A Swordsman's Stream

Chapter 114

The game distribution platform and subsidiary of Surface, Stream, was a giant corporation that occupied 30% of the global game distribution market.

However, they did not receive such a favorable evaluation despite their size.

It was because they were forever in second place.

First place was Crown, which controlled 55% of the distribution market.

Crown was a traditional powerhouse in the game distribution market.

Since the PC era, by offering discounts from 50% up to 90% whenever possible, they had completely dominated the PC game market with a cunning strategy that made users open their wallets for games they didn’t even intend to play.

And they were recognized as the company that successfully adapted to the changing times of virtual reality among the existing companies.

While companies in other fields were losing market share to Surface’s subsidiaries, they managed to confidently maintain the top position in the industry, so it was no surprise.

Meanwhile, a manager at Stream Korea, the perennial second place, was going over a report.

“We lost again this time.”

Surface was the absolute dominant company in the virtual reality market.

With overwhelming technological prowess and capital, as well as the advantage of being a leader, they easily pushed out traditional powerhouses.

However, no company can monopolize every market.

“Ah, I wish our parent company would make it so that if they don’t distribute through Stream, they can’t make virtual reality games.”

But that was unlikely.

Interfering with fair competition would lead to antitrust lawsuits from courts in various countries.

The company would be torn apart and lose significant influence.

From Surface’s perspective, it would be like picking up spare change on the street only to be hit by a speeding truck.

So, it was much better to just leave Stream alone and not worry about it.

“So, it’s practically like a discarded child.”

Not that Stream lacked anything.

No matter how discarded, a child’s parents are still parents, and their parent company was a conglomerate.

Thus, Stream was fighting to take over Crown’s market share at least without funding shortages on a global scale.

Korea was one of the most successful regions in that fight.

Crown had a market share of 45% in Korea.

Stream had 40%.

Just a 5% difference.

“I want to win.”

Game distribution platforms competed with exclusive titles that could only be purchased through their platform.

Exclusive games directly impacted the platform’s market share the most.

“Who makes, supports, releases, and promotes better and more interesting games?”

This secured users and continued to make them use their platform by releasing more games.

That was their job, and Section Chief Han enjoyed his job immensely.

It was because he sincerely loved games.

That’s why he believed that distribution companies had the responsibility to help developers try various things for the industry’s advancement.

And he had worked like that.

“But the results aren’t great.”

The company had a lot of money and a high reinvestment ratio, so he could support several game companies with his method.

But ultimately, to prove his method right, he had to beat Crown and produce results; both the project from a week ago and the current ones didn’t have great performance so far.

“Wasn’t today the release for Monster?”

After numerous meetings and persuasion, the game “Two Heads are Better” had finally secured a budget, and now, at the point of release, all he could do was purely pray that it would do well.

At that moment, a call rang, and Section Chief Han hesitated with a displeased look, wondering whether to take it or not.

Should he answer it or not?

『Crown’s Kim deputy department manager』

A university mate and a friend from the rival company, Crown.

Sigh.

“Hello?”

-Oh. Sungchul, how’s it going these days?

Asking the obvious.

“Haha. Well, so-so? Your release from a week ago looked pretty good. Congratulations.”

-Oh that? I was involved from the planning stage to the end. Haha. We couldn’t miss the super week.

Super week, my foot.

It was just a period without any significant news right after a major event, so it was the time when even package games sold the best.

His friend brought games that were just decent enough to sell during such periods.

“Really? Congrats.”

-Yeah. If things go well this time, I might get promoted to deputy department manager.

He felt slightly bitter.

-I also saw the game released from your company today. A two-person cooperative game? Isn’t having two players a bit of a barrier?

What his boss worried about and rejected for support had come out of his friend’s mouth.

-Plus, mixing horror at the start… Hmm, seems tricky.

How did he know that?

The game must have just been released, having just finished the tutorial by now.

It was clear that an investigation had been conducted.

Naturally.

In fact, he and his friend had slight disagreements since college due to differing opinions.

This was magnified as they ended up in the same industry doing the same job.

“The game turned out well. You’ll see.”

-Of course. It’s your pick after all. But as you know, artistic merits and commercial success are separate. You should quickly become a deputy department manager too. Promotions happen rapidly since it’s not a long-established industry, and you can’t stay a manager forever.

Imparting advice, how considerate.

-I hear that your evaluation these days is a bit risky too. I hear that you don’t fail much, but you don’t hit the jackpot either.

Section Chief Han inwardly muttered.

Annoying bastard.

His friend was someone who believed in playing it safe with moderate choices.

That’s why they clashed.

-Not that it’s my business, but sorry for getting promoted to deputy department manager first after starting two years later.

Sure, real sorry.

“Yeah, yeah. So why did you call?”

-I heard you’re advertising, congrats on landing that streamer.

Ah.

At that moment, section Chief Han realized the reason for his friend’s call.

He lost the streamer to them and came to pick a fight.

“Thanks.”

-Yep. I heard you offered almost the top-tier amount to get them. Any other secret to it?

“Nope. They said it just seemed fun.”

If an uninteresting post reaches the top ten in the game community Advent, ordinary users can just ignore it.

But it’s different for those in the industry.

They sift through every article on Advent to understand the trends.

No one would know better than them about the appearance of an incredible player.

Except maybe the users of For Justice?

Section Chief Han smiled slightly as he spoke.

“You also wanted that streamer.”

-Oh? Well…

“I heard you offered your max bid too.”

For the record, section Chief Han did a little digging on his friend too.

-True enough. But we didn’t go higher. Catching a streamer isn’t everything, you know?

It was clear this was why he called.

Though begrudgingly, he had a point.

It was nearly impossible for a game to succeed solely because a buzz-grabbing streamer played it.

Streamed advertisements were only meant to raise awareness.

For a game to really succeed, it had to become a hot topic.

And, when a game becomes a hot topic and is on everyone’s lips, it’s said to be a blessing from the heavens as per industry expressions.

In other words.

-If catching a big streamer meant guaranteed success, streamer incomes at major companies would explode. Right?

What his friend meant was this,

Did you catch that streamer?

But it might not mean much.

It was clear that the one who didn’t manage to recruit Sojun had come to seek comfort in a mental victory.

And Section Chief Han sought his own comfort in knowing this.

“Okay. Let’s grab a meal sometime.”

-Sure. Talk to you later.

As typical Koreans, they concluded their call with the promise of a meal.

Yeah, right.

“Ah.”

After glancing at the clock, he prepared to wrap up and leave.

There was an actual meal appointment.

“By the way, Crown seems to be focusing a lot on streamers these days. Is it because of that?”

He’d heard that a program was being prepared to partner with game companies, where competitors (Stream) couldn’t access exclusive releases for a certain period but instead received several support opportunities or could launch new titles earlier.

Whether a streamer could make a hit or not, the streaming market had grown immensely, making it a market that undoubtedly needed to be secured, so Stream would jump in too.

Perhaps competition to secure streamers would heat up.

Still pondering over this, he called Monster, the game’s CEO.

“Hello?”

-Oh, section chief. I’ll be at your office soon.

“Haha. Take your time, CEO. By the way, how’s the game reaction? Are you watching the ad stream? I just finished work and couldn’t keep track.”

-Yes, well. It feels just moderate for now.

“Haha. Still, don’t worry too much.”

Moderate was never good.

Most games faded away quietly without becoming a buzz, just moderate.

However.

Section Chief Han smiled faintly.

They had something to believe in.

The highlight of this game.

The chase scene.

“It will work out. That’s because…”

That chase scene was really, really scary.

-I’m also not too worried. I trust that Heavenly Demon-nim will handle it somehow.

Oh.

It seemed they believed in something else rather than the game.

Joining the Demonic Cult.

A slight disappointment was felt.

“Hahaha… Then, I’ll see you soon.”

For the record, he had been a user of a great and prestigious Orthodox Faction in the past.

* * *

Sojun calmly said,

“Well, they’re just leaving.”

The bizarre-looking doll that had been peeking through the gaps had vanished without a trace.

Its exact appearance was unclear.

Because it had brought its face so close that little light reached it.

Anyway.

Sojun turned his gaze, staring directly at Taewoo.

“So, how long will he stay like that?”

Meanwhile, Taewoo, unmoved, thought to himself.

He was doomed.

It was the first thought that emerged after Taewoo’s brain, which had momentarily stalled, began functioning again after 30 seconds.

The next thought was this.

He had let his guard down.

The horror element mentioned by the developer was in Chapter 1, and what he underestimated was probably the tutorial.

People say that when someone is extremely startled, they can’t scream and freeze up, right?

Taewoo truly realized this saying today, and as a result…

-Excuse me?
-What are you doing?
-Looks like he’s frozen lolol
-This guy flinched with a “Hup!” the moment the doll appeared. I heard it clearly lolol
-Could it be he’s easily frightened?
-Come to think of it, he hasn’t tried horror games before. We should ask the Boss about this

Viewers pieced together the situation with precision, like solving a puzzle.

And Sojun was chuckling, obviously anticipating what kind of excuse he’d come up with.

Under Sojun’s watchful eyes, Taewoo’s gaze shifted to avoid his, rolling aimlessly.

Damn it.

What kind of excuse could he possibly give here?

His heart was still pounding wildly.

Unable to find the right words, Taewoo remained frozen, so Sojun spoke up first.

“Ah, you mean this is a horror game? The developers did say the first chapter would have a slightly scary atmosphere.”

-Oh really
-Additional horror flavor? Sounds good
-Ooh, the Streamer-nim playing a horror game!
-Could the Streamer-nim be easily scared?

“I’m not easily scared, but someone here seems different.”

“… What are you saying.”

Taewoo managed to squeeze out words, moving his body at last.

But with the tension finally releasing from his tightly wound body, Taewoo simply plopped down.

Thud.

-lolololol
-His body creaks, doesn’t it?
-Beyond creaking, he just topples over lolol
-Just how scared were you of that? lolol

Surely, this couldn’t be undone now, right?

Moreover, considering that Chapter 1 had just begun, the path ahead looked bleak.

Nevertheless.

“No, it’s not like that.”

If he admitted to it now, he’d probably have to face many more horror games in the future, so Taewoo stuck to his guns.

-What do you mean, not like that?
-We’ll put horror games in every penalty from now on lolol You’re dead scaredy-cat
-lololol Startling? Check. Freezing? Check. But losing strength in your legs? Not a chance lolol
-You’re gonna face it lolol

Of course, nobody believed him.

Taewoo hopelessly ran a dry hand over his face, contemplating his future.

How many times would he be called out from now on?

And how scary would they be?

That was the biggest worry.

No, when something jumps out, it’s genuinely terrifying beyond belief, seriously.

“Hey, with how scared you are, why did you even take on this ad?”

Now halfway taken as a fact, Taewoo finally gave in and confessed.

“Because I didn’t know! I didn’t know it would be this scary!”

-Taewan Yong lolol
-Tae Jung Jae lolol
-They thought they’d be freed so soon!
-Both ways are open lolol

For a while, Sojun and the viewers heartily laughed together.

“So, is your heart okay?”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Then, wanna lead?”

The only forward was through the dark passage.

They had already confirmed it wasn’t possible to enter the interior through the fence.

“No.”

“Then how about checking out that empty box I found over there?”

“Yeah, not going to see that either.”

The chat was flooded with “scared?” comments.

“I’m telling you, if it jumps out again, I might really die of a heart attack! No, really, I’m just avoiding it because there’s no need to look.”

Is that so?

After being teased thoroughly again by Sojun and the viewers, he moved forward.

『What was that just now?』
『Not really sure. Isn’t it factory manager here?』
『What? As poorly visible as it was, was that doll terrifying? I didn’t design it like that?』
『Because you never finished drawing it.』
『It’s because you kept telling me to redraw it.』

Given their conversation so far.

“The two protagonists of this game might as well be Taewoo 1 and Taewoo 2.”

The developers who couldn’t get their act together and constantly clashed before ultimately falling apart.

They came into the unfinished game to clear their dues.

“It seems the empty spaces are filled differently from what they envisioned.”

While Taewoo trembled, Sojun leisurely conversed with the viewers, walking down the passage.

Soon enough, something emerged from beyond the dark shadow.