Chapter 53
The impact of this Launch Broadcast was beyond my imagination.
Portal Site search queries more than doubled compared to Before the Broadcast, and my name was even being mentioned in Game Communities unrelated to our game.
Perhaps thanks to this impact, *Reverse Arcadia*'s Pre-registration numbers soared from around 700,000 Before the Broadcast to 1 million.
Considering this was the first time a Subculture Mobile Game had surpassed 1 million Pre-registrations...
It definitely felt like all the hardship of going on broadcast had paid off.
Perhaps thanks to the overwhelming number of Pre-registrations, the Office atmosphere, which should have been tense, was instead utterly peaceful.
*Please, let it continue like this After Launch, without any game-breaking bugs...*
***
*Reverse Arcadia* — One week after launch.
Perhaps my prayers reached the heavens, because unlike with *Girls Memorial*, a week After Launch, thankfully, no Fatal bugs or incidents occurred.
On the contrary, the game's own evaluation was rising day by day.
Unlike *Girls Memorial*, which, due to its social game origins, had a lukewarm reception for its in-game content, *Reverse Arcadia* was receiving rave reviews for its in-game content as well.
To what extent? It was even said to have broken the limits of the Tower Defense genre, which is rarely seen these days.
Nor was the Art Department's evaluation poor; the Character Design of the Main Characters was very well-received.
Among them, the most highly praised was, of course, the Main Character Henrietta, who had maintained her #1 ranking in Bixiv submissions since launch.
Riding on this popularity, she was released as *Reverse Arcadia*'s first Pickup Character.
The result was undeniable: it achieved the pinnacle of Number 1 in Sales on the App Store, reclaiming the throne from Sign Games.
Of course, since character growth itself was designed to be possible with In-game Currency, the actual Game Sales didn't differ significantly from *Grand Arc Fantasm*, which was in second place.
With a slight sigh of regret, I was Drafting a report for Suyeon when a call came in.
I Checked who it was; the Caller was Tanaka.
*'What's going on?'*
"Hello?"
[Director, are you available to talk right now?]
"Of course. Speak."
[It seems a problem has erupted on Sign Games' side, so I contacted you. I'll send you a link; please Check it.]
"Ah, yes. Please send it right away."
Not long after hanging up the phone from Tanaka, a link arrived.
*'If there's a problem that could erupt at Sign Games at this point, it can only be Probability Manipulation... Has the Probability Manipulation Controversy already broken out?'*
Half-doubting, I clicked the link and saw the familiar bird-drawn SNS screen, Bluebird.
Let's see....
[Omaruomaru]
(@Nameless_F1)
[Screenshot of 2600-pull Gacha results stitched together]
Guren-chan... I trusted it with 700,000 yen,
but after 2600-pull Gacha, I experienced a Whaling Failure.
Is this really right? #GAF
[Replies: 322][Shares: 7.3k][Likes: 2k]
It's broken out.
In my Pre-regression Memory, *Grand Arc Fantasm* was supposed to get embroiled in a Probability-related Controversy several months next year.
This time, it seemed to have erupted early due to the Butterfly Effect.
I had a rough idea why the Butterfly Effect occurred, though.
As I was looking at Bluebird with an intrigued expression, Tanaka called again.
[Did you Check it?]
"Ah, yes. I've Checked. It seems a Gacha Probability-related Controversy has erupted... What's the local reaction in Japan like right now?"
[It's not yet a full-blown public outcry, so the intensity isn't strong, but public opinion is unusual. Sign Games' image was already quite bad due to their Highly Toxic Gacha, you see.]
"That means...."
[It will definitely get bigger. Whaling Failure Reports are continuously pouring in, and as you know, Director, those guys at Sign Games are very slow to act.]
Indeed, Sign Games was notorious for even releasing a single apology statement long after the opportune moment, leading to rumors of them playing mind games with Users.
This time too, it seemed clear that their response would be late, just as Tanaka said.
[That's why I'm asking, Director... We don't have any problems on our end, do we?]
"Of course. For both our games, we apply probabilities as announced during every Pickup Event, and in *Reverse Arcadia*'s case, there's even an Undisclosed Pity System, so there will be nothing to fault us for."
[Understood. Then, we'll continue to monitor public opinion in Japan, so please Check public opinion in Korea.]
"Understood."
After hanging up with Tanaka, I leaned back in my chair and thought.
*'Things are getting interesting.'*
Based on my Pre-regression Memory, I never expected to use the trump card I'd hidden in *Reverse Arcadia* to sink Sign Games so early.
That trump card was the Pity System.
Before Regression, the system Sign Games introduced to resolve this situation and appease Users was precisely the Pity System.
But what if we revealed this Pity System first?
Moreover, what if this Pity System wasn't publicly announced like with *Girls Memorial*, but secretly implemented as an Undisclosed Pity System?
Given that our image and Sign Games' image were already a World of Difference, it was obvious whose side the Users would take.
Of course, considering Sign Games was eventually acquitted Before Regression, the situation wouldn't drag on for too long.
However, I was starting to wonder how Sign Games, with their escape route blocked, would respond.
***
As Tanaka requested, I spent several days Lurking in the Korean Community, but there were no particular developments yet.
Since *Grand Arc Fantasm* was still a minor game in Korea, and not many people were checking the local Japanese reactions, it was unavoidable.
Having no choice, on the fifth day of Lurking intermittently during work,
finally, posts about the Gacha Probability Manipulation Controversy started appearing one by one in Korea.
According to Tanaka, the situation in Japan was already out of control, and he said it would soon be discussed in Korea too; his words had come true.
[Nickname: Anonymous]
[Title: So the Japan Gacha Probability Manipulation Controversy just blew up, what is this?]
[Video summarizing the *Grand Arc Fantasm* Gacha Probability Manipulation Controversy]
For those who don't understand Japanese, a quick summary:
There's a Japanese game called *Grand Arc Fantasm*, or GAF for short, and it's super popular in Japan.
They're the ones who snatched the Number 1 in Sales spot for Mobile Games in Japan from *Girls Memorial*.
But it seems they felt a sense of crisis with *Reverse Arcadia*'s launch, so they pulled an event forward.
The event they pulled forward was a Pickup Event featuring the new character 'Guren', and what's crazy is that she was a character openly pushed by the operations team.
She had good performance, decent Illustration, and was a truly essential character, appearing in both main story and events.
So when they ran a Pickup Event for such a character, people playing GAF poured hundreds [of currency units] into the game, but most of them experienced Whaling Failure.
The Whaling Failure Rate was higher than other Mobile Gacha Games, so most GAF Users were already suspicious, and then a hero emerged who collected and Organized the Gacha Probability data themselves.
Looking at that hero's summary, while the other two Pickup Characters had a 13% probability, Guren alone had a 2% probability.
There were already many people who resented GAF for sticking to its Highly Toxic Monetization Policy, and now they've been caught red-handed and are getting hammered – that's the current situation.
[Comment List][Newest]
-Knew those bastards making Gacha Games would do this LOL
-Those bastards turning games into pachinko LOL
-But it's probably not just those bastards at Sign Games, shouldn't other games be tested too?
Reply:Real LOL. As if only those bastards would manipulate probabilities like that.
[Nickname: Anonymous]
[Title: If this is the case, shouldn't *Girls Memorial* and *Reverse Arcadia* also be investigated?]
Enson << Honestly, they've cleaned up their act a bit lately, but they're still one of the top Domestic Game Companies for scummy practices.
No matter how trustworthy Ji Hojin is as a Director, he's still just an Employee of a Game Company, so how can we know what he might have done?
Especially since he talked big on the last broadcast, but when you look closely, *Reverse Arcadia* doesn't even have a Pity System.
Plus, even with *Girls Memorial*, there were constant rumors about strange probabilities during Pickup Events.
Isn't it worth being suspicious?
[Comment List][Newest]
-Ugh, can't you trust Light Hojin? LOL
Reply:It's Enson, though? LOL
Reply to Reply: Did this bastard lose money to Enson?
-Honestly, as someone who experienced Whaling Failure in *Girls Memorial*, I hope they investigate.
*'Hmm...'*
As expected, the sparks of the Gacha Probability Manipulation Controversy had flown to our game, and it was starting to catch fire.
I thought that even if our game's good image meant it would catch fire, it would be the last to do so, but it became the first target of the Gacha Probability Controversy, mocking my expectations.
Indeed, it was impossible to change Enson Headquarters' image, built over more than 10 years, with just a few games.
Although I felt strange, I wasn't too worried.
This was because test data proving our innocence in this situation was rapidly accumulating in Japan.
Eventually, it was clear that loyal Users would bring data from Japan to refute the claims, so there seemed no need to directly step in and suppress public opinion.
As if to prove my thoughts weren't wrong, rebuttal posts started appearing in the Community just a few days later.