Chapter 130: Licenses and Card Packs

“First, matches will proceed automatically.”

Some of the employees immediately looked disappointed at Ras’s words. They had wanted to personally play as the superstar players they recruited as team owners.

“First of all, team owners don’t personally play in matches, do they? So this is also for realism, and also because we need to reflect the players’ specs from multiple angles.”

Batting average, stolen-base success rate, defensive success rate, and so on would all become meaningless the moment a person directly played the game, so the matches had to be automatic.

And if they made it so players both managed the team and played the matches, there was a high chance the game would become too crude.

Ah. Wait, were there cases where team owners played personally?

Ras suddenly remembered seeing news on Earth about team owners personally playing in matches in some country. But that country did not exist in this world.

“To make this game, we need to turn the players’ abilities into objective numbers. Things like batting average, stolen bases, and success rates are already recorded in professional baseball, but we’ll need many other stats as well.”

Since it was a program, matches could only run if all the variables existed. But unlike Ras had thought, this world did not yet record and publicly release players’ ability values in fine detail. Only some coaches and managers secretly recorded and used them.

Because of that, quantifying the players’ abilities would be harder than Ras expected. Of course, Ras would not be doing it himself, so it was only the development team’s hardship.

“And the stats will be divided into potential values and current values.”

“Ah. So there’s a growth concept?”

“That’s right. But if they grow infinitely like in a role-playing game, realism falls apart, and players could just buy cheap players and raise them, which would ruin the fun of management. That’s why we’ll add potential values.”

Garazt seemed to grow interested as he listened and actively participated in Ras’s explanation.

“The growth method will be training, like in real baseball. Of course, the player will also have to spend money and make plans for this training.”

Each time Ras added another piece of content to the blackboard, the development team members thought there was more for the player to do than expected. In truth, some of them had thought it would be a boring game when they heard the player would only manage the team without playing the matches.

“Of course, since it’s a realistic game, stats will gradually decline as players age.”

This was to emphasize realism, but also a device to increase playtime. Otherwise, the game would simply end the moment the player gathered the strongest roster.

After that, Ras continued explaining the game’s plan. It was a game he had already played on Earth, and he had wanted to make it for quite a long time, so he had enough time to think about how to make it in this world.

Because of that, Ras’s plan was detailed and had almost no gaps. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠development team simply had to focus and listen.

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

“Yes!”

After telling the development team to focus on making it, Ras called Martin from Meta Soft’s Management Team. This game had work to do outside development as well.

“You heard about this game, right?”

“Ah. Yes. A game about managing a baseball team.”

Ras tested him lightly, and fortunately, Martin seemed to be focusing enough on company affairs. Ras did not interfere much with the Management Team’s work, so he had been slightly worried they might have grown lax.

“Yes. That’s right. But this needs to use the names and information of real teams and players, so we’ll need to negotiate with that side.”

“Ah. I understand what you mean. I’ll contact the Baseball Federation immediately.”

As expected of the Management Team leader, Martin was not a slow-witted person, and he understood as soon as Ras opened the subject. Thanks to that, Ras could simply nod in satisfaction instead of explaining at length.

In the past, he would have avoided games that required additional costs or troublesome work like this, but now he had enough money and a separate department to handle such matters, so there was no reason to hesitate.

And he had his own calculations too. This world was not yet very sensitive about portrait rights or intellectual property rights, so he did not think they would demand a large amount. Depending on how the negotiation went, they might even allow it for free, calculating that it would promote them.

(Translator’s Note: Portrait rights — Legal rights related to using a person’s name, likeness, image, or identity for commercial purposes.)

After all, Meta Soft might be one thing if it were a small company, but it had already established a powerful position in the Republic of Smite.

And in reality, things proceeded similarly to what Ras expected.

“Our games have been selling almost over one million copies whenever we release them. And since our chairman has especially high expectations for this game, it will have more than enough advertising effect.”

“Hmm...”

The middle-aged Dwarf who appeared as the Baseball Federation’s negotiator stroked his beard and considered Martin’s words.

“Not only that, our games are receiving strong reactions overseas as well.”

“Hmm. Overseas reactions don’t seem very meaningful.”

Martin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠paused briefly at the heavy voice of the man named Kangai, but continued speaking without letting the smile leave his face.

“Come now, we know very well how popular our Republic of Smite’s baseball is overseas. Didn’t you sell plenty of broadcasting rights this year too?”

(Translator’s Note: Broadcasting rights — Rights sold to media companies allowing them to broadcast sports games or events.)

“Hmm. That is true.”

Kangai smiled slightly and nodded at Martin’s words. Acknowledging the other party’s strength was disadvantageous in a negotiation, but he could not hide his satisfaction.

This was not because Kangai was incompetent, but because he did not consider this negotiation especially serious. After all, in this world, revenue sources besides match tickets and advertising fees were still considered minor.

This differed from professional sports on Earth, which earned money through all kinds of goods. It was not that professional sports in this world were incompetent; it was a difference of era.

“Well, fine. Then we’ll allow you to use our players’ names and information. But is that exclusivity really necessary?”

“Haha... If other game companies also started using them left and right, the topic value would naturally fall, wouldn’t it?”

If not for the condition of exclusivity, they probably could have used the rights for free.

If it were the rights to the entire intellectual property, the Baseball Federation would also have felt uneasy and refused. But these were only rights that could be used in games. The game market had already grown considerably and was still growing, but general perception still remained minor.

However, even if it was limited to games, the word “exclusive” made Kangai hesitate.

Martin did his best. He had to make it feel absolutely necessary to them, while also making it seem not that important.

In the end, Martin obtained what he wanted from Kangai by using the 500,000 Del Ras had wagered.

Kangai, or rather the Baseball Federation, probably had not allowed it just because they coveted a mere 500,000 Del. They underestimated the value of these rights and the potential of the game market, judging that this amount was an appropriate fee.

They would probably regret it before even ten years passed, not even half of the thirty-year validity period of these rights, but only a third of it.

“Excellent work!”

“Ah. Thank you.”

Ras naturally praised Martin greatly. Martin also felt a sense of accomplishment, but seeing Ras, the chairman, this pleased made him slightly puzzled, wondering whether what he had done was really that impressive.

But after seeing this outside-development matter handled and the development team begin full-scale development, Ras felt a slight sense of regret.

He had some concerns about how player recruitment would work in this plan. For now, he had chosen a method where players used in-game currency to recruit players in the game world by paying transfer fees, just like in real baseball. Or they would discover promising prospects in amateur leagues and the like.

The other method he had considered was a gacha system like Professional Baseball Manager, which he had played back when he was in Korea.

Ras knew very well that this was essentially gambling coated heavily in commercialism. But the reason people could not quit even while calling it dirty was because it was that fun.

The thrill of drawing the card of the player one wanted still felt vivid to him.

On top of that, Ras planned to strengthen this game’s online functions so that if players used Network Play, they could play online season games. For single-player, that might be one thing, but for this kind of multiplayer, a gacha method suited it well.

After all, players would inevitably overlap, and no matter how much money was offered, no ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠player would sell their ace. If trades did not happen, then players could only discover prospects, but that would take forever to build a deck.

And since prospect scouting depended on luck anyway, if one thought about it, it was no different from gacha.

After long consideration, Ras decided to add a gacha system to the online mode.

The magical connector had a major influence on this decision. With the previous network environment, the limits of data transmission would have meant online mode could only be a service game using simple single-player mode data. But with the magical connector, it was possible to store and exchange player data on the server.

Another influence was that they had officially obtained the license from the Baseball Federation. Since they had gone to the trouble of getting it, he wanted to properly sell it.

However, even if they used gacha, doing it exactly the same way as Earth would be difficult. There was no online payment method. The closest possible method was bank transfer, but going to the bank for a transfer every time someone bought one card pack would be far too troublesome.

Moreover, bank transfers in this world could not be done easily by smartphone like on Earth. One had to go to a crowded bank and wait at least one or two hours.

In the end, the method Ras chose was to use the distribution network and sell actual card packs.

The distribution margin would eat into profits quite a bit, but it could not be helped. Of course, since Meta Soft was also a software developer, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he had considered developing an electronic payment system outright. But this was not something that ended with developing software alone.

They would need to negotiate with banks, and after looking into it, since it involved finance, related laws would also need to be created.

Ras’s company had grown quite large now, so perhaps it might not be impossible. But considering the cost and time it would require, it seemed better to accept the margin loss and sell card packs.

Of course, electronic payment was an incredible item, so he decided to prepare for it. It was only being postponed because society was not ready to accept it yet, resistance would be strong, and the cost would be high. When the time came, he would immediately snatch it up.

One thing Ras realized after living in this world for several years was this: no matter how much future knowledge he had, if society was not ready to accept it, he could not use it.

That was why he still had not been able to create game broadcasts. But once he held a few world-scale tournaments and drew corporate interest, even those stiff broadcasting stations would have no choice.

In any case, returning to the card packs, Ras discussed the matter with the IP Management Team. It seemed like something for Meta Soft’s Management Team, but this side had the distribution network and capability to distribute card packs.

“If they’re thin cards, the cost shouldn’t be too high.”

Georg was not especially negative about card pack distribution. However, he did look somewhat regretful. It was because after going to the trouble of distributing them, they would be items thrown away after users checked only the few letters of code inside.

“How about combining them with other products?”

Having already sold various character goods, he offered this opinion. Whether it was notebooks or toys, adding a few letters of code would be nothing.