This year's game expo was the most talked-about exhibition in recent years.
As the organizers of the event, they were naturally very pleased.
Not long ago, a yearly game awards program created by Murakami Kazuo had been gradually eating into their market share.
Some of Gamestar Electronic Entertainment's games would choose to be announced during that period, or else be revealed at Gamestar's own Gamestar Carnival.
The decision to release Cyberpunk 2077 at this expo was already an exception for Gamestar Electronic Entertainment in recent years.
That said, Takayuki hadn't deliberately chosen the game expo for the showcase—it was simply because the timing was right.
Around mid-year, this expo happened to be the most suitable opportunity. Holding a separate standalone game presentation at another time wouldn't have made much sense.
Moreover, purely online presentations lacked interaction. They were usually nothing more than showing off the game and shocking players, while most players couldn't actually try the game right away and could only sit there feeling anxious.
Now, with a physical game expo, more offline interactive activities could be arranged.
Next, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had already lined up several promotional events.
The team would travel to major cities in different countries for on-site promotion, bringing along voice actors for several of the main characters that had already been revealed to participate in the publicity events.
Naturally, this also included licensing deals for Cyberpunk 2077 merchandise.
Not long after the game expo ended, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment launched a public bidding process for merchandise licensing tied to the game's IP.
In the past, bids for game merchandise were mostly limited to things like toys and clothing, but this time the range of Cyberpunk 2077 licensing was extremely broad.
From the cheapest small stickers all the way to co-branded racing licenses—everything was on the table.
Many manufacturers were shocked, wondering whether Gamestar Electronic Entertainment had lost its mind. How could there possibly be so many players willing to buy that much merchandise?
Mugs, towels, smartphones, smartwatches, spin-off books.
For Cyberpunk 2077, these were considered relatively ordinary licensing deals. Some of the more exaggerated ones even reached the level of automobile brand licensing.
There were also luxury-tier licenses, such as bags and luggage.
"Is Gamestar Electronic Entertainment short on cash lately? Did Cyberpunk 2077 cost so much to make that they're running out of money?"
After Gamestar Electronic Entertainment announced a series of licensing bids, executives at several companies began studying what was really going on, puzzled as to why a single game would suddenly be given so many co-branding licenses.
They hadn't experienced the kind of spectacle Takayuki had seen before, nor did they understand how, in his previous world, CDPR's promotion of Cyberpunk 2077 had reached an almost absurd level.
Aside from the game itself not being very satisfying, there was actually very little to criticize about CDPR's marketing efforts.
Unfortunately, the core game turned out to be weak, ruining the entire plan.
In this world, Takayuki no longer had to worry about the quality of the game itself. His only concern was whether players could handle a game whose content was overflowing many times over.
Since the game quality wasn't an issue, the marketing could simply replicate Cyberpunk 2077's original promotional model.
However, things didn't progress as smoothly as expected.
Product licensing wasn't that easy to sell. Certain automobile licenses, for example, were difficult to offload.
Some luxury-brand licenses also attracted little interest, because luxury brands emphasized elegance and prestige, and in their eyes, video games were still somewhat beneath them.
That wasn't a major problem, though. If one company didn't work out, they'd move on to another. These licenses were just minor side notes anyway. In the end, the luggage merchandise license was picked up by a startup luxury brand that specialized in trendy fashion.
As for more mainstream merchandise—such as smartphones and smartwatches—Takayuki handed those licenses directly to Facebook to handle, producing a batch of Cyberpunk 2077 limited-edition phones and smartwatches.
Since they were family, there was no need for formalities. Everything was arranged clearly and efficiently.
Finally, items like limited commemorative cups and medals were released together with the Cyberpunk 2077 limited-edition console.
The funds recovered through these licensing deals amounted to nearly thirty million US dollars. Coincidentally, the team had some new game ideas and projects in mind, so Takayuki waved his hand and reinvested all that money back into the continued development of Cyberpunk 2077.
This game wasn't meant to end with just its base content. Large-scale expansions would follow. His goal was to create a series IP with enough influence, not just a single video game—something on the level of Marvel or Star Wars.
Aside from Cyberpunk 2077, the new consoles and games from Suri Electronics, Mickfow, and Brown Entertainment also became major discussion points.
Judging by online buzz, they even seemed to be drawing more attention than Cyberpunk 2077.
Cyberpunk 2077 gave players the feeling of a completely real world, one they could immerse themselves in and freely explore. But in truth, the game itself didn't offer many groundbreaking novelties.
Its core appeal lay in steady execution and sheer richness of content. From a technical standpoint, at least from the player's perspective, it was hard to clearly feel the underlying advancements.
By comparison, the consoles and games launched by the other three companies felt far more innovative.
All three had made breakthroughs on top of their existing foundations.
Suri Electronics introduced a new high-speed loading feature that allowed characters to seamlessly travel across multiple time-spaces during combat. This gameplay was extremely novel—a brand-new way to play that combined technology and design, comparable to innovations like motion-sensing games.
Hack Brown released its first first-person shooter RPG. For players used to fast-paced gunplay, this was a fresh experience. Since players in this world had never played the Destiny series, Hack Brown's game naturally felt cutting-edge. Combined with Brown Entertainment's extensive experience in online games, players were already eager to get their hands on it, some even saying they were willing to grind nonstop for months just for this game.
Finally, Mickfow showcased multiple high-fidelity games running on tablet devices.
Visuals that previously could only be achieved on high-performance home consoles were now appearing on tablets—and even on their smartphones. Their chip design capabilities were undeniably impressive. Many players were already saying they'd be willing to buy Mickfow tablets and phones just to play these high-quality games. Clearly, Mickfow's experiment this time was a success.