The game “Phantasmal Pal” that closely resembles Pokémon 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 founded a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan!?
(Previous summary:
AI-generated game suspected of plagiarizing Pokémon! “Phantasmal Pal” sells 2 million copies on Steam, Nintendo may sue?
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(Background:
Steam bans Web3 games! a16z points out the pain point: afraid of losing publishing rights and revenue
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Table of Contents:
A President’s Billion Yen Gamble
Previously Founded a Cryptocurrency Exchange
Drawing the Wrath of Pokémon
“Phantasmal Pal,” released and produced by Pocketpair, has recently taken the world by storm, selling an astonishing 5 million copies in just three days. This has generated over 2.1 billion Taiwanese dollars in revenue for the developer and reached a peak of 1.5 million concurrent players online, showcasing its immense popularity.
After the game ignited a frenzy, many fans became curious about the president of Pocketpair, Taro Doburo. Three days before the game’s release, Doburo wrote a blog post on the official website, sharing the story of their company’s journey and the birth process of “Phantasmal Pal.” The article, titled “Fate Decided in Three Days: The Story of the Serendipitous Birth of ‘Phantasmal Pal,'” not only revealed the game’s development process but also recounted Doburo’s struggles from co-developing games with university friends to founding the company.
Doburo reminisced about his collaborative development experience with his friends during university and the hardships they faced in seeking shareholders and investors. They encountered a difficult reality: no publisher was willing to take on their game. Despite such setbacks, Doburo persisted in his belief that he and his team could develop an interesting game. Therefore, 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, prior to game development, Doburo had already made a name for himself in the fields of technology and finance. After graduating from the Tokyo Institute of Technology’s School of Engineering in 2012, he immediately joined the financial giant J.P. Morgan, beginning his professional career.
Shortly afterward, Doburo decided to venture into the startup field and co-founded the company Reju Press. As a core developer, Doburo successfully launched “Coincheck,” a platform focused on cryptocurrency trading. The founder of Coincheck, Koichi Wada, recently shared his acquaintance with Doburo on the X platform.
In fact, in January 2018, Coincheck fell victim to a hacker attack, resulting in the theft of approximately 500 million NEM tokens (about 530 million USD). Subsequently, the Japanese Financial Services Agency took a series of administrative measures against Coincheck. These measures primarily required Coincheck to enhance its security mechanisms. However, considering the interests of users and market stability, the Financial Services Agency did not require the exchange to cease operations. As a result, Coincheck has been operating securely to this day.
It is worth mentioning that despite the accusations of plagiarism against “Phantasmal Pal” regarding “Pokémon,” the game’s interactivity and completeness have successfully won over the community, gradually shifting the initially negative public opinion.
Many loyal players of “Pokémon” have expressed disappointment in the recent works by Game Freak (the publisher of Pokémon). Upon seeing “Phantasmal Pal” players mocking “Pokémon” on social media, it is speculated that these players are also fans of “Pokémon,” but with a feeling of bitterness.
“Pokémon Scarlet/Purple” was released in November 2022 but faced many technical and gameplay issues. Frame drops, lag, and numerous bugs have made players both cry and laugh, significantly reducing the enjoyment of the gaming experience. Below is a compilation of the amusing bugs in “Pokémon Scarlet/Purple.”
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