In the following period, the popularity of Dead or Alive continued to rise.
Especially in the U.S., it might really be like the saying goes: the more sothing is banned or blocked, the more it sparks the curiosity of ordinary people.
This also led to the sales of Dead or Alive: Xtre Beach Volleyball continuing to increase.
In the U.S., this ga was banned for sale, but anyone who wanted to play it only needed to move their fingers to switch to another country's region to purchase it.
As a current partner of Gastar Electronic Entertainnt, SuRi Electronics had the privilege of observing the general sales situation of Dead or Alive.
The ga's sales were steadily increasing, and not just the ga itself, but also the new in-app purchase system it featured.
This in-app purchase system was different from mobile gas like Candy Crush. In this ga, the in-app purchases only allowed players to buy prettier outfits for their favorite characters.
These outfits had no real significance other than allowing players to admire the characters' appearances in the ga; they weren't tangible items.
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Moreover, the price of a single outfit in this ga could easily reach $10 or $20.
With that money, you could buy so classic old gas or treat yourself to a fried chicken al.
However, SuRi Electronics was amazed to discover that people were very enthusiastic about dressing up characters in the ga.
The hidden inco from this was quite substantial. Gastar Electronic Entertainnt wouldn't directly release the numbers, but SuRi Electronics could see so clues.
It seed like they had opened a new world, realizing that there were alternative ways to make money with video gas.
Video gas weren't just about the base ga and DLC content.
You could also release similar products like Gastar Electronic Entertainnt had done.
However, in reality, adding skins and costus to the ga wasn't new for Gastar Electronic Entertainnt.
In Counter-Strike, they had already introduced gun skins.
And this had beco one of Counter-Strike's biggest revenue streams.
Just like in the original world, you had to pay to get keys for loot boxes in Counter-Strike, and then use those keys to open the boxes.
The randomness provided an extraordinary feeling.
Gambling is one of humanity's most primal desires, and it's also one of the things that can bring people imnse pleasure. Takayuki certainly didn't shy away from taking advantage of this.
And Counter-Strike still frequently ranked at the top of Battle's sales charts, thanks to this loot box system. It had beco a money-making tool that provided Gastar Electronic Entertainnt with a steady cash flow.
Back to Dead or Alive: Xtre Beach Volleyball.
Due to the continued rise in popularity, and with the so-called design contest event, the response from U.S. players was extrely enthusiastic.
The ga had been rated 16 due to its SQ content, especially various sexual innuendos.
But this did not stop the players' enthusiasm.
Just one month before the design contest, more than 10,000 users had submitted their designs.
To help with this, Gastar Electronic Entertainnt had launched a special design software to allow more people to easily try their hand at designing outfits for the Dead or Alive characters, with minimal learning curve.
You didn't have to worry about not being able to create the outfit you wanted. As long as you had enough creativity, you could gain enough attention.
So human rights associations in the U.S. were naturally very displeased.
They imdiately reorganized their efforts, once again appearing in front of Gastar Electronic Entertainnt's branches to protest, and once again initiating a petition to complain about Gastar Electronic Entertainnt's actions.
However, this ti, the U.S. governnt was sowhat helpless.
Gastar Electronic Entertainnt had, to a certain extent, found a loophole, and there were so people in the U.S. governnt who were quite unhappy with these civilian human rights groups.
It was because of them that Dead or Alive couldn't be played freely in the U.S.
The gas they had been playing were getting uglier with each release. After finally having a ga that looked normal, they still wanted to protest.
So, U.S. governnt officials beca sowhat passive, stating that Gastar Electronic Entertainnt's actions were not in violation of any laws, and they had no right to interfere too much with a company's marketing strategy.
In other words, even though Dead or Alive was banned for sale in the U.S., the U.S. governnt couldn't stop Gastar Electronic Entertainnt from continuing to promote the ga.
Without the U.S. governnt's support, these civilian human rights groups couldn't stir up much of a storm.
Even though they protested in front of Gastar Electronic Entertainnt's offices every day, they couldn't stop the company from continuing to promote Dead or Alive.
And perhaps because these protesters were so conspicuous, ordinary people who hadn't been aware of the ga beca curious.
When they discovered the ga was actually quite interesting, they joined the camp supporting Gastar Electronic Entertainnt.
During this process, a new group erged, advocating for the normal aesthetic of cultural and entertainnt products in the world.
"We don't mind diversity in cultural forms, and we don't mind more racial diversity, but every race has its own unique beauty, and yet you only promote ugly characters. This could be seen as a form of racial degradation."
Perhaps these human rights activists didn't realize that their own advocacy was backfiring on them.
After months of turmoil, Dead or Alive had only beco more popular due to the various activities surrounding it.
anwhile, the human rights activists had lost their support as fewer people were willing to spend money on their futile protests, leading to a gradual decline in the number of protesters.
During this ti, these activists also discovered that so of their own mbers had participated in Dead or Alive's design contest, submitting designs to Gastar Electronic Entertainnt.
Gastar Electronic Entertainnt naturally seized the opportunity and even designated one of these submissions, with Takayuki personally approving a slot for it.
Such actions by their own mbers were considered a form of betrayal, and this behavior was the most effective at demotivating the activists.
It made them lose heart.
In the end, Dead or Alive achieved its purpose to a certain extent.
SuRi Electronics, Brown Entertainnt, and other gaming companies also began to develop gas with more traditionally appealing characters.
After all, no one would turn down money.
Gastar Electronic Entertainnt didn't do much—they just created a ga with a developnt cost of only $10 to $20 million, focused on developing beautiful characters—and it was able to rake in money like crazy. So surely, these other companies could do the sa, right? After all, this type of thing didn't require much technical know-how.
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