The person who submitted this sales data wasn't someone from the statistics department—it was Matsuhiro Minoru.
Within Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, Matsuhiro Minoru's value was hardly less than that of their top game developers.
It was precisely because of her presence that the company's operations ran so smoothly. She could always resolve most business-related problems, allowing Takayuki to focus fully on game development and production.
Now, the U.S. market was basically stable, forming a three-way balance.
Gamestar Electronic Entertainment held the majority share. Then there was Hark Brown—former CEO of Lielda and now head of Brown Entertainment—whose FPS and MMORPG titles dominated their own niches. Finally, Suray Electronics, which had followed in Gamestar's footsteps by deeply investing in multiple game genres. Together, Brown and Suray accounted for roughly 30% of the U.S. market.
That was about as much as Gamestar could realistically achieve.
If their market share increased any further, the U.S. government would likely become concerned again.
After all, they'd already experienced a time when Japan dominated their market—and Americans clearly didn't want history to repeat itself.
...
If that happened, the U.S. government might slap Gamestar with an anti-dumping lawsuit and hit them with a hefty fine. Holding about 70% of the market was just the right amount—enough to dominate, but also leaving some breathing room for competitors so that Gamestar wouldn't look like a monopoly. This gave the government less excuse to intervene.
Under these circumstances, Matsuhiro Minoru felt there was no longer any need to stay focused on the U.S. market.
So she set her sights on a new region: Europe.
Up until now, Europe had always been a relatively neglected market for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.
It wasn't that Europeans couldn't afford games—it was just that they'd never shown much enthusiasm for video games in general.
Even massively popular RPGs often flopped in Europe due to cultural mismatch.
Whether Japanese or American in style, RPGs never sold well in Europe.
Third-party developers under Gamestar had also seen little success there. Gradually, many companies lost interest in the region.
Similarly, Suray Electronics had virtually no presence in Europe. They'd tried multiple times in the past, but with poor results. Eventually, they gave up and treated Europe like an afterthought. Gamestar was doing a bit better—at least some of their titles were still popular.
Somewhat surprisingly, the best-performing titles weren't even Gamestar's—it was Brown Entertainment's realistic first-person shooters. Over the past few years, they'd released three FPS games, each selling more than two million copies in Europe. That was impressive.
Gamestar's own Mario series performed well due to its family-friendly nature. In addition, Europeans had a strong preference for racing games—Mario Kart and more realistic titles like Need for Speed sold very well. Football (soccer) games were another strong category.
Last year's top-selling game in Europe was a Mario title on GSL, with around 1.3 million units sold, followed by Mario Kart and Need for Speed, both hovering around the 1 million mark. Lastly, there was a semi-realistic football game Gamestar had developed on a whim.
Just like Americans loved American football, or how the Japanese were crazy about baseball, Europeans—especially the British—had an unparalleled passion for soccer.
The Premier League, Champions League, and other football tournaments were internationally famous. Not to mention FIFA's headquarters were also based in Europe, overseeing the global World Cup every four years.
Along with the sales data, Matsuhiro included a written assessment of the European market.
She believed Europe had tremendous untapped potential. Up until now, it simply hadn't been fully explored. In her report, she proposed developing a game specifically tailored to European tastes as a way to fully open up the market.
"Games that are popular in Europe, huh?"Takayuki tapped his desk, falling into thought.
Then let's go with FIFA.
He remembered clearly that the FIFA series was especially popular in Europe—particularly in the UK.
That annual franchise pulled in over two million sales from the UK alone each year.
It also made a fortune through its in-game purchases, with Europe being one of the most lucrative markets.
If they wanted to break into Europe, a football game was definitely the best bet.
It was a top-tier sports game that could even rival Call of Duty in annual sales—a worthy development investment.
So, let's go with that. It was also a good excuse to train up their American development team, getting them used to working on a new genre and laying the groundwork for future large-scale sandbox games.
Releasing a top-tier football game in Europe had great potential. Matsuhiro's foresight was spot on.
Since she was hoping Gamestar would launch a football title to open the market—he'd make it happen.
Takayuki picked up the phone and dialed Matsuhiro's number.
It was nearly the end of the workday in Japan, which meant Matsuhiro was probably just waking up in the UK. But knowing her, she'd probably been up since 3 or 4 a.m., working non-stop until 8, 9, or even midnight.
She was a tireless woman—insanely dedicated to success and recognition. No matter how many times he told her to rest more, it never worked. So Takayuki could only try to support her health in other ways—by hiring a personal health consultant, chef, and so on.
Thanks to her, he didn't have to worry about the company's management or operations and could confidently leave everything in her hands. He didn't think he'd ever find another Matsuhiro, so he had to make sure she was protected.
Of course, first, he had to give her a call.
Takayuki had barely waited three seconds after dialing when the call was answered.
"President, are you calling to respond to the report I submitted?"
Matsuhiro went straight to the point, asking the question she cared about most.
Takayuki couldn't help but smile wryly. This woman was truly intense when it came to work. Of course, he was just as bad when he was deep in game development. In that sense, they were well-matched.
Takayuki replied, "Yes, I was calling to respond. But first, I want to ask—are you holding up okay? I heard from your health consultant that you've been cutting back on sleep again. You're going to drop dead at this rate."
"I'm fine," Matsuhiro answered calmly and coolly. She clearly didn't care about her health at all. As long as she could keep moving, she wouldn't stop—like a wind-up clock constantly ticking.