Chapter 97: Victory of the System and a New Market
Chapter 97: Victory of the System and a New Market
Huh?
From the opening illustration and narration, it already gave Insu the kind of feeling he had wondered about. And the moment he entered the game and looked around briefly, he became certain.
This is Warcraft!
In truth, Warcraft 1 was such an old game that Insu had never personally played it. But since it was the game that signaled the beginning of the legend known as Blizzard, he had at least looked up what kind of game it was on YouTube.
And while The Others might differ in small details, it was almost identical to the features of Warcraft 1 as he vaguely remembered them.
He remembered hearing that Blizzard had suffered severe financial difficulties at first, and apparently, this world had similar circumstances as well. But thinking about it again, during this era, there must have been more than a few developers challenging themselves for their dreams and suffering from funding problems.
In other words, it was hard to see this as a special case limited only to Blizzard and this company.
“We absolutely have to secure this place.”
The moment Insu judged it to be Blizzard, he immediately turned to his father and said that.
“It’s that good?”
“Yes. This game itself is excellent, but I can see its potential.”
Seongcheol himself had already been positive about the investment, and because he highly valued his son’s abilities, this completely solidified his judgment.
Hyein, who held final decision-making authority, had come to understand games decently well, but she still had not reached the same level as her husband or son. Rather than agonizing deeply, she accepted the opinions of the experts.
“All right. Then we’ll invest.”
“Mom, and if they say they need additional investment, please tell me too.”
Aiming for more than the discussed sixty percent stake would damage the developers’ motivation, so he thought that would be excessive. But since he believed Warcraft 1 absolutely had to be released, he said that.
And even if it was not necessarily equity, a certain level of investment could also be provided through IP usage rights, manpower support, or technical support.
This was not simply an act of generosity. Blizzard’s IP was valuable enough, and the company also possessed excellent development and technical capabilities.
Insu did not know whether they matched the developer of Slayer, whom he had previously drooled over, but RTS itself was a genre that demanded considerable technical skill. Furthermore, although it had not yet been activated in this alpha version, multiplayer functionality was already present.
In reality, Blizzard’s Warcraft had supported multiplayer starting from the first game, and in the second game, it expanded to as many as eight players.
Insu’s development team struggled enormously just to implement a very limited multiplayer function in a turn-based game. Yet this company called Christforge had implemented multiplayer functionality in an RTS genre that was real-time and involved moving multiple units, around a time not much different from TLF2.
One of the first things that comes to mind when you think of Blizzard is Battle.net, after all.
(Translator’s Note: Battle.net — Online multiplayer gaming service created by Blizzard Entertainment in 1996. Designed to support matchmaking, multiplayer connectivity, chat, and online services for Blizzard games.)
Of course, this current multiplayer function was based on LAN and modems, not the internet-based Battle.net, but it still showed that their network technology was at a high level.
Moreover, since Insu was currently developing an MMORPG, he was very pleased to gain helpers with high technical ability in networking.
They had already secured enough development power, but the more wild cards he could use in an emergency, the better.
Afterward, Seongcheol confirmed the investment over the phone, and in that way, Blizzard, no, Christforge Interactive, came under Parallel Soft.
It was one Sunday in December 1994.
Unlike usual, Insu was sitting in the living room watching TV with his family. That was because a very surprising and interesting piece of news was being broadcast.
[A new era has opened!]
Even the news anchor, who always spoke in a calm tone, could not hide his excitement.
Bzzzt!
It was Insu’s mobile phone.
Mobile phones themselves had already appeared in the 1980s, but even setting aside how expensive they were, they were far too heavy. Due to the limitations of nickel-cadmium batteries, usage time was only around thirty minutes, while charging took over ten hours, so he had never felt inclined to use one. Recently, however, a relatively usable model had come out, so he bought one.
“Ah, noona?”
It was Eunha noona. Judging from the surrounding noise, she was probably outside.
Mobile phones still had not become very common, but Eunha noona earned good money and had saved plenty, so buying a mobile phone was not a burden for her. When he heard about it before, she said it was not some impulse purchase, but that her parents had told her to buy one and carry it around.
Text messaging was still impossible.
Did you see the news?!
“Yeah. We’re all watching it together at home right now.”
[The Soviet Union has fully opened its market.]
In this world, the Soviet Union had not collapsed. However, it had weaker stamina compared to America and had suffered the same severe pressure from excessive system competition. Starting in the 1980s, it gradually opened its market, beginning with allowing a private economy, and now it had finally entered full-scale opening.
In other words, in this world, the Soviet Union had adopted a market economy system in place of Communist China.
For reference, Communist China in this world had become almost an agricultural state and possessed an economic system heavily dependent on the Soviet Union. Since it also had almost no coastline, foreign trade was difficult, so it remained passive toward reform and opening. Even now, it only had very small special economic zones.
[Internationally, a massive market has opened, and with it, a major economic opportunity has arrived.]
The Soviet Union fully opening its market was already an enormous event in itself. But America, in particular, judged this as practically complete victory in the competition between systems, so the country became swept up in an even more festive mood.
And in truth, it really was victory in the competition between systems. Even though the signboard of the Soviet Union still remained, it was no different from them personally proving that the communist economic system they had emphasized most had failed.
Then there won’t be a nuclear war now, right? And we’ll be able to travel to the Soviet Union too!
“Right? But noona, were you worried about nuclear war?”
Probably everyone was. Stories about how a nuclear war almost happened before came out on TV too, remember?
That made sense. Insu, having come from a future that remained intact decades later, might have felt less sense of crisis. But for the people of this world, a country confronting them with an enormous number of nuclear weapons and powerful military strength still existed without collapsing, so in one corner of their minds, they might have always carried the thought that something terrible could happen.
Anyway, I called because I was shocked after seeing the news. I’ll hang up now.
“Yeah. But noona, don’t call while driving. It’s dangerous.”
I know.
Eunha noona answered in a voice that sounded as if she found his nagging annoying, and the call ended. As Insu put away his mobile phone with a wry smile, he heard his mother talking to his father.
“The Soviet Union probably still doesn’t have many computers, right?”
“Probably not. I did hear that they formed a joint venture with IBM, but that’s only just starting. It’ll probably take quite a while before computers spread properly.”
(Translator’s Note: Joint Venture — Business arrangement where two or more companies cooperate to establish or operate a shared enterprise.)
The IBM in this world was almost the same company as the IBM from Insu’s original world. The Soviet Union had its own computer technology, but because of systemic and economic restrictions, computers were mostly items used only by government agencies.
Of course, now that it had opened up, computers would spread rapidly, but in the beginning, Western used computers would probably form the majority.
“Our company’s games are generally high-spec, so we’ll probably have to wait quite a while before selling them in the Soviet Union.”
“Right. For a while, they’ll mostly be full of 286-class machines or lower and 8-bit systems.”
His father was right. However, the portal site side seemed to need advance movement. Right now, there were hardly any computers, so network infrastructure would also barely exist. But the Soviet Union had sufficient technical capacity, and because it was a totalitarian state, if the government had the will, this kind of basic infrastructure could be laid down very quickly.
Of course, they would probably have a transitional period where PC communication services were mainly used at first, but the shift to the internet was also likely to happen quickly.
“The Soviet side will probably try to protect its own industries too, so it would be best to establish ourselves as quickly as possible before that happens.”
“Then are we creating a branch in Russia, no, the Soviet Union too?”
“Hmm. We’ll have to watch a little longer on that.”
While Seongcheol thought the Soviet Union would become a land of opportunity, he also found it difficult to trust. It was not that he had a particularly firm anti-communist ideology, but even Korea had far more problems with things like illegal copying compared to America. As for China, it was practically a demon realm.
He could roughly imagine how chaotic the Soviet Union would be after only just opening its market.
Of course, taking risks was how one seized major opportunities, but Parallel Soft had already reached a level where it did not need to stake everything on such a gamble.
For now, they would probably observe while preparing to enter the market.
The year turned to 1995. Parallel Soft was busy focusing on content development and running toward the alpha version.
And on January 15, The Others was released by Christforge Interactive, which had been acquired by Parallel Soft.
“Congratulations. The market response seems quite good.”
<Ah. Thank you!>
Leon’s voice over the phone sounded very bright. He had poured in all the investment money received from Parallel Soft. He had truly burned his bridges. Leon was confident in the finished game, but he had also been confident in his previous games, and their results had not been good. So even after signing the distribution contract, he had felt as though his blood was drying up.
But as soon as the game launched, praise poured in from PC communication services and magazines, making him feel as though he had come back from the dead.
Some reactions did say that it was a game copied from Iron Reign, but the two games merely shared the same genre. They had as many differences as science fiction and fantasy settings did, and The Others greatly improved many of the parts that had felt lacking in Iron Reign, so praise far outweighed criticism.
One month later, cumulative sales reached fifty thousand copies.
From Parallel Soft’s perspective, that might not seem particularly amazing, but for the vast majority of game developers, this was clearly a successful number.
Unless some major problem broke out, it was expected to smoothly surpass three hundred thousand copies within the year.
However, Parallel Soft would gain almost no profit from this.
First, Christforge had a large amount of debt. They needed to pay overdue developer salaries, and even though they lacked money, they also had to provide performance bonuses to maintain their greatest strength: development capability.
Moreover, if they wanted to turn this success into a sustained flow, they needed a sequel. Naturally, the costs for that would have to be covered by the profits from The Others.
<So I don’t think dividends will be possible.>
“...”
For Parallel Soft, it was naturally not pleasant news to hear. But they did not strongly object either. It was something they had already expected to some extent.
Moreover, if they were an ordinary investment firm, they might have applied pressure or gutted the company to extract profit somehow, but Parallel Soft was a game company in the same industry.
That did not mean they were simply being considerate because they understood the situation. It meant they knew that acting that way would only reduce the development company’s capabilities.
“Understood. Please do your best with the sequel’s development.”
<Yes, sir! Thank you!>
When Leon informed them that dividends would be difficult, he forced himself to act bold, but honestly, he had been quite nervous. Hearing Seongcheol’s answer brought him great relief.
Seongcheol had expected this and calculated his response accordingly, but Insu’s opinion was also included in that answer.