MD Stockpiling
The global buzz surrounding the DDR City Championship ultimately gave Sega another significant bargaining chip in its negotiations with Toshiba.
The negotiations have finally come to a conclusion.
The news was personally brought back to Sega Headquarters by directors Terauchi and Hatano.
Faced with this irresistible million-level order and the visible cultural phenomenon that DDR has sparked globally, Toshiba finally abandoned its last bit of restraint.
They agreed to Sega's terms with a group purchase price of less than 2,000 Japanese yen for the MC68000 chip and less than 800 Japanese yen for the Z80 chip.
Furthermore, Toshiba solemnly promised that, starting in January 1988, it would prioritize Sega's production capacity and begin to supply it stably.
When the news reached them, all the top executives breathed a sigh of relief; the heaviest weight on their hearts had finally been lifted.
Without any delay, directors Terauchi and Hatano immediately activated the resources of the Hong Kong and Taiwan contract manufacturers that they had been preparing for some time.
The MD main unit production line, like a tightly wound precision machine, began to operate at full speed with a deep and powerful roar at the sound of a command.
With the production line started, the lineup of launch titles for the Mega Drive was finally finalized.
These are four ported games: Fatal Fury, Tetris, Action Fighter, and Space Harrier.
And, the first official game based on Sega's flagship IP, Pokémon, is Pokémon Adventure: Pokémon Land.
Meanwhile, other games developed at the same time will be released one game per week, half a month after the release of the Mega Drive, to create a continuous sales offensive and gradually build up the depth of the game lineup.
The release date was set for February 13, 1988, the day before Valentine's Day.
At this point, keeping the Mega Drive a secret within Sega was no longer of much significance.
In fact, it could be said that in a company like Sega, where factions are numerous and interpersonal relationships are deeply entrenched, it is quite a miracle that a core project can hold back until two months before its release to finally reveal all its details.
The entire company, from R&D to marketing, from production to logistics, has entered the highest level of combat readiness.
A tense, excited, and expectant atmosphere filled the air as everyone made their final push for the upcoming next-generation console war.
While the MD project was progressing smoothly, Nakayama Takuya turned his attention to another direction.
He convened the joint development team, whose morale was high due to the huge success of DDR and who were enjoying the company's hero treatment, and proposed a brand new task.
Develop a home version of DDR that can run on MD.
At the heart of this solution are a dedicated LD player that needs to be connected to an external MD host, and a home-use dance mat.
In the meeting room, the team members, who had just been immersed in joy, now showed a hint of confusion on their faces.
"Takuya- kun, LD players are extremely expensive."
The project leader was the first to raise a question, which was also the biggest concern in everyone's mind.
"I know."
Nakayama Takuya's answer was calm and confident, clearly indicating that he had given it considerable thought.
"Therefore, this equipment was never intended to be a mass-market consumer product from the beginning."
His fingers tapped lightly on the whiteboard, drawing everyone's attention.
"I see it as a symbol of honor, an ultimate fan perk."
The first batch of products will be launched as a limited edition commemorative edition of the "DDR Global City Championship".
"The aircraft will be printed with the exclusive logos and representative colors of the champion, runner-up, and third-place winners of this competition."
"This is designed for core gamers with sufficient spending power; it's top-tier merchandise for them to buy and collect."
Its existence is, in turn, to enhance the brand image and generate buzz for our MD console.
The confusion on the team members' faces was gradually replaced by an excited realization.
Nakayama Takuya continued to put forward his ideas.
"In addition, I require that this external LD player must have a switching function, so that it can play ordinary LD discs on the market independently when not connected to an MD player."
He scanned the crowd and explained, "This will greatly increase the product's added value, making it more than just an expensive gaming peripheral. At the same time, it's also a bargaining chip to allow this product to be part of Sony's LD strategic ecosystem, in exchange for free technology licensing and low-cost component procurement from Sony."
Finally, he changed the subject and added the most crucial safety valve to this seemingly radical project.
Most importantly, this project does not require a large amount of inventory.
"After the limited-edition commemorative edition is released, we will adopt a model of small-batch distribution combined with pre-orders and small-batch production to strictly control output and absolutely avoid any risk of hardware inventory backlog."
These words completely dispelled the team's last concerns.
December 27, 1987.
The first workday after the Christmas holidays.
After weeks of fierce competition, the winners of the DDR competition in sixteen cities around the world have finally been determined.
However, just as the excitement of the event subsided slightly, an interesting phenomenon occurred.
Japan embassies in 14 overseas cities around the world received far more short-term tourist visa applications than in previous years, almost simultaneously.
Japan, Tokyo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In a bright and clean office, an official in charge of cultural exchange affairs was holding a cup of hot tea, his face beaming with barely suppressed joy as he looked at the data report that had just been compiled.
"That's great! That's absolutely great!"
He excitedly told his colleague, "It seems this year's overseas cultural and tourism promotion budget has been well spent! We expect a surge in the number of overseas tourists visiting Japan during the New Year period!"
This perfectly aligns with the Japan government's current desire to enhance its international influence, and the atmosphere in the entire office was one of jubilation.
This is undoubtedly one of the biggest achievements of the year, proving that Japan's national influence and cultural appeal are growing day by day.
This official has even begun drafting a report to his superiors detailing his achievements.
However, to make the report more detailed, he instructed his subordinates to conduct a sample analysis of the backgrounds of these new visa applicants in order to identify which aspects of the publicity had achieved such remarkable results.
The analysis results came back quickly.
When that thin, yet groundbreaking, analytical report was placed on the desk, everyone in the office was stunned.
The report shows that the vast majority of these tourists who have surged in a short period of time are young people around twenty years old.
The reasons they gave for applying for visas, or the documents they carried, all pointed to the same goal.
Tokyo, DDR Global Finals.
The smiles on the officials' faces froze.
After the brief mistake came an unprecedented silence, a silence tinged with absurdity and shock.
They immediately realized that a completely new model of "cultural export" and "tourism attraction" driven entirely by private commercial activities had taken shape without their knowledge.
This is more than just a game competition.
This is an unprecedented global event that can bring tangible economic and cultural benefits to the country.
In the office, the senior official, who had been immersed in joy, slowly took off his glasses and carefully wiped them with a velvet cloth.
His movements were slow, but his eyes gleamed with a new, cautious yet intensely interested light.
He began to re-evaluate the influence of Sega and Sony, as well as emerging technologies including video games, on young people around the world from a perspective he had never had before.