"Hey, have you heard? Morgan Group developed this new thing—you can do anything you want on it. It's basically a whole new form of computer!"
"Heh, of course I've heard. Lately, aside from the game consoles and titles released by those two game companies, Morgan's VR product is the only ad you see everywhere. How could I not notice?"
"So, are you thinking of buying it?"
"Fifteen hundred bucks? Tsk tsk. That's kinda steep. Honestly, it doesn't seem all that reliable right now. The only thing that actually looks interesting is that game called Beat Saber."
"Exactly! Beat Saber! I'm telling you—it's incredible! I was there when Lorenzo did the demo at the department store. You have no idea how hyped the crowd was."
"Wait, wasn't that on the West Coast? When did you go?"
"Two days ago. I took time off work just to go. How could I pass up the rare chance to see Lorenzo in public? And VR is a seriously cutting-edge tech. If we get into it early, who knows—we might end up being the darlings of the new era!"
"Yeah, right. It's just an upgrade of old tech. I don't buy into the hype."
…
…
"So, you're not interested?"
"Not really."
"What if you had the chance to try it out—would you?"
"Try it? There's no place offering demos, and honestly it doesn't seem fun. Even if someone put it right in front of me, I wouldn't bother."
"Oh, alright then. I was going to let you try mine—'cause I already bought one. It's seriously fun. You really don't know what it feels like until you try it yourself."
"Wait... you bought it?"
"Yup."
"Let me borrow it!"
"Didn't you just say you didn't want to try it?"
"I never said that. You misheard."
…
A few days after Lorenzo's VR product demo, Morgan Group's new VR system officially entered the sales phase.
Thanks to that fairly successful promo event, a lot of people on-site didn't hesitate to make a purchase.
Of course, some later couldn't help but feel like suckers—like they'd just wasted a pile of money.
After all, the device only had one real use so far: playing Beat Saber.
Spending that much money for a single game? It felt like overkill.
But the sales staff had been very persuasive.
They called VR the gateway to a new era—and the earlier you got in, the more bragging rights you had among your peers.
If you didn't get in now, you'd just end up being another follower once VR became mainstream.
So—did you want to be a follower? Or a trendsetter?
Sure, that kind of pitch was borderline manipulative.
But it worked. Many people happily shelled out for this so-called "future product."
Whether it really was the future… that remained to be seen.
In its first week, the VR headset sold over 50,000 units, a pretty solid figure for a brand-new product. It gave Morgan Group enough confidence to increase its investment in the VR space.
Morgan Group's ambitions weren't just about making money.
At their level, they were more interested in influence and market dominance. Once they had those two things, the money would follow automatically. They didn't even need to think about how to make money—it would just flow to them.
So even though only a few tens of thousands of units had been sold, and even though the R&D costs had already topped $300–400 million, Morgan didn't even blink. They immediately poured another $1 billion into VR development.
By the looks of it, Morgan Group was prepared to go all-in on VR for the next several years.
This reminded Takayuki of Facebook from his original world.
They had also heavily invested in VR… and eventually dragged themselves down with it.
Would this world's Morgan Group end up making the same mistake?
Shortly after, Gamestar Electronic Entertainment announced that Beat Saber would also be coming to the Switch at a later date.
This seemed to suggest that Gamestar, too, was planning to step into the VR market. But Takayuki knew exactly where he stood—VR was something to experiment with. He would only make games for it, nothing more.
Meanwhile, the original company that had launched the first commercial VR product was now incredibly frustrated.
They had been the pioneers, and yet somehow, Morgan Group was now getting all the attention.
The company quickly filed a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, accusing Morgan Group and Gamestar of abusing market dominance to steal their market share.
But the SEC wasn't foolish. Business operations, branding, and market share all came down to a company's actual capabilities.
If you truly had technology and vision that far outpaced everyone else, you'd dominate the market naturally—just like Mikfo did with smartphones.
Clearly, this company didn't have that kind of strength.
That said, Morgan Group really was powerful. Just dipping a toe into an industry was enough to stir things up.
And that was worth watching closely—just to ensure Morgan didn't grow into something they didn't want to see.
As for Takayuki, VR was just a light test run.
Most of his team's energy remained focused on the game console itself.
After Beat Saber's buzz died down, Gamestar once again ramped up their Switch investment.
They and Surui Electronics were now trading blows in terms of marketing and promotion.
It looked like the two had entered another round of fierce head-to-head competition.
But in reality, they shared a common enemy: Mikfo.
This was the company that had once ruthlessly taken over more than half of the handheld console market. Now, Surui and Gamestar were joining forces to fight back.
Mikfo's CEO, Myron Case, wasn't an idiot—he was well aware of what Surui and Gamestar were planning.
And he had no intention of sitting back and doing nothing. So, he announced the latest project from their in-house game development team:
A classic-style RPG.
This genre had always been regarded as a "safe bet" in game development. Myron didn't know exactly what kind of game would become a breakout hit, but at the very least, a polished, traditional RPG would have a solid market.
Naturally, the game would also be released on their smartphone platform.