In May 2004, YOO held a joint press conference with FIFA in France.
Countless media outlets gathered at the venue.
They had already received a rough idea of the news in advance, but they still needed to come and confirm the details.
Nagao had specially come to France for this, to make an appearance in front of the media.
He had been planning to develop the cultural industry in Europe anyway, which somewhat aligned with Matsubashi's plans. However, his original focus had been on event broadcasting and some internet-related industries. The focus on the gaming industry was a decision he had made on the spur of the moment.
At the press conference, he and FIFA officials stood together, smiling as they announced the good news, which immediately led to a flurry of photographers snapping pictures.
Soon after, multiple media outlets began to ask questions.
"Mr. Nagao, why did you suddenly decide to develop a football game? From what I understand, you don't have any relevant game development experience. Wouldn't this be a bit risky?"
...
...
Nagao was very disdainful of such questions. How could they so easily belittle his plans?
With full confidence, he answered, "I have reason to believe that this collaboration is a strong union, and the lack of development experience is not a problem. I trust that my development team will quickly overcome this challenge."
Several reporters continued to ask questions, some of which were quite tricky, as some reporters had already gotten wind of rumors about the competition involved before finalizing FIFA's brand authorization.
These reporters were keen to know the specific details of the competition.
However, Nagao certainly couldn't share those details with them, but he couldn't resist smugly revealing the outcome.
"We won FIFA over with our sincerity and proved our intent to cooperate. Therefore, we are bound for success."
Some reporters even asked whether there was any manipulation behind the scenes. This reporter was clearly leaning toward Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's side, but Nagao chose to ignore such reporters. No matter what you say or don't say, they would just find a way to come up with their own explanations, so he simply replied, "I have no comment."
In any case, the press conference went smoothly, and it felt as if they had already settled the licensing issue.
Now, Nagao could begin to push his team to dive into the development of the football game.
His gamble wasn't completely a spur-of-the-moment decision to challenge Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, but he also realized that football games might really have a chance to succeed in the European market.
It was like how baseball games were a big hit in Japan but didn't gain much attention in other regions. Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had sharp insight, quickly identifying which type of game could become popular in Europe.
Previously, his team had been clueless about it, and Nagao had to thank Gamestar Electronic Entertainment for their foresight.
In such an atmosphere, Nagao appeared very satisfied with himself, his face glowing with pride.
The FIFA officials standing beside him were also smiling. Soon enough, they would be able to pocket a considerable sum of cash, and their event organization would surely proceed much more smoothly.
He had even started to consider whether he should make a big move to reward his executives and raise their salaries after this.
However, just as the atmosphere was very cheerful, one of the reporters' phones suddenly rang.
At first, the reporter wanted to take a few more pictures and ignore the call.
But the phone kept vibrating.
Normally, if you didn't pick up the phone for a little while, it would mean you were busy.
But now the phone kept vibrating, which seemed unusual.
So, he picked up the phone with a slightly annoyed tone.
"Hello? What's up?"
"Mm."
"Mm?"
"Mm!"
From his initial impatience, the reporter's expression slowly began to change, becoming more and more shocked.
Then, he looked incredulously at his phone.
He glanced at the smug Nagao and the FIFA officials on the stage.
Then, without turning back, he quickly ran toward the door.
His actions caught the attention of a few people, but most of the others were still focused on asking Nagao questions.
However, slowly, the phones of the reporters began to vibrate, one by one.
The reporters all picked up their phones and answered.
And just like the first reporter, they all reacted in almost the same way.
From calm expressions to shock, followed by running quickly toward the door.
One, two, three.
At first, one or two reporters leaving didn't seem that noticeable.
But as more and more reporters quickly left, it became apparent.
Nagao noticed the reporters leaving in a hurry and frowned slightly.
What was going on? Where were they rushing to?
Could there be more important news elsewhere?
That shouldn't be the case, unless a major accident had happened at a nearby factory or a massive car crash. Otherwise, there shouldn't be anything more newsworthy than his press conference.
But the flow of reporters leaving didn't slow down; it was only increasing.
At that point, Nagao seemed to realize that something wasn't right.
These people… they were running too fast. What other news could be so important?
Meanwhile, the reporters who had left the press conference immediately jumped into their respective interview cars and shouted at the drivers.
"Hurry up! Go to ** Street. There's big news there!"
Without hesitation, the driver immediately started the engine, though he was a bit curious.
"Why the rush? What's the big news?"
The reporters on this assignment were all from the sports section, and typically, they only cared about sports-related news.
They rarely covered news about people's livelihoods.
So, they couldn't think of anything bigger than this press conference.
"It's Gamestar Electronic Entertainment."
"Gamestar Electronic Entertainment? Oh, I remember, that's a game company, right?"
"Yes, exactly. They just had a press conference too, and they have big news! We need to get there quickly to grab a good spot!"
"What news did they announce?" The driver was even more curious.
The reporter lowered his voice and said, "They just announced they're going to cooperate with some football events."
"Ah? What football events?"
"The Premier League, UEFA Champions League, La Liga, Serie A..."
Driver: ….
Driver: Damn it!
The driver remained silent for a moment, then exploded with a curse and immediately started the engine, making the car seem like it was flying down the road.
This was definitely big news!
If they missed it, their boss would probably yell at them to death!