"Peace Dividend"
Ken Kutaragi, appeared much calmer. He adjusted his glasses, his focus entirely different. "With the Cold War over, the United States will definitely cut military spending, and the related technology blockade might loosen somewhat. Our semiconductor division might be able to acquire some good stuff."
He truly lives up to his reputation as a tech fanatic; his mind is always solely focused on technology.
Norio Ohga didn't participate in the discussion. He simply stood up, walked to the liquor cabinet, poured three glasses of whiskey, and then turned off the television.
"The funeral of one empire is a carnival for another." He handed his glass to the two men, then took it to the window and looked down at the Tokyo night view.
"Just watch, starting this Christmas, the entire Western world will be plunged into a false sense of security and a frenzy of consumerism."
Ryoji Chubachi and Ken Kutaragi exchanged a glance, not quite understanding their president's meaning.
A few days later, they understood.
An urgent sales report from Europe was delivered to Norio Ohga's desk.
"President, here's the data from the Europe branch, take a look." Ryoji Chubachi handed over the report, his face showing an expression of utter disbelief. "Nintendo's SNES is selling like hotcakes in Europe."
"It's selling like hotcakes?" Ken Kutaragi leaned over and snatched the report.
The data clearly shows that during the Christmas holidays, SNES sales in major Europe countries such as the UK, France, and Germany saw an incredible and steep increase, with some regions even experiencing a complete sell-out.
"This doesn't make sense!" Ken Kutaragi exclaimed, utterly baffled. "We all know that Nintendo's software lineup in Europe is worse than in North America, and their localization is a complete mess. What makes them think they can compete? Do Europe players really enjoy playing the Japanese version of Zelda that much?"
"They didn't do anything," Ryoji Chubachi added, having spent the entire morning researching. "No new promotional campaign, no new releases, not even a price reduction. Sales just exploded without warning."
In the office, only Norio Ohga showed no surprise.
He leaned back in his chair, slowly picked up a copy of the Financial Times, and pointed to an inconspicuous section headline.
"Peace Dividend."
He uttered four words softly.
"The biggest military threat has disappeared, people believe there will be no more wars in the future, and the country will cut defense spending and use the money for people's livelihood and welfare."
Everyone felt that good days were coming, and naturally, they dared to spend the money in their pockets.
Norio Ohga put down his newspaper and glanced at his two capable lieutenants.
"Look, a political event in Moscow can cause a game console, which is completely unrelated to it, to sell out thousands of kilometers away. What does that tell you?"
He paused, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"This shows that this market is larger and more insane than any of us imagined! It doesn't even fully follow business logic, but is driven by the most basic human emotions—fear, hope, and euphoria!"
"We were discussing how much money to spend and what methods to use to tap into the market. Now it seems the overall strategy is still the same."
Norio Ohga stood up, his eyes gleaming with an unprecedented light.
"Kutaragi, you can completely let your SFC-CD project, which's been stalled, rest on its laurels. Pour all the resources and top-tier technology onto the PlayStation! I don't care what methods you use, the project needs to be accelerated!"
Ken Kutaragi's breathing quickened instantly, and his eyes behind his glasses flashed with a terrifying light—this was the command he had been longing for!
"Boss, go ahead! You pay me, I'll pack up the men!"
"Money is not a problem." Norio Ohga then turned to Ryoji Chubachi. "Chubachi, weren't they stubborn and unwilling to negotiate with you when we asked you to contact those third parties before?"
A cold, stern smile curved his lips.
"From now on, let's change our approach. We won't talk about acquisitions; we'll poach talent. Bring every single one of their top producers, programmers, and artists to Sony!"
"Tell them that Sony not only has money, but also an unprecedented platform that can realize all their wildest dreams!"
The situation in Europe was quickly relayed back to Ubisoft 'Tokyo headquarters through Sega, Sega's largest distributor in Europe.
The fax machine not only displayed astonishing sales figures for the Nintendo SNES, but also a long list of urgent orders, specifically requesting the import of several of the latest Sega games from North America arcades.
The atmosphere in the Marketing Department office at Sega Headquarters was somewhat oppressive.
"This is like a windfall falling from the sky and hitting Nintendo on the head!" A section chief slammed the report on the table, his face full of resentment.
"They did absolutely nothing! Because of a political event completely unrelated to gaming, they reaped a huge advantage in Europe! A portion of the advantage we worked so hard to build in North America has been wiped out!"
"Yeah, it's so unfair! This is just too lucky." The colleague next to him sighed, all the joy and excitement from the past few days had vanished.
Nakayama Takuya walked in carrying a cup of hot tea. Seeing his subordinates, all looking gloomy and dejected, he couldn't help but laugh.
"What's going on? Everyone looks so miserable. You'd think the company is going bankrupt."
"Special Manager!" The section chief, seeing him, seemed to have found his pillar of support and immediately rushed over with the report. "Look at this, Nintendo in Europe— "
Nakayama Takuya took the report, glanced at it, and casually put it aside, his smile undiminished.
"I thought it was something serious. It's just a few sales in Europe, is it really that big of a deal?"
He looked around, noticing the puzzled expressions on everyone's faces, then walked to the whiteboard, picked up a pen, and wrote down a few numbers.
"Let's do the math. In North America, nearly three million units were sold in the first month, and in Japan, sales had already exceeded five million. Now, with this unexpected surge in Europe, the total global sales of SNES are almost reaching the ten million mark."
He turned around and tapped the whiteboard with his pen. "See? This means Nintendo has completely crossed the line between life and death. Our idea of defeating them with one or two battles is no longer realistic. From now on, it's real close combat."
The atmosphere in the office remained heavy, with someone muttering, "What about all our previous efforts—"
"All the hard work paid off." Zhong Takuya interrupted him, his voice soft but firm, "Don't forget how much ahead we are now." He erased the numbers on the whiteboard and rewrote "20 million+".
"This is the number of units the Mega Drive sold worldwide that the Super Famicom sold—over 20 million more! What does that mean? It means our user base is much larger than theirs! Every new game we release has 20 million more potential buyers than theirs!"