Early morning.
"Strategy games?"
After listening to Ethan's description, Sam nodded thoughtfully. "I think there was a game like that released last year, wasn't there? Though it was on PC. Want to go take a look?"
"Mmm... sure. We can treat it as research."
There wasn't much work piled up over the past couple of days anyway, so going out for a stroll once in a while wasn't a bad idea.
RadioShack, the parts store where GAMENOVA had bought components for its first Tetris arcade cabinet, was a place Ethan hadn't visited in quite some time.
In this era, before the Internet existed as a means of software distribution, digital stores like this effectively served as retailers for PC games. An entire wall was lined with game floppy disks of every size and format imaginable.
"Let me see... If I remember correctly, it was made by a Japanese company."
Sam quickly bypassed the section dedicated to American games and headed towards the opposite side. Ethan, meanwhile, began browsing where he stood.
Unlike the home console and arcade markets, the PC market was an entirely new field that GAMENOVA had never ventured into. But that didn't mean it was an untapped market with no competition. On the contrary, the competition among PC game developers was just as fierce.
He reached out and picked up a floppy disk labeled Formula One Racing. It was a fairly decent racing simulation game.
Cars had always been one of America's three great passions, but with 3D graphics still in their infancy, there wasn't much Ethan could do even if he wanted to make one. As for 2D racing simulations, there wasn't much room left for innovation.
"Damn EA, they actually made some pretty good stuff back in the day."
Setting aside the bias brought on by all the outrageous things EA would do in the future, the company was genuinely making good games during this period. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been able to build itself into a major company so quickly through video games alone.
But its methods, however, were a little underhanded.
Ethan continued scanning the shelves, pulling out every EA title he could find.
"Has the EA Sports brand not officially launched yet?"
He searched through every EA game on the shelf but couldn't find any of those familiar titles. The current EA still seemed to be a company stumbling through its exploratory phase.
EA Sports and the Madden Football series, the products that would truly propel EA to the top of the industry, apparently wouldn't appear for another two or three years.
Madden Football, officially known as Madden NFL, was a game named after the famous football coach John Madden. Its official debut wouldn't come until 1990.
Toward the end of 1988, EA traveled to Japan and secured one of the first Sega Mega Drive consoles.
In America, it was also known as the SEGA Genesis. It was the world's first 16-bit home console, launching a full year before the Super Famicom and this was also when EA pulled off one of the most outrageous moves in gaming history.
After obtaining the launch-model Sega Mega Drive, EA spent nearly a year reverse-engineering its hardware. This allowed them to bypass Sega's official licensing process and develop games for the platform independently.
It was truly shameless, but there was no denying that the strategy let EA win everything.
In 1990, Madden NFL was released, and this title, tailor-made for the American market, became virtually unbeatable within its genre the moment it launched. At one point, the series even accounted for more than 50% of all third-party software sales on the Genesis platform.
It was also this game that gave EA the abundant capital it needed, allowing it to expand rapidly into the gaming giant that would become infamous in later years.
"Huh? Wait a second..."
Ethan froze. It was only early 1986. Forget Madden NFL, even the Sega Mega Drive didn't exist yet.
The Sega Master System, Sega's 8-bit console, had only recently been released. However, because the American market had already become an intensely saturated battlefield, its sales had never really taken off, managing to secure only a modest share in Japan.
It looked like he could end EA’s story before the first chapter was even written and this was the ultimate cheat code: eliminate baby EA before it grew into the final boss.
"Cars, guns, and balls. We can't make racing games yet, shooters are already in our hands, so that leaves sports."
Ethan's eyes gleamed. It could be done and not only could it be done, it had to be done.
This couldn't be delayed. It had to begin alongside their upcoming development projects. At the very least, he needed to solve the issue of signing star athletes first.
"There might still be a few future star players sitting around that we can get for cheap."
Ethan placed a stack of floppy disks into his shopping basket, deep in thought. American football was America's national sport, went without saying. So, he absolutely had to find a way to sign John Madden.
Soccer, on the other hand, would require traveling across Europe to negotiate with countless famous players and deal with a mess of different clubs, it was an endless headache.
But there was another sport that could be handled entirely within the United States.
Basketball.
"The NBA's 1984 Rookie of the Year..."
A name that would one day become legendary flashed through Ethan's mind. Of course, it wasn't LeBron, who was still in his diapers this year.
It was Michael Jeffrey Jordan, who was currently playing for the Chicago Bulls.
During the 1985 –1986 season, Jordan suffered a broken foot, causing him to miss 64 games and even the 1986 NBA All-Star Game. There was no question that this was the lowest point of his career.
"I have to sign him before he breaks the playoff scoring record!"
Besides Jordan, that living money tree, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, "The Captain", was another player he absolutely had to sign.
Ethan immediately settled on a plan. Before 1988, he needed to establish GAMENOVA's own sports game brand. In the future, franchises like FIFA, NBA, and WWE would all become veritable money-printing machines.
His gaze returned to the shelves. Aside from EA, the most prominent publishers here were Sierra and Broderbund, the two industry giants.
He even spotted Ultima from the familiar Origin Systems.
Just as he was about to see if Activision had any presence here, Sam finally came jogging back, holding a floppy disk in his hand.
"Ethan, I found it. Is this the kind of strategy game you were talking about?"
"Hmm?"
Ethan glanced at the floppy disk in Sam's hand, unfortunately it was just another indie game that had become a hit that year and would soon fade into obscurity.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. But the strategy game I'm talking about is a little different from this one. What I want to make is a Strategy Role-Playing Game, an SRPG."
"So, role-playing combined with tactical, grid-based battles?"
Sam nodded, this new project was pretty easy to understand.
"That's right. But this time we're making both English and Japanese versions. By the way, has there been any news about the Japanese version of Pokémon?"
"Satoshi called earlier. The text translation is already more than ninety percent complete."
Sam's face lit up with excitement. "So, we're finally entering the Japanese market for real?" They had invested so much money over there and still hadn't earned much revenue in return.
"That's right. This new title will serve as our flagship release for the Japanese market."
"I'm calling it Fire Emblem."