Unlike the two games shown before, Fall Guys had already gone through a public test. Players had experienced its quality firsthand, and it was also the closest to release.
In the latest launch trailer, many stages that hadn't appeared during the test were revealed: a giant, exaggerated roller-coaster map, a mountain-climbing map where players had to reach the summit, and a pyramid map where lava relentlessly chased from below. Compared to the test run, the new courses were larger and far more complex, fueling players' excitement.
And, of course, the wacky costumes for the little bean-shaped characters became a major motivator for players to grind the game.
Dinosaur skins, panda skins, astronaut skins, dragon skins—even crossover skins from their own titles like Hollow Knight and Slay the Spire.
"So many skins! I saw several Hollow Knight ones!"
"Smart—crossing over with your own games means no extra licensing fees."
"Still, I want skins from other games too!"
"If the sales are good, we'll definitely get them, right?"
Ichin naturally saw the community's discussions. He had long prepared a huge list of potential crossover skins. If negotiations went smoothly, he could release two collaborations per month for a whole year.
Whether from games or anime, anything was possible—the designs would look great regardless.
"Hmm… since we're already planning a GARO game project, why not release a GARO collaboration skin before that game launches?"
With that thought, Ichin immediately called the folks at Tohoku Shinsha, briefly explaining his idea. After about ten minutes of talks, the deal was settled: if Fall Guys maintained its heat within a month of launch, the collab skin could go live.
For GARO, which hadn't had a new series this year, it was perfect cross-promotion—a way to stay visible so tokusatsu fans wouldn't forget it.
As for other collaborations, Ichin planned to wait until the first-week sales numbers came in, then use that leverage to approach IP holders.
And so, amid eager anticipation, on July 10th Fall Guys officially launched.
Even before release, pre-orders had already surpassed one million. On launch day itself, sales skyrocketed to two million copies across all platforms.
By that evening, Steam concurrent players alone passed 500,000. Combined with Switch and PlayStation, the total active players were nearly one million.
That figure was staggering—normally, only evergreen multiplayer or competitive titles like Battlefield, Call of Duty, or CS reached those heights.
Of course, Battlefield and COD had declined in recent years—2042's flop was still fresh in everyone's memory.
Regardless, the data was reason for Ichin to celebrate. That very night, he messaged Hazuki, still at the office, telling her to issue a bonus for the Fall Guys dev team on payday as encouragement.
The game wasn't expensive, but with strong quality, sales had already hit two million.
Conservatively, Ichin estimated that as long as they steadily updated with new courses, skins, and seasonal rankings, both sales and online population would keep growing at a healthy pace.
The only real threat was cheaters.
For anti-cheat, Ichin had partnered during development with a friend of Umiko's—a specialist in anti-cheat systems. Together they built tailored protections into the game, designed to be effective without burdening system performance.
He had also set up a dedicated security team within the company to monitor and respond to online cheating. Still, since the game had just launched, no one yet knew how many cheaters would appear, or how advanced the hacks would get.
From day one, Fall Guys became the darling of livestreaming platforms. With its more varied maps, new skins, and endless comedic moments, viewership shot up dramatically.
And from those countless viewers, even if only a small fraction bought the game, it still meant huge profits for the developers.
Within a week, global sales hit three million. Ichin wasn't too surprised—it was an affordable multiplayer title, so rapid sales were expected.
But for games like this, what mattered most was long-term operation—retaining the massive wave of players gathered at launch.
Development costs had already been recouped. Now it was all about ongoing updates. Hazuki had already dispatched staff to negotiate with selected IP holders for collaborations.
As for GARO, the crossover content entered production just three days after launch.
They chose two skins: GARO himself in gleaming gold, and Jinga, a striking silver-and-red mix. The designs combined Fall Guys' cuteness with the ferocity and flair of Makai Knights.
Alongside the skins, they also designed a new castle-themed map inspired by GARO.
After reviewing the design drafts, Ichin nodded and told Hazuki:
"Send these over. If they don't request changes, proceed with this version. Two skins and one map—how long will development take?"
"Not long at all," Hazuki smiled. "Once the skins are designed, making them only takes a few days. The map's bigger, so it'll take a little longer, but overall less than ten days. And of course, it's not just one person working on it."
"Good. If you're confident, then schedule the update for early August. And make sure to put out a preview video beforehand, so players know what's coming. Let's do that for every major update going forward."
"No problem. Leave it to us!"
***
Guys, please give it a try to the new fic: "DxD: The Transfer Student of the Demonic High School"
Don't forget to add it to your library!!
***
RedX43's Note:
➤ Want More? Get up to +70 Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ [email protected]/RedX43
➤ +300 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter Drop!
➤ Thanks for the support! 🙌