At a corner of Central Avenue stood the Shimayose Game Store.
Shimayose Yosuke had just served a group of customers when Manager Chiyama from the shop across the street waved to him.
He had also just finished with his own group.
Though the two stores had initially been rivals, the competition had softened over time. Nintendo maintained its loyal fanbase, while Sega had its own devoted following. The differing preferences of game enthusiasts had stabilized the market, reducing the initial intensity of their rivalry.
Of course, this was also due to the current stalemate between Nintendo and Sega in the Japanese market. If either company gained a decisive advantage, their truce could shatter.
But for now, at least, the two remained on civil terms.
"Chiyama, how many cartridges did you sell today?"
"Around forty, plus a few game consoles. What about you?"
"Similar. Oh, and I sold a few arcade machines as add-ons."
Manager Chiyama offered Shimayose a cigarette, but he shook his head.
He didn't smoke.
His only true passion was Sega.
Manager Chiyama withdrew his hand. The two middle-aged men were squatting in the corner, murmuring about recent games.
"Jackie Chan's movies are just so good!"
As they spoke, they suddenly heard a young man's voice from above.
"You two seem to have a lot of free time. Instead of selling games in the shop, you're out here smoking."
The two men looked up in unison and saw Kobayashi Tetsu's face.
"President Kobayashi! What a rare sight!"
"I never thought I'd see you in a movie!"
"Though your acting could use some improvement."
Kobayashi Tetsu, rarely flustered, felt his face redden.
"Let's not talk about acting today!"
Kobayashi Tetsu said, "To cut to the chase, Atlas has always operated offline experience stores."
The two men nodded in unison.
They knew this well. The stores charged modest fees and didn't really affect their game shops. Moreover, Atlas stores only sold Atlas's own games, so they posed no threat.
Kobayashi Tetsu continued, "Those stores are all directly managed by Atlas. Now, they plan to authorize some third-party shops to become so-called 'Atlas Specialty Stores.' They won't exclusively carry Atlas products, but will use Atlas's brand as one of their main draws."
Shimayose Yosuke looked up abruptly.
Manager Chiyama frowned slightly.
The term "third-party" didn't sit well with him, reminding him of Nintendo's third-party strategy.
Kobayashi Tetsu calmly explained the future arrangements.
"Atlas will authorize certain stores to sell their games. These stores can directly obtain stock from Atlas, and new releases will be prioritized in these authorized locations. In return, the stores will be expected to undertake certain responsibilities, such as promoting Atlas's games or featuring their arcade machines."
Midway through his explanation, Manager Chiyama suddenly stood up.
"I'm very sorry, but this is a Nintendo-exclusive store. We can only sell Nintendo game consoles. I apologize for any inconvenience."
Kobayashi Tetsu didn't blame him.
Unlike private shops like Shimayose's, Chiyama's store operated under an official Nintendo license, limiting its flexibility.
So, Kobayashi Tetsu turned his attention to Shimayose Yosuke, the game store owner he'd known the longest.
In the four years since 1983, Shimayose had hosted four gaming tournaments. Kobayashi had participated in the first two.
This shopkeeper was an old acquaintance.
Shimayose Yosuke remained silent, simply turning around to look up at the sign.
"So, President Kobayashi wants to add a few words to this sign?"
Kobayashi Tetsu nodded. "The words 'Atlas'."
Shimayose Yosuke let out a long breath.
"I thought it was something major! So, you want to run a promotional campaign for Atlas—put two of your arcade machines out front for people to play, right? You had to come all the way here for something so minor? Are you presidents all this free time?"
He casually patted his chest. "Don't worry, I'll have someone remake the sign in a few days."
He agreed readily enough.
Kobayashi Tetsu, who had kept his hands in his pockets, now had to pull them out and grasp Shimayose Yosuke's hand.
In times like these, you could always count on an old friend.
"I'm not finished yet. We'll need to sign a more detailed sales agreement later. For every Atlas game coin sold, we'll split it 70-30—70 yen for the shop, 30 yen for Atlas."
"And for every Atlas cartridge sold, Atlas will subsidize the game store by 50 yen."
As Kobayashi Tetsu explained each point one by one, Shimayose Yosuke's gaze gradually narrowed.
If the previous discussion had been about sentiment, this was now about tangible benefits.
Kobayashi Tetsu's explanation was essentially telling him:
Go ahead and push Atlas! You'll be rewarded if you do well, and there's no penalty if you don't!
Profit margins for brick-and-mortar stores were already razor-thin. The 50-yen subsidy was equivalent to Atlas directly sacrificing revenue.
"This is truly unbelievable," Shimayose Yosuke said, taking off his glasses and polishing the lenses with the hem of his shirt.
He understood perfectly what this meant.
But after only a moment's hesitation, Shimayose Yosuke put his glasses back on.
"I'm not very familiar with the specifics, but as for the sales agreement and everything—just sign it."
Kobayashi Tetsu said no more, simply shaking Shimayose Yosuke's hand firmly.
What Kobayashi Tetsu had done wasn't complicated. Every middle and high school student had likely come to despise a certain brand of stationery.
And that's exactly how this brand had seized the market.
They listed their name on corresponding stores, adding their logo. While not restricting stores from selling other brands, they provided various subsidies, promotional assistance, and even price discounts.
But!
But once the market was secured, all of that vanished. Stores were forced to sell only their brand, subsidies dwindled, and discounts disappeared. By then, even if a store wanted to switch to another brand, it was too late—all other brands had already been squeezed out and gone bankrupt.
This wasn't the earliest business tactic, but it was undeniably the most effective. With enough money to burn, nearly every problem could be solved.
In fact, if their stationery had been of high quality, a monopoly wouldn't have been entirely unacceptable.
But their stationery—
Kobayashi Tetsu could only say it wasn't terrible, but it had nothing to do with good. If Pilot ever stopped producing pens, this company wouldn't be able to make any.
Kobayashi Tetsu was willing to support domestic products, but unfortunately, they treated him like a gullible fool every day.
Now, Kobayashi Tetsu wanted to break the blockade imposed by the three arcade companies.
Selling 5,000 arcade machines would have been enough for other companies to celebrate wildly, enough to revitalize Capcom. But for Atlas, 5,000 was nowhere near enough.
Except for Shimayose Yosuke, with whom Kobayashi Tetsu had the earliest and most special relationship, he personally visited. For the other companies, Kobayashi Tetsu didn't even bother to inquire; he left everything to Kunio Taki, the president who had created the River City series and was once the head of human resources.
Taki would arrange for staff to find suitable people to carry out this grassroots marketing campaign, starting in Tokyo, then the greater Tokyo area, and expanding from the Kansai and Kanto regions to all of Japan.
Overseas, however, things were simpler.
Namco currently lacked the power to prevent its overseas stores from stocking Atlas's products!
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