Chapter 76
Chapter 76
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Industry's Dilemma (2)
If I had to pick my favorite saying about games, it would be this one.
-Games are a comprehensive art form.
Art, music, literature, philosophy.
Games are the fusion of all those elements, and creating a single game requires the efforts of countless people.
Of course, games follow 'trends' too.
When a particular genre blows up or becomes a massive hit, it's industry standard for similar games to flood the market with new skins.
Why?
Because games are ultimately products sold by companies to make a living.
You often hear stories of indie solo developers spending eight years on a game that explodes in popularity and turns them into billionaires.
Partly because it gets that famous, but the gaming industry clearly makes money.
But now, that very industry is in trouble because of me.
Me as a gamer.
Or me as a Summoner.
"This is driving me crazy. I can't tell the game industry to hold back, but I can't just pull my fifth summon from some random game that's not even combat-ready either."
I already had someone in mind for the fifth slot, more or less.
Whether it'd summon properly was another story, but the gacha rates were brutal. Even setting aside conquering towers for summon tickets, I hadn't met the summoning condition yet—full cultivation—but if I could just summon it, humanity might...
That's what made it even more troubling.
-Wait, you're summoning all the way up to this point?
-More power! More destructive force! Stronger summons!
What if the game industry started making games solely for 'summons'?
Ignoring gameplay entirely, flooding the market with gacha games where you pull randomly, then tossing gameplay in the trash just to get Summoners to drag them into reality.
That would be the worst-case scenario for the industry.
After smartphones popularized mobile gacha games, and one game with a single chest-baring character raked in over two trillion won, even if pull-based games flooded the world, nothing could be more chaotic than a world gone mad for that cash.
A world where everything rides on pulls and summon specs over actual gameplay could emerge.
What if a game poured billions into development, but the graphics looked like lumpy clay from 2007?
-But the beings in our game have SSSSSS-rank Hunter stats!!
They'd scream that, hoping I'd summon it—or another Summoner would.
And sneakily cap full pulls and rerolls at 12 million won without guaranteeing a single character?
"Suddenly, I'm the one who's gonna get all the hate."
"Oh? The guy envied by millions of Awakeners worldwide is more worried about gamers hating on him?"
Dray snickered, waving the smartphone she'd been given.
The rapidly scrolling screen was mosaiced, but it was probably full of complaints and curses aimed at me.
"Games like that aren't even out yet. Isn't worrying this much just paranoia?"
"But devs do that, right? Especially in China."
"Hmm, can't deny it. Even the people cursing right now are mostly devs."
Any game takes years from production to release.
It hadn't even been three years since I awakened this power, and the 'mobile gacha full-pull full-reroll fully cultivated character' condition wasn't fully public knowledge.
Elaine, Dray, and Illinois.
The world knew about these three—and for some, they traced the cat I had to guess it was a gacha character too, eventually spotting Kiharu from [Fermata 8X]. Four summons confirmed.
Some were making superior versions of them.
Others were crafting what they guessed would be my fifth.
Yeah, a total mess in every way.
"Commander. If a game has killer specs and stats but was made purely for that purpose, would you still pull it?"
"I'd cultivate it. But hold off on summoning as a summon."
"Really?"
"If it was the only one that could save Earth while tens of millions die, no reason not to. Even if the aftermath... worries me a bit."
I showed Dray one of the new smartphone games I'd just installed.
"Eek."
"Dray, you know? After mobile gacha took off, the gacha doesn't have to be the original."
"...You're gonna summon these?"
The screen showed a fierce-eyed blond young man thrusting both hands forward toward the camera.
"Planet-busting in their downtime, and later messing with whole worlds—warriors like that?"
"Worst case, summon as a last resort... something like that. Annoying to reverse-summon every full moon, but standalone, they're the strongest, right?"
"Food bill would be insane. Even America might struggle."
"One meal at 10 million won? If it clears S-rank towers, let alone SS-rank... Babel? 10 million's nothing. Yearly food at 100 billion, and we'd say 'welcome aboard.' Japan especially."
"True. Origins would be a dead giveaway, at least. But... that's not the only issue."
Dray held her hand level.
"Humanity's average gets too high, who knows what happens later?"
"......"
"You know, Commander. One guy gets too OP, the scrubs can't keep up and all die?"
"Yeah. I know."
Moderately strong.
Not so strong they could flip the world upside down—just enough to overcome Earth's threats.
That's what we needed.
And then.
"Oh yeah, Commander. Trouble in Korea."
"...Huh?"
"Luigi's administration and the US are trying to cover it up... keep it from your ears? But seems like it's hit the point where you need to know."
"What happened?"
"'They' caused an incident."
"...Who?"
"GRAC."
"......."
No way.
"Those guys who knee-jerk at the sight of tentacles...?"
"Not censorship."
"Not that, then what?"
"Well, censorship maybe?"
"...What?"
"......Nationalist mandate?"
"......?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [Meanwhile, NV Soft Co., Ltd. President's Office.]
"No, are those GRAC idiots insane!!"
The president of NV Soft tore at his hair, unleashing a torrent of abuse at someone in the office.
"Pulling our kimono skins because they're 'too erotic'? What is this, the 70s?!"
"Political reasons... maybe?"
"Exactly. Officially it's review rejection, but really, it's pressure to make what suits their tastes."
The executives gathered in the office cautiously chimed in one by one.
"I poked around back channels, seems politics pulled strings."
"Politics? Those guys who club the industry with laws daily?"
"Well, rumors are flying. NPia stuff, and Master's summons being game characters."
"No, Master's are mobile gacha pulls."
The NV Soft president thumped his chest in frustration.
"We're an online game, and this is a console game under review, not mobile!"
"This is super delicate speculation."
"What?"
"They want gacha added."
"...What?"
"Somehow cram in NPia-style monetization pulls to give Master one more option to summon from... something like that?"
"This is madness. Hey, what's our game genre?"
"Souls-like."
"Souls-like with gacha pulls?"
"...Higher-ups don't know that stuff."
"God, this is infuriating."
The president yanked his hair and slumped into his chair.
"All outfits hanbok and Joseon drama costumes, gacha mandatory regardless of genre, characters OP as hell. In two years, nothing but that crap."
"But that could be... key to humanity's peace right now..."
"Make new games for that! Those guys love real estate—it's like building a skyscraper, permits done, then suddenly 'remodel into a hanok'!"
"Even if we get that analogy..."
"Huh?"
"P-President! Behind you!!"
Where the president sat.
A crackle, blue lightning flashed, and someone appeared.
"Mighty President."
"!!"
The president shuddered at the hand on his shoulder.
That ordinary-looking hand was caked in blood, like it'd just beaten someone senseless.
"N-No way..."
"I heard your words, President."
"Wait. L-Look, you aren't thinking of..."
"President."
Grip.
"As an expert in this industry, you must help me."
"H-Help? How?"
"We'll eliminate the Game Content Review Committee."
"......!!"
"I investigated. His movements. His tastes. The games he likes."
"!!"
The suspicious youth's words made the president's ears perk up despite the crushing grip.
"Want to know? His favorite genre."
"...Y-You know?"
"Yes. I found out."
It was like the devil's temptation.
"The genre he mainly plays is..."
"Genre...?"
Gulp.
"God games."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "...Anyone hearing that would think I'm a god-game addict."
"Yeah. Just a weeb god-game player."
"Hey."
A secret-not-secret that mustn't leak worldwide.
"I'm just a normal gamer who prefers story-driven, emotional games with deep characters. I mainly played mobile games because they're easy during work life."
I was simply a 'gamer' who'd saved countless worlds as teacher, pioneer, trainer, professor, Master, commander, bishop, then captain, traveler, wanderer, rope guy, manager, herbalist, knight captain, heir, and more—exploring their stories.
"And thinking I only play god games is wrong. The games I play become god-tier."
So.
"They make good games with tempting pulls, then I summon. No way I'm pulling something force-fed to me."