Chapter 37: Panchi Games

Just at the bus stops alone, there were several flashy arcade machines as large as industrial refrigerators. Hotels, casinos, restaurants, bars — if a place had enough room, it probably had arcade machines installed, and there were always crowds gathered around them.

Computer games had now reached the point where titles could sell 500,000 copies, but the arcade market was still a world where games with absurdly expensive arcade boards could sell as many as 700,000 units. As the owner of a game company, Ras naturally couldn’t help paying attention to it.

The problem was that arcade games required hardware tailored specifically to the software, sometimes even entire custom machines. Since Ras lacked hardware capabilities, he couldn’t jump into the field directly and would have to rely on a specialized company. But from the perspective of arcade companies, they were already busy selling their own games. There was no reason for them to manufacture another company’s games — especially products from a computer game company that could even be considered a competitor.

So he had already given up on the idea. Which was why he never expected an offer like this to suddenly arrive.

“Do you happen to know a company called Panchi Games?”

“No. I’m not very familiar with the arcade side of things.”

“I see. They’re fairly well-known in that field. In the past, they had major hits with Planet Escape and Assassin. But lately, it seems their situation hasn’t been very good.”

It was a common enough story. They had continuously failed with sequel titles and been pushed into a corner by competing companies.

“Then did they contact you first?”

“No. Not exactly.”

Ras had jumped to conclusions too quickly. Even though the other party wasn’t physically present, he still scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“There’s an employee at our company named Amans. After playing Beat Heater, he insisted that this absolutely had to be ported to arcades.”

Amans had already thought earlier games like Tetris and Pac-Man suited arcades better. But Beat Heater felt like something beyond even that.

The imperfectly reproduced music caused by hardware limitations, the need to carefully press tiny keyboard buttons — those environmental restrictions were limiting the potential of this incredible game. Furthermore, although the effects and visuals clearly pushed the hardware to its limits, he still found the plain graphics disappointing.

But if they created a dedicated arcade machine, they could play the music directly through records, add large buttons players could enthusiastically slam, and create far flashier graphics. He strongly insisted it would provide the ultimate gameplay experience.

“I see. President, could you please pass along my thanks to him for thinking so highly of our game’s potential?”

“Ah, yes. Of course.”

Ras had worked hard on the game, but he never expected someone to respond this enthusiastically. And he couldn’t help thinking this Amans person had remarkable insight. The concept Roxy described sounded almost identical to rhythm game arcade cabinets from Earth.

“Then should we proceed with this project?”

“Yes. Please do.”

“Very good. Once the detailed contract terms are finalized, I’ll contact you again.”

And one week later, they contacted him again.

Since he knew little about this field, Ras had spent the meantime digging through magazines and consulting Barbal Soft about standard contract terms. The proposal he received wasn’t much different from the norm.

“I apologize. We should have secured better conditions for you, but they insisted the cost of manufacturing dedicated Beat Heater machines was simply too high.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

Indeed, Beat Heater probably couldn’t become a proper arcade product through a simple board replacement alone. In fact, they even needed to create separate machines capable of swapping records to play the music. For Panchi Games, whose situation was already poor, it must have been an extremely difficult decision.

Still, perhaps because they were an established game company, they clearly had an eye for quality. After all, Beat Heater hadn’t even released yet and was still unproven, yet they had already decided to manufacture dedicated machines for it.

Although Ras’s thoughts weren’t entirely wrong, the truth was that Amans’s forceful insistence played an even bigger role.

This should be fine, right?

The contract terms themselves weren’t particularly problematic to begin with. But after discovering these additional disadvantages hidden on the reverse side, Ras instead found himself satisfied by Barbal Soft’s negotiation skills.

“Then let’s proceed with these terms.”

“Yes! Leave it to us!”

Three days later, Tshtet personally visited the office carrying the contract documents, and after Ras reviewed and signed them, the agreement was officially finalized.

Not long afterward, the PC version of Beat Heater released first.

Before release, Ras had contacted Barbal Soft just in case, asking whether Panchi Games might feel uncomfortable about the PC version releasing ahead of the arcade version.

“There’s no need to worry about that. We asked them ourselves first, and they actually seem to think the PC version will serve as advertising.”

“That makes sense.”

Since Panchi Games was a company with declining recognition, spreading awareness of the game was more urgent than worrying about sharing market profits. And it wasn’t necessary to think of it as stealing customers either. Arcade machines could offer performance superior to PC games.

Even if someone already owned the game at home on PC, they might still want to play it on a more visually spectacular arcade machine. Especially in Beat Heater’s case, the difference would likely be even more dramatic.

The PC version of Beat Heater sold explosively the moment it released, thanks to Meta Soft’s name value. Some players felt disappointed that it wasn’t an RPG, but since Meta Soft also made games like Tetris and Pac-Man, others were excited by the introduction describing it as an action game.

And nearly everyone who purchased and launched the game was shocked by the sound they heard first.

There had certainly been games before that emphasized sound effects, but those usually amounted to nothing more than short, repetitive rhythms. This genuinely felt like actual music.

Still, polarized reactions were unavoidable. People who enjoyed it became obsessively hooked, while those with no sense of rhythm or who disliked fast-paced action games often lost interest after only a few attempts.

Some also criticized the low sound quality, arguing the game had simply arrived too early for existing technology.

Well, nothing I can do about that.

Ras clicked his tongue while reading magazine reviews. The reactions were exactly what he expected, but criticism was never enjoyable. Even so, sales were enormous. The initial printing of 10,000 copies had completely sold out within a single week.

“It’s still too early to predict total sales, but based on the initial momentum, it might even surpass Land of Adventure.”

The information came directly from Barbal Soft’s President Roxy over the telephone. It seemed intuitive gameplay appealed more easily to large audiences than complex and intricate systems.

Of course, games that were both simple and genuinely fun weren’t exactly common.

In any case, with the newly released game succeeding, the atmosphere at Meta Soft also improved considerably. Naturally, there was always tension during the period between release and the arrival of public reactions.

Even if the game had failed, they wouldn’t have abandoned development entirely. Still, high employee morale was never a bad thing. Perhaps because of that, development speed on the war game also seemed to gain momentum.

The random map generation system had already been completed and fully tested. Garazt, who spent four days tearing his hair out creating it, had been visibly anxious while demonstrating it to Ras. Fortunately, there were no issues whatsoever.

“Hooo...”

Clenching his fist tightly, Garazt unconsciously let out a sigh of relief with his eyes closed.

Various other systems were completed as well. In other words, the overall shape of the game was finally beginning to emerge.

Honestly, when they first started, the unfamiliar challenge had felt overwhelming. Yet after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠only slightly more than a month, they had already come this far. At this pace, within another month or two, they would likely have a playable prototype.

And there were signs the development speed would accelerate even further. The recruitment efforts requested from Pana and Garazt had succeeded, increasing the development staff.

“Please take care of us!”

The new graphics employee was Jenny, a slightly chubby human woman around Pana’s age. The new programmer was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gruff-looking man in his late twenties older than Garazt. Ras thought his name was Kelliper.

It seemed both would require time to learn and adapt, but based on the interviews, they definitely appeared capable. Whether they were truly talented would only become clear over time, but his initial impression wasn’t bad.

However, with more people came another issue.

It’s cramped.

Ras proudly watched the two newcomers sitting at their desks learning from their seniors before suddenly feeling suffocated. The office, now packed tightly with desks and computers, had started feeling far too small.

Then again, he originally rented this office in a hurry simply because he felt uncomfortable having only Pana ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and himself working together at home. Naturally, squeezing seven people into such a place made it cramped.

It seemed like they needed to move offices.

And suddenly, a thought crossed Ras’s mind — what if he built an actual company building? Back on Earth, that had been one of his personal dreams.

No... probably not.

But the impulsive idea didn’t last long. It wasn’t impossible. He already possessed tens of millions of Del, and even if the company was still small, he could simply construct a modest office building suited to its current size. But that wasn’t what Ras truly wanted. More importantly, they needed a new office immediately.

He even briefly considered constructing a massive building with the future in mind.

However, he still hadn’t given up on graphics card production. He was already planning to send proposals to universities again.

And although he didn’t know for certain, he suspected that once hardware development truly began, even his current wealth would melt away instantly. Just remembering how much money hardware companies spent on investments back on Earth made that obvious.

And even beyond graphics cards, he intended to pursue any promising business opportunity that came to mind. Which meant he needed to keep capital available. Someday, he might desperately need every last coin.

So spending enormous sums on a huge building they didn’t immediately need felt wasteful.

In the end, Ras simply decided to rent a larger office nearby, in the area he had already grown accustomed to.

As mentioned before, this district had already declined economically, so there were many empty spaces above the second floor, making it easy to find a new office.

He briefly considered moving to a fancier district. But there was nothing particularly wrong with this neighborhood, and he had already become comfortable here, so he didn’t really feel motivated to relocate elsewhere.

“How about this place?”

“Yes. It looks fine.”

Ras followed a balding real estate agent who appeared to be in his fifties as they toured various locations before finally finding something suitable. There simply weren’t any sleek modern buildings in this neighborhood anyway. So all that mattered was whether the place wasn’t severely damaged and still had working electricity and water.

And despite having sat vacant for a long time, this place was relatively clean and spacious enough. In fact, it almost felt excessively large. It measured roughly one hundred pyeong. But perhaps because of the neighborhood, it wasn’t particularly expensive, and Ras decided to think of it as preparation for future company growth.

He also liked the fact ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that the floor above was vacant as well. If people occupied the upper floor, there would naturally be noise that could interfere with development. He even quietly went upstairs to check personally, but since there was no signboard and only a rusted metal door remained shut, he didn’t bother opening it.

Through the real estate agent’s introduction, Ras hired workers to clean the space and perform basic interior renovations. Since they were moving into a larger office anyway, he wanted to create a proper workplace. The renovation work progressed faster than expected. Labor costs were cheap in this world, and he had simply thrown money around to hire a huge number of workers.