Chapter 266: The feedback brought by esports
"Oh my, what did we just witness? Matsumoto Tsutomu unleashed a super combo! He pounded his opponent from the USA to the ground! His opponent couldn't even fight back! His opponent's health bar is empty! His opponent has been defeated!"
"Matsumoto Tsutomu, representing Japan, has won the first Game Star Cup Street Fighter Championship, and he has also won a prize of $100,000, exclusively for him. He truly deserves this reward. Now, let's cheer for him! Let's applaud for him!"
Starting from 11 p.m., all scheduled programs on Tokyo TV were postponed, and from nighttime until 10 a.m. the next morning, live broadcasts of esports matches from the USA were continuously aired.
Originally, after 11 p.m. was the traditional late-night programming slot, which in most TV stations was considered a garbage slot with no value.
If it weren't for the fourteen-hour time difference between the USA and Japan, with Japan's nighttime coinciding with daytime in the USA, such unique live match broadcasts should not have been scheduled for late-night slots.
However, even in the late-night slot, the executives at Tokyo TV were surprised to find that the viewership rate for that day had skyrocketed from the usual 23% to over 30%.
This was the highest viewership record for late-night slots in the entire Japan region in recent years.
From this, it can be seen that the hype surrounding the showdown between Japan and the USA was indeed very appealing. Even if it meant staying up late, people were happy to do so.
After all, the next day was the weekend, so why not enjoy watching the Japan vs. USA showdown all night?
And the outcome of the matches was very pleasing.
After a whole day of intense battles, two Street Fighter players, one from the USA and one from Japan, emerged as the finalists.
Then the final match was scheduled to continue on Saturday night, which also raised high expectations among the audience, as it might further boost the viewership ratings.
In short, Tokyo TV was ecstatic.
And the sponsors were also quite happy. Originally, they didn't pay much attention to esports, but now they found that esports had suddenly emerged as a popular event, attracting widespread attention.
These sponsors gained considerable prestige as a result, and they were simply making a huge profit.
And Gamestar Entertainment once again boosted the sales of game consoles and Street Fighter with this event.
Originally, Street Fighter in Japan had barely reached a million in sales, and this was the result of several months of effort.
However, with the broadcast of the esports program and the previous interview program, sales in Japan immediately reached two million. Combined with the two million sales from the USA, the total sales of Street Fighter had now reached four million, a ranking that could be considered significant in Gamestar Entertainment's records.
Now, in the hearts of children, Street Fighter had become the most popular character.
In the virtual character rankings in Japan, the once-dominant Koshien Superman had fallen from grace and couldn't even make it to the top three anymore.
And now, the top three most popular virtual characters in Japan all came from the game characters of Gamestar Entertainment.
First was Mario, second was the Hero from Dragon Quest, and third was the Pokémon series, which had been evolving and growing continuously.
Then, among the top ten most popular virtual characters in Japan, Gamestar Entertainment almost monopolized the entire list, occupying a full eight spots.
Only the fourth-ranked Koshien Superman and a manga character named "Machine Heart" from a series called "Spring Day Society" occupied the ninth spot.
This was a terrifying statistic. Gamestar Entertainment had built a solid wall in the hearts of Japanese children. As long as Gamestar Entertainment didn't mess up, its position would be extremely stable.
Now back to the esports program.
As the next evening approached, the final match of Street Fighter officially began. As expected, the Japanese player won in the end. However, with Tokyo TV's deliberate portrayal, the Japanese player was depicted as someone who overcame opponents through continuous effort, making it easier for people to identify with him and realize that hard work could lead to success, thus promoting positive thinking.
The Japanese public was quite receptive to this.
On Saturday night, after the champion of Street Fighter was crowned, the viewership ratings also reached a new high, reaching 40%, but it only lasted for a few minutes before quickly dropping back to around 22-23%.
Even so, Tokyo TV felt quite fulfilled, believing that cooperating with Takayuki was the wisest choice they had ever made in their lives.
After the Street Fighter matches, there was also a match of Need for Speed, which also attracted some attention, but it was not as popular as Street Fighter. After all, the audience for racing games in Japan was not particularly large; they were mostly just there to watch the excitement.
And this Need for Speed match was also one of the two team events in the four major competitions. On that day, it also determined the ultimate winner, who was also a player from Japan sponsored by a local conglomerate in the Kansai region.
Then, the TV station announced the schedule for everyone for the next day. Both Street Basketball and Mario Kart would continue their matches the next day. At the same time, Tokyo TV also released a preview of a new game with only a few silhouette screenshots.
Under the screenshots, it said, "The latest masterpiece from Gamestar Entertainment, a brand-new type of game personally crafted by President Takayuki, will be announced to the public after all matches end. Stay tuned."
Compared to the results of Mario Kart and Street Basketball competitions, obviously the preview of this new game was the highlight.
Thus, Takayuki finally prepared to announce their first game developed entirely with a game engine: "Doom."
This time, Takayuki planned to no longer limit themselves to children's games and began preparing to develop games for older age groups.
If "Doom" were to be rated by age, it would be at least a 16+ game, filled with elements of blood and violence, clearly not suitable for children to play and enjoy.
Therefore, during the preview, it was emphasized several times that this new game would target a new age group, not suitable for children to play. If you wanted to watch the preview, please do so under the supervision of parents.
Making such reminders was also to prevent some people from taking advantage of this.
Taking the game to a new age group was a plan Takayuki had long planned. They couldn't always limit themselves to children's audiences.
Previously, "Metroid" had already begun to label some warning elements on the cartridges, but there was no age rating. At that time, Takayuki still believed it wasn't the right time, and the visuals of "Metroid" were barely acceptable to children.
But "Doom," once produced, really needed to be warned about.
This is not a game for children to play, so please do not purchase it casually.
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