Lorenzo didn't really understand the technical details of game development.
But he had great confidence in Takayuki's judgment in the gaming field.
If Takayuki had chosen this game as the very first title of the new company, then it had to have real potential.
Still, Lorenzo couldn't help but feel a little doubtful—could just one game really make that big of a splash?
At one point, he even considered whether he should simply invest more money himself and directly buy Mikufu's game division outright.
But after thinking it through, he understood that Takayuki was determined to take Mikufu's game division, and clearly wouldn't agree to Lorenzo buying it alone.
Lorenzo skimmed through Takayuki's proposal and learned that it was an online competitive game.
Each match involved one hundred players, all competing until only a single winner remained.
However, he still couldn't quite grasp where the fun of such a game lay.
In this world, there were films and TV shows similar to the "battle royale" concept, but no one had truly succeeded in adapting that idea into a video game.
Before Takayuki, several companies had tried similar concepts, but most had faded into obscurity, leaving little impression.
After reading the proposal, Lorenzo agreed to cooperate with Takayuki.
He was, in fact, curious to see how far this new company could go.
Takayuki would participate in the company's operation and investment under the identity of his alt account, "Nintendo Damn It Is the Ruler of the World," holding 51% of the shares.
Lorenzo would hold 30%.
The remaining 19% would temporarily stay under Takayuki's control, to be used later for recruiting talent and absorbing additional capital at the right time.
Takayuki would invest 100 million dollars in capital and game development expertise under his alt identity.
Lorenzo would invest 300 million dollars.
With that, the company's foundation was set.
Not long after, news broke that the world's number-one indie game creator had founded a company in the United States, personally endorsed by Lorenzo.
Although it wouldn't receive support from the Morgan Group, funding clearly wouldn't be an issue in the early stages.
This news sparked quite a bit of discussion in gaming circles.
The world's top indie developer had finally stepped onto the path of capital, beginning to develop higher-tier games.
Players who had always liked "Nintendo Damn It Is the Ruler of the World" were actually quite excited, eager to see what this legendary indie creator's first large-scale game would look like.
Meanwhile, Mikufu's game division appeared utterly bleak.
But that was only on the surface.
At this very moment, many employees in Mikufu's game division had fire burning in their eyes.
Because within just a single week, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had secretly contacted every one of them—including those who had already resigned earlier but were still undecided.
As the current head of the game division, his feelings were complicated.
Gamestar's people had spoken bluntly to him, telling him outright that he wasn't suitable for a leadership role.
However, they would still offer him an appropriate position—one that would guarantee a comfortable living.
On one hand, he felt disappointed, knowing his leadership role would disappear.
On the other hand, he felt relieved—at least he would still have a solid job ahead of him.
His current task was to stabilize the team as much as possible, while also stalling on Mikufu's side.
He needed to maintain the illusion of decline in front of Mikufu, waiting for Gamestar to officially launch its acquisition offer.
But the question was…
How long would that take?
A year?
Two years?
Even three or four years?
If it took that long, he wasn't sure the employees would really have the patience to wait it out.
All he could do now was try his best to hold things together.
Soon after, the game company jointly founded by "Nintendo Damn It Is the Ruler of the World" and Lorenzo was officially announced.
The company was directly named Nintendo.
A deliberate move—leaving behind a trace of the "world ruler" from Takayuki's previous life.
As for its first game, there was naturally a massive promotional campaign.
To sever any possible ties with Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, Takayuki chose to have Nintendo aggressively buy advertising space with sheer money.
They poured funds into promotion on the Battle.net platform, Facebook, and all major social platforms.
Over one hundred million dollars were burned on marketing alone, giving off an impression of overwhelming wealth.
"Is Nintendo stupid? Spending this much money on ads—why not put more into developing the game first? Are they in that much of a hurry to cash out?"
"Looks like the former king of indie games has fallen too."
"Yeah, honestly kind of disappointing. I really liked a lot of his old indie games."
"By the way, have you guys paid attention to Nintendo's game? I think it's called Fortnite. Supposedly some kind of group survival gameplay."
"Of course I've seen it—ads are everywhere. But with so much money spent on marketing and barely any development details shown, I really don't have high expectations."
Because Nintendo's early moves were so high-profile, public opinion online wasn't very favorable.
That negativity even spilled over onto the former top indie game creator himself.
Takayuki, however, didn't care much.
Marketing was handled by specialists—Lorenzo's team.
Takayuki didn't need to waste energy on that.
What he was focused on now was something far more important.
Interviewing new employees.
The new company had just been founded, and in its early stages it needed to stay as disconnected from Gamestar Electronic Entertainment as possible.
At the very least, the secret had to be maintained for around six months.
That meant recruitment absolutely couldn't be linked to Gamestar.
But if he wanted qualified developers, Takayuki had no choice but to handle things personally this time.
He couldn't rely on others.
Once again, it made him feel like he had returned to the very beginning of his game development career.
Annual salary: $100,000 — recruiting three game artists.
Annual salary: $150,000 — recruiting game programmers.
Annual salary: $500,000 — recruiting level designers.
Annual salary…
These pay rates were already quite good by U.S. standards.
With this compensation alone, plenty of people were eager to apply.
Even though many were worried about the game itself, that didn't stop others from feeling hopeful.
Mudd Marcus was a game balance designer at a small game studio.
His previous job hadn't been going well.
The pay was low, and the boss was extremely stingy.
So when he saw Nintendo's recruitment announcement, he immediately decided to come in for an interview.
If necessary, he was ready to jump ship on the spot.
What left him slightly confused, though, was the interviewer.
It was a guy wearing a smiling-face mask.
Even now…
Did "Nintendo Damn It Is the Ruler of the World" still refuse to show his real face?