Chapter 17 Sega, you've worked hard

  Go to CCTV to talk about advertising, still Zhao Yongping alone.

  Yang Yun only needed to sow a single seed, and even without his reminder, Zhao Yongping would have thought of doing this advertisement in the future; it's just a matter of sooner or later.

  Yang Yun now has more important things to attend to, he carries a cadre's document bag, gets into a privately owned taxi, and rushes all over the city, chatting with his driver along the way.

  Half an hour later, Yang Yun arrived at the most prosperous Jingcheng Department Store. According to his brother's introduction, a toy and entertainment product mall was added in the first half of this year in Jingcheng Department Store, and business was booming. The whole venue was filled with various toys from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Japan. After all the parents in Beijing believed it, they all went shopping together and bought wildly.

  At that time, Yang Yun had just been reborn and went to Chongshan City, so he didn't see the grand opening of Jingcheng Department Store. His brother strongly recommended it, guaranteeing that it would be absolutely worthwhile.

  As expected, outside the Beijing Department Store on Wangfujing, this famous commercial street was packed with people. Yang Yun immediately thought of People-Mountain-People-Sea. After finally squeezing in and following the crowd, he slowly made his way to the newly opened entertainment product mall, which had been open for less than half a year. Among the dazzling array of shops, he quickly found his target - the Sega specialty counter.

  Looking at the shiny glass counter, exquisite game console exhibits, three color TVs running jumping games, crowds of onlookers packed around, Yang Yun sighed: "Sega brothers, after fighting with Nintendo for so many years, it's really hard on you!"

  There were probably several dozen people in the store, and Yang Yun couldn't squeeze in for half a day. He had to stand on tiptoe and beckon to a lone sales clerk.

  The little girl stood on the other side of the counter, Yang Yun stood outside the crowd, more than two meters away, near yet far, surrounded by people watching the game cheering in waves, her ears were filled with the loud voices of Beijing men, and the two basically relied on shouting to talk.

  "Miss! Is your boss in?"

  "What? Boss? Not here! Sir, what would you like to buy?"

  "I'm not buying anything! I want to see your boss! Please give him a message: Nintendo's enemy has arrived!"

  "What? What enemy?"

  "Bring out your boss!"

  Yang Yunhao's loud roar, um, cleared his throat twice, and watched the little girl run back to ask for instructions from her leader.

  Soon, an older Chinese man squeezed out of the crowd and came to a slightly less crowded corner with Yang Yun. After standing still for a moment, the two rubbed their shoulders, but before they had walked less than ten meters, they were bumped several times.

  Yang Yun said straightforwardly: "I am a Chinese game developer, I want to talk to your boss, please help me get in touch. If you're not interested, I'll go find Nintendo."

  When you hear the name Nintendo, which company dares to slack off? In Jingcheng Department Store, Nintendo also has a dedicated counter. The two companies have been at odds for years, Sega and Nintendo have been bitter rivals, to the point where local employees would treat each other like sworn enemies when they met, all in the name of corporate culture.

  The enemy of an enemy is a friend, so Yang Yun was respectfully invited out, got into a taxi and arrived in front of an ordinary small building.

  The headquarters of Sega's Chinese branch is located here, and it looks very shabby. However, Yang Yun didn't mind, as he had come to look for someone to ghostwrite a book, and wasn't concerned about its appearance. Even staying at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse wouldn't work; as long as it was Sega's name, that would be enough.

  The receptionist was Nagano, the person in charge of the company. After exchanging a few words, he hastily invited Yang Yun to take a seat.

  A master's skill is evident from the very start.

  Yang Yun stared at the female secretary's hand pouring tea, without batting an eyelid, and said: "Yongye Jun, I heard that your Mega-Drive is selling extremely well in North America?"

  Nagano corrected calmly: "The North American version is called Genesis, Mr. Yang's information is quite accurate!"

  Yang Yun's eyebrows moved: "The world's first 16-bit game console, priced at $228, I heard that in less than half a year, it sold 2 million units?"

  "Mr. Yang, there's an old Chinese saying: 'open the skylight to speak clearly'."

  Yang Yun finally raised his head and said with a smile: "The Game Boy is about to go on sale, when will Sega's Game Gear be launched? It seems that you are once again lagging behind Nintendo!"

  Nagano was shocked and hastily wiped the sweat from his forehead, apologizing as he retreated to the reception room.

  He had just instructed the front desk a while ago, and in these short few minutes, he had also looked up quite a bit of information on Yang Yun.

  He re-entered the room, this time with even more courtesy, raising his small teacup in a gesture of respect: "A toast to Mr. Yang!"

  Yang Yun drank it all in one gulp, but the teacup was too small and didn't quench her thirst.

  Nagano narrowed his eyes: "In the past two months, some 'fresh' cassette tapes have been circulating on the market. The two games on them are quite 'stunning', and it turns out they were all created by Mr. Yang! I'm impressed, I'm impressed!"

  Yang Yun smiled: "What does Mr. Nagano think of Tetris? Is there any interest in porting it to Sega's 8-bit or 16-bit game cards?"

  Nagao didn't answer directly and asked: "Earlier Mr. Yang said that Nintendo was discussing the copyright of Tetris, can you reveal a little about this?"

  Yang Yun nodded: "Nintendo offered $100,000 for a one-time buyout, we refused."

  Nagano's facial muscles twitched slightly, this price, only Nintendo can quote it out, not even worth the price of Chinese cabbage, this is tap water price, simply shameless.

  Yang Yun continued: "A buyout price of $100,000 is a slap in the face. Are we fools? Since Nintendo has no sincerity at all, I can only come to find his old rival, Nagano-san, right?"

  Nagano Taiki: "Of course, welcome! I wonder what Mr. Yang's requirements are?"

  Yang Yun: "Our requirement for him is 5 US dollars per copy."

  Nagano's difference in points is dizzying, a $5 quote, this price swap is unacceptable to anyone, it seems that Mr. Yang and Nintendo are both lion-like with big mouths, and Mr. Yang is also shameless!

  Seeing Nagano's poor expression, Yang Yun smiled slightly and said: "For Sega, I can make the decision to lower it a bit. You have two options, one is $2 per copy for COPY, the other is to split according to sales volume, 10 million copies or less at $0.7, 10-100 million copies at $1.5, and over 100 million copies at $2.5, all of which refer to a single COPY, applicable to any carrier in any situation, if it's a collection of multiple games, we'll discuss separately."

  The price Yang Yun reported must be one that Sega cannot afford.

  Sega and Nintendo have been fighting for years, always at a disadvantage. The Genesis sold just over 20 million units in North America, not even a fifth of Nintendo's sales. Neither scenario is easy for Sega.

  Anyway, it's just a matter of letting Sega take the blame, and even if they report it to a higher authority, nothing will happen. Yang Yun drank his tea leisurely.

  Nagano quickly calculated the price, they had already reached sales of 10 million, and it was definitely no problem within 100 million. Calculated this way, the patent fee would be between $1.5 million to $15 million, and once exceeding 10 million copies, the excess amount would all be charged at $2.5, that huge sum is simply unimaginable.

  Looking at Yang Yun's calm demeanor, Yongye suddenly shivered: "Could it be that this person is trying to swindle us? How dare he guarantee sales of 1 million, 10 million copies? What if we buy the patent at a high price and only sell 100,000 copies, this guy would still make a profit of $700,000, which is a huge sum of money in China!"

  Yang Yun seemed to have seen something, and said lightly: "My partner is a Soviet person, he is the owner of the international patent, so this game is called Tetris, not Chinese block. I am just an agent, Nagano-san, do you understand?"

  Using the Soviet Union's prestige as a big flag, this is what makes it international, and when negotiating with the Japanese, there will be an equal opportunity. Yang Yun has been working with Aleksey from the beginning, and that's exactly what he had in mind!

  Nagano didn't dare to answer casually, the intelligence he had obtained was too little, and he could only probe and ask: "If Sega signs the transfer agreement, can Mr. Yang guarantee... exclusivity?"

  Yang Yun slapped his forehead: "Ah, I'm just worried about this! Nintendo is too powerful an opponent, offending it would come at a great cost, you have to be prepared to risk everything!"

  Again I don't understand, Nagano is stunned, is this the art of Chinese people's speech?