After YOO released their first-person shooter, they quickly followed up with their own racing ga.
anwhile, Need for Speed 5, developed by Gastar Electronic Entertainnt, had added thrilling features like police chases and a story mode — all of which would later prove to be hugely successful. YOO, on the other hand, leaned more toward competitive, track-based racing.
It was clear the developnt team had realized they couldn't go head-to-head with Gastar directly. But that was fine — racing gas didn't have to be limited to street racing. They figured, why not make a racing ga focused entirely on circuits and track events?
Before launch, Nagao once again poured resources into large-scale marketing. Most notably, he made a big show of announcing partnerships with well-known real-world racing leagues. Players would be able to experience classic motorsport events — and YOO had spent a good chunk of money securing the licenses. Clearly, they hoped to replicate the success of their FIFA football ga.
However, after the first week of sales, the results were disappointing — even disastrous.
The ga sold only 320,000 copies in its debut week — not just down from the previous titles, but far worse.
Feedback on social dia was lukewarm at best. Most players didn't seem very interested in racing gas. No matter how much effort was poured into the promotion, it just didn't resonate.
After seeing the first-week numbers, Nagao quickly funneled even more money into advertising, hoping to win back public favor through sheer montum.
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But the results remained dismal.
Surei Electronics had pinned high hopes on YOO's racing ga. They had allocated extra resources and even ran several free ads for it. But none of them expected the ga's performance to be this poor.
This was a ga with a budget over $100 million — and those numbers were simply not enough to justify the cost.
It was a major setback for both Surei Electronics and YOO.
Around this ti, gaming dia outlets began speaking up. The most authoritative voice among them, Kazuo Murakami, published an article.
Everyone knew he was a staunch supporter of Gastar Electronic Entertainnt, but that didn't compromise his professionalism.
He had been one of the first people to ever play video gas — starting from middle school — and had experienced countless titles since.
His verdict on YOO's racing ga? "A dessert ga worth a casual try — but that's about it." He gave it a rating of three and a half stars.
Compared to earlier years, that was already a much better rating for a ga on Surei's console. Previously, many of their titles hadn't even passed the "barely playable" threshold.
So hitting "above average" was already a big improvent.
But gars are a notoriously hard-to-please bunch — always chasing better gas. Once they've had a taste of higher quality, anything less can feel boring or stale.
This effect was only amplified after Gastar released Need for Speed 5.
On the day YOO's racing ga launched, not many people lined up to buy it. At most stores, you could grab a copy without waiting.
Need for Speed 5, on the other hand, was a different story.
In regions like the U.S. and Japan, fans camped overnight outside stores — just like they did every year for big ga launches.
In Europe, the install base for the GS1 console was growing rapidly, and so was Gastar's fanbase.
Lines outside ga stores were long and enthusiastic. The contrast with YOO's racing title couldn't have been more obvious.
Anyone even slightly tuned in to the gaming world could tell — just by watching how the gas were selling — which one was winning hearts.
"I really want to understand," Nagao demanded, "why Need for Speed is clearly more popular. You were all so confident before, saying your different approach to racing would allow us to overtake the competition!"
Nagao was a business operator — not a creator. But he had a sharp eye for opportunity. At the very least, he'd had the foresight to build his own dia network to expand his influence.
However, as soone who wasn't directly involved in creative developnt, he couldn't truly understand the difficulties of ga production.
Previously, when his dev team presented the concept of a more realistic, track-focused racing ga, he thought it made sense. He personally found realistic racing more appealing.
And after the success of the football ga, he beca even more convinced that professional licensing was essential.
But despite all that investnt and effort, the outco was underwhelming.
He didn't get it. He genuinely didn't understand why this had happened.
All he could do now was confront the ga's lead developer — the sa person who had confidently promised this would be a success.
"I've already given you the best developnt environnt. But this is the result you give ? This is unacceptable."
"President... we didn't do well enough. We're truly sorry," said the project lead, looking visibly exhausted.
The past few weeks had been brutal. Developnt was rushed to hit the deadline. He had barely slept. And just when he thought he could finally breathe after the ga's release, Nagao kept summoning him to endless etings — strategy sessions, sales reviews, damage control — it was nonstop. He was completely burned out.
And it wasn't just fatigue. There were other reasons he felt drained.
Ever since the racing ga project began, salaries had been delayed — and even when paid, they were clearly lower than before. Nagao had promised post-launch bonuses, but never brought it up again.
On top of that, in the internet era, launching a ga was no longer the end — it was only the beginning. Post-release support had beco critical.
Because they had rushed to release the racing ga ahead of Need for Speed 5, it launched with underlying problems. The lead developer was constantly being called into etings, and his team was swamped fixing bugs day in and day out.
All of this took a massive toll on him. When he finally spoke, his tone lacked energy, almost defeated.
Nagao was clearly unhappy with the answer. He barked out:"Then co up with a solution imdiately! Can we release more cars? Add more tracks?"
"Um... that might be difficult. The team hasn't really had a break... we've been in ergency mode since launch, constantly fixing bugs. We haven't had ti to develop new content."
"Then work overti," Nagao snapped.
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