Technological advancents have significantly increased ga production costs.
While this might not apply to indie or casual gas, major titles require enormous developnt budgets. Even so, costs typically range from tens to hundreds of billions of won; exceeding 1 trillion won is rare. Yet, President Ichikawa started by asking for 11 trillion won. Since budgets are always exceeded, the actual required amount could be even higher.
It's easy to lose perspective with large numbers these days, but 11 trillion won is enough money to acquire several large corporations. It could likely buy entire renowned Korean ga companies outright. If Ichikawa Shigeru had asked anyone else for this amount, they would have thought him insane.
I asked him, "The developnt cost is shocking. Was the $30 million you requested earlier for acquisition costs related to this?"
President Ichikawa nodded. "It's for a ga company called Actalon. They hold several patents related to integrating haptic technology with gas."
Taek-gyu briefly explained. "Virtual reality gas have different interfaces and input/output thods than previous gas. If developnt proceeds, they'll likely need to acquire more than just that one company."
President Ichikawa continued, "I've used the VR sex device made by Faceit and driven the AD3 made by CarOS. Those products achieved significant innovation in the pornography and automotive fields, respectively. I believe it's now ti for similar innovation in gaming."
He began to elaborate on his vision. Users would wear a device combining VR and communication on their head and controllers resembling gauntlets on both hands. Through these, they would operate their characters and navigate the ga world.
Taek-gyu nodded eagerly as he listened to the explanation.
"Ah! So it gives effects like controller vibrations."
"Correct. Penalties could even involve inflicting minor pain."
"That sounds good. The player feels pain when the character gets hit, and feels the impact when attacking."
Those of us less knowledgeable just listened quietly. Either way, it sounded interesting.
After a while, once the discussion concluded, Sang-yeop sunbae asked, "The ga you're currently making is already a huge hit. Why try to develop a virtual reality ga?"
"While making Lost Fantasy this ti, I realized sothing. I no longer want to make gas that anyone can create. I want to challenge myself to create a ga no one has ever made before."
His refusal to rest on success and his challenging spirit are comndable. However, there's no guarantee it will lead to another success.
"This is a project that requires a long ti and an enormous amount of money. In the past, I wouldn't have even dared to attempt it. The biggest difficulty I've faced developing gas so far has been interference from investors and managent. Because of that, I've often had to change developnt direction or alter scenarios. That's why I left Linix Pentagon."
The investor's pursuit of profit and the creator's artistic vision inevitably clash. Such disagreents sotis lead to directors being replaced or projects being halted. However, since investing, we hadn't interfered at all. Because I knew nothing about gas, and Taek-gyu unconditionally supported whatever he did.
He had already decided to create the virtual reality ga. Was the remaining choice mine?
Even if the developnt cost is $10 billion, we don't necessarily have to foot the entire bill. Revenue from Lost Fantasy M and Lost Fantasy Online could cover a portion of it, although we'd have to forgo dividends for several years.
Considering the current pace of technological advancent, it's only a matter of ti before virtual reality gas erge. And we have the technology and capital to support it. CarOS's AI, machine learning, and cloud computing technology. Faceit's VR technology and algorithms for processing big data. This is truly a ga-project.
And Ichikawa Shigeru is the only person capable of leading it. He has spent his life making the gas he wanted to make, and no matter how many years it takes, he will create the ga he wants to create.
The advent of the internet revolutionized people's lives significantly. One aspect was expanding the realm of human perception. Space is not just a physical entity but also exists in consciousness. Thus, the internet becos a space, ssage boards where people gather beco cafes, and sites selling goods beco shopping malls. And people et each other within online gas. Therefore, even in a small room, one doesn't feel confined as long as there's internet access. Conversely, even in a vast space, lack of internet causes feelings of confinent and anxiety.
The developnt of smartphones and wireless communication technology created an environnt where we are connected to the internet anyti, anywhere, which has now evolved into the IoT (Internet of Things).
In a way, the internet might be transitioning from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic era. And giant IT corporations are now preparing to usher in the Bronze Age and advance towards the Iron Age. Gas play a crucial role in this. Although so countries designate gaming alongside alcohol, gambling, and drugs as the four major addictions and impose various regulations like shutdown laws or pre-censorship systems, most countries spare no national support. The reason is that gaming is a massive industry creating enormous added value.
What kind of future will virtual reality gas create? Could they perhaps change the world even more than autonomous electric vehicles?
If successful, the developnt cost, no matter how large, won't be an issue. If it fails, not only money but also ti will be wasted.
I asked President Ichikawa, "What's the ga's na?"
"Currently, I'm thinking of it as an expansion of Lost Fantasy Online, and I've tentatively nad it Seruana, after the continent."
At that mont, sothing flashed before my eyes.
A mont later, when I ca to my senses, people were staring intently at . I must have looked like I was spacing out.
I subtly stood up from my seat. "Excuse , I need to use the restroom."
Taek-gyu quickly followed out. Once I confird we were alone, I recounted exactly what I had just seen. Taek-gyu was aghast upon hearing it.
"What? 100 million?"
"Keep your voice down."
"Ah, okay."
"But is 100 million concurrent users even possible?"
Taek-gyu crossed his arms and thought. "In the past, it would have been impossible. But since the Chinese market opened up, concurrent user numbers in the millions aren't uncommon. There have even been gas hitting 10 million."
"10 million people connected to one ga simultaneously?" That's comparable to the population of a decent-sized country.
"Online gas have a characteristic where people flock to where others are gathering. Who would play an online ga no one else plays? Even for item trading, prices are higher on servers with more users, and drop as users decrease. Didn't Lumina's Dragon Slayer Sword price get halved as soon as the player count dropped?"
I recalled a quote from an IT expert I saw in an article. 'Everyone is on Facenote. Because everyone is on Facenote.' It sounds like simple wordplay, but it cuts to the core. The purpose of social dia is to connect with people. But everyone who already uses social dia has a Facenote account. Therefore, anyone new to social dia has no choice but to create a Facenote account.
Similarly, the more users an online ga has, the more aningful the play becos. In a single-player ga, no matter how diligently you level up your character or obtain good items, it's just self-satisfaction. But in online gas, all those things can be exchanged for real currency. If we could preemptively capture the virtual reality ga platform, couldn't we continuously attract users in the future?
"How much could we charge for usage?"
"MMORPGs use either microtransactions or subscription models. Sothing like this would probably need a subscription. Usually, it's around 20,000 or 30,000 won. For a VR ga, maybe 50,000 or 100,000 won wouldn't be out of the question?"
Once people have their basic needs t, they seek entertainnt. The term Homo Ludens (Playing Man) didn't arise for nothing. Online gas offer long hours of enjoynt for relatively little money compared to other hobbies. Markets in erging countries like India or ASEAN, not just China, could potentially be developed.
If we set the monthly fee at $50 and secure 10 million paying users, that's $500 million. If we secure 100 million users, that's $5 billion. And this amount would consistently flow in every month!
If this is true, the $10 billion developnt cost is not an issue. Once a ga is successfully created, subsequent costs are relatively low. Even considering operating and publishing expenses, the profit margin would be in the tens of percent.
It's strange when you think about it. In terms of market capitalization among the companies we acquired, OTK Gas could be considered right after CarOS and Faceit. While I picked the first two using foresight, OTK Gas was a company Taek-gyu simply decided to invest in. The investnt back then was rely 1 billion yen, but now acquiring OTK Gas would require at least 1 trillion yen. And if the virtual reality ga succeeds, you probably couldn't buy it even for 10 or 20 trillion yen.
I patted Taek-gyu's shoulder. "Well done."
Taek-gyu blinked, looking clueless. "Huh? What did I do?"
***
A holding company cannot arbitrarily control the technology of its subsidiary companies. But it can request cooperation.
CarOS and Faceit expressed interest and indicated their willingness to provide active support. Of course, it wouldn't be free; terms needed negotiation. Team Leader Seo Sang-won shuttled between the US and Japan, diating the conditions between the parties.
anwhile, OTK Gas held a public presentation event at Tokyo Big Sight. Despite the high anti-OTK Company sentint, crowds flocked like clouds, and competition for tickets was fierce. There was a minor disturbance involving protests by so Japanese conservative and anti-Korean groups in front of the building, but it wasn't a major issue.
With gars and dia worldwide watching, the official release date for Lost Fantasy Online was announced alongside the start of the open beta service. Since the open beta allowed all users free access, it was essentially the public release of the ga.
Towards the end of the presentation, Ichikawa Shigeru himself stepped forward and made a shocking announcent. "Lost Fantasy has marked a milestone in gaming history. Many people think Lost Fantasy Online is the end of that history. But I think differently. Lost Fantasy Online will be the starting point for opening a new world. OTK Gas will create a virtual reality ga expanding the Lost Fantasy universe. To achieve this, we will move our headquarters from Tokyo to Detroit and collaborate with various companies."
This announcent sent the venue into an uproar. Reporters fired questions.
"What is the estimated developnt period?"
"Do you believe it's possible with current technology?"
"Are there counterasures for the previous failure?"
He answered briefly. "We plan to complete developnt within three years. I recently t with CEO Kang Jin-hoo and received a promise of full support. This project will not be halted under any circumstances. That is all."
The virtual reality ga developnt... dubbed the Seruana Project, sent gars worldwide into a frenzy.
- They're going to make a virtual reality online ga?
- As expected of Otaku Company!
- Is a VR ga like sothing out of a ga-lit novel really going to appear?
- It's probably not quite there yet. It's not exchanging electrical signals with the brain, just exchanging visual information using VR.
- That's how it starts. Later, as technology develops further, maybe real capsules will be created.
- Will this actually succeed?
- Kang Jin-hoo invested, so isn't there a good chance?
- Where will the developnt funds co from?
- They'll probably fund it with the money they ripped off from Japan's public pension fund.
- lol So Japan contributes to global ga developnt again like this.
***
Open beta service began simultaneously in Korea and Japan. Characters leveled up during the open beta would carry over even after the official release and monetization. In Korea alone, 300,000 concurrent users flocked to the ga. While it was uncertain how many would convert to paying users, it was undeniably a massive hit from the start. Those who played the ga praised its world-building, graphics, and simple controls.
As the number of registered users surpassed 1 million and cruised smoothly, an official docunt arrived at OTK Gas Korea.
We received and read it.
[Request for Cooperation on Self-Regulation for Lost Fantasy Online]
(Preamble omitted) We request your cooperation on the following matters:
Limit connection ti to 4 hours per day to guarantee adolescents' right to sleep and study.
Require parental consent for adolescent paynts and establish asures to block adolescents' ga item trading.
asure the ga addiction inducent index before official distribution. (If the index is high, modifications to ga content may be requested, and failure to comply may result in restrictive asures including distribution bans.)
Establish counterasures and funds for ga over-imrsion.
Disclose probabilities for probability-based items and prohibit excessive gambling elents.
Establish internal censorship and regulation asures for violence and sexual content within the ga.
Implent asures for gender equality within the ga...
The list of demands continued endlessly after that.
Taek-gyu said, sounding dumbfounded, "What on earth is this? Where did this co from?"
Among the various governnt ministries, only one place would send sothing like this.
I checked the sending ministry listed on the official docunt and sighed. "It's from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family."
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