Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

Recently, Airi Hayazawa hasn't seen Takeyusei much.

Zhu Youxing rarely goes home anymore and lives at the company every day.

Even though he was the only person in the company, Zhu Youxing often worked alone until late at night.

Since he was young and energetic, he didn't take his health seriously at all.

During his regular work hours, Zhu Youxing kept an eye on game development.

The game console is still a long way from being a finished product, so there's no need to supervise it now. Let's get the game-related stuff sorted out first.

As for Hayazawa Airi, she's usually too busy with work to have time to wander around looking for Takeyusei, unless there's something really going on.

As a result, the two hadn't seen each other much for over a month.

So Takeyuusei's special trip made Hayazawa Airi very happy, as she was finally able to see him alive.

"Zhuyou, are you here to check on the game console development progress? How about I give you a report?"

"Hayasawa Airi said happily."

"No, I'm not here today to check on the game console development progress. There's no rush for that. You can just work according to the normal plan. I'm here to see you."

"Find me?"

Airi Hayazawa was surprised. "Is it about work?"

"Close enough," Takeyusei replied ambiguously, then said, "Airi, you once said your family runs a kendo dojo, right?"

“Yes.” Hayazawa Airi nodded.

"Does your family teach any fighting techniques?"

"Yes, that's true. After all, to learn kendo, you need to be physically strong enough. It's also necessary to do some simple martial arts training before learning kendo."

Are there many different styles?

Airi Hayazawa thought for a moment and then said, "Style? There aren't many, after all, kendo is the main thing in our family, and martial arts is just practiced as a basic skill. There are definitely not as many moves as in a real martial arts dojo."

Do you know any karate dojos or anything like that?

"Of course I know them. My dad often gets together with them. Zhuyou, you don't mean you want to learn martial arts, do you?"

"It's not me, it's our employees. I want them to go and learn."

Zhu Youxing had considered enrolling them in several martial arts classes.

But I feel that those regular training classes are unlikely to teach anything of substance.

We need to find martial arts masters who are truly famous, or even if we don't need them to teach us personally, we can have their famous disciples teach us.

Takeyusei briefly explained his ideas to Hayasawa Airi, whose eyes widened in disbelief.

"Zhuyou, you're really ruthless. To make the game more realistic, you sent your employees to learn martial arts directly."

At this very moment, Airi Hayazawa is imagining a group of computer geeks being subjected to crazy over-the-shoulder throws.

If they can keep going for a day or two, these computer geeks will all be bruised and battered. Will they still be able to work then?

Zhu Youxing said very seriously, "In order to make the game as perfect as possible, some sacrifices must be made. Of course, I have already told the employees about this. They will submit the list of those who want to participate by tomorrow, and then I will arrange for them to learn. Is that okay?"

Hayazawa Aili thought for a moment, then nodded: "That's possible. I'll try asking my dad. He should be able to help, but I can't guarantee whether it will be successful."

"Then I'll have to trouble you. If it really doesn't work, I'll think of another way."

If all else fails, find a few temporary training courses to learn.

"By the way, it would be best if it included all of Chinese martial arts, karate, judo, taekwondo, and Muay Thai. Of course, it would be even better if they were willing to be hired by us and become full-time martial arts consultants. In the future, fighting games will definitely need to update their moves frequently."

"Okay, I'll go home tonight and check. Wait for my news tomorrow."

Airi Hayazawa felt that it had been a while since she had been home, so she thought it would be a good time to go back and see her parents.

Chapter 175 Retailers

This was not a problem for Airi Hayazawa; she easily helped contact several martial arts dojos that were quite well-known in Japan.

They were very interested in being hired as consultants, especially since Zhu Youxing was willing to pay a fee.

Even some well-known martial arts dojos are not doing well now. Japan's economic bubble has had a comprehensive impact, and they are also short of money now.

However, they also made their own request: they hoped that their martial arts dojo name could be added to the end of the completed game list to help them increase their fame.

Zhu Youxing readily agreed, as it was a mutually beneficial arrangement; it simply involved adding their names to the final list of finishers in the game, which was actually more effective than traditional film and television dramas.

Only players who actually complete the game will have the chance to see the credits at the end.

Generally speaking, if 30% of players complete a game, that's already a pretty good result. And it's hard to say how many of those 30% will have the patience to read through the credits.

Several martial arts schools have agreed to send their best disciples to teach at their company in the near future, so the programmers don't have to go out to learn on their own, which saves them a lot of time.

Of course, this will require an additional fee.

But now is the time to save time with money, so Zhu Youxing is naturally not stingy.

It's a bit of a shame that the current motion capture technology is only barely usable, and the accuracy is far from sufficient. Programmers still need to fine-tune the details one by one in the program. Otherwise, Zhuyouxing would have liked to just build a complete system.

The best action fighting games right now are still better in 2D. We can consider true 3D motion capture action games once the industry is more mature.

Thus, the fourth group spent almost a month specifically recording various fighting data in the development of Street Fighter, including all kinds of popular fighting styles from around the world.

Back then, the popularity of Street Fighter was probably partly due to this kind of mixed bag of styles.

People all over the world have similar thoughts: they want to see who wins and who loses when different fighting techniques from around the world clash.

After helping to contact the Budokan, Airi Hayazawa threw herself back into the development of the game console, while Yusei Take started to review and inspect the games produced by the second, third, and fourth groups one by one.

The second and third games were relatively simple, but they were still not to be taken lightly. Zhuyouxing's goal was to make them as perfect as possible; even the slightest imperfection was unacceptable. Only in this way could they attract as many players as possible.

Meanwhile, in Silicon Valley, located in the San Francisco Bay Area of ​​the United States, Minoru Matsushima was moving into a brand-new office building with his team.

Currently, the total size of companies in the United States is only a dozen or so people.

This number of people is more than enough for the initial stage, since the United States is not the main region for game development; the main development region is still concentrated in Japan.

Matsuhashi Minoru only briefly adjusted to the time difference before immediately getting back into work mode, becoming more dedicated than anyone else.

She cherishes this job very much, so she hopes to establish herself here no matter what.

Before the company's location was finalized, she had been running around looking for car manufacturers to cooperate with, but the response she received was always "no".

These car manufacturers have absolutely no interest in video games.

That's normal; the total number of gamers in the US is only a few hundred thousand right now.

Suri Electronics is indeed working hard here, but the results are not very good. According to Zhu Youxing, the games that Suri Electronics developed before were more inclined towards Asia-Pacific culture, and Europeans and Americans would be more accustomed to them.

Surui Electronics hadn't considered this before, so they didn't shift their focus to Europe and America in game development.

Currently, only racing games and basketball games are selling well.

However, since each game in the US can sell for an average of over $120, with a profit margin of seven or eight times, even with only a few hundred thousand players, they still made a lot of money.

Seeing the high profit margins, some young people in the United States also quickly invested in it.

Programmers in the US are generally more skilled, and they easily attracted many players and made a lot of money by creating better game effects.

In Zhuyouxing's view, the entire United States is still a gold mine waiting to be tapped, and a mere few hundred thousand players are simply not worthy of the total player base in the United States.

After securing the office location, Matsuhashi immediately began contacting advertisers and major retailers in the United States.

Selling products in the United States is not as simple as in Japan, where the home turf offers numerous advantages.

If you want to sell foreign products in the United States, you need to negotiate with retailers.

The most prominent sections are those selling electronic products and children's toys.

At the entrance to Woodson Department Stores' headquarters, Minoru Matsuhashi straightened his clothes, took a deep breath, and stepped into the headquarters of one of the United States' retail giants.

Matsuhashi walked up to the front desk and politely said to the receptionist, "Hello, I'm here to see Sales Manager David."

The receptionist looked up and asked, "Do you have an appointment?"

Matsuhashi shook his head: "No, because I have contacted your company many times, but I have not received a direct reply. We urgently need to talk to your company about the sale of a new product."

The receptionist said apologetically, "I'm sorry, ma'am, our company is very busy as it's nearing the end of the year, so our middle and senior management don't have much free time. If you have any products you'd like to sell, you can consider coming back after Christmas."

"Can't I just go directly to your manager, David?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, no, without an appointment we can't be sure when you can see Manager David."

Matsuhashi Minoru was somewhat unwilling to give up. She said, "I'm willing to wait. Just give me two minutes to introduce our company's video game console products to you. I believe you will be interested."

“Alright, then madam, you can wait in that tea room.”

The receptionist raised her hand to indicate a room on the side of the lobby that was labeled "Tea Room".

People who don't have an appointment usually just go there and wait.

However, people who enter a tea room usually stay there all day.

Especially with Christmas just two months away, retail giants are often at their busiest at this time.

Halloween promotions in November and Black Friday in December both require advance preparation.

Matsuhashi Minoru knew this in her heart, but she still had to try her luck.

Chapter 176 Let's just leave it hanging.

Unsurprisingly, Matsuhashi Minoru did not meet the manager David she was looking for.

When the receptionist saw Matsuhashi Minoru's stubborn appearance, she felt a little sorry for him and helped him make some contact.

However, the replies received were all that David's supervisor/manager was very busy at the moment and probably wouldn't be able to find the time.

Matsuhashi Minoru did not receive any good news until the company closed for the day.

In the US, employees leave work quickly without lingering for even a second.

This is completely different from the situation in Japan.

In Japan, if you don't voluntarily work overtime, your work ability will be questioned.

In other words, Takeyusei has always required its employees to get off work regular hours, making it a rare exception among Japanese companies.