Starting as a Manga Editor-Chapter 96: All in the Bag

Shocked!
Su Deqiang was genuinely shocked!
No way.
Aren’t these the kids from Fate/Zero? Just—grown up now! Wait… the game actually continues their story?
Then what was that main visual image just now supposed to mean?
As soon as the thought hit him, Su Deqiang quickly tapped the main visual. The website jumped to a secondary page.
[Ten years ago, in a catastrophic disaster that nearly destroyed the world, Shirou Emiya was saved by the mage Kiritsugu Emiya and became his adopted son.
Ten years later, in order to fulfill his late adoptive father's wish—to become a "champion of justice"—Shirou trains in magecraft day in and day out.
One fateful day, Shirou gets caught up in a battle between mages known as the "Holy Grail War"…]
The page had just loaded.
Su Deqiang stared blankly at the textbook-style introduction… then scrolled down a bit.
Below that was a character lineup.
Shirou Emiya: Orphan adopted ten years ago by the “Mage Killer” Kiritsugu Emiya. One of the participants in the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Rin Tohsaka: Daughter of Tohsaka Tokiomi, heir of a mage clan. Shirou Emiya’s classmate. One of the participants in the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Sakura Matou…
Not only were there descriptions, but also familiar and finely animated character illustrations.
Actually, when the website first launched, these characters already had illustrations—but back then, they were all kids.
Now, they were grown up.
And they weren’t just supporting characters from Fate/Zero anymore. They were now the main leads…
There really was a sequel!
Only this sequel wasn’t a manga… it was a game?
“No way…”
Su Deqiang had already been left wanting more after finishing Fate/Zero, and now that he saw the character list, a look of ecstatic joy spread across his face.
But soon, he felt something was off… A game? Seriously? Is that really okay?
This looked like a direct continuation!
Why not make it a manga!?
With that thought,
he quickly switched back to the homepage and clicked on the first main game visual. The layout was identical.
Only this time, the main introduction was about the game's storyline: in a world without a future, players become Masters, leading characters known as Heroic Spirits into the past, beginning a journey known as Holy Grail Exploration…
As for the characters in this section, Su Deqiang didn’t recognize a single one. Clearly, they were all new additions introduced in the game.
He gave it a quick scan, but soon, his attention was pulled by the “Gameplay Introduction” button below.
Su Deqiang immediately clicked it, and the page jumped again.
Story overview, battle system, Servant upgrades…
Su Deqiang read through it slowly. About half an hour later, he lifted his head with a stunned expression: “This is… a mobile game!? These visuals? This is a mobile game!? No, wait, I think some beta players mentioned this—but it looks this good? And what’s with these card-like things? What kind of gameplay is this? Are those actual illustrations used in-game? Card collecting? Isn’t this supposed to be an online game? Huh!?”
Looking at the one-of-a-kind gameplay presentation,
Su Deqiang was lost. Absolutely lost.
But when he saw the actual in-game art, those gorgeous character illustrations, he had to admit—he was tempted. He wanted to play.
After all, no other anime-style games like this existed in this world yet.
For an old-school otaku like him, this thing was irresistible.
What’s more…
Su Deqiang switched back to the previous page, stared at the direct sequel description for Fate/Zero, and swallowed hard.
How could he not play this!? He’d just finished Fate/Zero and was still craving more! Now the game offered a direct sequel? With such beautiful visuals… and totally different gameplay from the rest of the market?
There’s just no way he could resist!
As he thought that, he immediately clicked into the news section to check when the game would launch. And when he saw it was going into open beta in just three days—available for pre-download now…
He swallowed again.
Then, unable to hold back, he hit the download button.
At the same time.
Anime-related forums, Fate threads… were being completely dominated!
Discussions about the Fate/Zero finale! The impact of the first-ever anime-style mobile game! And the hype of a direct Fate/Zero sequel!
…The combination of all three completely detonated the influence that had built up during Fate/Zero’s serialization.
“Whoa… I knew there was something off about that Fate/Zero ending! There’s actually a sequel!? But why make it into a game!!”
“Exactly! Why not just keep going with the manga!?”
“A sequel… in a game!? That’s actually a thing!?”
“Did you guys see the gameplay intro? Mobile game!? And what’s with the mechanics? Card collecting? Turn-based? I even saw scenes with Noble Phantasms! You can really fit that on a phone? Can phones even run that?”
“Weren’t they saying it’s an online game? Then why is the gameplay so different from other MMOs? But hey, gotta admit—the visuals are fire!”
“Mobile game!? This better not be bait-and-switch!”
“What the heck is this game? Why is it like this?”
“The Fate/Zero ending was so tragic… good thing there’s a sequel—but it’s a game…”
“I don’t like games! I want to read more manga!”
“……”
Whether it was praise or criticism,
basically half the anime community was talking about this.
At the very least, Fate/Grand Order… had made a name for itself among anime fans!
That alone already counted as more than half a victory. As the first-ever anime-style mobile game, as long as it could draw in enough players, there’d be no need to worry about making money.
And at that point, the hype was still far from peaking—it was still the middle of the night, after all.
The next day,
Avalon Studio dropped two game PVs on the official website… and then the real explosion began!
Two PVs.
The first was a world-setting PV. Nothing fancy—just showed Fuyuki City in flames, and introduced Corrupted Saber, tainted by the Grail.
The second was the Observer Route PV for Fate/Stay Night. Again, nothing crazy—just brief appearances by the characters from Fate/Zero who hadn’t died, a little handoff between old and new Heroic Spirits.
But the fans couldn’t handle it!!!
They had just finished Fate/Zero! This was when the manga’s influence was at its peak. Dropping PVs like this? It was a straight-up emotional sucker punch to every fan’s weak spot.
When they saw Saber, her armor blackened, eyes masked, her expression ice-cold, hands braced on Excalibur, standing in the middle of an inferno…
When they saw that iconic scene in the warehouse, where Shirou meets Saber again…
The manga’s popularity instantly morphed into game hype, and the whole thing exploded.
In no time at all,
every anime-related forum and group chat was flooded with discussions.
The game really gave off a vibe of… scooping up all the anime community’s hype in one go.
The whole industry took notice.
Even some game studios that had nothing to do with anime were paying attention… and were shocked.
Because it was insane—no major advertising campaign, no massive promotional push—just one great manga, and it managed to mobilize that big a crowd? To this extent?
And this crowd… actually seemed super into the game?
A mobile game?
In an instant, a lot of producers at major studios started getting ideas.
But since the game hadn’t officially launched yet, no one could say for sure whether it’d really succeed or make money. So for now, it was just a few producers quietly eyeing the situation.
Most game company folks just chuckled,
treated it like entertainment, and moved on with a “well, it’s a clever idea.”
Of course, none of that had anything to do with Avalon Studio for the moment.
Most of the staff at Avalon weren’t paying attention to what their “veteran peers” were thinking either…
Ever since the website revamp and the open beta prep began, everyone in the studio had been focused on one thing: the Fate/Grand Order pre-download numbers.
And the results… were extremely encouraging!
Especially after those two PVs dropped, the mobile game’s pre-download count… skyrocketed.