Kalgreever was a major corporation with a market cap of over 6 billion USD.
Which, to be fair, is hardly a small company, but it's also not at the very top of the IT sector, even pre-AI-stock-inflation.
Given its entertainment/gaming arm, probably the best comparison would be Sony. In 2020, when this series first entered publication, Sony spent the year bouncing around in the $70-100 billion range.
"Even though the metaverse was a total flop?"
"Thaaat was a total joke. If you asked me, they completely lacked sense. If you want to rule the VR world, you need to start with virtual idols. There's just no other way. Those guys were dumping fat stacks of cash into an ocean with no fish." Kawabe chuckled a bit, but then his expression suddenly turned serious. "We'll win. There's no way we can lose."
While, yes, Meta really were throwing money at stupid ideas with the metaverse, you aren't any smarter. The plans for the Metaverse - the idea that convinced Zuckerberg that it was worth tens of billions a year to try and develop - were that almost every aspect of life could be moved there. Not just entertainment - work, shopping, banking, basically everything except bodily functions.
And you want to succeed where Meta failed... with Idols alone? Good luck.
Economically, the problem is that the market for VR is tiny compared to the market for entertainment that doesn't require you to wear a headset - and this is coming from a giant nerd that actually likes VR as a concept. Net result, going to VR makes almost everything more expensive while drastically reducing the size of your addressable market. Unless you have an offering so compelling that it draws vast swathes of the population into VR, you can't change that.
You are, in short, an even bigger idiot than Zuckerberg was; He at least understood how big the metaverse would have to be to become self-sustaining.
Though bewildered, they'd shaken her hand and were shocked by how realistic the sensation had been.
...I wonder whose hand the haptics were programmed to reproduce? I assume they didn't use the hand of the actual guy... It'd probably make the fans a touch suspicious.
His research into haptics had been inspired by the materials she'd left behind.
...Then maybe you should have made some kind of an effort to keep track of her - or possibly even re-hire her? Seems she'd have been pretty useful to you...
Seriously? He saw through me in just a few seconds?
Why are you surprised? If you were serious, you'd have called in the lawyers already. Going in person just makes it obvious it's an extortion attempt.
Kenta: "Over ten billion yen."
Idiot: "I said 'profit.' Not revenue."
Kenta: "I know. I'm talking about profit."
Idiot: "On what basis?"
Kenta: "It was the first impressive number I pulled out of my arse. Actually achieving it is the job of my walking deus ex machina."
there had been cases where executives had made difficult investment decisions based on what they'd concluded from the look in the other party's eyes.
Yup. Go ask Softbank how well their WeWork investment went sometime!
I had a feeling that if I'd failed, he would've immediately carried out a different plan.
You know, contingency planning isn't a bad thing...
