Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 882: A Game with No Technical Value

In the following period, the popularity of Dead or Alive continued to rise.

Especially in the U.S., it might really be like the saying goes: the more something is banned or blocked, the more it sparks the curiosity of ordinary people.

This also led to the sales of Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball continuing to increase.

In the U.S., this game was banned for sale, but anyone who wanted to play it only needed to move their fingers to switch to another country's region to purchase it.

As a current partner of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, SuRi Electronics had the privilege of observing the general sales situation of Dead or Alive.

The game's sales were steadily increasing, and not just the game itself, but also the new in-app purchase system it featured.

This in-app purchase system was different from mobile games like Candy Crush. In this game, the in-app purchases only allowed players to buy prettier outfits for their favorite characters.

These outfits had no real significance other than allowing players to admire the characters' appearances in the game; they weren't tangible items.

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Moreover, the price of a single outfit in this game could easily reach $10 or $20.

With that money, you could buy some classic old games or treat yourself to a fried chicken meal.

However, SuRi Electronics was amazed to discover that people were very enthusiastic about dressing up characters in the game.

The hidden income from this was quite substantial. Gamestar Electronic Entertainment wouldn't directly release the numbers, but SuRi Electronics could see some clues.

It seemed like they had opened a new world, realizing that there were alternative ways to make money with video games.

Video games weren't just about the base game and DLC content.

You could also release similar products like Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had done.

However, in reality, adding skins and costumes to the game wasn't new for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.

In Counter-Strike, they had already introduced gun skins.

And this had become one of Counter-Strike's biggest revenue streams.

Just like in the original world, you had to pay to get keys for loot boxes in Counter-Strike, and then use those keys to open the boxes.

The randomness provided an extraordinary feeling.

Gambling is one of humanity's most primal desires, and it's also one of the things that can bring people immense pleasure. Takayuki certainly didn't shy away from taking advantage of this.

And Counter-Strike still frequently ranked at the top of Battle.net's sales charts, thanks to this loot box system. It had become a money-making tool that provided Gamestar Electronic Entertainment with a steady cash flow.

Back to Dead or Alive: Xtreme Beach Volleyball.

Due to the continued rise in popularity, and with the so-called design contest event, the response from U.S. players was extremely enthusiastic.

The game had been rated 16+ due to its SQ content, especially various sexual innuendos.

But this did not stop the players' enthusiasm.

Just one month before the design contest, more than 10,000 users had submitted their designs.

To help with this, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had launched a special design software to allow more people to easily try their hand at designing outfits for the Dead or Alive characters, with minimal learning curve.

You didn't have to worry about not being able to create the outfit you wanted. As long as you had enough creativity, you could gain enough attention.

Some human rights associations in the U.S. were naturally very displeased.

They immediately reorganized their efforts, once again appearing in front of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's branches to protest, and once again initiating a petition to complain about Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's actions.

However, this time, the U.S. government was somewhat helpless.

Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had, to a certain extent, found a loophole, and there were some people in the U.S. government who were quite unhappy with these civilian human rights groups.

It was because of them that Dead or Alive couldn't be played freely in the U.S.

The games they had been playing were getting uglier with each release. After finally having a game that looked normal, they still wanted to protest.

So, U.S. government officials became somewhat passive, stating that Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's actions were not in violation of any laws, and they had no right to interfere too much with a company's marketing strategy.

In other words, even though Dead or Alive was banned for sale in the U.S., the U.S. government couldn't stop Gamestar Electronic Entertainment from continuing to promote the game.

Without the U.S. government's support, these civilian human rights groups couldn't stir up much of a storm.

Even though they protested in front of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's offices every day, they couldn't stop the company from continuing to promote Dead or Alive.

And perhaps because these protesters were so conspicuous, ordinary people who hadn't been aware of the game became curious.

When they discovered the game was actually quite interesting, they joined the camp supporting Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.

During this process, a new group emerged, advocating for the normal aesthetic of cultural and entertainment products in the world.

"We don't mind diversity in cultural forms, and we don't mind more racial diversity, but every race has its own unique beauty, and yet you only promote ugly characters. This could be seen as a form of racial degradation."

Perhaps these human rights activists didn't realize that their own advocacy was backfiring on them.

After months of turmoil, Dead or Alive had only become more popular due to the various activities surrounding it.

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Meanwhile, the human rights activists had lost their support as fewer people were willing to spend money on their futile protests, leading to a gradual decline in the number of protesters.

During this time, these activists also discovered that some of their own members had participated in Dead or Alive's design contest, submitting designs to Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.

Gamestar Electronic Entertainment naturally seized the opportunity and even designated one of these submissions, with Takayuki personally approving a slot for it.

Such actions by their own members were considered a form of betrayal, and this behavior was the most effective at demotivating the activists.

It made them lose heart.

In the end, Dead or Alive achieved its purpose to a certain extent.

SuRi Electronics, Brown Entertainment, and other gaming companies also began to develop games with more traditionally appealing characters.

After all, no one would turn down money.

Gamestar Electronic Entertainment didn't do much—they just created a game with a development cost of only $10 to $20 million, focused on developing beautiful characters—and it was able to rake in money like crazy. So surely, these other companies could do the same, right? After all, this type of thing didn't require much technical know-how.