Takayuki decided to finalize the Resident Evil project first, so he went straight to the 9th Development Group, summoning them for a meeting.
The 9th Dev Group now had over 500 members, including some outsourced staff. They were currently responsible for the ongoing development of Street Fighter, post-launch support for Monster Hunter, and operations for Ace Attorney.
Takayuki's intention was to gradually shape the 9th group into a version of Capcom from his previous life, which is why he entrusted these classic IPs to them for future maintenance.
"Director Uchiyama, since the president has called us for a meeting, I guess it's time for a new game project?"
Inside the 9th team's large conference room, over 500 people had gathered.
At Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, there was no hierarchy between full-time staff and outsourced workers. Takayuki had strictly forbidden that sort of discrimination—everyone was to be treated as part of the same team. So even outsourced staff could attend the meeting, something that was very unusual for a Japanese company.
At most Japanese firms, outsourced workers were treated like second-class citizens—only doing the grunt work and getting none of the credit.
Ei Uchiyama was calm and reserved. Hearing his subordinate's question, he shook his head and said,
"I don't know the details yet either. The president just told me to gather everyone. But going by his usual pattern, he always starts a new project right after finishing one. He never takes a break."
"The president really is amazing," said someone nearby with a face full of admiration.
He was a younger employee who had been with the company for about 2–3 years. A passionate gamer, he idolized Takayuki, treating him like a personal hero.
This was a man who had transformed an entire industry—and at such a young age. It was deeply inspiring.
After graduating from the University of Tokyo, he hadn't hesitated for a second to apply to Gamestar.
After a rigorous selection process, he'd made it in—and now he worked on the 9th team as a lead programmer, a fairly important role.
He wasn't alone in his admiration. A large number of employees had joined Gamestar purely because of Takayuki's reputation. In fact, about 90% of the newer recruits were here because of him.
(Though don't misunderstand—this admiration was mostly professional. Except, of course, for some of the female employees.)
Uchiyama appreciated the compliment internally, but he maintained his usual composed demeanor.
"Alright, everyone settle down and wait for the president," he said calmly.
About ten minutes later, Takayuki entered the office.
The moment the door opened, the majority of the staff went silent instantly, many of them turning toward the entrance with eyes full of admiration.
"Ah! I'm so sorry, I didn't know there was a meeting here!"
An older cleaning lady stepped into the room. She often liked to rest here for a moment, not knowing today the room would be full. Normally, few people ever used this big conference room—everyone was too busy with development to gather like this.
But since it was a president-led meeting today, they'd needed the space.
Everyone was momentarily speechless. They'd aimed their admiring gazes at the wrong person.
But then Takayuki walked in right after, and politely greeted the cleaning lady, which left her completely flustered.
"What a nice boy," she thought. "If only my daughter could marry someone like him, I could die happy."
The staff, briefly thrown off, quickly refocused their admiration on the real star.
Takayuki, used to these kinds of looks, smiled calmly and made his way to the front of the room.
His assistant entered after him, carrying a stack of documents and a laptop. She quickly connected the device to the projector and ran a few checks. Once everything was ready, she nodded to Takayuki and quietly left.
Takayuki took his seat and cleared his throat.
"Good afternoon, everyone. I'll just take a bit of your time—this meeting is quite important."
The room fell into attentive silence.
"You've probably already guessed—we're here to start a new game project."
The moment he confirmed it, the whole room lit up.
A new game!
And it seemed like only their dev group had been summoned.
That had to mean the president had a high opinion of their team.
Also, if only one group was involved, it might mean Takayuki would personally work alongside them—perhaps giving them a rare chance to interact with him closely.
Some of the female staff immediately panicked—realizing they hadn't bothered to dress up today.
"Ugh, I should've used my best makeup! If I'd known I'd get a chance to see the president up close…"
They knew someone like Takayuki probably wouldn't look at them romantically, but… you never know, right?
As for the male staff, they were a little more straightforward.
They were just thrilled to have the chance to develop a game with their idol—even if it just meant observing him up close and learning from his creative process.
Some of the more ambitious types were already thinking about how they could use this opportunity to absorb Takayuki's design philosophy.
"So… how many of you are interested in horror movies?" Takayuki asked.
"Horror movies?" the staff murmured, puzzled.
They weren't sure why he was suddenly asking that.
But among a crowd of 500, there were definitely some horror fans—many raised their hands.
Takayuki glanced around and nodded.
Around fifty or so—about 10%.
That sounded about right. Horror was always a niche genre. Having 10% of the team into it was already impressive.
"Just a heads-up, everyone. I'm planning to develop a horror/thriller-style game this time," Takayuki said.
"So if any of you don't want to work on this genre, you're free to speak up now."