An Investor Who Sees The Future

Among the companies OTK Company has invested in, the one with the highest valuation is CarOS, followed by FaceIt and OTK Games.

The first place is unshakable, but it was widely predicted that the second and third places would be reversed within a few years. This is because OTK Games is growing that rapidly.

Currently, Lost Fantasy Online has recorded the first or second-highest number of concurrent users in every country it services. There are still many countries where it has yet to be launched, and once it receives a license (panho) and begins service in China, sales will more than double.

With the dual success of Lost Fantasy M and Lost Fantasy Online, sales and net profits have surged, and the incoming cash has been steadily piling up in the coffers.

Ichikawa Shigeru created several masterpiece games besides Lost Fantasy during his time at Pentagon. Later, Pentagon merged with Linix to become Linix Pentagon, and due to discord with the management, he left with the development team to establish OTK Games.

Fortunately, he became independent with the rights to use the Lost Fantasy IP, but in return, he transferred all the copyrights of the games he had previously developed to Linix Pentagon.

Another problem is that Linix Pentagon also has the right to use the Lost Fantasy IP. In other words, two companies ended up using the same IP.

As expected, when Lost Fantasy M and Online became huge hits, Linix Pentagon quickly released several games under the Lost Fantasy name.

The quality of the games was terrible, amounting to nothing more than gacha games trying to extract money through in-app purchases. Even those were shut down after about a year of operation.

Lost Fantasy fans don’t even consider anything not produced by Ichikawa Shigeru as part of the series, but people unaware of this fact sometimes misunderstood, thinking OTK Games had released a shoddy game to make money.To solve this problem, OTK Games was considering acquiring Linix Pentagon. This would allow them to reclaim not only the Lost Fantasy IP but also the IPs of the games they had produced in the past.

When they conveyed their intention to acquire, the management and shareholders of Linix Pentagon demanded that instead of selling the company, they merge and have their shares converted to OTK Games stock.

They were thinking of getting a piece of the pie as OTK Games continues to grow. Naturally, there was no reason to do so.

Ichikawa Shigeru beckoned to the developers he had worked with during his Linix Pentagon days, and the key developers resigned and joined OTK Games. It was not just about the money; they sympathized with the vision of creating a VRMMORPG.

As key development personnel left, Linix Pentagon’s stock price continued to decline. While still a traditional powerhouse in the console game sector, the prevailing assessment is that further growth will be difficult.

Who would have thought that when Ichikawa Shigeru was forced out of the company, their positions would be reversed like this?

Ellie spoke as if she found it fascinating.

”Taekgyu is really amazing. How did he recognize the potential and invest before the company was even created?”

It’s just because he’s a fan of old man Shigeru. He probably didn’t know it would turn out this well himself.

”Well, he did have an unusual eye for games. He only played games and didn’t study since he was a kid.”

”Thanks to that, he succeeded like this, didn’t he?”

”That’s right.”

The old saying that only people who are good at studying can succeed is now a thing of the past. The development of the internet has created a variety of jobs, and many jobs related to games have also emerged.

If you’re extremely good at games, you can become a pro gamer, and if you’re entertaining, you can become a Twitch streamer or an A-Tuber. And if you have a lot of money, you can buy a whole game company.

I looked up articles about StormCon. The gaming sites were practically wallpapered with talk about StormCon. There was especially a lot of talk about Mephisto 5.

Looking at the photos from the venue, it looks incredibly fun. Should I have gone too?

As I was thinking that, a photo posted in the ”best” section caught my eye.

I was startled and said to Ellie.

”Oh! Look at this picture.”

In the photo, there were two women cosplaying as an angel and a demon. They were none other than Anneke and Yang Hanna.

”This is Hanna, right?”

Ellie said with a surprised expression.

”I expected it from Princess Anneke, but I didn’t think Hanna would do it.”

”She looks like she was pushed into it.”

The sight of the Eastern and Western beauties standing side by side was like a photoshoot in itself.

Ah, suddenly I’m starting to feel jealous of Oh Taekgyu.

”It looks fun for some reason. Should I try cosplaying too?”

”All of a sudden?”

Ellie winked.

”Halloween is coming up soon. Is there a character you think would look good on me?”

I said cautiously.

”Um, well, I actually have one in mind...”

”Really? Is it a character you like, Jinhu?”

”Yes. Something like that.”

”Then I’ll try it.”

At those words, my eyes automatically lit up.

”Really? You promised.”

Ellie gave a slight side-eye.

”Nothing too revealing.”

”It’s not a revealing character at all.”

”Then I promise.”

”You can’t go back on your word later.”

”Did you forget I’m a lawyer? I always keep my promises.”

The feeling of envy disappeared in an instant. In its place, anticipation welled up.

Before I knew it, the highlight of StormCon, the new game announcement, began.

As I was watching it live with Ellie, an unexpected situation occurred.

Ellie looked at me and asked.

”Why is everyone reacting like that? Why are they booing?”

I said, flustered.

”Th-this is strange. Why did mobile suddenly pop up?”

However, the truly unexpected situation was yet to come.

Ellie looked at me again and asked.

”What was that? Did Taekgyu just declare that he’s going to acquire Ice Storm?”

”Ah...”

What the hell is that crazy bastard doing while he’s there to have fun?

My phone rang immediately.

The first person to call was Hyunju noona.

[Was this discussed beforehand?]

”No.”

Then, noona shouted in an angry voice.

[Oh Taekgyu!]

Next, Ichikawa Shigeru, the president of OTK Games, contacted me.

[Was the acquisition of Ice Storm your idea, Chairman?]

”No. I was shocked while watching it too.”

Seeing as he’s asking like this, it seems he couldn’t have imagined it either.

He said urgently.

[The entire game industry has been turned upside down.]

”...”

***

StormCon’s new game announcement was broadcast live worldwide over the internet, and tens of thousands of people were watching.

When the mobile game Mephisto Infinity was announced instead of the anticipated PC online game Mephisto 5, the internet went into an uproar.

-Don’t you guys have phones?

-LMAO DYGHP (Don’t you guys have phones?)

-I’m going crazy ㅜㅜ What’s wrong with those guys at Ice Storm?

-This isn’t right! This isn’t right!

-Hey, so are you not going to play Mephisto M?

-Nope. Not playing. I have a phone, but I’m not playing.

-Shouldn’t this be called a Chinese game, not an Ice Storm game?

-Right. They’re just going to lend the IP and collect royalties~

-Wait. But is that rated for all ages? They made a game that was originally for adults into a game for kids?

-LOL, they’re going to make money off kids with a game about killing demons.

Everyone was furious, spewing curses in their respective languages, but then a twist occurred.

Suddenly, OTK Company announced that they would acquire Ice Storm and release Mephisto 5.

-Whoa! Is this for real? For real?

-Ooh! Mr. Vice President!

-Crazy LOL, so this is possible when you have a lot of money!

-Acquire them and fire them all!

-The Vice President will take care of everything. There’s hope, there’s hope ㅜㅜ

-Just a ray of light! King Emperor God!

-Because of you, gamers are happy!

As the announcement hall went into chaos, the StormCon organizers quickly cut the live feed from the site and replayed the Mephisto Infinity cinematic video.

However, the aftermath of the so-called ’Mephisto Infinity Disaster’ spread like wildfire.

Media outlets around the world churned out breaking news.

[OTK Company Reveals Intention to Acquire Ice Storm at StormCon!]

[The Vice President’s Decisive Move Following OTK Games!]

[Is OTK Company Eyeing an American Game Company After a Japanese One?]

[Ice Storm Expresses Strong Displeasure...]

[The Mephisto Infinity Announcement That Sparked Fan Backlash. What Was the Problem?]

People who don’t play games reacted with confusion, not understanding what the problem was.

-What’s so wrong about Ice Storm announcing that Infinity game or whatever?

-Is announcing a mobile game such a big deal?

-Are they angry because they didn’t release the game they wanted?

-If you don’t like it, can’t you just not play it?

However, the gamers’ stance was completely different. They passionately argued on various sites and online games.

-They’re abandoning their core users to make money off of casual users!

-This is an act of ignoring the existing fans!

-We even played 4, the disasterpiece of the century, because it was an Ice Storm game!

-If they were going to do this, they should have said it was a mobile game from the beginning!

-At least they kept their promise to make a surprising announcement.

In response, Ice Storm maintained an attitude that there was no problem, deleting tens of thousands of negative comments on the video and requesting that media outlets take down related articles.

This response further fueled the already negative public opinion.

In this situation, an Ice Storm developer became a whistleblower. Originally, Ice Storm was in the process of developing Mephisto 5, but the business team raised issues with the high development costs and the failure of 4, forcing a change in direction to mobile.

In fact, as can be seen from Ichikawa Shigeru’s case, such things are commonplace. But there were more complicated circumstances here.

Ice Storm had merged with Actus, and the official name of the listed company is Actus-IceStorm Entertainment.

Even after the merger, the management of Actus and Ice Storm were separate, and development was also carried out separately. The problem was that after the merger with Actus, the influence of the business team became stronger, and as a result, the position of the development team was greatly diminished.

Whereas before they had focused on making good games rather than sales and operating profits, now that was no longer possible.

In response, Ice Storm held a press conference to announce their position.

Co-CEO Logic Aienga, far from denying the whistleblower’s claims, instead declared that the company’s future development strategy would focus on mobile.

”Recently, many gamers have transitioned from playing on PC to mobile. Our developers are developing mobile games across all our IPs, and some of them, like Mephisto Infinity, are being developed by external contractors.”

***

As soon as Taekgyu arrived in Korea, he came straight to the company. Then he handed me a shopping bag with the Ice Storm logo on it.

”A gift. It’s a limited-edition mug sold only at StormCon. I bought a couple’s set with male and female Mephisto on them, so your coffee with Ellie will be even more delicious from now on. I stood in line for 30 minutes to buy this, so be grateful.”

”...”

Another useless otaku item has been added. Why did he buy another mug when I have a truckload of them at home?

Anyway, the important thing right now is not the limited-edition mug.

”You crazy bastard, why did you go to someone else’s party and throw shit on their table?”

Taekgyu blinked.

”What are you talking about? They’re the ones who threw shit at us. What’s with Mephisto Infinity? Didn’t you see the fans’ reaction there?”

It’s hard to refute because he’s right.

Despite dropping the bombshell of an M&A at another company’s new game presentation, the internet was full of praise.

In a poll conducted by a gaming website, over 80 percent of respondents said OTK Company should acquire Ice Storm.

This is proof of how great the sense of betrayal is over Ice Storm abandoning Mephisto 5 and releasing a mobile game.

Taekgyu said confidently.

”Buy me Ice Storm.”

I was so dumbfounded that I shouted.

”You’re not asking me to buy you a game, you’re asking me to buy you a game company. What kind of crazy talk is that?”

Taekgyu retorted.

”Are you saying you don’t care if the Mephisto series, which holds our memories, is ruined?”

”...”

No, I don’t have that many memories of that game. Come to think of it, I think I played Latnia more diligently.

Just because you have money doesn’t mean you can buy a company. There are various legal issues, and you also have to get approval from the respective country.

The biggest problem, however, is that in the case of a publicly traded company, the stock price starts to rise from the moment you decide to acquire it.

If that happens, buying up shares on the open market is impossible. The more you buy, the more the stock price will continue to rise. A more realistic method is to buy from the majority shareholder through a block deal, or to have Actus and Ice Storm split, and then demand to purchase Ice Storm in its entirety.

”Who said to buy it right now?”

”Then?”

”Think about it. The stock price rose because of the acquisition talk, but normally, the stock price should have plummeted. Do you know what a huge screw-up Ice Storm is making right now?”

I paused at those words.

”Is it that serious?”

Taekgyu, as if he had been waiting, launched into an explanation.

”The reason Ice Storm has been praised as a god-tier developer among gamers until now was because of their craftsmanship, their principle of not releasing anything but the best games. But they’ve changed their strategy to focus on mobile rather than developing MMORPGs that require a lot of development costs. They’ve now declared that they too will make easy money with mobile games. I’m not saying that’s wrong, but then gamers don’t need to defend Ice Storm games anymore, right? The Mephisto 5 they were looking forward to is also gone, and they’ve said there are no plans to release any large-scale PC online games for the time being, so this is a golden opportunity for Lost Fantasy to increase its market share in North America.”

”...Hmm, that sounds plausible.”

As I listened, I began to be persuaded.

In fact, gamers were enthusiastic about Taekgyu’s words about acquiring Ice Storm and firing everyone. Couldn’t Lost Fantasy Online gain a reflective advantage from this?

”So, on this occasion, shouldn’t OTK Games strengthen its offensive in the North American region and take revenge on... no, show these guys what a big mistake it was to ignore PC online games by not releasing Mephisto 5?”