Toward the end of the meeting came a summary of game sales and a brief overview of recent industry trends.
At this point, game sales figures for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment no longer held much significance. Takayuki no longer used sales numbers as the standard for judging whether a game was "qualified," because the company had grown to a scale where any game of even passable quality would generate considerable profits.
It was precisely because of this that Takayuki realized something: if everyone continued to treat sales as the sole criterion for game development, then sooner or later they would all drift toward a "lying flat" mentality.
In his previous life, many well-known game developers had eventually fallen into this kind of complacent development for exactly this reason.
Once a company became large enough, even if a new release was practically just a reskin of the previous one, it would still sell extremely well.
The most obvious examples were FIFA and Call of Duty.
As long as they released a new installment, even if nothing fundamentally changed, they could still easily hit tens of millions in sales—an almost absurd phenomenon.
It was as if buying their games had become a kind of habit for players.
To avoid this situation, Takayuki had deliberately sought other standards for evaluating game development.
Thus, the sales statistics at the meeting were only briefly reported.
What followed was the analysis of player questionnaires.
This was a strategy Takayuki had recently begun promoting—hoping to find answers through player surveys, answers that could help games continue to grow and thrive.
"Seventy percent of players hope that Final Fantasy XIII Versus will feature a brand-new combat system, similar to the one used in Final Fantasy VII Remake. Clearly, real-time action combat games currently have a larger market."
"Forty-five percent of players hope that the Forza Horizon series can release a smartphone version—even if the graphics are somewhat worse."
Percentages continued to roll in…
All kinds of data were displayed in front of the attendees, serving as reference material for future game development.
"Recently, the overall number of players online simultaneously on consoles has dropped—to about seventy-three percent of what it was a month ago. We've analyzed the reasons, and it's most likely related to the Olympics. The Games have drawn away most of the public's attention. I think we shouldn't waste too much money on promotion right now—it wouldn't be cost-effective."
"So what should we do next? Just continue developing games as planned?"
"That's all we can do. What else is there?"
After the data reports ended, the remaining time was left for casual discussion. This was also a good opportunity for everyone to learn about what was happening in other departments.
Especially the dozen or so heads of the game development divisions—they chatted with one another like close friends, exchanging recent insights and experiences in game development.
From the side, Takayuki picked up on something.
These guys seemed a bit distracted.
But that made sense. Most players—and ordinary people in general—had already had their attention pulled away by the Olympics. His employees were ordinary people too, so naturally they were also interested in all the buzz.
"Oh right, I heard that this year's Olympics added some new events—skateboarding, and speed climbing. Have you guys been following that?"
"No. Is that stuff interesting?"
"Very interesting. I've been looking into it lately. I've actually been considering making an extreme sports game, putting a bunch of extreme sports I'm familiar with into one game for players to experience."
"Hmm… would anyone really be interested in a game like that?"
"I think so. First of all, extreme sports naturally stimulate adrenaline. That characteristic alone works well in a game. Add in the entertainment value and a sense of achievement, giving players different rewards at each stage, and you've basically completed the core structure of the game."
"But…"
"But what?"
"I was thinking about doing more research—taking the team out to see more extreme sports in person. It's just that we've been really short on time lately."
"True. The pressure from game development has been pretty intense recently. Resident Evil just got greenlit on my end, and all the prep work is about to start."
"My Monster Hunter project too—the new Monster Hunter game is also in development."
Everyone wore expressions of shared distress.
Takayuki watched them with amusement.
All of this was clearly meant for him to hear.
They were obviously hoping to get permission from him—permission to take a bit of a break.
And with the Olympics happening right now, their intentions didn't need to be spelled out.
Takayuki said, "Alright, you guys can stop pretending. Putting on an act like this in front of me—I'm not interested in watching your performance. There are still two weeks before the Olympics opening ceremony. In these final two weeks, get all current work wrapped up properly. Don't leave loose ends. Bring things to a point where work can be temporarily paused without affecting development. Then the whole company will take a vacation—keeping only essential maintenance staff."
Everyone was overjoyed. Clearly, their strategy had worked—they had successfully gotten their president to seriously consider their wishes.
"Heh, President, you really are understanding. I already promised my wife and kids we'd go watch the Olympics in person. Of course, my work won't be delayed!"
"President, same here. I'll make sure everything is arranged properly."
"President, I can guarantee my project won't be affected. Grand Theft Auto V will definitely be released next summer!"
At this moment, several department heads were actually in the United States and participating via remote call—but in reality, at least two of them were already in Japan and simply hadn't dared to confess it to Takayuki.
Now that Takayuki had openly approved a proper vacation, they finally felt at ease.
Truth be told, Takayuki himself felt it really was time to take a good break.
Although the company had consistently maintained a policy of minimal overtime in recent years, it was also true that there had been almost no proper extended rest periods.
Only official statutory holidays had been observed.
In the past, there had been company-wide vacations.
But as the pace of game development accelerated, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment hadn't been immune.
Now, with the Olympics underway, it really did feel like the right time to take a break—and for Takayuki himself to finally rest as well.