Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 915: You Call This a Calm Period?

By 2014, all administrative approvals were finally completed, and Takayuki officially secured a large enough plot of land for the park.

The land was located in Chiba Prefecture—the very place where, in the original world, Disneyland was built. But now, it belonged to Takayuki.

While the authorities assumed Gamestar Electronic Entertainment would take at least another year or two to begin construction, they were stunned when Takayuki gave the order to break ground on the very day the approval was finalized.

A project of this size would also incidentally solve a significant employment issue by creating thousands of jobs. And once the park was fully operational, the number of staff required would be substantial.

What surprised everyone even more was how wealthy Gamestar clearly was.

Without hesitation, Takayuki transferred $5 billion USD into a dedicated construction account, to be managed by the bank and a team of professional brokers. The funds would be disbursed to contractors according to project milestones.

Other companies usually set funding timelines and then delay payouts—but Gamestar directly wired the entire construction budget into one account for all to see: We have the money. You don't have to worry about getting paid.

As a result, construction companies flocked to bid for the project.

Gamestar's business lines were ringing non-stop, flooded with inquiries from contractors.

But Takayuki didn't concern himself with such operational details—he didn't need to. He left those to the professionals. His only goal was to see the dream of a video game theme park finally realized.

According to estimates from the project team, the park would be built in six phases, with plenty of room reserved for future expansions.

Each of the six phases would be themed around a different game IP.

The theme for Phase One had already been finalized by Takayuki—naturally, there was no suspense: it would be based on Gamestar's iconic franchise, Super Mario.

Construction for Phase One was expected to take a year and a half—the fastest timeline they could plan for.

This announcement was made official at that year's Gamestar Carnival, and it thrilled players around the world.

The idea that a theme park entirely devoted to video games would one day become reality sent waves through social media—on announcement day, the global conversation was dominated by it.

By mid-2014, construction officially began on the Super Mario Theme Park, with a projected opening in early 2016.

Meanwhile, Gamestar's game development entered a period of relative calm throughout 2014.

For the entire year, there were no major new project announcements or releases. Even 2077 remained tightly under wraps.

Of course, the usual "annual releases" still continued.

With Need for Speed on pause, Forza had become the new flagship for racing games, now slated for biennial releases.

Assassin's Creed continued its yearly cycle, seeking to squeeze the remaining value out of the open-world template.

Then there was Final Fantasy. After Final Fantasy XI, the franchise had been dormant for a while—but this year, Final Fantasy XII was officially announced.

FFXII was destined to be a classic for the series and also served as a bold new experiment. It combined standard JRPG mechanics with major overhauls inspired by Final Fantasy's own lore and style. If it sold well, Takayuki planned to move forward with an online Final Fantasy XIV, confident there would be an audience.

Also in 2014, a new spin-off in the Mario franchise was announced: Luigi's Mansion.

This game drew inspiration from the Ghostbusters films in the original world and reimagined it as a family-friendly, cartoony adventure. It required modest investment and could be developed and released within the same year.

The Legend of Zelda also saw a remaster: Link's Awakening HD, rebuilt in Unreal Engine.

Even Dragon Quest got a new title—though not a mainline entry. Instead, it was a sandbox open-world spin-off called Dragon Quest Builders.

This game borrowed heavily from Minecraft but layered in Dragon Quest's signature RPG elements. Construction was reimagined through functional themed buildings, designed to immerse players in exploration and creativity.

Because the first-party development team was fully tied up with 2077, Dragon Quest Builders was handed to a secondary studio. Since it wasn't a mainline title, Takayuki didn't mind handing over creative liberties, as long as they expanded on the core gameplay and story he'd laid out.

In Takayuki's eyes, all these were relatively low-cost projects. This year marked a "quiet phase" in Gamestar's development cycle.

But if Takayuki had said that out loud, others might've responded with a giant question mark.

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"You call this a quiet phase?"