Chapter 136: One Step Closer to the New Computer! And the Release of the Bomb Special Forces Arcade Version
Chapter 136: One Step Closer to the New Computer! And the Release of the Bomb Special Forces Arcade Version
However, buying something required not only the buyer’s intent and money, but also the seller’s willingness.
“I have no intention of selling my company.”
Tono, the representative of Karankle, shook his head.
Of course, acquiring a company was different from buying gum at a neighborhood shop. It required finding a seller willing to part with the company, hinting that your side intended to acquire it, and using various methods—including indirect groundwork and direct persuasion—to guide the other party toward a sale.
Utaro had already done all that and dispatched someone believed to possess strong negotiation skills.
But if the other party’s will was firm, even those efforts could do nothing.
There were several electronic instrument manufacturers. Among them, Meta Hardware had sent acquisition offers to three companies that possessed solid technical capability while also being small enough to acquire, but all of them rejected the offers like this.
“If the issue is that you dislike the price...”
“No. Honestly, I’m satisfied with the price. Considering the scale of my company, it almost feels excessive.”
Everything had an appropriate price. No matter how much money one had, paying an absurd amount far beyond the item’s value was foolish. So Meta Hardware had evaluated the value of Karankle, a private company, and added a slight premium before presenting its offer.
Since the market was currently growing, future value had been included, and Chairman Ras’s determination that the acquisition needed to happen also played a role, so the offer had been calculated somewhat generously. That was why Tono’s answer was not a lie.
Honestly, even though he had no intention of selling, he had still been pleased that a famous major corporation like Meta Hardware valued his company at the enormous sum of ten million del.
But he was not running a business solely for money.
“Of course, I started this to make money. But I have no intention of stopping at this level.”
Tono did not elaborate further. But Kailas, the Meta Hardware employee in charge of acquisition negotiations, understood his meaning perfectly well.
He probably had ambitions such as making even better instruments or conquering the market. And Kailas interpreted that as confidence in the company’s future value.
People like that were difficult to negotiate with because they looked toward the future rather than the present. Of course, if Meta Hardware paid a high enough price to account for the future value they envisioned, a deal might still happen, but that would be foolish.
It would amount to setting a price irrationally—in other words, simply paying whatever the other side demanded.
In the end, Meta Hardware had no choice but to proceed with Plan B.
“We would like to purchase the patent rights.”
Acquiring the company would have been better because it would provide continuous development capability, but there was nothing to be done if they refused.
Fortunately, purchasing the patents proceeded smoothly.
Since the business was still in a rapid growth phase, there were many places where money needed to be spent.
“And we would also like you to provide some technical instruction.”
“Ah. Yes. We should at least do that much.”
Since he still had to continue developing new electric guitars, it was not as though he had spare time, but Tono nodded anyway. After all, since he was receiving money, he needed to provide compensation worthy of it.
And so Ras obtained another piece necessary for development of the new computer.
Now the only thing left was the graphics card.
More precisely, a way around the Hammer Computer patents.
Since Karkov, the developer of the Hammer Computer, was now working for them, copying it would be easy, but doing so would inevitably violate patent law.
Of course, one could say they should simply make a graphics card with even higher performance, but if creating one on demand were that easy, they would not still be using 8-bit computers until now. Though some level of performance improvement was planned.
“Still, the first-stage design is nearly complete.”
Karkov looked somewhat haggard, but his eyes were alive. He was pouring in every ounce of effort, driven both by passion for creating a new product and by his desire to shove it in Victor’s face.
“Excellent.”
Rather than offering empty words telling him to take care of his health, Ras said nothing of the sort. It would not work on someone like Karkov anyway, and Ras himself was desperately waiting for the new computer.
Meta Soft was no longer aiming only at the Republic of Smite.
But because of the Hammer Computer’s low production capacity, they were unable to properly target the global market.
They were somehow managing by releasing games with downgraded graphics or occasionally making games compatible with older computer specifications, but it still felt frustrating.
Ras planned to conquer the world market in one stroke with this new computer. If the performance was overwhelming and the price reasonable, then no matter how much people disliked foreign products, they would still seek out Ras’s computers.
And together with the computer, the games can expand too.
Countries only just beginning to import new computers obviously would not have software optimized for them yet. That meant Meta Soft could seize the game market in one go as well.
Even if people used them reluctantly at first, eventually they would become hooked.
Ras had confidence in the games his company made.
It was not arrogance.
It was closer to an objective fact proven by everything they had achieved so far.
And so Ras’s company accelerated development of the new computer in pursuit of this vision.
In truth, because Ras came from Earth’s distant future, there were many more technologies he wanted to develop and include. A representative example was something like USB. But development time had already grown considerably long. And no matter how much of a genius Karkov was, he did not possess a magical cudgel, so Ras had limited the system to only the features he considered essential.
In any case, this new computer would soon make its appearance in this world.
Although Ras was developing a new computer, he was not halting game development in order to match those future specifications.
That was true for the in-house development teams, and even more so for outsourced projects.
“Ah. President Chaims?”
When Ras answered the call Ella handed over, Chaims’s rough voice came through the receiver.
In truth, the moment Ella mentioned that the call was from Punch Games, Ras had already guessed the reason.
“Ah, yes. That’s correct.”
Chaims still sounded awkward. Naturally, it was difficult for a man in his fifties to comfortably use formal speech toward Ras, who was still in his teens.
But at the same time, speaking casually was difficult too.
It was not as though they had been close from the beginning. At first they were merely business partners, and before they could become personally close, Ras’s company suddenly exploded in growth and turned into a famous major corporation.
Moreover, Punch Games was now almost entirely dependent on Meta Soft games, so a clear superior-subordinate relationship had formed.
“Yes. I’m calling because development of Bomb Special Forces has been completed.”
Awkward or not, Chaims still delivered the reason for the call.
Ras had already expected the game to finish soon, but hearing it directly still made him happy.
“Thank you for your hard work. Then please prioritize Arcade Game Land again this time as well.”
“Yes. Of course.”
There was no reason to drag out an awkward conversation.
Ras was not socially oblivious, and he did not want to torment an older gentleman. In this world, unlike Earth, someone in their mid-fifties could already be considered elderly.
Anyway, Ras was pleased that the arcade version of Bomb Special Forces had finally released.
It was one of the games he had been especially looking forward to.
Because unlike the PC version, this one included the cooperative battle mode.
When people talked about Bomberman and Crazy Arcade, they often called the latter a copied game or even outright plagiarism. And in reality, many elements truly had been directly borrowed.
But the two games were not completely identical.
And Ras considered cooperation to be the biggest difference.
The reason bombs had been replaced with water balloons was partly to differentiate the theme, but also to implement the mechanic where teammates could rescue allies instead of them dying instantly.
It might not seem like a big difference, but Ras believed this element was exactly why Crazy Arcade became so popular despite all the controversy and criticism surrounding it.
And Ras had implemented this cooperative mode not online, but on arcade machines.
In truth, this kind of system was not ideal for real-world environments where limitations of time and space made it difficult to gather many people to play the same game together.
But Ras took advantage of the era’s ongoing arcade boom and the Arcade Game Land system he himself had created.
Since gamers were always gathering there, finding four players would not be difficult.
Latuna was a twelve-year-old Gnome boy.
“Hey, hurry up and eat!”
Like other children in the Republic of Smite, he considered going to Arcade Game Land after school one of life’s greatest joys.
No, these days that joy also included coming to the Quick & Fun Burger shop in front of it and eating hamburgers like this.
“Wait a second.”
Because his friends had already finished eating and were rushing him, Latuna reluctantly stopped savoring the taste and began chewing and swallowing in huge bites.
He did not particularly like being pressured while eating, but he understood. They loved games so much that every second counted, and they had even heard rumors that a new game had arrived today.
“Let’s go, let’s go.”
The four children, including Latuna, rushed out of Quick & Fun Burger and flooded into Arcade Game Land.
“Welcome.”
“Big brother! Where’s Bomb Special Forces?”
Texf, the most outgoing among the four and arguably their leader, asked an employee where the new game installed today was located.
Normally, children were hesitant around adults, especially young men of the same gender who were not much older than them, but they were so familiar with arcades that they could approach people this easily.
In a way, perhaps Ras’s employee training—which emphasized treating children kindly—was finally showing results.
Though Texf himself also simply lacked shyness.
“...Go that way.”
The children rushed off immediately without even thanking him.
Only Latuna, who lagged slightly behind, quietly lowered his head in greeting.
As they turned the corner, they saw a large advertisement board hanging above like a mobile decoration. It was painted on wood and depicted the Bomb Special Forces characters alongside exploding bombs.
Recently, for newly released games, Arcade Game Land had begun advertising them like this inside the arcade itself.
When Ras first saw this proposal, it reminded him of PC cafés. Though the form was different, he remembered how such places had been filled with posters and standing promotional displays.
“Here it is.”
Bomb Special Forces had already been released on PC. So the children at least knew what the characters looked like and quickly found the new arcade cabinets.
The area was already packed with people deeply immersed in the game.
Since Ras was heavily supporting this title, three full sets—twelve machines in total—had been installed, yet not only were they all occupied, there were also crowds of people waiting and watching.
The children felt disappointed that there were no open seats even though they had hurried there, but they already knew from experience that whenever a new game released, the arcade would be overflowing with people.
So they quickly squeezed through the spectators and found places to watch.
And fortunately, this game was quite entertaining even to observe.
“Ooooh!”
The battles were incredibly tense as players desperately ran through the maze, setting traps to blow up opponents while dodging explosions and blasting through walls to escape.
Latuna even unconsciously cried out when he saw a strangely shaped red bird narrowly dodge the flames of a bomb by the slimmest margin.
“This looks so fun.”
His friend Dukachi beside him wore an expression that clearly showed he was itching to play.