Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 730: A Crucial Moment

Every year, there are roughly three peak sales periods for video games.

The first is in March and April of Q1—this coincides with school holidays for children.

No matter what, children remain a significant part of the gaming market.Games targeted at kids often don't need top-tier quality to generate impressive revenue.

The second peak comes around July, mid-year.

The third—and biggest—is the year-end season, stretching from Halloween to Christmas.

Of the three, this last one is the most critical.It's the time when players buy their most anticipated games and cozy up at home to enjoy them.

But this high season isn't just for games.A ton of entertainment and consumer electronics products are also launched during this time, hoping to ride the holiday shopping wave and end the year with strong sales.

Just before the annual Game Awards, Micksoft announced its newest smartphone model for the year:

MK2.

A sleeker, more minimalist smartphone—already 80–90% similar to the iPhone from Takayuki's original world.

And thanks to its closed-loop ecosystem, Micksoft was beginning to dominate the era.

At the same time, smartphones were becoming a hot topic in daily conversation. More and more smartphone manufacturers were entering the scene, eager for a slice of the holiday sales pie.

Among them was Surei Electronics.

As a tech giant with a full production chain, they couldn't ignore the booming smartphone market.So this year, they released their first smartphone.

Sleek and distinctively Japanese in its tech aesthetics, the phone was a hit among loyal Surei fans—many were eager to spend.

Compared to video games, mobile devices, which people carry with them every day, had a much broader market.

Around October, when Surei's smartphone hit the shelves, the initial market feedback was promising.

The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

Users were generally satisfied, although many pointed out that Surei's OS still lagged behind Micksoft's, and needed improvement.Still, from a business standpoint, shareholders were very happy with the smartphone division's performance.

But this success also highlighted the decline of Surei's gaming division.

If it weren't for their president, Uejin Hayakawa, backing them behind the scenes, the gaming department might've already been downsized.

"This is a crucial battle! We must prove ourselves this holiday season!"

In a passionate speech to his team, the head of the gaming division rallied the troops.He declared their goal: to not lose to the smartphone division in total sales revenue.

"We're going to launch a few of our best-kept-secret titles, the big guns! All marketing teams are to go all-in.We're going to win this battle, no matter what!"

But someone voiced concern:

"Um... we still have Gamestar Electronic Entertainment to worry about. Can we really expect strong sales with them in the market?"

The division head just smiled:

"Funny you mention them—I was just getting to that. This year, Gamestar has no major first-party titles launching during the holiday season. That's a huge advantage for us. Old games will never outsell new ones—new games always have that freshness factor. Even if we can't beat Gamestar outright, this might be our chance to surpass them in holiday sales. Plus, we've got an award-winning studio on our side now. We can proudly say our work is every bit as good as Gamestar's."

The speech fired everyone up. After all, this wasn't just about the division's survival—their own livelihoods were on the line.

They were all longtime employees of Surei. Failure could mean losing their current pay grade, or even their jobs.

Once proud of being treated with the company's highest standards, they now refused to back down.

Fueled by this sense of mission, the whole division dove into action in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

The marketing department went all-out, pouring their entire ad budget into promoting Surei's products.

Though the company had pivoted back to home consoles, they still hadn't given up on handhelds, remembering the profits they'd once reaped there.

Meanwhile, the non-marketing staff worked overtime, crunching to finish two major titles by Christmas: a new FIFA soccer game and a 3D racing game.

Others even roped in friends and family to help recommend Surei's consoles.

And surprisingly—it worked.

People around them started buying Surei's consoles and picking up one or two games. This morale boost fueled the team to push even harder.

The entire department became laser-focused, almost obsessed.

Uejin Hayakawa watched silently. He knew this battle would determine the future of the gaming division. As president, he had to remain impartial. All he could do was expedite approvals to help them move faster.

Then came the final sales frenzy before Christmas.

Much of the world entered a festive, year-end spirit.

But Surei's game division didn't stop—not even for a second. They kept selling, kept working, kept pushing.

Finally, as 2007 ended and the New Year holidays wrapped up, they got the final results:

"We hit $37 million in holiday sales profit! That's a great result!"

The division head proudly announced the numbers, triggering loud cheers from the team.

He smiled with them—but beneath that smile, there was a hint of bitterness.

Because the smartphone division?

They had pulled in $100 million...