Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 955: The Companies’ Concerns

The summer sale campaign began the same day it was proposed.

Of course, this didn't interfere with the current pace of game development—everyone continued with their usual work. The campaign was primarily handled by the business and marketing departments.

Only Belred, head of the Battle.net platform, and the heads of console and handheld game sales needed to remain actively involved, since all promotions would be based on those platforms.

Initial promotions focused on which games would be part of the sale. All first-party titles from Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, even some recently released ones, would receive discounts.

However, the newest releases would only get a small token discount. After all, they couldn't just stab early buyers in the back—that would damage player trust.

Then, several representatives were dispatched to major game companies in Japan and the U.S. to negotiate participation in the sale.

They needed authorization to adjust each company's game prices freely, but they also offered a clear set of discount rules: games released within the past year would get up to 10% off, games two years old could go for 30–50% off, three-year-old games around 70% off, and anything older could be discounted by 80–90%.

Since this was the first-ever summer sale, Gamestar would allow companies to keep 100% of the revenue, charging only a negligible service fee—practically symbolic.

...

This was a way of thanking those who trusted Gamestar enough to join the first sale.

The event began gaining momentum quickly.

First, advertisements for the summer sale started appearing across platforms like Facebook, promoting massive discounts on Gamestar's digital platforms.

Marketing leaned into viral-style messaging: the discounts were big—but just how big? That was a mystery only to be revealed once the sale officially began.

The sale was scheduled for July 15th, during the height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Picture this: buying a bunch of games and enjoying them in an air-conditioned room while eating ice cream, finally getting to play all those titles you'd held off on because they were too pricey.

With the viral campaign, player awareness grew rapidly.

Still, many remained lukewarm.

They weren't yet sure how significant the discounts would be.

Historically, discounts had hovered around 20–30%, which wasn't particularly impressive.

A $50 game at 20% off was still $40—not exactly cheap.

So many gamers assumed this would be just another minor sale.

Still, some expressed interest, especially in finally buying one or two titles they'd passed on before.

Takayuki had expected this. He wasn't in a hurry to reveal the true extent of the discounts.

He wanted the reveal to feel like a pleasant surprise.

Spoiling it too early would take the fun out of launch day.

That said, to boost attention, he let slip that even some newer titles would be included.

That, combined with the viral marketing, helped build up more interest.

Next came outreach to external game companies.

Here, things got a little bumpy.

"President, I'm very sorry—Roppongi Entertainment isn't interested in participating."

"President, Kinmatsu has refused your invitation. They believe heavy discounts would result in major losses."

...

A few days later, several representatives returned with similarly disappointing news.

These staffers reported directly to Takayuki. He needed real-time updates on which companies were on board.

And clearly, things weren't looking too optimistic.

"Tell me exactly what happened."

"Well... President, like I said, the companies think the discounts are too steep. They're worried they won't make any money."

"My case was similar. They felt the discounting was beneath them and feared backlash from players who had paid full price."

...

Takayuki nodded while listening, not looking disappointed or angry.

This outcome... wasn't surprising.

The discounts he'd proposed were very aggressive.

Not many companies were ready to accept that.

Back in his original world, even Steam's 75% OFF sales had caused pushback from developers.

Some argued that this conditioned players to wait for discounts, undermining full-price sales.

It wasn't entirely wrong.

In his old world, similar cases had happened.

Usually, though, the games that suffered were lower-quality ones that had tricked players with flashy trailers and disappointing gameplay.

Those games would get slammed with bad reviews and eventually drop prices out of desperation.

The companies now refusing to participate were, perhaps, revealing a lack of confidence in their own games.

But Takayuki believed the overall game quality in this world was solid—most titles were decent or better.

Games like those were ideal for big sales.

Too expensive under normal conditions, but suddenly irresistible when discounted.

"President, what should we do now?"

"Keep trying," Takayuki said. "Tell them this is a personal request from me. Ask them to participate— even if it's just one or two titles." frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

Once they saw the results, they'd understand the beauty of this kind of promotion.