“We contacted them, but they wouldn’t sell. They were afraid you would force a takeover, so they transferred the patent while we were making contact. Even if you do acquire it, it will just be an empty shell.”

Xing Baohua nodded. He had done this before, which involved separating the laboratory from the factory.

The laboratory controls the patents and licenses them to factories.

The two companies are separate. Once the factory is acquired, the laboratory will sever its patents and start afresh.

Nintendo's approach was the opposite: they set up a studio and bought all of Nintendo's patents for one dollar.

After separating from Nintendo, they licensed the patents to Nintendo. This would be in the event that Nintendo is forcibly acquired on the stock market.

The studio either stops licensing patents, or demands exorbitant prices, or leaves the other party with an empty shell, thus damaging Nintendo's brand value.

Look how scared Xing Baohua has made those Japanese devils!

Mitsui Tousaburo showed Xing Baohua the information about Konami.

This company was founded in 1969, which is quite old.

According to the information, when this company was first established, it was just a small shop run by a few people who joined together to sell and repair jukeboxes.

A record player is what we commonly refer to as a vinyl record player.

A few years later, they found that slot machine-like game machines were good, so they started making them.

They then gradually entered the arcade market, and their first game was a maze game.

This company is quite interesting. They recruit work groups to complete the game content, which is then distributed through the company's sales channels.

Later, this company became Nintendo's game content supplier.

In the early days, they mainly focused on one FC game.

This reminded Xing Baohua of the Famicom games he played as a child.

Contra, Salamander, Red Fortress, and even Tokimeki Memorial and Metal Gear Solid, which were later ported to other devices.

It refers to content produced by the studios under this company.

Looking at the documents, Xing Baohua asked Mitsui Fujisaburo, "What price are they asking for?"

"80 million US dollars."

"So little?"

These words left Mitsui Fujisaburo speechless. He thought to himself that Xing Baohua's business started with hundreds of millions of dollars, and not long ago he had borrowed three billion US dollars from Mitsui Bank to develop satellites.

They don't seem interested in projects worth tens of millions of dollars anymore!

“Given the size of their company, I think 80 million is a high price. It’s actually around 30 million US dollars,” said Mitsui Tousaburo.

"If I acquire this game developer, will the studios under the company be included?"

"Probably not. You or your people will need to personally discuss with those studios whether to continue the cooperation."

"So, whether I spend 30 million or 80 million, it's just an empty shell? Who holds the patents for the games we produced before?"

"Shared with the studio!"