Video games win again
The “Dragon Quest day” legend lives on forever. I remember hearing about it as a kid, and you probably have heard about it at times. The phenomenon whereDragon Questrelease days are either legislated by the Japanese government or are allotted “holidays” for people to take off during a release.
It’s notexactlytrue, butDragon Questreleases have had interesting impacts on the cultural fabric of Japan. It was confirmed, years later,that Enix deliberately moved releases to Saturdays under public pressurebecause kids were skipping school for it.
But all around the world, folks alsotake time off from workfor games. Releases likeDestinyand other major shooters are rife with the practice. AndMonster Hunter Rise(which is out this Friday) is no exception; which is why a Japanese company is doing something about it.
Shared on Twitter, the company Mark-on is taking things up a notch; theRiserelease is now considered a holiday. The idea came about because so many employees were taking the day off, that the boss (CEO Masaki Hiyama) just decided to say “screw it,” and call it a wash.
Given how successfulMonster Hunter Worldwas, how good the reviews are, and how many Switch consoles there are out there in the world (roughly 80 million), there’s going to be alotof people playing this day one. I suspect this company isn’t alone in terms of responding to sick leave!
