The Devilish Sales Strategy (3)
"Is that so?" It was a given, but Sega was also keeping its feelers sharp regarding news about Nintendo. However, because the shop owner had shared news he hadn't heard at all, Yoon-gi felt intrigued.
"Yes. They told me not to breathe a word of this to anyone outside, but honestly, Mr. Yoon, you're not an outsider, are you? Hahahaha!" The owner's hearty laugh was brimming with the sentiment of, 'I look forward to your continued patronage.'
"Thank you for the good information. You'll hear some good news from me next time."
"Oh, come on, it's nothing compared to what you've done for me." Despite his words, Yoon-gi saw the anticipation in the owner's expression and signaled his bodyguards to clear the area. A 45-inch projection TV and a sofa—naturally, he needed a transport truck to move these items. But he had no worries at all. His bodyguards would handle everything.
'Honestly, having a lot of money makes life so comfortable. No matter how I think about it, the old me was such an idiot.'
Back in his manual labor days, he had believed the saying, "Money isn't everything when it comes to happiness." That was because TV shows and newspapers constantly churned out articles claiming, "Just because you have money doesn't mean you're happy." And back then, he couldn't have endured life if he didn't believe that money wasn't everything. Because, in reality, he had no money.
But now, he possessed a fortune that others couldn't even imagine.
'Well, come to think of it, were they even lying? Those bastards?'
Yoon-gi’s heart was filled with hostility toward the people who said money wasn't everything, referring to them as "bastards." It was because they reminded him of his past, a time when he was swayed by the words of others.
'Sure, you can be unhappy even with a lot of money. But someone who is unhappy with money would be even more miserable without it, and someone who is happy without money would be even happier with it. That is an immutable truth.'
If you have money, there are plenty of people who will come to comfort you when you're struggling. But if you have no money, even the few who might have come to comfort you disappear. 'I experienced that firsthand.'
During his labor days, the only friend who stayed by his side when he was depressed was soju. On the other hand, if he said he was depressed now, it wasn't a joke—a thousand people would easily come to comfort him. Was this simply because his personality had changed? Yoon-gi wasn't naive enough to think that anymore. That was exactly why he had brought YK to such prosperity until now.
'Sigh, I'm letting myself get swayed by the past again.'
Yoon-gi shook his head, climbed into his limousine, and recalled the shop owner's words.
[There is supposed to be big news in September.]
'September, huh...' Yoon-gi's brain began to spin furiously. Why September of all months? He began to piece his thoughts together, focusing on the keyword "September."
'First off, the possibility of a new product is extremely low. The Famicom has only been out for two years; they wouldn't release a Super Famicom or a Famicom 2, right?'
A moment later, Yoon-gi slapped his forehead. 'Ah! Mario!'
He didn't know exactly when Super Mario was released, but he knew the impact of Super Mario all too well. Back in his labor days, whenever he visited his colleagues' homes, Super Mario was almost always visible on their children's game consoles. Nintendo meant Super Mario. Since that was an undeniable fact, considering the timing, what was coming in September had to be Super Mario.
'That’s only a month away, isn't it?'
Currently, the Super Genesis was selling like hotcakes. If Super Mario were to be released in September, it was certain that sales would hit a wall starting that month. Because Super Mario was, by historical consensus, the greatest masterpiece. No matter how much of a classic Sega's "Sonic" was, it didn't possess the same level of impact as "Super Mario."
'The reason Sonic lost to Mario was that it couldn't cover the middle-aged demographic.'
Sonic was a game where you enjoyed controlling a character moving at high speeds. On the other hand, Super Mario was a game where the player could control the character's speed, making it a game that even older people could fully enjoy. 'But I can't change the gameplay now, can I?'
Yoon-gi was a man who clearly understood what he could and could not do. That was why he didn't use dangerous methods like trying to make Sonic like Mario. Of course, it wasn't that Yoon-gi had no countermeasures.
'There's no need to struggle to make it a steady seller from now on, is there?'
Yoon-gi headed straight to Nakayama.
"Excuse me? A Sonic tournament?" To Nakayama's counter-question, Yoon-gi nodded immediately.
"Yes. We're going to hold a Sonic tournament in October. Nationwide, targeting minors. Preliminaries, round of 64, and then straight to the finals. Wouldn't that be appropriate?"
"It would certainly serve as promotion, but it's questionable whether that many people will participate. Actually, it's not that game tournaments have never existed before, but there has never been one that gathered that many participants."
To this extremely realistic response, Yoon-gi smiled. If that was the only reason for opposition, it would be easy to persuade him.
"Then we just need to provide a reason for them to participate."
"Provide a reason?"
"100,000 dollars."
At Yoon-gi's brief answer, Nakayama was startled and asked back, "Are you saying you will put up 100,000 dollars as prize money?"
100,000 dollars was 20 million yen based on the 1985 exchange rate, or roughly 90 million won in Korean currency. By 2010s Korean standards, that was about 350 million won. It was only natural for Nakayama to react this way.
"Yes. A Sonic tournament with a total prize pool of 100,000 dollars. Wouldn't you want to participate?"
If their children said they wanted to participate in a game tournament, most parents would surely oppose it. Hearing the impression of Choi Deok-bae, Yoon-gi chuckled to himself and continued.
"If it's a tournament without prize money, it's difficult, but if there's prize money, parents will welcome it with open arms. And we shouldn't treat the tournament as just a simple competition, but as a kind of festival. How about something like 'Sega Sonic Festival'? If we give out simple prizes to the participants, I believe we can get parents to bring their children along."
"Hmm... if you approach it that way... indeed... it seems possible. However, 100,000 dollars is a prize amount that has no history in Japan."
Game prize money in Japan was notoriously stingy. As of the 2010s, even if you took 1st place in a large-scale tournament, it was only about 1 million won in Korean currency. It was known that this was legally prohibited, but it wasn't until 2019 that it was revealed it was never actually legally banned. But now, it was 1985. Putting up 100,000 dollars in prize money had a high potential to become a nationwide issue. Even in 80s Japan, where bubbles were a daily occurrence, 20 million yen was by no means a small amount of money.
"That's exactly why we need to put up 100,000 dollars. I actually thought about putting up 1 million dollars, but I reduced it because that's a bit over the top for the first event."
Nakayama immediately looked relieved. "That's a relief. 1 million dollars is not an amount that can be put up normally. The board of directors would probably oppose it fiercely."
"Then, 100,000 dollars is fine, right?" At Yoon-gi's smirk, Nakayama looked a bit apologetic.
"Actually, there is something more problematic than the prize money."
"Something more problematic than the prize money?"
"Yes. Honestly, the prize money isn't an amount we can't afford. You can think of it as a kind of marketing expense."
"Then, what is the problem?"
"Labor costs."
"Ah." Yoon-gi immediately understood what Nakayama was trying to say.
"Japan is divided into 8 major regions. As you said, Chairman, if we start with the preliminaries and the round of 64, and hold the tournament in roughly three stages, that means the preliminaries and the round of 64 will be held in each region."
"That would be the case."
"To complete all the tournaments in October, we need standby personnel in all 8 regions. Furthermore, every time a tournament ends in one region, the non-standby personnel will have to move to the region where the next tournament is being held."
"Exactly."
As Yoon-gi nodded, Nakayama nodded as well, as if to say the conversation was moving quickly.
"The labor costs to mobilize those personnel will probably exceed the prize money. Japan's current labor costs are truly terrifying. Didn't I tell you a while ago that interview fees in Japan are 30,000 to 50,000 yen?"
"That's certainly true. Even if it's just the round of 64, people will flock from all over the country, so we'll have to control the tournament participants, and considering the festival, we'll have to control the festival attendees as well, so there's no way the required personnel will end up being just a few dozen."
"A few dozen? We'll need at least hundreds of personnel. And not just any personnel, but various skilled workers, including electrical technicians. The labor costs will be astronomical."
"So the conclusion is that there's no problem as long as the labor cost issue is resolved?"
As Yoon-gi summarized it lightly, Nakayama nodded with a slightly dazed expression.
"Y-yes, that's correct."
"Can I interpret it as Sega being willing to spend the money if the labor cost issue is resolved to some extent?"
"It's enough to persuade the board members. I would love to follow you immediately, Chairman, but using Sega's money is not something I can do on my own authority."
At the not-so-bad answer, Yoon-gi smiled broadly.
"Then there's nothing to worry about."
"Do you have a plan?"
"I'll bring most of the personnel from Korea. That way, we can save on labor costs, right?"
Thanks to Yoon-gi's proposal, which could cut labor costs in half, Sega decided to hold the Sonic tournament. And it was decided that it wouldn't just be a tournament, but the "Sega Sonic Festival."
Because of this, Yoon-gi had to move quite busily. If it were just personnel for simple tasks, he could quickly find part-timers by sending official letters to each university, but this job required technicians. How many Super Genesises would be needed for the preliminaries alone? At least several thousand. First, it was essential to have technicians who could create facilities to stably supply and manage electricity for those thousands of units. And construction-related technicians who could build the festival grounds were also needed. On top of that, management staff with the ability to manage people. They were by no means people who could be hired cheaply.
However, there was no reason a company of YK's scale couldn't find people if it wanted to. As such, a large number of people were lined up in an orderly fashion in front of Ma Seok-il.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Ma Seok-il from the YK Group."
At Ma Seok-il's smiling words, everyone looked at his face.
"As explained when you applied, you will be going to Japan for three months to perform your duties."
These were people who were currently unemployed for various reasons. They had applied upon hearing the news that there was an opportunity to earn money for three months. Of course, it had already been confirmed that they were safe people. Because Superintendent Seo In-pyo had done all the background checks, the probability of them causing trouble was quite low.
"The wages are quite high. YK will take full responsibility for your room and board, and the wages you will receive separately will be double the salary you received at your previous jobs."
The people's faces brightened up significantly. What is the reason for wanting to work in a foreign country? It is, naturally, high wages. There is absolutely no one who would dislike being paid twice as much as they would earn in Korea. However, there is always a type of person who makes things difficult.
"I heard that Japanese people's wages are four times higher than Korea's, so why is it only double and not four times?! Are you trying to pocket the rest, YK?!"
The person had a very loud voice, ringing out clearly, and the crowd began to stir in an instant. In this era, the per capita national income of Japanese people was 11,500 dollars, while Korea's was 2,400 dollars. There was no way for an average person to know this fact, but this person knew it.
At this moment, when people were stirring and starting to curse YK, Ma Seok-il was not flustered at all; instead, he was smiling.