A Third Party Understanding
The assistant's laughter hadn't stopped when, as if remembering something, he quickly flipped to another page of the report, his expression becoming somewhat strange, a mixture of excitement and uncertainty.
"Executive Director, and also the royalty report that the Finance Department just compiled."
Nakayama Takuya held up his teacup, gesturing for him to continue.
"Our MD host—the latest hardware-to-software ratio—has broken through 5.2:1." When the assistant announced this number, he paused for a moment, as if to confirm that he hadn't misread it.
5.2 to 1!
This means that, on average, each Mega Drive player bought more than five game cartridges.
This is extremely healthy ecological data.
"For GamePocket, because the release date is still recent and the game lineup is still expanding, the software/hardware ratio has reached 3.6 to 1, and the growth momentum is very strong."
Nakayama Takuya put down his teacup, the bottom of which made a soft sound as it touched the table.
He didn't speak, but simply watched his assistant quietly, waiting for him to figure out what it meant.
The assistant didn't disappoint him. He suddenly looked up, his eyes gleaming. "I get it! Although our commission per royalty is much lower than Nintendo's, players buy more games! With a larger base, the total volume goes up!"
He excitedly flipped to the last page of the report, pointing to the total figures, his voice trembling slightly. "This quarter's total royalty revenue is higher than our console hardware profits and our own game profits from the same period last year!"
Even Nakayama Takuya couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
This was indeed an unexpected yet perfectly reasonable surprise.
His initial strategy was primarily aimed at building a thriving developer ecosystem, using a continuous stream of games to counter Nintendo's powerful first-party game lineup.
Unexpectedly, it grew into a treasure trove that could directly produce gold so quickly.
"Yamauchi Haku's idea is to take a huge slice from every third-party game," Nakayama Takuya leaned back in his chair, his hands clasped in front of him. "And we, on the other hand, are helping everyone to make the pie bigger. If the pie is big enough, even if we only get our own slice, we'll still have enough profit."
Looking at the enlightened faces in the conference room, he continued, "During Nintendo's Famicom era, besides Nintendo's own games and giants like Enix, how many third-party developers could create games that sold millions of copies? Yamauchi Haku's high-pressure policies drained the energy of most small and medium-sized developers. They dared not innovate, could only follow trends, and ultimately became cannon fodder."
"And what about us at MD?" he asked, looking at his assistant.
The assistant immediately straightened up and fluently recited the data. "The total number of games on the MD platform has exceeded three hundred! Twelve games have already sold over a million copies worldwide! Several others are stuck at around nine hundred thousand, and could break that mark at any moment!"
"See that? That's our confidence." Nakayama Takuya said with complete certainty.
"Nintendo's 2.5 million Super Famicom units were built on the reputation accumulated during the Famicom era. Our 30 million Mega Drive units, on the other hand, were earned through one fun game after another, genuinely won from players' pockets."
He has his past, and we have our present.
Yamauchi Haku's checkbook was ultimately thicker than the suppliers'.
After Nintendo readily made a large advance payment, the factory owners who had previously complained about being poor immediately changed their tune, starting up their machines overnight, with the lights on the production lines burning brightly throughout the night.
In mid-December, the supply of SFC mainframes finally stabilized, and boxes of brand-new machines were delivered to electronics stores across the country.
However, the market sentiment has quietly shifted.
The initial wave of enthusiasm, fueled by the media and core players, has gradually cooled down after more than half a month of shortages.
The Christmas shopping season has arrived, and the shelves are overflowing with a wide variety of products, offering gamers more than just Nintendo to choose from.
"Executive Director, latest weekly report."
It was still the same section chief from the Marketing Department, but this time his face no longer showed worry; instead, he seemed to be carrying a treasure, and his steps were lighter.
Nakayama Takuya took the report, but before he could even read it carefully, the section chief couldn't help but start explaining it himself.
"Look here, this Famitsu's latest weekly sales chart. Of the top ten, besides the ever-present Super Mario World still holding the number one spot, seven out of the remaining nine are Mega Drive games!"
He pointed excitedly at the paper with his finger. "Konami's latest Contra was released right during Christmas week, and it sold 300,000 copies in just three days! And Capcom's Final Fight, they're all huge hits!"
Several people in the office who had overheard the conversation gathered around, their expressions a mix of amusement and disbelief as they looked at the list.
This was practically a premeditated siege.
While everyone's attention was focused on the Super Famicom and Mario, Sega's third-party franchises quietly completed their encirclement of the Christmas market.
The assistant, watching from the side, gasped in astonishment and couldn't help but whisper, "Konami's president Kozuki was quite the shrew."
Upon hearing this, Nakayama Takuya smiled.
"That's called teamwork." He put down the report. "Nintendo's tight production capacity gave everyone a breather and time to react. Those players who just bought the Super Famicom spent two weeks beating Mario, and then what? They have to find something else to do; they can't just keep that brand-new machine as a family heirloom."
The section chief nodded repeatedly, adding, "That's right! The staff at the Akihabara store said that quite a few customers would look at the Nintendo shelves for a long time, then turn around, stroll over here, pick up an MD cartridge, and go to pay."
The people in the office relaxed, and the heavy feeling of being overwhelmed by the 2.5 million sales figure had vanished.
Facts speak louder than words.
Even with high sales, Super Mario World is still just one game.
Sega's Mega Drive (MD) was backed by a mature and rapidly developing gaming ecosystem.
"Well done." Nakayama Takuya looked at the section chief. "The ' MD Old Game Promotion Plan ' that I asked you to devise seems to be working very well."
"Yes, Executive Director!" The section chief immediately straightened his back, a stark contrast to his gloomy demeanor a few days ago. "We've partnered with several major chain stores to launch a 'Play Mario, then try Sonic ' bundled discount. Buy one Sonic game and get a free million-selling game from last year, like Art of Fighting or Golden Sun, at half price."
"It now seems that many new SFC users have been lured into the MD camp by us." This conclusion invigorated the entire Marketing Department, proving that their previous efforts had not been in vain.