On the game review platform managed by Murakami Ichirou, the official professional review of Sekiro gave it a recommendation of four and a half stars, praising the game's originality and the fact that it created an entirely new genre of gaming.
Of course, this innovation seems to be a small one in today's video game industry, but it is still quite rare.
At the same time, the official review platform recommended that players persist through a certain amount of playtime, as the feedback after a certain number of hours would be very positive.
Now, let's look at the review of Ghost of Tsushima.
This game was rated four stars.
The official review praised the game for effectively showcasing a standard formulaic open-world game. It didn't have many standout features or innovations, but given the mature, industrialized game development context, the game's completion was very high, and the play experience was solid.
The game also incorporated many elements of Japanese traditional culture into the gameplay in a natural way, and Murakami Ichirou gave it high marks, believing it was a great way to promote Japanese traditional culture.
Looking at the two games individually, the reviews didn't seem particularly impressive.
...
However, when comparing both games side by side, the reactions from players were intense.
"What? Why is Sekiro rated so highly? This game is impossible to play!"
"That's right, I died at least twenty or thirty times before my two-hour refund window came up. Can anyone show me another game where you die twenty or thirty times in the first two hours?"
"Upstairs, there are games like Dead Cells."
"That's an indie game, don't compare it to a big-budget title, and in that game, once your character levels up, small enemies are a joke. But in Sekiro, the level-up stats barely make a difference—how is that normal game difficulty?"
"I think Sekiro deserves two stars at most!"
"Ghost of Tsushima should actually get four and a half stars, maybe even five stars. After being brutalized by Sekiro, I feel so much calmer when I play Ghost of Tsushima. No comparison, no pain!"
"Yeah, do you think Gamestar Electronics Entertainment did this on purpose? Using one game to highlight the excellence of another?"
"I don't think so, Gamestar Electronics Entertainment wouldn't need such a lowbrow marketing strategy."
"I think..."
...
Negative reviews for Sekiro are spreading rapidly on the internet.
Although some players still gave positive reviews, such as praising the game's action system as one of the best in the industry, it was clear that most of the negative feedback drowned out any positive comments.
At the same time, Sekiro's refund numbers were rising fast online.
Initially, Sekiro had over 3 million sales.
But after the flood of negative reviews, Sekiro's sales rapidly plummeted.
This was the first time Gamestar Electronics Entertainment saw a game experience negative sales the day after its release.
Oh, wait, no game really has "negative sales," right?
The competition was stunned.
They couldn't understand what Gamestar Electronics Entertainment was trying to do.
Looking at the scale and quality of Sekiro, it was clear that it had been made with care.
Yet they had chosen to make it extraordinarily difficult, directly turning off most players.
Gamestar Electronics Entertainment could have reduced the difficulty, allowing players to experience the game more smoothly.
The base of the game was quite solid, according to these industry professionals.
But if you think about it from a different perspective, could this actually be part of Gamestar Electronics Entertainment's strategy?
Don't just look at Sekiro's sales.
Sekiro was priced at just $35.
But Ghost of Tsushima was priced at $59.90.
The price gap between the two games was significant.
And because of Sekiro's discouraging effect, it had sparked a wave of praise for Ghost of Tsushima. This praise had even surpassed the actual quality of the game.
Ghost of Tsushima was really only worth four stars.
That four-star rating included some personal bias—reducing it by half a star would still be reasonable.
However, most players had now elevated Ghost of Tsushima to a near-masterpiece status, which was far beyond what the game deserved.
And this resulted in a massive surge in Ghost of Tsushima's sales.
Its first-day sales barely reached 3 million.
Normally, second-day sales would drop by at least 30-50%, and if the game quality was slightly worse, the drop could be as much as 70-80%.
But Ghost of Tsushima's second-day sales didn't drop—in fact, they increased, reaching over 4 million copies sold.
Many players acted as unofficial promoters, enthusiastically recommending the game to their friends.
"Want to learn about Japanese culture? Want to play a truly authentic Japanese cultural game?"
"Then come play Ghost of Tsushima!"
This move also stunned the competition.
Is this even possible?
They learned something new today.
Sacrifice one game, then use it to highlight the excellence of another, making a game that might not have been particularly impressive become an unexpected success.
It looks like this was Gamestar Electronics Entertainment's strategy all along.
If Ghost of Tsushima sold well, Sekiro's development costs wouldn't even matter much.
According to industry estimates, Ghost of Tsushima's investment cost was around $100 million.
While Sekiro's development cost was estimated to be between $50 million to $60 million.
If they discarded Sekiro and treated it as part of the development cost for Ghost of Tsushima, Gamestar Electronics Entertainment would still make a huge profit.
This strategy is quite a textbook-level marketing approach.
However, this kind of marketing strategy does have some negative consequences.
The most serious one might be employee loyalty.
The team that developed Ghost of Tsushima would definitely have a huge morale boost, but this might lead to overconfidence, thinking their game was far superior.
Meanwhile, the team that developed Sekiro might feel abandoned and could lose trust in the company.
Of course, this is not something players are concerned with.
In any case, both games are experiencing unexpected changes, and many people are now paying close attention to Gamestar Electronics Entertainment.