The zombie craze triggered by Resident Evil lasted for quite a long time, and during this time, many companies showed interest in following up on the idea.
This breakout moment also made people in the gaming industry realize for the first time that video games could have an extraordinary level of influence and reach.
Even though games capable of sparking such viral moments are few and far between—only achievable under the perfect combination of timing, opportunity, and talent—some companies still took the chance to ride the wave and earn extra profits.
Brown Entertainment, under Huck Brown, was the first to respond. Zombie gameplay naturally fits well with shooting games, and Huck Brown quickly realized this, adding a new "zombie mode" to their top shooting game. The trend caught fire quickly.
And this rapid move to capitalize on the trend brought him huge benefits.
Players weren't content with just one Resident Evil game. While Gamestar was enjoying the main course, Huck Brown got to sip the first bowl of soup—rich and satisfying.
Other companies followed a bit later, but still managed to make a bit of money here and there.
While the zombie craze was still ongoing, something else unexpected happened—Gamestar's president, now 31-year-old Takayuki, held a relatively low-key wedding.
His bride was none other than Aya Tsukino, his longtime colleague.
The news came as a bit of a shock to the industry.
The "God of Games" had finally found his match. But for those inside the company, it wasn't surprising at all—most had already seen it coming. Only outsiders were caught off guard.
Aya Tsukino was one of Gamestar's earliest employees and one of its most critical tech leads—equal in status only to Takayuki himself, the relentless workhorse Makoto Matsuhashi, and head of engineering Airi Hayazawa.
The wedding was held at a church and followed a simple, Western-style ceremony. Takayuki didn't care much about the formality—what mattered most to him was the person, Aya Tsukino.
Years of working together had helped Takayuki clearly understand the kind of person he loved, and Aya had always strived to be a strong support in both work and life.
Naturally, the bond between them deepened over time.
Airi Hayazawa had once felt a bit of disappointment, but she had long since accepted things. After all, she no longer had to worry about her future—she was now wealthy in her own right. Working at Gamestar, a company with such a free and open atmosphere, there were no rumors or pressure. She didn't need to marry just for the sake of it. In her heart, she had only one person she cared for—and if she couldn't be with him, she was content staying single. Life would still be good, and she would never need to worry about money.
The wedding lasted a single day, and for the first time since Takayuki's reincarnation, he met his biological father.
After all, no matter how reluctant he might be, a father would always attend his son's wedding. Otherwise, Takayuki's mother, Masako Takayu, might literally twist his head off.
His father had once been a rising star in the financial world, frequently rubbing elbows with aristocrats thanks to his stellar investment returns. He had genuine talent in finance.
But after earning enough money, he chose to pursue a writing career instead.
Unfortunately, his talent didn't translate well to literature. Over a decade of writing produced little success. Even now, his pen name was virtually unknown, much to his dismay.
He often tried to talk about his past financial achievements, but no one really remembered them.
However, the moment he said he was Takayuki's father, he would immediately be showered with praise—"What a great son! The shining star of the industry!" This left him a little wounded in pride.
Time waits for no one. His era had passed.
Still, seeing his son get married made him very happy.
Masako Takayu was, of course, overjoyed as well.
She was very satisfied with her new daughter-in-law, Aya Tsukino—smart, capable, and fully supportive of Takayuki both professionally and personally. She was sure Aya would give birth to a bright child one day.
The wedding lasted only one day. Executives from all over the game industry attended, while those with lesser status simply weren't invited.
Even rival Hayakawa Ueto came to offer congratulations, a testament to Takayuki's dominant position in the industry.
But Takayuki's life wasn't just about love—his career mattered just as much. So, just three days after the wedding, he was back at work.
Aya Tsukino also resumed her duties. Everything returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.
Next on Gamestar's agenda was the development of its new game console, as well as the continued growth and improvement of the PC platform.
The new console would still take some time—at least another six months before the design could be finalized.
That was the engineering team's job. Takayuki could only offer guidance and ideas at critical points.
The game development teams were also preparing for the new console, slowing down current projects. This gave Takayuki some breathing room to focus on expanding the PC BattleNet platform.
So far, the PC BattleNet platform had gained modest fame, now hosting over 1,000 games. About a third of those were small-scale indie titles.
Thanks to attractive revenue-sharing policies, even two- or three-person indie teams had a chance to make money.
These games didn't need massive sales—at an average price of $10, selling just 10,000 copies would be enough to keep the studio afloat and begin their next project. This created a healthy development cycle.
Still, Takayuki thought the entry barrier was a bit too high.
"The threshold is still too high," Takayuki said, tapping his fingers on the desk in the PC BattleNet operations office, frowning in thought.
"Threshold? What do you mean, sir?" asked Bellred, the platform's operations manager.
"I mean the barrier to game development is still too high. That's why we don't have enough games on our platform."
"Huh?"
Not enough games?
Bellred was stunned.
Wasn't this already a lot? The PC platform already had over a thousand games—GS1, a top-tier console, had just recently surpassed the 1,000 mark itself. This was already quite impressive, right?