The assistant's laughter had barely faded when he suddenly remembered something. He quickly flipped to another page of the report, his expression turning oddly mixed—part excitement, part disbelief.
"Executive Director, there's also… the latest royalty report from the Finance Department."
Nakayama Takuya lifted his teacup and gestured for him to go on.
"Our MD console—the newest software-to-hardware ratio has just broken 5.2-to-1."
As the assistant read the number aloud, even he paused, as though double-checking he hadn't misread it.
5.2-to-1.
It meant that on average, every MD player had purchased more than five game cartridges.
It was an exceptionally healthy ecosystem metric.
"As for the GamePocket—since it launched more recently and the game lineup is still growing—the ratio has already reached 3.6-to-1, and the trend is rising rapidly."
Nakayama set his cup down. The gentle click of porcelain against the table echoed in the room.
He didn't speak, merely watched the assistant in silence—waiting for him to realize what this truly meant.
And the assistant didn't disappoint. He jerked his head up, eyes shining.
"I get it now! Our per-game royalty cut is way lower than Nintendo's—but our players buy more games! When the base is large enough, the total royalty income naturally overtakes them!"
He flipped excitedly to the last page of the report and pointed to the lump-sum total, his voice trembling.
"This quarter's total royalty revenue has already surpassed the entire profit we earned from hardware and our own first-party titles during the same period last year!"
Even Nakayama's eyebrows lifted at that.
It was unexpected, yet perfectly logical in hindsight.
When he drafted this strategy, his priority hadn't been profit—it had been building a flourishing developer ecosystem. An ever-growing library was their weapon against Nintendo's overpowering first-party lineup.
He hadn't expected it to start generating gold so quickly.
"Yamauchi wants to carve out a big bite from every third-party game." Nakayama leaned back, fingers interlocked. "We, on the other hand, help everyone grow the entire cake. And when the cake becomes big enough, even our smaller slice is worth a fortune."
He looked around at the meeting room—faces dawning with sudden clarity.
"Think back to Nintendo during the FC era. Aside from their own titles and a few giants like Enix, how many third parties ever hit a million copies? Yamauchi's iron-fisted policies squeezed the smaller developers dry. No courage to innovate, only endless imitation—and most of them ended up as cannon fodder."
"And now look at the MD." He turned his gaze to the assistant.
The assistant straightened instantly, reporting smoothly:
"The MD now has over three hundred titles! Globally, twelve have already crossed one million units sold! And several more are stuck just below—one good push and they'll break through!"
"See?" Nakayama's tone was firm.
"That's our confidence. The SFC's two-and-a-half-million sales—they come from Nintendo's reputation from the FC era. But our thirty million MD units? Those were earned one great game at a time, carved directly out of players' pockets."
"He has his past. We have our present."
---
In the meantime, Yamauchi's checkbook proved thicker than all the suppliers' fears combined.
Once Nintendo poured in hefty prepayments without hesitation, the previously "destitute" factory owners immediately changed their tune. Machines roared to life overnight, assembly lines lit up like daytime.
By mid-December, SFC shipments finally stabilized. Boxes of new consoles were delivered across electronics stores nationwide.
But the market… had already changed.
The frenzy sparked by media and core gamers—the wave that had carried SFC's launch—had cooled after two weeks of complete shortage.
With Christmas shopping season underway and shelves filled to the brim, Nintendo was no longer the only choice.
"Executive Director, the newest weekly report."
The same section chief from Marketing entered—but this time, instead of anxiety, he wore the look of someone carrying treasure. Even his steps were lighter.
Nakayama took the report, but before he could read it, the section chief eagerly began explaining on his own.
"Please look here—FamiCom Weekly's newest sales chart for the week. In the top ten, aside from the immovable number one, Super Mario World, out of the remaining nine titles—seven are ours! MD games!"
His finger tapped the paper rapidly.
"Konami's newest Contra launched directly during Christmas week—three hundred thousand units in three days! And Capcom's Street Fighter—also a hit!"
People nearby clustered around, expressions shifting with excitement.
It looked like a coordinated siege.
While the entire industry stared at the SFC and Mario, Sega's third-party army had quietly executed a full encirclement of the Christmas market.
The assistant clicked his tongue in amazement and murmured,
"Konami's President Uezu really is an old fox…"
Nakayama chuckled.
"That's called tacit understanding. Nintendo's production bottleneck bought everyone breathing room. Those who bought an SFC—they beat Mario in two weeks. And then what? They need something else to play. They're not going to worship their shiny new console on a shelf."
The section chief nodded repeatedly.
"Exactly! Staff in Akihabara say many customers browse Nintendo's section first, stay there a long time… then suddenly turn around, stroll over to our aisle, pick up an MD cartridge, and walk straight to checkout."
The tension that had suffocated everyone after hearing that "2.5 million" figure finally melted away.
Facts spoke louder than fear.
Mario's sales were monstrous—but it was still just one title.
And behind Sega's MD stood a fully matured and rapidly accelerating ecosystem.
"Well done." Nakayama said to the section chief. "The MD 'classic titles promotion plan' I asked you to prepare—it's working."
"Yes, Executive Director!" The section chief stood tall, nothing like the gloomy mess he had been days earlier.
"We partnered with major retail chains to launch the 'Played Mario? Try Sonic!' bundle discounts. Buy Sonic, and you get a half-price coupon for last year's million-seller titles—like Art of Fighting or Golden Sun."
"Judging from the numbers, a lot of new SFC owners have been lured straight into the MD camp."
The entire Marketing Department was buzzing—their efforts had paid off.
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