Chapter 131: Myth Wars

To prevent people from taking only the code, they could use a method similar to lottery tickets and hide the code beneath a scratch-off coating.

It was not a bad method. Come to think of it, Ras vaguely remembered hearing that even on Earth, beverages containing game codes had been sold before and had generated decent sales.

Still, it did not necessarily have to be a practical product. Once people started splurging on card packs, even practical goods would end up becoming excess junk anyway. Just like Pokémon Bread on Earth.

As an aside, Spirit Bread was apparently being donated at an incredible rate. Thanks to that, the orphanage Ras occasionally visited at least had plenty of bread to eat. Though since it was tasteless factory bread, the children did not seem all that fond of it.

Returning to the card pack discussion, Ras thought of a fitting item for it.

Collectible cards.

It could be considered a genre similar to Spirit Seals. Though if anything, this one was probably closer to the original. Baseball cards.

They were simple cards with player illustrations and names printed on them. As far as Ras knew, they had existed since the late nineteenth century, around the 1870s. That meant they had over 150 years of history, which made him wonder again why this world still had not come up with something like this.

They had been hugely popular even back then, and even in modern times, rare cards still sold for enormous prices, maintaining their status as collectibles.

Of course, if they were released through card packs, the print volume would be massive, so there was some doubt whether they could maintain that kind of value and collector appeal.

Still, baseball cards on Earth had originally been sold together with cigarettes. No matter how many card packs sold, they probably would not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠outsell cigarettes. Besides, in this world it felt like almost every man smoked.

“Hm. It does not seem bad.”

Georg, someone from this world where baseball cards did not yet exist, reacted somewhat lukewarmly.

“Think about Spirit Seals. These will definitely become popular. No, there will be people who buy them even without caring about the codes.”

Once Ras brought up Spirit Seals, Georg finally seemed to get the idea. The popularity of Spirit Seals right now was truly incredible. Among Spirit Stone users, there were plenty of people practically surviving on Spirit Bread alone.

And the full-sheet illustration given to those who collected every seal and spirit was one of the most coveted items among gamers.

There were already many street vendors in the Local Market dealing in collectibles who traded Spirit Seals. The Local Market was basically like the flea markets that used to exist in Dongdaemun on Earth, the kind of place that sold all sorts of miscellaneous items.

(Translator’s Note: Dongdaemun (동대문) — Major commercial district in Seoul, South Korea, historically famous for its large-scale markets and flea markets selling clothing, electronics, collectibles, games, videos, and miscellaneous goods.)

Ras recalled how, when he was very young, he had gone there holding his uncle’s hand and had been fascinated by the stalls selling adult videos and old games. Of course, he had also seen people selling stamps there.

“Ah... I suppose that could happen. Baseball is already a popular sport, and the players themselves are hugely popular too.”

Georg finally understood the potential of baseball cards as he imagined baseball fans going crazy over signed balls, bats, and even shirts once worn by players.

Chairman Ras gave the order, and executor Georg accepted it, so the work quickly began moving forward. Of course, since the game was still in development, they could not release the card packs immediately. They first had to prepare production by finding artists to draw the illustrations, printing companies, package designs, and so on.

Meta Soft usually took around four to five months to create a game, so they intended to synchronize the release schedule and distribute the card packs nationwide as soon as the game launched.

While Ras was busily preparing new games like this, another game was also released.

The fantasy fighting game from Imiz Soft, which Meta Soft had invested in earlier, was finally completed. Though saying “finally” was somewhat exaggerated since the development period had not actually been that long.

It was simply that Meta Soft’s development speed was abnormally fast.

Meta Soft had clear planning, abundant funding, and the manpower and equipment to support it, which made this pace possible.

The biggest reason was probably the strength of the planning itself. Most games suffered delayed development because teams failed to settle on a direction, stumbled around indecisively, or scrapped and restarted projects after problems emerged.

In that regard, Imiz Soft had a fairly fast development pace because the company president, Zek, possessed a very clear vision ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and strong drive.

“That’s a bug.”

During the final test, Ras pointed out how the angel character flew into the sky before suddenly erupting upward through the ground.

“Ah. We’ll fix it immediately!”

Zek answered at once.

If Imiz Soft had a weakness, it was that they were somewhat sloppy. Their momentum was good, but they pushed ahead so aggressively that they overlooked many things. Fortunately, their investor Meta Soft happened to be very meticulous.

These days, they even operated a separate QA Team. Meta Soft had become a major corporation now, so having the developers themselves fully responsible for testing was not ideal. Still, perhaps because it had become a tradition, the developers always played the completed game first.

There were many other bugs as well, but the game still turned out well. The characters looked cool, and the animations were flashy and satisfying. The balance was somewhat poor, but the concept itself had never really suited meticulous balancing to begin with.

It was a game where various mythical beings fought using bizarre powers. There ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were completely different character types, such as mages who spammed magic and berserkers who swept away everything around them with giant swords.

Balancing it was far more difficult than Fighters’ Club, where everyone was fundamentally just boxers. Honestly, the fact that everyone could fight reasonably well at all was already proof they had worked hard enough.

“Wow, this is seriously fun.”

Garazt swung a giant golem character ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and sent a hero flying before giving his impressed evaluation.

Since it was a fighting game that emphasized violence and also featured many attractive female characters, male players reacted very positively. There were women like Nebrania who liked the game as well, but overall the female response was somewhat lukewarm.

Ras released the game while anticipating the market’s reaction.

Its title was Myth Wars.

Thanks to advertisements through Gamers and the flashy illustrations on the package and posters, sales were high from the very beginning despite Imiz Soft practically being an unknown company.

“Haha, look at this!”

Zek shoved an article from Gamers right in front of Azem’s face.

At the moment, Imiz Soft’s development office was nearly empty. Aside from the three business partners, everyone else was on vacation. The three of them alone had remained behind to handle post-release tasks like answering calls from stores.

<The dazzling graphics and charming characters will capture players’ attention.>

It was an article from the “Game Reactions” section in Gamers, and the praise written there completely excited Zek.

Naturally, anyone would feel good seeing a game they struggled so hard to create receive positive reviews. But Azem, who had a somewhat cynical personality, noticed the line written alongside the praise.

<The balance is poor, and there are numerous minor bugs.>

“Still, it’s a favorable review.”

Even so, he did not point it out. The overall response truly was positive, and more importantly, the sales numbers objectively were not bad, so there was no need to ruin the mood.

One hundred thousand copies.

Back in the old days, they had barely managed to sell in the thousands. Remembering how they had desperately survived through subcontract work just to make ends meet almost brought tears to his eyes.

And this was not even the final result yet. It had not even been a full month since release. Receiving investment from Meta Soft truly had been a divine move. Since Zek, as company president, had made the decision and achieved successful results, Azem figured he could tolerate a little arrogance from him.

Azem pulled out his own copy of Gamers that he had bought and stored away. Instead of the review section, he looked through the strategy articles.

The articles explained in detail how to use each character, their skill commands, and skill combinations. The mere existence of articles like these meant there were many people playing Myth Wars seriously and wanting to become good at it. Thinking about that left Azem deeply moved.

When they had been making this game, there were times he had wanted to beat Zek to death more than a dozen times a day from sheer exhaustion.

Especially during the Crunch Mode period before release, when they struggled to meet the deadline, all he wanted was to collapse and get carried to a hospital. He had even reached the insane point of resenting his parents for giving birth to him so healthy.

“Hey. This is seriously huge. Azem, Truban!”

While he was lost in thought, Zek called out to him. That overly excited voice gave him a very uneasy feeling.

“What is it?”

Truban, however, seemed not to notice that feeling at all and lazily answered in a drawn-out tone.

“We hit the jackpot this time, right?”

“Hm? Yeah?”

Instead, he even sounded hopeful, wondering whether Zek might be talking about giving them bonuses or something.

“You know the saying, strike while the iron’s hot. Shouldn’t we hurry and make a sequel?”

“...”

“We’re not doing anything right now anyway, so maybe the three of us should start making it first?”

But Zek’s next words instantly shattered that excitement.

What he said was not wrong. And realistically, they probably really would make a sequel.

The problem was his timing.

They had only just released the game. The other team members were on vacation, while the three partners had remained behind at the office answering calls simply because they were co-owners. Bringing up a sequel under those circumstances naturally made Truban clench his fists.

“W-Wait... why are you clenching your fists? Azem, you should stop him too.”

Instead of stopping him, Azem rolled up the Gamers magazine in his hand.

“Hey. You deserve to get hit.”

And so, at Imiz Soft, it became time to beat up the company president.

Meta Soft’s Ras felt satisfied.

When he first invested, there had been some anxiety that he might simply be wasting money on a project he had not created himself and whose success he could not guarantee because it was not something he had seen on Earth.

But as if proving his judgment correct, the returns had exceeded the amount he invested.

The gaming industry definitely no longer belonged to Meta Soft alone. Other companies were greedily chasing after Meta Soft’s success and producing games just as impressive.

Rather than feeling threatened, Ras felt anticipation.

It was not because he planned to invest in promising developers like this case and turn their success into his own.

The reason was much simpler.

Ras was also a gamer.

Of course, now he also possessed the identity of a game developer, so he wanted himself—no, his company—to create god-tier games. But at the same time, he also desired to enjoy unexpected god-tier games born from this world.

“Contact Panchi Games. Tell them I want to discuss porting the newly released Myth Wars.”

“Okay. Got it.”

Ras immediately decided on an arcade port.

Fighting games suited arcades better than any other genre, so this had already been planned from the start. But with the PC market reacting this positively, his expectations rose even higher.

After all, ever since Fighters’ Club, demand for new fighting games had been growing. Up until now, Ras had pursued different forms of versus games by planning Tetris 2, Puzzle Bobble, and even Bomb Special Forces, which was still in development, but now fans of the fighting game genre itself had already appeared.

After all, there was a unique kind of fun in players directly beating each other up through their characters that other versus games simply could not replicate.