I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 466 - 161: The Design Philosophy of the Next-Generation Handheld Console! The Curtain Slowly Rises!_2

Chapter 466: Chapter 161: The Design Philosophy of the Next-Generation Handheld Console! The Curtain Slowly Rises!_2

The so-called Three Flowers Gathering at the Top, attacking from three channels, opening up three paths.

If you, SE, don’t enter hell, who will?

As for which games to use to defeat them.

Ke Jin had also intensely studied the main sources of revenue for Silver Brilliance domestically over the past few days.

Apart from some income from partnerships, promotions, and channels,

the lion’s share belonged to the mobile sector.

It nearly accounted for 90% of the company’s entire revenue.

Within this,

heavy spending mobile games were a key focus.

Even more significant was the handheld gaming device sector.

SE, which started back in the ’80s selling NES consoles before cell phones proliferated, depended on continuously iterating handheld gaming devices.

Nowadays, the mobile phone industry has advanced significantly, but SE’s attempts to break into the mobile phone business have been repeatedly frustrated.

Because what consumers need from their mobile phones isn’t just gaming.

In fact, gaming can only be considered an alternative, marginal need.

Compared to the vast majority of mainstream users, gamers are but a minority.

Hence, the not-so-skilled SE gave up on making mobile phones and instead focused on handhelds.

And they released a series of games tied exclusively to their own devices.

The monopolistic practice of "you must buy our console to play certain games" also allowed SE to amass wealth quickly.

Furthermore, while promoting their console, they continually created an aura of exclusivity around it.

The gist of their promotion was "you buy a mobile phone for four or five thousand because you need it, but spending two or three thousand on a non-essential game console is a sign that you’re financially comfortable."

This marketing strategy, not to mention its cunning similarities to diamond merchants that tie their product to love, is at least of like mind in its approach.

But believe it or not, many people truly fell for it.

Many gamers thought owning a handheld console was very cool, and some couldn’t wait to show it off while riding the bus or the subway.

To be fair, the act of showing off is innate to human nature, and everyone has it, so there’s nothing wrong with that.

SE merely grasped this vulnerability precisely and magnified it infinitely, which has also been one of their skills in flourishing and getting rich.

On the other hand, as a device dedicated to gaming, handheld consoles could have their configurations completely aligned with gaming requirements, resulting in greater performance than mobile phones and more convenience than PCs, thereby maintaining substantial sales in Blue Star.

Nowadays, Silver Brilliance, as a Huaxia company held by SE, has many mobile games with decent sales that are also ported to their own handhelds, offering cross-platform use, higher graphics quality and smoother experiences.

What’s more critical is SE’s iterative approach to their handheld consoles, reminiscent of squeezing toothpaste from a tube.

This strategy prevents the prices of their earlier generations of handheld consoles from plummeting too quickly.

Players who bought in at two to three thousand could resell their devices at around 80% of the original price without much loss.

For various reasons, many players were willing to purchase SE’s handheld consoles.

Whether it was to get a better gaming experience and a more comfortable gaming environment, or just to show off.

Once sales increased and most of their user base owned one of the recent handheld console generations,

SE began to work on channeling.

They ported and introduced other companies’ games, transforming their own handheld device into an exclusive gaming platform and collecting a cut from the transactions.

A standard one-two punch was laid out.

Thus, SE faced virtually no competition in the mobile sector throughout East Asia. (PS: As previously mentioned, in this world’s setting, the old Nintendo was backstabbed early by SE, and Sony, due to the butterfly effect, only made other digital devices and didn’t produce game consoles.)

In the absence of competition, they could squeeze the tube even more boldly and confidently.

Without the internal competition, SE’s handheld consoles, living comfortably within their bubble, have nearly stalled innovation since a decade ago.

To this day, even though the consoles have grown larger than the original NES and their designs have become more lavish and refined,

they essentially remain phone-like vertical screen models, with gamers holding the directional pad and buttons at the bottom like they’re clutching a brick.

Many gamers have complained that this puts a lot of pressure on their hands, requiring them to stretch out their index fingers to prop up the back of the device, which becomes exhausting over time.

SE actually had a solution, and gamers even made the straightforward suggestion to switch to a ’horizontal screen model.’

Guess what?

SE did change it, but not by much.

The main change they implemented was...

Introducing a set of finger sleeves designed specifically to support the vertical screen model.

Players just have to wear the sleeves on the joints of their index fingers, and the suction cups on them would act as supports to relieve the pressure.

For two little plastic gadgets, SE even dared to charge 168, and that 168 was for a blind box, with basic model colors and appearances, and also special skins from their own games. What you get is random, and the chance of getting a rare skin isn’t very high.

They brilliantly infused their concept of monetization into physical goods.

It was such an extreme move that Flat Fruit Company would have to give SE a hug and say, "Bro, that’s too much, entirely unnecessary."

Of course, there were other smaller companies that tried to enter the handheld console market to get a slice of the pie.

But they were generally forced out of the game by SE’s collusive boycotts.

After all, not everyone can be a top gamer, and not everyone is like Ke Jin, holding many blockbuster IPs and filled with the courage to defy big capital.

Besides, not all handheld console manufacturers can match their hardware with suitable games.

Without games, your fancy handheld console is just that - fancy.