Dude, after sprinting ho, was t with disappointnt—he had rushed back for nothing. He turned on his computer and entered the BattleNet platform, but everything on the U.S. version of the site was calm and uneventful.
He quickly jumped over to Facebook.
Now the platform was abuzz with discussions about the discount event.
Many longti Facebook users who rarely posted had suddenly reappeared.
Facebook's rise had gone hand-in-hand with the rise of video gas. At the ti, there had been a huge overlap in user bases.
Gars loved sharing their gaplay experiences online and were always looking for others with the sa passion—sothing that was hard to find in real life.
Even today, gars made up a massive portion of Facebook users and were among its most active communities.
Earlier, around 4 or 5 a.m., Facebook's trending topics were the usual mix—celebrity gossip, regional incidents, or protests in different parts of the U.S.
...
...
But within an hour, one unexpected topic shot to the top:
Sumr Sale.
A strange phrase at first glance.
Many didn't even know what it was. They assud it was so kind of local street market or retail pop-up.
But clicking in, they realized—it was about video ga discounts.
So people imdiately lost interest.
But for gars? It was electrifying.
Night owl gars in the U.S., much like Dude, had imdiately rushed to check BattleNet or their console digital storefronts.
But everything remained eerily quiet.
Well—not entirely quiet. On the store's hopage, there was a countdown tir.
It showed how much ti was left until the sale went live.
When they saw there was still ti to wait, players flooded Facebook and Gastar Electronic Entertainnt's official forums with complaints.
Why had Japan gotten early access?
Was Gastar looking down on U.S. gars?
But the outrage didn't last long. People realized it was a global, region-based release—ti zones explained the staggered launch, and that was perfectly reasonable.
This was a gar's holiday. Everyone was hyped.
So tech-savvy players tried to sneak past region locks and access the Japanese store early to grab those god-tier discounts.
But most were promptly blocked.
Gastar Electronic Entertainnt had tight restrictions on cross-region purchasing—both to protect themselves and their business partners, and to avoid gray-market resale issues. It was a common industry practice.
So U.S. gars had no choice but to wait.
Still, the hype didn't die down in the slightest.
People like Dude went through their workdays completely distracted, mind filled with thoughts of the Sumr Sale.
How deep would the U.S. discounts go?
Would they be Japan-exclusive?
No—that couldn't be. If Gastar was running the event, it wouldn't treat regions unequally.
Still... it was agonizing. The desire to rush in and buy gas was overwhelming.
Ti ticked by slowly. anwhile, even people who didn't usually care about video gas began noticing the buzz.
Gars had typically been quieter online—sharing thoughts within their own communities, occasionally recomnding gas to non-gars, but rarely stepping outside their bubble.
Today was different.
They expressed their love for video gas boldly and openly, praising the gods of gaming for this divine gift.
Ga gods. Discounts. Celebration day.
One keyword after another began piling up—and for non-gars, it was impossible to ignore.
Passively, they started absorbing the news.
Discount.
Takayuki had long believed that the word discount had power far beyond the gaming world.
Discounts could sway anyone, gar or not.
It was basic psychology.
A gar hears about deep ga discounts? They're thrilled. They celebrate.
A non-gar hears the sa thing? At first, maybe they're confused or mildly curious—but then they learn that gas that used to cost full price can now be bought for a third—or less—and realize gaming really isn't that expensive.
Even if they don't usually play, buying one to try out becos tempting.
Even just having sothing to talk about with gar friends could be reason enough.
So why not take a look?
And with that mindset, the Sumr Sale began reaching entirely new audiences.
People who had only ever played free mobile gas—because console or PC gas were too expensive—were now tempted.
Now, they weren't hesitating anymore.
At 8:00 PM U.S. ti, the second the clock struck the hour, traffic to BattleNet and console storefronts exploded.
100,000.1 million.3 million.5 million.
By 8:10 PM, real-ti access in the Aricas surged past 5 million users.
Millions of gars—and even non-gars—had flooded the digital storefronts.
And along with the traffic spike ca skyrocketing sales numbers.
To mark the occasion, Gastar Electronic Entertainnt launched a live-updating sales leaderboard.
But this leaderboard wasn't made for the public.
It was for partners, and for those skeptical developers and publishers who had hesitated—or even scoffed—at the event.
At 8:10 PM, the best-selling ga in the U.S. region was GTA: San Andreas.
For Arican gars, it held a special place in their hearts.
The ga's city was based on the U.S.—playing it felt like living another version of the Arican dream.
Second place? Uncharted.
With its cinematic presentation and breathtaking visuals, it had even been cited by filmmakers as a reference for visual storytelling.
And now? It was only $8.
Buy, buy, buy!
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