Ken Kutaragi froze, his eyes widening slightly.
He never expected Nobuyuki Idei—a man known for his unyielding dominance and fierce protectiveness of his control—to so candidly admit a strategic shortcoming in front of his old rival, Oga Norio.
"Actually—we do have good games," Kutaragi hastily added, trying to salvage some pride for the Electronic Entertainment Division. "Naughty Dog, the studio we're funding, has seen tremendous success in North America with Crash Bandicoot. While its first-week sales can't compete with a monster like Final Fantasy VII, it has tangibly boosted PlayStation's hardware sales across Europe and America. This proves that as long as the games are high-quality, players are willing to buy a PlayStation to play them!"
"But there's only one Crash Bandicoot," Idei cut him off coldly, rapping his knuckles hard against the table. "And Naughty Dog is just a mid-sized studio with limited production capacity. What we need is a heavyweight bomb that can settle the score in one blow! We need a phenomenal masterpiece that will make players brave the winter chill to queue up and buy a PlayStation just to play it!"
Oga Norio turned to Nobuyuki Idei, his gaze intense. "What do you mean?"
"Throw money at them," Idei spat out without hesitation, his eyes blazing with the greed and dominance of a corporate titan. "Sony lacks nothing—especially not money! If Sega can provide Square with the underlying technology and a comprehensive marketing network, then we at Sony will simply give them more!"
Idei shot to his feet and strode to the massive floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the shimmering waters of Tokyo Bay and the forest of skyscrapers.
"From this day forward, all budget approvals for the Electronic Entertainment Division will go through my office for special authorization. Sony's overall financial situation has improved significantly this year. All you need to do is go all out. I will personally handle the Finance Department." Idei spun around, his gaze piercing as he locked onto Ken Kutaragi. "Go to Silicon Valley, Europe, Osaka! Find the most ambitious and capable development teams. Whether they're making PC games or working for Nintendo, buy them out! Or sign them to exclusivity deals with astronomical sums!"
Ken Kutaragi felt the blood rushing to his head. He immediately stood straight, his legs trembling slightly from sheer excitement.
An unlimited budget! For the head of a hardware and game development department, this was the ultimate weapon, a dream beyond imagining!
"We need Sony's own Square," Nobuyuki Idei said, striding up to Ken Kutaragi and clapping him on the shoulder. His tone was chillingly stern. "No matter the cost, no matter the means, Sony must possess an ace capable of directly challenging a masterpiece on the level of Final Fantasy VII. You will handle this personally. If you fail, don't bother returning to Tokyo."
"Understood! Consider it done!" Ken Kutaragi nodded vigorously and responded loudly.
Oga Norio sat in his chair, silently watching Nobuyuki Idei issue orders, offering no interruption or objection.
He knew better than anyone that in this brutal war against Sega and Nintendo, internal factional struggles within Sony had to be unconditionally suspended.
When the nest is overturned, how can the eggs remain unbroken? If the PlayStation died, the power they were fighting for would become a complete joke.
Nobuyuki Idei walked to the conference room door, his hand gripping the polished brass handle. He stopped.
"Sega and Nintendo are fighting fiercely right now," Idei said, his voice echoing in the empty room, though he didn't turn around. "Nintendo clawed back some ground during the holidays with Mario Kart 64, stabilizing their position. Meanwhile, Sega has completely dominated the living rooms of core gamers with Final Fantasy VII. The two of them are carving up the market between them. If Sony doesn't show its fangs and fight back, we'll be kicked out of the game entirely. Go on, Kutaragi. Show the industry what Sony is truly capable of."
Tokyo, Shinjuku Ward. Keio Plaza Hotel.
The banquet hall was brilliantly lit. The soft pop of champagne corks and the crisp clink of glasses filled the air.
While other third-party developers were reeling from the New Year's onslaught of Final Fantasy VII, Square was basking in a completely different reality.
One month after its release, Final Fantasy VII's global sales had officially surpassed five million copies.
The breakdown was 2.81 million in Japan, 1.68 million in North America, and 590,000 in Europe and other regions.
This achievement shattered the all-time sales record for RPGs, cementing Square's position as an industry titan.
Square had booked the entire banquet hall for this grand celebration.
At the center of the hall stood an extravagant five-tiered custom cake. At its peak, the number "5,000,000" was piped in bright red icing.
Takuya Nakayama handed his cashmere coat to a waiter and loosened his tie.
Oguchi Hisao followed closely behind, a wide smile on his face.
Yuji Naka brought up the rear, also dressed in a sharp suit.
"Managing Director, Sony's making a move," Oguchi Hisao whispered, leaning in close to Takuya's ear. "Nobuyuki Idei has seized direct control over the Electronic Entertainment Division's budget. Ken Kutaragi has been flying all over the world these past two days, trying to secure exclusivity deals with developers."
Takuya took the champagne glass offered by the waiter and took a sip.
"Let them try," Takuya said, swirling his glass. "Sony has the money, but they don't have many cards left to play. The major studios are all under our and Nintendo's watch. They can only pick up the scraps." He paused, his gaze sweeping the room. "No business talk today. We're here to support our allies."
Hironobu Sakaguchi strode over, glass in hand.
The dark circles under his eyes had faded considerably after a month's rest, and his hair was perfectly groomed—after all, he was the man of the hour.
"Executive Director Nakayama! Mr. Koguchi! Mr. Naka!" Sakaguchi clinked glasses with each of them in turn. "You've finally arrived. The development team has been clamoring to meet Sega's technical wizards."
Yuji Naka raised a glass of juice and tapped it against the rim of Sakaguchi's.
"Director Sakaguchi, I took another look at the code you used for the seamless transitions between pre-rendered CG and real-time gameplay," Naka said, adjusting his glasses. "There's still room for optimization in the memory allocation. If you need it for the next title, I can send a Sega technical team to help you rewrite the underlying architecture."
Sakaguchi nodded vigorously.
"We owe it all to Sega for granting us access to the Jupiter console's low-level APIs. Without your technical support, we never could have achieved such smooth cutscenes with data being read from four separate discs." Sakaguchi tilted his head back and drained his champagne. "Mr. Naka, I'll bring my team to Sega Headquarters soon to learn from you. We've really struggled with the camera work in 3D environments."
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