First of all, YOO's team did manage to think of shortening the length of the football game, which was definitely not a problem.
But when it came to what to do next, they were completely at a loss.
Before this, they had very few similar games as references.
The only reference they might have was the "Super Football League" game released by Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.
However, "Super Football League" didn't have many standout features.
It felt more like a game from the early FC era, with very simple gameplay and no real points of reference.
They could only try to create their own gameplay ideas.
But this was nowhere near as good as the mature football game ideas already in Takayuki's mind.
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Perhaps they could eventually develop a football game that was not inferior to Takayuki's new creation, but the development cycle would definitely not be short.
This was because they would need to go through repeated trial and error, constantly testing different gameplay ideas to find the one that worked best for a football game. This process was much slower than Takayuki, who already had a clear direction from the start.
As long as the development team was large enough, Takayuki was confident they could complete the game in one year. But YOO? They didn't have that kind of luxury. Their development time would be much longer.
Football games were a great example of the industrialization of video games. As long as there was a stable source of creativity, the subsequent game development wouldn't be that hard.
Although FIFA had continued to innovate with new gameplay, most players still mainly played the same few modes. This would continue to allow players to keep paying for the yearly updates.
Takayuki hadn't actually played much of FIFA himself, but he was familiar with its gameplay. Some of the techniques used in FIFA weren't feasible yet, but Takayuki could slowly add these mature techniques from his own mind into the football game, like more realistic technologies and AI, which would gradually become more popular.
At the same time, Takayuki planned to introduce an online mode.
Now that the internet had fully matured, the pressure for online games had significantly decreased. Just look at StarCraft, where there was almost no delay in its online play, and players could enjoy competitive matches without any lag.
The nearly lag-free online gaming had made the game incredibly popular among players who enjoyed competitive play.
At the same time, many people were beginning to realize the potential of competitive gaming and were attempting to release their own competitive games, with decent sales. However, this also created a need for ongoing operations, such as server maintenance, which also required money. Once the number of competitive gamers reached a saturation point, it would become a headache for many game developers to figure out how to continue earning money.
With an online competitive mode, football games would become a whole new kind of game.
After arriving in the U.S., Takayuki, like before, almost lived in the company.
Employees could switch between day and night shifts, and they would often see Takayuki's figure around the office, which felt strange.
Over time, even those who were usually lazy didn't dare to slack off anymore, because the overall atmosphere of the team had turned into one of focused work. If anyone slacked off, it became very obvious.
You could still follow regular working hours, but you absolutely couldn't slack off during work hours. It would be very easy to be looked down upon.
Takayuki was almost constantly overseeing the development of the football game, hardly ever stopping.
But that wasn't enough. Takayuki also kept an eye on the football game's marketing.
He rented a large billboard in Times Square, with a 15-second ad running 200 times a day, for four weeks.
These four weeks would be divided into four stages. The first stage would focus on building hype for the football game, letting more players know about the game. There would also be advertisements on mainstream TV stations and internet platforms.
Although the U.S. wasn't the main battlefield, it was still important to make a mark. The rent for the Times Square billboards was about $2 million, which wasn't too expensive and was totally acceptable.
Then, he would focus on advertising in Europe, the main battlefield.
Coincidentally, Facebook was also making waves in Europe, dominating the social networking space with no competitors.
As the major shareholder, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment decided to use this as one of their advertising channels.
The ads were hidden among the social media content that users would normally see.
When users scrolled through their social feed, they would unconsciously see a post about the football game. The content would be attention-grabbing, such as offering players a chance to rewrite the outcome of some of the world's most iconic football matches, allowing players to help their favorite teams win.
In addition to this, there were TV commercials and large billboards.
Soon, ads for the football game were everywhere in Europe.
And since Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had already done this, YOO couldn't afford to fall behind. Otherwise, they might lose right from the start.
As the internet connected the world more closely, the idea of "good things are hard to find" became less and less true. With enough publicity, success could be achieved, especially in Europe.
The cost of advertising in Europe alone was more than $2 million per week for both sides.
Nagao looked at the long list of data reports, and his mood grew heavier and heavier.
Damn it.
Where did Gamestar Electronic Entertainment get all this money?
Weren't they supposed to be running out of funds?
If they still had so much money, why were they so reluctant to pay the slight difference in the FIFA brand authorization?
It wasn't like they had to pay everything upfront. At first, they just wanted to pay annually.
But then Gamestar Electronic Entertainment chose to give up. Nagao thought that was because they truly didn't have money.
Yet, in the blink of an eye, they struck deals with multiple European football event committees, spending just as much as the FIFA authorization would have cost. Then, they started pouring money into advertising, as if they really weren't lacking in funds.
Wait, this company is still owned solely by Gamestar Electronic Entertainment. How many investors must be eager to get a piece of it, even if they have no voting rights?
As soon as Takayuki loosened up a bit, countless investors would surely rush in, waving money and shouting "Let me get on board!"
It must be that way. Takayuki had finally compromised, and now he needed more money and capital to make even more money.