Takayuki was already ntally prepared for the European sales performance of the new soccer ga.
This ti, with a powerful opponent willing to throw money around, unless he also started burning cash, it would inevitably spiral into a vicious cycle.
But Takayuki's goal had always been to force YOO to spend more—and now that this goal had been achieved, that alone was enough.
He didn't care much that Super Soccer Tournant had weaker initial sales due to less aggressive marketing.
Even if it didn't end up winning the football ga showdown, several of his other titles had already found success in the market. All that remained was to watch the numbers grow steadily over ti.
More importantly, he was far more focused on console sales than just Super Soccer Tournant itself.
Right now, Surei Electronics had taken the lead in Europe thanks to YOO's massive investnt. What Takayuki needed to consider was how to deal with such a competitor.
Surei Electronics, as a company, was thrilled with its European profits and had begun posturing as if it could go head-to-head with Gastar Electronic Entertainnt.
...
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But Takayuki no longer really saw Surei as a serious threat. Unless they could produce three or four developers on the level of Shigeru Miyamoto, they'd have little hope of turning the tide.
Instead, Takayuki's eyes were fixed on the coming era of mobile internet.
For mobile gas, this era would be a golden age—a new frontier. But for ho consoles and handhelds, it would be a brutal challenge.
The mobile boom had once obliterated the handheld market in re years, and not even Nintendo, with its legendary dev power, could stop the shift.
But that was only because they'd been unprepared—blindsided by the sudden rise of mobile internet. With preparation, though? Things could turn out very differently.
Under Takayuki's supervision, Counter-Strike was now in its final developnt stages. The dev team was so absorbed in it, they had to remind themselves they still had jobs to do. If not for the looming release date, they might've forgotten.
Counter-Strike was a global killer app, the definitive FPS blueprint. Later giants like Call of Duty and Battlefield were re followers.
Need for Speed was also progressing quickly, though it needed a bit more ti. Balancing car physics and building in long-term systems for future racing gas had caused minor delays.
Takayuki's plan was for Need for Speed to run to nine installnts, then take a graceful bow while still at its peak. Though future entries would still be good, the rise of open-world gas would soon make it hard for the series to innovate.
He had already left behind detailed docuntation for the team to build all nine NFS titles—one per year—so that they could gain expertise before the eventual launch of his real racing vision: Forza Motorsport.
These three pillars—guns, cars, and sports—were the core of the Arican-side developnt: Super Soccer Tournant, Counter-Strike, and Need for Speed.
anwhile, on the Japan side, Takayuki was preparing a new Mario title, the first installnt of Resident Evil, and the second Monster Hunter ga (though, following Gastar's quirky habit of skipping "2," it would be called Monster Hunter 3).
This third Monster Hunter was ant as a strategic evolution, broadening its appeal to reach a larger player base.
For gars, 2003 and 2004 were shaping up to be the most blessed years ever.
Great titles were dropping one after another—from indie darlings like Stardew Valley to massive AAA productions. Every developer was trying their hardest to make their gas stand out.
Technical capabilities, innovative chanics, and hardware performance were all surging forward.
In this world, 2003–2004 felt like a gar's festival—new exciting gas every week.
Even Surei Electronics managed to release a few gas worthy of 4.5-star reviews, though none had quite reached "masterpiece" level. They still lagged far behind Gastar, whose releases were consistently near 5-star quality.
By mid-2004, Surei launched its next big hope for the European market: a sci-fi shooter inspired by Brown Entertainnt's war FPSs and modeled after DOOM. It was fast-paced and satisfying to play, clearly a project the dev team had poured heart into.
Thanks to FIFA having already built goodwill in Europe, this shooter launched with decent montum, selling around 800,000 units in its first week. Not a million, but still impressive given its lighter marketing.
Nagao A was once again feeling smug.
But the ga's sales plumted sharply after that first week.
anwhile, over at Gastar, Super Soccer Tournant, which had initially lagged, began to build unstoppable montum as GS1 console adoption in Europe grew.
It was still moving over 300,000 copies per week, showing incredible staying power.
FIFA had capped out at around 2 million sales, and by week 10, Super Soccer Tournant had surpassed it.
No one tracked this data closely anymore.
But every ga shop noticed: Gastar's consoles and gas were getting all the buzz. More and more people ca in asking about them.
Surei's montum, anwhile, was clearly fading.
Smart shopkeepers knew what to do—they started putting Gastar's gas front and center on their shelves.
"Step right up! First place in our Turn Turn Turn Bar's inaugural Super Soccer Tournant showdown will win a year's supply of beer—one keg a day!"
In a small, remote town in Europe, the local bar was absolutely packed.
Dozens of troublemakers and local slackers had gathered—not to brawl, but to ga. Even so folks had skipped work just to join in the fun.
Normally, only a major real-world football match could draw a crowd like this.
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