Chapter 56
Chapter 56
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 56
Chapter Title: Korean Server Launch Preparations
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After the first live broadcast wrapped up successfully, a ton of things had happened.
Among them, the one that stuck with me the most was the official apology from Sign Games' chairman at a public event.
Sign Games had ultimately failed to put out the flames of the gacha probability manipulation controversy.
Rumor had it that even in Japan—where protests were practically unheard of—there'd been a small demonstration right outside their headquarters….
In the end, they couldn't hold out. The director and the entire operations team bowed their heads in apology, but it fell on deaf ears. Only when the chairman himself stepped up and apologized at an official event did the public outrage finally simmer down.
Of course, while the noise died down, they never did win back the people's trust. Their revenue rankings plummeted all the way to third place.
On the flip side, we emerged as the biggest winners from the whole fiasco.
Reverse Arcadia's active user count had at least tripled compared to right after launch, and the secondary fan creations had exploded even more.
To give you an idea of the scale: our server hosting provider actually reached out because of the sudden spike in concurrent users.
Anyway, in a situation that would have any game director floating on cloud nine, what was I doing…?
Sitting in my private office, deep in thought.
And what was weighing on me?
The Korean server.
The launch of the Korean server, to be exact.
Truth be told, this wasn't a new dilemma. It had been bubbling up for ages.
Ever since Girls Memorial, one of the most common questions in our repertoire was always, "When's the Korean server dropping?"
Back then, though, both the users and Hojin had tacitly agreed it was too early for a Korean server.
So the demands hadn't been that intense. But Reverse Arcadia was a different story.
That tacit agreement had shattered the moment our subculture image and reputation leveled up.
Plus, Reverse Arcadia's popularity had ballooned way beyond Girls Memorial.
We had loyal fans flowing in from Girls Memorial, Ishida Kei's fanbase, and players jumping ship from other games.
With numbers several times higher than before, the calls for a Korean server were only getting louder.
It was inevitable—just a matter of time before we opened one….
After agonizing over it for a while, I shot a message to Yumi and Suyeon.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ It had been months since I'd last seen Yumi, but she looked pretty much the same as always.
"Long time no see~ Headquarters Chief."
"Yeah, it's been a while. Everything sorted with the GM Studio handover?"
"We got it done, but... man, it pisses me off just thinking about it~."
She must've really been through the wringer—there was an uncharacteristic edge of irritation on her face.
"That bad? Myunghoon bro gave me the rundown, but what went down?"
"We'd done the full handover and everything when they called saying the PM bailed. I go check it out, and it's a total mess."
"That rough?"
"Looked solid enough during the handover... Guess you can't judge a book by its cover~."
I handed her a can of coffee as she sighed.
"Thanks... But we got a fresh handover done, so things should be smooth for a bit~."
'No wonder Myunghoon bro's been venting every time we talk….'
I felt bad seeing the exhaustion piling up on his face more and more.
But I had business today, so I pushed thoughts of Myunghoon aside and turned to Yumi.
"Yumi."
"Yes~?"
"We've locked in the Korean server launch."
"For real~?"
"Yeah. President's already signed off on it."
Surprisingly, Yumi didn't freak out. She stayed cool as a cucumber.
"Not as shocked as I thought."
"I kinda saw it coming~."
"Fair enough. Makes this easier then. Bottom line: for this Korean server, we're cutting out publishers entirely. And ChocoTalk platform too."
Her eyes widened at that.
"We don't need to hand ops to a publisher, sure, but ditching ChocoTalk entirely? Won't that be tough~…?"
I shook my head at her question.
For a typical game company, abandoning ChocoTalk's accessibility would be insane.
It'd be like kicking away a flood of potential users.
But that logic applied to average devs scrambling for players. For us, ChocoTalk was more trouble than it was worth.
Reverse Arcadia didn't need the promo boost or user funnel that badly.
We already had tens of thousands of eager players chomping at the bit, ready to dive in the second we opened. No reason to pay fees and play second fiddle.
Plus, building new social UI and systems on top of ChocoTalk? Hard pass.
"Why do you think devs bend over backward to get on ChocoTalk?"
"'Cause it's the national SNS, duh~?"
I nodded.
"Exactly. It's the national SNS, so if your promo goes viral, you can rake in users like nobody's business."
I took a swig of coffee mid-sentence to wet my throat and continued.
"But that's for small devs desperate for quick cash and users. We don't need to pay fees for that."
"Huh... Yeah, makes sense~."
She nodded, getting it, then asked,
"No publisher or ChocoTalk deal— so what do I handle~?"
"Whip up a planning doc first. I'll schedule everything off that."
She nodded.
"How long till the planning doc's done?"
She pondered for a sec before replying.
"About a week~."
"Cool. Aim for next Monday. Got it?"
"You got it~."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A week later.
I handed out Yumi's planning doc to the team gathered in the meeting room.
Present: Yerin, Seol, Yumi, and Taesun. Four in total.
The rest weren't tied to the Korean server timeline, so no need to call them.
That was just Yena and Chaeyoung anyway.
"Everyone know why I called you here today?"
They all nodded.
"Good. First up... Yerin?"
"Yeah?"
"What're you working on lately?"
She thought for a moment before answering.
"Finishing the final boss illust for the Crisis Response Accord content dropping in two months. Then roughs for new character designs."
"Can you push the boss illust a bit and prioritize the stuff in the planning doc?"
She flipped through it.
"Korean server countdown illusts, three event banners, misc UI images... Should be doable."
"Exactly. Not building new—just relaunching what's there."
"Deadline?"
"Launch in exactly two months. Countdown starts a week before, so mid-next-month?"
She mulled it over and nodded.
"I can swing that."
"Thanks. Appreciate it."
As Yerin grabbed her assignment and headed out, I turned to Seol and Taesun.
"You two have a joint task... Seol, during dev, you did Korean scripts first, then translated to Japanese, right?"
She nodded.
"Y-Yes... Korean scripts first, then Japanese translations…."
"Hand the Korean scripts to the dev team ASAP when you get back. Next steps are tricky—I'll notify separately... Taesun?"
"Yes, Headquarters Chief."
"Android market share's higher in Korea than Japan, so double-check that build. Pity system stays at current version. Got it?"
"Understood. Anything else…?"
"Nah, just thorough QA. That's it."
"Will do."
With Seol and Taesun gone too, it was just me and Yumi left.
"Like I said last week, I'll be tied up with external stuff, so I won't swing by the office much. Hit me up if anything pops. Okay?"
She nodded firmly.
"Leave it to me!"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Not long after, the Reverse Arcadia Gallery.
📰 Breaking News [Nickname: Anon] Title: Reverse Arcadia's on the GRAC approval list?? What the hell? ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [GRAC Approval List Screenshot]
Is the Korean server legit dropping?
💬 Comments [Views] — Anon Lmao RevArc gonna troll us againㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ — Anon Lots of cases where they just get rating approval for trademarks and shelve it. — Anon Spouting nonsense again. Go eat your rice, gramps. — Anon Even a dog wouldn't fall for this lol insaneㅋㅋㅋㅋ 📰 Breaking News [Nickname: Anon] Title: Holy shit, Korean server launch CONFIRMEDㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [Reverse Arcadia Official Account Screenshot]
Reverse Arcadia Official
@ReverseArcadiaJP
June 13, 2015: Henrietta and the Commander are coming to you!
Detailed info on the Korean server will be updated on the official account later.
You clowns saying "trolling again" and "even a dog wouldn't buy it"—keep playing JP server foreverㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
💬 Comments [Newest] — Anon Wtf is this real?? — Anon This legit?? — Anon Korean server for real?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ — Anon Holy shitㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ — Anon Bought a reroll marathon pack on JP server a week ago and dumped a truckload... wtf