The specific content of this tender is to present requirements, and then several manufacturers will try to find ways to meet them.
These requirements were proposed by Takayuki, and then the engineering team discussed their feasibility before negotiating with these manufacturers.
Takayuki's main requirements are just a few points.
The processing power should be capable of producing game graphics comparable to at least the PSP era in the previous world.
At the same time, strong compatibility is also required for the processor.
This is to allow a series of previous games such as GBA to be played on the new handheld device through emulators.
Even if possible, it should be able to run games from the SFC and FC eras on the new handheld device.
These old games may not necessarily earn Takayuki much money, but they are indispensable.
Another requirement is ease of development, which is for the game developers.
If developing games for a console is too difficult, it will discourage many game developers from developing games for that console.
Furthermore, the purpose of the processor was also announced directly at the bidding conference.
It's for manufacturing a handheld device, but this information must be kept strictly confidential by the manufacturers, or else they will face significant lawsuits.
All of this was mentioned before the bidding began.
For these several world-renowned processor manufacturers, the difficulty of manufacturing is not high.
Even the weakest of them can produce such processors.
The difference lies mainly in the price.
After some discussion, all six companies finalized the features, performance, and price of their processors, and then the bidding conference was temporarily adjourned.
The winning manufacturer would be announced within two weeks.
The six companies patiently awaited Gamestar Entertainment's response.
Inside Gamestar Entertainment's headquarters, Takayuki, along with several heads of the engineering development department, including Sayuri, reviewed the quotes from these six companies.
"The first manufacturer offered a price of $110 per custom chip and guaranteed to provide an annual capacity of twenty million chips to Gamestar Entertainment. They also mentioned that the price of chips produced annually could be reduced by ten dollars."
"The second manufacturer offered a price of $130 per custom chip. However, they stated that if the annual ordered capacity reached forty million, they would further reduce the price by thirty dollars and then decrease it by ten dollars annually."
"The third manufacturer priced each chip at $120 and did not offer any additional discounts. However, their chips have always been stable without any serious quality issues, so there might be room for negotiation on the price."
"The fourth manufacturer priced each chip at $90, which is quite cheap. This manufacturer used to specialize in industrial chips, and they probably intend to expand their market through this transaction, so they are willing to compete for this order with a lower price, which is like paying tuition fees to enter a new market."
"The sincerity of the fifth manufacturer is lacking. Their chip price is $170, which I think is not worth considering. They were also involved in manufacturing industrial chips like the fourth manufacturer, so their lack of willingness to pay tuition fees to switch industries is evident."
"The sixth manufacturer priced their chips at $130 each and is willing to reduce the price by more than twenty dollars annually, meaning that after five years, the cost price of the chips will be only $30, which is quite good."
In the meeting room, a responsible person from the engineering development department explained the different quotes and commitments of the six manufacturers to everyone.
Each of the six manufacturers had their strengths, and except for the fifth and third manufacturers, the quotes provided by the other four were quite satisfactory.
This was somewhat cheaper than Takayuki's initial expectations.
The processor is the core of a game console.
If all costs were considered, the cost of the game console could be kept within $200, or within the range of 20,000 yen.
With such a price, selling a console for $200 would mean breaking even.
However, players nowadays were unlikely to readily accept a console priced at 20,000 yen.
The price of the previous console was only a little over 12,000 yen, and increasing the price to 20,000 yen for the new console would put significant pressure on players.
So it was inevitable to incur some losses on the sale of the console.
But as long as the games sold well, profits could still be made.
After much discussion, two manufacturers were selected.
The third and sixth manufacturers.
One had excellent product quality, and the other offered a very favorable price in the future.
If the production cost of a console dropped to around $70 or $80 after five years, it would be quite good.
Around the third year, the console could start making profits again, which was quite good.
The third manufacturer had good quality and some room for negotiation, as they could use the increasing annual demand to attract the other party to further reduce prices.
However, the final selection of the manufacturer could still wait for another half month. During this time, the people from the engineering development department could further discuss the selection of these manufacturers.
As for the conference, it would proceed to the next stage, which was the discussion on the functionality and appearance of the handheld device.
Previously, Takayuki had already decided to design the handheld device as a flip phone with dual screens.
At that time, he had shown the rough appearance drawings to everyone.
However, that was not the final draft; it was just an initial idea.
Takayuki also hoped to hear other people's opinions before making a decision.
Most people had no objections to Takayuki's idea for this handheld device.
Because they had long been accustomed to the direction of development that was always innovative and unstoppable.
They didn't even need to participate much in the design of the handheld device; they just needed to develop the device according to Takayuki's functional requirements.
After all, for Gamestar Entertainment as it currently stood, any game console they developed would sell well.
"Takayuki, to be honest, I've always felt that this kind of handheld device isn't particularly good."
Just as the discussion was about to conclude, a voice suddenly rang out.
Takayuki looked up towards the door, where one person was sitting alone.
She had always been used to being alone, but she had also changed quite a bit.
At least she no longer had social anxiety, and she didn't react strongly to interacting with others anymore.
Ayari Tsukino's silver twin tails were always eye-catching no matter when.
"It's not particularly good? What exactly do you mean?"
"The dual screens. I've always found it hard to imagine how to use this dual-screen feature to make a game. Of course, Takayuki, you can come up with many great ideas and create amazing games, but other developers probably don't have that many imaginative ideas."
That makes sense.
The success of the NDS in the previous world was mainly due to its lineup of first-party games. Third-party games for the NDS were not particularly impressive, at least compared to third-party games for the PSP console during the same period.