Founding Enjoy and the Beginning
The 1970s were neither the 21st century nor an era of widespread computerization, yet securing a loan in just two days felt nothing short of miraculous. It was only possible because a rock-solid trust with over a billion dollars in assets, zero debt, and impeccable credit stood firmly behind him. The interest rate came in at fourteen percent. Henry accepted the surprisingly favorable terms without complaint and headed straight to the bank to sign the paperwork. When he walked out, he clutched a bankbook stamped with the staggering sum of 45.08 million dollars, along with a thick checkbook the teller had handed him. Only then did the reality of being a “sole proprietor” truly sink in.
While he was out, Henry stopped by the building in Times Square—the one that would one day become the crossroads of the world and currently represented nearly his only personal asset. But the scene that greeted him fell far short of his expectations.
…This is definitely the right place. So why does it look like this?
The truth that this was a parallel world hit him like a gut punch. There were no dazzling electronic billboards like those of the future, not even the countless incandescent advertising signs that should have already covered the building at this point in history. Whether something had gone awry when he inherited the title or not, the only thing present was the lonely apparatus for the annual “Ball Drop” event. The exterior itself was bleak and desolate.
Where the hell did those scrolling news-headline billboards I saw in those shorts go? Weren’t they the symbol of Times Square in the seventies?
To make matters worse, the surrounding security situation was literally “Hell.” The reports claiming that even rock-bottom rents failed to attract tenants had not been exaggerations. Drug dealers and vagrants had taken over the streets. Staring at the chaotic Times Square of 1979, Henry let out a deep sigh.
The patent team moved with impressive speed. Just three days after the meeting ended, they purchased the core patent from Tiger Electronics for eight hundred thousand dollars and completed the corporate registration procedures Henry had demanded without a single hitch. It was the moment Henry’s first personal company, Enjoy, took its very first step into the world.
Although the official headquarters was registered in Delaware for favorable corporate tax benefits, it was a clearly legitimate corporation that had also obtained a business license in New York. For now it was a tiny outfit consisting of only Henry and a single employee, but since his talent acquisition plan was rock-solid, there was no need to rush.
Henry headed directly to the Manhattan office to meet William Palasek, the man who had come as part of the patent package.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Palasek. Welcome to our company, Enjoy. As you can see, we’re still a small operation, but before long we’ll become the most famous gaming console company in all of Manhattan.”
“Nice to meet you too, boss. But… I’ve been thinking about it the entire way to New York and even after I opened the door to this office, and I still don’t understand. Why on earth did you buy both my patent and me as a complete set? No matter how rich you are, eight hundred thousand dollars isn’t pocket change.”
Palasek had been worried sick the whole trip to New York. Some rich young master in New York had somehow learned about his patent—which had only been filed and not yet approved—and bought both it and him outright. Moving from rural Illinois to New York was certainly a good opportunity. The doubled salary and rent support were extraordinary, and he had followed along in a daze because there was no reason to refuse. But now that he had actually arrived, anxiety came crashing down on him. What if the young master’s passion cooled off quickly? What if he was tossed aside for not meeting expectations? The worries multiplied endlessly.
Henry looked at William Palasek’s stiff face and offered a faint smile. He gestured for Palasek to take a seat, then sat down first himself and spoke in a gentle voice.
“The directional controller you created was worth every penny of those eight hundred thousand dollars—that’s why I bought it. No matter how much money I have, I don’t make a habit of throwing it away on the street. First, let’s have some coffee. You must be exhausted after traveling all the way from Illinois to New York.”
Henry looked straight into Palasek’s eyes and drove the point home.
“Just so you know, you can put your anxiety to rest. The contract guarantees you at least one full year no matter what. If anything, I’m the one who’s worried you might run away. Now, let’s start with some light conversation. Feel free to ask me anything you’re curious about.”
“You’re really saying it’s worth eight hundred thousand dollars?”
“Yes, without a doubt.”
It’s practically the original patent for the D-pad—the standard controller of the future. Eight hundred thousand? If I had the money, I would’ve bought it for eight million on the spot.
Henry took a leisurely sip of the fragrant coffee to wet his throat and continued.
“Well, for starters, our Enjoy plans to make small handheld game consoles, similar to the toy company you used to work for.”
“That’s the field I know best. It’s what I’ve done my whole life!”
“Which is exactly why I brought you on board. Haha. And as for how I learned about that patent and why I bought it… Jay, could you hand me the briefcase you brought from home? Thanks.”
Henry opened the briefcase Jay handed him and pulled out a thick bundle of sketches he had drawn himself. They contained detailed concepts for the exterior of a handheld game console, its controller, and a cross-shaped directional pad. He spread them out in front of Palasek.
“These are rough sketches of our company’s first product line. Now take a look at this directional pad. The shape looks quite similar to the one you filed a patent for, doesn’t it?”
“Whoa… What a design. Even from the sketch it looks incredibly refined! But this directional pad… the layout is similar, yet the detailed structure seems a bit different from what I had in mind?”
To be able to pinpoint the core issues from nothing but rough sketches—Palasek might be under thirty, but his engineering talent was clearly exceptional. Henry smiled with satisfaction and added an explanation.
“Exactly right. It shouldn’t simply press in directions; it needs a structure that tilts like a seesaw around a central pivot. That way, a single thumb can perfectly control even diagonal inputs. Your patent captures the design of that core principle. It’s also the reason I sought you out. Flip to the next page. There are many other ideas I’ve come up with as well.”
The documents covered everything from the early console D-pad of the future world-conquering Nintendore, to futuristic flat D-pads, all the way to the evolved PlayStation-style D-pad used by Shony that had grown out of Palasek’s original concept. Henry had even included the eight-way D-pad from the Saga pad—the masterpiece controller known as a classic in the industry. He poured out every piece of information he possessed.
Each time Palasek turned a page, he couldn’t hold back his admiration. Before long, the look in his eyes had changed to one of reverence, as if he were a believer gazing upon a god.
“Boss, these are truly genius ideas! This elegant shape… wow, this goes beyond simply replacing a joystick. It’s something that could change the entire history of gaming consoles!”
“Yes, which is why I created this company and paid eight hundred thousand dollars for your patent. Your job, Mr. Palasek, is to turn these drawings into reality. The patent you currently hold is excellent, but because it lacks a central support structure, pressing down firmly in the middle causes all four buttons to register at once—a chronic problem. We’ll need to fix those shortcomings one by one.”
Palasek’s early directional pad had certainly been revolutionary. It was more than a new interface; it was a treasure map that would drive device sales and later bring in massive royalties. Of course, being an early version, it had plenty of flaws. As Henry had pointed out, the lack of a central support led to frequent simultaneous-input errors, the tactile feedback to the fingertips was insufficient, and its durability was poor. But that was the limit of Tiger Electronics; no further development occurred. In the end, when Nintendore perfected the concept and achieved worldwide popularity, the original company ended up limping along with cheap consoles before being acquired by another toy maker and vanishing into obscurity. After releasing a world-changing invention, it had exited the stage in a rather pathetic manner.
Naturally, Henry had zero intention of repeating that tragic history.
“Your role, Mr. Palasek, is the evolution of this directional pad. You won’t simply be making one product—you’ll need to design various prototypes in advance and keep improving them continuously.”
“Yes, boss! I’m confident! …However.”
Palasek, who had been answering with passion, suddenly trailed off. He awkwardly looked around the empty office that contained only himself, Henry, and Henry’s two bodyguards. His voice echoed embarrassingly in the hollow space.
“…Ahem. We’ll be hiring more staff soon and operating normally. In any case, please keep in mind that you will be in charge of the entire Controller R&D division. I’ll make sure you have a proper working environment by next week.”
After leaving the building in the now-awkward atmosphere and parting ways with Palasek, Henry burst into laughter inside the car on the way home. Just thinking about the royalties he would extract from the countless gaming devices yet to be released made the corners of his mouth twitch uncontrollably.
Once the gaming console company gets on track, I’ll pour money into the Controller R&D department and sweep up every single operation-system patent and design in existence. If I build an ironclad patent wall that no one can bypass, the company will rake in money like a waterfall even if we don’t manufacture the consoles ourselves. Heh heh.
…
June 19, 1979. Inside the Enjoy office at the One Times Square building.
After his first meeting with Palasek, Henry’s schedule spun at a frantic pace. Conducting countless interviews he had to attend personally and holding discussions made the days fly by like arrows. The family office and think tank were still being set up, but the gaming console company and investment firm that Henry had emphasized so strongly had already finished recruiting talent and were running on a normal track.
Henry’s first personal company, Enjoy, officially launched in style with him serving as the sole owner of one hundred percent of the shares and taking the role of CEO. The company’s true strength lay not so much in Henry’s financial power as in the exceptionally well-assembled human resources—far better than he had expected.
The core personnel were veterans from ARF Electronics, a company evaluated as having created gaming devices one step ahead of their time. Whether ARF’s financial situation was even worse than rumored, they were so generous about letting people go that they practically shoved them out the door with a “Please, take them!” Henry absorbed the talent without hesitation and swallowed their calculator design technology and all patent licensing rights for the bargain price of just three hundred thousand dollars.
From miniature arithmetic circuit designers to LCD display specialists, built-in sound craftsmen, and programmers with actual game development experience—it was as if he had copied and pasted an entire dream team required for console manufacturing. Among them, Henry especially cherished the veterans in low-power circuit design who had honed their skills making small calculators. Given that handheld devices had to last as long as possible on a single battery, their expertise in maximizing power efficiency was set to become Enjoy’s most important weapon.
“Combine the precision of calculators with the fun of gaming consoles. Our mission is the perfect handheld device.”
Under the mission Henry had thrown out, Marcus Wayne—who had handled distribution and marketing at the industry giant Yatari—joined as the person in charge of day-to-day operations. Fed up with Yatari’s sloppy management and hippie-like corporate culture, he had returned to his hometown of New York only to be caught on the radar of Henry’s family office and immediately headhunted.
At first, Marcus had firmly refused, thinking it was nothing more than a rich young master’s hobby project. But he became captivated by the Palasek designs Henry showed him and the clear vision of a “game console that fits in your pocket,” and ultimately decided to join. Perhaps because he had been granted authority second only to the CEO in a company that had no established corporate culture yet, Marcus Wayne was always passionately devoted to managing the company whenever Henry came into the office.