After about ten minutes, Takayuki confirmed that this severe inconsistency in quality wasn't limited to just one day. Over a recent period of time, the average quality of indie games on the PC BattleNet platform had been quite low.
Yes—indie games.
That is, games developed independently by small teams or individuals, published directly on the BattleNet platform without any publisher or middleman involved, relying entirely on Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's recommendations to gain exposure and revenue.
In the past, Takayuki had strongly supported indie games. He had actively promoted all kinds of indie titles to be released on the platform.
Among them, the games made by his three top disciples stood out. Their average quality had become a benchmark for indie games, and they had made a great deal of money as a result, becoming role models in the eyes of many developers.
Takayuki believed this would create a positive cycle.
But reality clearly hadn't developed according to his expectations.
"Boss, I'm really, really sorry. This is my fault."
Not long after, Bellrade called back.
His tone was extremely subdued, like a child who had made a serious mistake.
Takayuki didn't respond with blame. Instead, he said, "I want to know the exact reason. I don't need you to apologize. Whether this is your fault is for me to decide."
"Uh… alright, boss. Actually, this is related to a departmental meeting I held earlier, which is why I said the responsibility is mine."
"Get to the point."
"Yes. During a BattleNet departmental meeting, I discussed upcoming targets with the managers in charge of different platforms. For the console platforms, I set a goal of increasing resource allocation toward higher-quality games to boost revenue."
"And then?" Takayuki asked.
"The console platforms already perform very well, so following that goal wasn't a problem. But for the manager in charge of the PC BattleNet platform… I gave him a different objective."
"What objective?"
"To absorb as many games as possible into the PC BattleNet platform—quantity over everything else. According to our research, PC BattleNet users really like hoarding games. This is a trait that differs from other platforms."
Hearing this, Takayuki was reminded of his own past.
Back when he used Steam, he genuinely played every game he bought, taking each one seriously and finishing at least a full playthrough.
But after he experienced his first massive discount sale, he realized that many high-quality, well-known games could be bought at extremely low prices. From then on, every sale saw him buying anywhere from seven or eight games to dozens at once.
With that many games, how could he possibly finish them all?
Most of the time, he bought games simply because he had heard their reputation—then left them sitting in his library, never even launching them.
Plenty of players behaved the same way.
Later, players jokingly said that Steam was no longer a gaming platform.
Steam itself had become a game—a game collection simulator.
There was also a popular internet joke:"I've already paid for the games—why should I still spend time playing them?"
It seemed that once you bought a game, whether you played it or not didn't matter anymore.
Honestly, this wasn't a very healthy phenomenon.
Takayuki's expression shifted slightly. In Bellrade's eyes—since this was a video call—it looked like Takayuki was growing angry.
Bellrade had no idea that Takayuki was actually recalling memories from a previous life.
"I'm deeply sorry, boss. Because I set such a misguided target, the department head thought blindly increasing the number of games was a good thing."
"How many players bought these games?" Takayuki asked.
"Huh?" Bellrade froze.
"I mean—how many players bought these padding games?"
"Th-this… the number isn't small."
"And how many players bought them and never played them at all?"
"Ah?"
"You didn't investigate that?" Takayuki asked.
"We did—of course we did. Please wait a moment, boss."
Two seconds later, Bellrade replied, "Ninety-nine percent of players who bought these games never even launched them."
As expected.
Takayuki sighed inwardly.
Players had truly started treating BattleNet itself as a game—a place where collecting a massive number of titles became an achievement.
Takayuki remembered how he used to feel proud of owning hundreds of games across all genres, as if that alone were something to boast about.
But later, he began to feel that filling his library with garbage games was just polluting it. Eventually, he deleted those junk titles one by one—out of sight, out of mind—essentially returning to square one.
"Boss, should I issue refunds to all those players?" Bellrade asked.
Takayuki snapped back to reality. "Let's not talk about that yet. I want to know what you plan to do next. Are you going to continue increasing the PC BattleNet inventory with this kind of goal?"
"No, absolutely not. Never again. I'll follow your previous instructions and expand the review team. From now on, BattleNet will move toward higher-quality standards."
"There's no need to obsess over 'premium-only,'" Takayuki said. "I just don't want to see these pointless padding games anymore. As for games that may be boring but are complete, there's no need to take them down—as long as they don't involve plagiarism or other misconduct."
"Understood. I'll take care of it immediately. But about the players who already bought those padding games…"
Takayuki thought for a moment. "Issue an announcement. Clearly explain which games were padding games so players have the right to know. After that, let them decide for themselves whether to keep them."
"Huh? Boss, I don't quite understand. Those games are terrible—why would anyone want to keep them? If players find out they're junk padding games, won't they be angry?"
"That's… hard to explain right now," Takayuki replied. "Just do as I say. Don't worry about the rest."
"…Alright."
Though Bellrade didn't understand, it was the boss's order—he would carry it out.
"Oh, one more thing," Takayuki added. "The average quality of indie games has been pretty poor lately. Have you looked into the cause?"
"I'll investigate immediately and try to give you an answer within today."
"Good. I'll wait for your update."