The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 255: Abandon the dark and turn to the light, "Sea of ​​Thieves"!
Edmonton, General Manager's Office, Raw Entertainment.

Gary ended his communication with Zhumeng and nodded with satisfaction.

DreamCraft agreed to release "Dread Wolf" on the DreamCraft game platform.

This result did not surprise him.

Shengcai Entertainment is an established game production company with a glorious history and has produced many classic games.

Although it has indeed gone downhill in recent years, it was forced to reluctantly close the DEI department a while ago.

But the foundation is still there, and it still has considerable appeal among players.

"Dread Wolf" is an extremely safe sequel, and Sony Games has also invested a lot of money in production and promotion, so the possibility of failure is extremely low.

In addition, the Dream Building Game Platform was established not long ago, and it is in urgent need of good works to be included.

"The Wolf of Fear" is willing to log in to give face to Dream Building.

"Fortunately, Dream Building still has some self-awareness."

Gary felt much better as he thought about this, and called the headquarters back to report.

At Sony Game Station headquarters, Hermann, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, quickly received the news.

——This was an action arranged by him to test Dream Building’s attitude.

When the Dream Building Game Platform first appeared, they didn’t take it seriously.

Sony Game Station is already a giant in the industry. We have seen too many platforms that are called "platforms" but are actually just all-in-one launchers for publishing their own games.

There is zero threat to real giants.

But two things changed Herman's view:

Lingzhou Studio's "Evil Ghost!" was launched on the Dream Game Platform, and sales easily exceeded one million.

And what Xu Meng demonstrated during the live broadcast – the incredible holographic display device.

It is also claimed that the device will soon go into mass production.

The former made him realize:

Xiaguo not only has a huge player market, but also many game developers.

If Dream Building can become a bridge connecting the two, the potential of this platform will be amazing!

The latter, with its absolute technical advantage, proved to everyone:

Zhumeng has a stronger technical moat in hardware than the old giants!

If Herman doesn't take these two things seriously, he would be remiss in his duty.

There are only three ways to deal with it: [hostility], [competition] and [cooperation].

Before making an important decision, you must first test your attitude towards dream building.

And this time, he got a positive signal.

This is definitely a good start.

Then, it is up to Sony Games to step forward and send a positive signal for Dream Building.

"Contact DreamCraft and ask them if they are interested in allowing Sprawling City to be listed on Sony Game Station."

Hermann gave the instructions.

Half an hour later, the assistant reported to him:

"We contacted the publicity and promotion department of DreamCraft, but they said that Mansheng City is too large and uses a lot of new technologies. It is extremely difficult to run it smoothly on Sony's game station. DreamCraft is currently short of staff and has no plans in this regard for the time being."

Hermann frowned.

But when you think about that amazing virtual city, it seems there’s nothing wrong with it.

“Ask Monster Hunter.”

After a while, the assistant came back and said, "Monster Hunter has signed an exclusive agreement with Softo Game Box and cannot be launched on our platform."

Strictly speaking, the Mirage Game Suite can also be considered a console platform.

Dream Building will never miss the PC platform.

So the so-called "exclusive" actually means "Sony does not have it exclusively".

Herman felt something was wrong.

But Dream Building's games, from "Frost Project" to "Lord of War", have always been available on the Softo Game Box. Now that "Monster Hunter" has been confirmed in advance, it is also unreasonable.

But in this way, their good intentions cannot be conveyed.

The interaction between the two sides had to be interrupted.

This made him feel a little uncomfortable.

……

……

In the general manager's office of Zhumeng, Xu Meng happily answered the next call.

This time it was finally Lu Ming's turn.

"Hello, Director Lu, what can I do for you?" Xu Meng greeted Lu Ming in a relaxed tone.

Lu Ming was silent for a few seconds.

After thinking about Xu Meng's character, he simply got straight to the point: "Boss Xu, does what you said before still count?"

Xu Meng blinked, "Which words are you referring to?"

Xu Meng always fulfills what he says to his people.

But what they said to their competitors, such as Sony Games and Shengcai Entertainment, they had no intention of fulfilling from the beginning.

"You said before that you welcome me to join Dream Building and that you can form a project team for me. You will also respect my opinions during the development and operation process. Are these words still valid?"

"Of course." Xu Meng affirmed without hesitation.

"Why, are you unhappy staying in Konjac?"

"Alas." Lu Ming sighed deeply, "The boss only cares about business and doesn't care about the game and the players."

"I feel that the ideological conflict with him is getting more and more serious."

"When he invited me to join four years ago, it wasn't like this..."

Lu Ming still remembers that when Fei Zhiyuan invited him to join Konjac Games, he was also full of enthusiasm and said that he wanted to bring a new style to the domestic game industry.

He also made a big gamble, even selling his house to take on debt and betting on his future.

This is how "The Divine Bird" became so glorious.

But after the success of "The Divine Bird", Fei Zhiyuan became obsessed with enjoying life, financial investment and company management.

He was completely out of the front line of game development. So much so that now, four years later, Lu Ming could no longer feel the same enthusiasm for games from him.

All that remains is the stench of businessmen and capitalists.

"Think positively." Xu Meng has always been lenient to his own people. "It is as difficult to endure success as it is to endure failure."

Lu Ming shook his head, shaking off the sudden sadness that surged up in his mind.

"After accompanying 'Divine Bird' to complete its last New Year's Eve event, I plan to resign."

"Have a good New Year and join Dream Building after the New Year, okay?"

"Oh yeah, can I bring a few capable men with me?"

Xu Meng agreed on the spot: "Of course, you can bring the entire project team with you."

But he still added: "Oh yeah, boxing is not allowed."

"I understand. If there really was such a person, I would have fired him a long time ago." Lu Ming assured Xu Meng, "Then wait until I leave, and then we can talk again?"

"Wait a moment!"

To everything Lu Ming said before, Xu Meng just said "OK", "Okay", "No problem".

The only thing that interrupted him was the time.

"Have you ever been to the Sprawling City?"

"Of course." Lu Ming admitted.

As a game producer, how could he ignore this thing that will have a profound impact on the future development of games?

In fact, this city was also an important reason for his final decision.

"So, have you been to see the harbor at Sprawling City?"

"Port?" Lu Ming was stunned. "The one on the east side of the city?"

"Yes."

"I went to see it, but it seems like there's nothing there. The boats are all parked at the dock."

To the left of the sprawling city are towering cliffs and endless wasteland, while to the right is an endless blue sea.

The scenery is unique.

However, players did not find much content to experience.

Not at all.

——There is a way to rent a cruise ship.

But the rental price of a 15-meter-long cruise ship is 8000 credit points per day.

Players now generally only get 3000 or even 2000 credit points per month. How can they afford this?

Even if I was lucky enough to get 8000 points, I wouldn't want to squander it like this...

"Yes, there is less content now." Xu Meng did not shy away from saying, "This is because we haven't started working on the content about the ocean yet."

"What do you mean?" Lu Ming already realized what Xu Meng wanted to say.

"If you don't have a very strong game that you want to make, this is what I want you to do with your team."

Although Lu Ming had not yet joined the company, Xu Meng had already planned to order him around without any hesitation.

Of course, he also didn't like to force others, so he added: "Of course, if you have clear content that you want to do, you can do it first, and it's the same if I arrange someone else to do it."

"Well, I do have some ideas." Lu Ming said with a little hesitation.

"When I was in charge of developing "Bird of Prey", I always wanted to get rid of the restrictions of the second game and design the Sky Island Maze from the perspective of gameplay."

“But ‘Bird of God’ needs to sell characters, take care of mobile users, take care of players with low gaming skills, and consider the production cycle…”

“There are just too many restrictions.”

"Being bound by so many shackles has caused great frustration for the ambitious and creative people in the development team."

“I am one of these people.”

“So for the new project, I wanted to challenge myself to design a game that can accommodate multiple relatively independent terrains and mazes.”

These things had obviously been brewing in Lu Ming's mind for a long time.

——If not, I wouldn’t be able to talk about what kind of game I want to make so eloquently without thinking.

Xu Meng listened quietly and concluded: "Isn't this a coincidence?!"

"Ah?" Lu Ming asked in confusion.

“The maritime content I hope to provide players is to set sail and travel the sea! Explore islands and search for lost treasures!”

“Add some leisure and combat content to enrich players’ gaming experience.”

“Like fishing and cooking.”

"For example, robbing pirates, fighting against the navy, encountering sea monsters..."

"From a poor man with nothing to the king of pirates who roam the world!"

……

Following Xu Meng's description, Lu Ming quickly sketched out the framework and details of the game in his mind.

From the old sailing ship to the wooden rudder on the deck and the dark metal ram on the bow...

From sailors scrubbing the decks, to mysterious treasure maps, unknown mazes, and cursed treasures...

There are also cannons roaring in the rainstorm, boarding battles with torches in the dark, sirens singing in the water, and silent ghost ships...

……

Xu Meng's highly concise description quickly enriched this non-existent game in Lu Ming's mind!
When Xu Meng stopped, Lu Ming couldn't help but ask him:

Did you get the trailer all done?

This description is so vivid!
But he kept this question to himself because he had something more to ask -

"Boss Xu, what are you going to call this game?"

Xu Meng described it in such detail, it must be more than just an idea!
He was looking forward to it.

The next second, Xu Meng's voice came from the phone:

“Sea of ​​Thieves x Pirates of the Caribbean: Power Up Edition!!”

"..."

Lu Ming was silenced by this answer.

After being stunned for several seconds, he finally found his vocal cords and uttered a voice:
"what?"

(End of this chapter)