entire game card industry.
Nintendo's negotiating representative, Nishida Takehiro, fell into deep thought. Whether the new game console would sell well or not was unknown to anyone. Based on past experience, Fami had sold over 3 million units in Japan and 4 million sets in North America, exceeding 10 million was an easy task, GameBoy shouldn't be too bad either.
However, Famicom has around 400-500 game software, with much higher playability than Game Boy. Nintendo released Game Boy to pursue a niche market, focusing on portability and compactness, but since there are only so many gamers, it will inevitably compete with Famicom.
So, in terms of playability, Game Boy is not as good as Famicom, and it's a new product, so who knows how much it will sell in North America.
If it's 1 million units sold, Nintendo would have to pay $1 million in patent fees. If they exceed 1 million units, they'd have to shell out tens of millions more. This is far from the original $100,000 flat fee they had anticipated, but half of the initial offer of $5 per unit copy.
Uchiyama Takeda bowed deeply: "I'm very sorry, Mr. Pagetoff, we can't meet your requirements."
Alexei crossed his arms and said coldly: "Why don't Mr. Ueyama and the headquarters discuss it again?"
Uchiyama Take also showed a hard attitude: "I think headquarters won't agree either, goodbye!"
Alexei closed his eyes and bid farewell, but in fact he was extremely nervous. Now he can only hope that Yang Yun has a good plan.
……
……
As he came out of the State Patent Bureau, Zhao Yongping was beaming with joy. The patent application materials had been submitted, and now the Little Emperor Learning Machine finally had a name to its claim.
Improved production process, appearance, trademark, transformed learning card content, Gluttonous Snake and three other games source code, Zhao Yongping applied for all of them recklessly, knowing that he was plagiarizing, but he could still say with a straight face that they were original.
Yang Yun thought for a long time, the patent application handed over by Zhao Yongping must have had some parts that were going to be rejected. He and Alexei's move to grab the Russian block patent ahead of time was unlikely to deceive everyone in the long run, and it would eventually come to light.
On that day, it's easy to guess how Zhao Yongping will look at him without even thinking about it.
So Yang Yun made up his mind to help Zhao Yongping one last time before leaving this maelstrom ahead of schedule.
"Director Zhao, I have a small suggestion."
"You said."
The two casually found a small restaurant and originally planned to return to Chongshan after finishing their meal.
Yang Yun said: "When the Kote learning card is turned on, there is a line of words that says 'Kote', I think it's quite interesting. Can our Little King also learn to do this when it's turned on?"
"Display the words 'Little Emperor Learning Machine'?"
Yang Yun shook his head: "Animated fonts are not intuitive, we use sound!"
Zhao Yongping's eyes lit up: "That's right! Let's find a celebrity to do an advertisement!"
Yang Yun smiled, and Zhao Yongping was immediately transparent, indeed a master of entrepreneurship.
Zhao Yongping put down his chopsticks, suddenly interested: "Who are you looking for? This person's voice must be unique, identifiable, and have a reputation. What they say is convincing, and it's best if they've dealt with children's programs before. Got it! Ji Ping sister or Dong Hao uncle!"
Yang Yun gave a thumbs up: "Director Zhao indeed has good eyesight! If we can find these two people, the reputation of Little Overlord will be established immediately."
Jiayun Sister and Donghao Uncle are the golden hosts of CCTV's children's program!
The children's program of Qiqiaoban has entered tens of thousands of households, and is deeply welcomed by hundreds of millions of young friends across the country. Jiutong sister's pure, sweet and lively image has won unanimous praise from both children and parents.
And Dong Uncle as the voice of Mickey Mouse, host of the puppet show "Dong Uncle's Funny Head" and later the famous column "Big Windmill", plus a forever young Jin Guizi, also fascinated millions of children!
But then Zhao Yongping suddenly lost confidence: "These two are national first-class broadcasters, famous hosts of CCTV, can a small factory like ours invite them?"
Yang Yun smiled: "It's up to people! Director Zhao, you're a graduate student from Renmin University, aren't you......"
Zhao Yongping gritted his teeth and made up his mind: "Alright! I won't leave after dinner, we'll take care of this matter in the capital for the next few days!"
Renmin University is a good school that has fostered many politicians. Zhao Yongping's classmates are basically all mixed in the Beijing political circle.
So Zhao Yongping soon contacted a classmate at China Central Television named Huang Pingsheng.
Huang Pingsheng wore glasses, was gentle and refined in manner, dressed in a white shirt and Western-style trousers, and sported the most fashionable cadre hairstyle of the time.
After some small talk about life and career, both of them had their own thoughts and feelings.
Huang Pingsheng said: "Boss Zhao, you're the only one in our class who's gone into business and made a lot of money, aren't you?"
Zhao Yongping's face was gloomy: "Ping, don't humiliate me. What kind of boss am I? I'm just the head of a small factory, working harder than an ox and eating less than a chicken, toiling from dawn till dusk, only to be exploited by those above."
The two of them laughed loudly and talked about meeting with Ju Ping and Dong Hao. Huang Pingsheng felt a bit embarrassed: "I'm just the deputy editor of a small column at CCTV, I'm afraid it won't be easy to arrange!"
"It's still better than us entering without a door, right?"
Huang Ping shook his hand: "If you want to get in, there are still ways. CCTV and other TV stations will not refuse advertisers."
Zhao Yongping understood, this estimate will have to spend money. However, the budget in his hand was really not much, and he didn't know how much it would cost to invite these two hosts, so he asked cautiously: "If we invite them, what is the estimated advertising fee?"
Huang Pingsheng curled his lip: "I'm not good at helping with the price, let me arrange it, you go and discuss with the advertising department yourself!"
