Chapter 37: American Release
Chapter 37: American Release
One of LA’s computer specialty stores, Radio Center, was always packed with games, and posters for newly released titles constantly covered the walls.
“Put it up carefully so it doesn’t tear. Ah! It’s crooked!”
And today, Velocity had newly stocked a game called The Land Of Fantasy.
Store manager Max Connor frowned irritably at the slightly tilted poster, but since it was not all that noticeable, he let it go. His gaze lingered on the poster for a moment afterward.
Is this a JRPG?
Judging by the poster and package art, the bright colors gave off a similar feeling to the Japanese-style RPGs that had recently become popular.
Among the customers who visited the store, quite a few criticized JRPGs for lacking freedom and depth.
What was it they called them? Novels or comic books played on a computer?
But Max did not particularly dislike JRPGs. Maybe it was because he had to look at game packages and posters every day, but compared to the gloomy visuals of traditional CRPGs, he preferred this style.
At least it’s bright, isn’t it?
And regardless of gameplay quality, they sold well. To him as a store manager, that was the most important point.
No matter how much hardcore gamers grumbled, the fact that demand continued to exist meant the games clearly had their own appeal. In the first place, Max did not even understand why being like a novel or comic book was supposed to be an insult.
“Manager, is this a new release?”
“Yes. It came in today.”
The first day’s reaction was fairly decent. Velocity carried a strong reputation, the poster and packaging looked good, and on top of that, it had the JRPG feel that was starting to trend lately, so quite a few people picked it up.
Still, there were also many people who disliked JRPGs or had no interest in the RPG genre at all, so plenty of customers did not even go near it.
It’ll probably sell reasonably well.
Having worked this job for a long time, Max could roughly estimate a game’s prospects just from the first day’s sales. Whether the developer or distributor would be satisfied was another matter, but it felt like it would at least perform around average.
For the next few days, sales continued at about the same pace.
Then, a little over a week later—
“Manager! The Land Of Fantasy, was it? Where is it?”
“Yes. See that poster over there?”
“Ah! Yeah!”
Customers specifically looking for the game had started appearing.
Of course, that itself was common enough, so at first he did not think much of it, but the number of such customers gradually increased.
“Manager.”
“What?”
“We’re almost out of stock.”
“Out of stock on what?”
“That game over there with the poster.”
“Ah. Really? Hold on.”
Max immediately started calling nearby electronics markets.
“Yes, hello. Do you happen to have any stock left of The Land Of Fantasy? Ah, really? We suddenly started selling through ours too. Yes, yes. Thank you.”
After checking around, it became clear this strange phenomenon was not limited to his own store. The game was genuinely gaining popularity and increasing in sales.
Not long afterward, Max placed an additional order with Velocity.
The cause of this sudden popularity was an article published in the famous local gaming magazine, GameFront LA.
It appeared in a section called Deep Dive Review, where the game received overwhelming praise.
[Beautiful and astonishing graphics, incredible freedom, and fresh systems! I am confident this game will become the greatest RPG of the 1990s!]
And because the evaluations from people who actually played the game after reading the article were also positive, sales gradually began climbing higher.
“What? We’re sold out again?”
“Yes. It’s selling insanely well.”
The gameplay of The Land Of Fantasy received even more attention in America.
In Korea, the game market was still immature, so distinctions between genres and their defining characteristics were not especially clear.
After all, genres only became clearly categorized once enough similar games existed for comparison.
But in America, RPGs had already been popular for a long time, and imitation titles based on successful games were common. On top of that, JRPGs, which had recently started trending, possessed such distinct characteristics that they had already become recognized as their own separate genre.
Yet The Land Of Fantasy introduced several innovative systems while still resembling existing RPGs in many ways, integrating them successfully. GameFront LA specifically mentioned this point.
[It felt as though someone had brought a game from the distant future.]
New attempts had always existed. But new ideas were unproven by nature, so it was rare for them to succeed immediately.
Yet the systems in this game felt fresh while still resembling familiar mechanics enough that they did not create any sense of rejection.
This left a powerful impression on industry professionals and hardcore gamers alike. It was almost as if the game had presented the perfect answer without going through any trial and error.
From their perspective, the praise from GameFront LA did not feel exaggerated in the slightest.
As a result, sales accelerated even further, and soon The Land Of Fantasy, or TLF, began appearing in multiple American gaming magazines.
It was already evening, the sun long gone and the streets dark, when Seongcheol trudged home from work, feeling exhausted lately.
Of course, coming home this late naturally contributed to it, but that was not the real reason. He simply had too many things to think and worry about.
My son’s just too exceptional.
In the past, he too had once thought about going overseas. Since he did well academically, studying abroad was one possible path, and because his technical skills were in demand overseas, he even considered working abroad or immigrating.
But that was all in the past. After getting married, he assumed he would never leave Korea.
Still... going abroad might not be such a bad idea.
Objectively speaking, his son absolutely needed trustworthy support. And the thought of going to America and building a business as the head of a game development company felt surprisingly thrilling.
Moreover, he had recently gone to Gangnam and signed contracts for several apartments. Considering that this money came from just a single month of Japanese settlement payments, the choice no longer felt remotely like gambling.
And from his perspective, it did not seem like his son’s success would end here.
Lost in thought while walking, he arrived in front of the bookstore he frequently visited.
Oh. It’s out.
The moment he spotted the magazine displayed on the rack, he immediately headed inside.
“Welcome! Ah, customer, you’re here.”
“Yes. The new issue of GameFront came out, right?”
“Yes, yes. Just a moment!”
One reason he frequently visited this bookstore was because it carried American gaming magazines. Happily receiving the magazine, he left the shop.
Ever since he started working full-time, he no longer had enough time or energy to actually play games, so he grew to enjoy reading magazines more instead. Korea had gaming magazines now too, but he continued reading American ones because he was interested in the latest trends and games coming out there.
After hesitating briefly, he tore open the plastic wrapping and began flipping through the magazine while walking.
Then an article suddenly caught his eye.
“Huh?! This!”
It was an article about his son’s game, The Land Of Fantasy.
Without realizing it, he stopped walking entirely and pulled the magazine closer to read it carefully.
The first thing that caught his attention was the overwhelming praise.
[With its stunning and breathtaking graphics, incredible freedom, and innovative systems, I am confident that this game will become the best RPG of the 90s!]
The article went on to introduce the game’s systems and basic content, and after reading closely just in case, there was no doubt. It really was his son’s game.
Seongcheol felt joy rise within him before another thought suddenly surfaced.
We really should go to America.
There was still no way of knowing exactly how many copies had sold, but seeing his son’s game featured in a magazine he regularly read, and receiving praise this extreme on top of that, caused his thoughts to tilt heavily in that direction without him even realizing it.
Unconsciously, Seongcheol quickened his pace.
“I’m home!”
“You’re back?”
“Dad, welcome home!”
When he arrived home, his wife and son greeted him.
Instead of bringing it out immediately, Seongcheol imagined how happy they would be. After washing up in the bathroom, he finally called them over.
“Come take a look.”
Then he pulled the magazine from his bag and handed it to his confused son.
“Ah! The new issue came out?”
“Yeah. There was an interesting article in it.”
Seongcheol tried to act casual, but perhaps because he normally never spoke like that, his son seemed to notice something and glanced at him suspiciously before rapidly flipping through the pages.
“Ah! This!”
The moment he found it, Insu alternated between staring at Seongcheol and the article with a shocked expression.
“What is it?”
Curious, Hyein leaned beside Insu to look at the article as well, and she too quickly widened her eyes in surprise.
“Wow!!”
Insu understood enough English to read it, and if he interpreted it correctly, the article was genuinely overflowing with praise.
I heard America has a culture of being generous with compliments. Is that why?
There was some truth to that tendency, but the reason Insu thought this was because the praise was simply hard to believe.
Of course, Insu intended to conquer America eventually. He already resolved to conquer the world through games.
But he assumed receiving this level of evaluation would still be something far in the future.
Yet now, seeing this kind of praise from his very first work, the feeling that it could not possibly be real outweighed even his happiness.
Still, this was not The Truman Show. There was no reason for a magazine like this to deceive him.
This is seriously overwhelming.
Perhaps it was because of his still-young body, but his emotions shook intensely. However, the rationality accumulated from his previous life prevented him from completely drowning in them.
I’m definitely happy, but...
And when he thought about it calmly, this was still just a single magazine article. If he got carried away and convinced himself he had already conquered America based on this alone, only to later discover otherwise, the embarrassment might literally kill him.
“Our son!”
His mother, unable to contain her joy, pulled him into a tight embrace.
Insu, who had been trying to regain his composure, was slightly flustered at first, but soon smiled and returned the hug.
Whatever happened later, this was still more than enough reason to celebrate for now.
Like that, Insu’s family enjoyed their happiness together.
The next day, after school, Insu stopped by home, picked up the magazine, and headed to the company office.
“I’m here!”
“You’re here?”
“You came?”
Insu desperately restrained the urge to brag immediately and focused on work first. After all, there would be a break later, and as team leader, disrupting everyone’s concentration was not exactly wise.
He immersed himself in coding for a long while. He had always worked hard chasing his dream, but now that foreign attention and enormous sums of money had entered the picture, he felt even more motivated.
Of course, the thought occasionally crossed his mind that perhaps he no longer needed to code personally now that he had money, but the idea only lasted briefly.
Then, some time later, break time arrived.
“Everyone, I have something to announce.”
In truth, The Land Of Fantasy was a game these team members had not participated in, so Insu wondered if boasting about it like this was appropriate. But after thinking about it again, it was still a product released by the company they all worked for. If it received high praise, that naturally increased the value of everyone working there as well.
“This time, our company’s previous title released in America, The Land Of Fantasy, was featured in an American magazine called GameFront and received a very positive review.”
“America?”
“Wow!”
All the team members reacted with surprise, and some even gave small rounds of applause.
Insu had worried they might react coldly and think it had nothing to do with them, but that concern now felt pointless.
Feeling happy again, Insu grinned and handed the magazine to Noona Eunha.
Once she found the page, the other team members gathered around beside her to read it together. By now, everyone had grown close after being equally worked to the bone by Insu the entire time.