Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 1003: Dominant Position

Every player who experienced GTA: Liberty City Chapters had high praise for the game.

Most people admired how genuinely fun it was.

Putting aside the story for a moment, the sheer variety of gameplay alone was enough to keep many players entertained for hundreds or even thousands of hours.

Takayuki spent about a week—roughly 100 hours—leisurely playing through the main game.

And even then, he had only scratched the surface.

The entire city is open to exploration, filled with countless secrets waiting to be discovered.

In terms of detail, this game surpassed most titles before it.

Even picking up trash off the street felt interesting.

In Liberty City, you could be a high-class citizen, taking on a variety of professional roles.

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Or, you could live as an unnoticed nobody—or even a street beggar.

While this doesn't affect the main story much, your character's social status does impact side quests and how NPCs treat you.

If you become an upper-class figure, your walking posture changes, people on the street might recognize you, and some will even try to start conversations.

If you end up as a homeless drifter, NPCs will look down on you. Some will avoid you entirely.

However, this mechanic didn't connect seamlessly with the main storyline—a small flaw.

But it was more of an experimental feature.

The idea was to see how different social statuses could influence character interactions.

This system would later be further developed in Cyberpunk 2077.

That game had already included different social backgrounds, but those identities were still too detached from the main story. Takayuki wanted to experiment early and find a better way to integrate them.

Now, it seemed there was only one solution: divide the main storyline into multiple parallel narratives—no shortcuts, no single linear path.

Back to Liberty City Chapters, players loved the main story because of how real it felt.

The story played out like something that had truly happened... or perhaps it had happened, just retold in game form.

Soon, lore-hunters started digging into real-world parallels for the plot.

Takayuki hadn't based the story on any real events—but real life often writes stories more absurd than fiction.

Resourceful fans actually found similar events in American history, and dubbed the game "a concentrated display of the American Dream."

Some even began calling Takayuki a "god" in a more literal sense.

Previously, "Game God Takayuki" was mostly an affectionate nickname—an honorary title for an industry leader. Few truly viewed him as divine... except for some Japanese fans.

Some Japanese people really did start to deify him—placing his portrait on household altars in a bizarre turn of events.

Most people still took it as a joke or gesture of respect.

But this time, things felt different.

How could a man who lived in Japan understand the harsh realities of life at the bottom of American society so deeply?

Just look at Liberty City Chapters—its level of detail captured emotions and struggles that would be hard to replicate without firsthand experience.

Some American players even felt a twinge of regret.

Regret that this game wasn't made by Americans.

Surely, it should have been people living in the U.S. who created such a gripping, authentic depiction of its underbelly.

But it was Takayuki who did it.

With all this buzz, GTA: Liberty City Chapters sold over 5 million copies in its first week—leaving all other releases of the same period in the dust.

Gamestar's new game console also sold exceptionally well.

Thanks to its higher performance, the console could fully showcase all of Liberty City Chapters' features—so sales naturally followed.

And of course, it wasn't just GTA.

GTA was rated 18+, a mature title.

Even if underage players found ways to play it, the sales process strictly enforced age checks.

Other launch titles included new entries in the Zelda and Mario franchises—true evergreen series suitable for all ages, with wide appeal.

Some kids might have secretly wanted to play GTA, but promised their parents they'd be playing Mario or Zelda instead.

Final numbers:

GTA: Liberty City Chapters sold 5.3 million copies in week one.

The new console sold 7.6 million units in the same time.

Clearly, an economic downturn didn't dampen the players' love for great games.

One curious statistic stood out:

Some players bought the new console without purchasing any new games.

Why?

They wanted to replay older titles in higher resolution and frame rates.

The new console supported backward compatibility, and many older games were on sale. Players could buy discounted classics and enjoy them on superior hardware.

Originally, Gamestar only expected about 5 million console sales at launch. But this extra reason gave them a significant unexpected boost.

In response, Gamestar's COO, Makoto Matsuhashi, immediately ordered factories to ramp up production and add new lines to meet demand.

If players got impatient—and if the economic slowdown made them hesitate—lost sales could follow.

Meanwhile, Surei Electronics and Microforce, both of whom also made consoles, were green with envy.

Gamestar was raking in profits so aggressively that they were nearing monopoly levels in the gaming industry.

Still, the global gaming market was huge. There were places Gamestar couldn't reach—so Surei and Microforce were at least able to ride the wave and make some modest gains.