Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 357: The plot is cliché, but it works.

"That's right, the gaming industry needs enough competition."

Starsea Games is showing signs of stagnation, much like Shanda Games in its previous life, which started to rely on its past successes.

If you don't bring in enough competitors within the company, it's easy to stagnate.

"I understand. So, does that mean Starsea Games will also be developing its own console in the future?"

"I do have this idea, but we'll have to wait. Once the competition between Sony, Nintendo, and Sega is over, we'll take over the loser and then modify and improve it."

Masato Takeshita did not intend to develop the mainframe from scratch; rather, he hoped to leverage existing resources to generate future success.

For example, when Sega was declining, they simply spent money to acquire it.

This not only provided them with a game console development team, but also with relevant distribution channels and markets.

Starsea Group is not Sony; it does not have an international record label or a Hollywood film company.

If you plunge headlong into the console industry, your sales channels will be very limited, and you will have to wait for them to be established.

"Is that so? I understand."

Rogers nodded subconsciously, inwardly approving of his chairman's strategy.

Since Xinghai Software's entry into the gaming industry was inevitable, Rogers didn't press further and instead smiled knowingly.

"President, how many sets of game production equipment do you need? I'll get them for you."

"Let's start with nine sets, three sets each from Nintendo, Sony, and Sega."

Xinghai Software is just starting out and needs to proceed cautiously. Three sets of software packages each for the three companies in Tokyo, Beijing, and Shanghai should be sufficient.

"Yes, understand."

Having stated the main purpose of his visit, Masato Takeshita once again provided inspiration for the Starry Sky Games.

“Sports are becoming increasingly popular all over the world. We need to learn from EA’s development path and develop our own sports games.”

"The president is right, sports events are indeed getting better and better. If we can acquire enough event broadcasting rights, we should be able to make a lot of money."

Rogers, who enjoys sports, also noticed this trend.

Especially in football, whether it's the World Cup, the Champions League, or even the Premier League, the number of viewers is constantly rising.

These fans are unable to play in the league or become team managers in the real world for various reasons.

Now there's an opportunity for them to control their favorite players or teams and dominate the game, fulfilling some kind of inner desire.

Therefore, even in the virtual world, many fans are willing to hand over their money.

"OK, that's good."

Masato Takeshita trusted Rogers, so he stopped arguing.

However, he suddenly thought of Japan's tradition of school sports and added.

"Koshien baseball in Japan is very famous. While we acquire the rights to professional baseball in Japan, we also want to acquire the Koshien tournament."

"Yes, understand."

High school tournaments like Koshien are affordable and incredibly popular, making them a great supplement to any competition.

Rogers also wholeheartedly agreed and even wanted to win the NCAA league as well.

Of course, the most important thing is the top leagues in various countries, as well as the broadcasting rights for the Champions League, the European Championship, and the World Cup.

Acquiring either one will grant you significant brand recognition.

In addition, we should try to acquire as many team rights as possible.

It seems there's another reason to buy a team this year and to continue pushing for the merger and operation of the Chinese and Japanese leagues next year.

After discussing the negative aspects of the game, Rogers looked at his guild leader seriously once again.

"Chairman, I want to acquire Bandai."

"Bandai, explain your reasoning."

Although Bandai is a publicly listed company, it is a family business. Acquiring it will not be an easy task for Xinghai Group.

He wanted to hear Rogers's thoughts on whether it was worth the price.

Seeing that the chairman was getting serious, Rogers thought about his words for a moment and began to explain his reasons for wanting to acquire Bandai.

"Bandai is a giant in toy development and can help us make related products."

"Bandai is also a giant in the animation industry, holding a large number of well-known IPs. If we develop games based on these IPs, we can achieve success more easily."

"Bandai is the best complement to our Starsea Entertainment."

Bandai is indeed a perfect fit for Starsea Entertainment.

After the merger of the two companies, Bandai will have more IPs that can be made into merchandise.

For example, games like "Soviet Blocks" and "Snow Bros." are very suitable for making keychains and other related products.

For example, the animation studio acquired by Xinghai Group produces popular animations every quarter.

Next year, they've even secured a blockbuster film that could sustain an animation studio for life—Detective Conan.

As for the animation and related copyrights of second-tier comics, there are even more.

It can be said that if the merger goes smoothly, the two companies will definitely reach a new level.

"Okay, I support your choice."

Although Bandai is one of the world's top three toy giants, its market value is not high, only two to three billion US dollars.

On the one hand, the 1990s coincided with a period of decline in the toy industry, and the stock prices of toy companies fell continuously.

On the other hand, Bandai's investments also encountered some problems, and profits continued to decline.

Furthermore, changes in the overall environment in Japan are also a significant factor. A large portion of Bandai's market is overseas, so the annual loss of profits solely due to the appreciation of the yen represents a substantial portion of their business.

After all, there are many competitors overseas, so even if Bandai's costs rise, it doesn't dare to raise the prices of its toys, which naturally reduces its profits.

Bandai's market value is only two or three billion US dollars.

Since it wouldn't cost much money, Masato Takeshita naturally had no reason to reject Rogers' idea of ​​expanding the company.

If it really doesn't suit you, you can always sell it again. You won't lose too much money, and you might even make a fortune.

"Yes, President."

Rogers was excited and prepared to gather more information about Bandai through consulting firms.

In particular, the Yamashiro family, who control the family, is the most important target for analysis, so as to take over Bandai in one fell swoop and enhance their own strength.

"By the way, how is Suzuhara-san, the new president of the game company, performing?"

Tetsuya Suzuhara is the new president of Seikai Games, whom Masato Takeshita obtained from Sega through the help of Isao Okawa.

We haven't seen each other for a long time, and I don't know how capable they are.

"An excellent manager, very suitable for Starsea Games."

Rogers' face lit up with approval when Tetsuya Suzuhara was mentioned.

He likes managers like Tetsuya Suzuhara who have extensive experience in game industry management but lack game development capabilities.

They can't threaten Rogers' position and can even help him manage the company well.

"Okay, as long as you're satisfied."

Masato Takeshita had the same goal: to find a manager who could assist Rogers in running the game company without threatening Rogers' control.

Naturally, they wouldn't consider replacing him.

Tetsuya Suzuki's position as president of Seikai Games has been stabilized.

"By the way, we should talk to Suzuki-san about venturing into sports games, right?"

Although the young man still wanted Rogers to take control, he couldn't completely marginalize Suzuhara Tetsuya.

If they really become puppets, it won't look good for either Starsea Group or Sega.

“Suzuhara-san is on a business trip in North America, I can just pass on the message to him.” Rogers understood this principle as well, so he handed over all the company’s channels, marketing and other departments to Suzuhara Tetsuya to manage, while he himself only kept the core game production department.

If Tetsuya Suzuhara were here, he would have made it impossible for him not to notify them.

"I see. I hope we'll have a chance to meet again sometime."

"Don't worry, it will definitely work."

After discussing Starry Sky Games, Masato Takeshita then inquired about his company's record business.

"Xinghai Music? It couldn't be better now."

Rogers is very excited because his record label finally has a million-selling track, and not just one.

Even more exciting is that, given the current trends in the record industry, the company's million-copy record count will soon skyrocket.

Under the management of Masato Matsuura, Seikai Music is truly poised for a resurgence.

"Oh, could you tell me more about it?"

The young man hasn't been paying attention to Xinghai Music's development lately, and his mental database hasn't been updated; it's still stuck in last year.

He wanted to know what had happened to make the president of Xinghai Entertainment so agitated.

"Is such that……"

Rogers was happy to share this joy with his president and began to talk at length about the development of Star Ocean Music.

Takeshita Masato nodded as he thought to himself.

"I see. It seems the Komuro whirlwind is about to sweep across the Japanese archipelago."

1994 was still a year in which Being dominated the record industry, but signs of decline were already emerging.

Tetsuya Komuro's electronic music is constantly impacting Being's market share.

This trend is expected to strengthen further next year, and then completely surpass the rock and roll wave that Being Records started in 96.

"Unexpectedly, Xinghai Music has created such a big news story without us even realizing it."

"It seems I'll have to come to the company again tomorrow to have dinner with Matsuura-san and Komuro-san to celebrate."

Xinghai Music cannot afford to lose the two artists for the time being; they must pay the money, but they must also show respect.

Artists are all very individualistic, and if Xinghai Group doesn't show enough sincerity, Sony Music will take advantage of the situation.

"It is absolutely necessary. President Matsuura and Producer Komuro are both geniuses and deserve a great deal of respect."

Rogers was very fond of talent, so when everyone else forgot about the creator of Tetris, he was the only one who gave him a plane ticket and helped him with his immigration.

He naturally wholeheartedly agreed with the chairman's idea.

"Okay, then I'll leave it to you. I'll be free after 6 p.m. tomorrow."

"Yes, understand."

Although I had an appointment the following evening, I couldn't put aside my work during the day.

He went to the Mainichi Shimbun to find out about the statistics of the world's top 500 companies.

"How many more months are expected to take to complete?"

When asked by his superior, the newspaper's economics editor, Hideaki Oda, did not dare to delay and immediately responded respectfully.

"The statistics have been compiled and will be released in August this year."

“Very good. Don’t think about saving money. We must expand the scale of our publicity as much as possible. We are the first in the world, and we must establish our authority.”

The Fortune 500 list in its previous life brought countless honors to Fortune magazine.

Daily News must seize the opportunity to build a reputation as a high-end economic brand.

"Please rest assured, President, we have already started promoting this."

"Ah That's good."

Takeshita Masato smiled with satisfaction, then casually asked, "How many companies from our Xinghai Group made the list?"

Upon hearing Takeshita Masato's question, Oda Hideyoshi made a troubled expression.

"It's okay, speak freely."

Masato Takeshita had a guess in his mind, but he still wanted to know more specific information.

"I'm sorry, Xinghai Group currently only has Xinghai Electronics."

If Xinghai Group is counted as a whole, it would naturally qualify for the list and would even be ranked higher.

Even if the statistics are compiled by subsidiaries, Xinghai Technology can still be included in the list.

Because in the 90s, the annual revenue of the bottom-ranked Fortune 500 companies was less than $100 billion.

However, at Masato Takeshita's request, neither Xinghai Group nor its first-tier subsidiaries participated in the statistics; only second-tier subsidiaries were included.

In other words, only companies such as Xinghai Electronics, Xinghai Chip, and Xinghai Wafer can participate in the ranking.

Therefore, it is already very difficult to have a company like Xinghai Electronics.

"That's right, we must ensure the fairness and impartiality of the rankings."

Masato Takeshita wasn't angry at all; in fact, he was quite satisfied with the list.

Having Xinghai Electronics as a business card is enough; there's no need to be on too many lists.

"Thank you for your support, President."

Hidenori Oda breathed a sigh of relief, but his face still looked tense.

There's no solution to this; the young man can only pretend he didn't see it.

Then he remembered another list that was generating a lot of discussion.

"By the way, we can also create a world university ranking. By simply changing the evaluation criteria, it can become another authoritative list."

Whether it's the Fortune 500 companies or the rich list, several newspapers and magazines have followed suit and produced similar lists.

Although the first family will eat the big head, the rest can still fill their stomachs.

The Mainichi Shimbun is going to be the newspaper that eats leftovers this time.

"Yes, President."

Although it wasn't his business, he quickly agreed.

The compilation of this list is simpler than that of the Fortune Global 500, and it can be completed quickly.

After visiting the Mainichi Shimbun, the group went to TBS television station.

This is the focus of today's discussion, and also the key to Xinghai Group's semi-control over Japanese public opinion.

"The general sentiment in China is pessimistic right now, so let's produce more youth idol films that can satisfy the fantasies of both men and women."

"The production cost is not high, and a hit product can make a lot of money."

Youth idol dramas have low production costs; you can make one if you have a little money.

Anyway, the subject matter is nothing more than a handsome and rich man falling in love with me.

If you really can't write it, then use more tropes like car accidents and amnesia.

Go all out and get as emotional as possible.

As for acting skills, those are minor details and completely unimportant in idol dramas. Because both male and female viewers are only there to see the faces.

If you want to see acting skills, why not just watch a Taiga drama?

"Yes, understand."

In addition to youth idol dramas, television stations should also vigorously develop variety shows.

This time, however, Masato Takeshita did not offer any specific suggestions, leaving it to the TV station staff to figure out on their own.

When the TV station can't come up with any good programs, he can bring up the variety shows that were hugely popular in his previous life, and the effect will be even better.

(End of this chapter)