"Be more specific!" Hayakawa Uejin was starting to get impatient.
One of the ga leads quickly responded, "Gastar Electronic Entertainnt holds a very prestigious position in the minds of players. From the very beginning, players are incredibly patient with any ga they produce. Even with Sekiro, many players who were initially discouraged stuck with it simply because they trusted Gastar. But us..."
Hayakawa caught on imdiately: "I get it. In other words, apart from Gastar, no other ga company enjoys that kind of trust. If we were to make a ga like Sekiro, we'd probably end up losing money."
"Yes... that's right. Unless—"
"Unless what? Don't waste my ti."
"Unless more gas of this kind are released. Only then can a truly dedicated player base be cultivated. And only then can we safely step in to develop this kind of ga and stand a chance at making a profit."
Hayakawa found the whole thing ironic.
In the past, once a new genre erged, players would eagerly embrace it, and other companies could follow the trend and profit quickly. But this ti... things weren't going the sa way.
...
"Are you sure?" Hayakawa asked. "Why do you believe a ga like this wouldn't be well-received right now? Sekiro has already sold very well, so there must be so player demand for this kind of experience, right?"
"Well... Sekiro is still the only ga of its kind on the market. We feel there just isn't enough of a reference standard. Unless Takayuki is willing to share their developnt blueprint, we're likely to hit a lot of snags trying to make one ourselves—and frankly, if we go down the wrong path, this genre could easily beco sothing players hate."
Hayakawa took a deep breath. "I see. So for now, this entire genre is basically monopolized by Gastar Electronic Entertainnt?"
"Most likely, yes. Although I suspect other studios might still try their luck. They may not be as cautious as we are—they'll just see Gastar making money and want to imitate it. We could observe them first to see how they stumble."
Right after that, another developnt team lead added, "In any case, President Hayakawa, now is not the right ti for us to jump into this genre."
"Hmm... then so be it," Hayakawa said with so resignation.
The unexpected success of Sekiro had truly caught him off guard.
If a big open-world ga like Ghost of Tsushima did well, he could understand why—polished worldbuilding, high player freedom, stunning visuals. Those alone could win over any gar.
But without his team's explanation, he still wouldn't know what made Sekiro enjoyable in the first place.
Now, not only was he unable to make a similar ga—he couldn't even copy it.
Still, if even his team wasn't confident they could profit by imitating Sekiro, other companies would probably struggle even more. That gave him so sense of relief.
After all, they were currently still in an alliance with Gastar.
Wait... alliance?
Couldn't they leverage that partnership to request developnt insight into Sekiro?
Yes, that was definitely worth exploring. He made a ntal note to follow up on it.
Sekiro's montum hadn't slowed.
Two or three weeks had passed, and just as Ghost of Tsushima's hype died down, Sekiro made a sudden coback—catching the industry by surprise.
Several companies had been planning to release new gas after a delay, deliberately avoiding a direct clash with Gastar's releases. They thought the heat would die down in a couple of weeks.
But then Sekiro suddenly blew up again, and no one could explain why.
So studios began to complain bitterly.
Among them, the team suffering the most was from MicFort.
They'd just finished developing a few solid titles, carefully tid to release two weeks after Gastar's dual-launch strategy. Marketing was done, the gas were live, and they were bracing for strong sales.
Player interest was initially high.
But Sekiro's resurgence crushed their hopes—sales plumted.
What had been projected at one million copies per ga was now expected to drop to just 500,000 before Christmas—cut in half.
Naturally, Myron Case was the most frustrated of all.
He had given up equity and invested heavily, only to get blindsided by Gastar's unexpected smash hit. It was painful.
Still, Myron wasn't one to quit.
If 500,000 was the new benchmark, then so be it. Life had to go on.
Seeing Sekiro's revival, Myron decisively ordered one of his dev teams to start working on a similar title. Every mber was instructed to spend at least 100 hours playing Sekiro before developnt began. Then, they'd analyze and study how to create sothing like it—and get a piece of this new market segnt.
At the sa ti, Brown Entertainnt followed suit.
That studio had always mirrored Gastar's direction closely.
This follow-and-mimic strategy had paid off for them before. Their MMORPG Mystic Dragon's Treasure was currently one of the hottest online titles and their biggest moneymaker, so they weren't afraid of risk.
Thus, the year 2013 ca to a close under the double dominance of Ghost of Tsushima and Sekiro, and a new year quietly arrived.
And just as the year began, Takayuki received great news.
The Gastar The Park project had officially been approved by the Japanese governnt. In fact, the land originally allocated for a foreign amusent park was reassigned directly to Gastar.
The land would still require paynt, but taxes would be fully exempt for the first five years, cut in half for the following ten, and then adjusted as needed in later years.
And that wasn't all—thanks to efforts by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Japanese governnt would also fund the construction of a dedicated road to the park, offering maximum support for this dostic venture.
It was, without a doubt, the best news Gastar had received to kick off the year.
Takayuki imdiately made the call to divert part of the company's operational funds toward purchasing raw materials and beginning construction. He didn't want to wait a second longer—he was beyond eager to see the birth of a the park dedicated entirely to video gas.
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