Chapter 93: Laying Claim
Chapter 93: Laying Claim
And the word “deck,” commonly used in mobile games to refer to a character lineup, also came from the TCG Magic: The Gathering.
The word “deck” itself existed before that, but it was Magic: The Gathering that popularized its use in games and gave it the meaning it had now: a lineup shaped by the player’s individuality. Before that, a deck simply referred to a set of cards used for games like poker.
Of course, saying that everything in collectible mobile games came from TCGs would be an exaggeration, but it was undeniable that TCGs were one of their major roots.
That was why simply being able to observe the birth of TCGs was already deeply moving. And since the original itself had directly sent a collaboration request, Insu could not help feeling his heart race a little.
“But what exactly are they asking for? Do they just want to release one expansion pack using TLF’s setting?”
“We’ll have to talk more to know the details, but for now, they said they want long-term cooperation.”
In any case, from Insu’s perspective, they already needed to publicize the TLF IP as much as possible for TLF Online, and on top of that, they could also receive licensing fees, so it was absolutely a gain.
If this TCG called Chrono Sigil were a cheap, doomed game, that would be one thing. But the cards Insu had seen were nearly identical to Magic: The Gathering in quality and gameplay. Its popularity was not quite on Magic’s level, but it definitely did not feel like it would fail and disappear.
Still, it felt a little wasteful to simply take an IP licensing fee and end things there.
Since this was a parallel world, he could not know whether things would unfold exactly the same way, but because the game had high potential, he did want to have it. However, he did not know whether he could cultivate it as well as its original developer, so acquiring it with an irresistible mountain of money, like in some comic or novel, was not exactly a wise option.
They probably wouldn’t sell it in the first place.
One difference from Magic: The Gathering in his previous life was that in this world, Elliot, the game designer himself, had founded the company. If it had been like Magic: The Gathering, where the creator was simply a game designer, Insu could have brought both the IP and the developer over together.
Investment would probably be difficult too. Investment was useful for places short on money or actively seeking funding, but this game had already cleared the areas that needed the most capital, such as marketing and distribution, and had already launched and begun earning profits.
If they were short on money in the first place, they would not have been able to contact Parallel Soft asking to buy IP usage rights.
But if we do something like a stock exchange, I feel like I’d be the one losing out.
It would be a good method for increasing ties if he highly valued the other side’s growth potential, but no matter how incredible Magic: The Gathering had been in his previous life, Insu did not think it had higher potential than the games he would create.
After all, he intended to conquer the world through games.
“Dad, have you heard anything about that TCG company having financial difficulties?”
“I looked into it a little, but there doesn’t seem to be anything like that.”
“Still, they probably aren’t swimming in money either, right?”
“Probably not. It’s still the early stage of the business, and though they’ve started generating revenue, looking at the number of cards they’re printing and the scale of their distribution, it doesn’t seem like they’re earning enough to far surpass their investment costs yet.”
Additional investment might be difficult, but since they would need to spend money anyway to purchase IP usage rights, using that in exchange for shares instead should be possible.
Simply lending them IP usage rights would only produce short-term profit, since they would likely use it for a few years and then strengthen their own IP. But if Parallel Soft obtained shares, even if the immediate profit was smaller, it would become a huge long-term gain if this game grew and went public like Magic: The Gathering.
Not only that, having shares would also serve as a bridge for smoother negotiations later if they needed Chrono Sigil’s IP or any other cooperation.
“Shares?”
“Would that be possible?”
“Hmm. But you seem to value this game’s potential higher than I expected.”
“Yes. It’s a very interesting game.”
“Well, that’s true. All right. I’ll negotiate in that direction.”
Insu did not bother saying anything like “please do.” His father was no longer simply helping with his work. He, too, was now part of the company.
And the reason his father talked things over with him like this was because he valued Insu highly and wanted to consult him, not because he intended to follow Insu’s opinion entirely. Company management was, after all, the responsibility of his mother as the president and his father as the executive director.
“Shares?”
Parallel Soft made an appointment by phone on the same day they inquired, then visited the company the very next day. The young Asian man in his thirties who came to the office made a somewhat unexpected proposal.
“Yes. Licensing fees are not particularly attractive to us. Rather than that, we want long-term cooperation with your company, and we judged that receiving shares would be the best method.”
“I see.”
It was unexpected, but Elliot did not feel particularly bad about it.
It meant they valued his company more highly than the twenty thousand dollars and six percent of sales he had proposed, and it also meant they rated Chrono Sigil’s chances of success highly.
Still, seven percent in shares is too much.
The idea of giving shares instead of money was not a proposal he could not accept.
In the past, he might have felt as if someone were stealing what belonged to him. But while launching Chrono Sigil, he had already taken investments from various places and handed over equity to secure the necessary capital, leaving his ownership already worn thin.
Taking out a little more here won’t change things much.
And because of those investments, there would be no dividends for quite some time even if sales came in, meaning that in the short term, giving shares would actually be far more advantageous.
As a mathematics major, Elliot quickly finished the calculation once he kept his cool.
“...Our game has already sold over 150,000 cards, so we have sufficiently proven its potential. For that reason, seven percent is too high a price. And even considering future growth potential and your IP’s contribution here, I believe three percent would be appropriate.”
He had also already given away quite a bit of equity to various places, so letting another seven percent go made him uneasy. His ownership was not yet threatened at the fifty-percent level, but since he did not know what situations might arise later, he needed to keep some room.
Seongcheol showed no particular change in expression after receiving a counteroffer that was not even half of what he had proposed. That was not only thanks to the poker face he had acquired while handling various matters as executive director. He was satisfied that the other side had accepted the idea of paying in shares at all.
The hardest part was changing the form of compensation. The exact numbers could always be adjusted through discussion.
After Seongcheol and Elliot exchanged views for quite some time, they eventually agreed on five percent.
“We value the potential of your Chrono Sigil highly. If there are opportunities for cooperation in the future, please contact us first.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
In this way, Insu was able to lay claim to a TCG similar to Magic: The Gathering.
When TLF Online development was still in its early stage and they were developing parts similar to a singleplayer game, it had been manageable enough. But once they moved beyond that and entered unfamiliar territory, including the server-client structure, the fatigue rose sharply.
Even though they had planned and designed things in their own way before proceeding, the fact that Insu could not clearly picture it in his head made him feel as though his energy was being drained dry.
It’s like the rendering isn’t working properly.
When playing a game, even if the difficulty was high, the graphics needed to render immediately and frames needed to appear smoothly for the game to feel satisfying. If performance lagged and stuttered, then no matter how easy the game was, it naturally made the player feel suffocated.
But development was not a game, so no matter how frustrating it was, they had to keep going somehow. As a result, each day became difficult for the development team, including Insu, to endure.
“Huaa...”
Because of that, Insu was always exhausted when he got off work. These days were especially bad, and because he could not put anything new into his head, he would skim magazines and toss them aside before only doing ego searches on PC communication services.
As he blankly read posts about Parallel Soft and its games, including TLF2, he suddenly felt that something was different from usual. He furrowed his brow for a moment, wondering what felt off, then soon realized it.
There are way fewer posts than usual.
The internet was growing rapidly these days, but it still had not reached the point where it could absorb PC communication users.
Wondering what was going on, he looked around nearby boards. It might sound strange to say “nearby” in PC communication, but the boards here were organized by category. It was similar to organizing folders on a computer.
In Windows, even after going down to the lowest subfolder, one could jump back to the top level at once. But PC communication services were command-based, so normally, users moved one level at a time.
There were commands like [GO MAIN] that took users straight to the main page, but some places did not have them. And even if users exited all at once that way, they still had to descend one level at a time from the top to reach the desired board again, so people usually did not use it much and instead moved one level at a time from where they already were.
[Games]
This place feels about the same as before.
And when he moved up a little to the relatively larger category of [Games], things became noisy again.
Something else must have become the hot topic, so attention shifted there.
Curious about what that hot topic was, Insu began checking the posts one by one. Youth really was the best. Even though he felt as if he had scraped the very bottom of his motivation, a little curiosity like this was enough to make his excitement rise again.
And Insu quickly found something that looked plausible.
[Isn’t Slayer seriously amazing?]
[I never thought I’d feel this kind of action on a computer.]
[Seriously, Slayer’s atmosphere is overwhelming.]
“Slayer?”
Apparently, a new game had come out. But for some reason, the title felt familiar. Insu first entered the detailed board and confirmed that a new board had already been created for it.
After reading a few posts, he was able to guess what kind of game it was.
“Ah! This is Doom! Doom Slayer!”
It was that legendary game that had established and popularized the modern FPS, one of the major pillars of the modern gaming world.
First-person combat with a fast sense of speed, a simple and intuitive interface, various weapons with different effects, and even multiplayer functions. It was no exaggeration to say it contained nearly every element found in modern FPS games.
“The distribution method is the same as Doom too?”
Insu found it fascinating that it had emerged in almost the exact same way as in his previous life. The timing was slightly different and the title alone had changed, but everything else was nearly identical.
This game was distributed as shareware. First, a free trial version containing only Episode 1 was distributed online, and if players wanted to continue, they could register and purchase the full version.
The reason Insu focused on this distribution method was that it directly connected developers and gamers for payment, maximizing the developer’s profits. It was also because this system was the ancestor of ESD platforms like Steam, which Insu had been familiar with in his previous life.
(Translator’s Note: ESD — Electronic Software Distribution, a digital distribution model where software or games are purchased and delivered online rather than through physical packages.)
Of course, shareware and ESD were not the same thing, and even in 2025, the two payment systems coexisted separately.
But in the sense that they allowed games to escape the limits of offline distribution, they definitely belonged to the same lineage.
However, the limitations of the era were clear.
[How long has it been since I sent the check? Why haven’t I heard anything yet?]
As this post said, payment had to be made either by physically mailing a check to the developer or giving a credit card number directly over the phone. Receiving the full version also did not mean downloading it through the internet, but receiving a physical package such as a CD or diskette by parcel.