Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 995: Returning to the Original Intention

In the morning, with the development of video games having come so far, traditional lines to buy games and consoles had become quite rare.

Especially for video games—those days when huge crowds flooded the streets were hard to come by.

Even for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, that no longer happened.

But game sales hadn't decreased because of that.

It's just that most people, unless they had a special reason, would choose to purchase physical copies online—or simply buy the digital version so they could play immediately.

However, consoles still carried a certain sense of occasion.

You couldn't exactly buy a digital console. You still needed the actual hardware.

And going to a physical store to buy one remained a solid choice.

Fathers carrying their newborns, people who looked like they just woke up from a hangover, teenagers clutching a year's worth of saved-up allowance...

...

...

All kinds of people.

In this long line, it wasn't just a bunch of young faces like it used to be.

Now, there were children, seniors, adults, women, and men.

The diversity of the gaming audience was on full display.

And of course, reporters weren't going to miss this kind of news opportunity.

These days, there were very few things that could bring together so many people of different ages, genders, and backgrounds.

The last time it happened was when Gamestar Electronic Entertainment launched its previous console.

This time, the new console was priced at $399.

Compared to previous generations, that was quite high—but it didn't put a dent in people's enthusiasm.

Launching alongside the console were several games: Super Mario Maker, a remastered version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time—a game that pioneered 3D third-person adventure gameplay.

Also releasing was Metal Gear Rising, a pure action-slash-em-up. Though a spin-off from the main series, its popularity was no less than the core games.

There was also a new Uncharted title and Gamestar's biggest flagship launch: GTA: Liberty City Chapters.

On average, each buyer of the new console purchased two to three games.

And one of those, for almost everyone, was GTA: Liberty City Chapters.

Because from the start, it had been the centerpiece of Gamestar's promotions.

In the very first wave of advertising, they had made it clear: "Supervised and developed by the game god Takayuki himself. He personally led the entire development."

That tagline was more effective than any ordinary slogan.

Even players who weren't fans of realistic games wanted to try it out.

Even though it was rated 18+ from the start, it was certain to sell extremely well.

All around the world, similar scenes of people lining up for games were playing out.

And Takayuki, watching these happy customers, felt a sense of accomplishment—as if he had just perfectly completed a final level.

At the same time, he was also doing something else: opening up his own game console.

Before that, Takayuki had announced that everyone in the company could take a week off unless their job was essential—like server maintenance or customer support.

Then Takayuki just holed up at home and didn't leave.

This week, he was going to game like crazy. freewebnøvel.com

By now, it had been twenty-four years.

He had been in this world for twenty-four years.

And after all that time pushing research and development, the gaming industry here had reached the graphical and technical quality of his original world—maybe even surpassed it in some areas.

Artificial intelligence, for example, was one area that had advanced well beyond his original timeline. When he crossed over, AI was just starting out. Now, it was widely and maturely applied.

In video games, AI had been used to make gameplay richer and more dynamic.

Today, he was going to fully immerse himself in GTA 4.

And of course, he wouldn't miss the opportunity to promote the game while playing it.

Since he was playing anyway, he figured—why not stream it?

So he set up a livestream, broadcasting his gameplay to the public.

But getting the stream up and running took him a while. He fumbled around trying to connect the visuals to the platform, which made him sigh—he was getting older. Some of the newer tech was starting to slip past him.

Though truthfully, if Takayuki had just said the word, someone would have immediately come help him set up everything.

If Facebook's staff had known, they probably would've rushed to his house instantly to set everything up—just so Takayuki could stream smoothly.

After all, this was the game god. Getting him to stream on your platform? That was a huge deal.

This time, Takayuki didn't use a secondary account.

He named his stream account simply: "Takayuki (Official)" and then went live.

He picked up the controller and launched GTA: Liberty City Chapters.

Watching the time, he waited until exactly 9:00 AM—the official launch time in Japan—before clicking into the start screen.

At his level, he could've played the game early without any trouble.

But to him, waiting until release time had a kind of ritual to it.

Back in the day, whenever a huge title released, he would always stay up all night waiting for it.

Games used to drop at midnight. He would even take a day off work just to play them the moment they released.

Today, he was recreating that exact feeling.

It brought him back to that passionate time in his life when he loved games more than anything.

To that time when he was always counting down the days to the next big release.

"Huh? 'Takayuki (Official)'? What a bold name. Someone's actually calling themselves the real Takayuki?"

At the same time he clicked into the start screen, chat messages started appearing in the stream chat.