Villain’s Programming - Chapter 264



Only Noblemtl

Episode 264 Console Exclusivity

After the presentation, Do-jun was extremely busy. There were so many places where people wanted to meet him.

Not only game journalists, but also historians and politicians tried to meet with Dojun.

To be honest, he didn’t want to meet them, but Do-jun forced himself to make time and stopped by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It was because of a request from Director Kim Jae-hwan.

Do-jun stretched after meeting the Minister at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

“Oh my. Now they’re even calling the Minister of Culture. By the way, Chief, are you okay? If you do as they ask, you’ll be incredibly busy.”

Kim Jae-hwan answered Do-jun’s words with a red face.

“It’s okay. Don’t we get something out of it too?”

After the presentation, there was a huge response from Korea. Do-jun wasn’t that surprised. It was because he had led the way. But there was something he hadn’t thought of.

‘I never thought people all over the world would be curious about Korean history.’

In the Google search rankings, words like ‘Goguryeo’, ‘Eulji Mundeok’, ‘Battle of Salsu’, and ‘Ondal’ were on the list.

Although the reaction was mainly from gamers, it was the first time that people from all over the world showed interest in Korean history.

Naturally, the historical community heated up. Of course, some scholars dismissed it as just a game story, but a significant number of scholars raised their voices saying that this was an opportunity to make Korean history more widely known.

Above all, the ‘Northeast Project’, which had not budged no matter how hard they tried, was shaken.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism thought this was the moment and got involved in Gaemamusa. Once Gaemamusa was completed, the government would recognize it as a ‘historical game.’

It may seem like nothing, but it was actually huge.

Kim Jae-hwan answered with a smile.

“When I came to work in the game industry, I realized that although the money was greater than in any other cultural industry, the treatment was terrible. And the perception was terrible.”

Dojun nodded.

“Yes. But it’s a lot better than this. In the past, you couldn’t even say you were going to develop a game.”

“However, if the history community and the Ministry of Culture promote the game, it will make a big difference.”

“Yes, that will happen. And maybe other things will change too.”

“What changes?”

Dojun smiled and did not answer.

‘Maybe the game shutdown system will disappear. Would they really use the shutdown system to promote their games?’

The Game Shutdown System was a law that was enacted in November 2011. It was a law that prevented teenagers from playing games at night in order to prevent game addiction.

Dojun opposed this law.

‘The choice is yours. In my past life, the only countries that limited gaming time were Korea and China.’

Dojun went to work, hoping that the shutdown system would be abolished.

Do-jun entered the CEO’s office, sat on a chair, put his legs up on the desk, and clicked the mouse while looking through internet articles.

‘Hmm. Everyone’s praising it. But, didn’t any reporters notice it?’

Dojun searched for articles and stopped at one article.

* * *

An emergency meeting was held at SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) in Tokyo.

SCE President Maruyama spoke to everyone in the conference room.

“Everyone, have you seen the Gaemamusa presentation?”

As the attendees nodded, Maruyama spoke with a stern expression.

“At that presentation, CEO Hwang Do-jun said this. He said that a trial version will be released for consoles at the end of December.”

In 2011, console games were distributed via CDs, not online. Naturally, trial versions were also distributed in the form of trial CDs for other CD games.

“This means that they are going to distribute Gaemamusa as a console game. But there is a problem.”

President Maruyama circled the word ‘CONSOLE?’ on the whiteboard.

“It’s a console, but it doesn’t specify which one. Is it Sony’s Plus or Microsoft’s Xbox?”

At those words, one person raised his hand. It was Koji Hoshino, head of the business division.

“Chief Hoshino, please speak.”

“Of course it would be our Plus, right? Just looking at our global market share, it would make sense to contract with us. In addition, this work is a collaboration with FromSoft. Considering our relationship with FromSoft, wouldn’t it be natural to do it with us?”

Fromsoft games have always been released as Plus exclusives. Unless they plan to fight Sony in the future, it would make sense to sign a contract with Sony.

“I think so too, but the problem is CEO Hwang Do-jun. I don’t know if everyone knows this, but CEO Hwang Do-jun has a very close relationship with MS. Um, Chief Hoshino. What do you think was the reason for the initial success of Xbox 360?”

Hoshino thought for a moment and then answered.

“Because they basically had a monopoly on games based on huge amounts of money.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Yes, compatibility. That was huge.”

“That’s right, compatibility. Because of that compatibility, our PS lost a lot of market share.”

President Maruyama wrote “Hwang Do-jun” on the whiteboard, circling the name several times with a black marker.

“By the way, did you know that the person who did the compatibility programming for Xbox was none other than Hwang Do-jun?”

The eyes of the attendees in the conference room widened at those words. This was because it was the first time they had heard of it.

“Is that… real?”

President Maruyama nodded in agreement with Chief Hoshino’s words.

“Yes. That’s what I heard directly from the Xbox developers.”

Chief Hoshino’s face hardened.

“If that’s true… you might not want to sign a contract with us.”

“Rather, Fromm could sign an exclusive contract with Xbox.”

The expressions on the faces of the attendees all became anxious. They felt that if they made a mistake, they would lose not only Gaemamusa, but also a game developer with a bright future.

President Maruyama looked at General Manager Hoshino and said.

“Chief Hoshino.”

“yes.”

“Let’s go to the Black Cat of Korea. Be sure to bring ‘Gaemamusa’ when you go.”

“All right.”

“I will give you full authority. You can grant them whatever conditions they want. But there is one thing you must have, the ‘exclusive right’, no matter what.”

This was happening in the United States too.

Xbox General Manager Richard Fay looked disappointed after seeing the market share report.

‘Market share has risen to record levels, but it’s not enough.’

Xbox has caught up with PS’s market share since the huge success of Xbox 360.

‘Just a little more, just a little more, just catch up.’

Richard Fay looked at the monitor. There was a video of Hwang Do-jun’s ‘Gae-ma-musa’ announcement. It was a video he had already seen dozens of times.

“You’re releasing that game on consoles?”

When I first heard that Dogma Warriors was going to be released on console, I naturally assumed it would be released on Xbox 360. This was because Dojun has a deep connection with Xbox, and his wife is an MS employee.

But that thought was shattered after seeing the development status of ‘Gae-ma-musa’.

‘Joint development with Japan’s FromSoft?’

Fromsoft was a company in the PS camp. Richard Fey thought for a while, then got up from his seat and made a phone call to someone.

The name of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was printed on the LCD.

“Sir, I have to go on a business trip to Korea. If you give me full authority, I will definitely bring ‘Gae-ma-musa’.”

* * *

[Gaemamusa, December trial version announced. But what about the console models? – Sky Sports Choi Jong-rim reporter]

Dojun chuckled after reading the article.

‘Everyone only cares about graphics and history, but this reporter is a bit different? What about sky sports?’

Sky Sports was a broadcasting company with Do-jun as its largest shareholder.

‘Anchor Han Areum said that the company has been hiring a lot of reporters lately. It looks like a good person has joined.’

Do-jun invested quite a bit in Sky Sports. Since he was going to be a broadcaster, he wanted to do it properly.

‘It started out as a game broadcast, but we’re expanding into a broadcasting station that covers all areas of IT.’

To do that, a lot of people were needed, and the president of Sky Sports, who understood Do-jun’s intentions, began to reorganize the organization on a large scale.

Dojun clicked on the article right away. Since it was a broadcasting station article, the article came out as a video.

[… Now the question for gamers is, ‘Which consoles will the demo be released on?’]

The video showed Xbox and PS users talking to each other about the game coming out on their platforms.

‘If regular users were like this, they would have moved too, right?’

Dojun deliberately only talked about ‘console’, but did not say which console the trial version would be distributed on.

‘Okay, who’s going to come first?’

Do-jun’s wait was not long. That evening, he received a call from Richard Fay.

He said he was at the airport right now and asked when he could get some free time. Dojun said he would meet him the next day.

“You look so handsome. Are you having a great married life?”

Richard Fay also came to Dojun’s wedding.

“Haha. Richard has been married for over ten years, right? How is ten years of marriage?”

“I would like to tell you everything, but you have to experience it yourself.”

Dojun and Richard had lunch and talked about their daily lives. The main topic came up after lunch.

“Dojun, I heard that Gaemamusa is being released on console.”

“Yes, I think so.”

“Then how about releasing the Gaemamusa on Xbox? Isn’t Xbox a special game console for you too?”

That’s right. I met William because of Xbox, and I was able to study emulators and GPUs.

“That’s right. It’s a very special game console.”

Richard asked with an excited expression at Dojun’s words.

“Then let’s sign an exclusive contract. Once you sign the contract, MS will pay all the development costs and do its best to promote it worldwide.”

It was certainly a good deal. But Do-jun wasn’t the type of person to be swayed by money.

“Richard, thank you for the good deal. But there’s something more important to me than money.”

“What is that? I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”

“Richard, did you see the presentation video?”

Richard nodded.

“Of course. I couldn’t sleep at night after seeing that. I thought that if only Gaemamusa could be released on Xbox, then catching up with PS’s market share wouldn’t be a dream.”

XBOX has been steadily increasing its market share since the release of Xbox 360. On the other hand, Sony’s PS3 has been losing market share significantly compared to its predecessor.

“Hmm. Okay, Richard. Let’s sign.”

Richard’s eyes widened.

“Is it real?”

“But please do one thing.”

“What is that? I’ll give you not one, but a hundred.”

Dojun said to Richard with a smile.

“Please release the official version of Gaemamusa on Xbox, and then allow the PC version to be released three months later.”

Richard looked dumbfounded at Dojun’s words. Richard shook his head vigorously and said.

“What? A PC version release in three months? That’s not possible! It would take at least two years, no, three years, to open it on other platforms.”

“Richard, you said you saw the video.”

“I saw it. I saw it dozens of times.”

“Then let me ask you one thing. Can you reproduce the quality of the video on Xbox 360 right now?”

Richard couldn’t answer. To replicate that, the next Xbox, which is currently being prepared internally, would have to come out.

“Richard, my conditions are clear. The PC version will be released three months after the Xbox version. If that doesn’t work out, I will never sign the contract.”

Eventually, Richard went back and said they would talk again later. And the next day, Dojun had a meeting with Sony’s Hoshino Business Division President.

“No, you’re saying you’re going to release a PC version in three months? That’s absolutely not possible. Sony’s policy is that once you sign an exclusivity contract, you have to wait five years before releasing it on other platforms.”

PS had a longer exclusivity period.

‘Sony is more vicious. Well, they have a monopoly on the market, so they have nothing to be sorry about. But I’m the winner here. Besides, Sony is in a competitive position right now, right?’

Dojun answered with a smirk.

“Really? I think MS thinks a little differently, okay?”

Chief Hoshino looked surprised at Dojun’s words.

“Huh? MS?”

“Didn’t you know? I had a meeting with Richard Fay, head of Xbox, yesterday.”

He said this to Chief Hoshino with a puzzled expression, as if he didn’t know.

“MS… wouldn’t agree to these conditions either?”

“Haha. I’m saying this because I’m kind of close with MS.”

Hoshino bit his lips tightly at Dojun’s words.

“Again… I’ll talk to the head office again and come back. I’ll be back as soon as possible, so please wait a little bit for the contract with MS.”

Dojun, who saw Hoshino off, smiled faintly.

‘Competition is a good thing. See, even the rules seem to be broken?’

Dojun entered the CEO’s office and sat down, thinking.

‘Maybe Sony and MS will come up with a mediation offer? But that’s not what I want. I want to eat both consoles and PCs. Is there an offer that they absolutely can’t refuse?’

* * *

[MS’s Richard Fay, Sony’s Hoshino Headquarters Manager Golden Circle Hwang Do-jun Meets]

[Hwang Do-jun requested a release on the PC platform 3 months after the announcement of each console version of the game. Both MS and Sony refused.]

Ma Huateng laughed out loud when he received the report from the Korean Baeksent branch.

“You’re going to release it on PC three months after releasing it on console? That’s ridiculous.”

Of course, Huang Daozun could have given up on consoles and released only on PC, but Ma Huateng thought that Huang Daozun would never give up on consoles.

‘Hwang Do-jun never stops once he starts something. However, I feel uneasy because I don’t know why.’

Ma Huateng got up from his seat.

‘Okay. The important thing is that this equalizes the biggest risk, graphics.’

If ‘Gaemamusa’ was released on console, it was obvious that the graphics would be similar to ‘Ssangryong’ or even worse.

‘Then there’s only one thing left. The gameplay.’

Ma Huateng went to the development team office. Even though it was 1:00 in the morning, there were about 100 developers working hard in the development room.

When Ma Huateng arrived, the night development PD came to greet him.

“How is the progress?”

“Just as you said, I am wearing the exact same outfit as the ‘Gae-ma-musa’.”

The development PD took Ma Huateng to a 3D modeler and showed him the character model he was developing. There was the female character that had been released during the ‘Gae Ma Musa’ announcement.

“Good. But we shouldn’t just follow it. We should add a little more Chinese color and make it a more advanced form.”

“All right.”

Ma Huateng was not ashamed of ‘copying’. Ma Huateng had a philosophy that good content should be copied and further developed.

Ma Huateng visited the program team and confirmed that they were copying the ‘Siege’ content, and then returned to the CEO’s office.

‘Hwang Do-jun, this time I will definitely win.’

However, I felt uneasy in a corner of my heart because I didn’t know why Hwang Do-jun insisted on the ‘console’.

* * *

After finishing his meeting with Chief Hoshino, Dojun came home sharply as soon as it was time to leave work.

“Are you a little late today?”

Sally, who would normally have left work early, wasn’t there. I contacted Sally and she said she would arrive in 20 minutes.

“Hmm. Then I guess I’ll have to prepare dinner tonight.”

Dojun looked around the kitchen and found Jjajang Ramen.

“Today is Jjajangmyeon.”

Dojun thought back to his past life.

‘Even regular Jjajang Ramen can be made like a Chinese restaurant dish with just two ingredients.’

Dojun started to chop onions and pork and fry them. He added Jjajang Ramen soup and fried them. The delicious smell of Jjajang filled the house.

After a while, when Sally arrived, Dojun boiled the noodles.

“Dojun, it smells good. Is it Jjajangmyun?”

“Okay. Come quickly!”

When Sally sat down at the table, Dojun brought out two bowls of Jajangmyeon.

Sally took a bite of Jajangmyeon and stuck out her thumb.

“It’s absolutely delicious!”

Dojun also ate Jajangmyeon with me.

‘I made it, but it’s delicious. YouTube is the best.’

Dojun asked after eating another bite.

“By the way, why are you late today?”

“Oh! Richard was here. I was talking to Richard and it got late.”

“ah!”

It was natural for Richard, who came to Korea, to go to the Korean MS branch.

“What did you talk about with Richard?”

“Well, a bunch of different things. While we were talking about life, he said he really wanted to sign a contract with Xbox. He asked me to help him, so I did. I’m Do-jun’s wife, so sign whatever Do-jun wants.”

“What did you say then?”

“They said you changed when you saw me?”

“Pfft.”

The two of them finished eating their Jajangmyeon while laughing. Sally patted her stomach and drank some water as she spoke to Dojun.

“But when I was talking to Richard, there was something I didn’t understand.”

“what?”

“Dojun, why are you trying to release a game on console? Why can’t you release it on PC? It’s not like Dojun doesn’t have money.”

Dojun answered while pouring mixed coffee into a cup.

“That’s true.”