Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 969: A Low Point in the Game? Doesn’t Exist!

In the gaming industry, the biggest news of 2015 was the Summer Sale held mid-year.

Thanks to this massive sale, many game companies that had been struggling financially were able to recover significantly, giving them renewed confidence to restart game development and plan for the next wave of releases.

And that, truly, is the greatest support the industry could ask for.

By waiving its revenue share during the first Summer Sale, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment not only won over many developers and publishers, but also strengthened their willingness to partner closely with the company.

Even if Surei Electronics offered better revenue-sharing terms, it was hard to sway them completely.

At most, these game companies would also release their games on Surei's platform to earn a bit more on the side—but the main sales and attention remained with Gamestar.

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Another major headline of 2015 was Gamestar Electronic Entertainment finally revealing the physical appearance of its next-generation home console.

Gamestar chose to unveil the console at the end-of-year Game Awards, both as a gesture of support and to leverage the attention of the event.

The console itself looked like a compact, square box—about the size of the PS4 Pro in our world—but much more powerful, surpassing the PS5 and Xbox Series X in terms of performance.

This was largely thanks to this world's faster and earlier advancements in semiconductor technology.

More notably, this new console featured a dedicated AI processing chip.

Unlike in the past, where AI logic was crudely handled by the CPU or GPU, this AI chip would specifically support game AI tasks, offering better performance, lower power consumption, and less noise.

This became one of the defining features of the console.

The unveiling also signaled the start of a new round of competition.

Surei Electronics had caught wind of Gamestar's moves earlier that year—though they couldn't pinpoint exact details, they picked up clues from the supply chain.

Surei had been preparing accordingly.

While the two companies collaborated in some areas and shared a common rival—Mikfo—they were also competitors fighting for control over the console market.

Surei's ambitions had never died.

After all, the company that controls the ecosystem gets the biggest slice of the pie—no capitalist could resist that.

As for Mikfo, it continued focusing on its own domain.

Myron Case, its head, knew that fighting for dominance in the console space was a losing battle—it lacked the resources and time.

Instead, Mikfo continued investing in mobile gaming and its PC platform, paying developers to port games to its systems and stay competitive.

Originally, Case had considered cutting back on game investments due to the global economic downturn.

But after witnessing the incredible revenue from the Summer Sale, he had a change of heart.

Yes, the economy was in a slump, but people's demand for entertainment and spiritual satisfaction had not diminished—if anything, it had increased.

As reality became more difficult, people turned to the virtual world for comfort and escapism.

Thus, while 2015 was a tough year for gaming, the Summer Sale reignited life and hope in the industry.

Later in the year, two more major sales were held.

The Autumn Sale launched in early November, this time with a themed approach—autumn-themed games received more attention and deeper discounts.

Thanks to the success of the summer event, developers were now fully cooperative, allowing Gamestar to adjust prices freely, so long as it wasn't too extreme.

Then came the Winter Holiday Sale, which rivaled the Summer Sale in scale.

Even in an economic slump, people were still willing to spend more during Christmas to treat themselves.

This sale saw even more participation from game companies. Some even bundled older classic games as freebies to sweeten discount packages and boost perceived value.

These two additional sales brought in $4.2 billion and $7.3 billion, respectively.

As a result, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's annual profits rose substantially, seemingly untouched by the broader economic woes.

And then came 2016.

At the start of the year, the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opened as scheduled.

At CES, Gamestar revealed more details about its new console, focusing especially on the AI processing chip.

With this chip, Assassin's Creed: Revelations—the first game to feature AI-enhanced NPCs—became the perfect showcase.

Previously requiring high-end PC specs to run smoothly, the game now played equally well on the new console.

The AI chip made a massive difference.

At CES, semiconductor manufacturers also jumped on the bandwagon, displaying their own latest AI chips.

The traditional CPU and GPU markets had hit saturation; there wasn't much room left to grow.

But Gamestar had created an entirely new chip category—a new "pie" to share. Chip makers were practically ready to kneel in gratitude.

They were ecstatic.

In the second half of the year, orders for AI chips surged.

Surei Electronics, as Gamestar's direct competitor, couldn't afford to fall behind. Even if they weren't sure how effective the chip was, they had to include it.

In business, even the smallest edge matters—and Earlykawa Uehito, Surei's CEO, would never accept falling behind.

After CES came Gamestar Carnival—a festival for gamers.

Many new first-party titles were announced, all scheduled for launch alongside the new console.

The cinematic storytelling benchmark: Uncharted 4, marking the final Chapter in Nathan Drake's saga.

A stealth-action masterpiece with movie-level direction: Metal Gear: Peace Walker.

And the most highly anticipated open-world game: GTA: Liberty City Stories.