Chapter 31 Game Over

  The meeting of Sega has finally ended.

  The gate opened and Nagano and his assistant walked out, looking at several people in the rest area.

  "Ah, Mr. Nagano, nice to see you again!" Xiao Dehua was the first to greet him, moving with the agility of a young man.

  Nagano had already seen Yang Yun, but was blocked by these people and couldn't say anything. He could only awkwardly shake hands with Xiao Dehua: "Welcome Mr. Xiao... everyone please go to the conference room..."

  Entering the conference room, everyone took their seats. Nagano said: "Today, two companies have sent game evaluations. There's Taiwan's Xiao Tiancai Computer Software Company with 'Cat and Mouse War', as well as Longteng Entertainment Game Company with 'Circus'. I suppose you both are familiar with Sega's quality management system, so let's get straight to the point, sign the testing contract, and submit your game program packages."

  These packages need to be handed over to Sega's headquarters for evaluation by engineers, the source code can be chosen to be open or encrypted and hidden, the patent registration of the game is the responsibility of the applicant, during the evaluation process, Sega does not guarantee that the game will not be leaked and is not responsible for confidentiality.

  In 1989, the domestic Internet was not yet set up, and in order to send game programs to the Japanese headquarters for testing, they could only be recorded on a 3.5-inch floppy disk and sent by international parcel post to Japan, which was complicated and time-consuming, and it may have taken a month or more to receive the final message.

  So after submitting the evaluation, domestic game developers can just wait for Sega or Nintendo to come and sign a patent licensing agreement with them.

  Xiao Dehua quickly took out the floppy disk and documentation he had prepared in advance, handed them to Nagano, and smiled: "Mr. Nagano, thank you for your hard work. Sega is indeed a world-renowned major company, doing things in a regular and orderly manner!"

  Nagano took it over, flipped through it casually, and the materials were fine, but at the very bottom, an extra envelope appeared, with no information on it. Curious, he asked: "What's this..."

  Xiao Dehua deliberately blocked Yongye's path, casting a disgusted glance at Yang Yun behind him, and said in a low, barely audible voice: "A little something..."

  Nagano didn't say anything, but he understood it all too well.

  This is an international common practice, sugar-coated bullets, commercial bribery.

  Nagano calmly pulled out the envelope and placed it between the documents, saying: "Mr. Xiao, please take a seat."

  Xiao Dehua was beaming with pride, comfortably returning to his seat, the envelope contained a check from HSBC Bank, as a gift for meeting, $2000 was really nothing, and later, as long as he passed Sega's evaluation, he would send an even thicker gift in gratitude.

  Yang Yun stood up from the waiting area in the conference room, preparing to hand over materials. Yongye smiled and looked over, just about to say something, when Xiao Dehua saw him and sneered coldly: "A small company that has only made one game dares to submit for testing? Mr. Yongye, this guy just entered our line of work last month and has no experience at all, having only developed one game. I'm afraid they can't even meet Sega's standard requirements, such as company size, game development experience, and patent applications? Haha, Boss Yang, do you know what a patent is? Do you know what the use of a patent is?"

  No need to mention anything else, but once patents are brought up, Nagano's head swells.

  It's this patent thing that's killing people...

  Especially the patent of Tetris, Sega's headquarters in Japan received feedback from its North American branch that Nintendo's Game Boy had sold 700,000 units in just three days after its release in North America, a figure that almost made Sega's top executives spit out their old blood.

  Due to a moment of hesitation, the patent authorization for Tetris was lost, this is Sega's eternal pain, an absolutely unhealable wound!

  Nagano looked at Xiao Dehua, his face getting worse and worse, extremely annoyed, but he endured it for the sake of the envelope.

  "I'm so clever!" Xiao Dehua thought with a self-satisfied smile, thinking that by sending out bribes, Yongye would stand on his side and suppress his old rival, Chiyang Electronics Factory, making them never able to turn over again, and in the future, the domestic market would all be his little genius'.

  Yang Yun smiled and asked back, "Isn't this statement a bit biased, Mr. Xiao? Can't new companies submit tests? Nintendo and Sega weren't born with the ability to write games either. Did you suppress them at first? A tall tree was once a small branch, the king of beasts was like a wild dog when it was born, Microsoft started from a garage, and the boss of Taiwan Plastics started by selling rice. Don't mention others, didn't your little geniuses also come from massive copying and imitation step by step? Mr. Xiao asked about patents, good question, high level! I'd like to ask, Mr. Xiao copied our company's Snake, Tetris, and Eat Bean games' source code without authorization, privately produced pirated game cartridges for profit, infringing on our patent rights. What should I do?"

  "Ah!" Xiao Dehua was choked and couldn't speak, Yang Yun said it was a fact. The four-in-one cartridge of the Little Genius had three games that plagiarized the Little Overlord, and one plagiarized Nintendo. Because they plagiarized the best-selling games on the market, the Little Genius cartridges sold like crazy, earning tens of millions in just half a month.

  "What qualifications do you have to scold me! You're not Xiao Ba Wang!" Xiao Dehua became flustered and began to argue.

  Yang Yun shrugged: "That's right, although I'm no longer associated with Little Emperor now, but Xiao Zong, Greedy Snake, Russian Blocks, and Eat Beans these three games are all from my hands, simply put, they were written by me. Now you're talking about patents in front of the producer, don't you feel ashamed?"

  "What?" Xiao Dehua exclaimed, "These three games are clearly Shen..."

  "Huh?" Although Xiao Dehua braked in time, Yang Yun caught the word keenly. Surname Shen, heh heh, not Shen Jun, then who?

  "Is it Shen Jun? Did Shen Jun give you the source code?" Yang Yun asked calmly.

  Xiao Dehua fell silent, his face turning iron-gray.

  What else can he say? Who knows if they'll run into the original developer of the program, this damn Li Gui ran into Li Kui, even with a thick skin, he wouldn't know what to say.

  In front of Nagano, the two people quarreled like this. If it were Nintendo or another major company's boss, they would probably throw out a sentence "Out!"

  But Sega is good, Yang Yun is a partner that Sega values highly!

  Nagano took down Yang Yun's information and sighed, "Mr. Yang, actually, none of the works from your company, Longteng Entertainment Games, need to be reviewed. I've already spoken with headquarters, and any future games you release can pass without inspection, and there is no specific quantity limit. Sega's doors are infinitely open to you."

  Yang Yun smiled: "Oh dear, it's better to go through the process anyway, we also want to hear the opinion of the headquarters engineer!"

  Nagano Tsutomu, with a smile on his face, greeted Inoue Osamu and Matsumoto Yoshino: "Aren't you two capable assistants? They're quite familiar with the standard protocol of headquarters! Alright, let's go sign the authorization for procurement and consignment now..."

  What's going on? Xiao Dehua only felt like a fish bone stuck in his throat. Why did Yang Yun's game pass the inspection without even being tested?

  Yang Yun nodded and suddenly said, "As for Xiao Tiancai, this non-original company, I think it's better to forget about it. The parcel sent to Japan is not cheap either. Being able to save a little is a good thing. Nagano-kun, what do you think?"

  "Nagano smiled wryly: 'This is necessary! Mr. Xiao, you'd better go back, Sega does not allow piracy and does not welcome companies that do not respect intellectual property rights patents. We will not choose a company like Little Genius Software as our partner.'"

  After finishing speaking, Nagano pushed the stack of materials back, but unfortunately, the hidden envelope accidentally slipped out, revealing half of its body, as if it was mocking Xiao Dehua.

  "And also, the little genius software company, trying to use unfair means to compete, this is against the spirit of fair competition, Sega cannot accept such behavior. Sega's corporate slogan is Life-is-a-game, since it's a game, every game has unbreakable fair rules, anyone who tries to break the rules will hit their head and bleed. Mr. Xiao, I'll give you one sentence, Game Over!"

  Xiao Dehua felt dizzy and held onto the office desk, sadly asking: "Why? Why can he be exempt from inspection, while I'm not even allowed to take a test? He's also copying other people's games and making pirated cartridges! He doesn't respect intellectual property rights either!"

  Nagano warmly hugged Yang Yun and smiled at Xiao Dehua, saying: "Mr. Xiao, you are wrong. If anyone in this room attaches the most importance to patents, it must be Mr. Yang. As for why, you don't need to ask more questions. Mr. Yang, please!"

  Yang Yun smiled and said: "Please!"

  Watching Yang Yun and the others follow Yongye into the office to sign the contract, Xiao Dehua slumped in his chair, muttering to himself: "Why? Why is it like this?"

  His two subordinates were already stunned, the impulsive young man was furious, rolled up his sleeves and scolded loudly: "What a beast! I spit on it! The Japanese are sycophantic, looking down on people with dog eyes!"

  After scolding, suddenly felt something was wrong, Sega chose Yang Yun and gave up on them, how did it become that they looked down on others? Isn't this admitting to being inferior to Yang Yun and the others?

  Xiao Dehua weakly waved his hand: "Little Jin, don't be impulsive... you should first go and investigate what this Longteng company is all about... I'll also go back and ask Shen Jun to see what's going on. Since Sega has rejected us, let's just go back to Nintendo..."

  Xiao Jin was stunned: "Chairman Xiao, the price offered by Nintendo is really too harsh, you'd better reconsider!"

  Xiao Dehua sighed.

  He came to Sega, wasn't it because he was forced by Nintendo and had no other choice?

  Nintendo is like a ferocious wolf that swallows everything without spitting out bones, especially looking down on Chinese companies. To cooperate with Nintendo, apart from not getting much benefit in game development, one has to desperately act as an agent to sell Nintendo FC in the Taiwan and mainland markets, and there are also other harsh terms that are unbearable.

  Now that Sega has closed the door on him, Xiao Dehua suddenly feels like the entire world is crumbling down. Is the only way out for this small genius company really just endless piracy?

  All of this originated from such a soft and weak opponent. Xiao Dehua finally regretted his impulsiveness earlier.

  What's wrong with him! If Sega closes its doors, I'll go find Nintendo!

  Xiao Dehua had no choice but to make a desperate last-ditch effort.