After YOO released their first-person shooter, they quickly followed up with their own racing game.
Meanwhile, Need for Speed 5, developed by Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, had added thrilling features like police chases and a story mode — all of which would later prove to be hugely successful. YOO, on the other hand, leaned more toward competitive, track-based racing.
It was clear the development team had realized they couldn't go head-to-head with Gamestar directly. But that was fine — racing games didn't have to be limited to street racing. They figured, why not make a racing game focused entirely on circuits and track events?
Before launch, Nagao once again poured resources into large-scale marketing. Most notably, he made a big show of announcing partnerships with well-known real-world racing leagues. Players would be able to experience classic motorsport events — and YOO had spent a good chunk of money securing the licenses. Clearly, they hoped to replicate the success of their FIFA football game.
However, after the first week of sales, the results were disappointing — even disastrous.
The game sold only 320,000 copies in its debut week — not just down from the previous titles, but far worse.
Feedback on social media was lukewarm at best. Most players didn't seem very interested in racing games. No matter how much effort was poured into the promotion, it just didn't resonate.
After seeing the first-week numbers, Nagao quickly funneled even more money into advertising, hoping to win back public favor through sheer momentum.
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But the results remained dismal.
Surei Electronics had pinned high hopes on YOO's racing game. They had allocated extra resources and even ran several free ads for it. But none of them expected the game's performance to be this poor.
This was a game with a budget over $100 million — and those numbers were simply not enough to justify the cost.
It was a major setback for both Surei Electronics and YOO.
Around this time, gaming media outlets began speaking up. The most authoritative voice among them, Kazuo Murakami, published an article.
Everyone knew he was a staunch supporter of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, but that didn't compromise his professionalism.
He had been one of the first people to ever play video games — starting from middle school — and had experienced countless titles since.
His verdict on YOO's racing game? "A dessert game worth a casual try — but that's about it." He gave it a rating of three and a half stars.
Compared to earlier years, that was already a much better rating for a game on Surei's console. Previously, many of their titles hadn't even passed the "barely playable" threshold.
So hitting "above average" was already a big improvement.
But gamers are a notoriously hard-to-please bunch — always chasing better games. Once they've had a taste of higher quality, anything less can feel boring or stale.
This effect was only amplified after Gamestar released Need for Speed 5.
On the day YOO's racing game launched, not many people lined up to buy it. At most stores, you could grab a copy without waiting.
Need for Speed 5, on the other hand, was a different story.
In regions like the U.S. and Japan, fans camped overnight outside stores — just like they did every year for big game launches.
In Europe, the install base for the GS1 console was growing rapidly, and so was Gamestar's fanbase.
Lines outside game stores were long and enthusiastic. The contrast with YOO's racing title couldn't have been more obvious.
Anyone even slightly tuned in to the gaming world could tell — just by watching how the games were selling — which one was winning hearts.
"I really want to understand," Nagao demanded, "why Need for Speed is clearly more popular. You were all so confident before, saying your different approach to racing would allow us to overtake the competition!"
Nagao was a business operator — not a creator. But he had a sharp eye for opportunity. At the very least, he'd had the foresight to build his own media network to expand his influence.
However, as someone who wasn't directly involved in creative development, he couldn't truly understand the difficulties of game production.
Previously, when his dev team presented the concept of a more realistic, track-focused racing game, he thought it made sense. He personally found realistic racing more appealing.
And after the success of the football game, he became even more convinced that professional licensing was essential.
But despite all that investment and effort, the outcome was underwhelming.
He didn't get it. He genuinely didn't understand why this had happened.
All he could do now was confront the game's lead developer — the same person who had confidently promised this would be a success.
"I've already given you the best development environment. But this is the result you give me? This is unacceptable."
"President… we didn't do well enough. We're truly sorry," said the project lead, looking visibly exhausted.
The past few weeks had been brutal. Development was rushed to hit the deadline. He had barely slept. And just when he thought he could finally breathe after the game's release, Nagao kept summoning him to endless meetings — strategy sessions, sales reviews, damage control — it was nonstop. He was completely burned out.
And it wasn't just fatigue. There were other reasons he felt drained.
Ever since the racing game project began, salaries had been delayed — and even when paid, they were clearly lower than before. Nagao had promised post-launch bonuses, but never brought it up again.
On top of that, in the internet era, launching a game was no longer the end — it was only the beginning. Post-release support had become critical.
Because they had rushed to release the racing game ahead of Need for Speed 5, it launched with underlying problems. The lead developer was constantly being called into meetings, and his team was swamped fixing bugs day in and day out.
All of this took a massive toll on him. When he finally spoke, his tone lacked energy, almost defeated.
Nagao was clearly unhappy with the answer. He barked out:"Then come up with a solution immediately! Can we release more cars? Add more tracks?"
"Um… that might be difficult. The team hasn't really had a break… we've been in emergency mode since launch, constantly fixing bugs. We haven't had time to develop new content."
"Then work overtime," Nagao snapped.