Before Gastar Electronic Entertainnt was ready to launch their own Switch, the Morgan Group made a very high-profile announcent: they would be entering a deep partnership with Gastar on VR technology. Takayuki himself would be releasing his very first VR ga on a VR device spearheaded by Morgan Group.
Thanks to Morgan Group's sheer "money power," they were able to develop a high-performance, high-quality VR device in just a few months—one that could rival the company that had first launched a comrcial VR product.
Sotis, having a lot of money really is terrifying.
By Takayuki's estimate, Morgan Group was about the size of what Microsoft was in the original world—a company that, by 2022, could casually spend nearly $70 billion in cash to acquire a ga studio.
Most companies, no matter how big they look or how massive their market cap is, usually don't have that kind of cash on hand. Their actual liquid assets often pale in comparison to their $100 billion or even $1 trillion valuations.
Of course, that doesn't an those companies are reckless—each one just has its own strategy. So are simply more conservative.
Morgan Group was one of those conservative types. Steady and thodical. As long as Lorenzo was in charge, they avoided major risks. Even when entering a new field, if early signs were negative, they'd pull out imdiately without pushing forward blindly.
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This ti, their VR investnt could already be considered a bit of a calculated gamble.
Part of their success ca from Morgan's own deep pool of talent.
Internally, it took Morgan Group less than a month to build a fully functional VR device.
Most of the remaining ti was spent refining it and building out the surrounding VR ecosystem.
This reminded Takayuki of how, in the original world, Microsoft had managed to reverse-engineer a ga console capable of emulating PlayStation 2 gas within just a few weeks when competing with Sony.
That kind of talent pool isn't sothing your average company could match.
With money and a vast reservoir of skilled people, it was no wonder Morgan Group beca such a powerhouse.
This ti, they also had a powerful ally: Takayuki.
He chose to release his first VR title on Morgan's device.
Gastar's own VR hardware wasn't ready yet, and Takayuki wasn't in any rush. He wanted to test the waters first by releasing his ga on soone else's machine—to see if this world was truly interested in VR.
If the interest was there, Takayuki had a whole slate of VR ga concepts ready to go.
Morgan's bold announcent soon drew the ire of the company that had released the first comrcial VR device.
At first, they openly mocked Morgan Group and Gastar.
They claid the two didn't understand what "true VR" was, saying they were clinging to outdated ways of thinking while facing a new era of technology.
That company believed VR should be used to build an entirely virtual world.
To their credit, they had produced a few relatively polished VR experiences—enough to surprise and impress those still unsure about VR. Many had already begun to praise them as a rising star of the new era.
Buoyed by the hype, the company began to look down on the newcors entering the VR race.
In their eyes, they were the new Mikfo.
Mikfo had once dominated the smartphone market through sheer visionary power—they believed they could do the sa in VR.
As for Gastar? Just a ga studio.
Morgan Group? Just so rich guys.
Their mockery created a lot of buzz. Sensationalist journalists picked up the scent and ran wild with it, hyping it up as a clash between the old and new eras.
In their narrative, Morgan and Gastar represented the past, while the upstart VR company symbolized the future.
Both Gastar and Morgan Group chose not to respond. They focused entirely on developing their products.
Morgan continued to optimize its VR hardware.
In Takayuki's opinion, the hardware was impressive—but like the first wave of VR gear, it was too expensive.
Morgan, being flush with cash, initially priced it at over $1,700.
At such an early stage, when the product's future was still uncertain, that kind of price tag would scare off most buyers.
But whether the product would sell or not wasn't Takayuki's concern. He only wanted to release one ga and exchange so tech knowledge with Morgan in return.
In early June, just a month before the Switch launch, Morgan's VR product finally went on sale.
After so consideration, the final price was reduced to around $1,500, though it was still far from affordable for the average consur.
At launch, the platform only had a single ga—Takayuki's.
Spending that much money for just one ga obviously wasn't worth it for most people.
But Morgan didn't seem particularly worried. They had ample cash flow and weren't chasing short-term profits.
If this generation flopped due to high costs? No problem—they'd wait for the next one. With their ambition, and under the firm leadership of current CEO Davis, they were prepared to push out three to five generations before deciding if VR could really beco mainstream.
Even though it wasn't destined for mass adoption just yet, Morgan learned a valuable lesson from Gastar—the power of on-the-ground, local promotion.
Since they already expected slow sales, they decided to deploy demo units to departnt stores and entertainnt venues across the country, allowing people to try the product for free. It was basically a loss-leader strategy to maximize the visibility and value of this first-gen device.
Better to let people experience it than to let the product collect dust in storage.
At the sa ti, Takayuki gave Morgan Group a clever idea to boost the product's visibility:
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At a departnt store in the U.S., a huge promotional banner was set up:
"Legendary business tycoon Lorenzo will appear in person to showcase the next-generation VR product! All interested attendees are welco to co see—and maybe even buy!"
This was Takayuki's idea. In the U.S., Lorenzo was a household na. He represented a new-age Arican spirit and was idolized by academics and elites alike.
Just getting a chance to et him—let alone speak to him—was a big deal.
So when the retired Lorenzo decided to promote the VR device in person, it imdiately drew massive public attention.
On the day of the demo, the departnt store was packed wall to wall.
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