Chapter 168: Dragon Mountain - (5)
"I will no longer distribute any products related to Raon in the Jin Tunnel Shopping Arcade from now on."
"Wha!"
"What did you say?!"
This ominous announcement circulated among the merchants in the Jin Tunnel Shopping Arcade. Its effects immediately became apparent among the users present.
"They won't sell anything to us?!"
"I can't believe this. They have no intention to sell anything at all."
The users' heated glares fixated on the merchants who had spoken without much thought. It's like committing social suicide to say such things here...
Ignoring their words, I moved back to the center of the stage.
"Why do you all use the Yongsan Electronics Shopping Arcade? Because there are no game shops in your neighborhoods? No. There are. Maybe not in the rural areas, but if you live near Seoul, there's hardly a shortage of PC retail shops these days. And they surely sell games, whether they are illegal software or genuine ones."
"But still, the reason you come to Yongsan, located at the heart of Seoul, is to find more diverse game titles and perhaps get them at a cheaper price, right? Of course. Currently, the leading game shopping spots in Korea are here in Yongsan and Cheonggyecheon Saeun Shopping Mall."
As the users in the venue started nodding in agreement with my words, the merchants interspersed in the crowd began to awkwardly retreat, their faces flushing red.
Before they could all leave, I hurriedly spoke again.
"But Yongsan has changed. Well, it didn't start that way, but as the gaming market grew, there has been an increase in stores taking advantage of users."
At that moment, a user who had been listening to my speech raised their hand to ask a question.
"Even so, if we want to get games like Dragon Warrior 5 released only in Japan, we have no choice but to use the Jin Shopping Arcade, right?"
"Yeah, that's true. Since there's nowhere else to get it."
I responded with a short sigh to the users' voices.
"That's right. Currently, negotiations between Korea and Japan for officially importing games and animations are excluding these items. Therefore, Mr. Kim Hanseok from Mantra has personally visited Yongsan Electronics Shopping Arcade over the past month, categorizing conscientious and unconscientious stores. This information will be published in the Game World, which Mantra will release at the end of this month. And I have one more request for all of you."
"Consumers' rights need to be sought by consumers themselves. When I visited Yongsan last month, many stores were taking pre-orders for Dragon Warrior 5. It's a series that's hugely popular even in Japan, and due to the high cost of the Super Family Cartridge, it's scheduled to be released at a rather high price of 9,200 yen, which is about 73,000 won with the current exchange rate."
"But from what I've found out, the purchase price of this software in Yongsan was 180,000 won. Recently, some were even selling it for nearly 200,000 won. Of course, it doesn't mean we disregard the efforts to import it from Japan. But charging more than twice the price is blatant profiteering. So, I want to emphasize consumers' rights to you all."
"Why can't we say 'It's too expensive' or 'I can't buy it at this price'? I understand the eagerness to enjoy a favorite game quickly, but if we keep favoring sellers in this manner, it will never end."
As I finished speaking, a user who had asked the previous question raised another one.
"So, what should we do instead of just saying 'we shouldn't do it'?"
"Yes. That's right. So, let me tell you the way forward. Starting from now, there will be a new section about Yongsan Game Shopping Arcade in the 'Game World' to be published at the end of this month. The first month was handled by Mantra's staff themselves, but after a few more rounds, the identities of the staff will likely be revealed. So, from now on, I'd like to ask all of you. Please contribute to the magazine about the kindness of the stores you visited and whether the prices of games sold are reasonable."
"There are undoubtedly stores in Yongsan that offer good prices. However, they are pushed to the corner due to the dominance of large merchants. This kind of dominance is prevalent not only in games but also in other electronic products. The greatest power consumers have is the ability to choose stores. Instead of forcibly purchasing at prices that seem unfair, I urge you to make informed decisions through information sharing. That's all."
"...!"
Clap Clap clap
The applause that started from one person gradually spread, soon filling the entire Terminal Shopping Arcade's first floor.
"Wow... that was refreshing!"
"I must buy Game World when it's released this month. I'll only visit the stores mentioned there."
"Oh, darn it. Now that I hear it, I've been such a fool. I need to cancel right away."
"If only someone had done this sooner"
As the complaints that had been accumulating were heard around, the merchants who remained at the event venue looked extremely uncomfortable.
'Who knows how much Yongsan will change because of this, but at least we've pulled one small rein'
I gripped the microphone, giving it a little more strength before opening my mouth again.
"This concludes our Pentagon and Mantra's strategy. However, we believe there's a clear responsibility on our part for the situation to have escalated this far. So, I'd like to inform you about the compensation for this."
"Compensation? What else is there?"
The event venue, which was bustling with chatter about compensation, suddenly fell silent.
At that moment, on the screen behind me, a knight riding a horse flashed by, and following that, with a grand background music, the opening video of a game began playing.
"Huh? What's this? A new game from Raon?"
I moved slightly to the edge of the stage to avoid being blocked by the screen and joined the users in watching the opening of the new game.
The title, 'Arc Tosnia Story,' was displayed against a backdrop of a brilliant sun shining over a blue sky as the knight rode across a bridge.
If Morita had been here, the opening could have been more sophisticated, but the effect of having a domestically made RPG by local developers couldn't be disregarded.
Instead, they had elongated the opening by piecing together initial event scenes of the game, and surprisingly, the response was quite good.
"A domestic RPG?"
"Oh? It feels quite good, doesn't it?"
Especially during the scene of Kai's staff's escort, the solemn atmosphere drew gasps from the audience. Adding sprite effects to what could have been a slightly dull escort event had resulted in a fairly impressive scene.
Then, during the subsequent battle scene, amazement swept across the faces of the people gathered at the event venue.
"That's the combat style from Dragon Emblem 2!"
Indeed, by improving the somewhat lackluster SRPG combat with a tactical style suitable for strategic actions on a small map, the game's dynamics felt like a 180-degree shift.
"Wow... has a domestic RPG developed to this quality?"
While criticisms about emulating Dragon Emblem surfaced from somewhere, when my name
scrolled across the bottom of the opening video, the users erupted into applause.
"Mantra Entertainment, the publisher of Arc Tosnia Story, has been working hard to show you this game as soon as possible. We will also reveal the release date of this game in the Game World at the end of this month."
As I finished my speech, the screen turned black. The vibrant music that had filled the venue ceased, and the screen turned back to the initial event screen.
The venue was filled with applause and cheers that seemed to have no end.
As I slightly nodded in satisfaction, the venue slowly began to empty.
'Good. Now, the remaining question is'
Would 'Arc Tosnia Story' be able to fill the hole left by Dragon Warrior 5's absence in Korea?
>
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