Chapter 110: Bubble Bobble IP Merchandise

Even for games that would not be ported to arcades, Ras intended to wait until they had sold sufficiently well in the PC market before proceeding with ports.

Last time, in Bubble Bobble’s case, he had released it too quickly because he wanted to break into the console market as well. Honestly, he regretted it a little afterward.

I should’ve said we’d port it after about three months or so.

Fortunately, they were already producing and actively selling packaged versions here. Even at the fastest pace, the port to Talados would take at least two months. By then, the period with the highest sales would already have passed.

The response to the Bubble Bobble series had been extremely good. Since they had released versions tailored to overseas computer specifications as well as domestic ones, the overseas reception was equally strong.

In the past, they could only gauge reactions through sales numbers, but thanks to Gamers, which Telomi had personally created, Ras could now feel those reactions much more vividly.

Perhaps because Telomi was overflowing with enthusiasm, he even sent reporters overseas to conduct interviews directly. Naturally, in this world where international exchange was not very active, such coverage became extremely provocative content.

Ah, damn it. “The cultural power of the Republic of Smite leading the world.” Seriously.

Given the era, mixing in a bit of patriotic hype could not really be helped. Still, even taking that into account, Ras found those articles genuinely entertaining. Though he ended up twisting around on the sofa in embarrassment while scratching at himself.

“I thought Meta Soft only made games for the latest hardware, so I was really glad they made something with graphics compatible with older computers too… as expected.”

Reading the Gamers article, Ras nodded along. It was an interview with gamers. The speaker was a man named Barzin from the Pluta Constitutional State, and since it was exactly the kind of reaction Ras had intended, he felt pleased. This was how overseas gamers would gradually become fans as well.

“So are you going to keep making things like Bubble Bobble from now on?”

“Hm. Not sure.”

Ella was sitting close beside him on the sofa reading ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a book. But perhaps she found Ras reading the magazine interesting, because she had been peeking over and finally asked curiously.

Since she owned a Hammer Computer herself, she naturally preferred games with flashy graphics. That was only natural. She could not give up her own enjoyment for the sake ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of other people.

So her question carried a hint of disappointment. And honestly, Ras felt the same way.

Making games that more gamers could enjoy certainly sounded nice. But as he had already said several times before, Ras belonged to a generation that had never even experienced 8-bit computers.

People in this world called these games flashy with cutting-edge graphics, but to Ras, this was merely the bare minimum threshold where something could finally be called a proper game. So making games with graphics even worse than this naturally failed to excite him very much. Even if he was not personally doing the coding himself.

“I’ll just make them in moderation. If we release about three games with the latest graphics, maybe one will support older specifications? Once we release our new computers anyway, everyone will eventually switch over to those.”

Honestly, that was closer to an aspiration than a realistic statement. Lowering the price below Hammer Computer while producing enough units to dominate overseas markets would absolutely not be easy.

Still, they were preparing diligently for it.

Karkov was already fully absorbed in development, while Utaro was busy searching for factories. Preparing another massive production facility while hard disk sales had not yet stabilized was an enormous burden.

But Ras was someone who had already seen just how much the future computer market would grow, so he pushed ahead without hesitation.

“As long as our product is good enough, it’ll definitely succeed. Don’t worry and keep preparing.”

“Yes…”

Utaro felt reassured by Ras’s confidence, yet at the same time found himself doubtful. He simply could not understand where such certainty—almost as if Ras had seen the future—came from.

If this fails, even the chairman won’t come out unscathed. But maybe this kind of person is exactly why he managed to come this far.

In any case, development of the new computer and preparations for commercialization were progressing smoothly. The design phase was still ongoing, so fixing a release date remained difficult, but since Karkov had promised a prototype within three months at the latest, it did not seem like they would be waiting forever.

“But about Bubble Dragon. Is there anything besides the plushies? Didn’t you say you were preparing all sorts of things?”

“Ah, that. We’re preparing stationery and simple toys for now.”

Ella had gone to the arcade before and won a plushie from a crane game. While fiddling with it, she suddenly asked about character merchandise. Since they had already been talking about Bubble Bobble, the thought must have come to her naturally.

For now, the plushies stocked in the crane machines were popular.

“Huh? Isn’t that from Bubble Bobble?”

Many visitors to the arcade recognized the plushies inside the crane machines and pointed at them.

The dolls themselves were certainly cute, but more importantly, that recognition factor mattered. It was nothing special, yet somehow people found themselves wanting one.

As a result, many people ended up feeding coins into the crane machines. In truth, even if they were cute, one should have been enough. But Ras had maliciously produced them in multiple colors, ensuring that people would not be satisfied with just one.

Besides Bubble Dragon, there were plushies of other monsters too. Unexpectedly, the Ghost Whale was also quite popular. It was such a hateful enemy in the game, but perhaps that made people like it even more.

Some female gamers would glare at it one moment, then hug it while calling it cute the next.

There were also higher-quality plushies made specifically for retail sale. They were not massive hits, but they sold reasonably well. They were sold in variety shops, gift stores, and even in dedicated shops inside Arcade Game Land itself.

Character stationery was still being prepared. The IP Management ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Team had established a stationery company that would print characters onto notebooks, erasers, pencils, pens, and similar products.

Since stationery already had guaranteed sales by nature, it was not a particularly risky business model.

“Please make sure the quality doesn’t fall too low. People may buy it because of the characters, but if the products themselves are too cheap, the IP itself could end up looking cheap.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Ras was not saying this pointlessly to Georg. At the very least, the products needed to meet a basic standard if customers were expected to buy them again next time. Since the merchandise was being produced ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by a subsidiary anyway, they were not even paying separate character licensing fees, so there was no reason to cut costs on quality.

Of course, because it was a new company, there might be some technological shortcomings. But what Ras wanted was simply for them to meet the basics.

And so, the stationery launch was progressing smoothly without problems.

The toys, however, were a little more questionable.

“Want to see?”

Rather than answering Ella immediately, Ras hesitated before suddenly remembering the sample products he had received. They had already contracted a factory and produced several sample items.

“There’s already something finished? I want to see.”

Seeing Ella show interest, Ras rose from his seat with a more complicated expression and a bitter smile. He walked to his desk, opened a drawer, and brought back a small box containing the samples.

When he opened the box, colorful little toys revealed themselves.

“Ah. Cute.”

Because Ras’s reaction had been so strange, Ella had expected something disappointing. So she found it odd when she saw the tiny Bubble Dragon figures, each only about the size of two finger joints.

“Here.”

Since it was a business sample rather than a personal belonging, Ella hesitated to touch it carelessly. Noticing that, Ras picked one up and handed it to her.

Lately, it felt as though they could understand each other without even speaking. Ella smiled brightly and accepted it happily.

“Oh? It’s plastic?”

“Yeah.”

Plastic had only recently begun being introduced into this world, so it was not yet widely used. Most toys were still made of wood or metal. But since Ras already knew how things would develop in the future, he had immediately introduced plastic injection molding machines.

Naturally, they were expensive, but not to the point that Ras found burdensome. Besides, equipment for making metal toys was not cheap either, and producing toys from wood or metal required much more labor, making them more expensive in the long run.

Thinking back to Ras’s awkward reaction regarding the toys, Ella examined the red Bubble Dragon figure in her hand from several angles. And despite not inspecting it very carefully, she quickly found the reason.

“Ah… the quality feels a little awkward.”

“Right?”

Ras answered with a bitter smile, as if he had expected that reaction.

At first glance, it looked fine. But once you actually held it in your hand, it felt lacking in many ways.

If it had been a soft plushie, perhaps it would have been easier to overlook. But because it was made from hard plastic, the shortcomings in quality stood out even more.

“The Bubble Dragon in the illustrations didn’t feel like this. Weren’t the eyes supposed to look more lively too?”

Ella pinpointed exactly the part Ras disliked most.

They had done a decent job printing the pupils, but perhaps because the color application technology was still lacking, the colors looked slightly blurred, giving the eyes a dull appearance.

Ras had already instructed them to improve the quality further, but according to reports and the additional information he had investigated, it seemed difficult to dramatically improve quality in the short term.

Plastic injection molding technology and plastic coloring technology were both still very underdeveloped. Since it was still the early stages, that could not really be helped.

“Still, it doesn’t feel like nobody would buy it.”

“True. It’s not like nobody would.”

Meta Soft already had a dedicated fanbase, and the Bubble Bobble series was popular too, so there would definitely be people who wanted related merchandise. But selling only a few items to those people would not be enough.

If it were some kind of high-priced luxury product, maybe that would be different, but this clearly was not that kind of item.

Holding the small, crude-looking piece of merchandise, Ras smiled bitterly.

Feels like I’ll need to sell these using a different method…

With ordinary sales methods, it seemed obvious they would shine briefly and then quickly fade away. Sure, there was a chance they might unexpectedly become a hit, but Ras could not run a business relying on luck.

Besides, he was someone who had reached this point using knowledge from Earth without ever experiencing failure.

“Ah!”

Then, as he recalled his experiences and memories from Earth, a plausible idea came to mind.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Ah, nothing. I just thought of a good method.”

Ella had been examining the differently colored Bubble Dragons, monsters, and colorful bubble marbles inside the box when Ras suddenly raised his voice, startling her enough that her orange eyes widened into circles.

Ras apologized and calmed her down while organizing the idea that had come to him.

And there was not just one method, but two. No, there were more, but there were two methods that would be especially easy for Ras to implement right now.

The first was capsule toy vending machines.

The kind where you inserted a coin and turned the knob, causing an opaque plastic capsule to come out, and when you opened it, some mysterious toy would be inside.

Come to think of it, the word “gacha” used in the gacha games popular before Ras came to this world had originally come from these capsule toy machines. Supposedly, the sound of inserting a coin and turning the knob sounded like “gacha!”

(Translator’s Note: Gacha (ガチャ / 가챠) — Japanese term originating from capsule toy vending machines known as “gachapon” or “gashapon.” The name imitates the sound of turning the machine crank. The term later became widely associated with randomized reward systems in video games.)

Recalling that random piece of trivia he had probably seen on YouTube or Namuwiki, Ras chuckled quietly.

(Translator’s Notes: Namuwiki (나무위키) — Korean community-driven online encyclopedia website launched in 2015, widely used for internet culture, trivia, and fandom information.)

Conveniently for Ras, he already owned arcades and also had experience creating crane games. Developing and installing capsule toy machines would not be difficult.

The next day, Ras immediately summoned Utaro and instructed him to begin development.

Naturally, explaining it verbally alone would not be easy, so Ras prepared a proper planning document and handed it over.