At a friend's party held in a Japanese ho, a group of people were gathered around a ga console, watching soone play a video ga.
Most of them had little experience with video gas. Normally, they spent their ti on what they considered to be "aningful" activities, and both they and their families viewed video gas as a waste of ti.
But at a social gathering, people always want to find sothing fun to do, and watching soone else play a ga had unexpectedly beco a fascinating experience. For people unfamiliar with gas, the vivid, lifelike world on the screen gave them a montary sense of awe.
Just then, soone walked over out of curiosity. Upon recognizing the ga on the screen, his expression showed both surprise and a hint of disdain.
"Huh? Are you playing Assassin's Creed?"
"Yeah."
"Mm, it's definitely Assassin's Creed. It's a pretty good ga."
The person nodded. "It is pretty good, but honestly, it's a bit too formulaic. That formula makes it lose a bit of its charm. Still, it's definitely a solid title."
...
...
At that mont, the ga being played was Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the second entry in the Ezio trilogy.
With Gastar Electronic Entertainnt releasing more and more gas, they had stopped numbering their sequels. Instead, they left it up to players to na them however they liked.
Gastar just refused to use "2" themselves, and no one could do anything about it.
Rumor once had it that Dragon Quest stopped at the tenth installnt because they didn't want to deal with the number twelve.
But Final Fantasy did eventually release a 12th entry, leaving everyone stunned for quite so ti.
For a ga series to reach its twelfth main installnt was extrely rare, sothing that even Takayuki himself acknowledged as a mark of success. Only a few other companies besides Gastar—like Surei Electronics and Brown Entertainnt—had series that reached that milestone.
So of the group watching turned to the one who had comnted on Assassin's Creed.
"Asakusa, have you played this ga before?"
The boy called Asakusa replied with a bit of pride, "Of course. I've played tons of gas. My dad grew up on gas, and I'm just following in his footsteps."
Soone muttered, "That's not really what 'following in his footsteps' ans..."
After bragging, Asakusa continued, "Look, it's fine to play Assassin's Creed, but it's released three titles in a row—one every year. And they're planning to continue with that pace. Honestly, it feels a bit rushed, like a cash grab."
"Do you have any ga recomndations?"
"Of course! You guys look like you haven't played many gas before, so my top recomndation is definitely Super Mario."
Soone perked up. "Oh, I've heard of that. Isn't it a really famous ga?"
"'Famous'? Co on, that series is practically the king of gas. Every new entry used to break records!"
"Any others?"
"What kind are you looking for?" Asakusa asked.
One person looked at the screen. "Sothing like Assassin's Creed. I think it looks really cool."
Asakusa quickly shot back, "What's the point? Cool doesn't feed you. The industry already considers Assassin's Creed a formulaic 'canned' ga. Soon, other companies will mass-produce gas just like it. You really don't need to waste your ti on sothing like that."
The person playing the ga put down the controller. He couldn't take the mockery anymore.
"Asakusa, you don't know anything about Assassin's Creed."
"Oh, I don't?" Asakusa chuckled. "The series is already considered the industry's model for formulaic open-world gas. It's Gastar Electronic Entertainnt's template for showing off what a standard ga should look like."
His reply was almost instant, but coming from a fifteen-year-old who sounded like an industry analyst, it felt a little unnatural.
That's because those weren't his own opinions—they were things he read on a gaming forum.
It was a review site's forum, filled with loud, opinionated users who loved to dissect every move the industry made.
The kid playing the ga flushed with frustration. Then he suddenly rembered sothing.
"Bet you didn't know the next Assassin's Creed is coming out before Christmas this year. It's going to be sothing completely new, with brand-new systems."
"New systems? I don't buy it."
"Just wait and see!"
...
Ti fast-forwards to December 2014. Assassin's Creed was released right on schedule.
No one in the industry was surprised. This series had beco the gold standard for industrialized ga production—a benchmark that told developers: "This is what it ans to be a real ga company."
In other words, Assassin's Creed was Gastar Electronic Entertainnt's way of showing what a baseline, high-standard ga looked like.
Any studio capable of making a ga to that standard could count themselves among the upper tiers of the industry and earn a bigger slice of the pie.
Those who couldn't match that quality were stuck in the lower rungs—unless they happened to create a fluke hit like so indie gas from the original world.
"President, today is the release day for Gastar Electronic Entertainnt's Assassin's Creed. Should we buy a copy and check it out?"
At Surei Electronics' Ga Developnt Division, the departnt head accompanied Hayakawa Ueto during an inspection of the ga and console projects.
With rumors spreading that Gastar was preparing to launch a next-gen ho console—not a hybrid device like the Switch—Surei naturally didn't want to fall behind. Losing ground here would an a serious drop in ga revenue.
"Assassin's Creed, huh? The formulaic one from Gastar?"
"That's right, sir."
"What's your take on it?"
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