Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 462 The World's Best Shooting Game
Nokia was merely a peripheral company within the Starsea Group, and the operational control always remained in Nokia's own hands.

Therefore, Masato Takeshita left the matter of going public to Ollila.

However, in order to protect the interests of Xinghai Group, the young man needed to send someone over.

On the one hand, they monitored Nokia's behavior, preventing Nokia from doing anything that would harm the Xinghai Group's interests. On the other hand, they used Nokia's IPO to facilitate a power struggle between the group and major European conglomerates.

During Nokia's IPO, Xinghai Group could earn less money and ultimately relinquish control, but the major conglomerates would still have to compensate Xinghai Group in other areas.

For example, it requested Deutsche Bank's support for Xinghai Group's acquisition of Zeiss and Leica.

Yes, Masato Takeshita wanted to use Nokia's IPO to get Deutsche Bank's support for his acquisitions of Zeiss and Leica.

Optical lenses are the area that Xinghai Group lacks the most, and he hopes to take this opportunity to fill that gap.

"Please rest assured, Chairman, I will definitely make Deutsche Bank agree to our conditions."

Faced with the request from his own chairman, Scully, president of Starsea Technologies, who was about to assist in the listing of Nokia, was full of confidence.

It's just Zeiss and Leica, two lens companies.

"Yes, very good. Our Xinghai Group should have this kind of spirit."

Young people don't see this as a problem either.

Because mobile phone photography had not yet emerged, ASML lagged behind Nikon and Canon in the field of lithography machines. Zeiss and Leica's influence in the optical lens field was far less than that of Japanese companies like Nikon, Canon, and Sony.

Especially with the rise of digital cameras, traditional camera manufacturers like Zeiss and Leica have been nearly driven to bankruptcy.

It is estimated that Xinghai Group will not only receive support from Deutsche Bank, but may also receive support from the German government.

In addition to Sculley, professional financial and legal personnel should also be sent.

Masato Takeshita found Shinji Kikuno and carefully explained his purpose.

"Yes, Chairman! I will have Xinghai Venture Capital arrange for professionals to monitor the entire process and ensure that the company does not suffer any losses."

"Well, yes."

The young man nodded, then gave his earnest instructions.

"Remember this: we can be less concerned about the money, but the acquisition of Zeiss and Leica must be completed."

"If acquiring two companies at the same time is too difficult, then we should try to acquire Zeiss."

Although Zeiss and Leica are both German optical technology giants, the two companies are not on the same level in terms of strength and scale.

Zeiss has a workforce of over 10,000, while Leica only has a thousand.

Zeiss also has a place in fields such as medicine, while Leica is basically only involved in the camera industry. Therefore, Masato Takeshita prefers Zeiss over Leica.

"Yes, President!"

Shinji Kikuno responded solemnly once again, deciding that he would personally go to Germany to negotiate when the time was right.

Zeiss will definitely be a brand under the Xinghai Group in the future.

After explaining the situation, Masato Takeshita quickly put the Nokia matter aside.

For a giant like Nokia to go public, there are a lot of issues involved, and it takes a lot of time. Even if everything goes smoothly, it will be difficult to complete all the procedures this year.

However, this is also a good thing, as it will make tech stocks on the Nasdaq in the United States even more popular next year, which will indirectly affect the market value of tech companies in other countries.

Nokia will go public next year, and the company's market value will likely rise to a new level.

Of course, the best time to go public was actually in the early 2000s.

However, this timing is too extreme, and if one is not careful, it could backfire and result in a bloodbath listing when a stock market crash occurs.

Xinghai Group is a large company that needs to operate steadily and prudently; there is no need to pursue extremes.

……

While Sculley, Shinji Kikuno, and others were planning Nokia's affairs, Masato Takeshita, having already given instructions, continued to inspect the group's subsidiaries.

Soon the young man arrived at Xinghai Entertainment, where he needed its game company to develop a new game to lay the foundation for the company's long-term success.

"Kalinsan, this is a new game that came to me in a flash of inspiration while playing Quake and Half-Life."

"I hope the Los Angeles studio will take over and launch it at the end of this year."

As he spoke, Masato Takeshita handed Kalinsky a game design proposal, on which the words "Counter-Strike" were clearly written.

That's right, the game Masato Takeshita wanted to make was Counter-Strike, also known as CS by players.

This is a masterpiece that has influenced the landscape of the global gaming industry and is also a major shooting game that has propelled the esports boom.

For the next two decades or so, Counter-Strike, as a representative of shooting games, will remain a popular title.

Whether it's PUBG, Apex Legends, or Valorant, even if they temporarily surpass Counter-Strike, they will ultimately lose in terms of popularity and profitability.

Only Counter-Strike has been able to maintain its position as the top-ranked shooting game for such a long time.

"Counter-Strike, 5v5 battle?"

"That's right, this game is one I prepared for WCG, and I hope it can advance our esports strategy."

Then, realizing that text and charts weren't intuitive enough, Masato Takeshita simply took out the prepared CD and played the Counter-Strike introductory PowerPoint presentation on Kalinsky's computer.

The above text and images effectively showcase the appeal of Counter-Strike (CS) as the premier competitive shooting game.

What's with the storyline?

"Yes, I'll finish arranging my work and fly to the United States the day after tomorrow, and then arrange for Carmack to make this game."

Kalinsky glanced at it quickly and immediately concluded that this would be a hit game.

The idea of ​​5V5 shooting battles is so wonderful that he's even tempted to play it.

"Yes, that's good. It shows how much we value this game."

Takeshita Masato smiled and nodded, then continued to give instructions.

"This game is highly competitive, so we should also create a dedicated battle platform like Blizzard did."

"In this way, top players can compete on the battle platform, creating more classic matches and increasing the game's popularity."

Masato Takeshita actually wanted to make it into an online game right away, but considering the current internet speeds in the United States, he ultimately chose to first release a single-player game with online multiplayer mode, modeled after StarCraft.

In addition, there is another major advantage to taking this route: it creates a battle platform with a certain influence.

It's worth noting that Steam, the gaming platform that influenced the development of the global gaming industry in its previous life, was developed based on Counter-Strike.

In a way, Blizzard Entertainment is a typical example of a company that got up early but ultimately missed its chance to succeed.

The company's Warcraft and StarCraft games pioneered the esports industry, but ultimately arrogantly ignored the rise of MOBA games.

He ignored the fact that DOTA, the MOBA game he created, was just a custom map for his own Warcraft 3.

Ultimately, Blizzard essentially had nothing in the MOBA genre, the most popular esports category in the world.

However, Blizzard did have opportunities during this period.

The company's Overwatch, which combines the features of MOBA and FPS games, was once very popular.

However, due to factors such as updates, it eventually fell to a second-rate level. The same was true for the battle platform; despite Blizzard being the pioneer, it didn't receive much attention.

Ultimately, the PC distribution platform market was taken over by Valve, which was once far inferior to itself.

However, with Takeshita Masato in this life, Blizzard will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

When the time is right, Blizzard's battle platform will also move out of its closed system and transform into a game platform.

In this way, Xinghai Games will have two gaming platforms in the PC gaming market, making its industry position more stable.

"Yes, Chairman, I understand."

After finalizing the Counter-Strike project with Kalinsky, Masato Takeshita breathed a sigh of relief.

It is estimated that from now on, no matter how the situation changes, Starsea Games will basically not lose in the FPS game field.

He will become StarCraft Games' eternal trump card, just like Nintendo's Mario and Pokémon series.

Besides games, Masato Takeshita also chatted with Kalinsky about music.

"We need to pay more attention to the company's new music talents in the United States."

"They are the panel projects for our entry into the US music industry, which will facilitate the company's development in the US entertainment sector."

Once Britney Spears and others achieve phenomenal success, the internal opposition within Star Ocean Entertainment will be significantly reduced when they acquire a major American record label.

Most employees would prefer their company to be acquired by someone knowledgeable, rather than by a giant that only knows how to play the capital game.

He certainly didn't want a crisis of trust to arise within the record company he took over, which could then affect its global market share.

"Please rest assured, President, we are nurturing singers like Britney Spears with the highest standards."

"Even if we fail, it won't affect the company's reputation among singers."

As president of Starsea Entertainment, Kalinsky has always been concerned about the development of its music business.

There are powerful players in Japan who are currently unable to act, so it's natural for them to turn their attention to the American market.

He hoped to gain control of Xinghai Records through a resounding victory, instead of remaining outside his control as it is now.

"That's good. We'd rather leave the impression of being rich and powerful in the record industry than the impression of ruining singers."

In the coming years, the record industry will face increasing difficulties, so record companies may even envy the wealthy and powerful, and may even actively seek to get closer to them.

Xinghai Entertainment's acquisition plan for the record company might actually go much more smoothly.

Indeed, people are the most precious asset.

Kalinsky strongly agreed and was eager to fly to the United States immediately to inspect and strengthen the company's plans in gaming and music.

After discussing his own work, Masato Takeshita casually asked a question.

What are your thoughts on Sega's new console in development?

"I haven't seen the console yet, so I can't comment on it. But considering the financial situation, it seems like Sega is going all out in the console hardware market."

"Sega's finances are in dire straits. If this console fails again, the company will not have the funds to continue innovating its consoles."

Kalinsky's feelings toward Sega were exceptionally complex.

This was his favorite company before, and the company he was prepared to dedicate his life to.

Unfortunately, the internal strife within the company was too severe, leaving Kalinsky physically and mentally exhausted.

That's how Xinghai Entertainment managed to exploit the loophole and successfully poach the talent.

"Indeed, Sega's ability to develop new consoles was all thanks to Chairman Isao Okawa's generous donations."

Most people who know about Okawa Isamu would express their admiration.

He truly embodies the principle of taking wealth from the company and using it for the company's benefit, donating his own assets to the company for its development.

Unlike many American tycoons, he is not a wolf in sheep's clothing.

They say they're donating to the world, but in reality, they still keep control of their own assets.

Of the $100, probably less than $5 is actually donated; the rest is eaten up by children and relatives.

"Yes, Mr. Okawa is great, and his attitude towards business far surpasses that of most companies."

Kalinsky's feelings toward Okawa were equally complex, but he still shared his impressions of him with his chairman.

"However, Sega's success and failure both depend on Mr. Okawa."

"He doesn't understand the game industry very well, and the harder he tries, the more he will drag Sega into a quagmire."

In Kalinsky's mind, Okawa Isao was not a qualified top leader of a game company.

His actions were commendable, but that cannot mask his poor management of Sega.

While Sega wasn't exactly thriving under Hayao Nakayama's management, it was still able to survive.

As a result, after Okawa took office, he quickly disrupted the normal development pattern of the game company.

A prime example is Sega's appointment of Yu Suzuki, the producer of their most profitable game, Virtua Fighter.

Yu Suzuki is great; he not only left his mark on the fighting game industry, but also pioneered the concept of a free-exploration open world.

This laid the foundation for the future popularity of games like GTA and Genshin Impact.

However, the groundbreaking nature of the game genre cannot completely mask the shortcomings in the game's production quality.

Yu Suzuki had no prior experience in developing large-scale RPG games, which resulted in his Shenmue being beautifully crafted but extremely boring.

If Sega could have been more patient and less hasty, giving Yu Suzuki a small amount of funding to experiment in the RPG field first, instead of going all in and trying to make a fortune in one go.

It's estimated that both Yu Suzuki and Sega would have had very different lives.

Unfortunately, Okawa Isao's eagerness for quick success destroyed all of this.

Masato Takeshita only partially agreed with Kalinsky's ideas, believing that Isao Okawa's physical condition was also a key factor in Sega's problems.

"That's certainly partly true, but I suspect that part of it is also due to Mr. Okawa's physical condition."

"Mr. Okawa's health has been poor, and he has been on the verge of death several times. This makes him very anxious, and he hopes to succeed as soon as possible."

"He worried that once he passed away, Sega would be gone from the console market forever, or even go bankrupt and be acquired by someone else."

Kalinsky thought for a moment about his chairman's speculation and gave an affirmative response.

Okawa Isao's physical condition was indeed a key factor in Sega's short-sighted pursuit of quick profits.

If he could stay healthy, he wouldn't be in such a hurry.

First, shortly after the launch of its new console, it announced plans to create a next-generation console incompatible with previous models, offending a large number of game companies and players. Then, in the field of game development, it also tends to take a big gamble.

The end result was that neither of them was fully understood.

The console failed, and the game, aside from being groundbreaking, sold terribly.

(End of this chapter)