Aiden was personally promoted by Hayakawa Ueno, and now he was the absolute controller of Su Rui Electronics' North American division and also the global vice president of Su Rui Electronics, with significant power.
Of course, if Aiden didn't have the capability, Hayakawa Ueno would never have trusted him so much.
The growth of Su Rui Electronics' video game department could largely be attributed to Hayakawa Ueno's efforts, but Aiden was the second most influential figure in this success.
He actively expanded the North American and European markets, grabbing a certain market share and loyal followers before Gamestar Electronic Entertainment entered these markets.
Although after Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's entry, a significant portion of the market share was inevitably lost, the foundation had already been solidified, so they were still able to put up a decent fight.
Moreover, Aiden was a very patient person. He had been waiting for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment to make mistakes.
It's common for a company to make mistakes, and he was focused on maintaining his own company's video game business while waiting for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment to slip up.
For example, he was hoping for their gaming consoles to have a large-scale quality issue, or for some of their decisions to be met with player backlash.
...
...
Unfortunately, he never got the opportunity.
Gamestar Electronic Entertainment was always careful with every step they took.
Matsuhashi, as the business director of the entire company, might not fully understand the potential pitfalls of the gaming business, but Takayuki certainly did.
In the previous world, issues like the Red Ring of Death with Xbox, the backlash from high pricing, or the passive responses to player dissatisfaction were massive problems.
If Takayuki weren't a time traveler, these issues would have been unavoidable.
Every time Aiden thought of this, he found it hard to believe.
A company that rose from the video game industry never got carried away.
Logically, the young Takayuki from before would have become increasingly arrogant as his business expanded, but he didn't, and that's why Aiden held him in high regard.
On the other hand, he looked down on the executives who were currently arguing.
They didn't truly think about the overall benefit of the company. They were only thinking about their own positions and interests.
When the video game department was small, some of the managers wouldn't even dare to speak up in front of the other departments.
Now that they had gained some power, their arrogance was starting to show. Back when they were profitable, this arrogance wasn't an issue, but now that things were going wrong, they didn't want to solve the problems; they just wanted to maintain the status quo.
He looked down on those who only cared about their own interests.
If employees wanted better salaries, it was understandable.
But as senior executives, they were part of the company, and the overall well-being of the company was directly tied to them, yet they lacked the awareness of that. Their vision was too short-sighted.
Hayakawa Ueno had been silent for more than half an hour, just listening to the arguments.
When the arguments started to quiet down, as if taking a break to have some water, Hayakawa Ueno finally spoke.
"Tired?"
All the senior executives and shareholders immediately looked at Hayakawa Ueno.
Some of them had a flicker of light in their eyes.
In fact, not all of them were truly arguing; some were actually trying to get Hayakawa Ueno to speak.
He was the one with the absolute decision-making power in the company, and he was the one who could determine the future direction.
What the others said was irrelevant.
"Since you're all tired, I'll directly announce the next steps."
Everyone straightened up, and even those who were about to sip their water quickly put their cups down and listened attentively.
Aiden looked at Hayakawa Ueno, thinking that this guy, as always, had already had his decision made but was just waiting for the right moment to speak.
"The video game business is still our second-largest department, after the hardware electronics department, and this won't change because the profit from the video game industry is indeed huge. However…"
Hayakawa Ueno paused: "However, our earlier judgment of the gaming industry might have been wrong. When we look back, why has Gamestar Electronic Entertainment stopped focusing on the handheld business in recent years? Why haven't they released major games for handheld consoles for a year or two now? There's a clear reason behind all of this."
Aiden's expression subtly changed.
Huh?
Why didn't I think of that before?
Hayakawa Ueno was right.
It seems Gamestar Electronic Entertainment stopped focusing on handheld consoles a year or two ago.
At that time, Su Rui Electronics had judged that the home console business was very profitable, while the handheld console business had weaker profit margins.
It made sense not to focus on the handheld market while they dominated the home console market.
But now, looking back, it doesn't seem that simple.
Gamestar Electronic Entertainment is fully capable of operating in multiple areas. Takayuki, their president, is a bug-level figure in the video game industry.
He alone is almost single-handedly holding up half of the video game industry.
With him in charge, managing both the handheld and home console businesses would be easy.
Even if the handheld business made less profit, since they could still do it, there was no reason to ignore it.
So there must be one reason.
This bug-level person must have recognized that the handheld business was gradually shrinking.
This guy is sharp, faster than anyone!
Aiden's pupils constricted.
This Takayuki...
Hayakawa Ueno didn't notice Aiden's reaction and continued with his decision.
"The video game department will undergo personnel adjustments. Eighty percent of the staff that were previously working on handheld game and console development will now be reassigned to home console development. We need to quickly adjust our tactics and return to the home console market."
Hayakawa Ueno realized he had been careless.
He had originally thought that Takayuki had lost interest in the handheld business.
But Su Rui Electronics desperately needed a market growth point, and handhelds had become the focus for him.
Unfortunately, his judgment was wrong.
At the same time, he admired Takayuki even more.
Takayuki's market vision was always so sharp.
He had no experience in market management, so how could he have developed such a sharp eye?
Could it all just be attributed to natural talent?