After returning from Bandai, Takuya wrote "Bandai" in the previously reserved spot on the sales command center board.
Various teams returned to headquarters one after another, bringing back the results of their negotiations with third-party manufacturers.
"Executive Director Nakayama, this is the current summary." A capable subordinate placed the organized documents on Takuya's desk. "It's pretty much as we expected. The most responsive ones are primarily small and medium-sized manufacturers focused on developing PC platform games."
The subordinate's tone carried a hint of excitement. "Our terms are too favorable to them. Especially the cartridge production process—they don't have to place full, non-refundable orders in advance like Nintendo and bear all the risks themselves. This alone is enough to make those small factory managers, who were tormented to death, shed tears of gratitude, saying they no longer have to lose sleep over whether the first batch order is thirty thousand or fifty thousand."
Another person nearby couldn't help but interject: "Exactly! The president of one small company directly took our people to a kaiseki dinner, and as soon as they sat down, he downed a cup of sake, saying that developing games for Nintendo meant they hadn't even made money yet, but were almost driven to bankruptcy by cartridge prepayment and inventory risks. He said our terms were simply a godsend."
"What about Falcom?" Takuya asked without lifting his head, as he flipped through the documents.
"They've already signed a letter of intent. They've long wanted to bring 'Ys' and 'Dragon Slayer' to home consoles, but the FC's capabilities were too limited. Our MD's 16-bit architecture is a godsend for them; they won't have to heavily cut the game due to Hardware Development Department limitations during porting."
Takuya nodded, this was within his expectations. Nintendo's imperial system was indeed powerful, but it was also strict and exclusive, which gave Sega an opportunity to find a niche.
The subordinate paused, then continued: "However, President Kato said they don't have many people and need Sega to support their porting work."
Takuya waved his hand. "Hmm, that's not a problem. We've hired quite a few people during this graduation season. It's a good opportunity for our experienced employees to mentor them while working on these less difficult projects. It's good practice. Once they're proficient, we can summarize and improve upon the development experience from this year, and then we can begin the second wave of in-house game development."
"However—" The subordinate's tone faltered, "Several major companies, like Capcom, are still very ambiguous in their stance."
"As expected." Takuya put down the document and leaned back in his chair. "Kenzo Tsujimoto is a formidable figure who emerged from the arcade scene.
It's hard for him to cooperate with us, his old rival, from a face-saving perspective. Moreover, 'Mega Man' is selling well on the FC, and their arcade business is also booming. It seems they are even developing a new arcade board and are quite ambitious. Their cash flow is very healthy,
giving them the confidence to wait and see."
Takuya turned his head and asked, "What about Namco? They've had quite a bit of contact with us before."
"President Masaya Nakamura—" The subordinate's expression became even more difficult, "He was very polite, and the tea was pleasant, but he just wouldn't budge. Our people feel that he's using us to drive up the price with NEC's PC Engine, wanting to sell to the highest bidder and see who offers more."
A playful smile appeared on Takuya's lips: "Namco must be the most conflicted right now. They originally wanted to join the PC Engine bandwagon and start anew, but then they found that Hudson and NEC weren't doing so well; the PC Engine's sales for half a year are almost caught up by us. Now they want to jump ship, but they're afraid of falling. Let them be conflicted for a while longer."
Takuya closed the report and casually placed it on the desk.
He looked around, seeing the expectant or worried gazes of everyone, and suddenly smiled.
"What's the rush? Rome wasn't built in a day, and Nintendo's hegemony won't be overthrown in a day either." His tone was as relaxed as if he were discussing the weather. "Big companies have their pride and calculations; that's normal. When our lineup expands to a certain extent, they will drop their reservations. Everyone, go take care of your own tasks for now."
After sending his subordinates to their respective tasks, Takuya Nakayama saw that there were no new situations requiring his attention for the time being, so he excused himself and walked towards the Hardware Development Department.
Unlike the hustle and bustle of the sales command center, it was much quieter here, and the air was filled with the scent of rosin.
Department Head Nakamura was buried amidst a pile of blueprints and component samples. Seeing Takuya Nakayama enter, he adjusted his glasses, his face no longer showing its initial solemnity, but rather an excitement unique to a technical professional.
"Nakayama-san, you've come at just the right time. Our evaluation team just completed the preliminary testing and assessment these past two days and has issued a pre-research report."
"Oh? How are things?" Takuya Nakayama walked to his desk with interest.
Department Head Nakamura didn't answer directly. Instead, he picked up a green circuit board on the desk, connected with a few wires, some components, and buttons, and handed it over. "This is the most simplified functional model we made based on your concept. Look at this." He pointed to the LCD screen in the middle of the circuit board, then flicked a switch,
The screen instantly lit up with a soft white light. Although there were no images on it, this light made Takuya Nakayama's eyes light up as well.
"Sharp has a newly developed front-light solution that can replace the need for backlighting. The power consumption is even lower than we expected, and the cost is within a controllable range, though the color performance might be slightly worse. However, our current plan is a black-and-white screen with 4 levels of grayscale, so color performance won't be a big issue. Your insistence on providing a switchable light source for the screen is entirely feasible technically." Department Head Nakamura's tone carried a hint of emotion.
He put down this item, which wasn't even a prototype, and instead handed over a neatly bound report. "This is the core."
Takuya Nakayama took the report and quickly flipped through it. The Hardware Development Department configuration and design framework on it were not much different from what he originally proposed, just more detailed, filled with extensive data and supplier information. His heart beat slightly faster. When he saw the Hardware Development Department configuration list, strikingly similar to the GameBoy in his memory, a strong premonition surged in his heart—the trajectory of history was shifting in his hands.
"The report's conclusion is clear." Department Head Nakamura's voice pulled him back to reality. "All your requirements, including high integration, low power consumption, and reliability, are theoretically achievable. But there's one core prerequisite, which is also the biggest challenge."
"CPU," Takuya Nakayama said directly, providing the answer.
Department Head Nakamura nodded in approval. "Exactly, it's the CPU. We've evaluated all existing Z80s and their derivatives on the market, and not a single one can simultaneously meet our demands for extreme low power consumption and high integration. If we were to stack existing components, the finished product would be large and heavy, and battery life would be a joke. The only way out is for us to do it ourselves."
He paused, his tone becoming serious: "We need to design a brand new, compatible chip based on the Z80 instruction set. We need to integrate as many functions as possible, such as the memory controller, audio processing unit, and I/O control, into it. Furthermore, we can change I/O port operations to memory-mapped I/O control, and verify cartridge legitimacy through a built-in boot ROM during startup, thereby increasing the difficulty of cracking. This is no longer a simple selection; it's about designing a System-on-Chip (SoC) from scratch."
Takuya Nakayama closed the report, a smile appearing on his face. "Isn't this precisely the value of 'pre-research'? Identifying problems, then finding the path to the optimal solution." He patted the report; the faint rustle of the paper was exceptionally clear in the quiet office.
"Department Head Nakamura, you and your team have done an excellent job. This report is no longer just a feasibility assessment; it's a project blueprint that can be submitted to the board of directors."
Takuya Nakayama's gaze sharpened: "Tomorrow, I will formally propose the handheld console project to the board of directors. At that time, I ask that you bring this report and accompany me."