Chapter 83: The TLF2 Shock and Its Results
Chapter 83: The TLF2 Shock and Its Results
[Oh. It works.]
[It really does.]
Part of it was also that he and his party member worked well together.
Since they had agreed on what to do before the battle, it might have seemed obvious, but after trying multiplayer several times, Eric had already learned painfully well that other people were not the same as him.
Especially when using such a risky strategy, finding a party member who could keep up and follow it properly was truly lucky.
At times like this, multiplayer really felt at least three times more fun.
[Then let’s go again!]
[Yes! Go go!!]
And so, Eric enjoyed multiplayer for about three hours and achieved considerable growth.
[I’ll stop here.]
[Ah. You’re stopping?]
[Yeah. The phone bill is too scary, haha.]
At the other player’s words, Eric remembered the communication fees he had forgotten about.
This multiplayer was genuinely fun, but the communication fees were a real problem.
Even so, TLF2’s multiplayer became quite popular. Even if the system was limited, the ability to enter another gamer’s world, invite them, and even adventure together gave the game a considerable sense of life.
Moreover, up until then, multiplayer RPGs had mainly meant MUDs, but those lacked the major element of graphics, so the entry barrier was quite high.
MUDs themselves had considerable gameplay value, but because players could not see anything, it was not easy to feel immersed. On top of that, the cost burden was also significant.
TLF2’s communication fees were burdensome too, but compared to MUDs, they were nothing.
For MUDs, there were three layers of fees: the communication fee, the PC communications usage fee, and the separate MUD usage fee. It was not as though any one of those fees was especially cheap either, so it really felt about three times more expensive than TLF2.
MUDs and TLF2 had different gameplay styles, but they were both still RPG-related, so they were not completely unable to substitute for each other. On top of that, TLF2 had overwhelming advantages in graphics and sound. Since it was also much cheaper, quite a few players flowed in from the MUD side.
“What the hell? Why did so many users leave?”
Drake Watterson, the director and president of a North American MUD game called ShadowRunes: Echoes of the Void, could not help but be shocked when the user count, which had been around eight thousand, dropped to six thousand in just one month.
Of course, user numbers always rose and fell slightly, but a loss of two thousand was clearly outside that range.
“Probably because of TLF2.”
Leo Chaney, the operator, answered in a slightly resigned tone.
“Why? TLF2 is a package game.”
Drake had heard the name TLF2 too. But he had not paid much attention to it because MUD games usually were not greatly affected by the release of package games.
“You didn’t know? TLF2 has a multiplayer function.”
“What? It’s an online game?”
“No, not quite an online game. It’s just limited multiplayer where players connect through P2P, enter the host’s game one-on-one, and fight together. There’s no separate server storing data aside from the relay server.”
“Then why?!”
“It’s limited, but it has graphics and sound, and there’s no separate usage fee besides the phone bill.”
Drake’s expression turned serious. He felt a considerable sense of crisis.
Because he believed in the gameplay value of MUDs, he had been forcing himself to ignore the weakness of having no graphics, but now a game had already appeared that dug straight into that weakness.
If TLF2 doesn’t fail because of multiplayer, then more games like this will keep appearing from now on, won’t they?
Moreover, he had always expected that someday a game with graphics layered onto a MUD would appear. It was not only MUD developers; almost anyone interested in MUDs would have thought of it.
They had simply assumed it was still far off, considering computer performance and the communication environment.
But now that a game directly threatening his own had appeared, his sense of crisis toward graphical MUDs, which he had been ignoring, grew stronger again.
“...Come to think of it, it’s already been a while since ISPs appeared, hasn’t it?”
“Right?”
Moreover, the network environment had recently been improving quickly, with internet services appearing and faster modems being released, while computers were also advancing rapidly with the emergence of high-performance 586 models.
At this rate, a graphical MUD really might come out soon.
Drake began thinking that perhaps he needed to start the project he had kept delaying. Of course, he did not know that Parallel Soft was already developing something beyond a graphical MUD.
Whether Drake’s thoughts would create a competitor for TLF Online would only become clear with time.
It was August, when the portal site business division had begun moving and TLF Online’s planning was in full swing.
“Everyone, good work today.”
Insu regretted that he could not squeeze the team members harder again today, but he had no choice but to send them home. Then he headed to the second-floor office where his parents were so he could go home as well.
Insu was now ten years old, so during the day, he could walk around familiar and safe areas by himself. However, it was not completely safe, and since it was evening after work, he still had to leave in his parents’ car.
He was not exactly the type who liked wandering around, and most of his interests were focused on games and computers, so it was not as though he felt terribly disappointed. Still, he occasionally felt stifled.
I do want to wander around computer stores by myself, or go to hamburger shops and parks and places like that.
Also, Lee Suhyeon had told him before that there was a village somewhere in LA where old houses like the ones in movies set in the past had been preserved, and he wanted to walk around places like that too.
She said hundred-year-old houses are common there, and some houses are nearly two hundred years old.
But it was not something he wanted enough to risk danger or worry his parents over, so he decided to endure it for a few more years. Since he already had memories as an adult, he could be more certain than other children that the future would eventually come and that he would grow up, so enduring it was not particularly difficult.
“You’re here?”
“Yes.”
When he went upstairs, his mother smiled as though she had been waiting for him. It was already around that time, and since the building was not very large, they could hear the employees leaving if the door was open.
Normally, his parents would also be preparing to leave work, or already done and standing up from their seats. But today, instead, they remained seated and gestured for Insu to come over.
“It came in?!”
This was also a situation he had experienced several times before, though not often, so Insu immediately realized what was happening and practically ran over to his mother.
“Yes.”
The settlement had arrived. When he took the bankbook from his mother and opened it, sure enough, it was the first American settlement payment for TLF2 that they had been waiting for.
[Deposit – Velocity Entertainment CO., LTD Amount: USD 3,762,000]
After checking the amount, Insu felt the hairs on his cheeks stand on end.
“Wow!”
It was unprecedented. They had once received nearly three million dollars from Japan before, but the Japanese payment came in before taxes, meaning they had to pay those separately afterward. This amount, however, already had thirty-four percent corporate tax deducted.
By the Japanese calculation method, it was about 5.7 million dollars.
Though this still isn’t fully after-tax, since we still have to pay California state tax separately...
Insu once again felt the weight of taxes. Even though it could not be helped, it always felt like a loss. This must be why businesspeople were tempted by tax evasion.
“They said it sold about 250,000 copies.”
“It’s definitely a huge success.”
“Right. A huge success.”
Insu, Seongcheol, and Hyein looked at one another and smiled brightly.
Of course, for this title, they had raised attention as much as possible through the internet, combined the prestige of the previous game with Velocity’s marketing, and concentrated enormous firepower at the beginning. Because of that, it was difficult to compare its early performance directly with other games. Even so, impressive was still impressive.
Even by twenty-first century standards, when the game market would become incomparably larger, 250,000 copies in the first month would never be an easy number to reach. Yet they had achieved it in 1993, which could still be called the early nineties.
Insu was happy about TLF2’s success itself, but thinking that the IP power had reached its peak and would carry over into TLF Online made it even more thrilling.
“It’ll definitely surpass one million copies, and maybe 1.5 million? That much should be fully possible too.”
As both a father and a company director, Seongcheol tried to maintain solemn dignity, but he could not completely suppress the tremor of excitement in his voice.
Fortunately, Seongcheol had never really had a solemn image in the first place, so it did not damage his dignity that much.
Hyein also could not fully suppress her joy. She sprang to her feet, opened both arms, and rushed toward Insu. Insu also spread his arms toward his mother, and the mother and son embraced. Seongcheol then covered them both from above.
Afterward, settlement payments also arrived from Korea and Japan.
Because of the Korean market’s size, its sales inevitably still had limits. Hyun Soft told them in an excited voice that the response was the best in history, but after tasting the power of the American market, Insu could not help feeling a little regretful.
Japan, however, brought in almost as much money as America.
[Deposit – TechnoShoku CO., LTD Amount: USD 3,431,254]
However, in Japan’s case, the payment arrived with only consumption tax deducted, so corporate tax still had to be calculated separately, meaning the actual profit would be much lower.
Roughly 150,000 copies sold, maybe?
Still, 150,000 copies was absolutely not a small number. By Korean standards, it was questionable whether total sales over an entire year would even reach 150,000 copies.
Of course, that did not mean Japan would sell about twelve times more than Korea. The Japanese market tended to concentrate sales at the beginning, so this amount was expected to account for about one-fourth, or twenty-five percent, of the sales over the next year.
In any case, even after subtracting all taxes, the money that came in today would likely still amount to at least two million dollars, making it a sufficiently large sum.
“If we combine Korea, America, and Japan, it should be roughly 5.4 million dollars.”
They were in the second-floor office. Seongcheol had already calculated and organized the sales, taxes, expenses, and so on. At first, Seongcheol had received some help from local tax accountants, but from a certain point onward, he had started handling it himself.
Insu felt happy and pleased to see his success expressed in such direct numbers.
“This is still only a projection, but if sales follow the usual flow, the annual profit will probably be around twenty-two to twenty-five million dollars.”
“Yes.”
He wanted to cheer, but he had already done that when the settlement payments arrived, and it somehow felt awkward, as though he were bragging about himself in front of his father. So he simply listened with a grin.
“The performance bonus will be fifteen percent, same as last time, right?”
“Yes.”
“But we need to decide whether to base it on pure net profit or on the amount after taxes only. During MFN, operating costs were so small compared to revenue that there wasn’t much difference, but this time, it’s still around five hundred thousand dollars a year.”
Still, although five hundred thousand dollars sounded large, divided by month, it was just a little over forty thousand dollars. Compared to 5.4 million, forty thousand dollars was not even one percent, so it would likely still not feel like a major difference in the performance bonus.
Even so, unlike MFN, the difference would not be small enough to go almost unnoticed, so they needed to clearly decide.
“Wouldn’t it be better not to subtract operating costs? The amount won’t differ that much anyway, but from the recipients’ perspective, being told it’s based on revenue after taxes alone would feel better.”
At Insu’s words, Seongcheol nodded.