The release of Resident Evil didn't cause a huge sensation at first, but the online discussion around it was surprisingly strong.
Horror games were never a particularly large genre to begin with, but Resident Evil couldn't be classified as a pure horror game anyway. At the very least, it toned down the jump scares and instead focused more on building tension throughout gameplay.
Zombies in the game were concrete, visible threats — not invisible ghosts or spirits that creep up on you silently and make players feel constantly unsettled.
So after the first week, most players who had finished the game were eager to share their experiences online.
And as the internet continued to develop, this was no longer the age of "too many images kill the bandwidth." More and more people were starting to upload and share videos of their gameplay.
Following Takayuki's recommendation, Bob had launched not only a subscription-based video service, but also a dedicated video-sharing platform.
While this platform had entered the game relatively late and missed the largest share of the market, it had still managed to become part of the second tier of the industry. Especially within the gaming category, many players still preferred using the Facebook-integrated video platform to share their gaming content.
Some players, after playing Resident Evil, became organic promoters, recommending the game through their personal video channels or blogs.
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"Hey everyone, today I want to recommend a game to you. It's the latest release from the world's greatest game company — Gamestar Electronic Entertainment. Now, this game is labeled as horror, but I promise you, it's not that scary at all. It's a great game that I think you'll all enjoy! (Though maybe not suitable for little kids.)"
[Big Recommendation: Resident Evil!]
Posts like these, videos like these — people were passionately promoting Resident Evil.
To the uninformed, it might have looked like Gamestar was hiring bots to astroturf the game.
But anyone who had actually played Resident Evil, and didn't have an especially low scare tolerance, would find themselves genuinely impressed.
The game's tense atmosphere kept players constantly on edge, while carefully placed breathing room gave them just enough space to relax — only to crank up the tension again moments later. This ebb and flow of adrenaline was incredibly addictive.
Among those playing the game was Ueto Hayakawa.
As the president of Surei Electronics, one might assume he no longer had time to play games. But he still made time to study Gamestar's titles whenever possible — because every game from Gamestar set a new industry benchmark.
Especially anything supervised by Takayuki — it had to be taken seriously.
After completing the game, Hayakawa could only sigh in admiration.
Takayuki must have some kind of deep understanding of human psychology.
The pacing was excellent, the content engaging, and the T-virus zombie setting was uniquely compelling — not to mention all the interesting gameplay systems layered on top.
Puzzles, exploration, collection, tension — every element was carefully integrated.
Could his own team accomplish something like this? Honestly, probably not yet. They simply didn't have the experience. And this wasn't something you could just copy either — if it were, great directors and novelists wouldn't be so rare.
That said, the T-virus and zombie outbreak setting definitely had room for imitation.
It wasn't something to worry about from a copyright standpoint — change the name and visual style a little, and it's good to go.
Just in the past week, Hayakawa had already seen hundreds of posts online discussing the T-virus.
It sparked far more discussion than many other recent game releases.
Perhaps it was because the game felt strangely close to reality, while also being fantastical enough to engage the imagination.
Some posts discussed what people would do if a real zombie outbreak happened.
Others told fake personal stories — like someone claiming they'd encountered symptoms like the ones in the game, and had narrowly avoided infection because they hadn't been bitten.
Replies immediately flooded in, urging the poster to call the police, warning that a zombie outbreak was already in progress.
In this kind of environment, it was obvious that players were fascinated by both the game and the zombie setting.
Hayakawa realized that even if the game's sales didn't match some of Takayuki's previous titles — and Resident Evil might've been one of the lowest first-week launches of the past few years — the level of discussion and hype was off the charts.
And he was even beginning to see hints of the game breaking into the mainstream, which was truly surprising.
But it also gave Hayakawa an idea: maybe now was the perfect time to launch a zombie-themed game of their own.
It wouldn't even need a massive investment. As long as they released it while the buzz was still high, it could attract zombie fans and ride the trend.
Meanwhile, back at Gamestar HQ, Takayuki was also carefully watching online trends.
He no longer fixated on sales numbers.
This game's budget had been modest — about $30 million — and like past titles, it had helped the team gain valuable development experience, while also creating reusable assets for future projects. Those resources would save time and money down the line, making the return on investment even stronger.
And based on current momentum, hitting one million sales was all but guaranteed — which meant at least $60 million in revenue.
That alone gave Takayuki more than enough motivation to develop a sequel.
As long as players showed enough love for the game, he was more than happy to keep going.
He had been worried before release — concerned that this genre and setting might not appeal to players in this world. After all, it was from another universe entirely, and horror was a niche genre to begin with.