Chapter 72: Imiz Soft and a New Business Plan

“No. It’s not a sports game. Honestly, that isn’t boxing. Like the game companies say, the term fighting game fits it perfectly.”

“So you want to make a fighting game?”

“Exactly!”

“I don’t know. Even if we make something similar, can it really become that popular?”

Azem now understood reality to some extent, so he did not have much resistance toward making something based on a popular game.

But copying something did not guarantee success. Several games similar to Fighters’ Club were already out. Meta Soft had long since become a game company that led trends.

Even before this event, and even before it came out as an arcade game, Fighters’ Club had already become a hit on PC, so it was only natural for similar games to appear. However, most of them were too busy copying it and merely stopped at being treated as imitations.

Of course, if they could reach even the level of One Round, which had sold decently among them, that would not be a bad result for Imiz Soft. But even that was not easy.

“I’m not thinking of making the exact same thing.”

Zek explained his idea to his still lukewarm colleagues.

“This is something I felt after going to the tournament. I don’t think this fighting game genre necessarily needs to wear the skin of boxing.”

The people there were not playing or watching because of the boxing genre. They were simply enjoying the fighting game itself.

Of course, this was possible because Ras had made the genre a hit. If Ras had not approached it through boxing as the subject matter, it would not have succeeded this much.

“We use the material more freely. Warriors from the Orc Empire can appear, warriors from the past or future can appear, or even monsters can appear. Right! Wizards can appear and use magic too!”

It did feel a little cluttered.

But Azem and Truban imagined it in their heads and felt that it sounded plausible.

Magic exploded, an Orc dressed like an ancient warrior charged in with ferocious force, and all kinds of characters symbolizing strength, from giant monsters to demons from the Demonic Realm and angels from the Heavenly Realm, appeared and fought each other. It really did seem like it could work.

“Yeah... I think that might be good?”

Truban was the first to be convinced. Since he had some interest in classic heroic tales and alternate history works, perhaps that reaction was only natural.

“Right. I do think this idea could actually work.”

“Right?”

Zek’s face immediately brightened when even Azem agreed.

“But first, we need to solve the problem of making a living. We don’t have funding! Can’t you see what I’m doing right now? How are we supposed to develop it?”

That was the problem.

Fortunately, they had no debt, but that was only possible because not all the developers were employees. They were friends and business partners.

Unexpectedly, however, the thoughtless Zek had brought ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a plan for that.

“Can’t we receive investment?”

“Investment?”

“Yeah. You said the idea was good too. I’m sure there’ll be somewhere willing to put up money. If we draw some impressive concept art and prepare a proposal, even a rough alpha, I can somehow persuade them.”

It was a plausible suggestion.

Until now, they had been too small and had no achievements, so the word “investment” felt extremely far away from them.

But because they worked hard on subcontract jobs to survive, they at least had a reputation for being fairly skilled and diligent.

Moreover, this game plan really did seem like it could work.

As Zek said, if they could show investors a decent level of development capability, receiving investment did not seem impossible.

Above all, this was a game boom period, so enormous amounts of money were currently flowing into this field.

“So. Do you have somewhere in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mind?”

Azem asked Zek, but he did not have any particular expectations. After all, their network basically amounted to the companies giving them subcontract work.

But Zek’s answer was very unexpected.

“I’m thinking of asking Meta Soft.”

“What?”

When Azem looked dumbfounded, Zek immediately laid out his thoughts and shut down the objection.

“No, you know games don’t become successful just because they’re fun. In that sense, Meta Soft is well-known, they handle arcade ports well, they have a lot of money, and they’re serious enough about promotion to hold game tournaments. If we receive investment from them, we’re already halfway to success.”

“...Yeah. That part is true, but how are we supposed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠get them to invest? And it sounds a little funny saying this, but if our game succeeds, it’ll become their direct competitor. Would they invest in that?”

Truban, who had been quietly listening to Azem’s rebuttal, cut in.

“No, if they think it’ll become a competitor, they’d invest precisely because of that. If the game is going to come out whether they invest or not, wouldn’t they think it’s better to invest and profit from it?”

“Right?! And we won’t know whether they’ll invest unless we ask. If we make it, it’s obviously going to be a huge hit, so unless they’re idiots, they’ll invest.”

Zek spoke with overflowing confidence.

Azem and Truban thought that this side of him had come out again. The reason the two of them had originally fallen for Zek’s persuasion and joined this game company was because of that overflowing confidence.

But it was not a bad thing.

When this guy overflowed with confidence like this, his motivation and drive became just as impressive, so things often moved forward rapidly.

It did not always activate, and he was usually a bit frustrating, but in any case, Azem began to feel some anticipation that something might come of it this time.

“An investment request?”

“Yeah.”

When Ras returned to the office, Ella informed him of the call that came while he was absent. Ras had just come back after checking the progress of game development.

Game development was still his main business, but these days, he rarely coded directly, and he was busy with other businesses as well, so he had set up a separate office.

Imiz Soft? Not a company I know.

“They said they’re making a fighting game and will visit later with a proposal.”

“Only a proposal?”

“Yeah. Their financial situation seems really bad.”

Originally, Zek from Imiz Soft had planned to create even an alpha before requesting investment.

But once he made up his mind, continuing to do subcontract work while the schedule kept getting endlessly delayed felt far too frustrating.

So he contacted them like this, thinking he should just take a shot first.

That was how confident he was in the plan.

“Well, meeting them when they come shouldn’t be difficult.”

Ras replied to Ella without thinking much of it.

Now, Ras’s company had a security team made up of burly Orc men guarding the entrance, so he needed to tell them in advance if visitors were expected.

There had been quite a lot of investment requests like this lately.

Even when he only had Meta Soft, he had earned quite a lot of money, but perhaps because he refused interviews and stayed hidden behind Barbal Soft, things stayed quiet.

But after rapidly expanding his businesses and attracting attention in various ways, contact from outside, such as investment requests, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had also increased.

Ras was not particularly negative toward investment either.

If they produced a decent game and brought him profit, that was good enough. It also meant expanding his network in the development industry.

Through such connections, he could find talent, obtain information, and depending on the situation, even acquire an entire development team.

Of course, he needed to avoid reckless investment and acquisitions.

The businesses he had started were now stable, so he did have some financial breathing room.

But Ras had not forgotten how both the arcade business and the hardware business had swallowed enormous amounts of investment money at the start, making him wonder if things might go terribly wrong.

Still, after finishing one major event, he felt somewhat bored.

On top of that, all his businesses had entered a stable phase.

Arcade Game Land was guaranteed to succeed as long as they opened branches, and Brams, the overall manager, had also become fairly competent, so there was almost nothing Ras needed to worry about.

Meta Hardware was the same.

Utaro handled management, and Karkov handled development, so there was nothing more to say. Thanks to the hit product called the joystick, it could already operate stably with its own sales without additional investment.

The game side was also progressing smoothly as he continued checking its status.

He would need to make a proper judgment after seeing the prototype later, but the designs and sounds he could currently confirm with his own eyes were better than he had imagined.

No, to be exact, they were different from what he imagined, but they were not lacking. Instead, they felt good because of that unexpectedness.

If this had been him back on Earth, he would have enjoyed this free time and looked for something fun to do.

But perhaps because he had completely become a businessman, Ras found himself unconsciously searching for another business opportunity.

And he just so happened to have one thing in mind.

“Ella.”

“Hm?”

Ella was handling her usual work at her desk. It was mainly checking Ras’s schedule.

When Ras called her, she confirmed that no one else was in the office, then smiled slightly and answered.

“What do you think about us starting a magazine company?”

“Huh? Really?”

Ella widened her orange eyes in surprise.

In truth, depending on the scale, starting a magazine company did not require an enormous amount of money. Considering Ras’s financial power, it was not difficult.

But there was a reason Ella reacted that way.

Ras’s businesses made a lot of money, and she now roughly understood what they were, but to her, they were still something unfamiliar.

By contrast, a magazine was something familiar, something that belonged to the mainstream, and something that carried a sense of prestige.

Ras guessed what Ella was thinking and chuckled.

Then I really should make one.

It was not because he particularly wanted to enter mainstream culture.

It was entirely because he wanted more people to enjoy games.

This was not simply an ideal as a game developer.

Realistically, that was how more money would come in too.

His final goal was something like a TV channel dedicated to games.

But right now, the only weapon he had was Fighters’ Club.

Even then, although the tournament had been heated, the number of people involved was extremely insignificant compared to the total population.

The same applied to the arena. At first, he considered making a dedicated arena, but he simply rented one instead, and he planned to continue doing that for a while because they still lacked content.

“Why are you reacting like that over a magazine? I can make several magazine companies if I want. And later, I’m going to start an entire broadcasting station.”

Ras spoke to Ella about his future plans as if he were bragging.

It was half joking, but he also slightly wanted to look impressive in front of his girlfriend.

“A broadcasting station? Really?”

As expected, this young lady had good reactions.

Her ears perked up as she looked at him with round eyes. Even though their relationship had become very familiar by now, he still thought she was truly cute.

“Yeah. But before that, we need to make a magazine company first, so please write a job advertisement.”

“Mm. Okay.”

Now that Ella had grown used to the role of secretary, she no longer made a troubled face even when he assigned her something unfamiliar.

Instead, after saying she understood, she found the method on her own and somehow completed it.

Before he knew it, she had become a fairly reliable colleague.

Ras looked at her with satisfaction, then remembered one more thing.

“Ah. And hire manga artists too, not just reporters.”

“Manga artists? Okay.”

Ras planned to make a game magazine.

Even now, there were magazines that included game-related content, but it was only added as a side branch.

By contrast, the magazine Ras planned to make would center on games, while also briefly introducing products from Meta Hardware and similar items.

However, since it was a new magazine, it would inevitably start as something minor.

So he planned to include things like game-related manga to increase the content and draw in some of the manga-reading population as well.