Chapter 76
Game Market
20 Until the Creation of Super Family pt . 4
“What are you trying to tell me?”
“What I’m saying is that unless you’re going to take all that money with you after death, you need to invest into the quality of the product . If I make the console based on the current outline with poor value, there’s going to be an increase in the number of poor quality products . If so, the consumers won’t be happy about it . People will start losing their trust for the product and this will affect Mintendo’s image . After repetitive cases of overhauling, there will be talk of the product being defective and as for the demanding customers, they will ether request a product recall or boycott the Mintendo product . ”
Maybe the last part was too harsh .
I thought Mr . Kamauchi would be sensitive towards what I said about him taking money with him after death, but he seemed to be more sensitive to the possibility of products having to be recalled or boycotted .
“Boycotted?”
“It’s an exaggerated example, but it’s always a possibility . Can’t you feel that the console industry is already shaky compared to the former generation? NEGA has already made a statement that they will make a 16-BIT portable and color-version Gameboy . Even SMK has been making arcade games all this time and is testing the waters to get involved in the family console game business .
“Hmm… I did hear the news about that . ”
“I wish you would be more greedy . Also, if you trust me, I will do whatever it takes to launch Super Family successfully . ”
“Look at you . You’re that confident, aren’t you?”
“Of course . ”
You may not be aware, but someone who has done a time-slip like myself is not likely to fail at all .
It’s not that the market has changed completely to a point where it is unfathomable for me and I have worked to keep on with the flow of the game market rather than be revolutionary .
It would take a few years to be able to predict results in the market .
“Fine . I won’t even lay a finger on the reports you send me . ” Mr . Kamauchi responded .
‘Yes!’ I shouted inside .
As Mr . Kunpei had advised me, Kamauchi desired to receive assurance through others . That is also the reason Mr . Kamauchi had the mindset of putting his trust into one genius over a hundred employees in the company .
“I won’t let you down . ”
“You’ve proved yourself with reaching out to the American market, and just as Kunpe and Sigei speak highly of you, you’ve brought about results higher than the expectations set on you . ”
Kamauchi’s frown disappeared and he looked at me .
“I feel a lot better after talking with you one on one . I almost feel there was no point in me struggling with the approval documents everyday on my own .
“I’m also relieved that this conversation with you went better than I thought it would . I couldn’t sleep the past few days, worried that I might fail on my last project here at Mintendo . ” I said, as I organized the documents in front of me . This was me trying to naturally bring up the topic of quitting the company and Mr . Kamauchi simply blinked at me for a short moment as if he hadn’t understood what I had said .
“Kang? What did you mean just now, that this is your last project?”
I carelessly pushed the pile of organized documents to the side on the desk .
“Yes . I’m thinking of leaving Mintendo as soon as I complete the Super Family . ”
“Excuse me?!” Mr . Kamauchi shouted, his voice echoing off the walls of his office .
Of course he would be surprised, since it would feel as if one of the pillars of Mintendo was being taken out .
“Actually, I’ve been thinking of quitting the company for quite a while . Except . . I just wanted to finish the next generation development project that I’m responsible for before I leave . ”
“No . . ”
“Huh?”
“Don’t go . ” Mr . Kamauchi murmured, his voice shaking lightly . My smile disappeared as I saw the devastated look on his face – something I had never seen for the past five years .
“Where are you trying to go once you leave our company?”
“I’m not sure . I don’t really have a place in mind . ”
“What? So why are you leaving when you don’t even have a company you want to move to?”
“There’s something else I would like to do . ”
“No, you can’t . Even if everyone else quits, I’m not letting you, Kunpei or Sigei leave . ”
Huh . . I thought he would let me go without another word . I wasn’t expecting this at all .
I couldn’t back down easily myself, though . The only reason I had been working at Mintendo for the past five years was because of Super Family .
In order to let our name known as the developers of the next generation console, I had already conducted a separate interview with Junpei .
By next month, it would officially be a topic in the magazine . My career for having been the developer of Psychic Battle and for developing Super Family had officially started .
On top of that, I was thinking of telling the CEO of Triangle, who had been traveling around the world, waiting to return to Japan . It had been a struggle last time with him crying over the phone two months ago saying he wanted to return to Japan .
Anyways, I couldn’t stay stuck in Mintendo when Pentagon Soft was nearly in my hands .
“There’s no point in trying to keep me here . I’ve already made my decision . Also, even if ‘m not here, you have Mr . Kunpei and Mr . Sigeru . And you have talented people working under them . Why are you afraid of losing me?”
“That’s because you’re a genius that transcends them all . ”
“Excuse me…?”
“I used to think I was smart when I was younger . Even when I went into college . However . I wasn’t the type to be called a genius . Just someone who excelled in academics compared to others . But you, Kunpei and Sigeiru are different . I realized that when I had my first conversation with you guys . ‘It is people like these boys who are what we call geniuses . ’ I felt your bravery of fighting your way into realms that others wouldn’t even dare . When you first sat in for your job interview, you took out a Family game boy, inserted it into a robot and suggested we sell it as a toy, I was sure of one thing . You, Kunpei and Sigeiru have great sense, and maybe you have even better sense than they do . ”
“…”
“That is why I can’t let you go . Of course, when you came back from the States and helped Sigei and Kunpei’s project, I thought you were up to no good . I even suspected you may be a spy helping them with their work and try to take away our technology . However, as a result, all the projects you helped us with brought about great success, and you have kept faithful to your position . I apologize if I hurt your feelings suspecting you . So…”
“I understand what you’re trying to say, but as you have seen me for the past five years, I’m sure you know what my conclusion will be . ”
“Are you really leaving eventually?”
“I will make sure I finish the project I’m assigned to before I do . ”
Mr . Kamauchi looked like he wanted to say something, and his mouth twitched, but in the end, he didn’t say anything .
&
End of January in 1989
Kamauchi had left me in charge of managing the development the Super Family as he had promised, so the work was going quite well . In the midst of conducting our project, we had guests come from the States .