Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 442 Film and Television Project
Even the most beautiful natural scenery will fade with the changing seasons; even the most exciting stories will come to an end with the passage of time.

With the conclusion of the 12-school event and the withdrawal of sponsorship by Xinghai Group, the media quickly turned its attention to new hot topics.

Takeshita Masato, who hates the spotlight, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

From now on, you won't have to worry about being watched every time you go out, or about reporters suddenly appearing at any time.

"Miho, please make the arrangements. We'll go to Square this afternoon."

"Yes, should I address him as Vice President Miyamoto?"

"No need, you just need to tell Producer Hironobu Sakaguchi that I'm going to inspect the area."

Given Hironobu Sakaguchi's contributions to Square Enix, the company had long wanted to promote him to the position of president. However, he was so engrossed in game development that he only wanted to be a game producer.

As for the company president, only long-time employee Tomoyuki Takeichi can take the position.

Of course, although he is not the president, he is always the soul of Square Enix. Besides the two major shareholders, Masato Takeshita and Masashi Miyamoto, he is the most powerful person in the company.

His philosophy guides all aspects of the company's affairs.

"Yes, understand!"

That afternoon, Masato Takeshita arrived at Square Enix on time.

He first greeted Hironobu Sakaguchi and Tomoyuki Takeichi briefly, and then offered his congratulations.

Final Fantasy VII was successfully launched in January of this year and achieved very good sales results.

"You're too kind, Chairman. This is the result of the hard work of all our employees."

"That's right, game developers need to maintain this attitude if they want to continue to succeed. I believe that under Sakaguchi-san's leadership, Square will soon become synonymous with technology in the gaming industry."

Square Enix at the end of the 20th century represented the most advanced production technology in the game industry.

The company's various 3D technologies far surpass those of its competitors.

However, it was precisely this support from 3D technology that fueled Hironobu Sakaguchi's even greater ambitions at this time.

After accompanying his chairman to the office, he respectfully inquired about the matter.

"President, I want to make movies, 3D movies."

"Sure, that's a good thing."

Although Square Enix's previous films were terrible, causing the company to suffer heavy losses and almost go bankrupt, it didn't matter; the young man didn't care at all.

However, we cannot allow Hironobu Sakaguchi to devote all his energy to this without taking it seriously.

He continued bluntly, "I can support your film dream, but I won't directly approve funding for you."

Hironobu Sakaguchi was secretly overjoyed, but the young man's words immediately silenced him.

How can you make a movie if you don't get funding for yourself?

Seeing the speechless look in Sakaguchi Hironobu's eyes, the young man kindly explained in detail.

"No one in the company has the ability to produce feature-length 3D animations, or even feature-length animations."

"I will first allocate a small amount of funds so that you can make a practice OVA episode of more than 20 minutes."

OVA animation is a very popular animation production model in Japan during the 1990s.

These types of animated stories are relatively short, but they have achieved very good sales and have become works that many animation companies strongly promote.

Of course, there are also unavoidable factors involved in animation companies producing OVA animations.

Japanese animation studios are generally poor and cannot afford to produce 12 episodes of anime. They can only provide funding to the production committee to earn a meager living.

Every animation company longs to create animation freely and to keep all the money earned from animation for themselves.

As a result, OVA animations with relatively low production costs have come into the public eye.

Besides considerations of profit and loss, OVA animation also involves the artistic pursuits of animators and animation companies, which is why many OVA animations deviate from the mainstream style.

Square Enix has plenty of money, but its employees generally lack experience, so starting with OVA animations is a better option.

Hironobu Sakaguchi can freely realize his dreams, and Square Enix doesn't need to foolishly gamble everything.

"More than 20 minutes?"

Hironobu Sakaguchi was somewhat disappointed, as this was completely contrary to his grand plan.

"Yes, we need to start from the smallest things, just like the development path of Square Enix."

At this point, Takeshita Masato paused slightly, then looked up at the ambitious man in front of him with a serious expression.

"You have to understand that Square's development has not been smooth sailing. In game production, they have taken many detours."

"I think a similar situation will occur in the animation industry as well."

"Learn from failures in the early stages, and then achieve success."

Final Fantasy has two animated films. The first one was a huge failure and ruined the company, but the second one was a great success.

It can be said that Hironobu Sakaguchi and others failed because they were too impatient.

"This……"

Hironobu Sakaguchi was somewhat convinced, because he was indeed not the kind of genius who had a smooth career and became a sensation right after his debut.

Square Enix almost went out of business in its early days due to too many game failures.

"Don't worry, the company will not restrict any employee from showcasing their talents, but they must first demonstrate their abilities."

"We'll produce an OVA first, and if it's well-received, we'll produce a 12- or 24-episode long-running series."

"If we succeed again this time, the company can produce movies!"

How could a small OVA be enough? It needs to be supported by a long-running serialization before Masato Takeshita would approve the budget for making a movie.

The Xinghai Group could easily bear the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars, but there was no need to waste it so carelessly.

"Understood, I will arrange it according to the chairman's instructions."

Since the chairman had said so, Hironobu Sakaguchi, who couldn't fight against the powerful, had no choice but to accept his fate.

Although I felt the president was a disappointment and my worries about the company were unnecessary, since things were already like this, it was best to obediently agree.

"Yes, but you must always remember that making animations is fine, but the company is a game company, so don't forget your original business."

Masato Takeshita values ​​two places most highly in Square.

First, a group of incredibly talented game developers.

Second, the world's top 3D technology.

The reason for supporting Hironobu Sakaguchi's big animated film project is also due to the above two considerations.

Making animated films isn't just Hironobu Sakaguchi's passion. Many Square Enix producers joined the company for the same reason.

In addition, producing animated films can significantly improve the company's 3D technology.

Therefore, it is naturally better to agree.

In fact, not only Square Enix, but Starsea Games also has similar plans.

The future belongs to 3D games, and Starsea Games must secure its place in the market and even become a leader in the field.

The production of 3D movies is a minor matter; the most important reason for Masato Takeshita's visit to Square Enix is ​​to offer his recognition.

Final Fantasy VII has become a global bestseller and is trending towards becoming Nintendo's number one game. As the actual person in charge of the company, he naturally has to reward his subordinates.

Promotions, raises, and all sorts of benefits must be arranged.

However, the success of one game was still too small a factor for Xinghai Group. The young man didn't stay long and soon chose to return by car.

On the way back, he suddenly said with his eyes closed, "Miho, have Kurashige-san come to my office in half an hour."

"Yes, President!"

Next, Miho Uchida began making phone calls and acting in accordance with her chairman's instructions.

Twenty-five minutes later, Masato Takeshita returned to the Xinghai Building.

He smiled and greeted Nobutaka Kurashige, who was waiting for him at the front desk, saying, "Let's go inside and talk."

"Okay, President."

Upon arriving at his office, he first chatted with his newly appointed finance specialist about some gossip to ease Nobutaka Kurashige's tension before revealing the purpose of his summons.

Monitor Square Enix's financial movements to prevent Hironobu Sakaguchi from making a sudden blunder.

"Don't worry, Chairman, Square Enix guarantees there won't be any problems."

So it was just an inspection of Square Enix. Nobutaka Kurashige immediately felt relieved.

He is very skilled at this job, and it's something he does frequently in China.

Yes, because he is an employee who pioneers and expands the company's business, he is also very knowledgeable about finance.

If it weren't for his advanced age and the need to facilitate Lin Qingqian's takeover of Xinghai Group's China operations, the young man would never have transferred him from his position as president of Xinghai Group's China operations.

Compared to finance, someone like him is actually better at helping the company develop markets in uncharted territory.

"Okay, be careful to stay hidden."

"Yes, understand!"

After quickly making arrangements for Square Enix, the young man put the matter out of his mind.

He was to oversee the assignment of new employees to prevent serious disputes.

"The base salary of the previous batch of recruits and the new batch of recruits I am recruiting this time must be the same."

"Of course, a consistent base salary does not mean complete equality."

"After all, the previous batch of recruits were generally of higher quality, so we can implicitly improve their treatment by increasing benefits."

The fact that the base salary is exactly the same is to show that the company treats all new employees equally and will not treat them as second-class citizens just because they were brought in as part of a package deal.

But complete equality is actually the greatest injustice.

Therefore, high-caliber talents recruited in advance who are needed by the company will have their actual income increased in the form of bonuses.

In this way, the interests of all parties can be better balanced.

At the same time, once the earlier batch of mediocre people are discovered, as well as the group of truly talented people who were packaged together, their income can be rearranged.

Of course, it won't decrease.

At most, your peers will get a bigger raise, but yours will get a smaller one.

"As for how much hidden income you will increase, that's up to you, but it must not be less than 5 or more than 15."

At this point, the young man paused again before emphasizing the point in a serious tone.

"Of course, this arrangement can still be broken for those who are exceptionally talented."

"Even if the bonus is increased to 1000 million or even 1 million, the company would be happy to see it."

The greater the reward an employee receives, the greater their contribution to the company.

And being able to receive a 100 million yuan bonus means that he has generated at least 10 billion yuan in profit for the company.

In such a situation, the young man would naturally be willing to offer the reward.

As for whether some high-level officials will choose to take advantage of the situation?

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

Because every employee who can break through the restrictions of Xinghai Group will be registered at headquarters.

Even if the subsidiary's senior management were incredibly foolish, they wouldn't choose to tamper with this.

Choosing this option is less effective than placing relatives in purchasing or similar positions. It achieves the same or even better results easily, and is much more discreet.

"Yes, President!"

Although what Masato Takeshita said was nothing new, everyone listened very carefully and answered very sincerely.

This is a speech at a meeting; even if it's a pile of shit, you have to listen carefully.

"Alright, let's discuss how many people each company will take on next."

Young people don't like repeating themselves, but there's nothing they can do about it.

This is like how homeroom teachers always emphasize not to play in the water before a holiday; it's something that needs to be stressed in many meetings.

If this isn't emphasized one day, and a subordinate company acts inhumanely, it can be really difficult to handle. Removing a company's meritorious employee without reason or evidence can cause turmoil within the company.

"President, is our company also going to take on new employees?"

At this moment, Jia Benlong asked somewhat timidly.

He didn't want to accept new people, feeling they didn't fit the company's style.

"Yes, Xinghai Investment doesn't need it, and neither does the group headquarters."

Xinghai Investment and its group headquarters are among the best of the best. Giving these positions to the batch of graduates would be unfair to the original job seekers.

After all, the newcomers who can join Xinghai Capital and the group headquarters are only a very small number of top graduates from top universities.

They not only need to compete with domestic students, but also with top university graduates from overseas.

Unlike subsidiaries like Xinghai Technology, which have numerous job openings, Dongda University students can easily get hired there, provided the offer isn't too outrageous.

Yes, Xinghai Group offers very generous benefits to students from Dongda University.

Except for Xinghai Group headquarters and Xinghai Investment, students from Dongda University can be exempted from the written test and directly enter the interview stage.

As for other Japanese schools, even his alma mater Waseda, they did not receive such treatment.

A similar situation occurred in China, where students from Tsinghua and Peking Universities were exempt from the written exam at Xinghai Group's China division.

In the United States, competition among universities is extremely fierce. Coupled with the large number of students who get in through sponsorship fees and lack of academic integrity, the selection process becomes even more rigorous.

"Okay, got it."

Jia Benlong was relieved; he didn't want to hire people with unclear knowledge.

However, unlike Xinghai Investment, Xinghai Technology and Xinghai Life accept all comers.

Both companies are large and powerful, and are still expanding rapidly.

Any subsidiary company has a strong demand for personnel.

Even if the number of college graduates packaged up doubles, the two companies can easily handle it.

Putting aside everything else, Xinghai Wafer, a semi-independent subsidiary of Xinghai Technology, alone can easily accommodate thousands of people.

What if fresh graduates don't have technical skills?
This is actually the least of our worries.

Because what's most needed in wafer manufacturing is meticulousness and attention to detail, not technical prowess.

Those who can get into top universities can easily get started with a little training.

The same is true for Xinghai Life's subsidiaries.

Many jobs assigned to college students can actually be easily done by high school students, or even junior high school students.

(End of this chapter)