"Oof—what the heck?!"
Passing through Central Avenue, Kobayashi Tetsu looked up and was completely stunned.
Opposite the Sonic poster stood a brand-new gigantic billboard—red background, big-headed mascot.
A Nintendo poster!
Even though it was just a silhouette, Kobayashi Tetsu recognized it instantly.
Mario.
"Tss—!"
Kobayashi Tetsu sucked in three sharp breaths.
Did Mario even get this kind of massive billboard treatment in Japan?
He wasn't sure, but judging from this display alone, Nintendo was brimming with confidence in Mario 2—despite the first game having been tripped up once by Kobayashi Tetsu.
"Shigeru's really going all out!"
The more he thought about it, the more impressed he felt.
Mario 1 could only be called solid and respectable, but Mario 2's influence was enormous. It directly defined many classic conventions in video game history. Even setting that aside, Mario 2 was simply an excellent game—easy to pick up, yet deep enough to master. Skilled players could enjoy a much greater sense of satisfaction clearing it than ordinary players.
Of course, there was also the infuriating part—the maze at the end of the game. Without a strategy guide, it was literally impossible to clear. No hints whatsoever, just an endlessly repeating maze. Kobayashi Tetsu had suffered greatly because of it as a kid. In the end, he couldn't take it anymore and spent a whole five yen—a huge sum—to ask an older kid from the arcade for help.
And promptly lost those five yen, because the older kid couldn't get through it either.
"Shigeru Miyamoto from Biyang—don't let me catch you. If I do, I'll knock that wig right off your head!"
Kobayashi Tetsu refused to believe someone who worked as a department head every day could still have such thick hair.
It had to be a wig.
Bandai.
Makoto Yamashina looked at Kobayashi Tetsu across the table and exclaimed warmly, "That's impressive. I saw the giant billboard on Central Avenue myself. Must've cost a fortune, huh?"
"It didn't cost me anything," Kobayashi Tetsu said, taking a sip of tea. It seemed higher-end than last time—he could actually taste the fragrance. "A friend gave it to me."
Yamashina leaned forward slightly. "Gave it to you?! What kind of friend is that generous?"
A billboard in such a prime location wasn't cheap. And it wasn't just Central Avenue—there were plenty of billboards all over Tokyo.
Even if none were as large as the Central Avenue one, added together they were still a massive expense.
Kobayashi Tetsu shrugged.
It was a gift from Isao Okawa.
Strictly speaking, the billboards weren't put up just for him—they were advertising MS. The Central Avenue one was a special case, featuring Sonic directly. The others displayed Sega's classic titles from past years, along with Sega's mascot.
That's right—Sega's mascot wasn't Sonic.
It was a thing called Alex Kidd. Ugly as sin. At first glance, it looked like Toyotomi Hideyoshi had been reincarnated. Sega once imagined using that thing to compete with Mario. Unsurprisingly, it failed, which was why they later switched to Sonic.
Every time Kobayashi Tetsu passed those billboards, he couldn't bear to look.
It was just too ugly.
As far as he was concerned, even putting up his own mugshot would've worked better than that thing.
Across from him, Yamashina was still lost in amazement.
Even if only the Central Avenue billboard was a freebie, having it up for that long still meant a huge sum of money!
After a moment, Yamashina finally came back to his senses. "So, Kobayashi-kun, what are we discussing this time? Another animation project? I heard Atlus recently partnered with Kadokawa again on an anime called something-something King."
There was a hint of grievance in his voice.
After all, he'd been here first!
Kobayashi Tetsu shook his head.
"Not animation this time. This time, it's a manufacturing commission."
He got straight to the point. "Starting next month, all Atlus game cartridges that are still on sale will need to be produced on commission. I estimate a combined total of two to three hundred thousand cartridges per month. And then there's Sonic. Sonic's cartridges are a special case—we won't get the new production demand until May, and by June we'll need a massive stockpile. Starting volume: five hundred thousand cartridges."
Yamashina's expression immediately turned serious.
The earlier chatter had been casual. This was business.
Bandai did have the capability to manufacture cartridges on commission—and on a larger scale, with higher efficiency, than most smaller factories.
Aside from monthly assembly production, just the advance stockpile of five hundred thousand cartridges was no small matter. The equipment that had to be run, the warehouses filled with inventory—every single day meant a huge expense.
Once the discussion turned to physical logistics, Yamashina dropped his relaxed demeanor and went straight to the core issue.
"What about logistics and distribution? Offline sales will obviously go through Sega's own game stores, but logistics and transport are also high-standard operations. Bandai has its own sales channels and logistics capabilities. Do you want to continue cooperating with Bandai, or do you have other designated partners?"
Kobayashi Tetsu naturally chose to continue with Bandai. He didn't have any better logistics partners for now, and none of the people in Haruki Kadokawa's broken-wall club ran logistics companies.
After thinking for a moment, Yamashina raised two fingers.
"Twenty million?" Kobayashi Tetsu guessed.
Yamashina was shocked. "Are you kidding me? Starting price is two hundred million!"
Fearing that Kobayashi Tetsu might object, Yamashina laid everything out plainly.
"Ordinary cartridges can be shipped right after production, no problem. But Sonic cartridges have to be produced a month in advance and stored for a full month. That alone costs at least several million—tens of millions of yen. On top of that, Bandai has to front the payment for raw materials. That's an even bigger sum. Based on your estimate of eight hundred thousand cartridges by June, at sixteen hundred yen per cartridge, that's a full 1.2 billion yen!"
Yamashina didn't need to continue. Kobayashi Tetsu already understood.
The 1.2 billion yen was Bandai's surface-level revenue, but manufacturing margins were always low—around 5%. That meant out of 1.2 billion yen in sales, Bandai would only make about sixty million yen.
Sixty million was a lot—but the costs involved were incalculable.
That was also why sometimes Kobayashi Tetsu made less doing things himself than by directly entrusting them to Sega.
Because Sega could negotiate at scale, pushing that 1,600 yen cost down.
Even a reduction of just ten yen—to 1,590—meant a massive difference in overall revenue.
Yamashina's tone softened slightly. "The other cartridges that are already selling—we know they'll sell, so we won't count those, for old friendship's sake. But if we're producing Sonic cartridges, a deposit is mandatory. Two hundred million yen, not a yen less."
That was roughly equivalent to the value of one hundred twenty thousand cartridges—a deposit for producing five hundred thousand.
Kobayashi Tetsu was silent for a long time, then extended his hand.
"Deal?" Yamashina asked.
"Deal my ass! Make it cheaper—1,500 yen!"
"You might as well shoot me! At 1,500 yen, Bandai would be operating at a loss! After handling a deal this big, we'd only make a few million yen total!"
"But you're also using Bandai's logistics channels!"
"That still won't work! Logistics and manufacturing profits are calculated separately—"
Kobayashi Tetsu had no choice but to argue.
Two hundred million yen as a deposit wasn't outrageously high, but it wasn't low either.
No matter what, he had to get it reduced.
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