Mid-September.
Yamazaki Tank Battle launched smoothly.
Released alongside it was the newly inspected, newly rebuilt FC version of Plumber Mario.
In Chiyama Hayato's shop, two customers stood at the counter for a long moment, hesitating. In the end, they chose a Donkey Kong cartridge instead.
Chiyama Hayato let out a long sigh.
Damn it…
They had put so much effort into that marketing stunt last time, and it ended in utter humiliation.
Plumber Mario was genuinely fun, but the fiasco that day had left too deep a scar. There was even TV coverage!
Nintendo had pulled every string they could to suppress the report, but plenty of people still saw it.
The FC port of Plumber Mario had a BUG—
And not just any bug—one that could burn out the console!
"They keep saying it's fixed, but how am I supposed to believe that?"
Chiyama pouted.
Forget other players—even he didn't believe it.
The broken FC unit from that day was still sitting in his store. No matter what cartridge he plugged in now, the screen was nothing but visual noise.
Because of that…
On the release day of Plumber Mario, it shockingly flopped.
At least in his shop, not a single copy had sold the entire day.
Sure, the game was fun.
But buying something rumored to fry your console?
Who could bring themselves to do that?
---
Across the street, at the SEGA specialty shop—
A crowd had gathered at the entrance, watching two people play a game.
Kobayashi Tetsu and Kuroenryu.
The two were hammering away at Tank Battle, the action fast, fierce, and wildly entertaining. Even though they were in casual mode, it was because it was casual mode that the match became chaotic and fun.
Enemies didn't snatch power-ups, and the two players could sabotage each other however they pleased—making the game even more exhilarating.
The original Tank Battle had six power-ups.
This version had eight, adding Speed-Up and Max-Level.
Explosions thundered out of the speakers. Tanks shot across the screen at dizzying speed. The volume was cranked up so loud it almost shook the shop, making the whole scene pulse with kinetic energy.
Kuroenryu was still learning the game, but Kobayashi Tetsu knew every inch of the system. Their teamwork looked amazingly natural. It was even more exciting than playing alone.
Occasionally they sabotaged each other on purpose, making the crowd laugh.
When the round ended, Tetsu hit pause. As he took a breather, he glanced toward the shop interior.
"How many is that now?"
Kuroenryu answered, "The seventh. Since we sat down, seven people have gone in to buy the cartridge!"
Tetsu nodded.
At that rate, about ten customers per day.
Seventy per week.
Multiply that by all the game shops in Tokyo—and nationwide sales would soar even higher.
This cartridge was almost certainly headed for a first-week total above ten thousand.
Kuroenryu clicked his tongue in awe. "Atlus Studio is amazing. The game is just too good. How much money do you think they're making off this?"
Tetsu leaned back in the folding chair and shrugged.
"Seven or eight million, probably."
Kuroenryu nearly choked. "How could it be that much!?"
"It is." Tetsu explained calmly. "Companies like SEGA—the ones actually publishing—don't have high profit margins. Fifteen to twenty-five percent is already exceptional. Anything above twenty means their cost control is superb. That's why SEGA rarely gives more than a 10% sales royalty—any more than that squeezes their own profits. Above twenty percent, they barely earn anything. Twenty-five, they're losing money."
"So at a 10% developer royalty, Atlus earns 348 yen per cartridge. For twenty thousand sales, that's over seven million yen."
The onlookers behind them stared, dumbfounded.
Damn…
This guy actually knows his stuff.
Kuroenryu wiped his eyes dramatically. "Why do you know all this!?"
Tetsu replied lightly, "My uncle works at SEGA."
Kuroenryu looked at him, then at Shima Yorosuke.
"So… your uncle is the same person?"
Tetsu spread his hands.
Of course not.
He merely had a father who was a department head at SEGA, held dry stock, and was part of upper management.
Kuroenryu suddenly looked jealous. "Man… if I had the chance, I'd love to work at Atlus someday!"
Tetsu clicked his tongue and patted his shoulder.
This chuunibyou goof would be much better off working at Famitsu as a game magazine editor. Much brighter future there.
And Tetsu wasn't exaggerating about the numbers.
Publishing had low profit margins. Manufacturing even lower. Unless you mass-produced, you couldn't price cheaply.
For example:
A cartridge with a factory price of 1000 yen might earn the manufacturer only 50 yen of clean profit.
Manufacturing margins were typically under 5%.
A 3480-yen cartridge required SEGA to cover production, logistics, warehousing, and transportation—costs that were enormous in a pre-internet age.
SEGA's real revenue from that cartridge might be no more than 700 yen.
From which they paid Tetsu 348 yen.
—That 10% royalty was 10% of sales revenue, meaning that relative to SEGA's actual net profit, Tetsu was getting nearly half of it.
That was why Kentarou had told Tetsu earlier:
"Ten percent is a lot. Only developers SEGA trusts deeply ever get that rate."
It was essentially a 50–50 split of real profit.
Nintendo would never offer that.
Nintendo wasn't a charity. A newcomer like Tetsu asking for 10%? Impossible. He'd be lucky to get 3–5%.
Tetsu wouldn't say all of this aloud, of course.
But even the parts he did share sounded extremely professional.
Not long after, the sun dipped lower. Tetsu finally stood up.
"I'm off. You guys buy—no, play well!"
He strolled away cheerfully.
At around 3:30 in the afternoon—high-school dismissal time—a certain Miss Kobayakawa (who preferred to remain anonymous) hurried into Shima's store.
"Waaah… a new game!"
She pressed her face flat against the display window, staring at the heated action inside.
Even without playing, it was obvious how incredible it was.
But she wouldn't get to try it today.
Her one-month free-trial privileges had expired—and with this huge crowd, there was no way she'd get a turn anyway.
Little did she expect…
The wicked Kobayashi Tetsu had delayed putting the new game on display for over a month just to prevent people from playing it for free.
A heinous crime.
He should probably be court-martialed and executed by cannon.
Please Support me by becoming my patreon member and get 15+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon