Sega Headquarters, top-floor conference room.
The board members' gazes were focused on the youngest figure at the end of the conference table.
"Regarding my participation in the Sunrise board meeting last week."
Nakayama Takuya immediately reported the outcome of his visit to Sunrise.
"President Itō has agreed to accept investment from Sega."
Takuya then lightly placed the letter of intent for equity transfer, signed with the name of Sunrise President Masanori Itō, onto the conference table.
"Sunrise—agreed?"
Director Yoshikawa, who was sitting closer, immediately took the document to examine it carefully.
Sunrise!
That was an evergreen giant of the anime world, possessing a colossal array of high-value IPs, including Gundam!
Everyone present knew that after Sega symbolically invested in Sunrise, its shareholding had not increased, precisely to avoid provoking resistance from Sunrise.
And now, this stubborn fortress had been quietly breached by Takuya. The over year-long period of dormancy and effort had finally paid off.
The conference room instantly erupted. Suppressed excitement spread across everyone's faces, and the sound of excited chatter buzzed.
A hint of undisguised astonishment flashed across the normally stern face of Nakayama Hayao.
He looked at his younger son, whose demeanor was calm and composed, as if he had just accomplished a trivial task.
He took a deep breath, suppressing the turmoil within, and asked in a low voice, "What was the price?"
This question brought the momentarily buzzing conference room back to silence.
Everyone stared at Takuya, waiting for his answer.
"The price?"
A playful curve lifted Takuya's lips.
"Not only do we not need to pay a high premium, but you could even say that Sunrise actively invited us to become their 'ally.'"
"They need our funds to get through the current economic winter."
"More importantly, they need us to help them break free from Bandai's interference."
This was offering charcoal in the snow, the arrival of a king—the opponent willingly opening the gates!
"Clap! Clap! Clap!"
Nakayama Hayao could no longer maintain his composure. He stood up and led the applause.
The applause started with him and quickly spread throughout the conference room, warm and sustained.
Every clap was the highest recognition of Takuya's ability!
"Good! Well done!"
Nakayama Hayao's eyes were filled with approval and pride. "Yoshikawa! Hattori!"
"Yes!"
Director Yoshikawa and Director Hattori, President of Sega Galaxy, immediately responded.
"The two of you, immediately assemble the best negotiating team to interface with Sunrise!"
Nakayama Hayao gave the instruction, his voice ringing with power.
"Remember, on the details, show our sincerity and magnanimity as an ally, but on core interests, do not yield a single step!"
"Yes!" The two responded in unison, their spirits high.
After the board meeting, Takuya returned to his office, sinking into the soft sofa with a long sigh of relief.
The grand strategy of acquiring Sunrise, from the initial layout and execution, had finally entered the closing stages today. The remaining trivial details would be handled by professionals like Yoshikawa and Hattori.
Finally, he could relax and work on something he genuinely enjoyed.
What to do?
His gaze swept over the desk and landed on the GamePocket placed there.
Since the current economic situation is better suited for handheld consoles, he might as well set an example for other third parties, showing them whether consumers still have money to spend during this economic crisis.
In his mind, a pink, round figure gradually became clear.
Nintendo, oh Nintendo, I apologize, but I have to "borrow" your future creative idea again.
Takuya couldn't help but laugh out loud.
A top-tier IP that sold over five million copies on the Game Boy in the previous life—a pink devil that was too cute for players of all ages to resist—Kirby of the Stars.
Once the idea surfaced, it could not be contained.
Short levels and a straightforward map-based progression control method were perfectly tailored for the fragmented entertainment time of a handheld console.
Its adorable, dreamy art style and relaxed game difficulty would precisely capture a large number of casual and female players.
Even better—
Takuya's thoughts instantly connected to the newly acquired Sunrise.
What was his advice to Sunrise again? Develop some medium-to-low-cost original works to broaden their repertoire and reduce risk.
Isn't this the perfect existing project?
The Kirby of the Stars anime is the perfect opening success for the nascent "Sega-Sunrise" alliance!
This project has low investment, extremely low risk, and the game and anime can be launched simultaneously, creating a perfect commercial synergy.
It would allow Sunrise to practice and familiarize themselves with the cooperation model with Sega, and use a guaranteed successful project to prove the vision of their new "ally" to the Sunrise internal staff.
Killing two birds with one stone? No, three birds!
The more Takuya thought about it, the more excited he became. He had even figured out the core requirements for the anime production.
He picked up a pen and wrote two lines on a memo:
* The protagonist, Kirby, cannot speak. All emotions and communication must be expressed through actions, interjections, expressions, and eye contact.
* The story is set in "Dream Land" (Pupupu Land). Absolutely no Earthlings should appear in the anime to maintain its unique alien world view.
After writing, he looked at these two seemingly odd rules on the paper and nodded in satisfaction. This was the essence of the Kirby anime, and the key to its success.
He picked up the phone and dialed the internal line for the Game Development Department.
"It's me."
The voice of Chief Shimizu from Development Team 3 came through the phone: "Executive Director, what are your instructions?"
"Shimizu-san, I have a new handheld game project," Takuya leaned back in his chair, his tone relaxed. "Come to my office, and I'll brief you."
A moment later, Chief Shimizu arrived at Takuya's office.
Takuya pushed the rough sketch of Kirby that he had just drawn towards Chief Shimizu.
"The protagonist is a pink, round, dumpling-like little guy."
"He—is very hungry and can suck enemies into his stomach like a vacuum cleaner, and then copy the enemy's ability."
Chief Shimizu carefully studied the drawing on the scrap paper, saying nothing, seemingly digesting the somewhat naive-sounding concept.
"Executive Director—are you saying—a pink rice dumpling?"
"Exactly!" Takuya grinned broadly. "I call him 'Kirby.'"
"The core gameplay is that Kirby can inhale forcefully to swallow enemies, or turn them into stars to shoot out, or swallow them and copy their abilities."
"I have initially designed 4 abilities that can be swallowed: Fire, Sword, Stone, and Wheel. You can consider adding others yourself, or if you have too many ideas, you can save them for future sequels."
"I've also written the basic plot on the bottom of the sketch. Just turn it into a level map."
"The game's difficulty should be kept simple, so that girls who just picked up a GamePocket can complete it."
Chief Shimizu nodded. "I understand. This shouldn't be too complicated."
"One more thing: the level story script and the overall art style must be unified with Sunrise, using that marshmallow, jelly, and pudding-like cute style."
"Our game and the anime will be launched simultaneously."
"Understood." Chief Shimizu noted Takuya's instructions on the single-page game project sketch. "I'll bring in the artists an
d level designers who worked on Pokémon Adventure to assist."
Takuya nodded, approving of his approach.
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