I bet it all on a new era

"People often say I'm a shrewd speculator, but I think I'm probably just lucky."

Shigeo Maruyama slowly set down his teacup, his gaze fixed intently on his junior. "Give it a try, Kutaragi. I believe in my luck."

He decided to take the risk one more time.

The two talked until late at night.

What the two discussed in this closed-door meeting remains unknown to outsiders.

But one thing is certain.

After that night, Ken Kutaragi's back was no longer empty.

In addition to the support of Sony president Norio Ohga, he also has another powerful force behind him.

SME Sony Music.

Unlike Ken Kutaragi, who was already a troublemaker who didn't get along with many people within the company.

Shigeo Maruyama was truly a man of high moral character and prestige.

The entire SME wields considerable influence.

With his strong support, Ken Kutaragi can now be certain of at least one thing.

That means I probably won't be sunk in Tokyo Bay anytime soon.

I finally have a chance to catch my breath and seriously consider the next steps.

Sony Music's involvement is like a signal.

Within just a few days, Sony Pictures Entertainment Company (SPE) also expressed its willingness to support the PlayStation project.

Ken Kutaragi wasn't particularly surprised by their choice of sides.

Rather, it's more accurate to say that from the very beginning, Sony Pictures Entertainment was the party it intended to win over.

However, no one expected that the first company to stand up for him would be Sony Music (SME).

The reason is simple: SPE (Sony Pictures Entertainment) already has a business related to video games.

SonyImagesoft, founded two years ago, is a video game publisher owned by Sony.

Although its development capabilities are weak, it has already developed some distribution capabilities and is barely able to gain a foothold in the European and American markets.

For SPE, Ken Kutaragi's project is definitely a matter of interest.

Their extensive network of developer contacts and their connections with publishers like EA will be invaluable Fortune to PlayStation.

Upon learning of this, Ken Kutaragi was truly relieved.

With the support of SPE, SME, and Norio Ohga, he has enough to protect himself.

But it's still not time for a formal announcement.

If he dares to act out now, during such a sensitive time, those anxious board members will definitely give him a hard time.

What needs to be done now is to preserve the technological assets of the PlayStation project as much as possible with the support of all three parties.

We must retain our existing investments and technical talent as much as possible.

Then, with the support of all three parties, we should strive to gain as much autonomy as possible.

When the time is right, he can fulfill the plan he made with Maruyama- senpai and win a real future for Play-Station—no, for PlayStation.

Meanwhile, GAMENOVA's new game projects are progressing steadily.

They had no interest in the ups and downs of the outside world.

From hardware to software to art to motion design, and then to music----

Each step involved at least dozens of people.

It took a lot of time for the large group of people to get along.

Lin Lixin, in particular, as the creative director, spends his days moving between various stages to control the direction.

Fortunately, he had Cerny as a mediator and Sam as a logistics provider, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Otherwise, even with cheat codes, you'd still have to work around the clock.

However, while Gamenova ignored the outside storm, Nintendo paid close attention.

After all, Nintendo is far too small compared to Sony.

This period has definitely been a tough one for Nintendo.

Although they have finally succeeded in breaking free from their dependence on Sony, it has come at a cost.

This is more like a desperate attempt to survive by cutting off an arm.

Philips —they're just as ruthless as any other company that preys on people.

While the contract between Nintendo and Philips wasn't as outrageous as Sony's, it was still a significant blow.

The conditions for the exchange are simple.

Philips leveraged its proprietary optical disc drive technology to help Nintendo circumvent Sony's dominance.

Nintendo, on the other hand, had to relinquish the IP rights to classic characters like Mario, licensing Philips to develop Nintendo games on the CD-i.

The so-called CD-i is actually a Green Book standard optical disc format developed by Philips and Sony a few years ago.

A typical optical media drive is designed for interactive data storage and can be used to store audio, images, videos, and programs.

Its purpose was very clear: it was obviously created for video games.

If you want to develop video games, you have to follow this standard.

It was this very thing that disgusted most of the gaming industry and caused a setback in the development of CD-ROMs.

Apart from a few geniuses like GAMENOVA who were able to stubbornly create a new format, everyone else chose to continue using cartridges, preferring to die rather than give up.

Now things are much better. Philips has finally relented, and SFC can now use the CD-i format.

This means that Nintendo no longer needs to rack up cartridge capacity or bow down to Sony and relinquish its independence.

Selling the character licenses to Philips, while still a significant blow, at least saved Nintendo's core business.

The next step is to implement optical disc drive technology as soon as possible.

As for what games Philips actually plans to make with their copyrights?

Then it's not their responsibility.

Nintendo has gotten what it wanted.

The 1990s were an era full of opportunities.

The undercurrents in the gaming industry are being observed by many.

Some people remained on the sidelines, while others were itching to take action.

Aside from the Game Nova series, Nintendo, and Sony, which is gearing up for a major expansion.

There's also a less conspicuous manufacturer quietly preparing for its final dance.

Of course, this time it wasn't EA and their 3D0.

It's an older, more established America and Stripes game company.

Atari.

Inside the office.

Jack Tramiel studied the latest company reports, his expression somewhat complicated.

As the founder of Commodore International and the current owner of Atari, the 1990s were not as friendly to him as they were to others.

Several years ago, when he took over Atari from Warner with the capital Commodore, the personal computer market was booming.

During that period, both Commodore's C64 and Atari's AtariST series computers achieved very good commercial results.

But now the situation has changed slightly.

The WinteI camp, led by IBM, is rapidly encroaching on the entire PC market.

IBM, Intel, and Microsoft, these three giants, joined forces to cover almost everything from architecture to hardware to software.

Easy to replicate and easy to expand, any company can quickly produce compatible machines and put them on the market.

With this tactic, IBM-compatible machines quickly dominated the mainstream market.

Even Gamenova can only compete with the market dominated by laptops and servers.

Only Apple and their Macintosh, with their equally long history and solid, reliable closed ecosystem, have managed to maintain their foothold in the battle royale arena.

However, it has also suffered some market impact, and its market share has been shrinking.

If Apple is like this, then it goes without saying that companies like him, which use C64 and AtariST, are even more so.

Jack is now in a very awkward situation.

He is neither a computer tycoon nor a video game tycoon.

He was, in fact, a creature who eked out a living, wandering between the two realms.

The capital that Commodore had accumulated for him was becoming increasingly insufficient.

In particular, the large-scale exodus of core engineers and developers has caused Atari and Commodore to gradually lose their R&D capabilities.

Without a doubt, I am now standing at a crossroads in history.

A decision must be made.

It's choosing a slow suicide, prolonging one's life for a little longer.

still----

A desperate fight!

"PC has no chance."

Although this idea is pessimistic, it is a fact he has to admit.

That's how the market is now.

Gamenova has captured the server and mobile markets.

Apple has reaped all the benefits of a closed system.

Wintel targets the standard home desktop computer market.

There was no more room for him to make a desperate attempt.

Therefore, the only remaining path is ----

"Game console----"

Looking at the remaining technological assets he possesses, aside from home consoles, all that's left is a portion of Atari's legacy.

Although Atari's arcade division is now part of GAMENOVA.

However, the home console segment remains with Atari.

"We can only gamble everything on the next generation."

Jack took a deep breath, turned on the AtariST computer in front of him, and typed a title into the document.

[Atari Jaguar]

Atari Americas Leopard!

This name wasn't something he came up with on a whim.

It stems from another scar on Atari's reputation.

In 1988, Atari still had the resources to make a comeback.

They launched a project called Panther.

The project goal is very simple.

A modern 16-bit console, aiming to defeat Nintendo's SNES, Sega's Mega Drive, and of course, Gamenova's NovaXeno.

Motorola 68000 processor, custom graphics chip, arcade-level graphics.

Everything sounded so wonderful.

However, Atari's research and development capabilities had already shrunk significantly by then.

The project is progressing much slower than expected.

For several years in a row, little progress was made.

Meanwhile, the other companies from the same period had already largely exhausted the benefits of the golden age.

In terms of seizing the initiative, they came in last place.

So Jack decided to cut his losses and halt the Atari Panther project.

Instead of wasting time stuck in the quagmire of 16-bit systems, it's better to look towards the more distant future.

In other words, Atari was one of the first companies to prepare for the next generation.

And to take over the Panther project.

Naturally, that's the name of the project right in front of us.

[Atari Jaguar]

More ferocious and swift beasts.

This perfectly matches the machine's high-speed processing capabilities and powerful strength.

Just like 3D0 was to EA, and PlayStation was to Ken Kutaragi.

For Jack Tramiel, the Atari Americas Leopard was also a do-or-die project.

If Atari fails again this time...

Then it all came to an end, a complete end.

The entire future of Atari is gambled on the next generation.