Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 997: Find a Way to Buy It Back!

In this world, thanks to the support of cutting-edge technology, GTA: Liberty City Chapters felt like it had stepped into an entirely new era.

Every single building in the game could be entered.

But achieving that took a lot of brainpower from the teams in both Japan and the U.S.

The total map size of GTA: Liberty City Chapters was about 17 square kilometers, with most of that being urban area packed with high-rise buildings.

In an average game, each building would usually just be a static texture—far too detailed interiors would be impossible due to development pressure and skyrocketing timelines.

But with the help of AI, development became much more manageable.

AI wasn't just used for NPC behavior—it also assisted developers in creating more content more efficiently.

If you measured total explorable and playable area—including the floors and rooms of every building—then the actual space was double or even triple the base 17 square kilometers.

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As a result, the total game size exceeded 200 GB.

Thankfully, in this world, storage devices were cheap and internet speeds were fast, so while the 200+ GB size surprised some people, it wasn't seen as excessive.

And the content packed into those 200 GBs was incredibly rich.

At first, Takayuki didn't jump into the main story. After a few opening conversations with his cousin, he started freely exploring the city.

Viewer A: "This city looks insanely real. Look, there's even a dog peeing on a utility pole!"

Viewer B: "Why are you focusing on that? Wait—look, that dog is getting chased by a patrolling cop!"

As Takayuki guided the protagonist through the city, the surrounding NPCs moved like real people.

Their animations looked extremely natural—far more refined than those in Assassin's Creed: Revelations, which had noticeably stiffer character motions.

In GTA IV, movement, running, crouching—everything looked lifelike.

Even the voice acting felt natural and immersive.

The whole city felt truly alive.

Then Takayuki pressed a button and brought up the character's smartphone.

On the back of the phone was a Facebook logo.

It was a product of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment—so they'd taken the opportunity to insert it into the game as free advertising, and it also enhanced immersion.

In the original GTA IV, the setting was roughly the early 2000s, when smartphones weren't yet common. The protagonist's phone was only capable of calls and texts.

Only by GTA V did smartphones become truly "smart," with internet access.

But in this world, transplanting the old GTA IV setting would've felt outdated. So Gamestar updated the in-game tech to match current times.

Naturally, the protagonist now used a full-featured smartphone.

In the phone menu, Takayuki quickly navigated to an app called "Jobs."

Just as the name implied, it was an app for accepting work.

Basically a gig economy app, no different from real-life job platforms—offering all sorts of gigs.

Viewer E: "What the hell is this? You have to work jobs in the game too? I'm already tired from real life—why do I have to work in a game?!"

Viewer C: "But don't you think it feels more real this way?"

Viewer E typed disdainfully: "Too much realism makes a game boring, okay? Who wants to do real-life chores in a video game?"

"Fair point."

"I agree."

...

Takayuki continued playing and soon accepted a job as a taxi driver.

Not long after, a cab pulled up beside the protagonist. An NPC got out and handed off the car to the main character for two pickup-and-drop-off jobs.

"So boring. I suddenly don't want to play anymore."

"If the rest of the game is just driving people around, I don't see why I should buy it."

"But this game was overseen by the game god himself—it can't be that simple, right?"

"You're too naive. Even the game god can get old. Maybe he's out of touch or making pointless content now."

"I won't let you insult the game god like that!"

In the chat, some people were starting to feel bored.

Honestly, if it was just driving around, there were lots of games that already did that.

Playing as a taxi driver didn't sound exciting—if the gameplay was only about picking people up and dropping them off, it really wasn't anything new.

But of course, there was no way Takayuki would stop at just a basic taxi-driving mechanic.

He quickly finished the two jobs and received payment through the in-game phone.

Just as he was about to accept a new job, the phone vibrated.

He opened it to see a complaint message from one of the previous customers.

The customer said the protagonist was too ugly and ruined his business deal—he wanted a refund.

Everyone in the stream chat was stunned.

What kind of ridiculous complaint was that?

And what Takayuki did next was even more absurd.

He pocketed the phone, got back in the cab, and drove back to where the complaining customer had been dropped off.

That customer was now working in a nearby building.

With help from the game's message prompt, he quickly located the NPC.

Takayuki entered the building, found the guy, and—without saying a word—beat him with a club.

The NPC wailed, repeatedly apologizing and promising to retract the complaint.

The viewers were dumbfounded.

Viewer C asked again: "Wait... is this something that could actually happen in real life? This is insane!"

The same viewer who earlier mocked the realism now had nothing to say.

Suddenly, a thought popped into his head:

I need to buy GTA: Liberty City Chapters. This is way too fun.