Chapter 53
Chapter 53
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 053
Chapter Title: Gacha Probability Manipulation Controversy
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The ripple effect from this open commemoration broadcast was beyond my expectations.
Portal site search volume had more than doubled compared to before the broadcast aired, and even in game communities unrelated to our title, my name was being mentioned.
Thanks to this buzz, the pre-registration numbers for Reverse Arcadia had skyrocketed from around 700,000 before the broadcast to a full million.
Considering this was the first time a subculture mobile game had broken the one million pre-registration mark...
It definitely felt like all the suffering from appearing on that broadcast had paid off.
With such overwhelming pre-registration figures, the office atmosphere—which should have been tense—was instead remarkably peaceful.
I just hoped we could keep going like this after launch, without any game-breaking bugs flipping everything upside down...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ One week into Reverse Arcadia's open service.
Whether my prayers reached the heavens or not, unlike with Girls Memorial, the first week after launch had passed without any fatal bugs or incidents—thank goodness.
On the contrary, evaluations of the game itself were steadily improving day by day.
Unlike Girls Memorial, where reactions to in-game content had been lukewarm due to its social game roots, Reverse Arcadia was earning praise for its in-game content as well.
To the point where people were saying it had broken the limitations of the tower defense genre, which you rarely see these days.
And the art wasn't getting any flak either—the character designs for the main cast were receiving rave reviews.
Among them, the highest praise went to Henrietta, the main character, who had claimed the number one spot on Bixiv uploads at launch and was still holding it.
Riding this wave of popularity, Henrietta launched as Reverse Arcadia's first pickup character.
The result? She effortlessly claimed the top spot on the app store revenue charts, wresting the throne back from Sign Games.
Of course, since character progression was set up to use in-game currency, the actual revenue gap with second-place Grand Arc Phantasm wasn't that huge.
I let out a slight sigh of disappointment while drafting a report for Suyeon, when my phone rang.
Checking the caller ID, it was Tanaka.
'What's this about?'
"Hello?"
[Director, are you free to talk right now?]
"Of course. Go ahead."
[There's an issue blowing up on the Sign Games side, so I wanted to give you a heads-up. I'll send you a link—could you take a look?]
"Sure thing. Send it over now."
Shortly after hanging up, a link arrived.
'At this timing, the only thing that could blow up for Sign Games is probability manipulation... Has the controversy already erupted?'
Half-skeptical, I clicked the link. What loaded was the familiar screen of Parang새 SNS, featuring a blue bird.
Let's see...
📰 Parang새 Tweet [Potty Maru] (@Nameless_F1) 【Screenshot of 2600 connected gacha results】 Guren-chan... I trusted and dumped 700k yen into it Exploded after 2600 pulls. Is this for real? #GrandArcPhantasm [Replies: 322][Reposts: 7.3k][Likes: 2k] It had blown up.
In my memories from before regression, Grand Arc Phantasm got tangled in a probability controversy months from now next year.
This time, it seemed the butterfly effect had accelerated it.
I had a rough idea why the butterfly effect had kicked in.
As I watched Parang새 with an intrigued expression, my phone rang again—Tanaka.
[Did you check it?]
"Yeah, I did. Looks like a gacha probability controversy. How's the reaction in Japan right now?"
[It's still at the public discourse level, so not full blaze yet, but public opinion is turning sour. Sign Games already had a bad rep from their hyper-toxic gacha, after all.]
"Meaning..."
[It's gonna blow up bigger. For sure. Reports of explosions are pouring in nonstop, and as you know, those Sign Games folks move like molasses.]
Well, Sign Games was the kind of outfit rumored to post apologies way past the optimal timing and then pick fights with users online.
They'd probably drag their feet on this one too, just like Tanaka said.
[That's why I'm checking, Director... We're all good on our end, right?]
"Of course. We apply probabilities exactly as announced for every pickup on both games, and Reverse Arcadia even has a secret ceiling. No way we get caught out."
[Got it. We'll keep monitoring Japanese sentiment, so could you handle the Korean side?]
"Will do."
After hanging up with Tanaka, I leaned back in my chair, lost in thought.
'Things are getting interesting.'
I hadn't expected to play my trump card against Sign Games—planted in Reverse Arcadia based on pre-regression memories—so soon.
That trump card? The ceiling system.
Pre-regression, Sign Games introduced ceilings to resolve this mess and placate users.
But what if we revealed ours first?
And what if it wasn't a public ceiling like in Girls Memorial, but a secret one we'd snuck in?
With the massive image gap between us and Sign Games, it was obvious whose side users would take.
Of course, considering Sign Games ultimately got cleared in the pre-regression timeline, this wouldn't drag on forever.
But I was starting to get curious how Sign Games—now cornered—would respond.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ True to Tanaka's request, I lurked on Korean communities for a few days, but nothing much turned up yet.
Grand Arc Phantasm was still a niche game in Korea, and few people were checking Japanese reactions, so it was inevitable.
On the fifth day of sporadic lurking during work...
Finally, posts about the gacha probability manipulation controversy started popping up in Korea, one by one.
Tanaka had said it was already uncontrollable in Japan and would spill over to Korea soon—turns out he was spot on.
💬 Community Post — Nickname: ㅇㅇ Title: Apparently Japan has a gacha probability manipulation controversy blowing up right now—what's this about? 〔Summary video of Grand Arc Phantasm gacha probability manipulation controversy〕 For those who don't speak Japanese, quick summary: There's this Japanese game called Grand Arc Phantasm, nicknamed Wan, that's dominating Japan. They stole the top revenue spot from Girls Memorial in the Japanese mobile market. But feeling threatened by Reverse Arcadia's launch, they pulled forward an event. This rushed event was a pickup for their new char 'Guren'—a character the devs were blatantly pushing. Great performance, solid art, and she pops up everywhere in events and story like the ultimate supporting role. So Wan fans dumped hundreds of pulls into it, but most exploded. With explosion rates even higher than other gacha games, Wan users were already suspicious—then a hero compiled all the probabilities. Summary shows the two other pickup chars at 13% each, while Guren solo'd at 2%. Wan was already on thin ice with their venomous monetization—now they're getting pummeled. — Comments [By Registration Order] -Knew those gacha devs would pull something lol -Turning games into pachinko lmao -But it's not just Sign Games, right? Should test other games too? ↳ Yeah lol, think they'd be the only ones rigging probs?
💬 Community Post — Nickname: ㅇㅇ Title: Doesn't this mean we should investigate Girls Memorial and Reverse Arcadia too? Enson << Honestly, they've cleaned up their act lately, but among Korean devs, they're still top-tier thugs. No matter how reliable Ji Hojin seems as director, he's just one employee—how do we know what he's up to? That last broadcast exposed him mouthing off, and turns out Reverse Arcadia has no ceiling. Plus, Girls Memorial always had whispers of weird pickup probs. Worth a look, no? — Comments [By Registration Order] -Aww, can't trust Light Hojin? Lol ↳ Enson tho? Lmao
↳↳ Did this guy get burned by Enson?
-As a Girls Memorial explosion victim, yeah, would be nice to dig into it. 'Hmm...'
As expected, sparks from the gacha probability manipulation controversy were starting to catch fire on our games too.
Our positive image made me think it'd fizzle out at worst, but nope—it mocked my prediction by hitting us first.
Well, you can't erase a decade of Enson's built-up notoriety with a few games.
The mood was odd, but I wasn't too worried.
Test data proving our innocence was piling up in Japan with this incident.
Eventually, our loyal fans would import those Japanese findings and counter it—no need for me to step in and quash the sentiment manually.
Just days later, counter-posts started appearing on communities, proving my thinking spot-on.