In the video game industry, Mickford had always been the perennial fourth place.
Ahead of it stood three towering giants.
The first was Brown Entertainment.
The second was Suri Electronics.
And the third—by far the largest, surpassing all others by several times—was Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.
That said, in the broader electronics industry, Mickford was no slouch.
Myron Cass had always possessed sharp vision, able to clearly discern the future development paths of electronic technology.
If a "deus ex machina" like Facebook hadn't suddenly emerged in the smartphone space, Mickford would likely have become the most powerful electronics giant to date—even stronger than the long-established Suri Electronics.
Myron Cass himself had an almost obsessive level of stubbornness, relentlessly pursuing perfection in electronic products. This, too, was one of the secrets behind his success.
Even now, a popular saying still circulated:
Mickford is synonymous with fashion and high-end electronics.
Other companies like Facebook were a notch below.
Facebook's brand image, on the other hand, was entertainment and rebellion.
Over the years, for people who weren't particularly into video games, Mickford phones were often the first choice.
Facebook and Mickford's smartphone shipments were almost always neck and neck each year.
As Mickford's most important autumn launch event, it naturally showcased their latest and most powerful electronic products.
The first announcement was Mickford's newest operating system—an appetizer of sorts—introducing many new features.This time, they had even added a dedicated game-enhancement function, allowing video games to achieve better optimization on Mickford's platform.
This was clearly another challenge thrown at competing game companies.
Next came some of Mickford's niche products: their latest music player and a few experimental smart devices, including a smartwatch.
Smartwatches were indeed profitable, but Mickford had entered the market late.
Takayuki had already pointed Bob in this direction long ago, and Facebook's smartwatches were already in their second generation, while Mickford was only just rolling theirs out.
After that came a device combining virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), emphasizing lightness and high resolution—a completely different approach from Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.
Myron Cass clearly intended this device to be everyday wearable tech for ordinary people, whereas Gamestar focused primarily on gaming, resulting in bulkier hardware.
This new product caused quite a stir among viewers of the launch event.
Rumors had circulated online for a long time that Mickford might develop something like this, and some people had confidently claimed that once Mickford released such a product, it would sweep the entire market.
After all, Mickford was exceptionally good at building ecosystems.
The price, however, was intimidating.
The launch price was USD 1,899—more than double the price of a Mickford smartphone.
The performance specs were impressive, but the price alone scared off many potential buyers.
"Buy a few units when this launches and let Airi and the others study them," Takayuki said as he looked at the Mickford headset on screen.
Sawazawa Airi nodded. "No problem. I'm interested too. Should we make something similar ourselves?"
"No need to deliberately focus on social features," Takayuki replied. "Our strength is games and entertainment. Social networking isn't what our company excels at."
"Got it," Airi said instantly, understanding his meaning.
Takayuki had little interest in expanding deeply into industries beyond video games.
After all, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment still held a large share of Facebook's stock—research like this could be left to them, while Gamestar simply collected dividends from the industry's growth.
All Gamestar needed to do was develop games compatible with such devices.
At that moment, Usui Chizuru, head of the Eighth Development Department, suddenly had an idea.
"Boss, I just thought of something interesting. A racing game that combines VR and AR—something in between. My team is already working with the engineering department on a physical racing toy game that can be played both in real life and in-game. It could be seamlessly adapted to this kind of VR setup."
As soon as Takayuki heard this, he recalled a game he had once seen.
Nintendo had developed a real-world racing toy game called Mario Kart Live.
Players had to buy a physical Mario Kart toy—palm-sized, with a camera mounted on it. The toy connected wirelessly to a console, allowing players to race using an augmented-reality perspective.
Takayuki had found it fascinating back then but never bought it.
His tiny rental apartment in his previous life simply couldn't accommodate it.
That memory still stung.
He also remembered online jokes saying that the most expensive part of that game wasn't the software or the toy—it was the space required to play it. You needed a big house.
That alone scared off most players.
Takayuki nodded. "That could work, but don't invest too much. Most players don't have enough space to enjoy real-world racing toy games."
"Ah… yeah, that's true. I really didn't think of that," Usui Chizuru said awkwardly.
He had indeed overlooked the issue of play space, only realizing it after Takayuki pointed it out.
His department specialized in racing games—Need for Speed, Mario Kart, and later Forza had all come from his team.
Takayuki added, "VR racing games do have potential, but don't emphasize toys that require large physical spaces. At most, add a steering wheel. And I suggest that the wheel should utilize the console's existing hardware as much as possible—avoid adding extra peripherals."
Every additional peripheral subtly discouraged more players.
Most players weren't willing to buy extra hardware just for a single game.
Sawazawa Airi immediately chimed in, "Then why don't we just design a mold that can be 3D-printed? Players could snap our controller into it, letting the built-in gyroscope act as a steering wheel."
"That's brilliant!" Usui Chizuru's eyes lit up.
It was the most cost-effective solution, and players would be far more willing to accept it.
Takayuki didn't interfere further.
This kind of detail could be left to them.
At this point, he no longer needed to micromanage every small thing. What he wanted wasn't a group of puppets—but a team of developers who could think for themselves.