Chapter 312: Journalists and Booksellers
December 15th, the eve of the premiere of Clannad.
"I'm back!"
In Osaka, Kenji returned to the rental house and said with a smile as he entered, "Tomorrow Clannad premieres and I can finally enjoy the benefits of being a full-time employee! The editor-in-chief gave the game experience report to the newcomer. I was so excited. If he knew what happened to me last year, he would cry!"
His girlfriend was preparing dinner at home. Hearing this, she laughed.
"Congratulations, Mirai-sensei's game is truly unshakeable."
The tragedy that Fate/Stay Night brought last year is still fresh in her mind. For playing it directly without a strategy, Kenji was tortured and didn't sleep well for several days. Not even in his dreams could he escape the shadow of the game's deadly ending. This incident is still fresh in his memory and his girlfriend's. Kenji feels very lucky not to have to handle the game experience report for Clannad today.
"Are you going to buy Clannad tomorrow?" his girlfriend asked as she served the dishes.
"I'll go." Kenji took off his coat, sat at the table, and praised his girlfriend's skill. He replied, "Although I don't have to write a report on the game experience, after all, it's the work of Mirai-sensei, and the editorial department wants to dedicate a specific topic to it. So I have to check the game's sales. Tomorrow I'll go to the Tatsuryū game store to investigate."
Osaka is a first-tier city. There are more than a dozen Tatsuryū game stores, scattered throughout every corner of the city. Kenji expects to be very busy tomorrow.
"By the way, I'll buy a copy." Kenji took the rice from his girlfriend and said with a smile, "Buy it and save it first, and we'll play together when the strategy guide comes out!"
Although he has a strong psychological influence on Mirai-sensei's game, he is very obsessed with the plot of the game under his command. As long as there is a strategy, it is worth playing. And he is not the only one who shares this idea. After dinner, his girlfriend cleared the dishes. Kenji went online and saw many like-minded people on the Mirai-sensei's Corner Forum.
Those who played Fate/Stay Night for the first time knew what Mirai-sensei's game was about, with a few exceptions. Other readers, rightly so, decided to wait for the guide to come out before playing.
However, the enthusiasm for buying Clannad on the forum is still very high, and many popular posts debate which version of the game to buy tomorrow.
For example, this post:
the author: "Don't even consider the version. In my opinion, the 18+ version is undoubtedly the most economical, right? It only costs 200 yen more than the all-ages version. The price Mirai-sensei has set this time is obviously wrong!"
Second floor: "The collector's edition includes the all-ages version of the game. In view of this situation, Mirai-sensei is clearly biased towards this audience. As a fan of Mirai-sensei, I think we should support him by buying the all-ages version."
Third floor: "No, no... I think Mirai-sensei probably didn't see it clearly. Now all visual novels are 18+ versions, which is like a drug. Who would want to buy the 18+ version after trying it? Are you willing to accept the all-ages version? And the 200 yen difference is not much. I think everyone would prefer to buy the 18+ version, right?"
Fourth floor: "I just passed by. I don't love the game. But I still support Mirai-sensei!"
Fifth floor: "I agree with the third floor. After playing several 18+ visual novels, I don't feel anything when I see the all-ages version... It's too bland. It has no H scenes or plot. Can it be considered a romantic development?"
Although the discussion was very lively, Kenji found that most readers preferred the 18+ version. He shook his head. This was also inevitable. Now, the appearance of several 18+ games has whetted the readers' appetites. However, as far as Kenji was concerned, he had not played works by other authors, except for Mirai-sensei's visual novels, so he preferred the all-ages version.
"Since Mirai-sensei included the all-ages version in the collector's edition, the script for Clannad must be exceptional!"
Kenji left a line in the post. He has been following Mirai-sensei for a long time and knows that the mangaka will not do anything without confidence. Since he dared to include the all-ages Clannad in the expensive collector's edition, it showed that the game Clannad could be popular with the public without the 18+ plot!
"It must be true..."
With this confidence, December 16th, the launch day of Clannad, arrived.
At six in the morning, Kenji took his camera and notes and left the rental house in thick clothes. In winter, the sun has not yet fully risen, the streets are shrouded in a white mist, and the landscape in the distance is blurred.
"It's so cold!" The cold wind made Kenji shiver. He hunched his body, frowned, and said to himself, "It's so cold, there shouldn't be so many people going out to buy games, right?"
Although he trusted Mirai-sensei, Kenji didn't think he would see the vibrant launch of manga at the Tatsuryū game store; it was obvious. In the video game industry, except for the launch of some renowned games that can attract the enthusiasm of players, other games do not have much of a reception.
After all, games are games, and visual novels are even more specialized.
"For an ad, if ten people buy it at once, it should be considered a great success,"
Kenji secretly calculated. Games are different from manga. Except for the collector's edition, there is almost no need to rush to buy it. As long as there is... The game store will continue to offer the deal. Therefore, readers will not be so anxious. Besides, it is still dark. If there are ten people waiting at a Tatsuryū game store, there will be almost two hundred in Osaka waiting for the sale in the cold.
This figure is incredible for a visual novel. With the largest influx of people after dawn, Osaka will undoubtedly sell three to four thousand copies of the game today. In the next two weeks, it could exceed ten thousand. If a city exceeds ten thousand, the sales of dozens of large cities and thousands of small and medium-sized cities in Japan will exceed three or four hundred thousand.
The revenue of a visual novel of three or four hundred thousand is already very eye-catching.
However, although he thought so, when Kenji arrived at the first Tatsuryū game store, he felt that his calculation method must be wrong: the number of people in front of him was ten times what he expected. In front of the door of this Tatsuryū game store, there were hundreds of people queuing!
"10...24...57...79...98...113?"
The exact number of people in line was 113. According to Kenji's calculation method, the final sales volume of Clannad would be at least 4 or 5 million copies.
It's absolutely impossible: this figure is equivalent to the sales volume of second and third-tier genuine standalone games, and the total sales volume of all visual novels in the last three months has not exceeded 3.5 million. Kenji believes there is a serious logical error in his calculation method. However, no matter what, he is sure of one thing:
"This game has recovered its price before its launch!"
"Mirai-sensei has created a miracle again!" thought the bookseller Kaito in a car, not far from Kenji, while smoking a cigarette.
"Master, master! You're right. There are hundreds of people waiting here so early!" The young man driving next to Kaito is named Souta. He is his apprentice. Now he looks at the Tatsuryū game store with enthusiasm and says, "Does everyone get up early to buy games? Mirai-sensei's influence is huge!"
"That's right. Otherwise, how could I be here today?"
Kaito smiled proudly. His life has undergone transcendental changes thanks to Mirai-sensei.
Two years ago, Kaito worked as an underground seller of pornographic discs, and he spent the entire day wandering the pedestrian street with the urban administration. But since Mirai-sensei debuted, he gradually changed his profession and became a bookseller. He sold Weekly Shōnen and Weekly Shōjo Manga at Tatsuryū High School for half a year. Later, he became even more aggressive and began to resell all of Mirai-sensei's works.
And just last year, Kaito made a fortune reselling Fate/Stay Night! When the game was launched, the internet was filled with criticism and many merchants hesitated to buy it. But at that moment, Kaito gritted his teeth and almost spent all his family's property on buying the collector's edition of Fate/Stay Night, becoming the biggest buyer.
As a result, a few days later, the price of the game doubled to several thousand yen. Kaito sold the inventory in batches and made a profit of hundreds of thousands of yen. It was a new stage! Now that Mirai-sensei had released a new game, Clannad, Kaito remembered last year's experience and, as expected, was excited and wanted to repeat it.
"Souta, hurry up and get in line. You must buy the collector's edition of Clannad. There are many colleagues who want to sell it this time. Don't ruin it!"
Kaito asked his apprentice to go out and buy the game.
"Alright, master, we're going to buy a few copies this time,"
Souta asked as he unbuckled his seatbelt.
"All of them..." Kaito raised his eyebrows and said generously, "As long as this store has them, you should buy all the collector's editions. If you need a certain amount, you can ask those in line to help... Give them a tip, they'll be happy to help."
"What!" Souta, about to get out of the car, was stunned. He looked at Kaito in astonishment, "Master, this collector's edition costs 4000 yen each. Each Tatsuryū store has 100 copies. It will cost 400,000 yen to buy them all. And didn't you ask the master's wife and two brothers to buy them at other stores? Isn't that enough?"
If everyone bought the collector's edition, the amount would be close to 400 copies, or 1,600,000 yen.
"Master, we don't have a video game store. This collector's edition is an all-ages version. What if we buy too much and can't sell it?" Souta was very worried. People outside said that all-ages visual novels were worthless. How was it possible that his master didn't care at all?
"Don't talk nonsense, come here quickly." Kaito glared at Souta and said, "As a master, I'll tell you another truth."
"What truth?"
Souta asked curiously.
"Remember this, this is the secret to getting rich!" Kaito exhaled a puff of smoke and said slowly, "This truth is very simple..."
"Don't use common sense to judge Mirai-sensei. His works rarely have limited editions, but if they are, you will never lose money if you buy them!"
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