Horrible! Actually playing this kind of game!

Pokeni is really bold. Any other company would be a little cautious and hesitant.

Industry insiders say Qing Zhiyuan is a madman who is trying to get something out of the fire.

But from the final result, Qing Zhiyuan is the one who can get the first wave of dividends.

Since Pokeni's two Pokémon opened up the situation and once again successfully harvested a wave of New Year's money, other game manufacturers have heard the news and started to sell their games as usual.

The game market is booming.

This is a typical lipstick effect.

…

January 13, 2002.

After the New Year, Kazuma Takahashi held the 2002 annual strategic meeting in the company's top floor conference room.

The main purpose was to report to Qing Zhiyuan and let the company's board members have a more comprehensive understanding of the current situation of Pokeni.

"From last year's sales, we grew by 215% year-on-year, with total annual revenue of $47.6 billion and net profit of $4.3 billion."

The actual profit may be higher than this, but part of it will be moved to the later quarters when making financial reports.

For example, the revenue of the two Pokémon games released at the end of 2001 was not calculated in the 2001 annual revenue. If this part is added, the number will be higher.

Seeing this data, including Iwata Satoshi of the strategy department and Ken Akanishi, director of the program department, were a little bit unbelievable.

It is really too powerful. Even in the economic downturn, it can still take off against the trend. The Pokeni Group is like a monster.

But everyone laughed very happily. After all, they are all shareholders. The better the company develops, the more money they can share.

"The launch of Yu-Gi-Oh and Frontier Online has provided the company with a stable source of income. Now these two games provide a global total revenue of nearly $600 million per month."

In other words, these two games alone account for about one-sixth of last year's total revenue.

Everyone has also felt the horror of online games.

The remaining part, about $3 billion in revenue, comes from the share collected by the Dandelion game platform. Now there are more and more third-party games on the Dandelion game platform.

Even many independent studios and even individual game makers have been born.

Correspondingly, the Dandelion game platform has gradually changed from releasing 30 games a month to releasing 100 games a month now, which is actually a very rapid growth.

In the previous life, in 2023, the Steam platform released an average of 1,211 games per month. The current Dandelion game platform still has a long way to go, but it also means that there is a strong room for growth.

"Then the Pokémon series provides a large part of the company's game revenue... Shenmue, The Matrix, Bullfight... These also provide a lot."

In addition to games, Pokémon also has a lot of revenue from Internet network advertising... In short, judging from the financial report shared by Kazuma Takahashi, Paradox is definitely a very remarkable Internet giant.

...

It makes a lot of money, but there are also many places to spend money.

In addition to maintaining the normal operation of the company, such as server and bandwidth costs, and various equipment costs, it is also necessary to pay employee salaries, bonuses, etc. These account for a large part of the expenses. In addition, it is also necessary to invest in expanded reproduction. The research and development costs of future technology alone cost billions of dollars every year. This number is still increasing. ... After Kazuma Takahashi finished his report, everyone sighed heavily. In addition to being infinitely excited about the bright prospects of the company, they also felt a lot of pressure because of the heavy burden on their shoulders. For example, Satoru Iwata, as the director of the company's strategy department, has also spent a lot of money to acquire companies and industries, including the development of SDS handheld game consoles, which was also proposed by him. Last year, the money was spent and there was no return, and the 1211 disaster happened in the United States. Although it was a natural disaster, it was not Satoru Iwata's fault, but it always gave people a feeling that the strategy department was not good. Qing Zhiyuan was relatively calm, and his trust in Satoru Iwata was not reduced at all. However, given the current situation, it seems a bit difficult to convince people to let Iwata take over as CEO in 2002. It will probably take another two years until the seeds planted before bear fruit.

By then, Iwata will become CEO with his outstanding vision, strong strategic determination, and clear planning for the company's future strategy as his main achievements. There should be no problem.

Qing Zhiyuan's plan is that after Iwata takes over as CEO, he can safely retreat to the decision-making level as chairman, and then delegate daily affairs to Iwata.

…

After Kazuma Takahashi finished his report, the bosses of other departments made their own reports.

There are several key points on the program side. One is the development of [Pioneer Engine 2], which has been greatly optimized in performance.

At the same time, after NVIDIA's chip upgrade, Pioneer Engine 2 will be able to effectively support ray tracing and some real-time dynamic effects by next year.

Although it is not as powerful as the previous Unreal Engine 4, it is enough to lead the entire era.

To put it bluntly, as long as the hardware level can keep up, Qing Zhiyuan has already planned the iterative content of the engine, and there will be no problem with a little push.

"Sega's new handheld SDS has been developed and passed the company's internal test in the second half of last year. It can even run Pokémon 3D and Monster Hunter smoothly."

Iwata Satoru gave a major good news.

Hearing this news, Qing Zhiyuan couldn't help but slightly curl up his mouth, which was harder to suppress than AK.

"That's good. In this way, this year's E3 Electronics Show can use SDS to stir up a bloody storm again." Qing Zhiyuan smiled and nodded.

Others also smiled but didn't say anything.

The president is too bad.

After the release of this SDS handheld, it is estimated that many game manufacturers will suffer from insomnia.

...

When it was finally Shinji Mikami's turn to report on the game business, it was already past 4 pm.

"Mushishi 2 and Violet Evergarden were completed and tested at the end of last year, and are now handed over to the operation side for promotion."

Shinji Mikami glanced at Kazuma Takahashi, who immediately responded, "Yes, according to the release schedule, Mushishi 2 should be released in February, and then Violet Evergarden in April

And, according to the president's request, Violet Evergarden has been synchronized with Kyoto Animation for animation, and the first episode is expected to be broadcast in the summer of this year, around July."

A new show in July?

Qing Zhiyuan silently noted this time and said it was good.

It's almost equivalent to the heat of the game just falling, and the TV animation is rising, the two forming a chemical linkage, maximizing the promotion of popularity and sales.

This set of models, Pokeni is now familiar with it.

There is no need for Qing Zhiyuan to remind him, Kazuma Takahashi will arrange it himself.

……

"Spirited Away game production is completed, but in order to cooperate with Ghibli, it will be released in July this year." Shinji Mikami said.

"What's the release date of Ghibli's movie?" Qing Zhiyuan asked.

"It will be released in April this year."

"Okay, I know." Qing Zhiyuan made a special note in his notebook.

In this life, the release date of "Spirited Away" is one year later than in the previous life. It's really weird.

What is Mr. Hayao Miyazaki doing? !

If you calculate the time, it's not impossible to release the game in July.

It means that Spirited Away will be popular all over the world first, and then the E3 Electronics Show in July will bring the game of "Spirited Away" to shock the audience, maximize the gimmick and spread, and then release the game to reap the benefits.

This is the most ideal state.

Shinji Mikami continued to flip through the PPT and said, "The movie schedule of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone will be released worldwide in February this year. Our game will be scheduled in May. According to the progress of the filming of Game of Thrones, it should not be broadcast until the second half of this year, and it will be broadcast through the Internet, which requires the streaming function of P-NET." "You should contact P-NET about this. By the way, when the meeting is held, pull me in, and I will call the person in charge of Yuehe." Qing Zhiyuan was originally the person in charge of the two companies, but there were too many things to do and he could not handle it at all. Yuehe could only be entrusted to Ichihashi Fumi. "Okay, President." "Then, we don't have a production plan for Spider-Man yet. If we want to do it, we have to determine the production method and team. It is estimated that it will take at least 2 years to complete it. And it depends on the specific needs and technical difficulty." The spider silk of the little spider is the biggest problem. Although 3D games have been developed for several years now, the development of [elastic objects] and [deformable] functions is still not enough, almost 0.

So the spider silk is either very hard, like a steel pipe, or it may be due to the failure of the deformation algorithm, resulting in various penetrations and flying.

"Let's put it aside for now, but the functions can be put first." Qing Zhiyuan looked at Akanishi Ken, "When the planning side holds a specific demand meeting, pull me in, and I will propose the program content."

"Okay, President."

Akanishi Ken took notes with a bitter face.

Damn, every time there is a meeting, there will always be some new things, regardless of whether people can bear it or not.

"Gravity has made a major breakthrough, and the completion degree is now quite high. After the movie is released, the game can be released here."

"Yeah."

Qing Zhiyuan nodded, very satisfied with this.

The game Gravity is a collection of program function verification. As long as there is no problem with the game, a lot of new functions can be derived.

So we strive to do it well.

"Fate/Zero has also been developed and put on the release schedule. This time, it is still entrusted to Kyoto Animation to make an animation."

"Well, it's okay. There's no rush to make an animation. It can be made half a year or a year after the game is released." Qing Zhiyuan said.

"As for the new game... Monster Hunter has added a sequel, and Monster Hunter 2 is currently under development."

"Remember to bring an SDS with you this time," Qing Zhiyuan emphasized. "Monster Hunter 2 and the Pokémon series both have a requirement. Not only must they be playable on the Sega DC, but they must also be playable on the SDS."

"Okay, president." Shinji Mikami took notes silently.

…

It wasn't until almost 10 o'clock in the evening that this year's strategic meeting was concluded.

And it’s just a general outline, and it will take time to refine the specific implementation in the future.

However, just like writing, the strategy meeting is a general outline, and the detailed outline must be deepened and improved over time.

It is even possible that earth-shaking changes occurred midway.

After the meeting ended, Qing Zhiyuan breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the company has experts in various fields, so it can operate so well, and everyone's confidence is getting stronger and stronger.

It’s really just around the corner for pokeni to become the industry leader.

Qing Zhiyuan is full of confidence in this.

"that……"

At this moment, the little secretary's voice rang.

She and Qing Zhiyuan were the only ones left in the entire conference room.

As the secretary to the board of directors, in addition to customizing meetings and taking meeting minutes, the junior secretary also has to take care of some of the chairman's daily affairs.

It can be said that it was quite hard.

Qing Zhiyuan was slightly stunned, as if he didn't expect that she was still there.

"President."

"Um?"

"President, shouldn't we also prepare to build a new pokeni building?" Ayase Akane said casually as she closed her laptop and turned off the equipment in the conference room.

Qing Zhiyuan rolled his eyes.

"What's new? It makes it seem like we've had it before."

"Yeah, what I mean is, pokeni has been established for 12 years this year, and it doesn't even have its own building. Is this ridiculous?"

Um……

It really doesn't sound like much.

Sony even has a building of its own.

Qing Zhiyuan thought for a while and felt that what the secretary said made sense.

pokeni is expanding faster and faster, and now the total number of employees worldwide has reached 100,000.

More than 10,000 of them are the core development department of the game, and many others are subsidiary support departments. For example, after the emergence of the Dandelion game platform, both online games hired a lot of customer service personnel in various countries.

Mainly to answer calls and messages from players, calm them down, and report some serious bugs.

In addition to customer service staff, there are also inevitable products of the times——

Local promotion team.

After the expansion of these personnel, the number of pokeni employees will expand rapidly, and it is likely that it will even exceed 150,000 people within this year.

As for the neon area, in order to take care of the existing core department members, pokeni should also build a building that can accommodate about 10,000 people.

"A building with 10,000 people should have at least 40 floors." Akane Ayase looked at the notes in her hand and came to a conclusion.

"But my ideal pokeni base should be similar to Ghibli." Qing Zhiyuan said.

"Um?"

"It is built into a large base. Each building can have its own characteristics, such as the Pokémon Building, the Demon Hunter Building... and there are entertainment facilities for children in the middle, just like Disneyland."

"When necessary, part of it can be opened for sightseeing and selling for money." Qing Zhiyuan was immersed in his own imagination.

"That's it, we don't have that much money, right?" Akane Ayase complained ruthlessly.

"You're not a professional in architectural design. How do you know how much it will cost?"

Qing Zhiyuan complained coldly, "If I spend 5 billion US dollars, I still don't believe that I can't build a pokeni base that meets the requirements!"

Akane Ayase wrinkled her little nose and waved her fist behind Qing Zhiyuan.

You have more money and you are great!

Five billion US dollars is used to build a house, which is really luxurious.

But...

Speaking of profession, Qing Zhiyuan suddenly thought of someone.

…

...(End of chapter)