"Games follow the same logic." Takuya Nakayama pointed at the TV. "Just as you said earlier, this game isn't about mindless shooting. Players need to observe patrol routes, read background information on terminals, and think about tactics. There are also a large number of story CGs and dialogue cutscenes in between. This kind of immersive experience that requires careful savoring fits perfectly with the consumption habits of the home video audience."
"Set the release date for after E3." Takuya Nakayama made the final decision. "Go talk to Manga Entertainment. Ask them for the specific date of the large-scale rollout of the tapes. The game's release date will be set for that same day. We're not aiming for a theatrical release tie-in, but a home video release tie-in."
Hisao Oguchi quickly took notes in his notebook.
"Then how should we position the promotion at the E3 exhibition?" Hisao Oguchi asked. "Since we are avoiding mass-market traffic, do we still need to reserve a core booth for it at E3?"
"Keep it. Not only keep it, but package it as the benchmark for next-gen sci-fi tactical games." Takuya Nakayama set the tone. "The booth layout needs to be hardcore. Put out more demo units. Let those professional gaming journalists play it. They know their stuff. As long as they get into it and experience that thrill of tactical command, the review articles they write when they go back will be the best advertising."
Hisao Oguchi closed his notebook.
"I understand. Abandon mass-market advertising and concentrate resources on the core circle. Use high praise to drive long-tail sales."
"Go do it." Takuya Nakayama waved his hand.
Hisao Oguchi left the office with the disc and the project proposal.
Returning to his own office, Hisao Oguchi didn't immediately revise the proposal, but instead called the marketing director of Sega of America.
"Check the distribution plan for the Ghost in the Shell VHS released by Manga Entertainment in North America," Hisao Oguchi instructed into the receiver.
Half an hour later, the fax machine spat out a sheet of paper.
The date was set for mid-July.
Looking at the date on the paper, Hisao Oguchi picked up a red pen and circled it on the calendar.
Mid-June.
The distribution time for the Ghost in the Shell VHS happened to collide with the momentum of the Nintendo N64 launch in June, just a few days before the N64
...ahead of its release date by a few days.
With the N64 charging in aggressively, spearheaded by Super Mario 64, the entire industry's spotlight would be fixed on Nintendo at that moment. Would Sega really be hit hard if they pitted a game catering to hardcore fans against them at a time like this?
Is this a test from the Managing Director?
Hisao Oguchi took a piece of scratch paper from his side, and his fountain pen drew two vertical lines, dividing it into three sections.
This was a work habit he had cultivated over many years. When faced with complex business decisions, he would break down the variables and visualize them.
He wrote "N64 Launch Lineup" on the left, "Ghost in the Shell" in the middle, and "North American Videotape Market" on the right.
He stared at these three isolated phrases, trying to find the logical loop connecting them.
The Managing Director's decisions were never without purpose.
This was a consensus reached by Sega's senior management over the past few years.
Hisao Oguchi knew very well that, in taking over as the head of the Game Division, execution was only one aspect; more importantly, one needed to possess the strategic vision to be on the same frequency as the Commander-in-Chief.
He had to solve this problem himself.
The nib of his pen paused on the paper.
He began to pull up data from his mental archive, reviewing past console wars.
Sega had encountered product scheduling clashes before.
Late in the Mega Drive era, there had been a few third-party action games released head-to-head against major Super Famicom titles.
The result was dismal sales, and distributors were filled with complaints.
That kind of head-to-head strategy was built on the premise of homogeneous competition.
Both sides were fighting over the same wallets and time of the same players.
Does this model apply to the current situation?
Oguchi Hisao wrote "Audience Profile" on the left.
Who was the main buying demographic during the N64's launch period?
Nintendo's brand identity determined its core base.
Family users under thirty, traditional players who grew up with the FC and SFC, plus the young incremental users attracted by 3D Mario.
Super Mario 64 focused on family fun; it was an extension of living room parties, the core joy of 3D sandbox exploration.
He moved his pen to the middle and wrote "Cyberpunk, Hardcore."
The audience for Ghost in the Shell was completely different.
This was a group of hardcore sci-fi fans with a very high acceptance of optical camouflage, cyberbrains, prosthetic body modifications, and existential philosophy.
They were older and possessed independent financial means.
These two groups were not mutually exclusive in terms of spending power.
An adult hardcore player could easily pick up an N64 at Best Buy after work on a Friday and casually grab a Ghost in the Shell disc from Jupiter off the shelf next to it.
Budget conflicts only existed for the younger age group.
Younger players were never on the target customer list for "Ghost in the Shell" to begin with.
Audience misalignment.
Oguchi Hisao wrote these four words on the paper and circled them.
Audience misalignment alone wasn't enough to support the confidence needed to go head-to-head with the N64's launch.
The scarcity of the product itself was the key chip that would determine victory or defeat.
He recalled the gameplay he had just tested in the executive office.
In the 1996 home console market, 3D games were in a stage of wild, untamed growth.
Most shooting games were still imitating the first-person perspective of "Doom," focusing on fast-paced, high-intensity shooting.
Action games, meanwhile, were still struggling to figure out camera locking and platforming in a 3D environment.
"Ghost in the Shell" completely broke out of those frameworks.
A third-person over-the-shoulder perspective, high-speed maneuverability in vertical spaces, and the fusion of stealth and hacking mechanics.
Players needed to read a massive amount of background text, plan their routes, and proceed with caution under high difficulty.
Hideo Kojima's MGS2 was a massive success on Jupiter, proving that the tactical espionage genre had an extremely high commercial ceiling.
Ghost in the Shell went even further.
It abandoned Kojima's heavy-handed Hollywood B-movie tropes, embracing instead Mamoru Oshii's cold, metallic philosophical introspection.
One could even say that Ghost in the Shell had the feel of an arthouse film within the medium of video games.
In terms of core gameplay, players not only had to avoid enemy lines of sight but also hack into enemy cyberbrains to tamper with their visual signals.
This fundamental gameplay innovation, based on a cyberpunk worldview, has no direct competitor in the current game market.
There is no substitute.
This means that for players who are into this style, there is no other choice.
They won't abandon the experience of stealth-infiltrating through a rainy night in New Port City as Motoko just because Nintendo released a new console.
Hisao Oguchi's train of thought was becoming clear.
The tip of his pen slid toward the area on the right.
"The North American videotape market."
This was the most ingenious part of the entire breakthrough strategy.
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