Game Market 1983

Chapter 1: The Shabby Game Store

Please note that this story is a work of fiction. The characters and company names have no relation to reality.

"Hey, if you could go back in time, what period would you like to be in?”

In response to the elderly man's question, Kang Junhyuk, a 23-year-old game developer from 2015, found himself in the year 1983, where the era of retro games had just begun.

Welcome to the hottest period in the history of the gaming world!

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"So, for this ongoing project, everyone is on board with shifting towards mobile, right?"

"No. They're not. Damn it..."

But, as always, he kept those words to himself, cursing silently.

"By the way, when is the final client deadline for this project?"

"We're planning to start the beta service in March next year, so at least until the end of February, right?"

"What? Are they kidding? They're asking us to scrap the current project and start over, and they're only giving us six months?!"

He felt his anger simmering inside.

The CEO had been nodding and smirking ever since earlier, sitting at the head of the table. He probably believed that if the game was released cleanly in February and marketed for a month, money would start rolling in.

Not in a million years.

This project is destined to fail, and I'd bet all my fingers on it.

Then, the team leader, for some reason, looked my way.

"Junhyuk, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you have any objections? Your expression has been off for a while."

"Well, Team Leader, the concept for this project is too different from our initial goals. This game's monetization system is serious. If we release it like this, users will revolt, and it won't be good for the company's image."

Upon hearing this, Han Gyuhyeon, the team leader, raised an eyebrow and turned to me.

Whenever he found even the slightest fault in his project, it was his habit to raise one eyebrow like that.

"Junhyuk, you're the one who knows best how the last project turned out, right? The one we scrapped because of your suggestions?"

"Damn it, you meddled and completely overhauled it!"

I had a mountain of things I wanted to say, but I didn't want to be foolish enough to say them. After all, it wouldn't make a difference. The CEO, who had been quietly eavesdropping in the corner, wouldn't listen, and the team leader was not the kind of person who would support my thoughts.

"As you all know, the current gaming market in our country is all about mobile games. The once-thriving PC online market, which we thought would last forever, has collapsed, and now we have to focus entirely on mobile. Even NetBlue, which was once on par with us in terms of revenue, has become one of the top five companies in the industry with just one mobile game. Don't you all feel something when you see cases like this? Don't you want to figure out how to strike it rich for the company?"

"That's right, that's right."

The CEO nodded, echoing the team leader's words. NetBlue... Yes, they copied one mobile game and made a fortune, but as the seasons passed, users abandoned them due to their dirty monetization system.

"And our subcontracted company, GameTown, is constantly releasing new titles every quarter these days. But our company hasn't released a single new game in the first half of this year. Do you think that makes any sense?"

"That's right, that's right."

It's truly amazing as I listen more. If we had stuck to the original plan, the target audience was set, and the project would have been completed by last April. But they kept messing with the plan, trying to make money in various ways, so it's only natural that it got delayed.

Moreover, they completely changed the platform to mobile this time, rendering all the work we've been doing since last November useless. Thanks to the constant nodding and support of the CEO next to the team leader, my shoulders were tense.

"So, I was thinking that it might be a good idea for Kang Junhyuk, the head of the Main Director team, to leave this project. How about moving to the Customer Satisfaction team for the time being? You seem to enjoy joking with the users, right?"

"Yes?"

"Your planning is too user-friendly. We can't make money like this. We're not a charity; we need to find ways to make money, even if it means squeezing items out of the free-to-play users. I'll personally take the lead on this project. You should step aside this time. Or you can play with the users in the Customer Satisfaction team for the rest of your life."

No... Even if it's clear that a piece of crap result will come out, they want me to clean up their mess? Moreover, this time, the project's Main Director is a design team leader who knows nothing about game planning or programming... The faces of the project team members in the meeting room crumpled at this news.

"Why is everyone looking like that? If you have any objections, speak up now. Junhyuk, we'll send you to the Customer Satisfaction team, so you can leave comments and engage with users."

The meeting room fell silent.

&

"Ah, damn it... Manager, I really can't take this anymore. I can't work under that damn Team Leader."

It was the end of the day. A colleague who was usually close to me started complaining. When I checked my wristwatch, it was already showing 10 PM. Ugh, working overtime on the last day of the department change...

I packed my belongings into a box on my desk and left the office of the Second Development Team.

"Manager, are you really going to step down without saying anything?"

"What will saying something achieve? Will they change their minds?"

"But still, you should have put up a fight, at least."

"Enough already. I'm tired too. The CEO's mindset is so different from the former CEO."

"It's really too much, Manager. You brought me here by coaxing me to make great games together. You should have stuck with me until the end."

"Then, are you ready to go to the Customer Satisfaction team with me?"

"I didn't mean it like that!!"

"I'm truly sorry. I didn't expect it to come to this."

"You must be feeling quite upset as well, Manager. You vented your anger on me quite excessively."

"But it's enough now. I'm exhausted too. The CEO has a completely different mindset. It's not easy."

"I understand."

"If you have time, would you like to have a drink somewhere?"

"Ah, these days, I'm trying to be careful because of my wife..."

"Sigh, I see. Alright then, I'll head home first."

"Please, Manager."

As I parted ways with this colleague and stepped out of the company, the cold evening air greeted me. Is it already autumn? I momentarily halted my steps toward the parking lot and looked back at the company building. I'm 34 years old this year, with 15 years of experience as a developer, but starting from tomorrow, I'll be the head of the Customer Satisfaction team. It's truly unbelievable.

I thought that by joining a game company, I'd be able to make the games I wanted. But for eight years after my first job, I was too busy making games planned by others. And even now, as the Main Director, it's still the same. Rather than appealing what's enjoyable about the games I create, I have to explain to the CEO how much money can be made. I have to make presentations about how we can increase profits several times with the fewest resources and development costs.

In the end, the games I created didn't hit it big. There was no other way... With people constantly interfering in the project, the result was so different from the initial concept.

Furthermore, the game, which wasn't properly tested and was released quickly to recoup funds, was plagued by bugs and server instability day after day. The natural result.

In the current trend of mobile games, speed is everything. Release it quickly, monitor for about two weeks, and decide whether it will succeed. Then, immediately shut down the service. Whenever something becomes successful, everyone rushes to copy it, and when slightly different games are released, they all claim they came up with the idea first.

Right now, it feels like I'm witnessing the Korean version of the Atari Shock of the 1980s in the American gaming market, which was once dominated by Atari. Giving away development tools led to an influx of poorly verified games, and an unrecognizable pile of games flooded the market. E.T., a famous title, reached its peak, but it was a disaster. After the release of E.T., it took only five weeks to prepare for the Christmas season, and a flood of inferior games that no one knew how to play resulted in a massive recall. The games were buried in the middle of the desert in the state of New Mexico, USA.

At that time, Atari Shock reduced the game industry, which was close to $3 billion, to $100 million. The current mobile game market doesn't seem much different from that time.

"Going home won't change anything; there'll be no one there. How about having a drink somewhere nearby?"

I took my car keys out of my pocket and headed to the parking lot.

I'm 34 years old this year. I'm still single.

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