Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 145: Go straight to the point
Minoru Arakawa was born into a prominent family in Kyoto. Four generations of his family had been working in the textile trade. They imported high-quality silk produced by their neighbors and Western cotton, and resold them to Japanese manufacturers of kimonos, yukatas, and suits. Decades ago, the family company had already achieved an annual net profit of five to six million US dollars.

His mother was even more prominent. Tracing back to the past, she was a descendant of the Uda clan that ruled Honko in the 9th century. Her grandfather was the first mayor of Kyoto, and her father was a member of parliament. When she married Arakawa Minoru's father, the two families owned more than one-fifth of the total land in Kyoto.

Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Arakawa Minoru won at the starting line. In 1964, when he was old enough, he entered Kyoto University as expected. After that, he went to study abroad at MIT as expected. After completing his studies, he returned to Japan and joined Marubeni. At a social dance party among the rich second generation, he met Yamauchi Hiroshi's daughter, Yamauchi Yoko, and the two of them fell in love and got married in a flash.

The wedding was held at Heian Shrine.

Because he didn't want to take over the family business, Arakawa Minoru continued to work at Marubeni after getting married. He is currently the residential project manager of Marubeni in Canada.

But family ties are not something that can be withdrawn just like that. Ever since they used the first sum of money from the family, it has been impossible for them to completely remove the relationship that has become part of their blood. So, when Yamauchi Hiroshi asked his son-in-law, the one who spoke the best English in Nintendo, to take some time out every quarter to help him submit the report on time...

Even though he didn't want to do all this, Arakawa Minoru still agreed.

And when Ethan returned to the company and walked to the door of the reception room.

This middle-aged man with a slicked-back hair, a neat grey suit and typical Asian facial features was smiling and chatting cheerfully with Alan Massey, the financial director of the Game of Fate.

"Snake is a really great game..."

"It has unleashed an unparalleled vitality in our country..."

"After a year and a half of testing, we are sure that it will definitely become a classic in the history of video games. Before the visit, our president told me that if possible, he would even want to continue to buy advertisements for it. He wanted to make sure that the green figure was hung on the light billboards in our country for two full years..."

"Oh - your President Yamauchi actually likes this game so much?" Before Alan Massey could speak, Ethan walked into the reception room and said with a smile: "If you like it, buy it -"

“Extract the value of one product and then promote the next one.”

"That's what it means to be a qualified businessman, because it's about making the most profit, right?"

"Boss." Alan Massey stood up.

"Mr. Jones." Arakawa Minoru, who had met Ethan once, also stood up and greeted him. "It is really my honor to meet you. Our president, Mr. Yamauchi, has mentioned your excellence to me many times, and I must communicate with you more if I have the chance. In Vancouver, where I live, your game consoles are everywhere in the streets and alleys. Your legend is really everywhere, and everyone knows it..."

Ethan has never sold game consoles to JAMA.

But the enthusiastic North American people will always find a way to transport the machines over.

If not...

How is it possible that Pac-Man sales continue to rise?
These things had nothing to do with Ethan. He smiled and nodded at Arakawa Minoru's sincere but flattering compliments. "Hello." He extended his right hand to Arakawa Minoru, shook hands with him briefly, and then pressed his palm down, motioning Alan Massey to sit down and talk with him. "Don't be so restrained. Sit down..."

Before he finished speaking, Ethan took the lead and sat down on the sofa.

The other two also responded, made a gesture of invitation to each other, and then sat down.

Knowing that his boss was angry, Alan Massey handed the documents brought by Arakawa to Ethan as soon as his butt touched the sofa. Perhaps because Ethan's words when he came in were sarcastic, Arakawa, who was smiling before he arrived, now sat upright with his back straight and his hands on his thighs.

Ethan saw the whole situation, smiled, shook his head, and started flipping through the documents.

After discovering that Nintendo might be hiding something, Ethan read all the past accounts that Nintendo submitted to him, so now he can read the latest report very coherently.

The first thing Ethan watched was the starting point of the cooperation between the two parties, "Snake".

The game "Snake" was released on Christmas Day in 1975 and officially landed in the notebook in early 1976. In the first settlement, Nintendo paid Ethan $76 million in revenue based on a shipment of units and a sales price of $ per unit. The money was transferred to Ethan and Evelyn's personal accounts in the third quarter of .

In the second settlement, the settlement quantity of "Snake" was 22,000 units, and the selling price of each unit remained unchanged. The dividend of 6.16 million was also paid at the beginning of this year.

现在他们结算的，则是《贪吃蛇》的第三期销量，也就是1977年1月1日到1977年6月30日这个区间内的销售额。

In the past six months, the sales volume of the Snake arcade machine has reached the peak of the cooperation, reaching 28,000 units. The reason for this result is very simple, that is, Nintendo has lowered the price of this arcade machine. When the price of a single machine is adjusted to about 1,500 US dollars, the total income of 42 million can bring Ethan and Evelyn 5.88 million in profits. And this money will be transferred to the accounts of the two by Nintendo in the next few dozen days.

When the number of 28,000 units appeared, the total sales of Snake in the book had reached 65,000 units. Nintendo directly completed the guaranteed contract signed with Ethan. After that, even if they did not sell arcade machines of this game, it would not be considered a breach of contract.

This agency brought Ethan and his team a total net profit of 16 million.

The second report is for Pac-Man.

Because of the delay in release due to chip issues, their total sales in this book are currently zero.

However, due to the minimum sales agreement, Nintendo settled the commission for Destiny Game based on the shipment volume of 10,000 units in the first half of last year, and they settled the commission based on the same shipment volume in the second half of this year. Therefore, Destiny Game has received the first dividend of 2.8 million in the first quarter of this year, and will receive another 2.8 million in the ongoing third quarter.

These two advance shares will be deducted when the game is officially released, which is the third period in the second half of this year. The income affected by them will be reflected in the settlement in the first quarter of next year.

The third report is from Kyoto Chip Company.

After reading the financial statements of Pac-Man, Ethan originally thought that the chip report for 6502 should be blank. After all, Pac-Man had not yet been produced. As a capitalist, Nintendo would not be kind enough to sell chips to the outside world. However, he did not expect that Kyoto Chip Company had already produced chips in the first half of this year, and the number was not small, with a total of chips.

This situation made Ethan very confused, and when he turned to the notes at the back of the report, he was surprised to find that these 30,000 chips were actually ordered by Benzi Electric.

Since 1976, many Japanese companies, such as AT&T, have had the idea of ​​introducing microcomputers and training their employees to use them, and Japanese Electric has received many corporate orders as a result.

They had previously used Intel chips to produce a batch of products, but because the chips were a bit expensive and it was difficult to reduce costs, they decisively went to Nintendo and placed an order after learning that it had obtained the world's cheapest chips. In order to show MOS that it had no exclusive ideas, Nintendo directly took the order and produced the first batch of chip products for Benzi Electric.

Each coin sold for twenty-four dollars, with a total revenue of seven hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

At the same time, as mentioned before, they were preparing to submit a customized solution for 6502 to MOS. They needed some customized chips to meet the manufacturing needs of Benzi Computer Company.

These actions seem to be full of sincerity.

Ok.

That's right.

After reading the notes to the financial statements, Ethan directly put Nintendo's sincerity in quotation marks.

"That is to say, in the next few dozen days, Destiny Game will receive a dividend of 77 million, my sister and I will receive million, and the issue of chips will be discussed after the fiscal year is over?" Ethan shook the report he had already read and asked with a smile.

"Yeah~"

While Ethan was looking through the report, the entire reception room was as quiet as a chicken.

The strange environment made Arakawa Minoru feel very uneasy.

But as Ethan spoke, Arakawa felt that the condensed air around him collapsed instantly.

The freedom of regaining life brought a smile to his face. "Yes, Mr. Jones, we at Nintendo will transfer the share to the account you requested on time."

"Okay, I trust you." Ethan put down the report with a smile, "You were very punctual in the previous two periods, so this third period... I believe you will also settle on time." The friendly words made Arakawa nod his head.

When he wanted to say something, Ethan said, "To be honest, when I learned that you were the one to deliver the report this time, I was actually very surprised."

"Because at this time last year, I met your president, Mr. Yamauchi."

"At that time, he was eager for the game Pac-Man and wanted to get its agency, but now? Why didn't he show up?"

"Wow - is it because Star Wars isn't a good game in his opinion?"

Ethan asked with a grin.

Such words made Arakawa Minoru stunned for a moment.

The next second, this middle-aged man who was several years older than Ethan stood up.

Standing like a pine tree and folding like brittle paper, he bowed deeply to Ethan.

The amplitude has even exceeded forty-five degrees.

At the same time, he blurted out an apologetic statement, "Oh, Mr. Jones, you misunderstood our president. I drove from Vancouver to Seattle and played Star Wars on the third day after it came out. I played it on the streets of Seattle."

“Star Wars is a great game. Both the content design and the audio are amazing! When I was waiting in line and watching, I was shocked by the design of the level transition! And when I started playing, the pressure from the Empire's aircraft made my nerves tense all the time! Every time I pass a level, I am very excited!”

"That night when I got back, I reported the situation of the game to our president. Our president was very happy because you are our best partner. We are really excited about your success in the game field! Our president, Mr. Yamauchi, even wanted to fly over overnight to witness the grand occasion of Star Wars sweeping North America! But due to some unexpected events, some things that suddenly appeared in the company entangled his steps, so he was temporarily unable to come to North America to congratulate you."

"So, when the president sent me the report, he also called me and told me to personally express his congratulations and apologies to you. He will come to North America to apologize to you as soon as he finishes the work at hand. At the same time, he sincerely hopes to obtain the agency of "Star Wars". Just like the previous cooperation, I hope that the friendship between our two companies will last forever..."

These long passages of words reveal Arakawa's excitement.

And that motionless posture perfectly interpreted his apology.

Looking at the figure eager to show his true self, Ethan, who was leaning on the sofa, laughed.

Ethan crossed his legs, patted the sofa, and tilted his head to look at Arakawa Minoru with a playful smile on his face.

"Okay, okay, don't get excited, Mr. Arakawa."

"I'm just asking casually."

Ethan waved at Allen Massey, signaling him to pull up Arakawa Minoru who was still bowing.

After Alan Massey helped him sit down, Ethan looked at the tense face and asked with a smile: "Mr. Arakawa, can I ask you a question?"

"Mr. Jones, go ahead." Although Arakawa didn't understand why Ethan's words were so explosive, he still nodded and said, "If I knew, I would definitely answer."

"You must know." Ethan said, "I just want to ask you, what you just said, is it what your president meant? Or is it what your father-in-law meant?"

Ethan's five fingers on his right hand flew away.

It hit the wooden armrest of the sofa, making a tapping sound.

This question made Arakawa frown slightly, "Mr. Jones, forgive me for being frank, I may not be able to fully understand the meaning of your words..."

"Hahaha..." Such a response made Ethan laugh out loud.

He snapped his fingers.

Alan Massey immediately stood up and walked out of the reception room.

A moment later, he came back with two more cardboard boxes.

When he placed the orange box with the Nintendo logo on the coffee table between Ethan and Arakawa Minoru, Arakawa Minoru, who had been very restrained in the previous conversation, narrowed his eyes instantly.

Ethan, who caught this anomaly, sighed silently in his heart.

At this moment, he felt that he seemed to have got the answer.

"This is your Nintendo product, right?" Ethan put away the smile on his face and said slowly, "Although I haven't read many books, I don't have Mr. Arakawa's study experience at MIT, nor do I have Mr. Arakawa's father-in-law Mr. Yamauchi's decades of life experience, but I can still spell the word Nintendo, and I also understand what COLOR TV GAME means."

"So, Mr. Arakawa, can you explain to me what you, Nintendo, or your father-in-law, Mr. Yamauchi, mean by launching this product?"

"You might be thinking, this is just an ordinary color game console, a new product launched by Nintendo, and it has nothing to do with me, so you don't understand what I'm asking."

"But what I want to say is..."

"When you sit here on behalf of Mr. Yamauchi, you must know what I am asking!"

"I'm asking you! Why is your product so similar to the MILOVA Odyssey?"

"I'm asking you! Your president, your father-in-law, Mr. Yamauchi, can't come to North America because of the launch of this product! He doesn't dare to see me!"

"I'm asking you! What benefits did Miluohua give you to make you so obedient and work for him? And keep appearing in front of me by coincidence!"

"When you live in North America, you should know exactly what hatred there is between Miluohua and me! You should know better than Yamauchi Hiroshi what this cooperation means!"

"So..."

"Tell me..."

"How do you want to settle this?"

“huh?”

Arakawa Minoru frowned at the powerful words.

The gaze directed at Ethan was full of surprise.

His reaction made Ethan raise the corners of his mouth and smile.

That's right! When Nintendo was already dancing in Ethan Jones's face, he wanted to get straight to the point and make everything clear. That was what he wanted to do most!
As for the claim that the two sides are still cooperating and should save each other's face?

Oh--

Don't be ridiculous!
Face is something that is never given by others, it is earned by yourself!
Since Nintendo has already stopped covering it up, then Ethan Jones has no respect for it!
(End of this chapter)