Legend Games, Part 3
Steve went on and on.
“I was the one who first suggested we start the company. If it hadn’t been for me, you’d all still be at Stargate making other people’s games.”
Charles and Ken snapped back in angry voices.
“What did you say?”
“Do you even hear yourself right now?”
“What exactly did I say that was wrong?”
“What did you actually do? You looked over our work and did nothing but say you didn’t like it.”
“You caused delays every single time you picked a fight over something. Things only started moving once you left.”
“That’s because I already set the development direction before I left.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
The three of them kept getting louder and louder.
Ken looked ready to lunge at Steve and grab him by the collar, but Charles held him back.
“Whatever the case, you left the company and gave up your stake. Do you really think it makes sense to come back now and demand rights?”
“I said I left the company. I never said I gave up my shares. We didn’t even put anything in writing.”
“We clearly talked about it when the corporate shares were changed. You agreed too.”
“I didn’t agree. I just told you to do whatever you wanted.”
“And that somehow doesn’t count as agreeing?”
“Not even close.”
Charles ground his teeth as he asked Steve, “So what exactly do you want us to do?”
“I already told you. I’m going back to Purple Games.”
“That’s not happening.”
“Why not?”
Ken snorted. “If you come back, Rufus is leaving. Unlike how things actually got better after you were gone. If Rufus quits, then we’re really done for.”
“……”
He probably knew just as well as I did that even if he forced his way back in, nobody would welcome him.
If he was making this kind of argument anyway, then he was probably after something else.
Steve said proudly, “I’ve done my best for Purple Games all this time. I deserve compensation.”
He honestly seemed to believe he’d made a huge contribution to Purple Games. Then again, I supposed that was why he’d eventually file a hundred-million-dollar lawsuit.
Ken shot back, “So this is all about money in the end. How much do you want?”
“One million dollars.”
“What?”
Steve said shamelessly, “The game’s going to be a success anyway. You’re going to make way more than that.”
……
Instead of the two of them, who were left speechless, I asked, “What exactly is the basis for that one-million-dollar figure? Don’t tell me you just decided Purple Games was worth ten million and figured ten percent of that would be a million.”
……
They couldn’t answer, so it looked like that really was the logic.
Thinking ahead to the lawsuit that would happen later, even paying him a million dollars now would be a bargain.
But the way he was acting made me not want to do it. Money was always better when you gave out as little of it as possible.
“Anyway, considering all the hardship I went through, I should be getting a million dollars.”
I smiled. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding. The reason I asked to see you today, Mr. Bostic, was because I had a question.”
“About me?”
“I heard that when you applied to several game companies, you submitted a portfolio claiming you were the director of Hammer Warrior and personally handled everything from game planning to level design and development scheduling. Is that true?”
“Why does that matter?”
I deliberately put on a serious expression.
“Hammer Warrior is an important IP for Purple Games. Continue Capital decided to invest because of that game. But if an outside employee who left the company claims he made everything by himself, that becomes a serious problem from an investor’s standpoint.”
He looked flustered. “N-no, I never said I made everything myself……”
“Really? In that case, I’ll formally contact Dirty Dog to verify the facts on this matter.”
“……Huh?”
In other words, I was going to tell his current employer that he’d exaggerated his career.
“In addition, if the game Dirty Dog is currently developing bears even the slightest similarity to Hammer Warrior or Block Valley, we’ll be issuing a formal notice of intent to sue.”
“W-what?”
“Didn’t you say yourself that your relationship with Purple Games wasn’t definitely settled? Then wouldn’t it be fair to say that every idea you put out during that time belongs to the company?”
“……”
Dirty Dog was a subsidiary of Sonyu and a major game company.
There was no way Purple Games could sue a giant like that on its own. Continue Capital, though, was a different matter.
Whether we actually followed through with the lawsuit didn’t matter.
Just the possibility of a dispute with the company he used to work for would make him persona non grata at Dirty Dog.
Maybe he’d realized he could lose the hard-won job he’d only just landed, because he couldn’t hide his panic.
“Wait a minute. What kind of behavior is this?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Dirty Dog has nothing to do with this, so why would you send something like that?”
“We’re an investment firm, not a game company. We need to make everything crystal clear.”
“Then you should just talk to me. Why bring Dirty Dog into this……”
“If you don’t like that, then this is a good chance for us to cleanly settle everything between us.”
“How?”
“That’s for the founders to work out.”
I looked at Charles and Ken, signaling that they should handle it.
After all, he’d been one of the cofounders who invested capital and had taken part in the early development of Block Valley. That was why his claim had been recognized in the lawsuit, and why he’d won.
Charles let out a sigh. “Fine. Then we’ll return the initial fifty-thousand-dollar investment.”
“Of course you will. It was my money in the first place.”
“And we’ll give you another fifty thousand in exchange for giving up your rights to Hammer Warrior and Block Valley.”
“You want me to give up all my rights for a hundred thousand dollars?”
“This is already us stretching as far as we can.”
A hundred thousand dollars was by no means a small amount from a salaried worker’s point of view. But Steve looked dissatisfied.
That was only natural, since he had been thinking in terms of a million.
He looked like he might refuse if we left him alone, so I stepped in before that could happen.
“Even so, it seems you two are willing to offer him a hundred thousand out of old affection, but from an investor’s perspective, that’s a hard amount to justify.”
“What did you say?”
Not just Steve, but Charles and Ken were both taken aback as well.
That was because the hundred-thousand-dollar offer had already been discussed in advance before we came.
“First of all, I doubt Mr. Bostic made a contribution to the company worth that much. And even if Block Valley is drawing attention, it’s still only among indie games. As you know, game development is unpredictable; no one can say when it’ll be finished or whether it’ll turn out well. Last year, a famous game company in Santa Monica spent forty million dollars making a game, only to fail internal review right before completion and scrap the entire thing. Even if something like that happens, it’d be hard to get that hundred thousand back later.”
“What……”
“So how about this?”
“How?”
“We’ll give you 0.5 percent of Block Valley’s revenue.”
“0.5 percent?”
“Yes. Even with our current budget, development is already tight, so an extra hundred thousand in cash is difficult. Instead, let’s settle this by giving you 0.5 percent of the revenue.”
For him to make a hundred thousand dollars from 0.5 percent of revenue, the game would have to sell twenty million dollars’ worth. At twenty dollars a copy, that meant one million copies sold.
And once platform fees and the rest were deducted, the real sales would need to be at least twice that.
Plenty of triple-A games never even reached one million copies sold.
If it really sold that much, it would be an astonishing result for an indie game.
Of course, that was only if the game was actually completed and didn’t get shelved halfway through. If development stopped, or if Block Valley collapsed, the company itself would be finished.
Steve bristled. “What kind of nonsense is that!? I need the hundred thousand right now. Didn’t you just say this was something the founders should work out among themselves? Charles made the offer, so why are you interfering?”
“Well…… all right.”
I gave a helpless-looking shrug and stepped back.
Then Charles held out the papers he’d prepared.
“Sign here.”
Ken glared at him with cold eyes. Unable to bear that stare, Steve quickly signed.
With that, everything was neatly wrapped up. From now on, he wouldn’t be able to claim any rights to the company again.
I gathered up the paperwork.
“We’ll send the money by tomorrow.”
Steve smiled at the two of them. “I hope the game does well. If you ever need my help again, call me.”
Charles frowned. “There’s no chance we’ll ever contact you again.”
Ken ground out, “It was a pleasure doing business with you. Let’s never meet again.”
“……”
* * *
We went back to the office.
When Rufus heard how it had gone, he looked relieved.
“W-well, that’s good. At least we don’t have to see his face anymore.”
That made me wonder.
From the development stories I’d heard, he’d sounded loud and talkative. Had I somehow gotten him wrong?
I asked Charles in a low voice, “Is Rufus usually this quiet?”
He snorted softly. “He’s shy around strangers. You wouldn’t believe what a chatterbox he is when it’s just us. He doesn’t even stutter.”
“Oh. I see.”
So he was different once he got comfortable.
Ken asked casually, “But why did you offer Steve 0.5 percent of revenue earlier?”
I smiled faintly. “So he’ll regret it later.”
For now, he’d probably just be happy to walk away with a hundred thousand dollars.
But once he saw Block Valley’s revenue later on, he’d probably spend the rest of his life regretting the fact that he chose a hundred thousand dollars instead of 0.5 percent of sales.
At my words, the three of them burst out laughing.
“It’d really be great if the game becomes a monster hit and he regrets it.”
“If he comes around again later, I’m kicking him in the ass next time.”
Rufus laughed the hardest of all.
“Bwahaha! Just to screw Steve over, I’ll make sure this game succeeds no matter what!”
Once the laughter died down, I brought up the investment.
Continue Capital had invested a total of two million dollars in Purple Games.
Of that, one million had gone to the founders, and another one million had been paid out for development costs. That money was being burned quickly on rent and hiring.
“I’d like to make an additional investment and secure another twenty percent equity stake. What do you think?”
“How much are we talking?”
“We’d invest ten million dollars right away, then an additional ninety million in stages.”
“What?”
“How much?”
“……”
Everyone looked as if they were asking themselves, Did I hear that wrong?
“Y-you mean one hundred million dollars?”
“Yes.”
“We don’t need that much for development……”
Even among triple-A games, there were only a handful whose development budgets exceeded a hundred million dollars.
“It wouldn’t all be development costs. It would include future operating expenses as well. We don’t intend to make money off Block Valley immediately. During the early service period, we’re prepared to take a big loss if it means focusing on growth in revenue and profits. In my opinion, Block Valley is going to be a huge success.”
And the money we’d invested would end up looking like a joke compared to what it earned.
I went on, “As I mentioned before, I also intend to acquire a publisher for publishing purposes.”
Making a good game was important, but how you published it mattered just as much. Even the best product could fail if the marketing was mishandled.
“Which company?”
I told them the name of the company I had in mind.
Charles, Ken, and Rufus all brightened at once.
The three of them agreed immediately.
“If it’s that company, I think that would be great.”