Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

"Then... should I only buy one?"

One copy per machine.

"How much is it per serving, Takeyu-kun?" Ota suddenly felt a little inferior.

However, it is clearly a seller's market now, and if Zhu Youxing does not provide his own products, he will be helpless.

Because so far, it seems that no one else is doing the same thing as Zhu Youxing.

"Compared to the game console you bought, the games are actually very cheap. I don't intend to rip you off in this regard. After all, if possible, I would be willing to do business with you indefinitely. Besides, are you interested in doing bigger business?"

Ota's heart suddenly pounded a few times.

However, having weathered many storms, he didn't show it on his face.

"A big business? What kind of big business?"

"It's probably a business worth tens of billions," Zhu Youxing said casually, turning back to the computer screen to check for errors in the code.

It's as if tens of billions are not a particularly noteworthy number.

Ota Masashi immediately became energetic.

Chapter 28 A Market Worth Hundreds of Billions

A business worth tens of billions? Talking about that makes me wide awake.

But is it really worth tens of billions?

In fact, Zhu Youxing was slightly vague about this number.

The billions that Zhu Youxing mentioned are in US dollars.

Ota Masashi subconsciously thought of 10 billion yen, which is far from the expected amount.

However, if Takeyusei really said 10 billion US dollars, Ota Masahiro would probably think he was crazy.

This company is only just starting out and it's already thinking about a multi-billion dollar business. It just shows that young people are thinking too much and taking doing business far too lightly.

"Zhuyou-kun, can you tell me in detail what this multi-billion dollar business is all about? Is it related to this game console?"

“That’s right.” Zhu Youxing nodded. “Game consoles have this potential, but it has never been discovered in the past. This area is like an untapped gold mine.”

After a moment of thought, Ota Masashi said, "I have to admit, Takeyu-kun, your game console is indeed very popular. However, I don't think it will be that big. If you're talking about a billion-dollar scale, then it's possible."

Zhu Youxing didn't rush to explain, but instead asked, "Why would you say that?"

"Look, your game consoles are now placed in shopping malls and entertainment venues. How many game consoles does an entertainment venue need? On average, a hundred at most, right?"

Zhu Youxing nodded without denying it.

"Based on your future price, 50,000 yen per unit, 100 units would only amount to 5 million yen. If you sell 100 units to 20 arcades, that would only amount to 100 million yen. Or, if you also include those games you mentioned, how many of each game did you plan to sell?"

"I estimate it to be between three and four thousand yen."

"Huh? So cheap? I thought it would cost ten or twenty thousand."

Zhu Youxing waved his hand: "If that's the case, no one will buy it. I don't plan to set such a high price. However, if it's a special version for the arcade, there might be a price difference because it requires additional data adjustments and such."

Ota blinked. Did he think he had just heard the entertainment hall special version?

What do you mean? Is the game for the arcade a special edition, meaning there's a regular version? And who gets the regular version?

However, this was just a fleeting thought, and he didn't take it too seriously, continuing to express his opinion.

"So, if we calculate based on a maximum of 4,000 yen per game, and install the same game on 100 game consoles, that would only generate an extra 400,000 yen in revenue. Even if we install the game on 20 consoles, that would only amount to 8 million yen. That's far too little; it's nowhere near the 10 billion yen mark."

Unless this thing can be sold all over the world, then there's a chance.

But by then, it will probably be seven or eight years from now.

The scale of tens of billions seven or eight years later is also quite tempting, but there are too many variables involved. Zhu Youjun is only a young man in his early twenties, and he has no idea what kind of waves will rise in the process.

There is no shortage of shrewd people in this world.

When they discover the potential to make money from this product, they will immediately follow suit. Even if it may not be as good as your games and game consoles in every aspect, as long as it is attractive enough and cheap enough, it can take away your market share.

In many classic cases in the past, the same scenario has been playing out.

First movers have a certain advantage, but it is difficult for them to achieve a monopoly. There are countless examples of rising stars catching up and leaving the old guard behind.

Especially if this thing gets targeted by a large-scale enterprise, with its massive investment and influx of funds, the small company Zhuyouxing could be destroyed instantly.

The entertainment industry is not an easy business to run.

Takeyusei listened attentively to Ota Masashi's opinion, nodding repeatedly in agreement, which only confused Ota Masashi.

Since you agree with my opinion so much, why are you still so confident in saying that you have an industry worth tens of billions?

After Ota Masashi finished speaking, Takeyu-kun finally spoke.

“Ota-kun, I think you’ve gone in the wrong direction from the very beginning. The multi-billion dollar industry I’m talking about isn’t just about selling game consoles to arcades.”

Ota was taken aback.

If you don't sell to an entertainment venue, who else would you sell to? A shopping mall? Or rent it out yourself? Or...?

Ota suddenly realized something.

He stared wide-eyed.

"You're not planning to sell it to someone, are you?"

Zhu Youxing smiled and said, "Why not? From the very beginning, I intended my game console to be a home video game console, not an arcade game console."

"But...it's too expensive, 50,000 yen! An average family would never easily buy something that can only be used for playing games. It's absolutely impossible."

Ota shook his head vigorously, no matter what, he felt it was impossible.

"Let me be frank with you. The cost of this game console is currently only around 2,400 yen. This is because the labor cost is high due to manual assembly. The price I plan to sell the home game console for in the future is below 7,000 yen."

Da Tian's breath hitched.

How many?

The cost is only two thousand four?

You sold it to me for 200,000 yen!

How much money did you make off me?

Ota Masato forgot the more important information that Takeyusei had just mentioned, and instead suddenly remembered the price Takeyusei had paid for his game console.

That's already more than eighty times the profit, right?!

Just outrageous!

His initial estimate was that the game console would cost around 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Since there was only one company making the game console and games, he had no choice but to accept it.

That's over eighty times the profit?

"I know you're probably thinking about me selling you a game console for 200,000 yen right now, but as we say in China, business is business. It's a matter of mutual consent. What you should be thinking about is, if this thing were sold to millions of households, how big of an industry do you think it would become?"

Every family has children.

Even during the economic downturn following the bursting of the economic bubble, the average income of Japanese people remained relatively high globally.

If you ask them to spend 7,000 yen to buy a game console for their child, and then spend another 3,000 to 4,000 yen to buy an additional game, it can keep the child happy for a long time, and many families can afford it.

According to Japan's population statistics from a certain period of time, the population is around 120 million, with more than 80 million living in urban areas. If we calculate the average three-person household, that's more than 26 million urban households. Excluding elderly households, there are probably more than 10 million normal urban households.

If even one-tenth of these expenses are for their children, that's over a million families.

These are all things that are easy to calculate.

And one million multiplied by the average price of a game console and games (10,000 each) really does amount to tens of billions...

Ota looked at Takeyu-kun and saw many things in his eyes.

Then, Zhu Youxing dropped another statistic that made him even more breathless.

"In reality, the profit from game consoles is secondary. When necessary, I can even sell them at zero or even negative cost. The real profit comes from the games themselves. A single game costs three or four thousand yen. What about ten games? Twenty games? These are long-term windfall profits."

Ohta Masaru: "..."

My brain has temporarily shut down.

Chapter 29 A Typical Transmigrator, Bamboo Star

Zhu Youxing is a time traveler.

However, he was just an average transmigrator among the vast army of transmigrators.

There is no system, and no old man.

What Zhu Youxing is most grateful for is that video games don't require you to memorize the entire main storyline; most games focus more on gameplay.

The gameplay had already formed a complete set of routines by the time of Bamboo Star.

Given the technological level of this world, it would take at least another three to five years to create a movie-quality game. The technological talents in this world would need to improve the CG graphics to a certain level before they could make it. In the early stages of the game, gameplay is still king.

If you asked Zhu Youxing to create some classic movies, TV series, or anime, he might actually run into trouble, because apart from those obscure movies that he has watched dozens of times out of personal interest, he would have a hard time remembering all the details of the stories.

And the true essence of film and television dramas often lies in the details.

However, early games could generate significant profits simply by adding gameplay elements that had never been seen before in the world.

After finishing Dragon Quest, Zhu Youxing plans to immediately start making some small games, such as Gomoku and Ludo as supplements, then action games like Contra and Red Fortress, a two-player cooperative game like Tank Battle, and an adventure game like Castlevania.

The casual games include Bomberman and Galaga, which basically covers all the popular games in all categories of the Famicom.

Finally, here's the ultimate bombshell: Tetris, the world's best-selling game.

This includes all the most classic game templates from the NES.

It's not easy for programmers to create entirely new program code based on their imagination.

However, Zhu Youxing was still quite confident that he was simply replicating an existing code.

Therefore, he wasn't worried about the game lineup at all; his only concern was that it wouldn't be particularly popular at the beginning.

In retrospect, that worry was somewhat unnecessary.

However, Zhuyouxing still lacks a suitable partner.