Chapter 107: Porting to Another Platform

While Ras was introducing hamburgers to this world, the Meta Soft Casual Team completed both versions of Bubble Bobble. The original Bubble Bobble finished first, but the difference was only three days.

This result proved that Casual Team 2 was also fully capable of functioning as an independent development team. The quality had already been confirmed through the prototype and the continuing reports afterward, and even their development speed did not lag far behind Team 1, which was packed with experienced veterans.

“This is definitely fun.”

Garazt had already become fairly accustomed to the controls during the prototype stage, so he played quite skillfully. It was an extremely simple game, but that simplicity gave it a unique kind of gameplay charm.

The female team members also liked the cute Bubble Dragons quite a lot.

And the low level of violence was another advantage. After all, enemies were not smashed apart or sprayed with blood. They simply floated upward after getting trapped inside bubbles, so very few people found it unpleasant.

Still, unlike the early stages, the difficulty turned out to be higher than expected, so many people died quickly.

“Ah... I died again.”

Pana rubbed her face repeatedly while looking at her character after failing to react to the rapidly charging red whale enemy.

But this game had a kind of gameplay loop that made people unable to give up even after dying. Pana grabbed the controls again and focused once more.

Of course, even aside from the gameplay, they still had to continue since it was part of their work.

Everyone already understood what kind of game it was from the prototype stage, so they did not feel anything particularly fresh. However, they could clearly tell the difference in completeness. The pacing and responsiveness felt genuinely excellent.

In any case, the employees kept pushing onward and clearing stages even after dying repeatedly. They needed to confirm whether any bugs remained, after all.

Fortunately, it seemed the development team had done meticulous work.

Once testing was completed, Bubble Bobble was immediately handed over to Barbal Soft.

And Ras immediately instructed the IP Management Team to look for a factory capable of producing plush dolls.

“A plush doll factory?”

Ella repeated his words reflexively while picking up the telephone to relay the order. It was so unexpected that she could not help herself.

“Yeah. Remember what I mentioned before? About making merchandise using game characters.”

“Ah! Then you mean the dragon from that game called Bubble Bobble?”

“Exactly.”

“That actually sounds pretty cute. Got it. I’ll contact them right away.”

Unlike Ella, however, the IP Management Team had already discussed merchandise like this beforehand, so they accepted the order without surprise.

After all, one of the first possibilities Ras had mentioned was dolls to place inside crane games.

Still, Georg, the head of the IP Management Team, seemed slightly bothered by something before moving forward. He came to Ras’s office, cautiously gauged his mood for a moment, then finally spoke.

“Um... President.”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

Georg was a dwarf in his mid-twenties. He had the solid build of someone in his prime, and with his muscular body and thick black beard, the sight of him nervously watching someone’s reaction was not exactly graceful.

Still, Ras did not particularly dislike the fact that someone was being careful around him. He also understood that it could not be easy for the manager of a newly formed department, one still lacking clear accomplishments despite handling many ongoing projects, to speak candidly to the company president.

So Ras simply smiled and waited for him to continue. Georg hesitated one more time before finally explaining his thoughts.

“In my opinion, wouldn’t it be more effective to produce the plush dolls after an arcade port of Bubble Bobble is released?”

The primary purpose was to create dolls to stock crane games with. Of course, they did not plan to sell them only as cheap prizes. They also intended to create separate product lines with different sizes or higher-quality versions for direct sale.

In any case, Georg’s point made sense. Naturally, more people would want the dolls if there was a game featuring those same characters in the arcade beside them.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

If the order were reversed, it would feel somewhat anticlimactic. But Ras had already thought things through.

“We’re not planning to port this one to arcades.”

“Ah!”

Ras had seen Bubble Bobble in arcades before. But in his judgment, this was not the kind of game that suited arcade machines very well. If players became skilled enough, play sessions could last too long.

That was a fatal weakness for arcade games, where fast turnover was essential.

“That said, I’m not completely against a port. We just have no intention of requesting one ourselves.”

“Understood. Then I’ll begin looking for factories immediately.”

From the perspective of an arcade owner, it was not the most ideal choice, but even so, if the game ever did get ported, Ras planned to place one or two machines in Arcade Game Land locations for variety’s sake.

At any rate, Ras was already satisfied simply seeing this game recreated in this world. And thinking further ahead, releasing it on PC instead might allow more people to enjoy it and could even extend the game’s lifespan.

And if they were going to port it somewhere, he thought it would make more sense to port it to a console like Talados rather than to arcades.

“Hm...”

The more he thought about it, the less it seemed like a bad idea. In truth, he had not originally been interested in porting games to Talados. Frankly speaking, his first impression of their earlier titles had been that they felt crude, so his expectations for consoles themselves had been fairly low.

That was why he had only vaguely considered creating a console of his own someday.

But unexpectedly, the quality of their games had risen dramatically. At this point, it felt entirely possible for Meta Soft’s games to compete alongside theirs.

If Talados continued performing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at this level, there would be little reason to enter the console market personally.

Not only were their games satisfying, but if the competition was strong, then competing directly would simply become more difficult and less profitable. It seemed better to cooperate with the Talados developers and merely establish a foothold in the console market through them.

Besides, Meta Soft was already preparing to begin development on a next-generation computer, so there was no reason to unnecessarily spread out their development resources.

Still, now that he was thinking about consoles again, Ras began wondering whether he should contact Talados directly.

At first, he had only intended to consider it if they approached him first. But after thinking it over, he realized that such a request probably would never come.

When Metallic Jumper released, he had held some hope. Back then, the game’s uniqueness had been overwhelming enough that he thought they might request a port in order to prevent users from drifting away.

But Joy Systems’ capabilities had proven far greater than expected. Instead, they countered by releasing Run & Break, a title fully capable of rivaling Metallic Jumper.

And afterward, they continued releasing a string of high-quality games, actually increasing Talados’s sales. Ras had honestly been impressed back then. It made him think, So this is the level they’re operating at. No wonder they dared to create and sell the world’s first console.

And the FPS game that had surprised him recently had also come from one of Talados’s development studios.

After thinking for a while, Ras decided they should at least discuss the matter. But he also decided not to contact them personally.

It was not about playing hard to get.

He simply did not want to appear desperate.

There was also the issue that they currently lacked personnel capable of handling Talados software or console porting. And for matters like this, they already had a distributor they had been paying commissions to all along.

“Is it possible?”

“Ah, yes. We can handle it.”

When Ras contacted him, Paul Roxy did not even bother checking whether they had personnel capable of porting work in-house before immediately answering that they could. Barbal Soft’s influence had already grown large enough that they could recruit such talent whenever necessary.

As a powerful distributor, countless software companies were eager to establish connections with them. And among those companies, many were desperate to secure subcontract work.

“Then please discuss the matter with Joy Systems.”

“Ah, yes. Leave it to us.”

In some ways, it was little more than acting as a messenger, but Roxy did not feel displeased at all. He was not an arrogant man to begin with, and the fact that Meta Soft wanted Barbal Soft’s assistance was actually welcome news to him.

Meta Soft was becoming more and more of a giant corporation, even faster than Barbal Soft itself was growing. Since Barbal Soft relied heavily on Meta Soft’s power, there had always been anxiety about whether their relationship might one day break apart.

But now Meta Soft was making requests like this. It made it seem as though they still felt Barbal Soft was necessary and also suggested the relationship between the two companies remained close.

“Right?”

“Yes. If they were considering cutting ties with us, they wouldn’t be making requests like this.”

Jennifer seemed to have reached a similar conclusion.

The relationship with Meta Soft was not just Paul Roxy’s concern. Everyone at Barbal Soft knew how important it was. Some employees had recently grown somewhat dissatisfied because of the issue involving Panchi Games, but even so, nobody thought severing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ties would be acceptable.

So many people likely shared Jennifer’s positive interpretation of this matter.

Not long afterward, Roxy contacted Joy Systems.

“You want to port your games onto our platform?”

Kokaton had become tense when Barbal Soft contacted him. Since so many games had been copied from elsewhere, he worried they might be calling to confront him about that issue. But when the proposal turned out to be something entirely unexpected, his eyes widened involuntarily.

Of course, since it was a telephone call, only the slight rise in his voice was conveyed.

“Yes. We believe titles like Metallic Jumper, the upcoming Bubble Bobble, and previous releases like Tetris and Pac-Man would fit your system quite well.”

“Ah... yes...”

Kokaton trailed off, but the smile already spreading across his face was impossible to hide. Every single title mentioned was one he had coveted.

Especially Metallic Jumper.

They had managed to create and release a game capable of standing against it. But perhaps because of the shock he felt the first time he played it, he simply could not get it out of his head.

He had even gone so far as to wonder whether people were choosing computers over Talados solely because of that game.

Still, since he viewed Meta Soft as a competitor fighting over market share, porting their games had never even crossed his mind. Yet now the proposal had come from the other side first.

“Yes. After sufficient internal discussion, we’ll contact you again.”

Kokaton had already decided internally to accept the deal. He only answered this way for the sake of negotiating terms. If he appeared too enthusiastic, they might squeeze him excessively on royalties.

And in the following month’s issue of Gamers, an article announced that numerous Meta Soft games would be ported to Talados. Naturally, Talados users ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠erupted in excitement.

Bubble Bobble also launched overseas simultaneously. The Brunyad Federation, the Pluta Constitutional Kingdom, and even the Nuchin Kingdom all received releases.

A simultaneous launch had never been the goal. It simply happened because the game contained almost no text, allowing localization to proceed extremely quickly.

Only a few smugglers felt disappointed. Gamers across every nation celebrated Meta Soft’s new release.

Kiljizan of the Pluta Constitutional Kingdom felt the same way. Kiljizan was a forty-year-old man and a devoted fan of Meta Soft. He operated a small furniture shop and had originally purchased a computer simply to help manage the business.

But once he owned a computer, he naturally wanted to try different things with it, and after hearing that games were fun, he decided to buy some and give them a try.