America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

The air at YueDong Company seemed frozen solid, and every employee was enveloped in a tense atmosphere.

The employees, though outwardly typing on keyboards and flipping through documents, all knew that their boss was about to give up and was planning to sell the game company, making it impossible for them to concentrate on their work.

Some people were whispering in a corner, "I wonder what kind of person this playboy is, and whether he'll be easy to get along with."

From the moment Ernst walked in, most of the employees recognized the rising Hollywood mogul and brilliant writer.

Recent media reports frequently cover the scandals of this young upstart and his atrocities against Hollywood actresses, making it hard not to perceive him as a tyrant.

"I actually think it's pretty good. At least it's not like the time with Belston, when the whole company couldn't see any prospects or hope."

One employee complained, "He's just an old fogey who can't keep up with the times. He's not that old, but his mind is full of the ideas of the previous generation."

"What era are we living in? Do you still think that simple arcade-style games can conquer the market?"

"No, even in the arcade era, these games would never have become a hit. That's an outdated idea."

The programmers remained relatively calm, since they didn't have to worry about finding jobs at all.

But the employees in finance, marketing, and administration departments are different. At this time, they are filled with anxiety and fear, afraid that the new boss will immediately wield the axe of layoffs and cut them down.

"Why think so much? Who knows if this playboy will actually buy it?"

Some people who were just coasting along still harbored a sliver of wishful thinking, but reality quickly gave them a resounding slap in the face.

Former owner Bear Stearns, all smiles, walked out of the office with Ernst. After announcing the change of ownership, he left without looking back, carrying a $170 million check negotiated with Ernst, leaving a group of employees dumbfounded.

After watching Bear Stearns leave, Ernst glanced at the complex expressions on everyone's faces and then clapped his hands.

"Everyone, gather on the first floor in five minutes."

Back in Bear Stearns' office, he picked up the Leap Motion Company's employee directory and tossed it to Craig.

Three things.

"The first step is to assess all employees, and those who do not meet the requirements will be dismissed directly."

"The second thing is the office space. This house is too small. I need a larger office space, at least three times the size of the current one."

"If there isn't a suitable place in the Bay Area, then look in Silicon Valley. I don't want my employees to have such a stifling working environment."

The current office space is far from sufficient.

"The third thing..."

"Wait," Craig interrupted him, sitting up from the sofa.

"You mean I'm here to do these things? To stay here, to stay in San Francisco?"

Ernst nodded, and Craig immediately stood up. "Hey, man, you can't do this."

"Feflova will run away with someone, and I can't leave Los Angeles for long."

"I didn't say you'd be in a long time... Wait, who's Feflova?" How come there's another woman I don't recognize?

"She came from Russia and it's not easy for her to be in America with a child. She needs me, really."

It really is you, Cao, the married woman.

"So you need to get the third thing done as soon as possible: contact headhunting firms to find suitable candidates for the general manager, finance director, and HR director."

Needless to say, the general manager position is the top priority; Ernst can't possibly tie himself to this position for the sake of a game company.

Craig? Forget about it.

Even if the other party wanted to stay here, Ernst was afraid that a group of male employees and their families would come to block the door every day.

As for human resources and finance, Bear Stearns used to handle both at the same time, but now it must be standardized.

"Once the HR director is in place, let him continue recruiting engineers; the number of engineers needed should be at least over one hundred."

Ernst's acquisition of the game company was no small matter; he never thought he could have too many engineers.

Craig was speechless. He felt like he was becoming Ernst's site foreman, always filling in wherever needed.

But he dared not complain. When he thought of the millions of dollars in royalties from the novel, he could only swallow his grievances silently.

That's an annual income of over a million dollars! In North America, that's the annual income of a senior executive at a large company.

After giving instructions to Craig, Ernst arrived on the first floor to find all the employees already in place.

"I've looked into the game you're developing now, and I have to say, it's a piece of crap," Ernst said, launching into a scathing critique of the entire company.

No one objected; in fact, he saw some people smirking, as if they knew the quality of their game.

"Now listen to me," someone said, bringing over the company's largest whiteboard and drawing a simple map on it.

As the map was completed, someone whispered, "Why does this look so similar to the game map we're designing now?"

It's not similar; this is just a simplified version of their game map.

"See? We don't need those stupid robots. Instead, we're divided into red and blue teams, and we're using a real-time combat system."

"Everyone has an initial amount of money. Killing someone can earn you a lot of money, while dying will only earn you a small amount. Money can be used to buy various firearms, grenades, etc."

That's right, it's the game that later became a global phenomenon, CS.

Counter-Strike was accidentally developed based on a Half-Life game mod and quickly became popular worldwide.

When Ernst was reviewing information about YueDong Company, he discovered that their maps could be used as CS maps with only slight modifications.

Based on the principle of making use of waste, the idea of ​​CS came about.

Moreover, CS is just the foundation; it can be upgraded to CSGO later.

"This is just an improved version of the game; the game we really need to develop is the second one."

Ernst wrote the words "Call of Duty" in large letters on the signboard.

This was a project that Ernst thought about for a long time before finally deciding to develop.

Originally, this was a series of first-person shooter (FPS) games developed by Activision AG in the United States, starting with Call of Duty 1 in 2003, with one game released almost every year.

With 23 Call of Duty-related games, the franchise has raked in over $300 billion worldwide, making it one of the most successful game series in history.

With current computer animation technology, other types of large-scale games cannot be produced in a very sophisticated way. However, FPS games are different. They do not have cool skills, so you only need to put some effort into the characters and scenery.

Another factor is the audience for FPS games. Regardless of the era, there is always at least one FPS game that becomes a global phenomenon.

Many people say that other game genres may be eliminated by the times, but FPS shooting games will never go out of style.

"Imagine a player becoming a soldier in World War II, experiencing this grand war firsthand from a god-like perspective. No gamer can resist the allure of such immersion."

After Ernst finished explaining the gameplay, the room fell silent, followed by thunderous applause.

Many employees cheered, thinking the game was incredibly cool.

What kind of trash games were you making before? We want action-packed games, games that will shock the world.

The employees who were previously anxious about the change of ownership of the company can now rest assured, at least they don't have to worry about losing their jobs.

Because, as things stand now, YueDong Company's future looks bright.

The employee who had previously complained that Belston was out of touch with the times nudged his colleague with his elbow.

"I swear, selling Leap to Mr. Garfield was absolutely the wisest thing Belston ever did in his life; he built a great game company."

He wasn't the only one with this idea; many others shared it.

Just as everyone was immersed in their wonderful fantasies, the finance assistant said weakly, "But boss, the company doesn't have much money left in its accounts. It's questionable whether we can even complete the CS project you mentioned."

Because Belston held absolute power, YueDong did not have a CFO. Apart from a financial assistant who liaised with Belston, the company only had two accountants.

"You don't need to worry about the money. I will invest five million US dollars in the company. If that's not enough, I will increase the investment later."