aircannonsinc Chapter 94 Imitation
Chapter 94 Imitation
The weather in Hong Kong always carries a sticky, humid heat.
In the top-floor office of Zhonghua's headquarters, the central air conditioning hummed, keeping out the summer heat from outside. The floor-to-ceiling windows were spotless, offering a clear view of the small cargo ships coming and going at the dock, their horns faintly drifting into the room. Lin Zhou stood by the window, an unlit cigarette between his fingers, his gaze fixed on a market report spread out on the desk. In the upper right corner of the report, a line was prominently marked in red: "Zhonghua's third-generation handheld console has sold over 50,000 units in three weeks since its launch in Hong Kong."
This figure is enough to make the entire Hong Kong tech industry take notice.
Since Zhonghua held that grand handheld game console launch event at the hotel last month, Lin Zhou and his team unveiled the world's first handheld game console equipped with an LCD screen. Like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, it instantly created a huge stir in the global market. Unlike the bulky CRT displays of previous handhelds, Zhonghua's LCD screen is thin and clear, even visible in sunlight. Coupled with several carefully crafted puzzle games, everyone from students on their way home to office workers wants to carry this palm-sized device in their pocket.
In just over half a month, sales of 50,000 units nearly emptied the production line of Zhonghua factory. Even in the neighboring Malay Peninsula market, many resellers tried to use their connections to approach them, wanting to source the goods from Hong Kong and resell them to the mainland at a higher price.
"Knock knock knock".
Three crisp knocks on the door interrupted Lin Zhou's thoughts.
"Come in." Lin Zhou turned around and placed the cigarette in the ashtray.
The door was gently pushed open, and Secretary Chen walked in, wearing high heels. Today, she was wearing a well-tailored beige suit, her hair was neatly combed, and she was holding a kraft paper folder in her hand, with a somewhat solemn expression on her face.
"Mr. Lin," Ms. Chen walked to the desk and handed over the folder, "I just received news that there's some activity from Japan."
Lin Zhou raised an eyebrow and reached out to take the folder. His fingertips touched the rough texture of the kraft paper, and a vague premonition formed in his mind. The handheld game consoles from various Chinese companies had been selling like hotcakes lately, and there were bound to be many envious people. He just hadn't expected that the fastest to act would be a competitor from Japan.
He opened the folder, and the first thing that caught his eye was a product brochure. The brochure featured a red and white handheld game console with a rounded shape, a D-pad and four function buttons on the right side, and its overall outline bore a striking resemblance to the Zhonghua handheld game console. In the center of the brochure, the words "Nintendo GAME & WATCH Handheld Game Console" were prominently displayed in Japanese.
Scrolling down, you find a document compiled by the market research department. It details how this Japanese company, Nintendo, originally started out making playing cards and hanafuda (Japanese card games), only recently venturing into the video game industry. Their GAME & WATCH handheld console uses a traditional CRT screen and is significantly thicker and heavier than the Zhonghua handheld, but its built-in games—such as *Snake* and *Tetris*—bear striking similarities in gameplay and interface design to *Dragon* and *Chinese Blocks* on the Zhonghua handheld.
"You've done a pretty thorough imitation." Lin Zhou tapped his fingers lightly on the table, a half-smile playing on his lips.
Ms. Chen, standing to the side, added softly, "Our people went to Japan to inquire, and this handheld console was launched three days ago in Ginza, Tokyo. The promotional posters at the event specifically labeled it a 'brand new handheld entertainment device,' without mentioning Zhonghua at all. Moreover... their price is almost 30% lower than our second-generation handheld console."
30% lower?
Lin Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly.
This is interesting.
Nintendo's handheld console is manufactured in their home country and sold there. They deliberately lowered the price, clearly aiming to gain an advantage in the Japanese market and possibly even challenge the markets in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.
Looking at Lin Zhou's expression, Ms. Chen continued, "The technical department colleagues have compared them. Apart from having one more game, the layout of the functions and the button design are almost a direct copy of our second-generation handheld console. Even the welcome screen at startup is just a replacement of the 'Zhonghua' logo with the word 'Nintendo'."
Lin Zhou didn't speak, his finger slowly tracing the picture of the red and white handheld console on the promotional flyer.
A distant memory suddenly flashed through his mind. In his future life, he was intimately familiar with the name Nintendo. This company was a giant in the gaming industry, having released countless classic consoles and handhelds that influenced the childhoods of generations. He remembered clearly that in his previous life, Nintendo only released its first Game & Watch handheld console in the late 1970s, gradually establishing itself through its excellent industrial design and game content.
But now, because of his appearance and because Zhonghua launched its handheld console ahead of schedule, Nintendo has also entered the handheld console race several years ahead of schedule.
Moreover, they started by imitating others.
"I underestimated them." Lin Zhou chuckled lightly, his tone revealing neither joy nor anger.
Ms. Chen asked with some concern, "Mr. Lin, what should we do now? Nintendo has a deep distribution network in Japan, and their prices are low. If we leave this unchecked, it may affect our subsequent expansion plans in the Japanese market."
Lin Zhou leaned back in his leather office chair, his fingers interlaced in front of him. His gaze swept across the small dock outside the window, where the whistles of small cargo ships sounded again, carrying a hint of bustling noise.
His past life experience told him that Nintendo was an extremely resilient company with a top-notch understanding of games in the entire industry. But this was not the future; Nintendo was still a newcomer that had just transitioned from a traditional industry. In terms of technological accumulation and understanding of handheld devices, it was far inferior to Zhonghua, which had made early preparations.
Moreover, their imitation this time was far too blatant.
"What's the panic?" Lin Zhou looked up at Miss Chen, his smile deepening. "They imitate our appearance, our button layout, and even our gameplay, but they can't imitate our core technology."
He pointed to the documents in the folder: "LCD screen, this is the trump card of our Zhonghua handheld game console. The CRT screens they use are bulky, consume a lot of electricity, and are easy to hurt your eyes. Compared with our LCD screen, they are far inferior."
Ms. Chen nodded, but was still somewhat uneasy: "That's true, but ordinary consumers may not understand these things. They might see that the price is cheap and the appearance is similar, and they might buy Nintendo products instead."
"So, we need to let consumers know what is genuine and what is imitation." Lin Zhou's eyes suddenly sharpened, like a hunter who had been lying in wait and finally locked onto his prey. "Ms. Chen, you need to do two things now."