Game Market 1983 Chapter 100

19: Noblesse Obliges (5) -end of 4

Knock. Knock.

When I lightly knocked and opened the door of the representative room, I saw Mr. Gunpei looking abashed.

"Hi. Mr. Gunpei. "

"uh? Uh, Mr. Kang. It's been a while. "

I almost burst out laughing to see Mr. Gunpei putting down Super Family gamepad and wiping cold sweat.

Kawaguchi must also be trying not to laugh, because his mouth was twitching.

"I was told this game was being produced by Pentagon Software, so I tried it out and I thought the heart was going to drop."

Mr. Pei, who was swallowing beverage brought by the secretary, was creeped out by the strange BGM from TV but was also amazed.

"They gave up high quality in sound and deliberately cluttered the sound to increase tension. I knew from Mintendo, but your ideas are always excellent. Mr. Shige will surely be surprised. "

Mr. Gunpai looked at me with a smile.

After powering down Super Family, I sat across him.

"How are Mr. Kamauchi and Mr. Shige?"

"Very well. Thanks to the Tamago Monster released last summer, the handheld Game Boy is now selling hot. Even President Kamauchi is playing Tamago recently. "

"President Kamauchi? It's unbelievable. "

"I told him it's your work, which made him very proud, but also sad. He seems to regret letting you go very much. "

"Haha … I am honored. So, what brought you here today? "

"Oh, right. As a matter of fact, Mintendo had a meeting and I'm here to deliver great news to Pentagon. "

"Good news?"

Ms. Pei then replied with a smile.

"I hope that the Pentagon Soft will become our second party to Mintendo."

"Huh !?"

Mr. Kawaguchi was also surprised by Mr. Kuni Fei made an absurd look.

Second party ..

To briefly describe this term, there are 'first party', 'second party' and 'third party' in the console game industry.

There are also one person development and indie games that are produced by two or three people, but this is out of the question.

First of all, the first party is a game released by the maker of the console to its own brand.

Examples are Super Marige, Legend of Karin, Dongkingcom and other games made by Mr. Shige.

As the console maker creates games directly, the probability of first party games being converted to other consoles for release is 0%.

When I was playing with Super Family as a child, I wondered why NEGA Drive 's Super Sonic was not released.

If it only comes out, it will be the strongest game machine.

At that time, the popularity of Super Family was soaring, so I looked forward that 'Super Sonic' would be released someday, but eventually it did not happen.

Secondly, the 'third party'

If you ask why I explain third party before second party, it is because the companies that make games generally belong to this 'third party'.

Unlike the first party, the third party was able to launch the game freely with any company's console.

If only the conditions and technology were supported, it would be possible to produce and release the game for Super Family and NEGA Drive at the same time.

If users would request, this third party was able to release games relatively freely even with consoles of another company.

Of course, during the era of Mintendo in the early 90s, everyone was loyal to Mintendo, so even if they were third parties, they would almost always release games with Super Family.

However, the disadvantages of the third party were that it was not easy to break the break-even point because they had to pay a huge amount of royalties to Mintendo every time you released the game.

If a game that a lot of money was invested fails to succeed, they would have to take all the responsibility alone and bankrupt.

Maybe that is why all the game companies that started in the age of Super Family have now almost all disappeared, leaving only the sub-majors. (Although there is a lot of new software companies in the midst of this)

Currently Pentagon Soft's position belongs to the "third party" of the two categories above, but it was only producing console games released by Mintendo. It is quite loyal to the consoles made by Mintendo for a third party like Phoenix Soft who makes Dragon Warrior.

So now we are left with 'second party'.

Anyone would have guessed by now, "second party" means that the third party is going under the first party.

They can keep their company name, but their games must be made only for the console created by the first party and conversion to other consoles is impossible.

Instead, they can minimize the royalties to Mintendo, and because it was sold with the well-known name of Mintendo, the sales revenue was guaranteed to some extent.

Many game companies want to be a second party of Mintendo, because even if they remain a 'third party,' all the games they produce are still for Super Family.

Considering the power of 'Super Family' with the best recognition and popularity in Japan, Mr. Gunpei's offer can sound pretty attractive.

Mr. Kawaguchi also seemed glad to hear Mr. Gunpei's sweet offer.

But my thoughts were different.

It was same as returning back under Minten.

When you become a second party, you can receive investment or support from Mintendo, but you will have to report production period, story, concept, and genre of the game.

'I won't even be able to dream of releasing games like Valentine's Day.'

Mr. Kawaguchi was looking at my direction while pretending to be considering Mr. Gunpei's offer.

I gently rubbed my nose and shook my head towards Mr. Kawaguchi.

Sign to refuse his offer.

"If Pentagon Soft becomes second party to MinTendo, Mr. Kamauchi has promised to provide the best benefits possible. This contract will be unprecedentedly best partnership in game history. "

But Kawaguchi, who already read my sign, opened his mouth with a sad face.

"Thank you for Mintendo's offer. But.."

It was that moment.

-Ahhh!!!!!!!! -

"Oh!!"

"Puaaaaak!!!!!"

"Fuck! what the heck! "(Korean words popped out.)

I forgot to remove Valentine's Day trial cartridges from Super Family. Super Family automatically turned on and the horrible upside down face of a woman turned up on the screen.

"Pew … What a surprise. I thought I was going to faint.."

I hastily pulled out the cartridge after turning on and off the power button on Super Family. Then Mr. Kawaguchi spoke to me with a scared face.

"Jun … Hyuk. I think it would be best to just leave out that function? "

"Is that so? Haha .. I made it, but it seems a little too much. I thought it was giving me a heart attack. I'm sorry, Ms. Gunpei. "

Mr. Gunpei didn't answer but instead just stared at me.

"Mr. Gunpei?"

"Oh, no. Quickly call 119! Mr. Gunpei! Wake up! "

I hastily laid him on the couch who passed out and pressed his chest down forcefully to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. How many times did I repeat that?

"Kuck Ah!! "

Fortunately, Mr. Gunpei came back.

Wow .. Look what it did. I almost became a murderer.

&

Weeooo weeooo …

He regained consciousness, but the shock was too much for him and Mr. Gunpei was eventually taken to the hospital by an ambulance.

Mr. Kawaguchi and I also followed in the car for the responsibility (?) of causing the situation.

While heading to the hospital, Mr. Kawaguchi, who was riding beside me, asked me.

"Why did you refuse Ms. Gunpei's offer? All the third parties want to be Mintendo's second party. I do not understand Junhyuk's decision even a little. "

"I understand why you are confused. But we have to look a little further. "

"A little further?"

"It is true that Mintendo now is the best console company that no one can touch. But their time will not last forever. "

"Do you mean that Mintendo will collapse? "

"Sitting on the throne for a long time makes everything in the world feel trivial. Mintendo has been on the throne for so long. They do not feel any tension in the current game market. "

"But, there is no company that should be able to confront them, isn't there?"

"Right. Currently Mintendo is the best console company. But in a few years 'new wind' will blow. What we need is to catch that new flow. "

"A new wind."

Mr. Kawaguchi tilted his head from side to side, but he did not talk anymore.

I've never been wrong.

&

"Niseko Gunpei's guardian?"

"Ah yes!!"

Mr. Kawaguchi and I were waiting in a chair, when we rushed to the voice of the nurse.

"He had a terrible shock, so we gave him sedative. He can rest today and leave tomorrow. What caused the patient's shock? "

"Oh, that's because of the game… "

"A game?"

The nurse seemed to think it was absurd, but went back after writing something on the chart.

Luckily, Kawaguchi and I were very relieved to hear that it wasn't a big deal and entered the room.

"Mr. Gunpei. How are you feeling? "

"Haha … This is embarrassing. Fainting to a game screens. But didn't you turn off Super Family? "

"Right."

"But how did the game screen suddenly turn on?"

"Well, I put an electricity emitting device inside the cartridge. Over time, the electric shock in the cartridge causes Super Family to power itself on. "

"Is that possible?"

"You saw it with your eyes."

"I've seen it myself, but I can not believe it. Is this also your idea?

"Yes. But I think it would be better to remove the function. I don't want people to faint like you."

"Yes. It was a bit too much for a joke."

Because had known me for a long time, Mr. Fei seemed to be trying to laugh it away even though he felt a life threat.

"I am sorry.."

"no. Mr. Kang is still full of joyful thoughts. 'How can I prank the users?' Haha ~ yeah .. maybe it started with Dragon Emblem … "

"Sorry?"

"Mr. Kang. Do these eyes look like knots in my face? I may be old, but I'm not a fool. Custom chip used in Dragon emblem. And the email address.. I don't know about the numbers, but I already knew that the Korean developer, kjh was you. "

"Ah.."

"You gave me too many hints."

"is that so? Haha .. So, what about Mr. Shige and Mr. Kamauchi? "

"no. I don't think they knew that far. "

"If they knew, Mr. Kamauchi wouldn't let me."

Mung Pei looked at me with a smile.

Despite the age gap, working together for a long time seems to have built quite a friendship.

I hesitated for a moment and opened my mouth.

"Mr. Gunpei. Mr. Kawaguchi and I talk about it on the way to the hospital. Pentagon Soft decided to refuse Mintendo's offer. "

"Did you? why? All game companies want to be second party of Mindendo .. "

I answered Gunpei after a short pause.

"If we go under Mintendo …"

After a short moment, I continued with a smile.

"I cannot make a game like Valentine's Day."

Mr. Gunpei replied with a grin.

"That's right."

"I want to create games with more variety and of new genre."

Chapter end