Chapter 1478 1396 Effects of Zaboru Live Streaming

Thursday, 26 February 2002.

Only two days had passed since Zaboru's livestream, yet somehow clips from it were still spreading everywhere throughout the gaming community. At first, most people simply shared the obvious moments: Zaboru completely bullying Super Black Diablos with a Great Sword, stopping her charges with perfectly timed attacks, breaking both horns, clearing the quest in under five minutes without taking damage, and then somehow carving two Black Diablos Plates while insisting that he hadn't manipulated the drop rate.

Then came the Halo clips.

His Magnum accuracy, grenade placements, no-scope sniper kills, Capture the Flag runs, Warthog driving, and the extremely disrespectful moment where he crouched twice in front of an enemy who was already doomed by a Plasma Grenade became short videos of their own. There were already compilations with titles such as "Zaboru Reading Black Diablos' Future for Five Minutes," "Great Sword Is NOT Slow, You Are," "Zaboru Destroys Halo Players With A Pistol," and "Zaboru Renkonan Being Toxic In His Own Game."

Some players treated the livestream as entertainment.

Others actually studied it.

Great Sword usage in Monster Hunter had noticeably increased over the previous two days. Players who had dismissed the weapon as slow or awkward suddenly wanted to understand what Zaboru had demonstrated. Entire forum threads appeared discussing positioning, monster animations, sheathing after attacks, predictive charging, and whether the Great Sword was secretly one of the strongest weapons in the game when used correctly.

Halo experienced something similar.

The M6D Magnum had never been considered weak, but after watching Zaboru use it like a miniature precision rifle, enormous numbers of players suddenly began practicing with it. ZAGE Network matches were becoming noticeably sweatier, and people who previously sprayed entire magazines from the Assault Rifle were now standing across Blood Gulch attempting to imitate Zaboru's controlled pistol shots well both results are suck ass but it's not the point.

Naturally, YouTubers immediately jumped onto the discussion.

And one particular man reacted exactly as everyone expected.

TORO KAMI.

Miguel Katayuya had already become infamous for reacting to anything involving ZAGE with enough energy to frighten normal human beings.

And now, after watching Zaboru's livestream, Miguel uploaded another video.

The title was:

"ZABORU-SAMA IS THE GOD OF VIDEO GAMES AND I WAS A FOOL."

There was absolutely no context in the thumbnail beyond Miguel holding his head with both hands while a badly edited image of Zaboru holding an enormous Great Sword appeared behind him surrounded by light.

The video began.

Miguel was already standing.

That was usually a warning sign.

"GUYS!"

He slammed both palms against his desk.

"I HAVE COMMITTED A SIN!"

Miguel pointed directly toward the camera with an expression of genuine betrayal toward himself.

"For almost ONE MONTH, I have been saying Great Sword is lame!"

A short clip from one of his older Monster Hunter streams immediately appeared.

Past Miguel was fighting Rathalos using Dual Blades while saying:

"Why would anyone use Great Sword?! Look at that thing! Too slow! Dual Blades go SHING SHING SLASH SLASH AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The video returned to present-day Miguel.

He slowly covered his face.

"I said that."

Another old clip appeared.

"Great Sword users spend half the hunt charging and the other half crying because they missed!"

Back to Miguel.

His hands began shaking dramatically.

"I SAID THAT TOO!"

He suddenly stood completely straight and pointed toward a picture of Zaboru.

"And then Zaboru-sama reveals that Great Sword is his FAVORITE WEAPON!"

Miguel dropped to his knees.

"ZABORU-SAMAAAAA! I'M SO SORRYYYYYYYY!"

The audio peaked so badly that the microphone distorted.

Comments immediately filled beneath the video.

"HE'S ACTUALLY APOLOGIZING TO A WEAPON."

"TORO KAMI NEVER CHANGE."

"DUAL BLADE PLAYER DISCOVERS PATIENCE."

Miguel raised both hands dramatically. "I HAVE INSULTED HIS FAVORITE WEAPON! HOW CAN I CALL MYSELF A ZAGE FAN?!"

Naturally, after finishing the video, Miguel did the only reasonable thing.

He started a livestream.

TORO KAMI LEARNS GREAT SWORD — FORGIVE ME ZABORU-SAMA

Thousands arrived almost immediately.

Miguel entered Monster Hunter carrying a freshly prepared Great Sword and confidently announced, "Okay! Zaboru-sama has shown me the truth! Today I will learn the sacred art of Great Sword!"

His viewers already knew exactly what was about to happen.

Miguel normally played Dual Blades.

And not casually.

Dual Blades perfectly matched his personality. Fast attacks, constant movement, aggression, jumping into openings immediately, and continuing to attack until either the monster died or Miguel did.

Great Sword demanded almost the exact opposite mentality.

The first monster approached.

Miguel started charging.

"Okay... okay... wait for it..."

The monster moved away.

Miguel released.

WHOOSH.

Nothing.

Miguel stared silently at the screen.

The chat exploded.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA."

"WELCOME TO GREAT SWORD."

"SHUT UP!"

He tried again.

The monster attacked.

Miguel refused to cancel his charge.

He was sent flying.

"AHHHHHH!"

Again.

Miss.

Again.

Miss.

Again.

He finally landed a strong charge, became overexcited, attempted another attack immediately, and got smashed across the area.

Miguel slammed his hand against the desk.

"HOW DOES ZABORU-SAMA MAKE THIS LOOK SO EASY?!"

Someone in chat answered:

"PATIENCE."

Miguel immediately responded, "I DON'T HAVE THAT!"

That was precisely the problem.

His entire Monster Hunter instinct told him to keep moving and attacking. With Dual Blades, he could enter small openings, deliver several quick attacks, reposition, and return almost immediately.

Great Sword demanded that he stop thinking about how many attacks he could perform and instead focus on whether a single attack was worth performing at all.

It was torture.

Which naturally made the livestream extremely entertaining.

Yet Miguel continued practicing anyway, repeatedly replaying sections from Zaboru's stream and trying to understand why Zaboru positioned himself in specific places before the monster even began attacking.

By the end of the livestream, Miguel was still nowhere near Zaboru's level.

But he had improved.

And more importantly, he had become completely obsessed.

"I understand now," Miguel whispered after finally landing a perfectly predicted charged attack against Rathalos' head well part of it is luck.

The chat waited.

Miguel slowly raised his arms.

"GREAT SWORD IS FUCKING AWESOME!"

Everyone laughed.

While TORO KAMI turned Zaboru's stream into another chaotic personal religious experience, another creator approached the subject completely differently.

ROCKSLEY.

Leeroy Kingsley had already created one of the most discussed ZEPS 4 videos on YouTube with:

"ZEPS 4 Ruined Me"

That video had been calm by comparison, at least by gaming YouTube standards. Leeroy had disappeared for almost three weeks because he had become so absorbed in the ZEPS 4 launch lineup that he struggled to properly organize his review. When he eventually returned, he explained why the console had exceeded even his already enormous expectations.

Now he released another video.

"Only Zaboru Can Make Shit Like This"

The thumbnail simply showed Zaboru holding a Great Sword on one side and Master Chief holding the Magnum on the other.

Leeroy appeared on camera and immediately chuckled.

"Okay. I know that title sounds like I'm talking about some new game."

He shook his head.

"I'm not."

He leaned forward.

"I'm talking about what happened after Zaboru streamed for a few hours."

Leeroy displayed several graphs gathered from public store rankings, online activity, YouTube searches, and retailer information.

"Monster Hunter and Halo were obviously already selling well. They're ZEPS 4 launch games. Nobody is pretending Zaboru suddenly saved two failing products."

He pointed toward the data.

"But look at this."

Interest in both games had noticeably increased over only two days. Retailers were reporting another bump in purchases, Steam and Z-Store interest had risen, YouTube searches for both titles increased sharply, and Monster Hunter's Great Sword guides had multiplied almost overnight.

Leeroy laughed.

"This dude played games on camera."

He pointed again.

"And sales moved."

He leaned backward.

"Only Zaboru can do shit like this."

Leeroy was quick to clarify that celebrity influence itself wasn't unusual. Famous athletes could sell shoes. Musicians could make instruments popular. Actors could push fashion.

But Zaboru's situation was different.

"This isn't just some celebrity being paid to hold the product and say, 'Hey guys, this game is awesome.'"

Leeroy shook his head.

"Zaboru made the damn thing."

He paused.

"Then he gets online and is better at playing it than almost everybody watching."

Leeroy laughed.

"That's ridiculous."

He then brought up ZAGE's old tournament history.

"And this isn't new, by the way. Anyone who's followed ZAGE for a long time already knows this."

Old photographs and footage appeared.

"ZAGE has been running official tournaments since what... 1992? 1993? Somewhere around there."

Leeroy shrugged.

"The tradition was always hilarious. Tournament champion wins, everybody cheers, then eventually Zaboru shows up and somebody asks the obvious question."

A clip title appeared:

CHAMPION VS ZABORU RENKONAN

Leeroy spread his hands.

"And how many champions actually beat him?"

He paused.

"None."

Leeroy looked directly at the camera.

"Zero."

He laughed.

"Years of fighting-game champions. Street Fighter. Tekken. Marvel vs. ZAGE. Soul Calibur, Guilty Gear. Whatever tournament they throw at him, eventually Zaboru sits down and reminds the champion that apparently being CEO of half the entertainment industry still leaves him enough time to practice combos."

That wasn't entirely exaggeration either.

Zaboru had built a reputation across ZAGE's tournament history for fighting champions after events and somehow consistently defeating them.

There was one particularly famous exception.

"Last year, though..."

Leeroy smiled.

"Endo."

A photograph of Endo appeared with his esports nickname underneath.

HAYABUSA.

"Anyone who follows competitive ZAGE games knows this lunatic."

Leeroy chuckled.

"Endo is probably the closest thing we currently have to someone whose personal life goal is apparently defeating Zaboru in a fighting game."

During Marvel vs. ZAGE, Endo had finally achieved something competitors had been chasing for years.

He took a round from Zaboru.

Not an entire match.

But a round.

And more importantly, he had genuinely forced Zaboru to fight seriously.

Leeroy nodded.

"That matters because Endo is insanely good. Like, legitimately one of the best competitive players alive right now. And even he celebrates taking a round off Zaboru like he defeated the final boss."

Leeroy leaned toward the camera.

"So when people call Zaboru the 'God of Video Games,' that's where the title comes from."

He raised one finger.

"It's not just that he makes successful games."

Another.

"It's not just that he built ZAGE."

Another.

"It's not just ZEPS, Unreal Engine, Steam, whatever insane thing that company does next."

Leeroy pointed toward footage from the Monster Hunter stream.

"The bastard actually understands the games at player level too."

Footage showed Zaboru positioning ahead of Black Diablos before landing another full charge.

"He understands mechanics enough to design this."

Then Halo.

"He understands controls enough to build this."

Zaboru landed another Magnum headshot.

"And then apparently he can also execute everything himself."

Leeroy sighed.

"It's annoying."

He smiled.

"But also fascinating."

Leeroy then paused before adding, "And before Zaboru somehow finds this video: yes, I know he hates the 'God of Video Games' title."

He laughed.

"That's probably another reason people keep calling him that."

That was true.

Zaboru had never particularly liked the title.

People had used it for years, especially after ZAGE revived the struggling video-game industry and continuously introduced major new games and technologies. But Zaboru himself always felt uncomfortable with it.

He knew exactly how much of his knowledge came from his previous life.

In his own mind, he wasn't some divine gaming genius.

He was simply someone who loved video games more than almost anything, happened to remember an impossible amount of gaming history, and had enough obsession to keep improving whatever he touched.

The public didn't know that.

They only saw the results.

And the livestream had reinforced the legend.

For the next two days, discussion surrounding Zaboru became almost unavoidable across gaming communities. Some players joked that ZAGE employees must fear playing multiplayer against their own CEO. Others started demanding that Zaboru stream more often. Great Sword players suddenly acted as if they had been believers from the beginning, while old forum posts insulting the weapon were being dug up and reposted simply to embarrass their authors.

Halo players experienced something similar.

Magnum usage increased.

Players became more aware of weapon spawns.

"ZABORU Like" Players start to appear like plague

More people started discussing shield management and objective play after clips of Zaboru criticizing kill/death-obsessed players spread online.

And naturally, all of that attention flowed back toward ZEPS 4 itself.

But not everyone found that funny.

Across the Pacific, inside Microsoft, one man had been following the situation with significantly less amusement.

Seamus Blackley sat inside a meeting room with several documents in front of him, one hand pressed against his forehead.

ZEPS 4 was already causing enough problems.

Seamus exhaled slowly.

"This fucking guy..."

The meeting-room door opened.

Seamus immediately straightened slightly.

Bill Gates entered.

And Seamus already knew exactly what they were about to discuss.

To be continued.