Chapter 21. Applauded But Not Popular, Why?
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Onmyoji had an antique aesthetic, yet its art style carried a touch of next-gen quality, which was refined and beautiful. Especially the way the original illustrator handled the visuals—it could only be described as bold skill backed by talent.
Even on the Famicom, a machine with limited color capabilities, it still managed to create effects that were truly exceptional.
"Hey, have you guys played Onmyoji?"
"No, not yet. Why?"
"I heard it's really impressive, its visuals are great."
"I played it. The visuals are top-notch! How did they even pull it off?"
That was the opinion shared by the team on the Street Pickup project at Blue Wings.
"Yeah, compared to that, what we've made feels like garbage."
"Shhh… Don't let the President hear you."
"Not even the chief planner should hear that."
"…"
At that moment, Mizutani Takashi happened to walk by and caught snippets of their conversation.
"If you have time to gossip, why don't you think and focus on improving our game quality instead?"
In fact, Mizutani had already bought Onmyoji on the day it was released by Pokeni. It wasn't out of loyalty or interest, but to see what his old company was now capable of.
And what he saw truly shocked him.
The moment he inserted the cartridge and launched the game, he was instantly drawn in by the stunning visuals of Onmyoji.
The art style was striking, and the level of detail rivaled that of animation. Before Onmyoji, Mizutani couldn't have imagined a game with such visuals could run on a Famicom.
Just the visuals alone were enough to earn Onmyoji a place in gaming history.
However, the market response that followed puzzled him.
Despite being on sale for a week, Onmyoji had only sold a few hundred copies.
It's well known that the first month of a game's release is critical—just like movies, where most of the box office revenue comes within the first month. Those who want to see it will do so early on, and after that, any remaining interest drops sharply. Plus, spoilers start circulating.
It's the same for games. Around 50% of total sales typically come from the first month.
Given its current trend, Mizutani seriously doubted whether Onmyoji would even hit 3,000 copies sold.
"It doesn't seem all that impressive after all."
Mizutani smacked his lips, a faint smirk curling at the edge of his mouth.
"Huh?"
It really was baffling.
According to him, judging by its quality, the game should've done far better.
But then it hit him.
"Just as I thought—RPG and galgame elements don't mix. Players simply won't accept such a slow-paced experience."
Honestly, having someone who doesn't understand games as company president is nothing short of a disaster.
Kiyoshi Yuuma, as an artist, undoubtedly had top-tier skills. Based on Mizutani's own evaluation, Kiyoshi Yuuma's work on Onmyoji far outclassed their current chief artist, Aoyama, by several levels.
But the guy didn't understand games. No matter how good the visuals were, it was a waste if the game design didn't hold up.
"If only I could get Kiyoshi Yuuma to do art for my project…"
Mizutani muttered to himself as he carried the Onmyoji cartridge into the conference room.
Time to show Blue Wings' art team what real quality looked like.
…
Onmyoji players were facing a shared dilemma—
Despite its heart-wrenching ending, the game was, without a doubt, a masterpiece.
Still, even with glowing reviews, the game's actual sales were far below Kiyoshi Yuuma's expectations.
"How could this happen?"
Honestly, like Mizutani, Kiyoshi Yuuma still couldn't quite understand it—
Why did a game with top-tier visuals, plot, character design, and combat fail to perform well. Was mixing RPG with galgame really a mistake?
Arms crossed and brows furrowed, Kiyoshi Yuuma began to doubt himself.
But that didn't seem right either. Plenty of future games would feature rich storylines. Was it that they'd gone too far?
Players in the '90s shouldn't be this emotionally fragile, right?
Next to him, Mika Ishino, the busty girl of the dev team, also wore the same look of dismay.
After all, she had written the game's script.
Including Onmyoji, this was her second failed title.
In fact, since graduating from university and joining the company, she hadn't worked on a single successful project.
That's more than a little disheartening.
"Let's go," Kiyoshi Yuuma said.
"Huh? Where to?" Mika looked confused.
"To see for ourselves," Kiyoshi Yuuma grabbed his jacket. "If we don't do proper research, we'll never know what the problem really is."
…
After visiting several game stores and interviewing some Onmyoji players, Kiyoshi Yuuma finally discovered the root of the problem—
There was nothing wrong with the game itself.
In fact, the players' feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Aside from their dissatisfaction with the ending and wearing the expressions of people who wanted to devour the staff of Pokeni alive, the players unanimously believed that Onmyoji was a masterpiece worthy of the Hall of Fame.
Emmmm…
The real issue lay with how the game was being displayed in stores.
After checking out multiple major game retailers, especially the Golden Thumb chain, Kiyoshi Yuuma found that these stores habitually placed Onmyoji cartridges in very obscure locations.
For example, the very bottom or very top of shelves, or tucked away in far corners.
These were spots hardly anyone would notice.
Some stores didn't even bother to put up posters for Onmyoji.
With that kind of visibility, of course the game wouldn't sell well.
Only DUN's own channels, like some audio-video stores, gave Onmyoji a prominent display.
Seeing this, Kiyoshi Yuuma was furious and immediately went to find Tsuda Nao.
…
At first, Tsuda was a little confused, but after hearing Kiyoshi Yuuma's explanation, she quickly understood—
Those game retailers were truly hateful.
They had promised to help promote the game, but in reality, they were effectively burying Onmyoji.
And because Tsuda herself had previously guaranteed, "If it doesn't sell, DUN will buy it back," they acted even more brazenly.
Those old foxes…
"I get it. I'll call them right now," Tsuda said, narrowing her eyes with a clear hint of anger on her face.
"Hello, this is Tsuda. President Hattori, why has your company's game retail chain placed Onmyoji in such obscure corners of the store? How is it supposed to sell like that?"
On the other end of the call, Hattori chuckled, clearly expecting her to call.
"If the performance is good, of course we'll place it in a visible spot. If it's not, it goes to the corner to collect dust. Isn't that how it should be? We follow professional procedures. And besides, where a game is placed depends on the company and the title's quality. Do you expect us to stick Nintendo's Super Mario in the corner?"
Standing nearby, Kiyoshi Yuuma clenched his fists, and he was absolutely fuming when he heard that.