"Thank you all for your support. It's truly appreciated," Aoki Haruhi said with a deep bow.
"Not at all, we're the ones who should be thanking you," Hattori Yuji replied, rising to his feet and shaking Aoki's hand firmly.
Aoki Haruhi and Hattori Yuji had reached an agreement: Golden Thumb Games would pre-purchase 1,000 copies of Elite Academy for its retail chain.
President Hattori's bold move was largely due to their previous failure to secure the top spot.
Now that Pokeni had a successful game under its belt, negotiations with distributors went smoothly.
Even before the game's release, 5,000 units had already been pre-ordered.
Since this game was small in scope and didn't require additional chips, Pokeni offered it to distributors at 3,000 yen per unit.
This meant that even before the game hit the shelves, Pokeni had essentially recouped its entire investment.
The total development costs—including staff salaries and cartridge production—amounted to just over 18 million yen, roughly aligning with Aoki's initial projections.
After signing the contract, Aoki Haruhi returned to the company in the afternoon.
As soon as he entered the office, he saw Ayase Akane pushing a 10-inch cake on a cart, its surface covered with candles.
It wasn't anyone's birthday. The cake was primarily to celebrate the successful development of [ Elite Academy ], which had already sold 5,000 pre-orders. The employees were all exceptionally excited and happy.
"President, please, go ahead," HR Ayase Akane said, handing the cake knife to Aoki Haruhi.
Aoki Haruhi smiled faintly.
This young girl is getting better and better at her secretarial duties.
"To the game's success!"
Aoki Haruhi blew out the candles and cut the first slice.
"To the game's success!" the crowd cheered.
The week before the release of Elite Academy, Blue-wings officially launched their game, Street Flirt.
President Shigeru Kobayashi of Blue-wings had high hopes for this title. After all, it was their first game released on cartridge, and its failure would be a devastating blow to morale.
Tatsuya Mizutani also felt extremely anxious. Without Pokeni's Onmyoji to compare it to, he would have been confident in his game.
But now...
It was hard to say.
Especially since the lead artist had largely ignored his requests, pursuing their own ideas.
After several revisions, the current character designs and art style could only be described as mediocre.
As for the faces...
They were simply indescribable.
The original concept art had already lagged behind Pokeni's, and the final result looked jarringly out of place.
Yet in terms of gameplay design and understanding of the galgame genre, Mizutani felt he was on par with Aoki Haruhi.
After its release, the sales of [ Street Flirt ] could only be described as dismal.
In the first week, only a little over 1,200 copies were sold.
At this rate, the game might not even reach 3,000 copies in total.
This fell far short of Blue-wings' expectations.
Players who had tried the game gave it poor reviews:
"The character designs are too simplistic, like soulless mannequins. You can't connect with their personalities or appreciate their charm when you talk to them."
"The lack of challenge is also frustrating. In games like [ Onmyoji ], you have to work hard to win a character's heart. But [ Street Flirt ] makes it too easy."
"If the characters were as beautifully drawn and detailed as those in [ Onmyoji ], I wouldn't even mind if they all had exaggerated cup sizes. The problem is that [ Street Flirt ]'s quality and art style are nowhere near [ Onmyoji ]'s level."
"What do you call that?"
"No comparison, no suffering."
"Once you've played [ Onmyoji ], all other galgames pale in comparison."
"But I think we should thank [ Onmyoji ]. It showed us what a galgame should be and how high it can reach."
"I hope Blue-wings learns from Pokeni and makes better galgames in the future. Show some persistence and challenge Pokeni! Keep it up!"
Damn it!
When Tatsuya Mizutani saw the survey results his colleagues had collected, his lungs nearly burst with anger.
Pokeni's Onmyōji had set the bar so high, their Onmyōji had spoiled players' tastes. They no longer cared for galgame titles like Street Flirt.
What made him even angrier was this:
His new company's president and employees refused to follow his game development plans, yet he, as the lead planner, was left to take responsibility for the consequences of their unreasonable demands.
Mizutani looked up and noticed President Kobayashi in the distance, his expression also grim.
He hesitated—
Should he resign before Shigeru Kobayashi fired him?
At least he could preserve a shred of his fragile dignity.
"Bad news! Pokeni's new game is launching soon!"
Just then, a colleague from the operations department burst into the room in a panic.
"Huh? Seriously? That fast?!" Tatsuya Mizutani shot up from his chair.
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