Tokyo Video Game Tycoon.

The people who gave them the money had some powerful connections, so their words were quite credible, and that's how they got their money.

Before the awards ceremony, they received a call from their sponsor confirming that winning the award for best of the year was almost a certainty, which made them even more confident.

If a game with a quality rating of around three stars can win Game of the Year, then it doesn't matter if it's just politically correct. They can use that Game of the Year award to attract more funding, and then they can break free from the constraints of that sponsor and make the games they want.

"Game of the Year definitely belongs to Deep Space Exploration!"

Their gazes were fixed firmly on the podium ahead, and they were even ready to stand up and receive their awards.

At that moment, Kazuo Murakami on the podium took a deep breath and then smiled.

"Everyone has been waiting for this for a long time. To be honest, the annual Game of the Year awards are the most difficult for me every year because it is really hard to choose one of the many good games. I even wish that the Game of the Year award could be given out many times a year, but that is impossible."

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and give out the awards!"

The Deep Space Exploration team is getting a little anxious. They've stood up from their seats, unsure whether to sit or not, and can only wait anxiously.

At this moment, Kazuo Murakami seemed to be in no hurry, chatting casually with each game creator in the audience as if they were having a casual conversation.

Finally, when everyone seemed to be holding back, Kazuo Murakami took out the final year's game list card, glanced at the names on it, and then smiled.

"Now, I'd like to announce the Game of the Year for 2007: it's Sun Knights: Dark World from Suri Electronics! Let's congratulate them!"

Chapter 730 Follow Your Heart

730

Let's rewind to mid-2007.

At this point, Kazuo Murakami had already prepared the general procedures for the annual game awards ceremony.

The specific award-winning works will be determined in the last month of the event.

One day, Murakami Kazuo, who was making preparations, suddenly received a phone call.

The person on the other end of the phone was a well-known figure in American politics.

He made a deal with Kazuo Murakami using so-called future development opportunities.

Kazuo Murakami is now moving towards globalization.

Since this is the intended course of development, it is inevitable that the United States will be a hurdle to overcome.

Many people are watching.

If Kazuo Murakami wants to advance further, he must listen to the United States.

At least that's what that politician said.

This just happened to hit Murakami Kazuo's weak spot.

He does indeed have a certain need in this regard, and he does hope to further advance his industry at this time.

Therefore, when the other party offered to provide some assistance for the growth of his company, Kazuo Murakami responded very positively.

Then this politician expressed his demands.

Let Deep Space Exploration be the game of the year.

When Murakami Kazuo heard this, he was stunned for a long time.

What previously motivated him to vote for Deep Space Exploration was the vast number of netizens, who were all strongly recommending it as the game of the year.

Since he makes a living off the player base, he definitely has to consider the players' feelings.

However, he was still somewhat reluctant to simply accept these players' suggestions and award the game the Game of the Year.

This game simply doesn't deserve the title of Game of the Year.

If it's about finding the tallest among the short, then this game was the tallest back in the day, so there's not much to say about it.

However, the scale of the gaming industry is now different from what it used to be.

Game developers outside of Yusei Electronics Entertainment have also created works that are rated four and a half or even five stars.

Outside of Yusei Electronic Entertainment, Kazuo Murakami has already given about five or six five-star works, each of which is a leader in its genre and is praised by even Takeyusei after playing them.

In this kind of game development environment, Samsung's works are simply mediocre. How could it possibly win Game of the Year? Just because of that tiny bit of 'correctness'?

So he later decided to seek answers from Zhu Youxing, who then replied that he trusted his own judgment.

This convinced Kazuo Murakami of the choices he needed to make.

He just didn't expect that a US politician would later come to him and make such a request.

On the one hand, it's about career advancement, but on the other hand, it's about betraying one's own conscience by voting for works that one doesn't want to do.

On the one hand, there is the possibility of a career setback, but he followed his heart, and his fans will find it reasonable, and his supporters should also understand him.

He struggled with this difficult choice for a long time.

However, judging from the Game of the Year he has announced, it is clear that he has made his final decision and it is irreversible.

In the audience, some people from the Su Rui Electronics circle stood up and cheered. They hugged each other in surprise, and then two people, probably in their thirties and forties, walked quickly to the podium.

On the way, they were met with envious and approving glances from many people, appearing so spirited and high-spirited.

Zhu Youxing also looked at the two game creators with admiration.

I do have a pretty good impression of these two bamboo stars.

They are veterans in the game development field at Surui Electronics, each having worked in the game department for over ten years.

It can be said that it has fully experienced the competition between Surui Electronics and Youxing Electronic Entertainment.

They also understand best just how unbeatable Yuxing Electronic Entertainment truly is.

Even if it's impossible to win, it won't dampen the enthusiasm of some people for game creation.

These two individuals are the key creators of Sun Knight, a classic IP from Surui Electronics, and are the soul of this series.

After so many years of hard work, their work has finally achieved a five-star game rating.

Even though he's been quite busy this year, he's still played the Sun Knight game that was released this year.

It has to be said that it was really quite interesting.

Today's Sun Knight has evolved towards real-time combat, and has reached the top level in terms of action, special effects, plot presentation, and CG performance.

According to Bamboo Star's estimates, the development cost of this year's Sun Knight should also exceed one hundred million US dollars.

The return of one hundred million US dollars translates to more than five million physical sales. Considering the entire production chain of Surui Electronics, their production and sales costs would only account for about five percent of a physical game. After deducting the retailer's share, the rest is all profit. This time, Surui Electronics has truly made a huge profit.

They can finally say they've had their moment of triumph.

And they truly deserve this year's Player of the Year award.

Perhaps there will be one or two other games this year that have the potential to compete for the best of the year, but in terms of overall quality, I still think Sun Knights is better.

Zhu Youxing was also very excited, it seemed that the thing he had been looking forward to the most was about to happen.

The game development in this world is finally getting better and better. Perhaps it won't be long before he can really retire completely and enjoy playing all the fun games in this world.

"Thank you very much everyone, thank you very much to my company, and thank you very much to host Kazuo Murakami. It is a great honor to receive this award. Game of the Year is really important to us. It is a milestone for us. We are willing to work harder and go all out to develop better games in the future. Only in this way can we live up to the recognition brought by Game of the Year!"

……

Some are happy, some are sad.

The creators of the game "Deep Space Exploration" are now in a very awkward position.

When the Game of the Year was announced and their name wasn't chosen, they were completely flustered, neither standing nor sitting still.

Finally, they chose to slink away from their seats when everyone's attention was focused on the podium.

They didn't win even a small award this year; they truly came away empty-handed.

This is quite a blow to them.

"There must be some shady dealing involved! Why didn't our game win a single award?!"

A young man who looked quite young, probably around twenty-four or twenty-five, walked out of the award ceremony and roared angrily.

Those around him could only watch him in silence. They were just as unwilling, but what could they do?

Chapter 731 New Game Preview

731

What is the quality of the game "Deep Space Exploration"?

What kind of quality does "Sun Knight: Dark World" have?

Any gamer who has played both games would unhesitatingly vote for the latter as the best game.

This is a multiple-choice question that even a fool could answer.

However, as the creators of "Deep Space Exploration," they couldn't boost the morale of others while weakening their own.

Now they can only watch helplessly as Game of the Year slips into someone else's hands.

"Didn't they say we were a shoo-in for Game of the Year? Why the sudden change of heart? Why didn't that Murakami Kazuo give us Game of the Year?"

The young man, in his mid-twenties, continued to roar angrily.

The others could only remain silent.

The last person sighed and said, "It seems that Murakami Kazuo has already made his choice. Even if our backers try to influence the vote, they still can't influence the main person in charge of this annual game awards ceremony."

The recent surge in political correctness is causing headaches for everyone in the cultural sphere.

There always seems to be a group of people who want to bring this up, and you just can't refute it.

To refute it is to bully the weak. You can't hit them, you can't scold them, they're as annoying as a leech.

However, it is true that not everyone will obediently listen to these 'correct' words.

In the end, Kazuo Murakami gave up the opportunity to grow rapidly, still not wanting to betray the players who supported him.

He was well aware of the reputational impact of the annual game awards.

As an award program, the most important thing for Game of the Year is neutrality.

Judges must not have any bias; everything should be based on the rules established when the program was first created.