The game “Fantasy Beast Palu,” which bears a striking resemblance to Pokemon, has recently taken the world by storm, selling 5 million copies in just three days. Meanwhile, the president of the game developer, Pocketpair, has been exposed for having previously founded a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan!
(Prior context:
AI-generated game suspected of plagiarizing Pokemon! Steam releases “Fantasy Beast Palu,” selling 2 million copies like crazy, and Nintendo’s legal department is considering suing?
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(Background:
Steam bans Web3 games! a16z points out the pain point: fear of losing publishing rights and revenue.
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Table of Contents:
The President’s Billion-Yen Gamble
Previously Founded a Cryptocurrency Exchange
Drawing the Wrath of Pokemon
“Fantasy Beast Palu,” published and developed by Pocketpair, has recently taken the world by storm, achieving an astonishing sales record of 5 million copies sold within just three days. This has generated over 2.1 billion Taiwanese dollars in revenue for the developer. The game has also reached a peak concurrent player count of 1.5 million, showcasing its immense popularity.
After the game sparked a frenzy, fans became curious about the background of Pocketpair’s president, Takanori Dobu. Three days before the game’s release, Dobu shared the company’s entrepreneurial story and the birth process of “Fantasy Beast Palu” on the official blog. The article, titled “A Story Born by Chance, Deciding Destiny in Three Days: ‘Fantasy Beast Palu,'” not only revealed the game’s development process but also recounted Dobu’s struggles since he began developing games with his university friends.
Dobu reminisced about his collaborative development experience with his friends during their university days and the arduous process of establishing the company and finding shareholders and investors. They faced a harsh reality: no publisher was willing to take on their game. Despite such setbacks, Dobu persisted in his belief that he and his team could develop an interesting game. As a result, he decided to invest one billion yen out of his own pocket to independently develop and publish the game. He stated:
“On the other hand, before entering game development, Takanori Dobu had already left his mark in the fields of technology and finance. After graduating from the Faculty of Engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2012, he immediately joined the financial giant J.P. Morgan, beginning his professional career.
Shortly thereafter, Dobu decided to venture into entrepreneurship and co-founded Kabushiki Kaisha Legepress. As a core developer, Dobu also successfully launched “Coincheck,” a platform dedicated to virtual currency trading. Koichiro Wada, the founder of Coincheck, recently shared his encounter with Dobu on the X platform.
In fact, in January 2018, Coincheck suffered a hacker attack, resulting in the theft of approximately 500 million NEM tokens (worth about 530 million US dollars). Subsequently, the Japanese Financial Services Agency took a series of administrative measures against Coincheck. These measures primarily required Coincheck to strengthen its security mechanisms. However, considering the interests of users and market stability, the Financial Services Agency did not require the exchange to suspend its operations. Therefore, Coincheck has been operating safely to this day.
It is worth mentioning that despite the accusations of plagiarizing Pokemon, “Fantasy Beast Palu” has won the favor of the community with its interactivity and completeness, gradually shifting the initially negative public opinion.
Many loyal Pokemon players have expressed their disappointment in Game Freak’s recent works. After seeing “Fantasy Beast Palu” players mocking Pokemon on social media, it is inevitable to speculate that these players are also Pokemon fans who simply have a sense of disappointment.
“Pokemon Scarlet/Purple” was released in November 2022, but the game has faced numerous technical and performance issues. Frame drops, lag, and a multitude of bugs have made players both cry and laugh, significantly reducing the enjoyment of the gaming experience. Below is a compilation of the interesting bugs found in “Pokemon Scarlet/Purple.”
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