At the FIFA and YOO press conference, the scene now looked quite chaotic.
Nagao stood with a dark expression, looking at the now empty press conference venue.
Inwardly, he hated the fickle reporters.
These reporters were like mosquitoes drawn to the smell of blood; as soon as there was fresher, more appealing blood, they would immediately abandon whatever benefits they had in front of them.
In just a matter of minutes, the place had cleared out.
FIFA's officials also seemed somewhat embarrassed.
"Mr. Nagao, I sincerely apologize. I didn't expect something like this to happen, and I didn't know Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had such a plan."
Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had clearly employed a tactic of indirect attack.
...
...
It was truly unexpected. How crafty—so it turns out that the desperate desire you seemed to show for FIFA's brand was just a facade?
The high-profile publicity about collaborating with local events clearly showed they had been prepared for this from the start.
This made the FIFA official feel a bit insulted, as though he had been disregarded.
Nagao remained silent. No one knew what he was thinking.
The FIFA official seemed cautious.
He tentatively asked, "Mr. Nagao, about the details of our cooperation, should we go ahead and finalize it now?"
The official was implying that it was time to make the payment—surely, now that they had agreed to cooperate, Nagao wouldn't turn his back on them just because of a surprise move by the competition?
Such behavior would surely have a huge impact on his popularity.
"Let's finalize it. We can do it now. Let's sign the contracts right away."
Nagao had originally prepared for a signing ceremony.
In front of many reporters, the two sides were supposed to shake hands and smile for the cameras, making it a great photo opportunity.
But now… the reporters had all left, and all the preparations were in vain. It was truly maddening!
However, at this point, Nagao had no other choice.
He couldn't just admit defeat.
The development of the football game had already seen a significant financial investment, a rare and large one. He intended to use this opportunity to turn things around, prove his capabilities, and show that Gamestar Electronic Entertainment was no better than him.
So, despite everything, he would have to continue pushing forward.
Nagao's words relieved the FIFA official.
The two of them, with a few internal staff as witnesses, went to the signing table to finalize the contracts.
The photographers were replaced by the internal employees.
This photo opportunity still had to be recorded; it was, after all, a somewhat meaningful scene.
The contracts were signed, exchanged, and the deal was complete.
Going forward, YOO would pay the licensing fees for the first five years, and for the next ten years, YOO would hold the rights to use FIFA's brand.
However, this didn't exactly match Nagao's original expectations.
It was really… hard to accept.
To have the problem so casually resolved by Takayuki made him feel uncomfortable. It was clear that Takayuki was incredibly skilled.
Or perhaps it was the second-in-command of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment who was really impressive.
Once the contracts were signed, the significance and value of FIFA had diminished, especially since Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had already found ways to cope. Now, Nagao was focused on finding ways to recover from the situation.
That very day, he made his move through his best-known channel: the internet.
He claimed that Gamestar Electronic Entertainment was doing everything it could to compete with him, and that he was more like a victim in this situation.
He also sharply criticized Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's inhumane behavior.
Finally, he took advantage of the situation to promote his own new project.
This time, Nagao threw caution to the wind.
He had already made substantial investments in the game, so an additional investment didn't matter. He loudly announced that he would be using over $100 million to develop the football game and would bring a new football experience to the world's players with the FIFA-branded game he had secured.
However, his team didn't even know how to develop a football game.
Even capturing player body data and basic information was still a bit confusing, and they had no idea what their boss was really thinking.
It was like an arms race—Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had already come up with a way to conquer the world, and now Nagao was trying to use the same method to do so ahead of time.
Naturally, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment wasn't going to allow someone to jump in halfway—they would surely try to drive him away.
Now, Nagao had to come up with some way to retaliate and reclaim his ability to conquer the world.
All of this seemed very interesting to European players and most onlookers.
There had been some football games before.
Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had released a football game, which had laid the foundation for football games, but at the time, it still felt rough and uninteresting.
But this time was different. This time, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had placed football games on the agenda, and Takayuki himself would be involved in making the game, which was highly anticipated.
As for their competitor, YOO, their recently secured FIFA brand was also quite appealing.
No matter what, this situation was just right for them.
They could keep enjoying the best games, and the competition between the two companies was just something for them to watch from the sidelines.
Outside of Europe, in places like the U.S. and Japan's internet, discussions about Gamestar Electronic Entertainment and YOO had exploded.
Both companies had their own supporters.
Video game players, of course, mostly leaned toward Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, while those who typically only visited internet portals or shopping websites favored YOO.
They weren't originally video game fans—they simply liked the YOO brand.
There were intense debates online, sometimes escalating into arguments, which led to both sides being banned on their respective platforms.
But people didn't tire of it. They loved using this rivalry as an excuse to argue.
Some more enterprising reporters even managed to get hold of the travel records of Takayuki and Nagao. They found them at the airport when both were returning to Japan.
They hoped to get some explosive news, which would give their entertainment media some hot topics.
Nagao, being a loudmouth, had always shown his disdain for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, so whenever he had such interviews, he would openly mock the company.