章 96: 94. Trying To Save A Doomed Industry. (V)
Disclaimer: The story takes place in an Alternate Earth with a slightly different timeline of events. So people may be born early, some may be born a few years later or maybe not at all.
This gives me more freedom to write characters as I want, also the characters in my story are obviously not an accurate portrayal of their characters.
Please remember that this story is a wish fulfillment story set in Urban Hollywood with some Fantasy elements because of the system's shenanigans so please don't take it too seriously.
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Recap of the Previous Chapter –
Mark drops off Salma at the airport and then heads into a meeting with the representative of the head of the Hitotsubashi Group to purchase a majority stake in Shueisha the publisher of Shonen Jump magazine.
He tells them how he is trying to improve the Manga industry and make Manga into a global phenomenon. They like his pitch but when he says that he wants a majority stake of ownership in Shueisha. The head himself asks him what he is willing to do in return.
Mysore sincerely by saying that he is willing to compromise and the head accessism if he wants to buy the family business he should become a member of their family he asks Mark to marry his daughter and offers a great incentive dangling the keys to the entire Hitotsubashi Group in front of his face.
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– Quotes of the Chapter –
"May we live in interesting times."
— A man lost in time.
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~ Mark Spector's POV ~
(Our Protagonist)
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Date: Thursday, 27th September, 1990.
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Time: 06:57 pm.
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"Young man, if we are talking in terms of money, I know.. you've amassed wealth rivaling the Hitotsubashi Group in just a decade with your literary talent, foresight and sharp intuition in investment to grow the money you've earned."
"But the connections we have and the influence we hold in the industry and in this country, is not something that can simply be bought off with money."
Mark felt proud to have his hard work be acknowledged but he still didn't want to give in so easily. So, he thought of a quick retort trying to play at the traditional values that Asians were known for.
"But isn't marriage a sacred thing here in Japan? This.. this feels completely transactional. I am sorry, but you don't even properly know of me yet and I might even have other women in my life?"
The old man was at ease feeling completely in his element. He knew Mark was dodging the topic but he felt like the young man might agree if he pressed the issue a bit more.
"The fact that you're this hesitant about it and not looking at it simply as a business transaction, is enough for me to understand that you're a man of principles."
"And that you will take great care of her if you were to actually marry her."
"What is it that makes you this reluctant about the thought of marrying my daughter?"
"Is she not up to your standards?"
"Or is it because she is Japanese?"
'Woah.. woah.. woah.. this old man did not just play the race card on me. Sheesh, does he have no shame, throwing me under the bus like that.' Mark was internally sweating while trying to come up with a reply.
He stopped and took a deep breath to reset the tempo, he realized that the sly old man was sweeping him up in his pace.
"No, that's not it."
"In terms of looks I think Chifuyu-san is simply gorgeous," she blushed a bit at Mark's frank praise, but it was what he said later that made her heart skip a beat, "and in the short duration I have talked with her. She has been very patient with me, treating me with respect and sincerity."
"But I can't just marry someone who I don't even know properly.. like what's her personality like?" *thump* her heart skipped a beat as she looked into his beautiful emerald green eyes as he made his case.
"What makes her happy?" *thump*
"What makes her sad?" *thump*
"What does she like to eat?" *thump*
"What's her most favorite thing in the world?" *thump*
"What is something she hates or at least dislikes?" For the first time, she felt that the iceberg she had formed in her heart started to show signs of cracking.
"What are her hobbies? her ambitions or even her dreams?" women were still seen as a liability in the workplace, things were changing here in Japan but progress was slow.
But she knew if she wasn't her father's daughter, she wouldn't be where she is now, because even with her talent and capability if she had not been given the opportunity to shine and showcase herself then it wouldn't really matter.
Till now the only man to ever ask her of her dreams had been her father, Mark was the second. She didn't know what the future held for her but if she got to spend it besides this remarkable man then she thought it might be worth it, even if it was just as a friend.
"I know nothing about them. I am sorry, but I'll have to decline this offer." Mark sincerely apologized, as he wanted to be the one to decide who he married. But for some hearing that made her heartache.
Just based on her appearance alone, Chifuyu-san would be someone who he would definitely want to date and get into a relationship with.
But to actually marry someone and also only because of a contract would be an insult to the both of them, but the biggest reason was that the old man was trying to manipulate him, to dictate his actions.
He didn't let the absence of a system decide his fate when he was a child, so how could he let an old man decide his fate now.
'If I am going to have to date her then it will be on my own terms, not on this cunning geezer's.' Mark fumed internally as he thought up a plan.
"Hmm. I see, your argument is sound. Do you have a solution?" Hiroshi asked, unaware of Mark's plans.
"You're asking me?!" the old man just nodded his head, "hmm, well I might but before that I want to know if Chifuyu-san feels okay with this marriage idea, because if she is against it then there is no need for me to even speak any further." He replied and then turned to look at her, waiting for her answer.
Feeling a little flustered at the thought of dating Mark, she blushed but quickly recovered. Unfortunately though not soon enough as just from seeing the grin on her father's face, she knew it wasn't fast enough and she would be mercilessly teased about it at dinner for a few days to come.
"Ano.. I don't really mind. You seem like you've got all the qualities I look for in a man." She replied after gathering her wits.
"Also arranged marriages are very common in our country and most of the time, the responsibility to select a suitable husband is taken on by the father of the woman."
Hiroshi laughed happily as his daughter backed him up despite being flustered, something that gave him ammunition to tease his daughter at a later date.
After his laughter died down, he said, "Mark, you shouldn't really be that picky with the woman in your life, if she takes you fancy and you like her just marry her and see how it goes."
"Life's too short to just overthink it and waste time deliberating. Also it's not like men of our status and standing are only satisfied with one wife."
Mark was just stunned, he didn't really know how to reply to that, was it a test? Or was this old man for real?
"umm. I won't be commenting on that, it feels like a trick question. I'll just move on to my solution to this problem." He replied diplomatically, thinking he had dodged a bullet not even realizing that the old was actually serious.
"You give me 33% of the ownership stake in Shueisha and give at least a 20% stake to Chifuyu-san here. Though the voting right and controlling power of Chifuyu's stake will belong to me as long as I hold up my end of the bargain."
"Both of us will then become part owners and she gets all of the profits from the shares she owns as I only need the controlling authority and voting rights from her's."
Hiroshi looked impressed with Mark's out of the box thinking. "Hmm, that's a very creative solution, I like it. My daughter already owns a 22% ownership stake in Shueisha."
"So if I agree to sell you a 33% stake you would agree to this deal."
"Father, wait, aren't we being hasty? How can we be sure that he can hold up his end of the bargain? It sounds near impossible.." she couldn't help but butt in as it felt like they were moving too soon.
"Chifuyu," Hiroshi said, her name in a reproachful way, she didn't say anything further as she bowed her head.
"A man's word is his bond, if he can't even back it up is he really even worth doing business with." He replied sagely.
"No." She muttered as she kept her head down.
"Mark, I agree to this deal and I'm willing to sell you 1/3rd of Shueisha with the added clause, but I would like to add two contingencies to this deal." the old smirked as he knew now he had gotten Mark right where he wanted him.
As he had now accepted Mark's terms but now he had Mark where he would also have to concede and accept some of his terms.
Obviously he couldn't ask for anything outlandish but if he framed his request in a reasonable way he knew the young man wouldn't be able to say no and why would he? After all, his daughter was a gem.
"I'm listening, sir." He replied, as he drank the last of his tea, it had gone cold with the length of their talks but it couldn't be helped as it went through topics even he didn't think he would be talking about so soon.
He was just 20 years old and had come here for a business deal but the old man sitting across from him seemed to have made up his mind to tie his daughter around his neck for some reason.
'Was my charm so strong?' he couldn't help but ask himself.
"If you fail to hold up your end of your bargain within a year of the set deadline then your ownership stake in Shueisha will forfeit. The money also will not be refunded obviously, so how about it? Do you feel confident now? Can you back up your words?"
Mark couldn't help but chuckle, his face morphed into a predatory grin as he felt challenged after so long.
'Ah things are getting interesting. So exciting.'
"I like the way you think, sir." Mark replied with a smirk.
'If you think you can test me old man, well think again.'
"I will take you up on that offer, as for how confident I feel in backing up my claims.. why wouldn't I be confident?" He confidently smirked as he made that claim.
"I never bluffed, to me they aren't tall claims but something I know, I can achieve if I put my mind to it." The tone was nonchalant, as he was just freely speaking his mind.
This time it was Hiroshi's turn to laugh, "AHAHAH!" "I like you kid, you got guts and a good head on your shoulder. So ready to hear the second contingency?"
"Sure." Mark's reply was filled with an unflappable attitude, as if nothing the old man could throw at him that would disturb his peace.
"You need to date my daughter, hmm, at least for.. let's say at least 3 months." This time the old man's tone was nonchalant, but Mark could see the teasing smile.
"What?! But I thought my solution fixed the problem.." Mark asked, facing the absurd situation again.
"Well, it did, but I'm growing old now and so is she." He said with a sad smile, pointing his thumb at his daughter, while she was pouting.
"A father only wants the best man for his daughter, I am the same, till now I have met over a hundred men looking for a suitable husband for my daughter and I have found almost all of them lacking in one way or another."
"You are one of the very few who had the guts to talk to me eye to eye, with such confidence and surety, also you're the only one amongst those few to do so with your own achievements and ability."
"My instincts tell me that you are a man who will go far in life, at just 20 years old and you directed your first film and it's already earned over 350 million dollars in box office."
"I did a background check on you, you know," seeing the look of surprise on Mark's face he just smirked in satisfaction as he kept speaking.
"What did you think that only you did research before meeting with potential business partners."
"No.. I just didn't think I would be important enough for you to care about finding out about me in depth. I didn't even think I would get this far into the meeting." He muttered in reply, still a little surprised, it was for many reasons but it didn't change the fact that his rep was growing.
"Now you're just selling yourself too short, give some credit to yourself, Mark. The success you've already achieved with your hard work and talent is something very few could have achieved in their entire lives."
The old man was honestly impressed with Mark's achievements and why wouldn't he be, after all, in just a decade Mark had nearly amassed the same level of wealth than they did in over half a century.
"So, how about you agree to at least try dating my daughter? Please.. all I ask of you is to seriously give it a try. If it doesn't work out you could still be friends, it will be a funny story to tell your kids later."
"And what kind of messed up story would that be?" she couldn't help but grumble under her breath as she continued to pout embarrassed at the stunt her dad was pulling.
"The story of how he met their mother obviously." Hiroshi chuckled happily as he thought about the letters, he thought that Mark didn't know that he was actually good friends with Hayao and Tatsuhiro.
Both of them had praised this young man before him for a lot of things that they liked about him. Hayao liked Mark's respect towards him as an elder as well as a senior in the same industry, which he could tell wasn't faked.
Tatsuhiro liked Mark's compassion, he had written how he had offered Mark the exclusive adaptation rights thinking an American paying millions of dollars for the IP wouldn't take anything less.
But Mark had instead rejected the exclusive offer and offered to put in a special clause that ensured that both him and Toho were allowed to create Godzilla movies. When his friend asked why he did this?
He wrote in the letter that Mark's reply was that Toho's Godzilla movies were a staple in the lives of the Japanese people. They grew up watching those movies and while he was sure he would create better Godzilla movies than Toho.
He knew his movies weren't Toho's, he didn't want to take away such an important piece of cinema culture from its people just so he could profit off of it.
It was this answer that made him decide that Mark was one of the best candidates he could choose for his future son-in-law.
It didn't matter much to him that he was American as Mark was respectful towards their culture and ways, but what truly won him over were his ambition, talent and vision.
In Mark, Hiroshi saw parts of his father, the late Takeo Oga, the visionary who took a leap of faith, the one who dreamt to be more than just a bureaucrat or government official and he was the one who laid the foundation for the Hitotsubashi Group.
"But how would that even work out, I live in America and I need someone with the brains and drive to implement the changes that I need to happen in Shueisha."
"I thought maybe she would be the lead on that, while I take care of rebuilding Viz Media from the ground up."
"Hmm, you don't need to worry about things over here, Mark. We have some really good people who will follow your instructions to the point and even adapt them so they can be properly implemented."
"Rather the question arises, you already got so many things on your plate with filming movies, writing books and comics, will you even be able to spare the time to rebuild Viz Media from the ground up?
"Wouldn't it be much better if my daughter is there to help to do it so it relieves you of that pressure and all you need to do is just tell her what needs to be done."
"She is very smart, good at managing people and even picks up new things really quickly. I hope that through working with you she will learn more about the foreign market and the difference in taste and preference."
"And while she is there, working alongside you.. if you get some time then go on a few dates, enjoy yourself you know. Life's too short to just be working all the time."
"So how long do you think you need to make this dream a reality?"
"Hmm.. You've waited four years for Viz Media, give me the same. I don't think I will need four years actually but I like to play it on the safe side. So four years should be enough to slowly influence the readers to try something "different" like manga."
"And while that's happening I'll date Chifuyu-san like you requested of me and if it doesn't go well. We can still just remain friends and she could just go back to Japan; and once again start overseeing Shueisha if she wants to when Viz Media is on its feet."
"But what if it does work out and we become a couple?..." Chifuyu finally spoke up once again after digesting the back and forth dialogue between Mark and her father.
"I know it's too far-fetched but I don't want to be so distant from my family.. in a completely different continent.. I may only get to meet them a few times a year." She spoke in a sad tone, because she felt like if she left for the states she would be leaving her family behind.
"That just sounds horrible…" she muttered under her breath as she imagined her bleak fate.
"Please, don't be worried chifuyu-san, if you do end up coming to work for me, by the next year. I will just buy a private jet for you, so you can meet your family whenever you feel lonely or miss them." Mark's reply brought back the light in her eyes as she felt like colors return to her vision.
"The current one in development takes around 9 and a half hours to go from LA to Tokyo." he said, trying to remember the ones Kevin was excitedly talking about in their last get together.
"You're serious?!" she asked, a bit shocked and taken aback by his generosity, compassion and care towards her.
"Of course, I am. After all, at the end of the day family's all we got, I wouldn't feel at ease knowing that I separated you from such a loving and caring family." This was just Mark using his charm at max power to earn their favor after deciding that she is good enough to consider a potential waifu.
She was beautiful, had a good figure and looked like she took care of herself. Even though she was just in her 20s like him, maybe just a few years older. She was already taking care of the family business and even excelling at it.
This just showed that she was intelligent, and had the talent to grow in a position of business development and management.
"Also, private jets are one of the best tax write-offs for a business, so I would need to buy one anyways." He chuckled as he cracked a joke, he didn't want to come off as too corny so he immediately played it off with humor.
But he could see that his words had the desired results as the favorability score had just gone up a few points during his meeting with them.
"Let's take care of the paperwork, I'm willing to pay you 10% above market price for the ownership stake. Is it okay, sir? Or would you like to negotiate for a better price?" Mark asked with a grin, happy with the deal he got, a new connection in Japan, shōnen jump, a way to improve the Manga industry and an unexpected arranged date.
"15%." he said, trying to test Mark, but the reply Mark gave next made him understand that he still might have underestimated just how deep the young man's pockets ran.
"Done." was Mark's reply with a winning smile.
"I guess this calls for a celebration, does it not?" He said, happy to complete the deal and immediately thinking about his next one.
"You purposefully led with a more conservative number than you were willing to pay." Chifuyu spoke with a chagrined smile as she understood Mark's plot.
"All's fair in love, war and business." He replied in an easy going manner.
"I will drink to that, but before that lets summarise the details. Mark, you will be getting a 30% ownership stake in Shueisha, the right of first refusal towards adaptation, international publishing and distribution of our manga, profits of which are split 70:30, with you getting the larger portion obviously, Viz Media and all its assets will be yours, full authority and autonomy to make changes to the work style and system but only if chifuyu agrees as well. But most importantly you will be getting my support and backing for your operations in Japan."
"For us, we'll be getting the exclusive right to publish Eidolon comics and books in Japan after translation, your capital investment of buying equity with at 15% premium and you will have to give datingy daughter a serious chance."
"Now, as we talked earlier all this hinges on two contingencies –
1. You need to accomplish where Viz Media failed and get manga sales up in America, I'm not expecting a miracle but you need to meet the original goal that was set for Viz Media. You'll be give 4 years to accomplish this task, with a grace period of 1 year in case you're close to the finishing.
2. You earnestly try dating my daughter so at least 3 months, if it still doesn't work it's okay, at least you both tried." the old man laughed in a good mood, he didn't care about the little bit more money he could get out of the deal.
Instead he thought about all the benefits they would get from collaborating with Mark – a better structure to their workflow leading to more productivity, more job opportunities, there would be an increase in cost of production but also an increased quality of work and reputation.
Then there was the exclusive contract to sell Eidolon Comics in Japan. They would be getting the Marvel comics, this new and refreshing Naruto and anything else that Mark could cook up. He didn't know why but his heart told him that Mark was gonna be cooking up a lot of good stuff.
Then there was the promise to release and distribute their works in international markets with a better reception. It had been the thing that vexed him for quite some time now, seeing his efforts to open up the international market fail time and time again had been frustrating.
Obviously Mark and his company would be taking up a majority of the profits from the international sales but they were taking up the majority of the costs and paying to set up the infrastructure that would allow for it to happen in the first place.
Another thing that made him want to marry his daughter off to him was how he had been integrating himself with the Japanese companies like – Toho and Ghibli. He knew that Mark was playing the long game and he wouldn't do something as stupid as offend him because he couldn't treat her right.
This was just a small exchange of benefits, with many veiled threats and promises of future benefits that would change the future of the Hitotsubashi Group like he could never even think of.
But one thing was for sure he would look back to this day, for this was the day that would be recalled as the day the revolution of the Japanese Manga industry had officially started.
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Mark was on his back to the hotel, he had gotten the deal he had hoped for, there were a few complications but he didn't let them get in the way of the deal.
Now he wasn't just the co-owner of Shueisha that publishes shonen jump, but also in a kind of arrangement where he had to date Ms. Chifuyu-san.
It wasn't a bad thing though as she was definitely up to his standards, it was just the feeling of the old man requesting him to give it a try again and again had made him feel weird.
The man had even said please to him, which surprised Mark who knew how headstrong older people are.
In some ways the old man reminded him of his previous life's mother actually, how she wore him down by constantly sending him on blind dates till he eventually decided to marry one of the women that felt like it would be the least troublesome.
He chuckled as a fond smile drew across unconsciously as he remembered the happy moments he had with his mom. Though that happy trip down the memory lane didn't last too long as tomorrow's plans flashed through his mind.
While coming to Japan there were many things he needed to be taken care of, if he had to rank them in order of difficulty. Then there were two near impossible tasks and the rest were just a question of how much money would he have to throw at them for it to be accomplished.
Buying an ownership stake in Shueisha was one of those near impossible tasks, but somehow he had still managed to get the ball rolling. Now only one remained but he wanted to keep a streak of good luck going, so he had decided to keep that for the last.
Salma had already left so he would be sleeping alone that night, that was if he slept at all. He hadn't really tested it yet but he instinctively knew things about his body, like the fact that it could operate just fine even if he had to forgo sleeping for a few days.
So he had decided he would just start writing Horizon Zero Dawn once again upon settling in his room for the night. After all, horizon wasn't the only book that he had to publish before the year 1990 was over.
Warcraft: Volume 1 was being worked on by Melissa and Chris, the young man was already shaping up to be quite a force to be reckoned with. Mel had been blowing up his cellphone last week about how this kid was so willful in wanting to make the story interesting.
All he replied to her with was, "you can handle him, you're his senior just teach him to be a better writer and reign in his instincts, help him understand that he can't do everything all at once." which to be honest wasn't much but the young man had been rumored to have almost single handedly written most of Warcraft's early lore and storylines.
Other than warcraft he also had to write the next installment of Ben 10, he had changed mind from the Vilgax's Return Arc and decided to save it for a later volume. After all, Vilgax had been a major villain in two of the last three installments he had written.
So he decided to shift things up a little and decided on debuting «The Ultimatrix War». He couldn't wait for the fans to go crazy for the ultimate transformations and just imagining when he finally adapted a TV show on it, the ratings were definitely going to burst through the roof.
He also had to write the plot line for Pokemon, draw the rough sketches of Gen 1 Pokemons and get it into the production phase so that they could release it by the month of December. So, every month a book or comic of his would be released.
By the end of September the first chapter of MHA would be out, then in the third week of October he should be done with writing Horizon, so they would be able to get it into printing.
Mel and Chris had been given the deadline of the first week of November to be done with their final draft for Warcraft. They were making great progress and he'd really liked the latest draft he had read before leaving for the tour.
So the first book in the Warcraft series would be released in the second week of November. He hoped that by the end of that month he might be able to quickly bang out the Ultimatrix War as well.
But if he is tied up in other stuff then either the first or second week of December will have to do, with these thoughts running through his mind, he finished taking a shower to freshen up so he can begin writing Horizon once again.
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Mark had burned the midnight oil and tried to speedrun through the events of Horizon but unfortunately he met with failure. Though instead of being disheartened, he was happy, he was even smiling to himself when Rose finally came to pick him up for his third meeting of the day.
She had asked him for the reason for his happy mood and Mark didn't see any reason to lie, so he frankly told her how he was facing difficulty in writing Horizon as he wanted the narrative to be realistic.
"But why does that make you happy, boss? Isn't that a problem?" she asked, feeling puzzled.
"Exactly, Rose, that's what has me in such a happy mood. If there's no problems in life, everything just becomes boring. I want some challenge you know?" He explained his ideology.
After working for him for months and getting to know him intimately, it was at this moment that Rose felt like she finally began to understand how Mark thought.
Her boss loved feeling challenged, facing hardships. It was because most things that normally took other's years of practice and dedication to master just came easily to him, he kept trying new things in hopes that something would provide a challenge.
Mark had been trying to write the character of Aloy who was the main female lead, but he didn't want to show her to be overpowered but rather someone with wits and tactical genius.
He wanted her to win against the mechanical wilderness beasts using her skills and a good plan. Obviously, he didn't just want to write a female Hawkeye with a bow and high tech arrows that had the durability of Superman.
So Aloy in his books would be surviving and winning against the odds because of her wits, strategy, skills, but most of all her luck.
He was really glad that his part in the publicity tour had ended with his final performance that happened yesterday.
Now he was free to give 100% of his time and focus on writing and preparing for the pre-production of the movies that will come out next year after he is done taking care of the business deals that would be helpful in creating his base of power in Japan.
He was in Meguro, a district in Tokyo, outside the head office of Square Co. Ltd. or Square Soft as its known internationally.
It is a videogame development and publishing studio that was founded just a few years back in 1986 by Masafumi Miyamoto, who spun off part of his father's electronics company Den-Yu-Sha.
It had many small successful games to its name in the action genre but the company finally struck gold when they ventured into the roleplaying genre with a game called Final Fantasy in 1987.
Final Fantasy was their claim to fame, later going on to even create Kingdom Hearts. If it was just for this game alone, Mark would be willing to buy off the Square Co.
But Square had another feat to their name which in Mark's opinion was even bigger than creating Final Fantasy.
Square first emerged into the scene of video game development by making games for PC, before it shifted to making games for Nintendo exclusively.
Their turning point came in the 1990s when Square broke off with Nintendo to make games for Sony's in-development PlayStation.
Square would go on to develop their latest installment called Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy VII, was their first PlayStation project and it was a worldwide critical and commercial success, attributed with boosting the popularity of its genre and the platform.
Mark wanted to steal Square away before they could collaborate with Sony and combine it with other game development studios to create his own mega game development studio and then look to collaborate with Sony to exclusively develop games for the PS.
But he wanted to be in a better position to negotiate with the tech giant when he did go in to hatch a collaboration deal. This was the second impossible task he had kept to be dealt with at the end.
It didn't matter if he failed, he would just try again next year, with the absence of the successful and eye-catching games from Square. Mark hoped to delay the growth of Sony's PlayStation and get them in a desperate situation.
The financial tally of the company's assets and liabilities along with the profit and loss statement for the past three years had given him a rough estimate for the amount of money he would have to put up to have a chance at enticing Miyamoto-san to sell his company to him.
But that wasn't really Mark's intention, no, he had much grander plans in mind. History had already started to shift and twist as the influence of his actions on the world grew stronger.
It was why he was trying to tie so many industry leaders to his cause, to his base of power. His offer for Miyamoto-san was something that no sane person would reject if they were in his shoes.
Mark didn't just want the company, he wanted Miyamoto to continue working in the company and for this Mark was going to offer him to keep a 25% stake of ownership in the company.
For himself, he wanted at least a 55% stake, he had needed to go with a majority ownership stake so that even with the merger of the studios he would still be the one with majority of ownership stake in the new studio.
If he was born a decade later maybe he would have just patiently waited a few more years for the PC specs to catch up and make games for PC.
But he was in 1990 now, he really didn't have the patience to wait for over a decade to play his favorite games.
So he planned on raising the speed of technical development in the field of Video games, console development as well as personal computers.
He knew most of the big names in the industry and the ones he didn't know of could be founded with the help of the system.
Mark knew what had held back the development of PC from becoming one of the best platform to play videogames on in the 1990s.
He knew what made the progress of developing VFX so slow and inefficient that even after 7 years of the release of the last Star Wars film in 1983.
George Lucas was still having to wait for the level of VFX to improve, for it to get cheaper, because the scale of the prequel trilogy that he had planned for is even grander than the original.
The thing that was the reason behind all this was the lack of a GPU or graphical processing unit. He wasn't a computer science major but he was big on technology and kept himself up to date on all the major developments in the tech scene.
Even his most used social media app was YouTube where he spent most of his time watching videos on tech, cooking, history, finance, comedy and sometimes even politics. He still remembered watching a video titled – The Meteoric Rise of Nvidia.
His perfect recall allowed him to recall even the blurry memories of his past to a 90% accuracy.
He remembered the narrator in the video saying that Nvidia was started in 1993 in California by Jensen Huang, Chris Priem and Chris Mala-something.
Yes, Mark was thinking about starting «Nvidia» himself or atleast introducing the idea of the "GPU" and investing a shit load of money into the start-up and hiring the talent so he could create the GPUs himself.
If he succeeded, then the newly made GPU would be capable of doing parallel processing, directly enhancing the capabilities of computers to render 3D graphics.
It would bring about technological advancements much earlier in fields like – Advanced VFX, Improved Video Editing, 3D Animations, Motion Capture, 3D Video Games and make PC one the best console to play video games on.
"Marc, I like your proposal, but I'm not sure what the board of directors and the members of my senior team would say about this deal." Miyamoto-san said, breaking Mark out of his thoughts of creating Nvidia sooner, so he wouldn't have to rely on consoles.
"Hold on Miyamoto-san I'm not done with my proposal actually. On top of the $13.5 million dollars for 61% ownership stake, I would also like to invest $3.5 million dollars in the company to create games based on my works as well as the next installment of Final Fantasy." That made his eyes widen slightly as he thought about the happy faces of his co-workers.
"Nintendo has been greedily squeezing out the profits that rightfully belong to Square. But with them being the only big name in the Japanese console market you don't really have a choice. Except —"
"Except for finding a new console to tie ourselves with, but Mark even giants Sony are still a few years away from creating one they barely even have a prototype and Sega is dying out, while PC is still lagging behind."
Mark had a pleasant smile upon hearing that, 'well, that isn't what I was gonna say, but it's good that he knows where his competitors and allies position are, after all a business can't operate inside a bubble. Though he is quick to underestimate the PC as a gaming platform.'
"That's fine, you aren't just the only company I've approached. As you might've expected, the first company we approached was actually Nintendo."
"I met the representative personally and gave them an offer to create an array of exclusive video games based on my works, which in my humble opinion are quite popular around the world."
"In exchange we asked for a certain percentage of ownership stake of the games we develop and in Nintendo."
"Oh, that must not have gone well." Miyamoto winced, as he sucked in a breath and then chuckled, knowing how harsh and strict they could be with who they chose to make deals with, after all even he was slowly growing out of favor in Nintendo.
He was already planning to look for other collaborators who would pay better rates for their games but there were none currently in the market who were willing to pay better than Nintendo in the long term.
But he did hear of some companies making their own console, out of which he was most optimistic about Sony, with it being such a big household name and presence around the world.
If anyone could build a console other than Nintendo that could survive in the market it would be them.
He himself would sometimes daydream about creating his own console before but immediately shot it down after calculating the cost and time needed to turn that dream into a reality.
But now here was that once in a lifetime moment, where he could change his fate and go from just a one time wonder with Final Fantasy in the videogame industry and establish the name of his company by developing and launching newer series adapted from Marc's works.
He thought about requesting Mark to allow them to try to create a 2D zombie shooter inspired from Resident Evil or maybe a dinosaur themed zoo simulator inspired from Jurassic park.
Or maybe a story based Detective Investigative game where the player gets to play as an ensemble of colorful and interesting cast and they need to find the killer in different scenarios.
Just thinking got him so excited that he was just constantly firing new ideas about what new games he could make from Marc's works.
But before he did that, he wanted more information from Mark, he wanted to know what other studio's he had approached or bought already.
"Yup, as you can expect, it didn't go well." Mark chuckled while Miyamoto-san's brain churned up ideas while still paying attention to his new potential boss's story.
"So, I thought, why don't I make my own video game development studio and collaborate with different console developers or maybe even stick to PC."
"I already have taken ownership of two different video game development studios before I approached you with this offer." He couldn't help but gulp as tried to understand the stakes of the game Mark was playing at.
"If you agree to my offer then I plan on merging all three companies and pooling together the resources of the three companies to form a Videogame development giant."
"Damn." He muttered under his breath, his gut told him that he needed to be a part of this, whatever it was.
"If you agree to my offer and we go through with this plan. Then this newly formed company will have a better position to negotiate with the other tech giants like Nintendo and Sony."
"Hmm, speaking of Sony, I heard that they're hoping to develop a console of their own. If our companies merge then we can even approach Sony to develop games for them."
"Before I sign on, I would like to know the name of two video game studios you've already bought."
"Sure, it's «Enix» and «Tecmo»."
His eyes shot up in surprise upon hearing the names, as Enix and Tecmo had been even older names in the video games scene than his own.
Each with a series of successes to their names, he realized that Mark was serious about creating his own video game development megastudio one way or another.
With Enix being known for its Dragon Quest series and Tecmo currently popular for its Ninja Gaiden series. But Mark knew that Tecmo had yet to make the series that would cement its name as one of the best in the field and in the hearts of millions of fans worldwide.
«Dead or Alive»
So, Mark hadn't just sought to buy a stake in Tecmo rather he bought the entire company as a whole.
After all, they had just entered the video game scene, so he decided to acquire them now for way less than what they would be valued at after the release of DOA.
Even though he already had 3 mid size video game developers put together, to create a megastudio. But, Mark knew this wasn't enough, not even close.
The amount of IPs he had that he wanted to turn into video games were just too many to be handled by 2 or 3 studios.
But he decided to wait a bit more, because as soon as he was back in America he would launch his Nvidia plan and get on the GPU development track.
Even though it will take a few years, he was still satisfied with it as he had decided to start early so he wouldn't have to wait till 1999 for his GPU.
By the time the PlayStation 1 came out in 1995 his GPU would as well, he couldn't wait to see which one would win over the hearts of the gamer's.
'oh, who am I kidding, we nerds only like the console that has the coolest games.' All he had to do was diligently develop his own GPU through Nvidia, buy up more video game studios that are still small or even create his own video game studios and adapt his own works into games.
'As long as the games are well made and fun, there is no way I'm gonna lose.'
"I have one final request." The guy looked serious as he said so, Mark straightened up and paid him full attention as he replied, "I make no promises, but do tell."
"I agree to hand over 62% of ownership to you, but I want the name of this company to remain intact, even after the merger and be front and center." He asked in an earnest tone, with a small bow of his head, as he had already decided to sell the ownership to Mark but he didn't want to lose the name.
"Oh, hmm, interesting. I can agree to it, provided that you still work for this new company, help us acquire new talent and also help train a suitable candidate to replace you when you retire in the future."
"In return the company shall be named – Square Enix Tecmo. How about it? Do you agree?" He had an excited smile because he couldn't believe that Mark would really agree to keep his company name at the front because out of the three his newest, with only one major success to their name.
"Also the pay structure would be very different, as I believe in fair compensation for overtime and limited overtime; but that would be discussed in detail if you agree to the deal." The bait had been thrown, the name was something he didn't really care about to be honest.
But if it would ensure that he would get the man to diligently and wholeheartedly work for him then why would Mark not use it to negotiate a better deal for himself.
"I agree to the deal, Mark." with that they shook hands, confirming the deal and got started on the paperwork.
The paperwork regarding the merger would be taken care of by the time he would have to meet Sony for a deal to see if he could convince them of working with him.
Mark wasn't really confident in swinging that deal at least currently where he stood in terms of financial power. Sony was a behemoth that had enough capital that it bought up Columbia, one of the failing big five Hollywood studios.
Though it didn't matter as the next people he will be meeting won't be representing Sony but rather a place where children's dreams were made. He was going to meet the hero, who was the predecessor of heroes whom children all around the world loved and adored.
— To be continued…
In the next episode of The Shogun
*Cough* *Cough*
I meant in the next chapter of Hollywood: Head-Hunting System.
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Word Count: 7948 words (after excluding the disclaimer, opening Author's Note and the closing Author's Note.)
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Closing Author's Note: I apologize for failing to meet the 48 hour deadline I set more for myself. What happened was that I made a mistake while researching some data about Squaresoft.
The video game company that Mark bought ownership of in this chapter and because of that mistake I had to rewrite over 40% of the chapter.
So the rewrites, including the edits, as well as finding some new interesting ideas (Nvidia) that I wanted to make a part of this chapter made me late in uploading this chapter by half a day.
Again apologies for the delay, this was supposed to be the Friday chapter but it is being posted now on Saturday (for me) nearly half a day late.
But not to be worried about the next chapter that will follow the new schedule which is 1 chapter every 3 days and it will be posted on Monday. Around 60 hours or 2 ½ days from the posting of this chapter.
Anyways if you like my work then please comment let me if you liked the chapter, leave me some cool ideas, suggestions and vote with power stones. I love you guys and gals for reading my work and supporting my dream. I hope you all have a beautiful day and stay safe and healthy.
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