A million in the first week

The news of the first day's sales figures was released in just 48 hours.

In the floors of major software companies in Tokyo, the phones started ringing off the hook.

May 3rd, Sega Headquarters, seventh floor, Third-Party Coordination Department.

The eight telephones in the office were constantly ringing, the sounds of keystrokes and tearing paper blending together.

Hisao Oguchi pushed open the department door, and several liaison officers who were holding call logs almost bumped into him.

"Who connected the line with Namco?" Hisao Oguchi stopped a subordinate wearing glasses.

The subordinate quickly handed over the splint in his hand. "It's Executive Director Nakanishi. Their R&D Department II held a closed-door meeting yesterday, and they called first thing this morning. They want to move the handheld lightweight version of Tekken to the forefront, but they require our technical department to provide the second batch of underlying development kits next week."

Hisao Oguchi flipped through the records in his hand, snatched the top summary sheet, and hurried upstairs.

In the president's office.

Nakayama Takuya is approving the Finance Department's second interest subsidy grant for the East Asia supply chain.

Hisao Oguchi didn't knock; he simply stepped inside and placed a few papers next to the approval document.

"The third party is getting restless."

Nakayama Takuya capped his pen and reached for the fax paper summary.

"Tell me, who has taken the bait?"

Hisao Oguchi dragged a chair over and sat down, unbuttoning his suit jacket. "Capcom, Konami, Namco, Enix had been pretending to be deaf and dumb all along. Before the press release was sent out, they made excuses, saying that color screens consume too much power and cartridge capacity was insufficient, and refused to give a clear project schedule. Now that the data of 500,000 units sold on the first day is on the table, their attitude has completely changed."

Nakayama Takuya flipped through the list in his hand.

What did Capcom say?

"Yoshiki Okamoto made the call himself." Hisao Oguchi opened his notebook. "He said that as long as the ghosting on Sharp's screen could be kept below par, Capcom was willing to start a Mega Man spin-off project for the GP2, and even considered porting Street Fighter Alpha with a moderate cut. The condition was that Sega would give them a 5% discount on the burning fee for the first batch of cartridges."

Nakayama Takuya chuckled. "Five points? He's dreaming. Tell him there's no discount, but on the shelves in the North America market, Sega can put their cartridges and the GP2 console on the same bundled display. Okamoto's a shrewd man; he knows how big the North America market is. That's enough to shut him up."

Hisao Oguchi quickly scribbled something on the paper. "Got it. What about Konami? They have a lot of cards to play."

"Konami is the type that won't act until they see results," Nakayama Takuya, leaning back in his leather chair. "What did they mention?"

"They saw the reaction to the four-player co-op in Metal Slug GP2 and they're incredibly envious." Hisao Oguchi capped his pen. "Their traditional Arcade Division can't sit still anymore. They're planning to make a new Castlevania game specifically for GP2, and at the same time, they're testing the possibility of porting a baseball game to a handheld console. As long as the machine's performance can handle their sprite layer scaling, they should be able to release a playable demo by the end of the year."

Nakayama Takuya tapped his fingers on the table. "At this rate, when will the first wave of large-scale shipments that third parties can actually deliver be concentrated?"

"The earliest it will be is November this year, just in time for Thanksgiving in North America and the year-end shopping season in the domestic market." Hisao Oguchi turned a page of the estimated schedule. "The core producers of third-party games are all working overtime right now. Their main teams are working on big titles for home consoles, but to secure a spot, almost every company has pulled aside key personnel at the deputy team leader level, pulling a dozen or so people to work on it separately. According to the coordination department's assessment, it is estimated that at least twenty to twenty-five significant third-party titles will be released to the market by the fourth quarter of this year."

"More than twenty models." Nakayama Takuya tossed the summary table back onto the table. "That's enough for us to maintain the GP2's market share."

Hisao Oguchi let out a breath and leaned forward slightly. "President, actually I've been doing some calculations these past two days."

Since its release, Jupiter has indeed been dominating Sony in the 30-bit console market thanks to Final Fantasy VII. However, Sony has a large cash reserve, and their second-tier games are also shipping like crazy in the second half of the year. The battle in the home console market is too fierce. If Jupiter is the only pillar, then there will be a period of market weakness before the next generation of home consoles are released.

Nakayama Takuya looked at him, gesturing for him to continue.

"Now the breach in GP2 is completely open." Hisao Oguchi's voice was low, but his tone was extremely fast. "As long as this batch of..."

The timely release of third-party games by the end of the year will solidify the handheld market for this generation of consoles. The cash flow and market buzz generated by the GP2 will, in turn, support the home console market. Even if the Jupiter is caught off guard by Sony's price wars in some regions, Sega's overall market share in the gaming market will not decline.

Nakayama Takuya opened the drawer beside him and took out a semi-annual financial forecast sent by Sega of America.

"You and Tom are thinking the same thing."

Nakayama Takuya pushed the calculation sheet in front of Hisao Oguchi.

"The technology for home consoles is evolving too rapidly. Jupiter's current hardware advantages can only last for another year and a half to two years. During this period, Nvidia's new graphics processors haven't even been taped out yet, so we can't rashly launch the next generation of home console hardware. If we rely solely on home consoles to fight off Sony's low-price, head-to-head competition during this window of opportunity, Sega's financial reports will look much worse."

Hisao Oguchi glanced at the profit curve on the table and nodded. "Therefore, we must let the GP2 take the lead at this stage. The hardware manufacturing cost of handheld consoles is low, and with our basic monopoly on the handheld console market, the profit will actually be higher than that of home consoles."

Hisao Oguchi closed the folder in his hand and pushed it forward half an inch.

The fax paper on the desk had piled up thickly, the top sheet still smelling of ink.

"I just received the full week's sales figures from North America." Hisao Oguchi glanced at his watch, his tone revealing barely suppressed excitement. "Seven full days since the release. Including the pickup orders from stores in Japan this morning, the GP2's global shipments have reached 980,000 units. By closing time today, breaking one million is a certainty."

Nakayama Takuya picked up the red and blue pencils beside him and twirled them between his fingers. "How much does North America account for?"

"Five hundred and twenty thousand plus zeros." Hisao Oguchi flipped to the first page of the folder. "Best Buy and Walmart, the two major systems, swallowed up thirty-six hundred thousand sets in one go. The rest were all distributed to Toys "R" Us"R" Us and independent retailers. Sega of America called last night, saying that some large stores simply set up barcode scanners next to the cardboard boxes at the checkout counters. As soon as the truck unloaded a box, the people in line would take it away, and they couldn't even get into the back warehouse."

Nakayama Takuya put his pen on the table and leaned back in his chair. "The assembly line in Tijuana did a great job."

"It's all thanks to this flexible supply chain." Hisao Oguchi ticked off a string of numbers on the table. "In the past week, supermarket shelves across the US have flashed red lights at least three times. Director Hatano's deputy in Mexico even compressed the shift change interval between day and night shifts to half an hour. But no matter how much stock was out of stock, the core distributors maintained a minimum turnover rate. No major store experienced completely empty shelves for more than half a day. As long as there were still samples on the shelves that could be touched, the players could pocket the money. That's the key to breaking 500,000 in seven days."

Nakayama Takuya chuckled. "If we were out of stock for three days, those hot-tempered college students in North America would have already overturned the counters. What about in Japan?"

"Hisao Oguchi quickly reported the local figures. "The initial stock at several large hypermarkets in Akihabara is completely sold out. Now we're relying entirely on expedited shipments from the East Asia Division, flying directly from Shenzhen to Narita Airport. Small and medium-sized retailers are crowding the Sales Department counters every day demanding quotas, and some are even bringing cash checks to snatch up goods."

"There's still not much activity in Europe?"

"Ubisoft is still pretending to maintain those few old stores in Western Europe," Hisao Oguchi sneered. "They've only sold a little over 50,000 units in Europe this week, not even a fraction of what they sold in North America. But they're getting anxious now, seeing the situation in Japan and the US..."

Due to the data overload, the Guillemot Brothers sent a fax last night through their Paris office, tentatively inquiring about the possibility of ordering an additional 60,000 machines with Spain and German firmware versions ahead of schedule.

"Let's schedule production according to the contract." Nakayama Takuya tapped the table. "We'll produce according to the amount of money they're paid. They weren't proactive before, and there's no use rushing them now. The raw materials and components are already ordered. If they want more, they either have to pay more or wait. We won't give Europe any additional machines before the contract expires in September. What we need to do now is push the momentum from both Japan and the US to its peak."

Hisao Oguchi nodded in agreement and pulled another draft proposal from his briefcase, handing it over.

"The Sales Department and Marketing and Publicity Department held a meeting overnight and came up with a proposal." Hisao Oguchi pointed to the title of the proposal. "They plan to officially release a press release to major game magazines and financial media around the world the day after tomorrow morning, publicly announcing GP2."

"It sold over a million units worldwide in its first week. Famitsu, Dengeki, and EGM in North America have already reserved space for it."

"Just reporting numbers isn't exciting enough." Nakayama Takuya flipped through the business plan. "Numbers are for investors and shareholders; what players care about is what they can play next."

"Their second step is ready too." Hisao Oguchi. "The press release will simultaneously reveal the exact release window for the second batch of major titles."

Nakayama Takuya looked up at him. "What cards did you play?"

"They're all familiar faces who can handle tough battles." Hisao Oguchi counted on his fingers. "The first one is the latest installment of Ace Attorney, which already has a player base of four games on Game Pocket, so sales are guaranteed; the second one is a brand new Sonic game, with handheld exclusive levels, and it's been specially optimized for the high-speed scrolling ghosting issue on Sharp's color LCD screen."

The third one, and the one that Shueisha is keeping the closest eye on, is * Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Battle *.

Nakayama Takuya stopped flipping through the pages.

Yu-Gi-Oh!- Oh!?

"Yes." Hisao Oguchi's expression brightened. "Shueisha's manga series is currently in the climax of the Duelist Kingdom, and the physical cards are already going viral among elementary school students. The production team in charge of this project is very clever; they not only simplified the rules electronically but also maximized the use of infrared communication. Two machines can be pointed at each other to draw cards and battle directly. During the battle, different lines will be played depending on the opponent, creating a great atmosphere. You can also exchange duplicate rare cards. The Planning Department has assessed that this will be just as impactful as Pokémon."

"The timing is perfect." Nakayama Takuya closed the proposal and pushed it back to Hisao Oguchi. "Keep this pace. When the first batch of machines are released, many people still think they're buying handhelds just to play Pokémon and Plants vs. Zombies. Once the second batch of core players gets going, those mid-to-hardcore gamers who are holding onto their old machines and waiting will finally open their wallets."

Hisao Oguchi stood up, holding the folder to his chest. "I'll have the Marketing and Publicity Department finalize the wording of the press release right away."

Nakayama Takuya leaned back in his Genuine Leather chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Tell Terauchi to tighten the quality control at the contract manufacturer. We've held on for so long; if there's a shortage when the second batch of games is released, all our efforts will be in vain, and we'll be the ones getting blamed."

Hisao Oguchi responded and quickly walked out of the office.

On the first weekend of May, the shelves of bookstores and convenience stores in Tokyo were stocked with the latest issues of weekly magazines.

On the early morning commuter trains, commuters crammed under the handrails no longer just read social news; many are clutching their newly bought Famitsu.

This issue of Famitsu gave GP2's launch lineup extremely high marks, with the editorial team dedicating a double-page spread to highlight all four launch titles on the main review page.

"Tetris GP2: Faithfully recreates the simplest fun, the most universally appealing beginner game. The four-player mode completely activates the handheld console's party potential. It scored 32 points and entered the Golden Hall of Fame."

"Plants vs. Zombies: Amazing strategic depth, very smooth controls, suitable for all ages, the best game for killing time on handheld consoles, rated 36 points and entering the Platinum Hall of Fame."

"Metal Slug GP2: A near-perfect arcade port, the fun is amplified by simultaneous explosions and four-player teamwork to grab ammo boxes, the frame rate performance far exceeded expectations, and it scored 35 points to enter the Platinum Hall of Fame."

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire: Both versions scored 38 points, Platinum Hall of Fame fame that was no surprise.

The leap from black and white to full color, the weather system, and the two-player battles completely changed the game's underlying logic. The infrared communication of the Electronic Pet machine further upgraded the breeding chain, creating an unprecedented hardware and software integration experience in handheld game history.

Below the review section, editor-in-chief Hirokazu Hamamura wrote a nearly 2,000-word feature article. "The original Game Pocket has passed its stable lifespan since its release, with the performance of monochrome screens and cartridge capacity gradually reaching their limits. The industry initially had doubts about the power consumption and portability of color screen handhelds, but the GP2, with its specially designed reflective screen from Sharp, delivered a satisfactory answer. More importantly, Sega didn't try to fool the market with a hastily produced port; four..."

Each of the launch titles perfectly caters to the needs of different levels of players. The over one million units shipped in the first week is not a sign of channel inflation, but rather a concentrated release of long-suppressed player demand stimulated by high-quality products.