Chapter 84: How to Use Cheese
Chapter 84: How to Use Cheese
“That’s probably true. And apparently in the IT field, where developer motivation is important, they do that a lot.”
Especially for game companies that paid bonuses on a project basis, there were many cases where bonuses were calculated based on Gross Profit, meaning only the cost of sales—such as outsourcing costs, licensing fees, and distribution commissions—were deducted, while operating expenses, labor costs, and even taxes were not yet subtracted.
Because taxes in LA were so high, Seongcheol and Insu could not bring themselves to leave taxes in the calculation as well.
Technically, from a game company accounting perspective, developer wages should also be included in cost of sales, but when used as the basis for performance bonuses, the above method was generally standard.
Sometimes people heard stories about companies paying bonuses despite operating at a loss, and in many of those cases, it was because the bonus standard was this kind of Gross Profit.
Since labor costs occupied such a large portion of expenses for game companies, this could become burdensome from the company’s perspective, but companies considered it a necessary investment because it directly gave employees the feeling that if the company earned more money, they themselves would also receive more.
Even giant game companies in 2025, where labor costs were enormous, often paid bonuses according to standards like this.
And in the first place, these bonuses were not calculated based on total lifetime sales, but on revenue during a short period after project completion, so when viewed against total sales, the actual proportion was not as high as it first seemed.
Moreover, Insu was taking advantage of the fact that the PC market was still in a growth phase and small development companies were springing up everywhere, meaning standardized bonus systems had not yet fully formed. He was calculating bonuses based only on first-month sales after release.
Later on, however, game companies would usually calculate bonuses based on cumulative sales over three to six months, and even now, in 1994, several major development studios were already doing things that way.
Of course, initial sales were generally the highest, but they were still only part of the total revenue.
Looking at it this way, performance bonuses were not really an accurate calculation of developers’ exact contributions as their official purpose suggested, but were closer to a psychological device that made employed developers feel that way.
In any case, it was now time to calculate the bonuses properly.
Fifteen percent of 5.4 million dollars was 810,000 dollars, and dividing that among ten developers came to 81,000 dollars each. For now, Insu was the only manager on the team, and while Eunha oversaw graphics, it felt awkward to claim she held an exceptionally greater share of contribution, so they decided to split it evenly.
Still, just in case, he thought he should probably talk separately with Eunha Noona later.
But people were beginning to stand out more and more now, so starting with the next project—TLF Online—they would probably need to begin differentiating payments to some extent.
“How about we exclude me and divide it among nine people instead, rounding it up to ninety thousand dollars each?”
“Should we?”
Seongcheol honestly thought they did not necessarily have to go that far. During MFN, the number of developers had been so small that each individual’s contribution could be valued highly, and the amount only needed a slight increase to round up neatly. But this time, he felt the situation was different.
Still, he did not oppose it either. Considering that this game’s sales were truly record-breaking, it was not exactly wrong to value the developers’ contributions even more highly.
Moreover, because the current team members still had relatively short careers and low salaries despite producing major results, there was a significant chance they could be poached away by headhunters, so the company needed ways to keep them attached. Of course, simply paying extremely high salaries would solve the problem, but from the perspective of operating a company, they could not just throw money around however they pleased.
“But we absolutely have to tell them that this happened because you gave up your own share to raise eighty-one thousand to ninety thousand.”
“Of course.”
It might sound like showing off, but when running an organization rather than handling personal relationships, things like this had to be made clear.
They were spending an additional ninety thousand dollars, after all, so there needed to be an effect worth that amount.
And from now on, Insu felt there would probably never be another situation where his own share was divided up like this. Once the staff size increased, even if his portion were redistributed, it likely would not be noticeable enough to matter.
A few days later, Insu held a light beer party in one corner of the development room.
In truth, development on TLF Online had already begun, so he had briefly wondered whether it was really appropriate to hold a party in the development room.
However, they were still in the early development stage, focused on planning and design, so he judged that it would not really damage the development atmosphere and might instead boost morale, so he simply went ahead with it.
“Noona. Can you help me a little?”
Insu, Seongcheol, and Hyein had planned to prepare everything themselves, but Eunha was no longer merely an employee under the company president. In the beginning, she had been more like a colleague, and now she felt at least like a friend, so he brought it up to her first.
Even Hyein, the company representative, did not really consider Eunha distant, since she was the daughter of a close older acquaintance. Ever since coming to LA, they had often invited her home for meals and taken care of her, so there was not much of a wall between them.
“A party?”
“Yeah. We got the settlement payment from the distributor this time. The results were pretty good.”
“Oh! As expected! Ah! Then there’s a performance bonus too, right?”
Eunha was no longer inexperienced with company life, so she caught on immediately. Without realizing it, Insu glanced around and lowered his voice.
“Right. But it’s a secret for now. It’ll feel better if it’s a surprise gift.”
“That’s true.”
Eunha snickered at Insu’s request and nodded.
“Alright. I’ll help. But in exchange, I get to buy things I like, okay?”
“Of course. Naturally. Pick whatever snacks and cakes you like.”
“Okay!”
Now that Eunha Noona had her driver’s license and her own car, buying food was easy enough for her.
Aside from certain menu items like pizza or Chinese food, delivery services still were not widely established in this era, and since it was only a small party, it was not easy to ask stores for arrangements like that, so they had to go around buying things personally.
However, someone else had to handle the beer.
Driving was possible from sixteen in America with some restrictions, which was younger than in Korea, but alcohol could only be purchased and consumed from age twenty-one onward.
The next day, Insu announced it during lunchtime.
“There will be a surprise beer party tonight. Something worth celebrating happened. Attendance is optional, of course, but there’ll be gifts, so please attend if possible.”
“Oh?!”
“A beer party? I heard that.”
“But what’s being celebrated? Something related to TLF2?”
The team members murmured among themselves at the sudden party announcement, but Insu simply feigned ignorance and headed off to eat, while the team members spent lunch break discussing it.
And then, that evening—
“Alright, alright. Push these tables together over here. And make some space over there.”
Seongcheol and Hyein came downstairs, ended work an hour earlier than usual, had the team members rearrange the room, and brought in the food.
Pizza, beer, snacks.
There were also actual meal dishes like cake, lasagna, and macaroni and cheese.
At first, it seemed questionable whether buying simple foods like these could really create a proper party atmosphere, but once everything was spread out together, it actually looked fairly abundant and impressive.
The team members also seemed excited. Rather than feeling irritated about being unable to go home, everyone wore smiles.
Part of that was probably because attendance at the party was not mandatory, and because of the hints Insu had dropped.
In any case, once the preparations were complete, Hyein and Seongcheol exchanged glances, and Seongcheol stepped forward.
“Alright, alright. The reason we’re having this party today is because the TLF2 we developed achieved excellent results. No, not just excellent—an enormous success!”
“Wooooah!!”
The atmosphere had never been particularly stiff to begin with, and since the party setting had already loosened everyone up, the team members immediately reacted to Seongcheol’s words with cheers.
“You all know already from PC communications and magazines, don’t you?”
When Seongcheol said this with a slightly mischievous grin, the team members responded with awkward smiles and embarrassed expressions.
Honestly, there had not been a single team member who was not curious about TLF2’s reception after release. Just as Seongcheol said, not only had they checked magazines and PC communications, but many had even visited nearby game stores to observe things firsthand.
“This success was only possible because everyone worked hard. First, let’s raise a glass in honor of everyone’s efforts and skills!”
Seongcheol lifted his beer glass, and everyone was perceptive enough to realize what that meant.
“Cheers!”
Everyone followed Seongcheol and raised their glasses before drinking. Of course, Insu and Eunha could not do that and drank cola instead.
“Jealous?”
“No...”
Insu snickered as he watched Eunha Noona secretly glance toward the other team members’ glasses.
Insu himself had memories from his previous life, so he had no particular curiosity or fantasies about alcohol, but Eunha, who was nearing the end of adolescence, was exactly at the age where people became curious about things like that.
“Then before everyone gets drunk, let’s hand out the gifts first. You’ve all figured it out already, right? Performance bonuses!”
“WOOOOOOOOAH!!!”
This cheer was the loudest yet.
Money really was the best.
“After the taxes taken by the federal government and the state, 5.4 million dollars came in. From that, we allocated 810,000 dollars for performance bonuses.”
“...”
The team members knew TLF2 had succeeded, but it was difficult for them to understand exactly how much it had succeeded. In this era, obtaining information as an individual was not easy in the first place.
But hearing it explained through actual numbers—and money at that—made it feel vividly real.
And they were surprised that the bonus ratio was much higher than expected.
For small development studios in this era, performance bonuses were not yet a particularly standardized system.
Moreover, many companies only handed out a few thousand dollars and ended things there.
Of course, there were also many companies with sufficient scale and decent performance that properly paid bonuses like Seongcheol did, but for young and inexperienced developers like the current team members, the chances of joining such companies were not very high.
“Normally, splitting it ten ways would make it eighty-one thousand dollars each, but here! Our team leader gave up his own share so we could round it up to ninety thousand dollars each! Alright! Applause!”
“WOOOAAAH!!!”
“Team Leader is the best!!”
Clap clap clap!!
It was a full nine thousand dollars more.
The cheers and applause burst out naturally.
“Alright! Please continue taking care of us in the future.”
“Yes!! Thank you!”
Seongcheol went around handing performance bonus envelopes to each individual personally.
Emily found the envelope thinner than expected and looked inside, but the moment she saw the check marked with the number $90,000, she felt a thrill run down the back of her neck.
And for good reason.
Ninety thousand dollars was an enormous amount of money.
First of all, it was far more than double her annual salary.
Moreover, even though Americans generally earned more money than Koreans, it was still rare for someone just starting their career to ever see or possess such a large amount of cash.
America was a highly consumption-oriented country, so people tended to spend as much as they earned, leaving savings surprisingly low.
And for recent college graduates, many also carried debts like student loans, making ninety thousand dollars an irresistibly sweet reward.
And so, Parallel Soft once again boosted morale and gained further momentum for TLF Online’s development.
The planning for TLF Online barely managed to conclude only after September passed and October arrived.
No matter how much they already had the foundation of TLF2, MMORPGs were being created for the first time, meaning there were many unfamiliar systems and countless design factors to consider.
Since TLF2 had released in June, they had spent nearly four months on planning alone.
No—in truth, Insu had already started conceptualizing things from the moment TLF2’s development ended, so saying it had really taken nearly half a year would not be entirely wrong either.
In any case, development was now entering full-scale production, and Seongcheol began recruiting network specialists accordingly.
More accurately, he had already been recruiting for several months and had now begun narrowing down the resumes he received.
It was not an easy task.
There are just too few people!
The online market had not yet become active, so there were barely any people with related knowledge and technical skills.
Still, perhaps because this was America and specifically LA, there were at least some candidates.
In particular, hiring Michael and Rajiv for the portal site business division had helped them finally establish a rough direction.