Chapter 675 579 What? ! Pokeni Music Festival? !

pokeni is simply the king of output, and continues to tremble the entire world and the gaming industry.

Even the Earth Dragon can't turn over as diligently as Qing Zhiyuan.

Basically, there is an earthquake every year and earth-shaking once every three years. So far, pokeni's small engine has given everyone a strong sense of pushback.

As a result, many game manufacturers are somewhat unable to adapt.

"This guy, if he hadn't been able to hitch a ride on pokeni, he would have been thrown away by the times."

"What kind of free ride is this? It's clearly a rocket!"

"If Pokeni continues to develop at this rate, we will be able to build spaceships in the future. I am talking about the kind that can, in a real sense, pursue dreams in the stars and the sea."

"It's terrible, it's terrible."

…

Just when the world was shocked and frightened by the fact that P Club's Trailblazer engine was open sourced, Qing Zhiyuan was already leading the soldiers to rush to the next trend.

On the smartphone side, Iwata's efficiency is quite high. Not only did he find some retailers in the United States and China, he also teamed up with LG of Bangzi to develop mobile phone screens for P.

Although LG thinks they are crazy, why refuse if you can make money?

But in this way, except for the cheaper prices offered by downstream retailers in China, such as mobile phone bodies, internal mechanical parts, etc., Pokoni basically packages everything that can be packaged for China.

The remaining part is the hard nut, and the current strength of mainland China is still unable to gnaw it down.

For example, for mobile phone screens, this part is outsourced to LG, and the chip part is given to NVIDIA. The operating system is still being digested internally, and poaching is not very smooth, but it can be regarded as recruiting two or three core operating systems from some large companies in the United States. experts in the field.

However, apart from the Chinese part, other costs have gone up.

This also means that the first version of the smartphone has to be more expensive to be profitable.

"So, how much do you estimate it will sell for?" Qing Zhiyuan asked.

Iwata frowned, made an estimate, and responded with some discomfort, "It's hard to say now, but it will definitely be more expensive than the game console. It is very likely that the price will be as high as 400 US dollars. Neon does not use it. The price will be around 40,000 yen after taking into account the tariff.”

Qing Zhiyuan did not speak, but thought silently.

According to the current research and development progress of smartphones, large-scale production should be around 2004, which means that there is hope for sales by the end of 2004.

US$400 in 2004 was almost equivalent to 5,000 yuan soft sister coins.

But this is 2004! ! !

The corners of Qing Zhiyuan's mouth curved slightly, "There is still a lot of room for $400."

"I am pessimistic. After we establish the market and gain control of the voice, technological progress may be able to reduce costs. Now I think it will be too much."

"No, Iwata-san, you misunderstood me." Qing Zhiyuan said with a smile, "I mean there is still room for increase. We can definitely set the initial price to 600 US dollars!"

"Huh?!" Satoru Iwata was shocked.

Didn't you expect the president to be so crazy?

"The price of mobile phones on the market today is generally around US$400, and Nokia's clamshell phones can be sold for close to US$500." Qing Zhiyuan said with a smile, "We have no reason to sell them cheaper than them."

Moreover, you must know that the first generation of Love Crazy came out in 2007!

We are 3 years ahead of schedule and this is a unique and rare product.

"By setting the price higher at the beginning, we will have room to make mid- to low-end smartphone products." Qing Zhiyuan said.

ah……

I see.

Iwata was stunned for a moment and immediately understood, "President, you are still far-sighted and think far-reaching."

Qing Zhiyuan curled his lips, my dear, Satoru Iwata, how come you, a thick-browed and big-eyed person like you, have learned how to flatter?

…

Pricing the price to US$600, in addition to leaving room for price reduction and mid-to-low-end products in the future, Qingzhiyuan also has another important consideration -

If the mobile phone manufacturers in the O&M region become jealous by then, they may be provoked, and the United States is likely to raise tariffs.

Then leaving enough profit margin can be regarded as being prepared.

Of course, who doesn’t want more profits?

As long as pokeni can get the big deal, they will have enough funds to fight the war.

Being the one who makes the rules is not an easy thing.

"correct."

Before the meeting ended, Qing Zhiyuan suddenly remembered something and kept Iwata Satoru and Operations Director Kazuma Takahashi.

“Didn’t we have an orchestra performance at an electronics show before?”

"Uh-huh."

Iwata Satoru and Takahashi Kazuma blinked, keeping their hands on their books, ready to record the president's opinions and suggestions at any time.

"I think we should regularly find some world-class symphony orchestras to hold pokeni's own concerts."

"Huh?" The two people raised their heads and looked at President Qing at the same time.

game?

Have a concert?

…

Iwata Satoru and Takahashi Kazuma also know something about it. After all, they are all in the gaming circle and know that many gaming companies hold gaming concerts on a regular basis.

According to ordinary people's thinking, holding game concerts is really crazy.

Generally speaking, the people who hold concerts are basically singers or musicians.

For example, Ayumi Hamasaki holds a solo concert, and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra holds a symphony concert.

Either it is very elegant or very popular.

And it is rare to hear of a game holding a concert.

But in fact, the history of game concerts is very early.

As early as 1987, Koichi Sugiyama, the music producer of Dragon Quest, personally held a "Family Classical Concert" every year to play the game music of Dragon Quest.

The music of "Dragon Quest" is considered a revolution in the field of electronic games because it uses orchestral music.

Later, classic games such as Final Fantasy series, Wizardry series, Dragon Quest series, Kirby series, Fire Emblem series, Donkey Kong series, Super Mario series, etc. have held concerts.

After entering the 2000s, because the Final Fantasy series has accumulated many fans over the years, players are also very familiar with the music of the series, so all parties saw the business opportunities, and therefore many orchestral concerts playing the music of the series appeared.

In general, only large companies have the ability to hold a series of concerts, such as Sony, Square, Nintendo, Capcom, etc.

Small companies are often powerless. Take the famous small company Falcom in Japan as an example. The company has accumulated rich music resources over the years and has released many orchestral adaptation albums.

However, it has never held an orchestral concert. Only the orchestral recording album "FALCOM NEO CLASSIC From Studios In London City" that the company collaborated with the famous London Symphony Orchestra in the mid-1990s can make people imagine the scene of a "concert".

"Nowadays, holding concerts in games has become a cultural phenomenon that cannot be ignored." Qing Zhiyuan said, "There are actually many benefits to holding concerts in our games.

The first is the improvement of brand value. The Final Fantasy Concert held last year is a very vivid example." Qing Zhiyuan said.

This concert is the only one with an orchestra arrangement and theme song performance as the theme. Almost all the classic Final Fantasy series theme songs appeared in this concert.

With the successive holding of the above concerts, the music of the Final Fantasy series has gradually become well-known, and even many people other than gamers have begun to pay attention to the music of this series. Among them, Nobuo Uematsu's easy-to-understand melodies have contributed greatly, making the music of this series become similar to popular classical music.

With Nobuo Uematsu's personal participation, new songs often appear in the selection of songs, and CGs from the Final Fantasy series are also played on the spot.

It can be said that it is a complete benefit for fans.

The audience and players of Japan are not unfamiliar with this, and even welcome it.

…

Pokeni has so many ace IPs in its hands, but it has not opened its own music festival, which is beyond the expectations of players.

In fact, according to the ideas of Satoru Iwata and Kazuma Takahashi, the president should have done this a long time ago.

It's just that everyone has been very busy before and failed to put it on the agenda.

Kazuma Takahashi agreed, "Game music has gradually become a cultural phenomenon that cannot be ignored, and game concerts have played an important role in the dissemination of game music. In recent years, they have appeared in many regions around the world and have become a hot topic among players.

Then if there is original music that can be shown off, especially world-class game music, holding an abnormal game concert can not only increase the dissemination of the game itself, but also enhance the image and value of many game brands.

Think about it, Final Fantasy can get such high attention and praise worldwide. In addition to the game itself, the dissemination of game music has also played a very important role."

"Yes, the soundtrack of Final Fantasy has raised the level of this series of brands, and its specifications have risen all of a sudden." Qing Zhiyuan said with a smile, "This is the brand value improvement brought by the concert."

"Moreover, once the game concert forms a routine and scale, the concert itself can also become a brand and provide very high value." Qing Zhiyuan said, "Ayumi Hamasaki will hold a world tour concert every year, so can you see a lot of sponsors' advertisements at every scene?"

Ayumi Hamasaki, who was made famous by Pokeni, has now become the number one sister in Asia. The title of "Desperate Sanniang" is really not for nothing.

Pokeni also sponsored some of her concerts, so naturally they also got a share of the profits.

Now Pokeni Company actually makes a lot of money by holding concerts for artists. In addition to selling concert tickets, part of the income comes from advertising.

"This is a continuous hot spot."

The best advertising hot spot must be sustainable, such as the evening news, which must be on at 7 o'clock every night without fail, so its advertising efficiency is much higher.

The advertising efficiency of movies is not as good as that of TV series. A TV series can be broadcast for 1 month, and the exposure can be increased every day.

The popularity of movies is very limited after one show.

This is also the reason why many game companies in the past were unwilling to advertise movies, but preferred to advertise TV series or continuously broadcast variety shows.

“If pokeni holds concerts or even music festivals every year, the continued popularity and corresponding economic benefits will be considerable.

This is somewhat similar to video game linkage, except that it is small-scale offline, with high tickets and high thresholds, and the hot spots and popularity are relatively concentrated.

However, taking care of the fans' emotions and spreading the value of P Club's games is even higher.

…

When Qing Zhiyuan said this, Iwata Satoru and Takahashi Kazuma seemed a little excited. Both of them were following this idea and thinking about how to run the music festival well.

"Then game concerts are quite different from traditional classic concerts or pop concerts."

Qing Zhiyuan gestured with his hands, "If the classical concert is here, at a relatively high position, and then the pop music concert is here, a little lower, this is not a distinction between high and low, it is about the music. A high sense of coldness.

Then our game music will be somewhere in between. "

And with the increasing number of game concerts, it will also play a great role in improving the overall image of the game industry.

It can make the public realize the artistry of games and change the negative image of games in the public sphere such as violence and bloodshed.

Moreover, through the invisible language of music and the special form of live performance, the distance between players and game music is shortened.

When a game player has heard a song in the game that they have heard countless times and suddenly plays on the theater stage, they may be moved to tears. This is an indescribable feeling.

At the E3 exhibition last year, pokeni's image was greatly enhanced when Tan Dun led the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra to perform the soundtracks from several of pokeni's classic games.

Of course, this is also because the quality of pokeni's games and music itself is high enough.

"Understood." Iwata Satoru and Takahashi Kazuma nodded.

What President Qing just said has been analyzed in depth.

Music itself is a cultural carrier.

pokeni's game music has an epic feel, and at the same time, because the game itself shortens the distance between the audience and the game, it is very suitable for holding concerts, and because pokeni has a wide group of players, there should be many people coming in by then .

In addition, concerts and exhibitions are the same, and they can receive government subsidies for similar reasons——

Improve the city's image, stimulate the development of local tourism, sales of peripheral goods, hotels, sales... these can all be stimulated.

And once the pokeni music festival becomes a routine, it will create high brand value in itself.

"Then we hold a music festival, package our game music together and perform it in the music festival?" Satoru Iwata asked, "Or do we take out a certain series of products separately and hold their own concerts? ?

Like a "Witcher" concert? "

Um……

"They all have it," Qing Zhiyuan said, "The more mature and world-famous IPs, such as Pokémon and Demon Hunters, can hold their own concerts if they have enough accumulation, while other Game products that are less well-known or relatively new can be put together and turned into a music festival.”

After several people discussed it for a while, they were able to roughly formulate a plan.

According to Qing Zhiyuan's expectation, a pokeni music festival will probably be held at the end of this year, and some powerful symphony orchestras can be invited to perform.

But the specific time will definitely depend on the actual implementation.

In fact, it is more reasonable to pre-sell tickets half a year in advance, and it can also warm up the event.

But now it seems that time is indeed a bit tight.

"Let's do this." Qing Zhiyuan said to Takahashi Kazuma, "I'd better leave this matter to you. You can pull a small team to do this alone, and then ask Shimomura Yoko to cooperate with you. All the company’s music-related business, especially large-scale business like this, comes to him.”

To be honest, Qing Zhiyuan was eager to find Joe Hisaishi, but it was a pity that Joe Hisaishi was not a pokeni person.

But Yoko Shimomura also has profound attainments in music. A music master in the game industry, he has also formed his own band before, and his strength should not be underestimated.

Maybe Shimomura will be very interested in this.

If things go well, Qing Zhiyuan plans to hand over all P Club and music-related matters to Yoko Shimomura in the future.

The music festival is the first step, and then in the future we can continue to build pokeni cultural activities around the game. It is also feasible to have a carnival every year.

When you make enough money, it’s time to add value.

Turning into a cultural symbol, continuing to output corporate value, and snowballing fans are the future strategies formulated by Qing Zhiyuan and Satoru Iwata.

"Okay." Takahashi Kazuma recorded it in his notebook.

Everyone was almost done discussing it, so Qing Zhiyuan dismissed the meeting.

…

...(End of chapter)