Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 940: The - of Liberty City
Chapter 940 - The Chapter of Liberty City
If not for StarCraft as its foundation, the mod created by Peter King and his team would essentially be a complete and mature standalone game.
For someone like that, Takayuki didn't hesitate—he brought him under his wing immediately.
With such a team and a leader like Peter King, the value they could create was unquestionably high.
And someone like him was destined to shine. Watching Peter King reminded Takayuki of many star game developers from his original world.
Though in the U.S., star developers weren't as well-known as in Japan.
People remembered names like Hidetaka Miyazaki, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Hideo Kojima, but few could name the creators of Red Dead Redemption.
This partly came down to differences in corporate culture and how different regions treated the idea of star developers.
Some cultures naturally preferred to mythologize their creators.
In Japan, Takayuki could be revered as a god of games. If he'd crossed into the U.S. instead, he might at best have been seen as a respected figure among younger gamers—not quite divine.
He gave Peter a new team and full creative freedom, assuring him he didn't need to worry about funding. Any project under $50 million wouldn't even require Takayuki's approval. Anything more would go through a brief review.
On top of that, Peter was offered an excellent salary. His original team members were also welcomed into the company with generous pay—Peter had no reason to decline.
Given Takayuki's status as the god of games, Peter joined Gamestar Electronic Entertainment with a near-reverent heart.
Naturally, Peter had one request: to speak with Takayuki face-to-face for an entire afternoon. He wanted answers directly from the legend.
Takayuki gladly agreed and even made a special trip to the U.S. to speak with the not-yet-20-year-old.
Now in his 40s, Takayuki's mindset had matured greatly. Talking to someone like Peter was also a valuable opportunity to understand the next generation of developers.
Peter, without hesitation, joined Gamestar's North American team. He was given a new development department, with recruitment overseen by him and HR. They planned to hire a minimum of 1,000 employees, each with strong growth potential.
As for the StarCraft mod Peter had created, it was formally integrated into StarCraft's official story with help from the development team.
It was optimized for better compatibility with the game engine.
The mod was then re-released as a paid expansion for just $10.
For that price, players could enjoy over 100 hours of content. The art style was retro, but that was part of its appeal—especially for StarCraft's hardcore fans, who snapped it up without hesitation.
Some even publicly demanded:"StarCraft devs, wake up! We've been waiting for a new story for far too long!"
The mod went on to sell over 5 million copies.
The most uptodate nove𝙡s are published on frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓.
A true labor of love from fans, it still managed to generate revenue. Half of the profits went to Peter's original team, and the rest to Gamestar.
It was almost like free money.
By the time other game companies realized what was happening, Takayuki had already scooped up all the benefits—locking down Peter's team completely, leaving competitors pounding their chests in regret.
Then came the present moment. After a year or two, Takayuki assigned Peter's team a new, top-priority game project:
Development of GTA: Liberty City Stories.
Unlike GTA: San Andreas, this title would dive deeper into narrative complexity.
San Andreas had emphasized brotherhood, turf wars, and street violence.
This fourth installment would expand the story and evolve the gameplay foundations of San Andreas.
Now powered by the AI system, Liberty City Stories had far more gameplay possibilities.
"This game will be set in a city modeled after New York, but in the game it'll still be called Liberty City. As for the gameplay, don't feel too restricted by what I've outlined—you're free to expand. The development budget is set at $100 million. Don't worry about marketing costs. I'd like it to be finished within three years."
"You can count on us, boss! We won't let you down!"
For Peter, this would be his first time leading a large-scale commercial game.
Even just the project outline made it clear how massive the game would be.
It might not match the scale of Cyberpunk 2077, which the company was developing at full throttle—but it would be close, at maybe 60-70% of that scale.
At just over 20 years old, Peter had passion—and a healthy amount of caution.
He knew this was Takayuki's way of testing him.
Could he really lead a major title? If he succeeded, the future might hold even greater projects—maybe ones bigger than Cyberpunk 2077 itself.
To ensure everything stayed on track, Takayuki assigned Gamestar's 7th development division to support him. Veteran producer Shizue Yabuki, who had over a decade of experience and had worked on Metal Gear Solid, would co-produce the title with Peter. Yabuki would serve as a backup plan, making sure Peter didn't let youth run wild.
Though technically an expansion, Liberty City Stories had just as much hype as the mainline games.
Takayuki decided to go all-in—GTA IV would finally receive its full and complete form.
This game would also mark the first time the series used multiple protagonists.
Set in a New York-inspired metropolis, three main characters would weave together a rich and captivating narrative arc.
