If not for StarCraft as its foundation, the mod created by Peter King and his team would essentially be a complete and mature standalone ga.
For soone like that, Takayuki didn't hesitate—he brought him under his wing imdiately.
With such a team and a leader like Peter King, the value they could create was unquestionably high.
And soone like him was destined to shine. Watching Peter King reminded Takayuki of many star ga developers from his original world.
Though in the U.S., star developers weren't as well-known as in Japan.
People rembered nas like Hidetaka Miyazaki, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Hideo Kojima, but few could na the creators of Red Dead Redemption.
This partly ca down to differences in corporate culture and how different regions treated the idea of star developers.
So cultures naturally preferred to mythologize their creators.
In Japan, Takayuki could be revered as a god of gas. If he'd crossed into the U.S. instead, he might at best have been seen as a respected figure among younger gars—not quite divine.
He gave Peter a new team and full creative freedom, assuring him he didn't need to worry about funding. Any project under $50 million wouldn't even require Takayuki's approval. Anything more would go through a brief review.
On top of that, Peter was offered an excellent salary. His original team mbers were also welcod into the company with generous pay—Peter had no reason to decline.
Given Takayuki's status as the god of gas, Peter joined Gastar Electronic Entertainnt with a near-reverent heart.
Naturally, Peter had one request: to speak with Takayuki face-to-face for an entire afternoon. He wanted answers directly from the legend.
Takayuki gladly agreed and even made a special trip to the U.S. to speak with the not-yet-20-year-old.
Now in his 40s, Takayuki's mindset had matured greatly. Talking to soone like Peter was also a valuable opportunity to understand the next generation of developers.
Peter, without hesitation, joined Gastar's North Arican team. He was given a new developnt departnt, with recruitnt overseen by him and HR. They planned to hire a minimum of 1,000 employees, each with strong growth potential.
As for the StarCraft mod Peter had created, it was formally integrated into StarCraft's official story with help from the developnt team.
It was optimized for better compatibility with the ga engine.
The mod was then re-released as a paid expansion for just $10.
For that price, players could enjoy over 100 hours of content. The art style was retro, but that was part of its appeal—especially for StarCraft's hardcore fans, who snapped it up without hesitation.
So even publicly demanded:"StarCraft devs, wake up! We've been waiting for a new story for far too long!"
The mod went on to sell over 5 million copies.
A true labor of love from fans, it still managed to generate revenue. Half of the profits went to Peter's original team, and the rest to Gastar.
It was almost like free money.
By the ti other ga companies realized what was happening, Takayuki had already scooped up all the benefits—locking down Peter's team completely, leaving competitors pounding their chests in regret.
Then ca the present mont. After a year or two, Takayuki assigned Peter's team a new, top-priority ga project:
Developnt of GTA: Liberty City Stories.
Unlike GTA: San Andreas, this title would dive deeper into narrative complexity.
San Andreas had emphasized brotherhood, turf wars, and street violence.
This fourth installnt would expand the story and evolve the gaplay foundations of San Andreas.
Now powered by the AI system, Liberty City Stories had far more gaplay possibilities.
"This ga will be set in a city modeled after New York, but in the ga it'll still be called Liberty City. As for the gaplay, don't feel too restricted by what I've outlined—you're free to expand. The developnt budget is set at $100 million. Don't worry about marketing costs. I'd like it to be finished within three years."
"You can count on us, boss! We won't let you down!"
For Peter, this would be his first ti leading a large-scale comrcial ga.
Even just the project outline made it clear how massive the ga would be.
It might not match the scale of Cyberpunk 2077, which the company was developing at full throttle—but it would be close, at maybe 60-70% of that scale.
At just over 20 years old, Peter had passion—and a healthy amount of caution.
He knew this was Takayuki's way of testing him.
Could he really lead a major title? If he succeeded, the future might hold even greater projects—maybe ones bigger than Cyberpunk 2077 itself.
To ensure everything stayed on track, Takayuki assigned Gastar's 7th developnt division to support him. Veteran producer Shizue Yabuki, who had over a decade of experience and had worked on tal Gear Solid, would co-produce the title with Peter. Yabuki would serve as a backup plan, making sure Peter didn't let youth run wild.
Though technically an expansion, Liberty City Stories had just as much hype as the mainline gas.
Takayuki decided to go all-in—GTA IV would finally receive its full and complete form.
This ga would also mark the first ti the series used multiple protagonists.
Set in a New York-inspired tropolis, three main characters would weave together a rich and captivating narrative arc.
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