Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 388 Kazuo Hirai

The assistant, who was reading the news, clearly sensed that today's news was somewhat "unusual." Not only were game-related media outlets giving extensive coverage to the new version of Starry Sky Games, but financial media were also reporting on it.

We have to read them one by one...
Thinking of this, the assistant paused for a moment.

"Shall we continue reading, Mr. Hirai? There are some more statistics about player communities and live streaming platforms to come."

"no need."

Kazuo Hirai smiled and waved his hand.

"It gives me a headache."

There was not a trace of annoyance in that word "headache".

If it were Kazuo Hirai a few years ago, upon hearing those news reports, he might have called a meeting with everyone in the game division. But the current Kazuo Hirai is much more at peace with himself.

If nothing unexpected happens.

This year will be his last year in this position.

The gradual handover of various tasks relieved Kazuo Hirai, but also changed his attitude towards many things completely from when he first took office.

For the soon-to-retire "uncle," a smooth handover, leaving a stable and promising situation for his successor, is his biggest concern at present.

Kazuo Hirai is no stranger to the gaming industry.

You could even say you're familiar with it.

After all, he is known to many gamers because he was once the chairman of Sony Electronic Entertainment, and the PSP and PS3 were products created during his tenure.

Even after becoming the head of Sony, he personally hosted the launch events for the PS Vita and PS4.

Because Kazuo Hirai often appears in front of players, many players are quite familiar with this name.

In contrast, many people might not even know the name of Kazuo Hirai's successor if they didn't search it on Baidu.

Given his "familiarity" with the gaming industry, it's no surprise that Kazuo Hirai was aware of StarCraft Games, this dark horse in the gaming world. His name has appeared in numerous reports over the past year or two.

However, you're asking how deep your understanding is.

nor.

On the one hand, Kazuo Hirai is the president of Sony, not the president of Sony Games. On the other hand, in recent years, Sony Games' core focus has been on console games.

Mobile games and PC games are not Sony's strongholds.

As of now, no anime-style game has actually proven itself on consoles.

If we go back a few years...

Kazuo Hirai might still be somewhat interested in whether anime-style games can succeed on consoles.

However, towards the end of his tenure as CEO, Kazuo Hirai became relatively cautious.

Even at the beginning of this year, when Takehito Tenda, head of Sony China Games, provided a detailed analysis report on StarCraft Games, expressing his desire to achieve in-depth cooperation with StarCraft Games globally.

He simply sighed.

"Unbeknownst to many, China has once again created a monster through the market."

Then, it was authorized that Takehito Tenda attempt to establish a partnership with Xingchen in China.

after?

And that was the end of it.

After all, StarCraft's rise was too fast. Just FGO alone generated revenue in Japan that would make Sony drool.

It's highly unlikely that a company with ample funds and a strong growth momentum would accept investment from Sony.

If there's no investment, what's the point of a partnership?

Is Sony also getting into mobile games? Therefore, this collaboration plan has been temporarily shelved under Kazuo Hirai's management. Of course.

Press down means press down.

However, this does not mean that Kazuo Hirai did not value the stars.

On the contrary, from a very early stage, Kazuo Hirai judged that the Chinese market would definitely give birth to some studios with international influence.

Although this judgment did not make much progress in his previous life until Hirai Kazuo left his post, he still largely agreed with it.

The emergence of Starry Night Games can be seen as confirmation of his idea.

Therefore, when Chu Chen personally visited Sony.

Not only did Takehito Soeda fly back to headquarters from China, but Kazuo Hirai also took a whole day to meet with StarCraft and Sony's senior management team.

He put down his coffee cup and looked out the window at the towering skyscrapers of Tokyo, his gaze deep and thoughtful.

"The time you arranged with Xingchen is this morning, right?"

“Yes, Mr. Hirai. Ten o’clock sharp, in conference room number three,” the assistant replied quickly.

"Ah."

Kazuo Hirai nodded, pondered for a moment, and then added a sentence.

"Raise the reception standard to another level. Notify me in advance when they arrive downstairs, and I will personally go to greet them."

Upon hearing this, the assistant paused slightly, holding the folder, a hint of surprise flashing across his face.

He had followed Kazuo Hirai for many years and knew that although the head of the Sony empire was approachable, he had an almost strict hierarchical concept when it came to business etiquette.

Such treatment, being personally greeted downstairs, was not common in his memory.

"Yes."

The assistant suppressed his surprise, responded respectfully, then turned and quickly left to arrange the new reception.

The office fell silent again.

Kazuo Hirai tapped his fingertips lightly on the smooth tabletop, producing a rhythmic sound.

"It's quite interesting."

Kazuo Hirai knew very well that the reason why StarCraft chose to meet with Sony today was because they could have more leverage after the FGO anniversary version was released.

The problem is that Xingchen made the appointment a week in advance, which means that at least at that time, Xingchen was already quite confident in herself, otherwise, if the FGO anniversary version failed.
Therefore, even though he knew the other party was raising the stakes, Kazuo Hirai was not angry at all; on the contrary, he was somewhat expectant.

~~~
The atmosphere at Sony and StarCraft's first meeting was quite relaxed.

Kazuo Hirai in person is more approachable than he appears in photos; his signature smile even gave Chu Chen the illusion that he had arrived at a popular online photo spot.

Besides Chu Chen, Li Suhao, Yan Chuan, and Ishii Akira also came from Xingchen's side.

On Sony's side, besides Kazuo Hirai, there are executives from Sony Games.

The opening remarks from both sides were quite ordinary, nothing more than mutual flattery.

Although Kazuo Hirai was seated in the main seat, the meeting was led by Shuhei Yoshida, head of Sony's Japanese game business, and Takehito Soeda, head of Sony's China region, who had specially flown back to Japan from China.

They both seemed even more excited than Kazuo Hirai.

Shuhei Yoshida is excited because he wants to go even further, as Andrew House, president and global CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, will step down early next year.

Shuhei Yoshida, as one of the candidates, was naturally not entirely without ideas.

At such a critical juncture, any achievement could become a turning point.

(End of this chapter)