Wednesday April 29 , 1992
Hikaru Kurata relaxed in his office, sinking deeper into the plush leather couch after another exhaustive day overseeing Sonaya's gaming console departnt. The recent overhaul in leadership had left him with little ti to unwind. Firing the forr departnt head, Kazuha Nakata, and appointing Makoto, his head of engineering, as the interim leader was a necessary but chaotic move. It was only recently that he found the right man for the job.
Junpei Hoshida had the pedigree. A forr employee of both Nanco and Atari, Junpei wasn't just experienced; he was passionate. What amused Hikaru was how openly Junpei admired Zaboru, despite working for Sonaya, ZAGE's direct competitor. Hikaru found this trait valuable rather than problematic. To admire your rival was to understand their strength, and understanding was the first step toward surpassing them.
Hikaru leaned back, turning on his ZEPS console, his thoughts drifting as the familiar startup screen flashed. Ever since Junpei took the reins, the departnt had been running more efficiently. The team was producing results, and the roadmap for Sonaya's future releases was solid. The current plan aid for three gas a month, a far cry from ZAGE's staggering six, but Junpei had made a compelling argunt. Rather than pursuing quantity, Sonaya would chase quality. Competing with ZAGE on volu was impossible, but outshining them with polish and depth was attainable. Hikaru nodded to himself. It was a wise approach, and Junpei had proven to be a capable subordinate. Not quite at the level of Zanichi, but close enough.
Hikaru had been analyzing Zaboru's operations through feedback from forr ZAGE employees now working for Sonaya. It didn't take long to confirm what he had suspected. Zaboru wasn't successful because of sheer manpower or resources; he was successful because he was Zaboru. A relentless worker who stayed late, worked weekends, and maintained an exceptional sense of what made a ga fun. His vision guided ZAGE's operations, but he wasn't an authoritarian. He listened to feedback, refined ideas, and infused his gas with music and atmosphere. The team didn't just follow him; they believed in him.
Hikaru swirled the wine in his glass thoughtfully. It irritated him. Zaboru's brilliance was a frustrating variable, a puzzle he hadn't quite solved. Hikaru swirled the wine in his glass again, feeling the familiar burn of envy creeping in. It wasn't fair. Zaboru's brilliance felt like an anomaly, an insurmountable wall that money alone couldn't topple. But Hikaru had ti. Sonaya's vast capital could eventually close the gap. Money had a way of solving even the most complicated problem With Sonaya's vast capital, he would eventually close the gap.
He selected Base Wars from the ZEPS newest release, curious about the ga that had been generating so much buzz. Robots playing baseball, fighting over bases, and upgrading with outlandish weapons—it sounded ridiculous. Yet as he played, he found himself unable to stop. It was absurd, chaotic, and bizarrely addictive. The battles between the robots were brutal yet strategic. The upgrading system kept him engaged, and before he realized it, hours had passed.
When he finally set the controller down, he exhaled deeply, sinking back into the couch. He didn't want to admit it, but the ga was brilliant.
"How does Zaboru keep doing this?" he muttered under his breath. "How can sothing so absurd be so... fun?"
What frustrated him more was the knowledge that Koro-Cool that he already played, another wildly creative ga, hadn't even been developed by Zaboru himself but by one of his employees Kako-Go. That ant ZAGE was cultivating talent beyond its founder. Good developers were notoriously hard to find, especially those capable of leading projects. Hikaru had scoured the industry, throwing money at talent acquisition, yet it felt like he was barely scratching the surface, because the industry had been dying for a while before ZAGE and Zaboru revived it. anwhile, ZAGE seed to have an abundance of them.
He clenched the wine glass, the frustration palpable. "Damn that brat. How is he finding all these people?"
Anger, however, wouldn't solve anything. Hikaru took a slow breath, forcing himself to think clearly. There had to be a way to turn this around. Then it hit him. Baseball wasn't just a ga in Japan; it was a cultural institution. Base Wars, for all its brilliance, was a parody. Baseball purists and traditionalists were bound to see it as an insult.
A smile spread across his face. Sonaya had J-Yagyu, a proper baseball ga grounded in realism. No robots, no absurd upgrades—just skill, tradition, and passion though the ga are really lacking compared to Base Wars. With the right voices, the right endorsents, he could shift public sentint. If he could rally respected baseball legends to praise J-Yagyu while subtly criticizing Base Wars as a mockery of Japan's beloved sport, he could control the narrative.
"Let the purists do the work for ," Hikaru thought. "The dia will eat it up."
He downed the rest of his wine, setting the glass down with a satisfying clink. If he could make the public question ZAGE's direction—make them wonder whether Zaboru was taking things too far—he could buy Sonaya the ti it needed to catch up. And if he was lucky, it might even spark a backlash.
"Let's see how long you can keep provoking , Zaboru and Let's see how long you can keep laughing, Zaboru," he whispered with a grin, reaching for the phone to make his first call. There were a few baseball legends who owed him a favor.
This ti, he intended to catch more than just a few fish.
To be continue
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