The procurement cost of 800 yen was still too high for Satoru Iwata. While it allowed for a slight reduction in cartridge prices, the decrease was not significant enough to create a competitive advantage.
Therefore, Satoru Iwata invited Boss Huang over. He humbly expressed his hope that Boss Huang would further reduce the price of storage chips, which was the purpose of his invitation.
Some might ask, why didn't Iwata simply have the procurement department handle this purely purchasing matter? Isn't it a given that large quantities would receive wholesale prices?
Did you think Satoru Iwata hadn't considered such a simple and straightforward approach?
That's because Satoru Iwata knew it was fundamentally impossible. This wasn't like buying from a street vendor where you could haggle with the owner, saying, "I'll buy two at once, give me a 10% discount."
This was an international wholesale price for a major corporation, set uniformly for all countries and all buyers. Unless the company headquarters made changes based on market shifts and uniformly adjusted supply prices, this price would absolutely not be lowered through haggling.
Unless a company's purchase volume could account for more than a third of the total procurement volume, such a massive purchase could force suppliers to adjust their prices.
However, Nintendo couldn't meet such standards. Nintendo's annual game cartridge sales were only around sixty to seventy million units. Even if all of these used Jiangnan's storage chips, it would still be less than 10% of the total shipments. This volume was simply insufficient to negotiate with Jiangnan Group.
Otherwise, if they gave one company a price reduction, wouldn't all other 90% of suppliers also have to lower their prices, or else other companies would revolt?
Furthermore, Jiangnan Group had a unique business. Although other manufacturers had similar products, with the same price and quality, this was the only one of its kind. It was impossible to find a cheaper alternative.
Therefore, unless Jiangnan Group's sales department went insane and decided to lower prices for Nintendo at the risk of being sent to prison by Boss Huang, this was an impossible feat.
Unless Satoru Iwata could directly convince Boss Huang to agree, that was the only way. Thus, Boss Huang invited Satoru Iwata over for a direct discussion.
At this moment, Satoru Iwata was awaiting Boss Huang's response.
He didn't know if Boss Huang would agree or refuse.
"I need profit!" Boss Huang said decisively after a moment of thought. "There's nothing in the world that can't be discussed. As long as the benefits are sufficient, we can cooperate!"
"So that's how it is!" Hearing Boss Huang's words, Satoru Iwata breathed a sigh of relief. This meant they could negotiate, which was a good start. However, Iwata was also somewhat surprised that Boss Huang had directly mentioned "profit" as the first point.
Everyone knew that the exchange of benefits was the core of negotiation, but bringing up profit exchange as the first thing was rare in negotiations. Shouldn't they first establish a high ground on moral principles?
Moreover, Iwata had met many Chinese people, especially Chinese officials, but this was his first time meeting a Chinese person like Boss Huang who spoke directly about profit. Weren't Chinese people supposed to be more reserved and ashamed to talk about money? When did they become so direct?
"Then what kind of profit does Boss Huang need, and how much can you lower the price for us?" Since they were discussing profits directly, Satoru Iwata countered just as directly.
"I can supply you with chips at a price of 200 yen per chip!" Boss Huang stated. This price instantly made Satoru Iwata's breathing become extremely rapid, and he almost jumped up.
After all, Satoru Iwata's psychological bottom line was 600 yen. If Boss Huang could lower the price to 600 yen per 100MB storage chip, Satoru Iwata would have agreed immediately.
Unexpectedly, Boss Huang directly reduced the price by 200 yen. This was only a little more than double the price of a CD. This price could no longer be described as a bargain; it was practically a potato price.
However, Satoru Iwata was not foolish. Such an exaggerated price surely implied a much greater demand for profit, and Boss Huang must have wanted a lot.
Thinking of this, Satoru Iwata looked at Boss Huang with some solemnity, curious about what this Boss Huang truly desired.
"I have a PC game platform called 00 Game Center. I hope your company can convert some of your games into PC versions and sell them on our 00 Game Platform!" Boss Huang stated his request.
"That's impossible!" Boss Huang's words were direct, and Satoru Iwata's refusal was equally direct. He stated without hesitation, "We at Nintendo have never had any plans to develop for PC games, nor do we have any intention of porting our games to a PC platform. This severely contradicts our company's development strategy, and we will not agree to this request!"
Both Boss Huang's request and Satoru Iwata's answer were within the realm of their expectations.
Satoru Iwata had long anticipated that Boss Huang would request PC porting of their games. After all, oo Game Center was the only company Jiangnan had in Japan, and all PC game manufacturers in the world hoped to convert Nintendo games into PC games for immense profits. Such intentions and requests were not difficult to guess.
Similarly, based on Nintendo's development trajectory over the next twenty years, Boss Huang understood that Nintendo would not agree to PC porting of their games.
However, Boss Huang continued, "Mr. President, you don't need to refuse so outright. I can explain the conditions of our platform. Firstly, although our platform charges other manufacturers a 30% platform fee, we will not charge any platform fees for all self-developed games under Nintendo!"
"Secondly, we can also sign a price agreement. The selling price of all games on the platform will be determined by your company, and the platform will not interfere in any way. This ensures that PC platform game prices will not affect the sales of physical game products!"
"The current market trend is that computers are becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide, and computer game players will inevitably increase. Especially in countries like China, where the installed base of game consoles is extremely low, but the installed base of computers has risen to over 80 million units. If one-tenth of these 80 million users can be converted into Nintendo players, the immense daily revenue Nintendo would generate is self-evident!"
"I dare to guarantee your company that as long as you grant me platform the rights to distribute PC games, your company can increase its annual revenue by at least over 300 million US dollars."
"How about this, when signing the cooperation agreement, we can add a clause guaranteeing your company an annual revenue exceeding 300 million US dollars. If it falls short, our company will make up the difference!"
As Boss Huang spoke, Satoru Iwata's face showed greed, struggle, and helplessness.
It was evident that Satoru Iwata was actually tempted. Anyone could see the immense allure of PC games, and the company had already had plans to enter the PC market.
However, the name Yamauchi Hiroshi always loomed over Nintendo. Even though he had retired for a year, no one dared to violate the rules he had established within the company.
At least, as long as Yamauchi Hiroshi was alive, no one would dare to port Nintendo games to PC.
"Boss Huang, no need to say more. This condition is absolutely impossible!" Satoru Iwata finally shook his head.
"Then I can't think of any other benefits your company could need!" Boss Huang tilted his legs, appearing impatient and eager to leave.
In reality, Boss Huang was saying all these seemingly impossible things to increase his bargaining leverage.
Satoru Iwata smiled slightly and then said, "Since Boss Huang can't think of anything, I can help you think of something. How about this: your company can port your game consoles to our NGC platform and NDS platform."
"If your company feels technically challenged, we can send technical personnel to assist your game console porting free of charge!"
"..." Boss Huang was stunned for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and looked at Satoru Iwata, saying, "Oh, and which games are you referring to, President Iwata?"
"I think all the games under Blizzard are very suitable for console porting, and the Legend of Sword and Fairy series from your country is also a good game that can be launched on our Nintendo platform!" Satoru Iwata said.
"Oh!" Boss Huang raised an eyebrow and asked, "Then what about the revenue sharing for my games entering the platform?"
"Of course, it will be according to our unified cooperation agreement!" Satoru Iwata replied, his expression slightly stiff.
"And the printing costs for game cards?" Boss Huang asked again.
"These are all stipulated in the unified cooperation agreement," Satoru Iwata continued with a stiff expression.
"Hahahaha!" Boss Huang couldn't help but laugh. "So, the price for me selling you chips at a reduced price is to put my games on your platform, and then let you earn at least over 50% profit from it? Do you think I, Huang He, look like a fool?"
Boss Huang's words were full of anger, but Satoru Iwata could understand perfectly. In fact, he felt that when his board of directors proposed this condition, they also treated Boss Huang as a fool.
However, this condition was indeed discussed by his board of directors and personally approved by the retired tyrant. Moreover, this tyrant was quite confident, stating that those Chinese people who didn't understand games and only had a few bucks would definitely eagerly agree if given the opportunity to enter the prestigious Nintendo platform; this was an honor he was bestowing upon them.
Frankly, if this tyrant wasn't named Yamauchi Hiroshi, Satoru Iwata would have wanted to curse. What kind of condition was this? But at this moment, Satoru Iwata could only brace himself and say with a confident smile, "Just as you say the PC platform has a large user base, console platforms also have a large user base that has never been exposed to your company's games."
"Once your company's games are on our platform, you can immediately gain tens of millions of console users, and the profits generated by these users will not be less than tens of millions."
"Yes!" Boss Huang nodded, then said coldly, "And then you'll take tens of millions of dollars from me in return, right?"