Chapter 69: Making the Japanese Delegation's Teeth Ache

  Staff from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of The People's Republic of China had informed Longteng Company in advance, so they were well prepared a day earlier.

  Zhu Shuguang and his entourage have arrived at Longteng Building, where they received a warm welcome from all the employees of the company.

  Yang Yun warmly shook hands with Chinese officials and members of the Japanese delegation, and when it was the turn of petite Akihito Kondo, Yang Yun even offered a few words of praise.

  Wen Shun is an excellent quality that all Japanese women possess. Apart from being humble, Kudou Akiko also has the rare independence and self-confidence of a Japanese woman, as well as her own point of view, which should be related to her work as the main planner of the Three Kingdoms game at Namco.

  As they entered the comfortable conference room, Zhu Shaoguang called over Yang Yun while they were arranging their seats and said in a low voice: "Little Yang, the Japanese guests want to visit our country's best game manufacturing factory. This morning we went to Chiyang Electronics Factory, but that factory is really not impressive. They don't know what they're doing, and when you ask them something, they just push it off on you. I heard that Duan Changlang, the factory director who appeared with you at the Canton Fair, has applied for sick leave? What's going on with Chiyang?"

  Duan Haisheng did apply for medical retirement, but it's not a big deal. Long Teng hired him as an advisor, and the old man can't stay idle at home. Now he has nothing to do, so he wanders around Zhaozhuang area near the 4th Ring Road, pointing out the scenery, writing enthusiastically, saying that he wants to build a modern chemical plant with his own hands, which is even more advanced than Chiyang. According to Zhao Yongping, he has the demeanor of a chief designer.

  However, Yang Yun didn't say much and only vaguely said: "This is a mess from the Light Industry Department. I'll tell you about it later. Please take a seat first!"

  The itinerary for visiting Longtan was very simple. There were five Japanese people in total, two officials, one corporate representative, one interpreter and one embassy staff member.

  The officials' questions were simple, inquiring about the development of China's domestic game console industry and asking about the scale of Longteng Company. The answers they received seemed to disappoint them greatly, so Deputy Director Nakayama of the Ministry of Culture's Game Industry Division slightly shook his head, losing interest in continuing to ask questions, and decided to just go through the motions.

  But Kudou Akiko had a purpose in coming and asked, "May we take a look at your company's product catalog?"

  "No problem, Huimin, show them our product catalog!"

  In coordination with the Japanese delegation, try to satisfy their requirements as much as possible. This was the advance notice given by the staff, saying it was an order from above. Yang Yun would not violate the principle.

  Kudou Akiko flipped through a small booklet, her expression gradually becoming more serious.

  She never thought that Yang Yun would actually provide a product catalog, and even more unexpected was that this product catalog detailed seven or eight games that had already applied for patents, and briefly introduced over a dozen large-scale games that Longteng was currently researching and developing.

  This little booklet is more shocking the more you look at it, because among these dozen or so research and development projects for large-scale games, in addition to FC platform games, there are also arcade machines and PC software research projects.

  When she saw the words "Gundam Robot", her eyes almost turned black, this was Namco's most core secret, she had only proposed the idea to the company's president, and Namco hadn't even started the project, let alone leaked it out!

  What kind of monster is this Longteng Entertainment game company?

  The more I look, the more frightening it is. Many of the games in these catalogs are adaptations of famous Japanese anime and American comics, as well as movies. Once Ryuteng obtains the license, the game software cartridges become excellent products that can be sold without much promotion. Akiko Kudou finally understands what Inoue Osamu said about those words, those evaluations of Yang Yun, it seems they are not exaggerated at all!

  The president of Longteng Company is indeed unpredictable, he is completely different from ordinary Chinese entrepreneurs, his thinking is ahead of time, his mind is sharp and agile, his vision is poisonous, his ideas are advanced, and even more terrifying than many Japanese game manufacturers!

  Kudō Akiko's strange expression piqued the interest of the two officials, who exchanged the directory manual, furrowed their brows and conferred with each other in hushed tones.

  Zhu Shuguang noticed all this, gave Yang Yun a look, and Yang Yun understood, personally took out another small booklet, walked to Zhu Shuguang's side, and introduced in a low voice: "Don't worry, there won't be any leaks. 90% of the contents of this booklet are fake, just to scare them..."

  Zhu Shuguang carefully flipped through it and saw several key words such as Japanese anime and American movie copyrights, and asked: "What's going on with these?"

  Yang Yun said in a low voice, "Anime, games, and movies, in Japan and Western countries, these three are generally combined for marketing. Our little booklet is an unauthorized game design, if we want to sell it publicly, we must obtain the authorization of the copyright holder. But without thinking, we know that at this stage, it's impossible for us to get authorized, because Japanese game manufacturers will also pay attention to this point, they will also try every means to obtain authorization permits. So these things are public information, more accurately, it's actually one of our design ideas, which has never been truly implemented, doing so is telling them, not that we don't want to do it, can't do it, but the external environment doesn't allow it."

  Zhu Shuguang only then came to realize, these two days following the Japanese delegation running east and west, apart from Lenovo and Hopesoft those few state-owned enterprises that are still somewhat presentable, many of the companies he saw were old-fashioned in their thinking, with a kind of gloomy feeling, really making him feel ashamed, losing face in front of the Japanese.

  There is also a leading company in the game production field that has world-class ideas, which can shock Japanese people and finally give him some face.

  Zhu Shuguang cleared his throat and said loudly: "Longteng Company is a company that we strongly support, with the best programmers and game designers in China, management level on par with the world, design ideas synchronized with the first-class, I believe Longteng will become an excellent and renowned game developer in the international arena, it's just around the corner!"

  The leader of the Beijing Cultural Bureau on the side hastily echoed, closely following Zhu Shuguang's footsteps, and also expressed support for the game industry, believing that vigorously developing the domestic game industry is a good thing that benefits both the country and the people. The cultural bureau will definitely support several leading enterprises to drive the rapid development of the entire industry.

  He translated it verbatim and told the Japanese people. As a result, several people's faces turned bad, with uncertain expressions, looking at each other, not knowing what to say.

  Chinese officials are secretly pleased, it's clear that Longteng Company has the technology, and what they brought out shocked the Japanese side. Their government officials have policies, and on the spot expressed strong support, with government-enterprise cooperation, making these high-sighted Japanese people have to take notice.

  "Excuse me, Mr. Yang," asked Zhongshan An, the head of the game industry course, "Are you producing all these games listed in the directory? Can you obtain adaptation authorization from companies like Sunrise Corporation?"

  Sunrise is the copyright holder of Gundam, founded by people including Osamu Tezuka and Yoshiyuki Tomino also being a member of the studio, owning the authorship of Gundam.

  Yang Yun showed no weakness: "May I ask, who in Japan has obtained the rights to adapt Gundam into a game? Namco? Bandai? Nintendo? Capcom? And who has obtained the authorization for mainland China and Hong Kong and Taiwan regions? If not, can our Chinese company Longteng Entertainment obtain the mainland copyright? With national support, I think it shouldn't be difficult, unless Sunrise plans to open its own Gundam specialty store in Beijing!"

  In Japan, the rights to adapt games into anime are currently held by Bandai, but Bandai's main business is anime peripheral models, cards and toys.

  As for making TV games, Bandai, which only entered the industry in 1980, mainly relied on OEMs and even had to ask for help from outsiders like Capcom and Konami to make Gundam games. Before 1989, they only developed UC Gundam, while SD Gundam was just released this year, and its sales are self-evident.

  If the Gundam game adaptation rights do not sell well, Sunrise may withdraw the authorization at any time. Due to the popularity of "Mobile Suit Gundam" and "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam", in addition to Japanese professional game companies such as Namco Bandai, even China's Longteng is eager to try, which makes Nakayama Yasunori feel like sitting on pins and needles, knowing the situation of Japan's game industry.

  Zhongshan An cannot represent Sunrise to make decisions, and let Sunrise open a high-end specialty store in the capital is nonsense. The Chinese market is even more sluggish, making it impossible for Japanese companies to raise their interest, but surprisingly, this weak market hides a beast.

  Although this beast is small in size and not strong enough, it has national support and plenty of momentum.

  The most frightening thing is that this beast's hunting skills are quite rich, its hunting tactics are rich, and its eyes are venomous. As long as it is given enough time, it will definitely become a powerful male lion!

  Zhongshan An deliberately avoided answering Yang Yun's pressing questions and changed the subject, pointing to the manual and asking: "Excuse me, are you also going to make a Three Kingdoms game?"

  Yang Yun smiled: "I know that Japan has also had several Three Kingdoms games sell well recently. But China is the true birthplace of Three Kingdoms culture, so it's not strange for us to develop and design our own Three Kingdoms game?"

  Got it, hit the wall again. Zhongshan An took a look at Kudou Akiko and found that she didn't make any sense in her speech. Even Namco's representative for Sangokushi didn't speak up, let alone him as a government official, who shouldn't interfere.

  Zhongshan felt embarrassed and annoyed by several consecutive questions, and a few Japanese people stopped talking.

  The current situation is very embarrassing, the Gundam robot series, which Japanese people are most proud of, is facing a change in copyright ownership. Domestic companies such as Namco Bandai and Sega are eyeing it covetously, and there is also a Chinese person who is preparing to join in. As the Japanese side, they naturally do not want to see foreigners benefiting from it.

  Namco has already made a globally popular Three Kingdoms game, now the Japanese are coming to China and finding out that the Chinese want to make a competing Three Kingdoms game. They can't mock them for being arrogant, nor can they congratulate them on their game's success, so they can only hold in their frustration and discontent, unable to speak their minds.

  This product catalog booklet really made several members of the Japanese delegation speechless.

  Zhu Shuguang saw the Japanese retreating in defeat, speechless, and smiled, adding at the right moment: "Mr. Kobayashi, our Chinese game industry has just started, there are many things we need to learn from you, please don't hesitate to teach us, this is what China-Japan friendship exchange is all about!"

  Alright, Yang Yun had just slashed a knife on the Japanese man's body, and Zhu Shuguang immediately followed up by sprinkling a handful of salt onto the wound. This made Kobayashi feel uncomfortable all over, even his molars started to ache vaguely.

  Refuse and you're still a guest, refusing the host's request is not giving face to the host; agree and it's raising a tiger as a threat.

  Kobayashi was at a loss for words, Nakayama had nothing to say, and Kudou Akiko was speechless. The embassy staff and interpreters hung their heads and kept their mouths shut, lost in thought...

  The Japanese delegation did not have the heart to continue visiting Longteng and casually responded for a while before leaving.

  As for the code and game development schedule, it's obvious that Longteng won't open it up to them. They've already been made fools of enough times. Would they still stay with Longteng, get their noses rubbed in the dirt, hit a big snag, and continue to make Chinese people laugh?

  However, Kudou Akiko secretly accepted Yang Yun's invitation. After she returned to the hotel in Beijing, a car quietly took her away.

  ……

  ……

  PS: Starting from today, I'll resume the schedule of two updates a day. Next week will be a strong push, and if everything goes as planned, it will be released on Valentine's Day and Lantern Festival. Can you spare a monthly ticket?