[PS: Thank you to the Huang Clan's leader for the tip.]
Satoru Iwata found himself in a dilemma. Although Tajiri Satoru could be responsible for the compensation for the non-competition agreement, it had nothing to do with Nintendo.
However, Tajiri Satoru had stolen the Daqian's intellectual property, so Nintendo could not escape.
Here's a rule. The copyright of a cultural product that was completely designed by oneself does not belong to the creator.
First of all, it depends on whether the creator was working in the company when he created the cultural product, and whether it was created during his work.
If it was, then the copyright of the cultural product belonged to the company, and it had nothing to do with the creator.
Of course, Tajiri Satoru could argue that it was done during his spare time, and it was not considered the company's copyright.
However, it was difficult to find evidence for this kind of thing, unless the company's business scope had nothing to do with Tajiri Satoru's cultural product. For example, Tajiri Satoru was in charge of moving bricks in a real estate company, and he drew a Pikachu. Then, the Pikachu could be considered as Tajiri Satoru's copyright.
However, the problem was that the Daqian Games happened to be a game, and the content of Pokemon and Pet Spirit was exactly the same. There was no way to argue that there was no relationship between the two games.
More importantly, the Daqian Games had applied for the intellectual property rights of these stolen characters in advance. These were basically Daqian things. If Tajiri Satoru filed a lawsuit, he would not even have a 0.001% chance of winning.
And these things had been used in Pet Spirit. If the Daqian Games sued, Nintendo would have to pay a sum of money, and these Pet Spirits would have to be removed immediately. They would not be allowed to use them again.
However, the problem was that the most popular elves in Pet Spirit were the elves brought by Tajiri. Especially the Water Leaping Fish, it was very popular. It could be said that it was the most popular champion in Pet Spirit.
If such a Pet Spirit was removed, God knows how much trouble it would cause.
So now, Iwata Satoru was having a headache. However, the Daqian's lawyer's letter was indeed on his desk. If he didn't deal with it, Nintendo would be accused of plagiarism when the court officially opened.
Because of this, Iwata Satoru couldn't sleep for three days and three nights. On the fourth day, when he finally managed to get some shut-eye, he suddenly received a call and an unexpected person appeared in front of him.
— — —
"Arakawa-kun, I didn't think that we would meet in such a manner!" Iwata Satoru's expression was bitter and strange as he looked at Minori Arakawa.
When Satoru Iwata received Arakawa's call, he had thought that the other party was only talking to him on a daily basis. However, when Arakawa told him his title, Satoru Iwata was shocked.
That was because Minoru Arakawa now had a title above his head. He had become the president of the Daqian Games. He had actually replaced Zhong Yu and became the controller of the Daqian Games.
This change made Iwata Satoru deeply feel the malice of this world.
A few days ago, Minoru Arakawa was abandoned by Nintendo. He was the son-in-law of Yamauchi Hiroshi. He was the loser that Iwata Satoru chased out of the company. He should have been pitiful like a drowning dog.
Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, this guy would become the global president of the Daqian Games and become the controller of the world's number one gaming company in the world?
Now, Nintendo was ranked number two. Minoru Arakawa actually used another method to ride on his head again.
Although Nintendo was ranked number two now, in a few years' time, who knows if Nintendo would still be able to keep their position?
The most unbearable thing was that Minoru Arakawa was still using Nintendo's weakness as a bargaining chip. He had come on behalf of Da Qian Games to discuss this matter with Nintendo.
"Yes, I'm ashamed that I was chosen by Mr. Jia!" Minoru Arakawa sighed. This made Iwata Satoru even more uncomfortable.
"Aren't you afraid of meeting the old president in the future?" Although Iwata Satoru wanted to question him, Minoru Arakawa had the upper hand now. Iwata Satoru did not dare to anger him.
Moreover, Minoru Arakawa was only Yamauchi Hiroshi's son-in-law. He was going to meet the ancestors of the Arakawa family in the future. It had nothing to do with Yamauchi Hiroshi. Yamauchi Hiroshi had no right to scold him.
"How do you plan to deal with this, Mr. Arakawa?" Iwata Satoru tried to make himself look as pitiful as possible. Then, he looked at Minoru Arakawa and said, "Mr. Arakawa, we were colleagues a few days ago. You know Nintendo very well. Their company is not doing well now. They can't take any more hits!"
"I know. That's why I came with a better solution!" Minoru Arakawa said sincerely, "As long as Mr. Iwata agrees to my terms, this matter will be over. The copyright of the related Pet Sprites will also be transferred to Nintendo!"
"Oh!" Iwata Satoru was happy at first. Then, he realized that there was no free lunch in this world. Since the other party had made such a request, the price must be high.
"What do you want?"
"I want The Legend of Zelda!" Minoru Arakawa said straightforwardly.
"That's impossible!" Iwata Satoru jumped up without thinking and said, "Mr. Arakawa, don't you know how important The Legend of Zelda is to Nintendo? How can I sell this game to the Daqian?! "
"Oh, no matter how important it is, can it be more important than Mario Bros. and Tetris?" Minoru Arakawa said with disdain.
"…" Iwata Satoru was stunned. Although the Zelda series in the future was very popular, in 1999, the Zelda series was only one of the more important games for Nintendo.
Although Zelda: Flute of Time had been released to the market and was very popular, the sales were not very good. Especially after the failure of the N64, the sales of Zelda: Flute of Time had dropped by half compared to the other world. Until now, there were only less than three million copies, which was far from Nintendo's expectations.
Nintendo's real trump card was still the Mario Brothers.
"But this is not something that can be exchanged with a few Pet Sprites!" Iwata Satoru rejected again, but his tone was not as strong as before.
"Of course, this is not comparable. That's why we can still buy the copyright of The Legend of Zelda series for 180 million USD!" Iwata Satoru said.
"180 million USD!" Iwata Satoru was really hesitating. After all, the total profit that the Zelda series brought to Nintendo was not even 80 million USD. Selling the copyright of The Legend of Zelda at this price did not seem like a loss.
Moreover, if this 180 million USD could be credited to Nintendo's account, then the financial situation of Nintendo would be much better.
At least this year's financial report would be positive, and the losses would turn into profits. He could then answer to the shareholders.
But Iwata Satoru felt that this was not enough. After all, Zelda: Flute of Time was very popular, and all the players who bought the game were deeply attracted to it.
However, this game could only be run on the N64, and the player base was too small. That was why it was not well-known in the gaming circle.
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