With Takayuki taking the lead to finalize the ga rules and developing the first map, the direction for the Counter-Strike team beca clear.
As long as they followed Takayuki's path, they just had to keep developing more combat maps, adding weapons content, and enriching the original basic rules. The ga wouldn't have any major issues.
The developnt of Counter-Strike went smoothly, and the ga itself wasn't very complicated. In fact, Counter-Strike was likely to be the quickest ga to complete out of the three being developed.
Next, it would be Need for Speed, which should be the second ga to complete its developnt, and then there was FIFA.
FIFA would probably be the slowest.
There wasn't much prior experience in developing football gas, so everything had to start from scratch, which would be a bit troubleso. The most complicated part was collecting player data.
By the way, speaking of which, it seed Mitsuhashi hadn't provided any updates lately. Takayuki didn't know how things were progressing with the FIFA licensing.
So Takayuki walked into a relatively quiet office, closed the door, and then dialed Mitsuhashi's phone number.
...
...
He wanted to personally check how things were going over there.
...
In the hotel in the UK, Mitsuhashi stared at her phone with a complicated expression.
Should she pick up the phone?
How should she break the news to Takayuki?
It was really hard to decide.
After the phone rang for about ten seconds, Mitsuhashi took a deep breath, picked up the phone, and clicked the answer button.
Without waiting for Takayuki to ask, she spoke in a slightly regretful tone, "Boss, I ssed up."
Takayuki: ???
Hearing Mitsuhashi speak so lowly as soon as the phone was connected took Takayuki by surprise.
"Mitsuhashi, what happened?"
"Boss, I ssed up the deal with FIFA. I'm sorry, I've disappointed you."
Takayuki furrowed his brows and patiently said, "Don't bla yourself yet. Tell what happened. Why are you saying that? This isn't like you."
Mitsuhashi spoke with a somber tone: "FIFA rejected our partnership, just two hours ago when you called."
That was quite a tily arrival.
Takayuki thought to himself.
"Why did they reject us? I rember you said the negotiations were going well, and we were in the final stages."
Mitsuhashi suddenly beca a bit angry: "It's because of YOO. They hijacked the deal we were about to seal."
"YOO? Tell more."
That company just wouldn't leave him alone, always showing up at inconvenient tis to annoy him.
Mitsuhashi took another deep breath and then explained what had happened recently to Takayuki.
Today was supposed to be the final two days for FIFA's internal discussions. Mitsuhashi had used many thods to push the deal forward, actively persuading FIFA officials to convince them of their sincerity.
Everything had been going smoothly. The officials she had contacted had even hinted that the deal was practically finalized.
Mitsuhashi had already prepared the licensing contracts and was just waiting for the final signing.
Her side was offering a five-year cash licensing deal, along with long-term collaborative projects that would raise both parties' profiles. This win-win situation should have gone smoothly.
But that morning, the call from FIFA shattered everything.
FIFA's officials suddenly told her they had a competitor, one that was willing to offer $50 million per year for a ten-year deal.
Mitsuhashi didn't expect this at all.
Things had been going well, and suddenly a competitor appeared out of nowhere.
Mitsuhashi tried to stabilize her emotions and asked who the competitor was.
It turned out it was none other than YOO, Japan's internet portal site.
But with YOO's rapid growth, it had also gained so influence in Europe.
YOO's explosive expansion had brought them a user base of 300 million, surpassing even Japan's population and rivaling the current dominant force, Facebook.
Mitsuhashi didn't know how YOO had gotten wind of their deal with FIFA or if FIFA had leaked the information, but YOO had aggressively inserted itself into the deal.
Takayuki's company was offering $30 million per year in licensing fees? YOO decided to offer $50 million per year.
Of course, YOO wasn't as financially powerful as Takayuki's company, and couldn't pay a five-year fee upfront.
But offering $50 million per year was still much higher than what Mitsuhashi had proposed, and even though YOO had only committed to paying annually, FIFA was tempted.
To be fair, FIFA hadn't imdiately signed with YOO, but inford Mitsuhashi first.
In truth, FIFA was probably hoping to leverage this situation to raise the price and see if they could pit Takayuki and YOO against each other, hoping to benefit from the competition.
It all ca down to interests—who could impress FIFA more? Clearly, FIFA was now the one waiting for the best offer, holding all the cards.
Mitsuhashi felt terrible as she explained all of this to Takayuki.
YOO's sudden intervention was unexpected, but in so ways, inevitable.
Takayuki's company had been growing rapidly, so of course, competitors wouldn't sit back and let Takayuki's company dominate. YOO, as a new player, also had ambitions of building its own dia empire, and video gas had beco a piece of territory they wanted to conquer.
When Mitsuhashi, the de facto second-in-command at Takayuki's company, went to Europe, multiple companies, including YOO, had already gotten wind of it.
When soone like Mitsuhashi stays in Europe long-term, it's a clear signal.
It was obvious that Takayuki's next target was Europe.
Now, Takayuki's company had beco the benchmark in the video ga industry.
In the past, no one took Takayuki's company's business plans seriously. They didn't think Takayuki's company could survive long under the top electronic giants.
But now, Takayuki's company was still growing, while the companies that competed against him, like Suri Electronics, were barely holding on, and companies like Lirda and Red Fruit had collapsed.
Now, Takayuki's every move was drawing attention.
If the second-in-command was in Europe, then it was clear that the European market was profitable.
Then, YOO quickly learned about Mitsuhashi's efforts to secure car brand licensing and football event licensing.
If they hadn't already deduced what Takayuki's company was up to, YOO would have been unqualified to be a top internet company.
So YOO decided to hijack the deal.
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