Game Development Giant

Therefore, no one, including Jester, actually cares about whether Shenmue can succeed.

Because in the entire next-generation console battle, this matter is really insignificant.

To be honest, if Mars Entertainment had not released one continuous high-quality game after another, then in the launch battle of Dreambox 3, no matter how high the quality of Heroes was, and no matter how high Jester's reputation was, it would not be possible. It might just beat the hell out of the other two families.

Because this is impossible.

The essence of the gaming platform is games, either the first party is strong, just like the original Nintendo and the current Mars Entertainment.

Or a strong third party, like Sony.

If these two aspects are not strong enough, then the survivability of such a platform is actually rootless, and it cannot withstand any blow at all.

Sega had the backing of arcade machines before, but what if the arcade market stops booming?

Now this situation is placed in front of Sega.

That's why Sega took a chance, but Jester still doesn't think much of Sega this time. I'm afraid it won't be any different from the Sega in history, because Sega's management has never changed. Basically, The road is still the same, so the final outcome will not be too different.

There is another thing about Sony. In a previous interview with Ken Kutaragi, he personally admitted one thing, that is, Sony is preparing to enter the handheld market.

Everyone had known about what Jester said before, so they weren't surprised.

In the current handheld console market, although there are several handheld console manufacturers in Japan, such as Namco, which has a handheld console that sells well, the real overlord is Mars Entertainment, which controls almost 80% of the entire handheld console market. In terms of market share, other handheld companies can only make scraps.

Therefore, everyone does not care much about this matter.

In recent years, there have been many people who want to take a piece of the handheld market. But which one succeeded?

Back then, wasn't Sega jealous of the handheld market and wanted to get a piece of the pie? How is the result? Stealing the chicken will result in losing the rice, losing the wife and losing the army.

So what about Sony.

But Jester's tone was somewhat serious when he spoke.

I learned through my friends that Sony has indeed established a new hardware department. It is also responsible for the research and development of handheld consoles. They have great ambitions for this handheld console, but they have not officially put it into development yet. The specific situation depends on the situation of PS3, but some development ideas have come out...

Jester said as he spoke. On the other hand, ask someone to send the documents one by one to other people.

While sending these documents, Jester also took the opportunity to make a joke.

I said before that I resigned from the position of chairman of the board of directors. In fact, I should not have held this meeting, but I have always been responsible for these things before, and Claudia did not participate, so I temporarily took over. However, Maybe this will be the last high-level meeting I chair. After this meeting, my identity at Mars Entertainment will only be the person in charge of the development of one game.

Hear Jester say this. Everyone in the audience smiled.

They also all know that Jester is just joking. Whether he is the chairman of the board of directors or Claudia is the chairman, there is actually no difference.

It's just a family thing.

They didn't care about this either, and even laughed about it.

But when they saw the information handed out, they couldn't laugh at all, because Sony's vision for their handheld console was definitely not just a handheld console.

It seems that this time Sony wants to take over the handheld thing and make a handheld computer, which can be used to read documents. It can be used to watch videos, not just play games. If this thing is really made by them, it will really be a big blow to their current GBA.

and. It can be seen that from the investment in PS3, the recruitment of third-party studios, and the preparation of first-party studios, Sony's confidence and even ambition are huge.

after all. Kutaragi Ken also wants to use Sony Games as a stepping stone to get involved in the throne of Sony president.

If you can't do outstanding results, I'm afraid it won't be easy to get on this throne.

In Jester's memory, it was precisely because of the brilliant success of PS2 that Kutaragi became the most popular successor to Sony's president. Originally, he would only wait for the new election after the release of PS3, and he could be on the board of course as a matter of course. This was the throne he dreamed of, but unfortunately, the PS3 suffered an unprecedented defeat, which even made Ken Kutaragi, the father of PS and a legend of Sony, resign.

It even made Sony unprecedented in choosing a non-Japanese president.

But this is all in Jester's memory.

Of course it's not possible in this world.

Jester's gaze swept over everyone, and he could see the changes in their faces when they saw the information he handed out.

In fact, this is not information he obtained through some internal relationship at all.

This is just what he said about the design ideas of PSP.

PSP is a very successful product. It has allowed Sony to enter the handheld market, expanded Sony's product line, and improved Sony's reputation. However, it is not necessarily how much money this project makes. Of course, sales volume It is very high, but a big disadvantage of PSP is that because it is shared too much, many people hold PS not just for playing games.

Moreover, due to cracking, the vast majority of game sales on PSP are not very high.

Of course, that’s not to say there aren’t some high-end games. For example, the sales of GTA and MH are incredible, but such games are still in the minority.

But back then, it also beat the shit out of Nintendo's GBA.

Then Nintendo started the development of NDS at the insistence of Satoru Iwata.

It created a prosperous era in handheld consoles, but that happened later.

In Jester's eyes, the eyes of everyone present became serious, because they could all see Sony's courage and ambition from this information. If this PSP that Sony is conceiving comes out, then Their GBA is really likely to be completely defeated, and they won't even have any resistance and will be wiped out by the opponent.

We also need to restart the development of our new console. It is no longer an expansion on GB, but a brand new handheld console. Different from the current one.

Speaking to Gunpei Yokoi, he's still the head of handheld development and, of course, one of the vice presidents.

Hear him speak. Jester nodded and motioned for the other person to continue speaking.

Actually, BOSS, you also know this. We have designed handheld consoles several times before, but they were only variants on GB. So we have never adopted them, so this time, we plan to abandon the design ideas of GB. , start the design again, it doesn’t matter how unconventional it is...

Yokoi Junpei said a lot, all of which were very reasonable, and Jester nodded silently.

But there is one more thing that needs to be made clear.

Actually, there is one thing that needs to be made clear when developing a new handheld console. That is what exactly are we making? Are we making a pure handheld gaming device like GB? Or are we making something like PSP? A handheld computer that can provide more entertainment? If this issue cannot be clarified, then it may be difficult to proceed with the development of new handheld computers.

This question of Jester is indeed the key among the keys, and it is also the point of contention among many people.

After that, it was time for debate. Some supported a pure handheld game console, while others supported a design similar to Sony's for the PSP.

The two sides were at loggerheads.

There was no result from the discussion for more than an hour.

Jester just listened quietly. He did not participate. When others asked him for his opinion, he just nodded his head yes. This was true for both parties, so no one knew what he thought.

Seeing everyone continue to discuss this is not an option. Jester couldn't let them continue to quarrel like this.

So, he coughed.

Attracting everyone's attention, he then said, Let me just say a few words.

However, although Jester said he simply said a few words, he did not say it directly. Instead, he asked other people.

The first is Gunpei Yokoi. He insists that a handheld console is a handheld console, and it is a handheld game console. It should not add other functions that are not useful at all. It should have all the functions. They are all used in games, so that the best games can be made on this handheld console, and his theory is also very simple.

The space of the handheld console is small, and the functions it can accommodate are inherently small, and the already weak functions should not be wasted to let them do other things.

Yokoi, are you so opposed to Sony's idea?

Jester asked with a smile, but there was no way to tell even a little bit of his inclination towards this question from his face. Junpei Yokoi did not think much after hearing this, and immediately answered: And No, because we are not Sony, Sony is not just a game company, games are just a part of them, and games are all of us.

It was said simply, and Jester nodded while listening.

Of course, he had been nodding his head before, so it cannot be concluded that he agreed with Yokoi Gunpei's statement just by relying on this action.

Then, Jester asked the other party what they thought and nodded in the same way.

In the end, Jester began to ponder first, as if he was having a very fierce ideological struggle, which lasted for a long time. Even Jester only spoke after being reminded by Claudia beside him.

To be honest, at the beginning, I really appreciated Sony's development plan, which completely changed the attributes of the handheld console, making it no longer just a handheld console - it was very useful, and even unceremonious. I think this can quickly increase the sales of handheld consoles and expand our number of potential players.

Having said this, Jester paused.

So, I am also leaning towards handheld consoles like PSP, but I have been thinking about this issue for a while, and I suddenly discovered a problem, that is what Yokoi said just now, Sony is not just a game company, it is Making PSP is not just for playing games, but what about us? We are a game company, and our goal in making handheld consoles is to allow players to play better games.

And if you add other functions to the fixed functions of a handheld console, it will inevitably reduce the game functions. You may say that you can still make a good game even after reducing the functions, but why not reduce the functions? How about making the game better?

We have always been a game company. From the beginning to the end, our company's philosophy is to make the best games. This is what was engraved on our walls on the first day our company was founded. It is also our creed. We game The belief of developers, so I think the design of our new handheld console is still that this is a handheld game console for playing games, and all its performance must serve this.

After Jester expressed his thoughts, everyone on Yokoi Gunpei's side laughed.

Although the other party was a little disappointed.

But I have to say that what Jester said makes sense.

But my opinion is this. The specifics still need to be discussed. Moreover, another very important reason why I don't agree with Sony's design is that the most we can do in terms of hardware for handheld consoles is not to sacrifice money. , it can’t be called making money, it mainly relies on games to make money, and users who have expanded such as Sony’s PS may not necessarily buy games. Although they are potential users, they do not use it much.”

What Jester said was actually a bit unreasonable.

Because everyone knows that getting others to buy your hardware is the first step, and getting others to buy your software is the second step.

Although there are many hardware purchases for the purpose of purchasing software, this situation is not typical and does not have universal reference significance. In most cases, it must be divided into two steps.

Getting more people to buy hardware is the first step of this two-step process. Only with the first step can we better promote the second step. Otherwise, if we can't even do the first step, what's the point? The second step is to make money by selling games.

However, precisely because of this, this clearly reflects the signal that Jester wants to convey.

That is, he did not agree with the development idea of ​​​​Sony's PSP, but supported the design idea that Yokoi Gunpei's game console is a game console and he should use it specifically to play games. After understanding this, the top management of Mars Entertainment Inside, no one will insist anymore. (~^~)