Japan had the highest suicide rate among developed countries, and social pressure was one of the major reasons its suicide rate remained persistently high.
Within an already harsh social environment, people in certain professions received treatment scarcely better than livestock. Put simply, the fact that even the term "corporate slave" had originated in Japan was enough to give an idea of just how brutal the environment could be. The animation industry, manga industry, and software development were all representative examples of high-pressure professions. During busy periods, getting four hours of sleep a day was already a blessing amid misfortune. The worst of the worst was working twenty hours a day and receiving not a single cent in overtime pay.
It might sound unbelievable, but many exploitative Japanese companies routinely refused to pay overtime, and Japanese society even regarded it as something perfectly normal. They were practically the ideal slaves of capitalism.
This phenomenon was inseparable from Japanese culture. Within Japanese corporate culture, the emphasis was on what an employee had contributed to the company, rather than what the company had given the employee in return.
Yet even when faced with such an intense working environment, most employees chose to endure it in silence.
Japan's economy had already settled into its present form after the bubble era of the 1990s, and because of numerous limiting factors, it had continued to stagnate. Employment pressure had become one of the common social problems facing the country. This was likewise reflected in certain anime and manga. It was hardly uncommon for the male or female protagonist's family background to include a father who had been laid off by his company, causing the family to fall on hard times.
In this respect, Kamiyā Yuu preferred the European and American approach: balancing work and rest.
Yosuganosora Animation Studio offered employee benefits on a completely different level from the rest of the industry, causing it to become the "utopia" of animation production staff throughout the industry.
Of course, Kamiyā Yuu could afford to adopt the Western approach entirely because Yosuganosora Animation Studio possessed both the ability to bear the risks and the potential to earn extraordinary returns. 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica' alone had earned enough to sustain Yosuganosora Animation Studio for more than a decade.
[Mirror Flower Water Moon] Game Studio was nominally affiliated with Yosuganosora Animation Studio. However, with the 'Throne of Heroes' project rapidly approaching and Kamiyā Yuu unwilling to let its schedule slip, the game development department had no choice but to endure continuous periods of high-intensity work just like most Japanese companies. All they could do was ensure reasonable overtime pay and sufficient sleeping hours.
'Guidelines for the Game's Subsequent Design Plan'
'Prototype No. 1'
The version of 'Throne of Heroes' optimized by the 'Matrix Space' required a large-scale overhaul of its data. The already tight game-development schedule was compressed even further. Saying that the development department of [Mirror Flower Water Moon] Game Studio would be entering a hellish period for the next several months was no exaggeration at all.
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[Mirror Flower Water Moon] Game Studio
In the conference room, Mizuhara Raiko had called an emergency meeting as soon as she arrived at the company that morning because of the email Kamiyā Yuu had sent her the previous night. The senior members of the game development department had all gathered together.
"What's the situation?"
Standing in front of the whiteboard, Mizuhara Raiko frowned at the company employees attending the meeting. She had already briefly discussed the matter with Nozaki, head of the development department. The information she received had made her understand the severity of the situation.
Nozaki nodded solemnly. "The actual situation is a little better than having to remake the entire thing. Another advantage is that 'Guidelines for the Game's Subsequent Design Plan' has already established the overall direction of development. So things might also be somewhat better than we imagine."
Mizuhara Raiko folded her arms and pondered. "Can we finish it before next year?"
Another senior member of the development department shook his head and replied in a somber voice, "To be frank, with our department's current capabilities, even finishing the modifications to the PC version's game data before next year would be extremely difficult. On top of that, the design of the mobile version hasn't even been finalized yet. If we finish the mobile version's game data only to go through the same thing we're facing now all over again, our development department really will collapse."
"Haha~ Personally, I think we've already collapsed."
Matsukawa scratched his head and laughed flippantly. When everyone turned to look at him, he hurriedly restrained his smile.
"Just kidding. I'm kidding."
"What Matsukawa said isn't entirely a joke," Nozaki added.
Mizuhara Raiko thought for a moment. "All right. I'll ask Mr. Kamiyā for his opinion on that. There shouldn't be a problem completing the PC version, but if the mobile version can't meet the project's deadline..."
After a pause, she tentatively asked, "What if we outsource some of the work to outside studios?"
Nozaki nodded. "Mm~~ That should probably work. It would take quite a bit of pressure off our development department. Still, I wouldn't place too much hope on the mobile version."
"We're completely out of options."
The senior developer who had spoken earlier shook his head and sighed.
Mizuhara Raiko turned toward Nozaki, her gaze intense.
"Nozaki, based on your experience, what do you think of the changes made to the game's data?"
"What do I think?"
Mizuhara Raiko sat down and nodded.
"I want a rational and accurate assessment."
Everyone in the conference room turned their attention to Nozaki.
He concentrated, recalling what he had seen the previous night. Although the development department had effectively been given the night "off," he himself had remained at the company and worked alone until late at night, all so he could fully analyze 'Prototype No. 1'.
The deeper he investigated it, the more unbelievable it seemed.
The game had been developed by their own department. He knew every corner of it intimately.
Yet after the modifications, 'Prototype No. 1' still used the game structure they had developed while somehow giving him a completely different impression.
Every potential bug they had already discovered through testing had been fixed. Every technical problem they had been unable to solve had been overcome.
Even though the architecture of the game client itself was not especially complicated, his many years of experience in the game-development industry told him that 'Prototype No. 1' was exactly what he had envisioned the ideal version of 'Throne of Heroes' to be.
He had once believed that an ideal was merely an ideal—that it was called an ideal precisely because human ability could never truly realize it.
Yet 'Prototype No. 1' was like the ideal form of this game made manifest.
"Yes... I suppose a comparison really is necessary."
Nozaki sighed softly to himself, then raised his head and solemnly looked around at everyone in the conference room.
"I believe that now these modifications have been presented to us, we absolutely need to implement them. I don't know which game-development team was responsible for making these changes, but their work is far more mature than ours."
"No~ it's not that simple. The truth is, I can't even understand the reasoning behind quite a few of the changes myself. The one thing I can say for certain is that, even if they're based on the same game project, what we developed and what resulted after these modifications are games on two completely different levels."
"Even if it means rendering several months of our hard work useless, for the sake of the game's quality, these modifications absolutely need to be carried through."
His solemn declaration left everyone in the conference room exchanging glances. None of them had expected Nozaki to give it such extraordinarily high praise.
Hearing this, a trace of disappointment appeared in Mizuhara Raiko's otherwise calm eyes. Yet she seemed to have already prepared herself for Nozaki to give such a glowing assessment, so she did not show much further disappointment.
"So that means... we lost."