The game “Monster Paru,” which closely resembles Pokémon, has recently taken the world by storm, selling 5 million copies in just three days. At the same time, the president of the game developer Pocketpair has had his background exposed, revealing that he had previously founded a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan!
(Previous Summary:
AI-generated game suspected of plagiarizing Pokémon! “Monster Paru” sells 2 million copies on Steam, Nintendo may sue?
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(Background Information:
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
Former Founder of a Cryptocurrency Exchange
Drawing Criticism from Pokémon Fans
“Monster Paru,” published and developed by Pocketpair, has recently taken the world by storm, achieving an astonishing sales record of 5 million copies sold in just three days. This has generated over 2.1 billion TWD in revenue for the developer, while the game has reached a peak concurrent player count of 1.5 million, showcasing its immense popularity.
After the game sparked a frenzy, many fans became curious about the president of Pocketpair, Takuhiro Mizobuchi. Three days before the game’s release, Mizobuchi wrote an article on the official blog, sharing the story of their company’s founding and the birth process of “Monster Paru.”
This article, titled “A Story Born by Chance, Deciding Fate in Three Days: ‘Monster Paru,'” not only revealed the game’s development process but also recounted Mizobuchi’s struggle since his university days, when he co-developed games with his friends.
Mizobuchi recalled his experience of collaborating with his friends during university and the hardships of establishing a company and seeking shareholders and investors. They faced a difficult reality: no publisher was willing to take on their game. Despite this setback, Mizobuchi remained steadfast in his belief that he and his team could develop an interesting game, so he decided to invest one billion yen from his own pocket to independently develop and publish the game. He stated:
“On the other hand, before entering game development, Mizobuchi had already left his mark 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, thus beginning his professional career.
Shortly thereafter, Mizobuchi decided to venture into the entrepreneurial field and co-founded a company called ReguPress. As a core developer, Mizobuchi successfully launched “Coincheck,” a platform focused on cryptocurrency trading. The founder of Coincheck, Koichiro Wada, recently shared his encounter with Mizobuchi on the X platform.
In reality, in January 2018, Coincheck suffered a hacking attack, resulting in the theft of approximately 500 million NEM tokens (approximately 530 million USD). 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 cease operations. As a result, Coincheck has continued to operate safely to this day.
It is worth mentioning that despite the accusations of “Monster Paru” plagiarizing “Pokémon,” the game’s interactivity and completeness have successfully won over the community, gradually changing the initially negative public opinion.
Many loyal players of “Pokémon” have expressed that the recent works by Game Freak (the publisher of Pokémon) have indeed left long-time fans disappointed. Seeing the mockery of “Pokémon” by “Monster Paru” players on social media, it is inevitable to speculate that these players are also fans of “Pokémon” but carry a sense of disappointment.
“Pokémon Scarlet/Purple” was released in November 2022, but the game faced numerous technical and performance 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 amusing bugs in “Pokémon Scarlet/Purple.”
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