Slightly unexpectedly, Pokémon did not cause much of a stir.
Of course, the sales were still good.
With a base of millions of users on the Game Boy, there were over two hundred thousand units sold in the first week.
Interested players who bought it on the release day didn't have to wait in line for too long; they quickly got the Pokémon game they wanted.
But there seemed to be more children who weren't interested.
Looking at the first-week sales figures, Takayuki frowned in the office, lost in thought.
At the same time, the screen on his computer on the desk was paused on the Male Game Network. Yuichi Murakami, who had already obtained the Pokémon game in advance, had posted his review of Pokémon.
"Pokémon: A very special game, but it doesn't seem particularly fun."
"Recommended star rating: three stars."
"First of all, I am a player, and secondly, I am a game reviewer. I have my mission, which is to give the most impartial evaluation of all the games I review, without any ulterior motives."
"In the previous multiple early experiences with games developed by GameStar Electronic Entertainment, I was very excited. However, this time I wasn't as excited as I imagined."
"The main elements of Pokémon are collecting and challenging, which are different from the heroes who fight against evil overlords or warriors who confront evil. This game will make you feel a relaxed atmosphere."
"In this world, you can see many strange creatures, all of which can be captured and then become your partners. Then use these partners to fight opponents and win. This is the special gameplay I mentioned, which is different from before."
"But I have to say that I actually prefer more stimulating games. In contrast, this game feels a bit bland to me."
"So I only give this game three stars. Three stars is my passing grade, which means that this game is complete enough and the content is rich enough, but it's difficult to attract me. But I believe that every game will have different people who like it, so if you are a player with purchasing power, you can try this game. If not, I think you can wait and see, don't rush."
This was the rough evaluation given by Yuichi Murakami.
This evaluation was actually quite fair.
In the previous life's first-generation Pokémon games, there were actually many bugs, combined with the fact that the development team for the first generation was somewhat inadequate, the development was rushed, and the graphics were somewhat poor, resulting in a low initial evaluation of the game, similar to Yuichi Murakami's evaluation, which could only be said to be passing.
But what Takayuki did this time was to do his best to make it perfect. The game was more complete overall, with almost no major bugs, and the graphics were much better than in the previous first-generation Pokémon.
But it didn't bring the expected explosion.
This left Takayuki scratching his head a little.
It seems that some electronic games really need some luck factor added, and it's not necessarily the case that just replicating the previous game from the past life will completely ignite.
And some game companies and console manufacturers who were in a wait-and-see attitude, after seeing this result, immediately knew what to do.
It seems that this game should only be considered as an attempt by GameStar Electronic Entertainment, but this attempt did not achieve very good results.
Originally, several game companies that had started planning to make similar games also immediately gave up and turned to make games that were eye-catching enough according to the reviews on the Male Game Network.
"President, this time it may be our fault. If you want to blame anyone, just blame us."
The development of Pokémon this time was carried out by Takayuki pulling experienced game developers from the second, third, and fourth game development teams, with more than fifty people in total. Then he injected fresh blood into these three game development teams to continue stable game development.
But with more than fifty experienced game developers, the first game did not bring the expected explosion in sales. They also felt that their responsibility was not small.
Takayuki could afford his employees generously for such a long time, giving them enough compensation, allowing them to have a comfortable and affluent life, but the game they made did not meet the expected sales figures, which made them feel very guilty.
So the leader of this development team personally came to Takayuki's office to express his apologies for making a bad game.
"No, this is not your fault. You have already done a good job. In fact, this has been planned in my plan for a long time."
The team leader was slightly stunned, "In your plan, President?"
"Yes, this is just a short-term poor sales performance. Give this game some time, time will prove the true shining point of this game. Next, you should continue to develop new Pokémon games according to the schedule I specified, don't make any changes, understand?"
Takayuki's words may not truly reassure the team leader, but at least they could ease his guilty feelings.
Takayuki urged him to go back to work. After the game was completed, if there were no serious bugs that needed fixing, they should not focus on the game's sales figures but continue to develop new Pokémon games according to his instructions.
After the team leader left, Takayuki fell into thought again.
Perhaps Pokémon really doesn't fit well in this world.
But this is just the first week of sales; it doesn't actually prove anything.
Back then, Dragon Quest wasn't popular when it was first released.
In the end, it was the manga's collaboration that made Dragon Quest popular.
At first, Takayuki wanted to replicate the success of Dragon Quest and increase its popularity by broadcasting the Pokémon anime at the same time.
But apparently, the effect wasn't particularly good.
Right, now he could go and ask how the Pokémon ratings were on Tokyo TV.
The television ratings could also be used as a reference to some extent.
Also, try to increase the investment in advertising for about a month and see the specific situation.
If it still doesn't work, then it can roughly prove that Pokémon is somewhat unsuitable in this world.
Perhaps it's because he let the development of electronic games progress too quickly, and players aren't easy to settle down to play this kind of slower-paced nurturing companion game, or perhaps there are other reasons.
But as long as the sales of this generation of games can exceed four hundred thousand, it can achieve a balance of income and expenditure, and Takayuki will continue this series.
If the expected sales volume cannot be achieved, Takayuki will also insist on letting the development team continue to produce the third and fourth generations. Even if it really fails, they should try harder first to see if it's really not suitable or if there are other reasons.