"Congratulations, congratulations!"
Ken Kutaragi raised his glass and clinked it with Aoki Haruhi's.
Both men smiled as they took a sip, then slowly lowered their glasses, looking at each other and smiling happily again.
On one side was the short, stout Ken Kutaragi with a fleshy face, and opposite him was the fair-faced Aoki Haruhi.
One's smile was wicked, the other cunning.
This scene had a touch of that classic moment in TV dramas where villains gloat after their schemes succeed.
In the past month, not only did the sales of pokemon 3d soar, but the sales of Sony PS consoles also saw a small leap.
From Sony's own internal data, it was clear that these console sales were certainly influenced by Pokémon.
So this Time, Ken Kutaragi specifically invited Aoki Haruhi out for dinner and drinks to celebrate such excellent sales, and Ken Kutaragi even prepared a special gift.
"President Aoki, congratulations on Pokémon sales breaking one million! I also hope that the sales of pokémon 3d world will get better and better, striving to break 5 million soon!"
5 million?!
Aoki Haruhi gave him a sidelong glance.
Who are you looking down on?
5 million.
Do you know this is the world's number one IP?
And, most importantly—
My "pokémon 3d world" is the ultimate weapon forged by combining Pokémon and super mario 3d world.
It should sell at least 10 million copies, right?
Aoki Haruhi even vaguely felt that the game's global sales could break that number within this year.
Aoki Haruhi said with a playful smile, "Kutaragi-san, why don't you wish for a bit more? Round it up to 10 million copies, wouldn't that be great?"
Ken Kutaragi was stunned for a moment.
He seemed not to have expected President Aoki Zhiyuan to be so thick-skinned, truly not playing by the rules at all.
However, Aoki Haruhi's words did not cause Ken Kutaragi to feel annoyed; in fact, they made him burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha… I'm sorry, that's my fault."
Mr. Kutaragi bowed slightly, then smiled again and corrected himself, saying, "I hope the game "pokémon 3d world" sells incredibly well, with sales breaking 10 million copies!
No, breaking 50 million copies!"
Ken Kutaragi certainly hoped their game could sell 10 million, or even 100 million copies, because each game disc corresponds to a console.
If "pokémon 3d world" could really break 100 million copies, then wouldn't Sony PS sales skyrocket?
But Ken Kutaragi had never even dreamed of such a thing.
It was completely unimaginable.
However, now seeing Aoki Haruhi's boundless ambition, infected by him, and having had a couple of drinks, Ken Kutaragi was a little tipsy and directly blurted out the bold claim of 50 million copies.
"Hahahaha," Aoki Haruhi laughed so hard he leaned back and forth, thinking Ken Kutaragi was truly adorable.
"Then I also wish Sony PS great sales, getting better and better, and breaking a hundred million soon!" Aoki Haruhi roared directly.
Ken Kutaragi was startled when he heard the unit 'hundred million'.
But he quickly adjusted; who couldn't brag?
With such a lively atmosphere, a little bragging wouldn't hurt.
"Good! Strive to break a hundred million!"
Ken Kutaragi raised his glass again.
…
Ken Kutaragi thought he was bragging, but Aoki Haruhi didn't think so.
One should know that the sales of Sony PS in the previous life were in the hundreds of millions.
Otherwise, how could this gaming marvel defeat Nintendo to become the number one console and win the entire console war?
However, Aoki Haruhi did not reveal this matter.
Seeing Kutaragi-san smiling so happily, he also felt happy.
Ah!
Aoki Haruhi truly envied the feeling of building something step by step, starting from scratch, and then becoming the world's number one.
In a couple of years, when Sony firmly holds the top spot, Mr. Kutaragi will surely greatly enjoy the hardships and joys of that journey.
The sense of accomplishment from striving with one's own hands and rising to the top of the world is truly unparalleled and wonderful.
Aoki Haruhi couldn't help but imagine.
…
After three rounds of drinks, both of them were slightly tipsy and chatted about a lot of topics; everyone was in a very cheerful mood.
This is what is called 'a happy occasion lifts one's spirits.' The cooperation between Sony and Pokeni Company so far can be described as inseparable, like glue. In their honeymoon period, the two had unlimited beautiful visions and aspirations for the future.
"By the way, Mr. Kutaragi, when do you plan to develop the PS2?" Aoki Haruhi asked, "I heard that Nintendo seems to be developing a new 64-bit machine recently."
"Hmm?"
Kutaragi-san looked up, his eyes a bit dazed, at Aoki Haruhi.
He thought for two seconds, and it took him a while to come back to his senses.
"It's still too early, isn't it?" Ken Kutaragi said with a smile, shaking his glass. "From a company strategic perspective, Sony PS has only been released for less than a year, and there's still a lot of market space to explore.
We won't be launching a new console that quickly.
Currently, Sony PS is already sufficient to meet the demands of most games on the market, and it might be too early to develop games that exceed the console's performance."
Can it meet the demands of most games, are you sure?
Aoki Haruhi looked at Ken Kutaragi with some resentment.
If he could, he would wish that Sony's consoles would iterate every year, so they could support gaming performance 500 Times stronger than now sooner.
I'm not bragging, but I have a belly full of games, and every single one that comes out will push your Sony PS performance to its limits.
"As for Nintendo's 64-bit?" Ken Kutaragi smiled somewhat disdainfully, "They don't have that technical capability."
Whenever Nintendo was mentioned, Ken Kutaragi felt like a big fool, filled with bitterness.
He had helped them develop a console, only to be abandoned midway by that scumbag Yamauchi.
Fortunately, he later met Pokeni Company.
Thinking of this, Ken Kutaragi was truly filled with endless emotion, feeling that his luck was genuinely good.
In such circumstances, he met Aoki Haruhi.
"Thank you, Pokeni Company, for your strong support to Sony all this Time, President Aoki, come, I'll toast you again." Ken Kutaragi raised his glass.
Without waiting for Aoki Haruhi's action, he downed it in one gulp.
He was getting tipsy, really tipsy.
Normally, Ken Kutaragi was incredibly steady and unlikely to make grand pronouncements, but now he was directly letting out his true feelings.
Aoki Haruhi shook his head with a bitter smile and also downed the drink.
…
"By the way, President Aoki," Ken Kutaragi was a bit muddled from drinking, but just before saying goodbye, he suddenly remembered something very important.
"What about the Electronic Entertainment Industry Association I mentioned to you last Time? How has Pokeni Company considered it?"
"Hmm?" Aoki Haruhi was stunned for a moment.
Indeed, this person had brought up this matter at the end of last year.
"To be honest," Ken Kutaragi said, "now, besides Sega and Nintendo, many game companies have already agreed to join this association.
Konami, Square, Koei, Namco… Our association is only missing Pokeni Company."
The Electronic Entertainment Industry Association was actually another form of making a bigger pie.
Previously, Sony's influence wasn't that great, but after Sony PS sales successfully broke 10 million copies over the past six months, many game manufacturers seemed to have loosened up.
Many even actively sought to curry favor with Sony.
Even a company like Square, which was still dependent on Nintendo, couldn't resist developing final fantasy 7 for Sony PS; that was the company's ace card.
This is how it is: when you have strength, you find the world beautiful, and the goodwill of those around you also increases.
Ken Kutaragi also gradually built confidence through this process; now his tone of voice was much more assertive, a complete change from the somewhat naive engineer Aoki Haruhi had first met.
"Hmm, no problem." Aoki Haruhi nodded.
Aoki Haruhi's main approach was to accept all invitations.
If Sony establishes an Electronic Entertainment Industry Association and invites him, he joins. In the future, if Sega also establishes some Electronic Interactive Association, he will join that too.
In any case, Aoki Haruhi was someone who was good at handling relationships and making friends on all sides.
His Time was still to come.
…
A week later.
Roppongi.
That evening, at the Ryotei Manpuku Wagyu BBQ restaurant, over 50 employees from the entire Pokémon project team gathered.
Even the tables for the BBQ were joined together from one end of the restaurant to the other.
It highlighted a grand scale.
"Congratulations on the huge success of 'pokémon 3d world'!!!"
Aoki Haruhi raised his glass, celebrating with everyone.
"Huge success!!!"
Everyone raised their glasses.
The employees' faces were beaming with happy joy.
The banquet was exceptionally noisy, but everyone was incredibly happy.
The staff of the Japanese restaurant couldn't help but be infected by their emotions, exclaiming, "The employees of Pokeni Company are really lucky!
To have such treatment."
"Indeed, it's rare to see such a large-scale employee gathering from a big company."
"Ah, I'm so envious. How great would it be if I were also an employee of Pokeni Company."
"What are you thinking? I heard that Pokeni Company has very high requirements for employees; many of those they hire now seem to be graduates from prestigious universities like Todai."
"Really? Then I guess I have no hope in this life."
…
"pokémon 3d world" was a massive hit, so the company held a very grand celebration banquet for the Pokémon project team.
The entire project team's employees even received a week-long vacation for travel and team building, with all expenses covered by the company.
It simply highlighted that money was no object.
If you made money for the company, then you deserved to enjoy it thoroughly.
…
After a while, HR-chan came out pushing a small cart.
On the cart was a large, 7-tier cake.
The cake was designed with considerable thought.
The entire cake was designed according to the layered sense of the level map in Pokémon 3D:
The bottom layer was green, then above it was ocean blue, and further up was desert yellow…
And on each layer, there were small figurines.
They were made into the shapes of some Pokémon representative of that layer.
The first layer had Applin, Honey Sweet, Vespiquen…
The second layer had Psyduck, Feebas…
And on the very top layer, besides the big BOSS Lucifer, there were also several main Pokémon:
Pikachu, Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle.
They were basically all sculpted from chocolate.
Both exquisite and small, and full of endless creativity.
It was covered with candles, and in the middle was a blessing card made of chocolate:
[Congratulations on the great success of pokémon 3d world!]
When Lisa Asano saw the cake, tears immediately streamed down her face.
She was overwhelmingly moved.
"Come on, Asano Producer, this is your stage." Aoki Haruhi smiled, picked up a cutting knife from the table, and handed it to Lisa Asano.
During this process, Ayase Akane had also specially invited a photographer to help record the moment.
In life, there are always some moments that are unforgettable forever.
And now, this was an unforgettable moment in Lisa Asano's life.
Although the scene was dim, the candlelight on the cake was so bright and dazzling, deeply illuminating her heart.
At once, Lisa Asano's eyes reddened, and she didn't know what to say.
"Um… I…"
As soon as she opened her mouth, Lisa Asano choked up.
Ayase Akane warmly put her arm around the young girl's shoulder.
Aoki Haruhi said with a smile, "Asano, you are now one of the most famous Producers in the world. Pokémon has Your Name on it, so please don't cry anymore."
"I… President, I'm truly too moved, I just can't help it."
Lisa Asano took a few deep breaths, which finally calmed her emotions a little.
Although it seemed like a lot had been done and many difficulties had been encountered along the way, for Lisa Asano and her team, as long as Aoki Haruhi was there as their pillar, there was no problem that couldn't be solved.
So it seemed they hadn't really experienced many setbacks.
It wasn't even a matter of the joy that comes after enduring hardship.
From its very inception, Pokémon was destined to be a world-class star product.
So Lisa Asano felt that her life had been quite smooth, and the reason for her tears was genuinely due to being moved.
Especially sensitive girls are particularly easily influenced by the environment and atmosphere.
At such a moment, Lisa Asano instinctively reddened her eyes.
"Well, thank you all for your support and companionship along the way. The success of this game project today is the result of everyone's concerted efforts.
More importantly, we must thank the President.
Without the President, there would be no "pokémon 3d world"!"
A group of people below shouted with her, "Thank you, President!"
"President, you are my God!"
"Hahaha ah haha…"
A burst of laughter erupted at the scene.
…
"Well. Then, let's keep up the good work, and I hope the Pokémon series gets better and better, and the next game achieves even better results!"
Lisa Asano earnestly made a new wish.
Since the cake tower was too tall, she couldn't blow out the candles on top, so she just symbolically blew twice, then picked up the knife and cut a slice from the middle.
"Amazing!"
HR-chan, watching from the side, was so moved that her eyes welled up, and she applauded them.
She hoped that every year, every game would have a celebration banquet in the future.
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