Game Development Giant

This negotiation between Jester and Kenzo Shikimoto is very similar to the negotiation about salary between Kenzo Shikimoto and Yoshiki Okamoto.

I'm afraid the only difference is that the amount they want to negotiate this time is much larger than that negotiation.

How much is your royalties from Nintendo for each cartridge? Jester was the first to break the uncomfortable embarrassment. He did not ask Kenzo Senmoto why he came to meet him, because He felt there was no need to ask.

Kenzo Shikimoto thought the same way, so Jester's question didn't seem out of the ordinary in his eyes. He liked talking to smart people.

Each cassette costs one thousand yen. Kenzo Shikimoto answered calmly. This price is consistent with the data Jester had learned before. Among the six major developers, except for Namco and Hudson, The remaining four have the same price, and the other ones are all 2,000 yen. Such a high price is almost equivalent to Nintendo taking away more than half of Capcom's profits without doing anything. This is also The reason why Kenzo Shikimoto is not so enthusiastic about porting his games to f.

No one wants to watch their things go into other people's pockets. This time it was Kenzo Shikimoto's turn to have a smile on his face. He had already thought about his conditions before, without any hesitation or too much thinking, he almost blurted out: Mr. Li must also know that Nintendo is interested in I am not greedy for the privileges offered by Namco's two clubs, nor will I push myself to the limit. What I hope to get is the same treatment as Namco... As he said this, Kenzo Shikimoto's face revealed A confident smile. This isn't too much to ask for.

For Jester, he knows what kind of huge potential lies beneath Capcom’s seemingly immature body. However, relying solely on Capcom’s current development capabilities as a home console game developer does not seem to be enough to be on an equal footing with Namco. Only relying on an unsuccessful transplant of “1942” is convincing. Not enough.

It’s not just that if you make excellent arcade games, you can charge sky-high prices for console game development.

Therefore, Jester rejected the other party unceremoniously. Calmly, Kenzo Kenzo took out a large stack of white paper from the black briefcase he carried with him, with dense handwriting written in English on it. He first glanced at the handwriting, and after confirming it was correct, handed it to Jester with both hands.

Jester took it and took a look. Then, the above content instantly attracted his attention. It was a development log. The three outstanding arcade games previously released by Capcom, Devil Village, Red Dead Redemption and Space Warrior have already been released. The porting work of the home machine version has begun, and the general version has been carried out, which is the Dreambox version.

What a courage.

Put the stack of development logs in his hand on the table. Jester admired silently in his heart at first, but his face remained calm. For Kenzo Shikimoto, he bought a Dreambox development machine without contacting him and then secretly developed the game while keeping it secret. I couldn't help but feel a little shocked.

Moreover, after seeing this, Jester didn't know what to say. Although the other party's behavior shocked him, it was not that he could agree to the other party's request after being shocked.

However, Kenzo Senmoto obviously didn't want to embarrass Jester. He just continued to talk about what he could come up with in a calm tone.

I can guarantee that the average sales volume of these three games will not be less than 500,000 units.

Hearing Kenzo Shikimoto's condition, Jester couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. He was not very clear about the sales volume of the transplanted versions of Capcom's three games in history. He only had a rough memory. The sales volume of the f-version of Devil Village seems to be more than 1.2 million units. As for the specific figures of Red Dead Redemption, he doesn't know, but he thinks that for a game that is so in line with American gaming aesthetics, the sales volume will not be much lower. , as for the vertical scroll shooting game Space Warrior, although it is a bit old-fashioned, in this era, as long as such a game is not too bad, there is a market.

But even so, half a million units is not a number that can be easily reached. You must know that even the first Final Fantasy game that brought Square back to life only sold more than half a million units at the time.

There was silence for a moment, and then Jester spoke: If you want to get the same treatment as Namco, we only charge a hundred yen in royalties for each cartridge. It's not enough to do this. You have to You know, even the replica version of Namco’s Pac-Man has sold more than 1.6 million units, and the sales of Hudson’s Bomberman are not inferior.”

Haha. Kenzo Shikimoto just smiled, and he continued to speak in that calm tone, Mr. Li, I haven't finished speaking yet. What I'm saying is, not only these three sets of games, if we Karp If the sales volume of any game Sora releases on Dreambox is less than 500,000 units, then for this game, we are willing to pay our royalties at the price of 3,000 yen per cartridge.”

Hearing Kenzo Shikimoto's answer, Jester's eyes lit up. He knew that this was almost the final bottom line that Capcom could give, and it could achieve 500,000 copies of each game. Companies with sales volume are indeed qualified to receive the same treatment as Namco. Moreover, regarding the last punitive clause, in Jester’s view, the symbolic meaning is much greater than the actual meaning. It shows an attitude of Capcom.

Then, Jester stood up and said with a smile: Before we shake hands, I want to ask one last question. I want to know, why did you come from the Nintendo camp to our camp? You know , you are a Japanese company, if you do this, you will be spurned by many peers.

Unexpectedly, Kenzo Senmoto would still have the same indifferent smile after hearing this question, and his tone would be the same as before.

Mr. Li, history will only look down on failed companies, while successful ones will only be praised. Kenzo Kenzo took the initiative to extend his right hand to Jester, I choose to start from Nintendo. The reason why I left the camp is not that I think Nintendo’s conditions are too harsh, but that I think your Nintendo has more future, and it’s better to work with someone who has a future than to work with someone who has no future.”

Hearing Kenzo Senmoto's reply, Jester also laughed a few times. He stretched out his hand to hold the other's hand, and then shook it vigorously.

“A pleasure to work with.”

Neither party made the secret cooperation agreement with Capcom public at the first time. This was the result of discussions between the two parties before the formal signing. They wanted to keep this sensational news when it was needed most, so When is this kind of sensational news most needed? There is no doubt that this is when the console versions of the three arcade games that Capcom secretly ported without telling everyone were officially released.

This is a work that Nintendo asked Capcom to port almost every day during this period, and then Capcom quietly ported it to Mars Entertainment's Dreambox. This is a naked slap in the face. The sensation caused, coupled with the sensation caused by the announcement of the official cooperation agreement between Capcom and Mars Entertainment, it is inevitable to increase the sales of these three games.

The speed of porting the work is very fast. Even if the time for testing and correction is included, it will not take more than a month and a half to complete the remaining half.

A report in the Yomiuri Shimbun with the headline Capcom on the Top on the front page said that Capcom had officially reached a cooperation agreement with Mars Entertainment. As soon as this report came out, people were all over the place. Japan caused an uproar, and Nintendo immediately contacted Kenzo Shikimoto, demanding an explanation from him.

Capcom did not panic. They just said that they would hold a press conference in a few days to clarify the matter, and also invited many game media.

Seeing that Capcom did not deny this rumor immediately, it also caused a certain sensation within Nintendo.

This is one of the third-party developers that Nintendo values ​​most, and the quality of the several arcade games developed by Capcom this year is obvious to all. As long as they can become proficient in the development of home console games, even if they do not develop specialized home console games, Arcade games are just transplants of arcade games, which is also crucial for them to expand new users, especially in the North American market.

It can be said that if Capcom really determines its own camp, it will be a huge blow to the current Nintendo.

It even scares Nintendo, because their alliance is not as solid as they think - whether it is Mars Entertainment taking the initiative or Capcom taking the initiative, this shows that if there is one Capcom, there will be a second one. indivual.

Kenzo Senmoto didn't answer my call.

At an impromptu high-level meeting held by Nintendo, after a few seconds of silence among all company executives, Hiroshi Yamauchi said something that no one present wanted to hear.