Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: G-STAR - Demon's Relic (2)
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I recalled a conversation I once had with Jo A-yun in my past life while analyzing the success metrics of Demon's Relic.
—You know, if the pre-launch marketing had been a bit better, they could have boosted initial sales even more.
—Right?! That's what the users are saying, too! They went way too hard on the mystique marketing! Well… people in the industry know it was because they lacked the marketing budget.
—It couldn't be helped. It's not like a new development studio has money growing on trees.
Demon's Relic had taken a different path from the other popular pretty-girl games of its time.
Its pre-launch marketing was practically nonexistent, and its subsequent efforts were limited to publishing an official webtoon focused on the characters and releasing background lore through text scripts.
The public called it an expression of extreme confidence, but industry insiders knew the truth.
They just didn't have the money.
A game with such unbelievable potential for success failed to generate more explosive sales simply because it lacked funds.
Although I hadn't played Demon's Relic myself, I still felt it was a shame.
The conclusion Jo A-yun and I had reached back then was in a similar vein.
—They should have at least done some character marketing.
—My point exactly! They should have released the background scripts and the official webtoon before the launch! Have you seen all the fan creations popping up now? If that momentum had started before the release, the initial sales would have been several times higher!
—Even though the game wasn't out yet?
—The characters themselves are just that well-made! This is why muggles…
—?
—You don't get the romance of pretty girls, Team Leader. You're a fake otaku!
The key to marketing Demon's Relic lay in its characters.
In the subculture market, if the lore and character appeal resonated with consumers, that alone could turn an unreleased game into a god-tier title through fan creations.
Knowing the future made the analysis easy.
All I had to do was implement the pre-launch marketing that the two of them hadn't been able to, but on a much larger scale.
“How many illustrators does Team 2 have?”
“Seven, I think? That’s what I remember.”
“That’s not quite enough. Let’s just hire new people. Start recruiting for a webtoon production team. Oh, and find a scenario writer, too. We need to build the world.”
“Understood. Then…”
“We have about three months until G-STAR. We’ll release the webtoon after the demo version. It will be a side story that supplements the main game’s plot.”
At my words, Yang Gil-sang looked skeptical.
“Aren’t we focusing too much on elements outside the game?”
It was a valid concern.
Fundamentally, we were a game company, not a subculture content company.
We also had to consider the possibility that the game might not meet expectations despite all this.
But, at least for Demon's Relic, it was a needless worry.
Since I couldn't speak of the future, I explained it by linking it to another objective in a way Yang Gil-sang could understand.
“We’re going to use this to launch a subculture IP business.”
“Pardon?”
“Creating and selling things like comics and merchandise based on the game’s IP.”
Yang Gil-sang still looked skeptical as he asked.
“Is there money in that?”
I answered firmly.
“Yes, an absurd amount.”
“Aren’t mobile gacha games more promising for character marketing? Then perhaps we should pivot in that direction…”
“There’s no need for that. The fan-creation potential for a packaged game is just as high.”
There was one future event I couldn't cite as an example at this point.
It was the case where a piece of derivative work brought in phenomenal success, causing the original game to surge back up the charts.
‘Cyberpunk 2099.’
Despite its initial failure, the AAA open-world game ‘Cyberpunk 2099’ experienced a second golden age thanks to a promotional anime.
I still remembered that.
‘It was an interesting piece of data.’
Considering that even a game that wasn’t a pretty-girl title had generated profit by expanding its IP into the subculture sphere, you could never say that a packaged game’s IP potential was inferior to a mobile gacha’s.
In fact, I believed that it was precisely *because* it was a packaged game that such an influx of players was possible.
‘Buying a single game isn’t a huge burden. At least, not compared to the commitment of starting a gacha game.’
Demon's Relic was a AAA packaged game disguised as a pretty-girl gacha game.
In other words, all the in-game characters could be obtained through in-game means.
Characters obtainable from the main story, characters from side quests scattered across the map, and so on.
Wouldn't users feel less resistance to buying the game when they could see and experience the elements from the animation firsthand just by purchasing a single package?
Of course, the game itself had to be good.
Cyberpunk also had many critical issues like bugs, but because its fundamental structure was solid, it underwent continuous fixes until the anime was released, stabilizing the game and ultimately achieving that comeback.
Whatever the case, the consensus at the time was that Cyberpunk couldn't have made such a revival without the anime.
Thus, the impact of inflow from external content on industry revenue is by no means small.
My personal ultimate goal was to produce an anime.
That was the very reason I had chosen to acquire Demon's Relic out of all the promising titles.
To secure a promising IP that could be expanded across various subculture media.
I had no doubt that this was the best way to create a cash cow in the Rewind style.
Of course, a high-capital venture like an anime would have to wait until after the game was released and had achieved its sales targets, but just presenting that blueprint was enough to boost Team 2's development morale even higher.
“Our game is getting… an anime?”
“Good grief, now we have to do it, don't we?”
It had been quite some time since the otaku sensibilities, initially only a concern for Nishimura’s side of the team, had spread to all of Team 2.
At the mention of an anime, the team members who had been languishing began to exude a monstrous vitality, like Olympic athletes on doping.
Their currently unquenchable desire for an anime turned into an interest in the newly arrived webtoon team, but that’s another story.
“President!!! I'll pledge my lifelong loyalty!!!”
Nishimura had become a loyal dog.
I summed up the mood in one sentence.
“Don’t get too excited and make mistakes. No matter what IP we expand into, you must not forget that the core of Demon's Relic is the game. A tree with rotten roots breaks easily.”
“As you command!”
That ‘as you command’ again.
“…I will be personally supervising Demon's Relic until G-STAR. The booth will have 70 seats. I trust you know what that means.”
“Ah! You mean the more test cases, the higher the probability of bugs, right?”
“Yes, we need to eliminate all critical bugs. And make sure to secure enough monitoring staff.”
Public events are the most reliable source of in-game feedback you can get before a launch.
We couldn't afford to miss that point.
Just then, Nishimura asked.
“By the way, will you be reviewing the demo version alone, Shacho? Or will Team 1’s QA team be involved?”
“We’ll need to add a few more people to that.”
Unfortunately, due to my personal tastes, I couldn't quite grasp the key points of Demon's Relic.
However, I couldn't rely solely on Team 2's internal QA, as I had to account for the possibility that their judgment might be clouded from being too immersed in the game.
Therefore, I needed to use the right people for the job.
“Yeon-ho, you called for me?”
“President…! I’m here…!”
It was time to deploy the gacha addict (Myeong-gyu) and the certified otaku (Jo A-yun).
* * *
Nishimura was confident.
All 72 heroines in Demon's Relic were filled with the otaku fantasies he had accumulated since childhood, and the aspirations of the team members who brought them to life were brimming within the models.
—Let’s make Andras a jealous yandere. She is the demon of discord, after all.
—Let’s give Marbas the ‘irritable bowel syndrome’ trait. We can show she’s the demon of disease by having her suffer from enteritis!
—In that case, Sitri, the demon who governs lust, should have a promiscuous… uh, huh?! Who are you people! Mmph! Mmph…!
—Sitri is a shy pretty girl who often encounters perverts. I will not accept any alternatives.
—Yes, sir!
What a series of profound discussions they had been.
Nishimura’s confidence was indeed well-founded.
After all, Jo A-yun from Team 1’s sound department, who had started the pre-playtest, was staring at the models with her mouth agape.
The character A-yun was currently looking at was Baal.
A mommy-type heroine, her overwhelming size and movements were imbued with the deep considerations of the team.
The knees and ankles perfected by Yamada-kun, a joint fetishist; the unrealistic movements recreated by Goro-kun, who was crazy about jiggle physics; and finally, the vibrant expressions completed by Yuri-chan, who had stared into a thousand eyes.
“Oh…”
“Hmm…”
“Haa…!”
In that moment, Jo A-yun was already a captive of Baal.
She resembled a small child mesmerized by a cartoon.
She had zoomed the camera in as far as it would go and was hopping around, her eyes devouring every part of Baal’s body.
‘Hey, everyone! We did it!’
Nishimura’s fist clenched tightly.
Now, he looked over to where Myeong-gyu, Team 1’s programming team leader, was.
It was at that moment.
“What?!”
Nishimura’s eyes shot wide open.
He looked at Myeong-gyu’s screen with a horrified expression.
What he was witnessing was a playstyle that stabbed at Nishimura’s heart like a dagger.
“You… you bastard!!!”
Copson, who was next to him, jumped in surprise at Nishimura’s scream.
Myeong-gyu belatedly tilted his head and looked at Nishimura.
Words spilled from his mouth in English.
“Why?”
Nishimura pointed a finger at his monitor and said.
“Wh-why…!”
“Huh?”
“Why are you abandoning them!!!”
That was right.
Myeong-gyu was abandoning the heroines one by one after raising their stats.
The abandonment system was something he had been forced to include after losing to Copson.
In other words, it was a system he had hoped would never be implemented.
Seeing his children-like heroines being cast aside inflicted a deep wound on Nishimura.
However, Myeong-gyu's reply was merciless.
“Uh, the slots are cluttered?”
“What…!”
“You’ve designed the combination system well. It’s quite impressive that you can combine characters in various ways depending on the concept, not just by mixing high-tier ones.”
As he spoke, his hand movements were cruel.
[Terminating contract with Agares.]
[Your affinity with Agares will become 0. Re-contracting in the future may become more difficult. Do you wish to proceed?]
[Y/N]
Myeong-gyu pressed Y without hesitation.
Agares disappeared from the slot.
“Ah, ahhhh!!!”
Nishimura covered his face and dropped to his knees.
Myeong-gyu spoke as if he couldn’t understand.
“Hey, there are plenty of others besides her. What’s one or two out of 72?”
He was Nishimura’s arch-enemy.
‘A performance-chaser!’
The enemy of otaku, who saw characters not with affection but for their performance!
A monster who saw pretty girls as disposable items that could be replaced at any time!
“Myeong-gyu oppa! There you are!”
“Oppa, let’s go get lunch!”
Two modelers from Team 1 burst into the QA room.
Myeong-gyu grinned and stood up from his seat.
“Okay, sure. Nishimura-san, I’m going to grab a bite to eat.”
Veins popped on the whites of Nishimura’s eyes.
‘Ah…’
An impostor.
That man was a terrible fake who didn’t understand the charm of the 2D world.
Nishimura glared at Myeong-gyu’s retreating back.
Then, an idea came to him.
‘I’ll make it so you can’t abandon them.’
I’ll make you cherish each and every pretty girl.
A meeting was held the next day.
After a roughly two-hour meeting with the members of Team 2, Nishimura finished modifying the contract termination warning system.
"Let's use angst and obsession here."
Four days later, the moment the contract termination notification popped up, Agares on the screen looked up at the protagonist with a sad expression.
The angle was set exactly from the protagonist’s point of view, with Agares looking up at him.
[Are you really… going to leave me? If I did something wrong, I’ll fix it. I won’t say bad things anymore. So…]
A contorted expression and a trembling voice.
It was a performance he had hastily requested from the voice actress, but the emotion was so thick it pained Nishimura’s heart to watch.
It was almost as if she had been dumped the day before and then delivered this line!
The plan: Operation Guilt Trip!
Nishimura’s heart pounded as he awaited Myeong-gyu’s choice.
His eyes were wider than ever.
“Hmm…”
Myeong-gyu’s brow furrowed.
Finally, he muttered softly and canceled the contract termination.
“…The more the merrier, I guess.”
The intention was a success.
Only then could Nishimura close his eyes in peace.
‘Yes…!’
He had protected his daughter’s love.
* * *
The G-STAR season was in full swing.
It was the time when exhibitors and booth sizes were being confirmed.
Usually, G-STAR’s prestige is limited to that of a domestic game festival in Korea.
Even if it garners interest from other countries, it rarely has enough power to make people decide to visit from abroad.
But this time was different.
『Helix4When: Demon’s Relic is coming.
Taking vacation and heading straight to Busan lololol』
Domestically, interest was high as it was Rewind’s first new title to appear at a domestic event in a long time.
The same was true internationally.
Rewind was now a company with global recognition as a AAA packaged game developer.
Furthermore, with Hellic 2 and 3 winning major game awards back-to-back, it was needless to say that expectations for the next game were high.
Solely for Demon's Relic.
For that one reason, some hardcore gamers decided to leave their countries.
『Luka: I think I'll take a trip to Korea while I'm at it.
I'll write a review later.』
This trend eventually reached the ears of the G-STAR organizers.
It also reached the ears of Park Yeong-jun, the president of Neosoft.
“This is an opportunity.”
“Sir?”
“An opportunity to make NQ look like idiots!”
Fueled by a mad rush of dopamine, President Park Yeong-jun immediately got to work.
He called the organizers.
“Kang-yun! It’s Park Yeong-jun! How have you been?”
—Ah, President Park. What brings you to…
“I heard you’re having quite a headache because of Demon's Relic this time. I thought I might offer some help.”
The president of the top company dominating the domestic game industry.
Securing additional booth space wasn't too difficult if one were to use some slightly underhanded methods.
And so, unbeknownst to Yeon-ho, the Demon's Relic booth began to grow a little larger.
Entangled in these various causal relationships, G-STAR finally began.