Chapter 33: Sponsorship Game
"Kawaguchi-san!!"
As soon as I called out his name, the man turned towards me with a bewildered expression.
"Are you Mr. Hiromobu Kawaguchi from Triangle Corp!?"
"You know me?"
"You're the director of Kids Quest, right?"
"Well, yes, but... How do you...?"
"I'm Kang Junhyuk, an employee of MinTendo. I saw your introduction on the Fami Communication show."
"Ah, I see..."
Finally, Kawaguchi-san nodded and, with a more relaxed expression, began to speak.
"It seems that even MinTendo employees come to celebrate the release of a popular production company's event."
"Oh, well, Dragon Warrior's influence is quite substantial. Haha!"
"Compared to that, my Kids Quest has only sold about 6,000 copies so far. Thanks to MinTendo raising the royalties for third-party developers, we're operating at a loss."
"Oh, really?"
"Oh, really?? What's with that unpleasant response? Are you making fun of me right now?"
"No, not at all. It's definitely not something you should blame me for, right? You don't seem to be angry with me."
"Ugh..."
Kawaguchi-san, unable to find a retort, gnashed his teeth in frustration. In fact, recently, President Kamauichi's high-handedness had been increasing.
Not only did he arbitrarily raise the cartridge production costs, but he also increased the production quantity at will. As a result, game companies had to produce a whopping 10,000 copies regardless of whether the game was a hit or a miss.
In other words, if only about 6,000 copies of Kids Quest, made by Kawaguchi-san, had been sold three months after its release, it would be difficult to sell any more.
In a market flooded with new releases, a game that couldn't attract much attention would be quickly forgotten. Triangle was probably sitting on a stockpile of the remaining 4,000 copies and facing a financial catastrophe.
Providing high-quality software to forget the Atari Shock was a good idea, but MinTendo's monopolistic market structure made it difficult for game companies to gain any significant benefits.
"It seems that Triangle Corp is not doing well, right?"
"Originally, we planned to release 2,000 copies for the initial quantity, but it seems MinTendo refused. Thanks to that, our company is on the brink of bankruptcy right now."
"Is that so? Um, do you have any games in development right now?"
"I have one in mind, but... the company is trending towards completely shutting down the game business..."
What did you say!? No! You have to make Final Frontier for my plan to work properly! Kawaguchi-san said with a bitter expression.
"Just once... I wanted to try one last game..."
"One last game... What genre are you thinking of?"
"For now, it's an RPG. I actually thought of buying Dragon Warrior today and using it as a reference, but when I saw how Dragon Warrior was selling like crazy as soon as the event opened... I honestly felt overwhelmed. Can I really beat Dragon Warrior, which has already become a national game, with a new game? I had my doubts."
"It's impossible. Even if you make a game now, Kawaguchi-san, you can't beat Yuji-san's Dragon Warrior series in the 'current' state. They've already made three of them."
"Ugh... So you're saying that my game will definitely lose to Dragon Warrior, even though it's not even made yet?"
"Yes, that's right. It's the biggest RPG game with the most influence in Japan right now. But the second-place seat is still open. Why don't you start by aiming for that?"
I handed Kawaguchi-san the shopping bag I had just purchased at the event.
"What is this?"
"It's Dragon Warrior 2 that I just bought at the event."
"Why are you giving this to me...?"
Kawaguchi-san was making a puzzled expression, but I made sure to clarify, "You seem to be misunderstanding something. I clearly said that I can't beat Dragon Warrior in the 'current' state. I never said I can't beat it in the future. To do that, you need to learn from the games your competition makes."
"Alright. But I probably won't even get approval for the development of the next project..."
"I'll talk to the President about that. So, for now, play it during your break. Oh, and if you clear it, you have to return it. I haven't played it yet either."
With a perplexed expression, I handed the shopping bag to Kawaguchi-san and then headed back to the event venue.
...
A few days later, I found myself in Tokyo, searching for Triangle Corp. The address led me to a rather shabby building, with the company occupying the second floor. Attached to the front of the first floor was a tattered flyer advertising job openings, offering an astonishing hourly rate of 1500 yen.
The average part-time hourly wage in Tokyo was around 480 to 500 yen, so I couldn't help but be surprised by this threefold increase in pay. I shook my head and gazed up at the building once more.
"Doesn't look like a company that would pay 1500 yen per hour, no matter how you look at it..."
Slightly shaking my head in disbelief, I ascended the stairs. Soon after, as I entered the second floor, I was greeted by a corridor filled with cardboard boxes.
"I wonder... What are these?"
With a foreboding feeling, I opened one of the nearby boxes slightly and found it filled with game titles.
"So many titles that didn't sell and were returned... What on earth is all this?"
I sighed as I looked at the small office door visible between the boxes. After moving a few of them and squeezing through, I straightened my attire and knocked on the office door.
"Come in."
Creeeak... The rusty hinges produced an unpleasant sound as I pushed the door open. Stepping into the office, I was once again startled by the sight of boxes filling the room.
"Who are you?"
If you're going to ask that, couldn't you have cleared away the boxes at the entrance!? I glanced around again between the boxes, trying to pinpoint the direction of the voice.
"Oh, I was just here to meet the CEO."
The man in his forties who was sitting inside replied with a flushed face.
"Oh, you're the job applicant who was supposed to come today. Come over here."
Job applicant? What nonsense is this!? However, I had already become trapped between the boxes and missed the opportunity to answer.
"Oh, it's just that..."
"The office is a bit messy, isn't it? It'll be tidied up soon, so please come this way without any worries."
It's not that, but oh well~!! A while later, I found myself sitting across from Mr. Kudo, the CEO, in the disheveled Triangle Corp office, conducting a job interview. Since I'd ended up in this situation, why not play the part of a job applicant and find out how this company operates?
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