Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 946: The King of Badmouthing and Blocking
Chapter 946 - The King of Badmouthing and Blocking
The first few presentations had already set the tone for the entire showcase.
It looked like there wouldn't be any game that truly stunned the audience this time.
Still, the players hoped there would at least be one game that looked genuinely impressive.
Then, two new Legend of Zelda titles were announced.
After that, games like Luigi's Mansion and several other mid to upper-mid-tier titles followed.
Each game had its own unique charm. For players already familiar with game mechanics, they didn't expect major innovations in gameplay—but video games didn't always need groundbreaking innovation to be fun.
Take Mario's jumping mechanics, for example—after digging into that mechanic for so many years, even that had finally hit the limits of what games could offer.
If there were ever to be another breakthrough, people speculated it would have to come from a big leap in VR or AR technology. Otherwise, even Mario, known for constant innovation, might find it hard to push "jumping" any further.
As for now, players were content to get a new Super Mario title every two to three years.
...
...
Much like how people always look forward to the next Pokémon game.
Takayuki had maintained the Pokémon franchise at a technically impressive level in this world.
In the original world, Pokémon had become stagnant—barely updating its visuals or gameplay for years. The only real changes came from the story background and the number of Pokémon added.
But in this world, Takayuki had introduced HD graphics to Pokémon early on. Combined with its time-tested gameplay loop, players were both happy and satisfied.
Sometimes, players are extremely picky—critiquing graphics, story, and mechanics in detail.
But sometimes, they love a series unconditionally.
Pokémon was one. The global Football League games were another. So was the NBA series.
If you had to add one more? It would be the Super Bowl American Football series.
It was a game sold worldwide, but 95% of the sales came from the U.S. alone. Each year, it sold at least 3 million copies, and the best year—two years ago—saw sales break 10 million.
As more developers took the stage to introduce their games, Umihane Shiratori, still waiting backstage, quietly recited his speech.
He really didn't want to mess this up—this was a sign of trust from the company president, asking him to go on stage and reveal a new game.
It wasn't like he'd never spoken at an event before. But this was on a much larger scale.
Previous talks were more like casual Q&A or interviews.
Now, he'd be speaking to over 10,000 people in person, with countless more watching the livestream.
In the past, Umihane was known as a notorious internet flamer.
Add to that his status as a producer at Gamestar Electronic Entertainment, and he was a truly one-of-a-kind figure.
On Facebook, he often got into public flame wars with users, only to block them right after tearing into them—completely unapologetic, never giving the other side a chance to fight back.
Most people just put up with it.
After all, he had Gamestar, the gaming giant, behind him.
And Umihane himself had developed many successful titles. A little attitude was understandable.
Sure, he was rude and hot-tempered.
But in an internet culture full of scandal-prone celebrities, Umihane Shiratori's unfiltered persona actually made him stand out in a strangely refreshing way.
That, however, was the online Umihane.
Or the Umihane when no one was standing in front of him.
In front of a crowd this massive, whether he could maintain that same confidence... was anyone's guess.
"Thank you all for supporting our latest project! Please look forward to what we're building—we aim to complete this title within a year and deliver an exciting game world to everyone!"
As players erupted in applause, the last developer left the stage with a smile.
"Umihane, you're up."
"Got it."
Umihane glanced toward the stage and gradually collected himself.
Even if he was nervous, he wouldn't let it show in front of the players.
He stuffed his speech notes into his pocket and stepped onto the stage.
"Who's that?"
"Doesn't look familiar. He doesn't show up in public much, does he?"
"Man, are you serious? That's the famous Trash-Talker & Blacklist King!"
"Huh?"
"That's him?"
"He really does look like a character, huh. Though, I thought he was bald with glasses. Looks like he still has hair now."
"Yeah, if a guy with that kind of mouth and attitude was bald, he'd be way more intimidating. With hair, the aggression just drops a notch."
In the audience, few people tried to guess what game Umihane was about to announce.
Instead, most were whispering about his infamous online flame wars, remembering all the times he insulted people and blocked them without mercy.
But interestingly, there wasn't much disgust—more like curiosity.
This was the real Trash-Talk King, in person.
Some players even pulled out their phones or cameras to snap pictures, planning to share the moment on Facebook.
Umihane noticed the cameras and instinctively wanted to yell something like:
"Whoever posts my pic on Facebook is getting blocked!"
But then he reminded himself—this was an official company event. Saying that would've been a bit low-class. So he held back.
Just then, a sudden voice rang out from the crowd:
"Mr. Umihane! Mr. Umihane! I'm your fan! I love you! Can you do me a favor?!"
A young man, maybe in his twenties, was jumping up and down excitedly, waving his arms, trying to get his idol's attention.
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"Are you kidding me? Someone's actually a fan of that guy?"
Naturally, some in the crowd couldn't help but grumble.
But Umihane lit up. He hadn't expected to have any loyal fans—and it made him genuinely happy.
He completely forgot he was there to announce a game and cheerfully replied:
"Of course! What's your request?"
At that moment, he was thinking: If this guy wants to come on stage and take a photo with me, I'd totally say yes.
Then came the request:
"Can you flame me?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah—flame me. Roast me."
