King of Games C5 Sponsoring a YouTuber

It has been three days since Shinro submitted his "Super Mario Bros" game to Steam, and he's been waiting patiently for the review process to be completed with a successful outcome.

In the meantime, he's already spent about 30% of his initial budget of 200,000 yen, leaving him with just 145,000 yen. With such limited funds remaining, Shinro desperately hopes that his first game developed in this life will be accepted by Steam, as he can't afford to wait much longer.

Shinro was browsing on his computer when he noticed an email sent on his Gmail opened in another tab from Steam in his inbox. His heart raced as he quickly opened it. To his relief and joy, the email congratulated him on successfully passing the review process and informed him that his game would soon be available on their platform.

Shinro smiled, relieved and elated. He tried searching for "Super Mario Bros" on Steam right away, but it didn't show up yet. He knew it might take some time to appear, so he decided to wait. A few hours later, another email from Steam landed in his inbox, informing him that his game was now live on the platform.

Eagerly, he searched for his game again using the search bar, and this time, it appeared! While there were no downloads yet, Shinro couldn't help but feel thrilled to see his creation on the Steam platform.

"I need to find a way to get this game some attention," Shinro muttered to himself as he browsed the internet for a screen recording software.

He downloaded one, and then proceeded to buy his own game on Steam, both to support himself and to play it through the platform. Once the software was ready, he opened "Super Mario Bros" and positioned his low-quality webcam to record his gameplay.

"Hello, fellow gamers! Welcome to my channel!" Shinro said, still getting used to talking to himself in his room. But he pushed through, reminding himself of the potential popularity of YouTubers in the future.

Shinro continued to narrate and play the game, addressing the webcam as if he were speaking to a live audience. He wore a mask to hide his identity, both to reduce his own embarrassment and to create an air of mystery around his channel.

"Today, we're playing a brand new game that I've been working on for quite some time now. It's called 'Super Mario Bros.'"

Shinro pressed the start button and the Mario theme song began to play. "So, in this game, you control a plumber named Mario, who's on a mission to save the kidnapped Princess from the evil Bowser." As he spoke, he maneuvered Mario with the keyboard, introducing the controls and basic mechanics to his future audience.

"You move Mario with the arrow keys, and you can jump by pressing spacebar. The goal is to reach the end of each level while avoiding or stomping on Goombas, these mushroom-like enemies."

As he progressed through the first level, Shinro narrated his actions and provided tips for new players. "You'll come across question blocks containing power-ups like mushrooms that make you bigger, which allows you to stomp on more enemies, and stars that grant temporary invincibility."

He continued to play through the first few levels, showcasing the game's side-scrolling platforming gameplay and introducing the various power-ups and enemies. "This game may look simple, but trust me, it gets challenging as you progress. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did making it!"

Shinro played the game for half an hour, then set to work editing the footage. Having some experience with video editing in his previous life, he was confident in his ability to create a decent video even with the limited tools available in this time. Despite the video editor's lack of future features, Shinro managed to piece together a coherent and engaging Let's Play video in just two and a half hours.

Reviewing the final product, he couldn't help but notice the poor quality of the webcam footage. "The webcam quality is bad, but it'll have to do for now," he sighed, stroking his chin.

After exporting the video, Shinro uploaded it to his newly created YouTube channel called "Yu-Gi-Oh." He chose this name because the anime series of the same name didn't exist in this world yet, and as a fan, he thought it would be fitting. The channel banner featured both "Yu-Gi-Oh" and "遊☆戯☆王" written in stylized text, while his profile picture showed him wearing the same mask he had worn during the recording.

After a half an hour, the video finally finished uploading.

[Two hours later]

Shinro was disappointed to see it only had 0 views.

Shinro felt discouraged, but he reminded himself that it would take time to gain an audience. He decided to watch some videos from PewDiePie, who, unsurprisingly, had more subscribers in this world's 2010 than in his previous life's timeline 2010. It made sense, considering the slightly larger and more developed YouTube community in this reality.

Shinro laughed as he watched PewDiePie play Amnesia. After the video, he returned to his own channel and sighed at the still-stagnant 0 view count. He knew he had to do something to promote his game and channel, so he decided to reach out to smaller YouTubers for a collaboration. PewDiePie, with his thousands of subscribers, was out of his budget, so he started searching for smaller channels instead.

While browsing, Shinro stumbled upon a channel with around 2,000 subscribers. To his surprise, it belonged to Markiplier! After watching one of his full videos, Shinro decided to reach out. He sent Markiplier an email:

"Hi, Markiplier! I'm from Japan, and I can see that you love playing video games! I noticed you have a great audience and a lot of subscribers, which is why I'm curious if you'd be interested in promoting my game on your channel? I'm willing to pay you 10,000 yen if you could feature and play my game in one of your videos. I apologize for the low offer, but I've spent all my funds developing the game."

Shinro hit send, his heart pounding with anticipation. "Please respond soon, Markiplier…"

---

Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mark was sipping a Monster energy drink after a long day at work. He was browsing the internet for new scary horror games to play on his YouTube channel. Recording himself playing these games had become both a hobby and a coping mechanism, as he found them less scary when being recorded. To his surprise, his channel had been growing steadily over the months, and he now had 2,376 subscribers.

After a while, Mark opened his Gmail to check for new messages. Among the usual notifications, he spotted an unread email. Intrigued, he opened it and read the contents.

"I can't believe it," he muttered, "a potential sponsor!" He quickly search on Google and converted 10,000 yen to USD and found out it was around $121. While it wasn't much, it was still more than the nothing he was currently earning from YouTube. This could be his first-ever YouTube income!

Excitedly, Mark replied to Shinro's email.

---

In his apartment, Shinro was refreshing the Gmail.com page every few minutes, hoping for a response from Markiplier. After half an hour of anticipation, he finally saw a new email from him.

"Greetings from the USA, Shinro! This is Mark. I'm intrigued by your offer and would love to collaborate. I'd be happy to check out your game and give it a try on my channel. Please send me more details about the game and how we can proceed with this collaboration."

Shinro's face lit up with joy. "Yes, this is it!"

Shinro quickly responded, "Hello Mark! Thank you so much for considering my offer! 'Super Mario Bros.' is a side-scrolling platformer game I developed myself. You play as a plumber named Mario, who must save the kidnapped Princess from the evil Bowser. Here's the Steam link: [https://steamcommunity.com/app/XXX/Super_Mario_Bros]. I'd be honored if you could give it a try on your channel. As for the payment, I can send you the money via PayPal or any other method you prefer. Please provide your details, and I'll gladly transfer the funds."

Shinro trusted Markiplier, having watched his videos in his previous life, so he didn't mind sending the money upfront.

---

In USA, Cincinnati, Ohio, Mark read Shinro's response and smiled.

"Hey Shinro, thanks for the info! I'll definitely check out your game and see if it's a good fit for my channel. If I like it, we can discuss the collaboration further. Please don't send the money just yet, I want to make sure it's something I'd feel comfortable promoting. Here's my PayPal [ma***], just in case."

Markiplier was excited about his first potential sponsorship, but he also wanted to ensure the game was good and appropriate for his audience.