At this moment, Nagao was still unaware of the potential disaster looming ahead. He was desperately trying to raise money, hoping to ensure the smooth development of the games.
In the end, after much effort, he finally managed to gather the money. It was only at that moment that he realized that money wasn't as easy to come by as he had once thought.
What used to be his sudden rise to wealth and business success, achieved at a young age, now seemed like nothing more than a stroke of luck—or perhaps he had once fit the mold of a protagonist, but now that mold had expired.
As the year 2004 quietly passed, Nagao finally managed to complete the development of several games with the money he had left, and they were officially released.
Before the game launches, Nagao personally promoted his games, confidently announcing that his company's products would be the best. He had even played them himself and found them incredibly fun.
Especially with the FIFA-branded soccer game, although he couldn't use the names of secondary leagues directly, he could present them in an alternative way, which didn't make much of a difference.
In the final promotional push, Nagao also demonstrated the gameplay to the players.
As a well-known entrepreneur in Japan, Nagao had a strong reputation, especially since he had risen from humble beginnings. This made him even more idolized by many, as his success story was inspiring.
Thanks to his status as an idol, even people who weren't particularly interested in video games were willing to buy the games just because of him. This was quite similar to how IP works in later years, where fans are often monetized.
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At the same time, Nagao intentionally chose to release his games before many of YOO's games to gain an early advantage and capture a portion of the player base.
A football game based on real-life events was an appealing hook for players, especially those in Europe.
Previously, European players had mostly played games with more of an entertainment focus, so a game that closely resembled real-world football was fresh and exciting for them.
Under the massive promotional push, YOO's FIFA soccer game quickly reached one million copies sold in Europe in its first week.
With the game priced at 59 euros per copy, the first-week earnings hit over 59 million euros.
The success of the first week left Nagao grinning from ear to ear. Besides this, several other games also performed well, with decent sales numbers.
If this momentum continued, the game division would definitely show impressive results, and he could use this to brag to his backers, possibly even securing more funding.
However, the response from American capital was lukewarm. In their view, the company hadn't yet turned a profit, so they were still cautious. While the sales figures were good, they were still hesitant to be overly optimistic, although they were no longer criticizing Nagao.
Soon, Nagao released his first-week sales numbers, which were also quite impressive.
His partner, Suwei Electronics, was naturally very pleased because their latest console saw a significant increase in sales in Europe.
Previously, Suwei Electronics hadn't placed much focus on the European market due to the complexities in tax calculation, statistics, and other factors. They had also found it difficult to understand the preferences of European players.
But now, many gaming companies had found success in Europe, with easy-to-understand games like shooter and racing titles capturing strong sales.
After his success, Nagao became increasingly arrogant, boasting to YOO's executives.
"The European market is mine now. Even if you decide to enter, it won't make any difference."
However, Gamestar remained indifferent, accustomed to Nagao's usual brashness, and continued to calmly promote their own games.
Both YOO and Takayuki's company were using the same game engine, so the visual differences weren't significant. Both were realistic in style and focused on shooter and racing games, so in terms of advertisement and presentation, there wasn't much to distinguish them.
European players' enthusiasm didn't die down too quickly, and after playing Nagao's soccer game, they were eager to try out similar games.
As per the development cycle, YOO's shooter and racing games followed closely behind and naturally attracted considerable attention.
In May, YOO's shooter and racing game was released across Europe.
Unlike the United States and Japan, the sales situation in European stores wasn't as spectacular. There were no scenes of hundreds of people queuing up outside stores.
The main issue was that Europe is large and sparsely populated, so most people weren't willing to travel long distances just to buy a game. Only stores in larger cities saw decent sales figures.
But this didn't mean that European players weren't interested in the latest games. They preferred to pre-order from merchants and wait for the game to be delivered to their homes rather than queue for hours.
This also led to a situation where many players showed up in the first-week sales data, but in reality, they wouldn't receive their games for at least another week.
…
Carson, who loved playing football, watching matches, and getting into fights, was the typical European football hooligan.
This type of person usually causes public disturbances, forms gangs, and creates trouble for social order.
In Europe, this was even more prominent, as many people subconsciously liked to fight and were always looking for an outlet to vent.
Football, with its long history, was one of their preferred channels for release.
Unless there was a special situation, Carson would gather a group of friends to watch a match at a bar. Recently, there was an English Premier League match, so they planned to go to a bar called "Zhuan Zhuan Zhuan," known for its delicious beer, beautiful waitresses, and huge TV screens. It had become their favorite place to meet.
However, for the bar owner, this was not great news.
Because these guys could easily turn a game into a full-blown fight if things didn't go their way.
But he had to make a living, and kicking them out would only make matters worse, causing even bigger problems.
"Hey, Larson, long time no see! Where've you been making money?" Carson asked, dressed in a leather jacket and looking like a thug as he spotted his friend and happily walked up to him, throwing his arm around Larson's shoulder.
Larson, casually smoking a cigarette, replied, "I worked as a temp at a dock for a few weeks, made a bit of pocket money. I'm covering the drinks tonight."
Carson's eyes lit up. "Well, that's rare! We agreed, no one's paying tonight. You're treating us!"