Capítulo 27: The Release of "Pokemon Pikachu": A Phenomenon Unfolds
Since "Pokemon Pikachu" is merely a revised version of "Pokemon Red/Green," its PC version was priced at just $9. This decision was surprising given the game's immense popularity and the legacy of the Pokemon franchise. The original game had already established a stellar reputation, and the continuous stream of comics and animations had only elevated the product's IP value. Despite the unprecedented hype, the sequel remained at the original price, which was less than the cost of a typical Pikachu figure.
CA's bloggers, accusing GC of greed, were dismissed from the PR department that night. Their low intelligence was evident, and they were bid farewell promptly.
At precisely nine o'clock, the Pokemon official website was inundated with a flood of traffic as eager fans rushed to download the game. The data surge astonished Indra, who was monitoring the trends. The popularity of Pokemon among players was truly unprecedented. Interestingly, Indra noticed IP addresses from countries like China and Japan among the traffic, indicating that even overseas players were participating despite the lack of translations. The allure of playing the latest Pokemon sequel was too strong for any language barrier to deter them.
"How many real-time downloads do we have?" various media outlets were eager to know.
"It's almost 200,000..."
"How long has it been? Five minutes?"
"Less than five minutes!!"
In under five minutes, "Pokemon Pikachu" had over 200,000 downloads. The game's popularity was evident.
"It's time to publish. 'Pokemon Pikachu' is truly a game for everyone!" an editor exclaimed.
"Editor-in-chief, our data is outdated. The number of downloads has just surpassed 500,000!"
"What? In less than two minutes, there were nearly 300,000 more downloads?!"
"Revise the manuscript. Make it 500,000..."
"Their downloads are still surging. Breaking through a million may be a matter of minutes!"
"The speed of revisions can't keep up with the growth rate of Pokemon downloads. This is insane!"
Similar conversations echoed in editorial offices everywhere. The manuscripts they had prepared were rendered obsolete by the astonishing download speed of "Pokemon Pikachu."
"Breaking through one million downloads in less than ten minutes?!"
At CA's high-rise office, Alex jumped from his chair. "Why were the downloads so low in the first minute?"
"Check if GC is faking the download numbers," Alex demanded.
Initially, Alex thought the game had crashed when the first-minute downloads were lower than expected. He never anticipated that the download numbers would skyrocket like a rocket, breaking a million in under ten minutes—a new record for game downloads.
"Mr. Alex, the huge influx of players in the first minute caused the website to lag and delay," reported the head of CA's technical department. "The influx was so massive that even our backend might not have handled it."
It wasn't a matter of slow download speed. The official Pokemon website had almost crashed under the massive number of users. The subsequent growth was genuine, reflecting the true download speed "Pokemon Pikachu" was capable of.
"How can this be?" Alex was dumbfounded.
"Mr. Alex, there's some good news," Ray interjected. "The console version of 'Pokemon Pikachu' sold out all 100,000 copies within five minutes."
Alex looked at him incredulously. "Is this really good news?"
Ray quickly explained, sensing Alex's frustration. "The console game sales show that the market for console games is thriving. We can launch WG and steal their popularity—no, officially launch it!"
The console version's physical cassette became a hot commodity. Indra had allowed players to capture 149 of the 151 first-generation Pokémon, with Pikachu being the only exception. No player had yet caught Mew, the 151st Pokémon. This added exclusivity and value to the console version, which could exchange Pokémon with the Red/Green version players online.
Players who owned the console version of "Pokemon Pikachu" held significant advantages. They could trade Pokémon not available in the Pikachu version, including evolving Pikachu into Raichu using a Thunder Stone, something not possible in the Pikachu version alone.
Indra's balance between the games was masterful, but Penguin's focus remained on the console version's player recognition.
"Then let's go on sale," Alex finally agreed, sitting back in his chair. "Buy some hot searches. We need to launch WG beautifully."
The mainframe developed by CA—WeGame—was ready to leverage the momentum created by the forest wolf sky and launch officially. The pre-sale had already set a record for domestic digital product sales, and Penguin saw this as a strategic move to capture GC's market share.
Would CA succeed in this first head-to-head confrontation with GC? The outcome depended entirely on WeGame's performance among players.
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