Chapter 143: WGAME
Some time later, in February, one of the projects Parallel Soft had been working on was completed.
“It’s still an MVP version with only the minimum functions possible, but no fatal issues have been discovered, and it operates without problems.”
(Translator’s Notes: MVP (Minimum Viable Product) — A development concept referring to a version of a product containing only the minimum core features necessary for testing and initial release.)
Ethan Caldwell, the PM of the ESD Project, spoke in a slightly tense tone.
Ethan sounded like a Korean name, but Ethan was actually a white Anglo-Saxon man in his thirties.
With his yellow beard and barrel-like physique, he looked almost like a Viking, but he was a high-level developer who had graduated from MIT and led CD-ROM-based game launcher development projects as well as the construction of online patch systems.
Insu slowly examined WGAME, the completed ESD client.
On the left side was a library of purchased games, along with a search function, a payment window connected to WPAY, and a “Store” page mixed with advertisements such as discount information. It looked almost exactly like Steam copied outright.
‘Well, it’s a bit rougher and lower-resolution, though.’
He did not have any particularly special ideas or concepts for this area, so he had simply copied an already verified structure.
“The planning document was so detailed that we just had to make it exactly as written.”
“Making something according to the planning document isn’t easy either.”
Insu spoke awkwardly inwardly at Ethan’s praise-filled words. Since this was another world, there were no ethical issues involved, but it still felt strange being praised for something that was not truly his own.
WGAME looked simple on the surface, but the technology inside it was far from simple.
First of all, it contained all sorts of security systems, and implementing DRM (Digital Rights Management) in particular was extremely difficult.
(Translator’s Notes: DRM (Digital Rights Management) — Technologies used to control access to copyrighted digital content, such as requiring authentication or license verification before use.)
DRM was essentially a system that encrypted games so they could only be played after verifying a license, in other words, a CD key, through the platform.
(Translator’s Notes: CD key — Product authentication code used to verify ownership of PC software or games, especially common in the 1990s and 2000s.)
Of course, DRM itself was a broad term referring to various systems for managing digital copyrights, but the DRM used in Steam and WGAME worked in this way.
“This DRM is the core.”
“Yes. Without it, people would just copy and distribute everything freely.”
In truth, some of the developers in the WGAME division, including Ethan, who was nodding seriously right now, had proposed a DRM system that authenticated only at the time of purchase instead of requiring internet verification every time, considering the current internet penetration and infrastructure levels.
Naturally, Insu rejected the proposal.
“Considering the user experience and universality is certainly important, but security matters more.”
Still, instead of ignoring them completely, he later decided to add Steam’s Offline Mode-style system, which temporarily stored authentication information in cache so games could be played for a certain period without online verification.
Returning to the testing discussion, Insu personally purchased a sample game that had been registered, installed it, played it, and examined systems such as updates.
Afterward, they coordinated with the QA team to fill WGAME with dummy data and sample products and conduct testing. Of course, the development team had already performed internal testing, but since the service was not officially launched yet and there was nothing inside it, they had not been tests close to actual live conditions like this.
Quite a lot of bugs appeared.
“Ah! Payment failed again!”
“This won’t refund properly. Ms. Lila, is yours doing the same thing?”
There were also many cases where games would not launch at all. Some UI bugs also existed, so sometimes buttons would not respond even when clicked.
The development team fixed things one by one.
However, there were priorities.
“Security comes first. And next, make sure you find and fix every payment-related bug too.”
Ethan repeated the words Insu emphasized every single time to the team members.
If something went wrong in these areas, the platform itself could collapse.
Of course, they also fixed the remaining issues carefully, but they did not aim for perfection.
After all, bugs could never be completely eliminated. Even Steam in 2025 still suffered from bugs, various errors, and other issues.
Once the service was live, such bugs became less a development problem and more an issue of response and service management.
In any case, WGAME reached a level where it could officially launch in March.
However, they did not plan to operate it exactly like the Steam Insu remembered from his previous life.
For now, it would mainly focus on managing games they themselves had released.
There were still barely any games available to list on the platform. At best, they could upload TLF1 and MFN now that their contract period with Velocity had ended, but it would be unreasonable to call themselves a distributor with only two titles.
‘We need a killer title.’
Valve had also gathered users by servicing its new title Half-Life 2 through Steam.
(Translator’s Notes: Valve — American game development company best known for creating Steam and the Half-Life series.)
(Translator’s Notes: Half-Life 2 — 2004 first-person shooter developed by Valve, notable for its strong integration with Steam during release.)
The currently developing Volder seemed capable of playing a similar role. The problem was that there was still far too much time remaining before its release.
If they were not going to sit around blankly waiting until 1998, they needed to try another method.
For now, they had thrown proposals at various distributors and developers, including Velocity.
“We’ll think about it.”
“Yes. Please do.”
However, even Velocity, which he had considered the most likely possibility, rejected them with those words.
Honestly, it was only natural. At a glance, this ESD was obviously going to become their competitor. There was no reason whatsoever for them to help strengthen it.
Even though Parallel Soft guaranteed considerable profits to its partners, the response remained the same.
In truth, even Valve had barely been able to distribute outside games before successfully launching Half-Life 2 through Steam. It was not that they had not tried—they simply failed.
‘There’s no need to rush too desperately.’
Since they had developed it with such effort, he wanted to turn it into something like the Steam he remembered immediately, but there was nothing to be done if it was impossible.
And Steam had only truly begun growing by seriously distributing outside games starting around 2005, so there was still time left.
As long as they steadily moved forward one step at a time while doing the best they could, that would be enough.
Fortunately, Insu could think of several strategies.
First, just like future ESDs would do, they could distribute indie games from small-scale developers.
Offline distribution had fairly high barriers to entry by default.
Naturally, distributors also had to accept a certain degree of risk when distributing games, so they needed to be selective, and in order to recover costs and maximize profits, they aggressively cut into the developer’s share.
However, indie games generally struggled to achieve high sales volumes. Their base revenue was already small, and once a distributor took a large cut on top of that, there was barely anything left.
“But we’ll only take thirty percent.”
“Thirty percent?!”
Seongcheol widened his eyes in surprise.
That made sense, since in offline distribution, even developers receiving thirty percent was difficult.
Parallel Soft received high percentages because its name value was enormous, but normally it was around ten to twenty percent. Small indie developers sometimes received as little as five percent in the worst cases.
“So you’re giving them seventy percent? That’ll definitely attract people.”
In truth, this later became the standard ratio in the ESD industry, and some latecomers would even emerge taking only twenty or ten percent. But by current standards, it was definitely revolutionary.
“Since it’ll feel unfamiliar at first, and there’s also the drawback that it’s hard to use in places with poor internet environments, we need to go this far to bring developers in.”
At first, developers might only focus on the fact that the cut taken was smaller than existing offline distribution. But anyone capable of basic calculations would eventually realize that ESD required no physical package production, no inventory forecasting, and no costs for distributing physical products, so naturally it should take a smaller share.
Taking those factors into account, the 7:3 ratio had been set to match the psychological resistance line.
“Then are you planning to release Christforge’s new titles through WGAME too?”
At first, just as Seongcheol said, Insu had considered releasing subsidiary company games through WGAME as well.
But after much thought, he abandoned the idea.
Insu shook his head with a bitter expression and answered.
“Honestly, I think for quite a while ESD won’t be able to produce sales volumes comparable to offline distribution.”
Part of the reason was that ESD itself was not yet well known to users, but the main reason was that there still were not many people with internet environments good enough to download and play games.
Internet penetration in 1997 was around twenty-five to twenty-seven percent, but the population with cable internet capable of downloading relatively large new games was only around two to three percent.
By contrast, computer penetration had already exceeded forty percent.
For high-capacity new games, that meant the potential market size was more than ten times larger.
Even if they were subsidiary developers, he could not force them to accept such losses.
In truth, the only reason Insu had decided to release Volder through WGAME was because its planned release year was 1998. If it were being released immediately, he would simply have distributed it through Velocity.
‘No, even if it’s 1998, it’d probably still be better to release it alongside offline distribution.’
Cable internet was currently spreading actively, and Parallel Soft was even investing to fan the flames, but it was difficult to know how much it would spread within the year or so remaining before Volder’s release.
At minimum, cable internet penetration needed to reach fifteen to twenty percent.
And in Insu’s previous life, that figure had not been reached until around 2000. Even if Parallel Soft’s investments and the increased demand from rapidly launched internet services accelerated the timeline somewhat, 1998 still seemed impossible.
Thus, the method of relying on subsidiary company games was concluded to be unworkable.
Fortunately, there was still one more method remaining.
“Huh? Games from there?”
“Yes. Lunaria said they weren’t particularly interested in targeting the American market, right?”
The idea was to bring over games from their overseas partner, Japan’s Lunaria Softworks.
More specifically, the plan was to take games that had achieved moderate success in countries with somewhat established computer markets, such as Korea, Japan, and China, but lacked the capability for overseas distribution, localize them directly, and distribute them.
Since those companies had already given up on overseas distribution because they lacked the capability, there was no reason for them to refuse someone offering to handle it for them.
Of course, they had already calculated everything before giving up, so the likelihood of tremendous success was low.
However, because ESD itself carried extremely low distribution costs and risks, even slight sales would likely be enough to cover operating expenses.
And right now, filling the storefront was urgent.
After all, if a store opened but had no products for sale, customers would not even know whether the business was actually operating or not.
‘And maybe one of them could unexpectedly explode in popularity.’
Even if they had already calculated things and given up, that did not mean the games absolutely could not succeed.
It was ultimately a matter of probability.
Lottery tickets were expensive, and if the winning probability was only a few percent, it was usually better to spend that money developing a new game instead.
But thanks to ESD, Insu could now scratch an enormous number of lottery tickets at a far cheaper price.
Of course, unlike an actual lottery, much of the profits still had to be shared with the developers, but there was no need to explain at length that steadily taking thirty percent as the lottery issuer was incomparably more profitable than occasionally hitting a jackpot and taking seventy percent at low probability.
He had no way of knowing what kinds of games existed in each country.
Quite a few games similar to those from his previous life had appeared, but at the same time, there were also cases like Pokémon, where there had been absolutely no news whatsoever.
So he could not simply tell employees that games like certain ones existed and order them to go find them.
If he had been interested in those markets, he might have researched them somewhat already, but until now, Insu had been too busy simply tracking what kinds of games were being released in the American market.