Game Development Giant

"I will succeed. n∈top n∈point n∈small n∈ said,"

Hirai Kazuo withdrew his gaze, leaned back on the chair, closed his eyes slightly to rest, and clenched his fists hard. At the same time, he muttered something in his mouth. This was a statement, and there was no trace of it in his tone. doubtful or rhetorical question.

Shows a strong sense of self-confidence.

Although it didn't cause any commotion in the industry, Jester had long considered Sony to be his main rival in the future. How could such an important personnel appointment not be taken seriously by him?

Although the information came a little late, before Kazuo Hirai's plane landed in Los Angeles, Jester still received the information from Japan. The information was very brief: 29-year-old Kazuo Hirai was appointed as the North American Sony Division. Marketing Director.

Hirai Kazuo is not a well-known figure to the outside world, mainly because of his youth. Even if he is considered young and promising within the Sony Group, it is Sony's own internal business and has nothing to do with the outside world. You are the one who takes over externally. What a young hero from Sony.

But for someone like Jester, who was So Qing before his rebirth, he might be very familiar with Kazuo Hirai.

To a certain extent, Hirai Kazuo may not be as charismatic as Kutaragi Ken, nor as far-reaching as Norio Ohga, not to mention Akio Morita or Ibuka, two Sony legends, but he is indeed the most important figure in Sony. In times of crisis, those who have the courage to propose a Sony integration plan and dare to put it into practice.

Not everyone has this kind of courage.

Although his efforts did not seem to be very effective, Sony's gradual improvement after he took power, especially the ps4's overwhelming sales of xbo, illustrates this point - even in Microsoft's own home court. In North America, their sales are far ahead of xbo. You know, the battle between PS3 and XB360 lasted for nearly nine years, and in seven of those years, Microsoft was the leader in the North American market.

The fax in front of Jester contained very little content, and the introduction to Kazuo Hirai was also very brief. Presumably, it seems that such a person would not have been specially prepared before. Fortunately, Jester did not need the Japanese side. Provided information on Kazuo Hirai. For this person, Jester may know much more deeply than anyone else now, even himself.

Without him, Jester only knew his future trajectory.

At this time, Jester couldn't help but think of Hisao Oguchi of Sega, who would also be the future leader of Sega during the most difficult period. It can almost be said that it was Hisao Oguchi's ability and courage that brought the already terminally ill Sega back to life. And now, together with the future head of Sony, Kazuo Hirai, they are all focused on the game console market.

It gave Jester a feeling that he had changed history.

This feeling can't be said to be good or bad, but when I think about it. There is still some complacency, which is very unreasonable. Jester himself can't explain why, but he just doesn't have it.

Put these thoughts aside for now. Jester recalled all the information about Hirai Kazuo in his mind, hoping to find out from it. What kind of opponent will he face, his habits, his hobbies, and his thinking.

In fact, in later generations, many Sony fans, those people referred to as Soqing, will regard 1960 as a very special year in Sony's history, because this year, three things happened in Sony's history. These major events have profoundly affected Sony to some extent.

The first thing was that this year, Sony released the world's first semiconductor TV-the famous tv8-301. The other big thing was that Nobuyuki Dei, who would be in charge of Sony in the future, also made it this year. Officially joined Sony.

The third thing is that Sony's US branch was officially established this year, which is of great significance for them to enter the US market in the future and form Sony's international strategy.

At the time, that half of the matter seemed to have nothing to do with Sony. However, in the future, this matter was connected with major events such as Nobuyuki Idei and the American branch, and became the key to Sony's success in that era. One of the witnesses is that Hirai Kazuo was born in this year.

It is very different from many "Japanese Dreams" that are born from ordinary people and start from scratch through hard work and hard work. His story, past and experiences seem to lack something inspiring. As the son of a successful banker, he grew up from Hirai. From the moment Kazuo was born, it was decided that he would become a rich and handsome man in the future.

According to Kazuo Hirai's later autobiography, he followed his father throughout Japan and the United States from the time he could remember. He went to elementary school in New York and spent junior high school in Canada. He received the most orthodox American elite education. He returned to Japan when he was fifteen years old and attended a formal American school.

This experience in North America not only gave Hirai Kazuo the standard American spoken English that an ordinary Japanese would never be able to learn in his lifetime, but more importantly, it also brought him a sense of freedom that was unavailable under Japan's high-pressure entrance exams. .

But this does not mean that Kazuo Hirai does not need to study hard. In fact, just like what Qiu Chengtong later said when he evaluated Chinese and American education, it is also very appropriate to compare Japanese and American education, because China Education is so similar between the two countries, or in other words, in the entire Confucian cultural circle, the behaviors and concepts of reading and education are so similar.

Qiu Chengtong commented like this: "We always talk about how much hardship junior high school children have suffered for the college entrance examination. In fact, in some famous middle schools in the United States, high school studies are also very difficult, and college is the most difficult. Of all All elite education must be hard-working.”

Especially the last sentence, when Jester heard it for the first time, he thought it was deafening and profound.

You must know that Qiu Chengtong is the proud disciple of Mr. Chen Shengshen. He is recognized as the most outstanding person in the world of mathematics for a quarter of a century. He is also a tenured professor at Princeton University and Harvard University. Such a person’s evaluation of education It is very instructive.

Of course, these are just some unrelated random thoughts that Jester had when he was recalling Kazuo Hirai’s information.

Talking about Kazuo Hirai, in fact, although he studies hard, his extracurricular life in high school is still very rich. In addition to the school’s computer club, he is also a wrestling enthusiast with a good appearance. He was once the leader of the school’s wrestling team. These experiences continued when he was studying at Japan International Christian University.

However, the experience of Gao Fushuai did not allow Hirai to make a leap or a rocket-like jump in his employment after graduation. Instead, after he officially started working, he returned to the path of cultivating Japanese business elites.

In 1984, the year when Jester first traveled to this world, Kazuo Hirai, who had just obtained a bachelor's degree in literature, did not choose the rigid traditional Japanese companies that his father had arranged for him. Although according to his father's relationship, he will definitely be like a fish in water in such a company.

At that time, Hirai Kazuo, like many of his peers, had been deeply attracted by Sony's father Ibuka's vow in his youth to give full play to the skills of diligent and conscientious technicians and build an ideal factory that was free, open-minded, relaxed and happy. So, he sent his first resume to Sony without hesitation.

After layers of selection, he successfully joined CBS Sony, which later became Sony Music. The person who recruited him to Sony at that time was Shigeo Maruyama.

Starting from the lowest level of marketing business, Hirai Kazuo has closely linked his destiny with such a Japanese business aircraft carrier that spans the fields of consumer electronics, music, chemicals, film and television, and will definitely have games in the future. got up.

Kazuo Hirai is certainly a thousand-mile horse, but thousand-mile horses often exist, but talent does not always exist. The person who really discovered this thousand-mile horse was Shigeo Maruyama, who was in charge of Sony Music at the time and one of the 100 founders of Sony. Speaking of Shigeo Maruyama , in fact, he is a very legendary person.

In the 1970s, in the early days of Sony Music, he always wore a snow-white trench coat and a cyan tie regardless of the seasons of spring and summer, and went to singing, dancing and music concerts around Tokyo every night. The place, some unknown artists, after his discovery and packaging, became popular, completely opening up the situation for Sony Music.

When Sony's top leader once appeared in public, Maruyama Shigeo also had outstanding vision and knowledge. When Kutaragi first proposed a game strategy and was ridiculed by most people at Sony, only Maruyama Shigeo was right about Kutaragi. He was so impressed with the idea that he even agreed with Kutaragi Ken's strategy more than once in public: "Video games will become an important pillar of Sony's entertainment business in the future, just like music and film."

In Jester's view, Maruyama Shigeo's words are still some distance away from the real reality. In fact, in the future, it will be these three who will become the pillars of Sony. Many people still think that this is just a side business of Sony. industry.

The electrical appliance department, which is now considered the soul of Sony, will already become a burden to Sony in the future.

After the interview, Hirai Kazuo once again entered Maruyama Shigeo's career because he had advantages that other Japanese could not have, that is, his fluent American speaking and deep understanding of American culture. (To be continued...)