Pokémon

In late April, a new project planning meeting was about to begin at Sega headquarters.

Around the oval mahogany conference table sat a dense crowd, with quite a few more unfamiliar faces than usual.

Besides the executive directors and department heads, several shareholder representatives who normally took little part in management were also present.

Their expressions were complicated, carrying both trust in Nakayama Takuya's past achievements and a trace of barely perceptible scrutiny.

After all, at the last shareholders' meeting, it had been this young man who secured crucial support for accelerating the development of a 16-bit home console with his promise of "new revenue growth points."

Now, it was time for him to deliver something real.

The meeting began in an orderly fashion.

The head of game development first gave a concise report on each team's progress. The early demo version of Out Run had been completed, while the other project teams were steadily advancing and nearing completion.

The reporting segment quickly ended, and everyone's eyes converged, as if by unspoken agreement, on the young figure seated at one side of the conference table—Nakayama Takuya.

He sat upright, his gaze calm.

"Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend."

After a brief greeting, Takuya signaled for his assistant to unfurl the screen in front of them and switch on the projector. As the beam lit up, what appeared on the screen was not a game development proposal, but page after page of charts and data.

"These are the results of several social phenomenon surveys we commissioned from third-party research institutions."

"The data shows that in present-day Japanese society, fathers generally spend severely insufficient time with their children and wives, while wives often lose themselves in household chores that are anything but easy, yet endlessly repetitive."

"Many families, particularly urban families with fast-paced lives, face enormous pressure in raising children, yet have very limited energy they can actually devote to it. In the current favorable economic climate, too many people are busy making money and simply cannot spare the time to sit at home a little longer."

"At the same time, we have observed a phenomenon. Against this social backdrop, people—especially children and housewives—show a strong latent need for emotional support."

"Pets have naturally become an important outlet for emotional release and comfort."

"We found several academic papers stating that companionship from pets can effectively ease stress and loneliness."

"However, the cost, time, energy, and even extensive specialized knowledge required to raise traditional pets form an insurmountable threshold for many potential owners."

"This is especially true for office workers and students. They crave companionship, yet often find it difficult to bear the responsibility and burden of keeping a real pet."

He spoke at an even pace as he laid out the survey findings.

Quite a few of the executives present nodded subconsciously. The predicament described by the data might well have reflected the daily lives of themselves or their families.

The projected image shifted at just the right moment, displaying several warm photographs of people interacting with pets, and the atmosphere eased somewhat.

"Our research further shows that if there were a kind of 'pet' that could provide ample emotional companionship while requiring almost no real-life care—"

"Then, regardless of gender, age, or professional background, respondents generally showed extremely high interest and potential willingness to purchase it."

The atmosphere in the meeting room began to change subtly.

Takuya had skillfully guided everyone's attention toward a market demand that seemed unrelated to Sega's core game business, yet was filled with human warmth.

The groundwork had been laid sufficiently.

Takuya paused briefly, his calm gaze sweeping across the room as he caught the growing curiosity in everyone's eyes.

He knew the time had come.

He reached into the briefcase he had brought with him and, with a careful solemnity in his movements, took out an object.

A red-and-white plastic sphere, only about the size of a palm.

A striking black band ran around its middle, with a simple SEGA logo printed at its center.

Its surface was smooth and its shape rounded. It lay quietly on the table, yet possessed a peculiar appeal.

"This is the core medium we conceived to meet the market demand mentioned above."

He gently pushed the small ball toward the center of the conference table.

In an instant, everyone's attention was firmly drawn to the unremarkable little sphere.

"Please note, this is not a simple toy."

An involuntary trace of barely contained excitement entered Takuya's voice.

"It is the starting point for our entirely new concept—'digital companions,' or, as I would prefer to call them, 'Pokémon.'"

"'Pokémon' is the collective term we have given these special 'digital companions.' By Japanese word-creation conventions, the term is easy to understand: Poké comes from the English word pocket, while mon comes from the English word monster. Together, they mean 'Pocket Monsters.'"

That was right. The project Takuya had painstakingly prepared alone for half a year was Pokémon, known in his previous life as the "world's number one IP"!

"Within this tiny sphere, all kinds of 'companions' with unique lives can 'live.'"

"Each of them possesses a distinct appearance, personality traits, and even different abilities."

"Through extremely simple operations, users can interact with the 'companions' inside their own spheres—for example, by 'feeding' them and observing their growth and changes."

"This directly fulfills people's deep inner longing for companionship. More importantly, it greatly lowers the threshold for 'raising' something in the traditional sense."

"Just as the pain points revealed by our earlier research showed, they are easy to 'care for' and perfectly suit modern society's fast pace and gap in emotional needs." As he said this, Takuya silently offered Bandai an apology—Bandai's future lifesaving work, Tamagotchi, had just been snatched away by Takuya.

A director who appeared to be in charge of finance finally could not hold back any longer. His tone carried obvious confusion and caution.

"Nakayama-kun, this... thing—what is its profit model?"

"What connection did it have to our existing arcade and home console businesses?"

This was undoubtedly the question on everyone's mind—the most direct and fundamental question.

Takuya seemed to have anticipated it long ago, and a confident smile curved his lips.

"Its value went far beyond personal entertainment and emotional companionship."

"One of its core appeals lay in the immense diversity of the 'partners' themselves, and the powerful desire to collect that arose from it."

"Once players owned one, they would naturally want to obtain more 'Pokémon' of different species and abilities."

"This mechanism inherently gave the product a strong capacity for sustained consumer spending."

"More importantly, the concept of 'Pokémon' possessed unparalleled social potential and expandability."

"When designing this platform, I referred to and improved upon the battle data cable interface used in the handheld version of Tetris. We could likewise create a simple linking cable, allowing two players with 'Pokémon' Balls to connect them."

"After connecting, both sides' 'partners' could engage in simple interactions, communicate, or even battle on their respective screens. Imagine it: like two strangers walking their pet dogs down the street. The people might not have had time to speak yet, but their pets would already be sniffing at each other and playing together."

"Within Japan's distinctive social atmosphere, this design would easily create large groups driven by peer influence and greatly encourage interaction between players, spontaneously forming a vibrant community ecosystem."

He paused briefly, watching the expressions on their faces gradually shift from confusion to contemplation, before presenting another plan with even greater potential for imagination.

"At the same time, relying on the generally cute, distinctive, and charming images of the 'Pokémon'..."

"We could simultaneously plan and produce an animated series, further expanding the world and influence of 'Pokémon' through television."

As Takuya spoke, he took out the Pokémon designs he had prepared from his briefcase and projected them onto the screen—the original three starters: Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the three adorable figures.

"And based on both the animation and the 'Pokémon' themselves, we could develop an entire range of merchandise."

"For example, various stickers, pendants, and the most popular of all—plush dolls."

"You all should know better than I do what kind of profit margins these products offer."

His gaze swept over several directors whose eyes had lit up, as though they could already see printing presses rolling.

"This entirely new model could attract a broader user base that our existing businesses could not reach."

"Especially younger users and female users."

"This would create a new, sustained, high-profit source of revenue."

"As for how it connected to our gaming business, I thought I would reveal that at a suitable time in the future."