1988 Retro Game Tycoon - Chapter 94



Only Noblemtl

Episode 94 – 5,000

A week has passed since the release of .

I went around the arcade on Liberation Day and asked them to be more active than before the launch.

“The game is definitely getting a response. People are flocking to it even though there are still many people who don’t know that this game exists. We can’t let our sales speed be slower than the word of mouth.”

It was time to move faster, following the advice of the owner of Gangnam Computer Arcade, who had become my lifeblood.

I can’t say that he knows more about games than I do, but the experience he gained from building one of the best arcades in Gangnam from scratch is something that cannot be ignored.

Less than a week after Liberation Day, the owner could no longer bear it and ended up ordering four more A1 boards.

I already purchased two units with cash and two units with installments, and signed an additional one-year lease contract for a fourth unit.

The interest rate for a one-year lease was naturally higher than that for a two- to three-year long-term lease. However, the owner chose the one-year lease even though he had to pay more in interest, which he hated so much.

“You still don’t have enough faith in us. A one-year contract? You’ll regret it later.”

“Shut up. I’m really crying, but I have to do it because there are too many people. It’s ridiculous that this heat will last for more than a year.”

“Of course, alone won’t do it. But there will be a series of new games coming out after that, right?”

“You are right. Everything is good, but people don’t know how to be humble. ? It’s a good game. I was surprised too. In my opinion, it’s a miracle that has come this far. Do you think it’s easy for miracles to happen twice or three times? People are supposed to be humble when things are going well.”

“I am always humble in front of the game. I am just confident in front of the customers.”

“Oh my~, look at this. A green-eyed kid doesn’t even try to say a word to an adult. If there weren’t so many people crowding around, I would···.”

The owner, shaking his hands because he was worried about the interest, eventually signed the lease contract. That was because he couldn’t handle the customers who flocked to with just four cabinets.

As the popularity of spread rapidly, major arcades in Seoul began to put up large signs indicating how many copies of they had.

‘ Complete 4′

‘ is here’

‘ 6th! Let’s not wait any longer!’

‘Guys! Come back! We’re here too!’

Each arcade that installed had an eye-catching phrase written on it and put it up in the arcade. Next to it, there was always a poster that we printed for business purposes.

The game poster, finished by AD Han-il Choi, boasted a much more stylish and sophisticated feel than the movie poster. The poster featured the main character Kim Do-kwon, along with four other characters, as well as the villain characters, all in one picture.

We wanted to make separate posters for each character, but since the art team had a lot of work to do other than , we decided to do concept art instead.

“First, we’ll make the concept art into a poster, and if we need it later when we go to CES, we’ll make it separately then.”

I told AD Choi Han-il not to put too much effort into the poster. Even without that, the art team, including him, worked tirelessly to draw the numerous characters and background images that go into .

The entire art team worked hard, but AD Han-il Choi’s role was the biggest. After changing industries and moving to another company, he took on the important role of AD and this was his first game, so he was under a lot of pressure.

In the meantime, I had to adapt to the awkward game art, create work processes, and lead the art team with three new recruits.

Even if he was good at drawing, if he was only good at art, I wouldn’t have chosen Choi Han-il as AD. He is used to working in an advertising agency where he is always pressed for time, and although he had his share of troubles at Myeongseong Planning, he always has the tendency to take initiative, so I was able to trust him with the important position of AD.

“There’s nothing you can do about work. The fastest way to learn something is to get hands-on experience.”

I thought AD would do a good job, but he did even better than I expected. He led talented but clueless people to create all the artwork for while also having to learn the job himself.

I didn’t realize it when I was just working hard on it, but when I looked back after it was over, it was actually a miracle.

The miracles don’t end there.

Meeting a unique engineer like Lee Ki-chul, having someone like AD Choi Han-il at Myeongseong Planning, hiring the entire Tobagi team to plan a new , bringing in Ha Ji-seok from Jeminan, having my father connected with the KBO Commissioner, and having a financial company within the group were all coincidental discoveries and encounters.

Of course, the most ridiculous miracle would be that I went back in time and entered the body of a young man named Seo Nam-joon.

The owner of Gangnam Computer Arcade was right. This was definitely a miracle.

However, the words of the CEO of Gangnam Computer O-ra were also wrong. was not a single miracle, but an event created by numerous miracles that occurred one after another.

We weren’t the only ones who were at a loss when faced with a miracle.

The president of Myeongseong Capital was surprised by the sales graph that was increasing by the minute. He was also surprised by the lease contract ratio that was increasing much faster than expected.

“This is much faster than I expected, sir. The lease contract ratio is already in the double digits. I thought it would take at least a year for the lease to settle down properly…”

Until the Liberation Day when the game was released, the majority of Myeongseong Capital’s A1 board contracts were also installment contracts.

However, after the game’s release, the number of arcade owners using the leasing program increased rapidly.

Store owners who had previously purchased equipment on installment plans quickly began leasing additional equipment.

There was no cash at the time, but customers kept coming in, so even though the interest rate was high, I could sign a one-year contract first and then later get rid of it when the contract expired when popularity declined, so the burden was small.

The lease agreement could be extended after the contract period ended if desired, or the board could be purchased for an additional fee.

In short, leasing was a good way for arcade owners to get a quick bang for their buck while looking around. It was a win-win for us, the arcade owners, and Myeongseong Capital.

However, in order for these three to continue to work together in harmony, there is a necessary condition.

We need to supply new hits so that becomes a bigger hit, and its popularity does not die down quickly but runs for a long time, and we can continue to operate the A1 board.

If arcade owners who thought they had enough to lease one year worth of arcade games by this time next year cancel their contracts in large numbers, Myeongseong Capital will be left with a large number of A1 boards as dead inventory.

You might think that we’re out of luck since we already made a profit by selling boards, but of course that’s not true. The fact that arcade owners aren’t renewing their contracts means that the popularity of our company’s games is declining.

It’s not over just because you’ve made a hit once. This is usually the case for game companies, but it’s even more so for companies that develop their own hardware. It’s only natural that more money comes with more responsibility.

While I was proud that we had done it right, I never forgot that this too was merely paving the way and laying the groundwork.

Still, it was a happy thing.

With the A1 board and being huge hits, the company was in a festive mood every day.

The development team members would often go to a nearby arcade while working to watch how people played and see how many people were betting coins and waiting.

and Game Pocket were rarely seen with people gathering together to play games. It was only possible if they held a game competition as an event.

But arcade games are different. If you go to an arcade with a board installed, you can always see people playing the games.

I get to watch right in front of me as people enjoy the games I make, focusing, cheering, getting annoyed, and feeling sorry.

When people gather together, an invisible energy is created. The cohesive energy of people who are absorbed in watching the same game creates an indescribable power.

It’s like the tremendous energy released when a crowded crowd cheers loudly at a concert or sporting event.

Although the arcades didn’t have that many people, it was a truly special experience for game developers in an era before e-sports and game internet broadcasting.

There is nothing more satisfying and motivating for a game developer than seeing people love their games.

And those energies came together to create another incredible miracle.

“Yes? Really?”

After receiving a phone call, I quickly gathered everyone at work together.

I looked at the people who were wondering what was going on and said,

“Hey guys, we just finished contracting our 5,000th A1 board!”

“yes?”

“5,000 units?”

People briefly buffered at the unexpected news, then belatedly applauded and cheered.

“It hasn’t even been a month since it was released···?!”

“This is ridiculous. So quickly···?”

People looked happy, yet still in disbelief.

It’s worth it. I never thought I’d reach 5,000 units this quickly in 1989.

A1 Board and achieved a whopping 16 billion won in sales in less than a month. This was a feat achieved only in Korea.

and had enormous sales, even compared to game pockets.

Starbeat was a company that made a lot of money before, but now the unit of income has changed. The company’s weight class has changed.

“But do you know what’s even more surprising?”

“no?”

“The A1 board is just the beginning. Most of the are still concentrated in Seoul. If it expands to the metropolitan area and regional cities in the future, sales will double or triple.”

“Then how much is it all? Isn’t it over 50 billion?”

“That’s right. But that’s not the end. If I go to CES as planned and succeed in the US and Japanese markets, then it won’t be double or triple, but ten or twenty times what it is now.”

People looked bewildered, as if they had no idea of ​​the increasing amount and scale.

It was understandable. Starbeat is a pioneering company, but it is still a tiny company with only about twenty employees.

It was hard to believe that such a company would generate hundreds of billions or trillions in sales.

“You may say it’s a dream, but it’s not a dream at all. Games are a universal language that can be understood all over the world. is too Korean in subject matter, so it may not be well-received overseas. However, we will continue to develop the second and third games, and if it doesn’t work out, we will continue to develop until it does, so there is no problem.”

People laughed out loud at my joke. Of course, I meant it seriously, and they knew I meant it seriously.

“Sales are going strong, so we should move forward as well. Since we’ve confirmed that is definitely a hit, we should quickly start preparing for the follow-up game. We’ll quickly release and , and start developing and other games. But still, we should have a party to celebrate the 5,000th unit sales, right?”

“yes!!!”

The people answered loudly in unison.

Although company dinner culture has been criticized in recent times, not all company dinners are bad.

Especially, a company dinner to celebrate and commemorate a great achievement is not just a gathering to eat and drink. It is a ceremony that confirms that our sweat and effort up to now are much more valuable than we thought.

The next day, we finished our afternoon work early and all headed to a meat restaurant. I called Lee Ki-cheol and had all the salespeople gather. Since it was vacation, I had Ji-seok, who was going to school in the afternoon, join us right after school.

“You all worked so hard. Don’t worry about anything today, just eat, drink, and have fun!”

“For all of us~!”

We rented a meat restaurant and ate and drank meat and alcohol nonstop, chatting away. Since we rented the entire restaurant and were the only ones there, we sang to our hearts’ content, tapping the table with our chopsticks.

“Hey, gamer. Full, excited, and drunk! This is heaven! This is heaven~!”

Lee Ki-cheol also got excited. He drank all the alcohol that people gave him.

Although alcohol cannot be left out of company dinners, our company has never been one to force drinking.

In fact, there was no compulsion. No one recommended it, but they all drank it well on their own.

Manager Park who keeps saying the same thing, Ko Sung-beom who is talking about his know-how from his old art album sales days in front of the salespeople, AD Choi Han-il who is having a serious conversation even in this noisy situation, Captain Ko who passed out early drinking alcohol, perhaps because of the pressure, Captain Park who only talks about , Oh Hyun-ji who is drawing drunk people like grotesque monsters on napkins, etc.

The company dinner was a chaotic scene where everyone did what they wanted, but somehow they all came together in a strange way.

Ha Ji-seok, who still can’t drink alcohol, was observing the adults’ unbridled antics with an expression that was both amusing and a little tiresome.

“Hey, Ji-seok. You’ll be an adult next year, so you should learn how to drink at least once, right? Don’t you?”

People came to offer Ji-seok drinks, but Manager Song of the accounting team stood by him like an iron wall.

“Anyone who gives Jiseok even a sip of alcohol will be punished with 10 shots of bomb shots. I clearly warned you.”

Manager Song is a warm and affectionate person. However, since everyone knows that he is the kind of person who really does what he says, Ji-seok was able to remain sane until the end.

The dinner party continued deep into the night.

We went through the second and third rounds, and those who survived until the very end rented a hotel room and talked all night about the game we would make.

Not just me, but each and every person’s heart was filled with dreams and games they wanted to create.

was a huge success.

But no one was satisfied with this.

It’s a given.

Because if you make a game that’s originally fun, you’ll want to make an even more fun game the next time.

1988 Retro Game Tycoon Episode 95