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[Game] Chapter 194: The Autumn Sale Begins
🕑 Added 2025-04-07 17:07:08 +0000 UTCIchin didn’t have a large extended family, but there were still a few relatives around. As usual, during the New Year holiday, they would visit family and friends, and some of his parents’ long-time friends would also drop by.
He had thought about whether or not to bring Utaha back home for the holidays, but before he could even bring it up, his mom had already suggested it. From the looks of it, she really liked Utaha and couldn’t wait to show her off.
Still, this wasn’t something Ichin could decide alone—it would depend on Utaha’s own thoughts.
So, he turned and looked at the girl beside him.
Utaha hadn’t expected Ichin’s mom to bring up something like this. After a rare moment of bashfulness, she nodded and said,
“Um… I’m fine with it. I’ll go back with Ichin then. As for my parents, I’ll just talk to them about it—it shouldn’t be a problem.”
She knew her parents well. Given how far their relationship had progressed, they definitely wouldn’t oppose it.
Ichin’s mom looked even happier after hearing that. “Great, great! Then it’s settled—you’ll come back together. It’s getting late now, so I won’t keep you two any longer. Go ahead and get back to work if you need to, but don’t forget to study too, okay? And don’t stay up too late!”
After answering with several “yes, yes” responses, Ichin finally ended the video call.
He handed the phone back to Utaha and smiled. “We’re going back together at the end of January then. Just don’t forget about your passport.”
“I won’t,” she replied, nodding as she hugged his arm. “Hey, Ichin… what kind of reaction do you think your relatives will have when they see me?”
“Hm, let me think…”
Ichin pondered for a moment, then said,
“Well, I imagine they’ll be surprised… and probably a bit jealous too. I’m pretty sure Mom hasn’t told them I have a girlfriend. And most of my relatives don’t even know I run a game studio. I don’t really have any cousins my age either. I bet my mom’s planning to show you off to all the relatives and friends when the time comes.”
“Show me off, huh? I get that.” Utaha chuckled, clearly understanding where his mom was coming from.
“My mom’s kind of the same. Ever since my novels started gaining traction, she’s been itching to tell all our relatives and family friends about it when we meet during New Year. She used to get annoyed when other relatives would brag about their kids going to some top university or landing high-paying jobs. Now it’s finally her turn.”
Apparently, this kind of family drama is universal, no matter the country.
“Oh, right, Ichin—”
She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek before continuing with a smile,
“Since you’re not going home for New Year’s, spend it at my place, okay? I mean, if your mom wants to introduce me to your family, then I should introduce you to mine too. Be prepared though… my relatives—especially my aunts—can be a handful.”
“…”
Ichin’s mouth twitched slightly. He was clearly a little nervous.
But even if he was feeling a little anxious on the inside, he couldn't let it show. Puffing up his chest, he said confidently,
“No problem. Leave it to me—I’ll show them what a once-in-a-millennium boyfriend looks like!”
“Mhm, good attitude. I like that.”
Utaha gave his head a playful pat and added with a smirk,
“I’ll reward you later. Remember those special outfits I bought a while ago? You can pick one tonight.”
At those words, Ichin’s nerves disappeared in an instant—replaced by pure excitement.
Meet the relatives? Piece of cake!
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Just as scheduled, Steam’s Autumn Sale kicked off. A wave of games started slashing prices, with many titles hitting all-time lows or near-historic discounts.
For example, The Witcher 3, which used to be full price, was once again among the discounted games—its Game of the Year Edition practically being sold for pocket change.
Slay the Spire was, of course, among the discounted titles—and this was its very first time going on sale.
Before the Autumn Sale even began, Ichin had already posted a heads-up on Bilibili, letting fans know in advance that Slay the Spire would be discounted. So, many players who had been eyeing the game decided to hold off and wait for the sale.
Sure enough, the moment the sale started—a whopping 50% off, even a bit more than that. The original price of 68 yuan dropped straight down to 30 yuan.
As soon as the new price hit, players who had the game sitting on their wishlists didn’t hesitate at all—they rushed to check out and add it to their libraries.
And this trend wasn’t limited to just the China region; the same was happening in overseas markets too.
Slay the Spire had excellent streaming potential—whether streamers were pulling off impressive plays or failing miserably, both could trigger strong reactions from viewers. Over the past six months, the game had spread widely, gaining momentum through word of mouth and streams.
Just half a day into the Autumn Sale, Ichin—who had been keeping a close eye on sales—saw that Slay the Spire had already sold 20,000 more copies.
Even at half price, that number was very respectable. After deducting Steam’s cut, the rest was pure profit.
Everyone in the studio was thrilled when they saw the numbers. After all, the sale had only been running for half a day, and the entire Autumn Sale would continue for a full seven days—the sales numbers were only going to climb.
On the other hand, even though Hollow Knight wasn’t on discount, the hype was still going strong. In the ten days since its release, it had consistently ranked among the top sellers. It didn’t even need a discount to push more units.
After reviewing all the backend data, Aoba turned to Ichin excitedly:
“Ichin-kun, are we going to continue updating Hollow Knight? You mentioned before there’s still a lot of content planned, right?”
“There is, but no need to rush it,” Ichin replied, waving his hand.
“First, we’ll implement the mechanic where you retrieve your soul by defeating your own shade after dying. We can package that into a small update and roll it out soon. Also, I’m thinking of adding a ranking system—kind of like what we had in Slay the Spire. Each week, we could shuffle the boss list and order for gauntlet runs. As for the rest of the extra content, we can take our time and discuss it properly. The game’s only been out for ten days, after all.”
In the original Hollow Knight, there was a “Godseeker” DLC—which Ichin was also considering. It would be treated as additional content, but he wanted to approach it carefully. The last thing he wanted was a DLC that didn’t match the quality of the base game.
After listening, Kaiko nodded.
“Ah, so it’s not a fixed feature. That’s good—it might be fun to work on. But wait, is that part separate from the main map?”
“Of course not,” Ichin replied.
“It’ll be integrated into the game world. We’ll create a new exploration area, where players can fight through to a gatekeeper boss. Once they defeat it, a new zone will unlock—something like a combat arena for endless challenges. But that’s just my rough idea for now. Let’s talk it over later and figure out how to make it better.”
Stretching lazily, Ichin pulled out his phone.
“Alright, it’s dinner time. Are we ordering in, or heading out?”
“Let’s go out!”
Yagami chimed in energetically.
“There’s a new yakiniku place that just opened nearby!”
“Gogogo! BBQ time!”
“Autumn is perfect for grilled meat!”
“Let’s roll!”
Glancing one last time at the steadily climbing sales numbers on his monitor, Ichin smiled, then headed out with the team—off to enjoy some well-earned barbecue.
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