"Boss, it looks like Gastar Electronic Entertainnt is switching back to handheld consoles. I think this could be a great opportunity for us."
At Micfo headquarters, morale lifted quickly after hearing that Gastar might be returning to its old focus. Just earlier, their collaboration with Facebook had left Micfo struggling to keep its head up.
Video ga players are trend-chasers. They love new tech and want the latest and greatest. Takayuki had captured that crowd completely. Plus, Facebook's smartphone was cheap, giving Micfo a real headache.
While Micfo was still figuring out how to respond, Gastar suddenly shifted direction—back to handhelds.
This two-pronged approach left everyone confused.
...
Were they letting two products compete against each other?
Right now, people still viewed handheld consoles and smartphones as direct competitors. After all, both are portable.
But smartphones clearly had the upper hand. To many, handhelds seed destined for extinction.
Could they really be hoping for a coback?
And if so, why did they stop focusing on their own handhelds earlier?
When Myron Case heard the news, he was actually in a good mood—but he kept a straight face.
"Let's not get careless. We still don't know exactly what Gastar is planning. And even if they are reinvesting in handhelds, Facebook remains a big problem. Do any of you have a solid strategy to counter their massive ga library?"
"Uh... not yet," one employee admitted, looking sheepish.
It was true—they couldn't compete with that library.
Gastar had dumped their entire FC, SFC, GB, and other classic titles onto Facebook's smartphone.
These were old gas, sure, but they were owned outright. Even selling them for $1 each was profit, and Gastar was bundling 10–30 gas for $5–$10.
That's the power of scale. anwhile, Micfo's ga dev team had only just been ford. There was no way they could catch up to such a massive, high-quality library.
Sure, those gas were outdated visually, but you couldn't underestimate the nostalgia-driven spending of older gars.
Gastar's earnings were unclear, but Facebook's own store revenue reports made it clear—those gas were printing money.
With 3 to 5 million units of Facebook phones already sold, nearly every user had downloaded dozens of gas.
Just through their share of sales, Facebook had earned tens of millions of dollars.
Gastar definitely earned even more.
Myron Case was green with envy.
He hated video gas, but he had to admit—they brought in serious revenue.
If he had a library like that, he'd toss aside his grudges and imdiately start promoting gaming on Micfo's phones.
That's when Myron spoke up:
"We don't have to make everything ourselves. We can offer strong incentives for others to develop gas for our platform. Didn't we already have so indie teams working on simple gas? Use them as examples. Reward them. Make others follow."
One subordinate replied, "That's true, but developnt still takes ti. We won't be able to match Gastar's scale anyti soon."
Then he suddenly had an idea. "Wait, Gastar has a long-ti rival: Surry Electronics. They've built up a decent ga library too. Maybe we could partner with them—achieve a win-win."
Myron thought for a mont, then nodded. "Good idea. Follow up on that right away. If Surry has demands, we'll try to accommodate them."
"Understood." The employee left imdiately to make contact and try to pull Surry's catalog into the Micfo ecosystem.
anwhile, Myron was thinking about sothing else.
He saw real potential in Surry Electronics. It was an old and well-established Japanese electronics giant. Once Micfo grew larger, he was already considering a possible acquisition.
The only question was whether a foreign buyout in Japan would be legally possible.
Thanks to his employee's reminder, Myron realized Surry could be a gold mine.
If Micfo could acquire them, the benefits would be enormous.
Back to Gastar...
Myron still couldn't figure out why Takayuki suddenly wanted to return to handhelds.
With the intelligence networks that big corporations share, it was easy to confirm that the leaked rumors were accurate.
Just a few hints from partners about component orders could help paint a clear picture.
Maybe they didn't know exact specs, price, or design—but the handheld itself was clearly real.
And Myron still believed handhelds couldn't pose a real threat anymore.
This wasn't the past, where technology was limited. Today, multifunctional devices were the future.
A machine that only plays gas or videos was clearly outdated.
Still, he felt a bit relieved.
Gastar's shift in focus lowered the imdiate pressure, especially from Facebook's end.
But he still had to stay cautious.
Facebook's current strategy was ultra-low pricing—selling near cost to rapidly gain market share.
That tactic had side effects.
Custors quickly ca to view the product as "budget" or "low-end," and that perception stuck. In contrast, Micfo positioned its devices as premium from day one.
But that could change.
Facebook might suddenly release a high-end flagship model, and that would be a serious threat to Micfo's dominance.
Myron had to be prepared.
Ga developnt was one front—but they also needed to accelerate their in-house chip production.
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