Chapter 72: Sega is as stubborn as an ox

  The "technology is king" argument was fully embodied in Sega, and Yang Yun couldn't bear to hear this kind of talk, and scolded loudly in his heart.

  Sega, oh Sega, from the perspective of later generations, you actually fell into a rather large misunderstanding. You simply thought that technology is everything, while ignoring that the market is your fundamental source of livelihood!

  Technology is important, but it can't be pursued at the expense of relaxing the expansion of the gaming consumer market.

  At home, the game console is leading, on the arcade motherboard, it's also leading, CD machine is leading, Saturn is leading, DC machine is leading, whatever technology Sega stands at the top, far ahead in all kinds of technologies.

  But only you, Sega, can climb up the high mountain. Everyone else is standing on the vast plain below, companies like Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are making a lot of money and living a comfortable life. They look at you alone on the mountaintop, surrounded by a few die-hard fans who are shivering with cold, not even birds care about you, they're all laughing at you.

  Do you know why Capcom and Konami gave up on arcade games and turned to home console games later? It's because the home console market is bigger than the arcade market!

  And then there's Nintendo, who insisted on sticking with 8-bit consoles, willing to squeeze out every last bit of performance rather than follow the trend of upgrading their technology. Can't you Sega executives see that? Have your brains been addled?

  Capcom spent 10 billion yen and two years to develop the CPS1 arcade board, which used a 16-bit Motorola CPU with strong graphics processing capabilities and looped audio that could produce high-fidelity sound effects. They then released "The Lost World".

  That's right, at first, Capcom did invest a lot of money in developing arcade hardware, but later found that the popularity of arcade games was too low and it wasn't profitable to make high-end games, so they gave up on arcades and turned to home consoles. They successfully transformed and later made a big hit with Devil May Cry. Another company, Konami, also made Pro Evolution Soccer, do you know how much money they made?

  Wow, I saw Capcom release the CPS1 arcade board, its performance is very powerful and the data is astonishing. I thought a competitor had emerged, so Sega quickly developed the 3D 32-bit Model 1 board?

  Are you stuffed and anxious? Is this how money is spent? When everyone was playing 2D effect games, you went to make a 3D game baseboard, and even sharpened your brain to drill inside, stubbornly like an ox, unable to be pulled back with a rope. Your mind was set on developing Model123, but in the end, not a single 2D game was made on the nine baseboards of the three series!

  Big brother, why are you running so fast? Which game supplier can keep up with your pace?

  Just like Sega 5, rushing to release a 16-bit home console, brother, in fact, the current 8-bit machine is already enough. You don't have market share support, no good games to help you compete for consumers, and not enough profit. Even if you develop a 256-bit machine, it's useless. Only those hardware enthusiasts and fresh guys will buy your console, but how many of them are there? Do they account for even 1% of all consumers? In the end, your Sega 5 still lost to Super Nintendo!

  Mastering core technology is not wrong, but the market is also important!

  Yang Yun sighed, scolding in his heart for a while, looking at Fujita and Pete, one was a diligent and tireless Japanese, the other was an ambitious American who had exhausted his mind and blood to fight in the North American market, and felt that they were both very wronged and innocent.

  Everyone is working hard and wants to make their career bigger and better, there's nothing wrong with that. The mistake lies in Sega's top-level decisions and the company culture, as well as its business strategy.

  Having understood this point, Yang Yun also slowly let go of her anger, taking deep breaths and gradually calming down the resentment in her heart.

  To be fair, Sega might have had no other choice but to do so.

  It can be seen from Sega's game content what kind of mentality these designers have.

  Nintendo's Super Mario has a relaxed and pleasant rhythm, Sega's Sonic emphasizes the thrill of lightning-fast speed like a roller coaster ride. Nintendo positions its games as being for kids and families, while Sega identifies the hardcore gamers in arcades as the true players. Nintendo plays the child card, Sega caters to rebellious young adults in their twenties, Nintendo emphasizes family warmth and dreams, Sega stresses professional challenges and difficulty.

  Nintendo keeps hinting that its consoles are healthy and beneficial for kids, Sega's arcade style is too violent, even Sony, a latecomer, packages games as fashionable entertainment, emphasizing music, dance, intelligence, cuteness, puzzle-solving, leisure, and other interesting gameplay, using beautiful CG animations to appeal to women and non-gamers, making money hand over fist!

  The only Sega has one string in its brain, still professionally insisting on gun battles, racing, explosions, hardcore fighting, and fiery scenes of social non-mainstream content.

  So it's clear that Sega can't compete with Nintendo and Sony in the market.

  They can only rely on constantly coming up with new ideas to break through, being forced to invest a lot of money in R&D, and challenging the limits of computer hardware performance.

  If it were given a 50% market share, perhaps it would have quietly done software instead, and maybe the history of game consoles wouldn't have seen such frantic technical competition, nor would companies have recklessly spent money on motherboard after motherboard, and there wouldn't be so many classic games that are fun but not popular.

  Perhaps Sega really represents the interests of a small group of professional gamers, but unfortunately, the fact is that it is precisely because of his professionalism in games that he loses money every year.

  Professional things may not necessarily sell well in the market.

  This is also the sorrow of the game!

  What kind of money is best earned? Women and children are best earned!

  Those rebellious young people who wear ripped jeans, have piercings, are covered in tattoos and always have a cigarette in hand don't have much money!

  Sega doesn't understand this principle at all.

  Forget it, let Sega be. They want to be proud and stubborn, fine, just think of them as a group of otaku tech enthusiasts who spend all day studying hardware research, climbing the peak of technology for fun.

  But fighting for market share and making money is still up to me, Yang Yun could only comfort herself like this.

  Yang Yun certainly wouldn't tell Fujita about the details of his negotiations with Nintendo, so he made an excuse that he was a bit tired and needed to rest, sending the two away.

  The next day, Yang Yun went out alone and found the address left by Aleksey, located on the 39th floor of the American Building on Lock Street in New York, where KTT Cranberry Block Technology Software Company was located. On the surface, it was a company owned by Soviet citizen Aleksey, but in reality, Yang Yun was still the major shareholder, with a ratio of 3:7, mainly operating Russian block games.

  After not seeing each other for several months, the two were very close. Alexei's thick Russian accent in English had turned into a pure New York accent, chattering away as he took Yang Yun on a tour of the entire company, introducing him to several members of the R&D department, and finally walking into the general manager's office, pulling out accounts for Yang Yun to review.

  He was about to put on a show, say something like "Long live the friendship between China and the Soviet Union", "Brother, I trust you", or other nonsense like "No need to look at the account book", but Yang Yun thought again, even close brothers have to settle accounts clearly, so he opened the ledger to check.

  The financial statements look good, apart from the huge profits brought by Tetris, KTT also participated in the production of several other games, using the earned money to pay employee salaries and rent, and has already achieved a balance between income and expenditure.

  After several months, KTT was able to operate independently. In addition to Tetris, KTT also collaborated with a US-based computer software company to develop a simple small game and re-developed the PC version of Tetris, making the gameplay more exquisite and levels richer and more fun.

  Yang Yun sipped his coffee, listened to Alexei's report, and flipped through the account book, smiling casually: "Great job, Alexei! You've finished the PC version of Tetris so quickly. Do you have a complete game system in place? Are all the installation packages ready for me to review and sign off on, and then you can take them to sell nationwide?"

  Alexei burst out laughing: "Yang, you're really a clever guy! You must make time to see Larry Probst, the CEO of Electronic Arts, and visit their lab. They are willing to cooperate with us to develop and promote Tetris on PC."

  "Rarity Pro... something? And Elec-Arts, Elec..."

  It's actually EA!

  "What happened?" Aleksey asked in puzzlement as he saw Yang Yun's expression change greatly.

  Yang Yun clenched her teeth, with an indescribable feeling in her heart.

  The home console market is still unknown when it will be taken down, and another international giant in the computer game market has emerged!

  American Electronic Arts will be the ultimate ruler of PC single-player games, think about the games they developed: Need for Speed, The Sims, Dungeon Keeper, SimCity, Command & Conquer, Battlefield series, Zuma, Plants vs. Zombies, and EA Sports series which Yang Yun loves to play...

  Is there such a company that treats itself as a competitor in the PC game industry and doesn't let others live?

  No way, this guy can't be allowed to grow, he should still be weak now? Just kill him, no explanation!

  "Yang, is everything all right with you?" Aleksey asked anxiously.

  Yang Yun closed his eyes, calm for a long time before saying: "Oh, it's okay, EA company, let's meet again after we've finished negotiating with Nintendo, let me think carefully about what to do, don't rush..."

  It indeed takes time to digest, Yang Yun is not a superman, nor God, and can't be omnipotent at all times.

  At this time he was a little regretful, why didn't he bring Zhao Yongping over? Now even thinking of finding someone to discuss with is impossible!

  In business, he really has shortcomings. As a college student otaku, it's already quite impressive that he was able to develop Longteng Company into what it is today in China. Now wanting to stretch his hand to the US and compete with giants like EA is simply beyond his capabilities!

  "Let's talk about Nintendo instead. Alexey, has Nintendo been pushing you lately?"

  "There is, I pushed it, Yang, let's have you handle this negotiation thing, I really don't know how to fight for our greatest benefit."

  Yang Yun burst out laughing. This Russian big white bear-like man, fighting and drinking must be a good hand, negotiation level is really worse than this half-baked guy...

  Yang Yun thought for a moment and said, "No way, you still have to go on stage yourself. In the past in China, it was you who signed the contract agreement, now it's still you, this can hide my identity. Nintendo only knows that my Longteng is standing on Sega's side, they don't know that KTT also has a share of mine, if I expose my identity, KTT will be very passive. Don't worry, we'll simulate the negotiation scene first, you just need to grasp a few basic principles and stick to our bottom line."

  Alexei finally put his mind at ease, nodded and said: "OK, this is also okay, just like the first negotiation!"

  Yang Yun was very satisfied and smiled: "Hmm, I'll tell you our bottom line first, remember it well, don't ever let your guard down!"