Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 732: The Puzzling Acquisition

Tetris — it had long since become one of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's classic legacy IPs.

Later on, the title was even successfully included in the international hall of design classics.

Other games might continue to evolve in terms of gameplay, but Tetris was a game that began as a royal flush. From the start, it was already perfect.

All the subsequent Tetris iterations were just variations based on the same core mechanics — maybe adding new effects, or reworking the visual style. As for gameplay improvements, there really wasn't much room left.

In Takayuki's original world, Tetris was also considered a timeless legend. If you counted the versions built into gaming consoles, total lifetime sales of Tetris exceeded 500 million copies — more than double that of Minecraft, which ranked second.

...

...

Despite its simple rules, and the fact that the game had been out for more than a decade in this world, Tetris was still going strong.

According to current online data, there were over a million players actively playing Tetris across consoles, handheld devices, and PC platforms.

If Takayuki really wanted to cash in on it, he could easily rake in massive profits just by introducing a skin-selling model.

In this world, Tetris was just as hot as match-3 games like Candy Crush were in his past life.

Whoever wanted to buy this game's IP definitely had a sharp eye.

Takayuki said, "Someone wants to buy the Tetris IP but won't even say who they are? That probably means it's someone connected to us in some way. I'm guessing you already turned down the request, right?"

His assistant nodded. "Yes. Still, I thought it was a bit unusual, so I figured I should report it to you personally."

Takayuki thought for a moment and said, "Try to find out who it is. I'm really curious about who wants to buy Tetris."

"Understood."

That same afternoon, the assistant came back with the identity of the buyer.

Perhaps the other party hadn't tried that hard to hide it — maybe they just didn't want to reveal it at first. With a bit of digging, Gamestar's team easily uncovered who it was.

"McFo wants to buy Tetris?"

Takayuki was genuinely surprised to hear that the buyer was McFo.

McFo had never been particularly keen on video games. Sure, their OS inevitably came with some game support, and they had even made some money from games indirectly — but they always refused to publicly acknowledge gaming. Takayuki knew this attitude well. After all, McFo's CEO, Myron Case, had been ousted from the very tech company he had originally founded, all thanks to the gaming industry. It was no wonder he had a chip on his shoulder.

But for someone like him, with a known bias, to suddenly want to buy Tetris? That was unexpected.

"Boss, when we found out who it was, they didn't try to hide it. In fact, they left us a message."

"What did it say?"

'Smartphones are on the rise. Home consoles and handhelds are in decline. He recommends we cut our losses and stop clinging to the video game industry.'

The assistant spoke with a smirk — the kind of expression you wear when something is just too ridiculous.

That kind of comment was pure provocation. Even she, as an assistant, found it laughable.

Who was he to declare the death of gaming?

Clearly, this guy had no real understanding of the industry.

Takayuki didn't find it particularly funny — more like familiar. Déjà vu.

He remembered when YOO's CEO, Nagao Ame, had said something similar. He'd even claimed he'd spend big to buy out Gamestar Electronic Entertainment. And in the end? He got devoured by the Japanese financial elite and landed himself in prison.

But Nagao had always been more of a clown. Myron Case, on the other hand, was a different story.

Ever since arriving in this world, Takayuki had sensed the resemblance between Myron Case and the Steve Jobs from his past life. The pride, the obsession with product quality, the charisma — even the public appeal. And most importantly, this world's Myron was in the prime of his life, with energy to spare — not the ailing, cancer-ridden figure Steve Jobs became later on.

Myron still had twenty to thirty years of fight left in him.

That's why Takayuki had marked him early on as a serious threat. That's why he had arranged for Facebook to preemptively enter the smartphone race — to go head-to-head with Myron Case.

But now, someone like Myron, who should've been incredibly rational, suddenly wanted to buy a video game IP?

That was... strange.

Takayuki couldn't have guessed that Myron simply loved Tetris. That the guy just wanted to use company funds to satisfy his personal nostalgia.

Still, Tetris was easily worth a billion dollars. Heck, if Takayuki wanted to be dramatic, he could probably get ten billion out of it.

"Boss, should we send a sarcastic reply? Just to shut him down for good?"

Takayuki replied, "Nah... No need. We're obviously not selling, but there's no point replying either."

He still didn't quite understand what Myron was thinking, but one thing was clear — the smartphone industry was booming. And Myron had enough spare cash to buy a game IP just for fun.

The market... was clearly tilting in Myron's favor.

Takayuki set aside his work and turned to his assistant. "Help me gather sales data from us, Surie Electronics, and all the other smaller handheld game manufacturers. I want a full report on current market share."

"But sir, our handheld business is already pretty small. Do we really need that level of detail?"

"Yes. I need exact figures to verify my hunch."

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"Got it."

The assistant left.

Two days later, she returned with all the data Takayuki had asked for.

The numbers represented the current sales performance of all the major handheld console makers.

Except for Gamestar, these companies were all public, and their financial data was easy to access — they had to report everything to shareholders.

Looking over the charts and spreadsheets, Takayuki felt a strange sense of déjà vu — as if he'd returned to the days of being a corporate drone in his past life.

Back then, all he ever looked at were code and spreadsheets.