Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 286: Here Already, It’s Not Easy, Especially During

“Rolling out, the interview went really well. So young and already featured in the daily paper. So of my old friends have been talking about you lately...”

“Jumping horse, just don’t say anything stupid. I’m still worried there might be sothing inappropriate...”

“If you said sothing stupid, it wouldn’t have made the paper...”

“Just edit the draft, and besides, you’re still here...”

“Hahaha, you’re craftier than a kid, very crafty...”

“By the way, speaking of making the paper, I ca by today because I have sothing to ask you...”

“...”

It was the weekend again!

As usual, Gu Sheng ca to have a al with Comrade Lao Shen together with Shen Miaomiao.

With the first round of Peak Eight Events in Peak Kingdom entering the regular map pool, Steel Chain Fingers also began planning new challenge locations for the next round of Peak Eight Events.

As for Golden Experience, after Gu Sheng submitted the design plan for Overwatch, they imdiately started the ga’s production in full swing.

Actually, for Jiang Yun’s team, making this ga was not a big deal.

After all, they were an experienced shooter ga developnt team. Although this ti they dropped their usual second-generation FPS design and switched to an old-school virtual crosshair,

they had a solid foundation for shooter gas. Having worked on titles like Left 4 Dead, PUBG, and Titanfall, the Golden Experience team was so experienced they could practically make a shooter ga blindfolded.

In terms of ga style, they had experience not only with skill-plus-shooter gas like APEX but also ga modes like Garden Warfare.

With all these accumulations, plus Gu Sheng’s ticulous design plan, recreating the sumr glory of 2016 from his past life should be no problem.

Once everything was arranged,

Gu Sheng finally had so free ti to co over and have tea, eat, and play chess with Lao Shen.

In fact, with Steel Chain Fingers starting up, Gu Sheng ca to play chess with Lao Shen less frequently than before.

Before Golden Wind had fully stepped onto the international stage and only had one studio, he had more ti and ca almost every week.

Now, he ca about once every two weeks.

However, for so reason—maybe distance really does make the heart grow fonder—

the fewer tis he ca, the stronger the bond between him and Lao Shen beca.

From initial awkwardness to eventual relaxation, now Gu Sheng sat cross-legged playing chess with Lao Shen.

A feeling of unprecedented comfort and warmth gradually took root in Gu Sheng’s heart.

And Shen Wanlin in Gu Sheng’s mind, who was once the lofty chairman of Shen Capital controlling a vast financial empire, had gradually beco Comrade Lao Shen.

“General!”

Smack.

Gu Sheng’s red rook charged straight through Shen Wanlin’s defense line.

Shen Wanlin was stunned, seemingly unaware of Gu Sheng’s rook sneaking through the back door.

“...Hey, you’re craftier than...”

Shen Wanlin opened his mouth, his hand putting down the teacup trembling with the urge to move a piece.

“Hey! Uncle? Just say it, no need to move pieces...”

Gu Sheng cautiously held back his rook. Lao Shen had taken back moves more than once.

At first, he maintained a dignified air, showing the deanor of a general who makes no regrets after placing a piece.

But as their relationship deepened, Lao Shen stopped pretending.

Not only did he take back moves, sotis he would sneakily take Gu Sheng’s rook, knight, or cannon when Gu Sheng was away refilling tea or getting water.

Highlighting his ‘notorious mischief’!

Because of this, Gu Sheng had no choice but to be on guard!

At this mont, Shen Miaomiao, sitting nearby, was even more vigilant. She jumped down from the sofa armrest next to Gu Sheng, hugging the chessboard and protecting the pieces in her arms:

“That’s right, old man, if you have sothing to say, just say it. What’s with reaching out your hand like that?”

For a mont,

seeing the two younger ones united against him, Lao Shen was speechless, awkwardly stuck in place.

Both sides ‘standoff’.

After a brief deadlock, Shen Wanlin glanced at Gu Sheng, then at his precious daughter who had her elbow resting as if reaching the South Pacific, then back at Gu Sheng.

After a mont of contemplation,

he cleared his throat lightly and slowly said:

“Hiss—right, A-Sheng, you said you had sothing to ask just now?”

“Eh—???”

Upon hearing this, Shen Miaomiao’s eyes widened:

“Dad! You’re being a bit unfair here!”

That old man was actually trying to use the question Old Gu wanted to ask as a bargaining chip for another take-back move!

Even though he was her biological father, Shen Miaomiao couldn’t help but curse his dirty trick in her heart!

What made it worse was when she looked at Gu Sheng, she saw Old Gu frowning in thought, clearly considering the value of that bargaining chip!

“Hey...”

Shen Miaomiao was speechless:

“Can you two respect the ga a little? Respect this gentleman’s sport?”

“Hiss—”

Upon hearing this, Gu Sheng felt enlightened and nodded repeatedly at Shen Miaomiao:

“Right, the so-called gentleman is open and broad-minded; the petty person is always worried!”

“Yeah, that’s right...”

Hearing Gu Sheng’s words, Shen Miaomiao was satisfied, loosened her grip, stood up, and patted Gu Sheng’s shoulder.

Just about to praise him,

Gu Sheng continued: “Playing chess is a noble art among the gentlemanly six arts. One must face it with an open and generous heart, never nitpicking!”

Having said that,

Gu Sheng leaned forward, took back the red rook, and pushed a pawn:

“Pawn advance! Uncle, please!”

Shen Miaomiao: ...

Huh?

Was that what I ant?!

After hesitating between wanting to say sothing and holding back, Shen Miaomiao stomped her foot in frustration and sighed loudly:

“Shaless! Shaless! I’m not even going to use the little flying elephant trick anymore! You guys... tsk... ah...!!!”

With a long sigh,

Shen Miaomiao stomped her foot and went to wash fruit, leaving the two n laughing heartily on opposite sides of the chessboard.

After laughing, Shen Wanlin waved his hand, and the two composed themselves.

Yes, it was just a ga of chess; the two were just using it as an excuse to start a conversation.

As for who won or lost, no one cared—it was not important to them.

Gu Sheng spoke: “Tiansi Bull from Siam ca to talk about cooperation this week...”

...

That was right.

Just this Friday, Matt, chairman of Tiansi Bull Group, and Xu Zhixing, CEO, visited to start the first round of cooperation talks with Golden Wind.

Shen Miaomiao naturally welcod them wholeheartedly.

Originally, she should have lost money on Peak Kingdom, but because of her montary cowardice, she didn’t lose a cent, only got a 1% rebate on the charity amount, just over one hundred thousand dollars.

Now, with Tetsuya Moriya as the middleman, the Tiansi Group ca seeking cooperation.

Shen Miaomiao warmly welcod it.

After all, this was basically sending her a derivative project.

“So what’s the specific cooperation form...?”

Shen Miaomiao was very concerned.

This involved how her rebate would be structured.

“Oh, it’s like this,”

Hearing this, Xu Zhixing spoke:

“Our initial plan is to hold an event jointly funded by both parties, sharing advertising space to boost brand influence and create greater profits.”

“Moreover, after that, we can specially organize competitions and act as the organizer to make profits.”

“Even sponsor athletes or teams in other related sports events under a joint brand.”

“This would achieve greater profits and promotional effects.”

Advertising.

To put it bluntly, the cooperation thod proposed by Bull was purely advertising.

The talk of making profits from organizing competitions or sponsoring sports teams was nonsense.

Those who said that were just drears; investnts far exceeded returns.

But Shen Miaomiao was actually very happy about this!

Great!

This was a pure money-burning advertising project!

Whether or not to advertise didn’t matter; the key was pure spending, pure loss!

Where else could she find such a sucker project?

Without thinking twice, Shen Miaomiao was ready to nod and sign the contract imdiately to start burning money!

But just then!

Ding dong!

A crisp sound suddenly echoed in her mind, interrupting her reckless charge—

“New project form detected—Promotion Project”

“View details?”

Huh?

Shen Miaomiao was stunned.

Until now, her loss rebate system had only two main project forms: Regular Project and Charity Project.

Regular projects were no need to ntion, with a base tenfold multiplier, subdivided into main and derivative sub-projects, and the multiplier could be adjusted by days.

Charity projects were special, independent from regular projects, with rebates being 1% of the donation amount.

But now,

with cooperation talks from Tiansi Bull,

a third project form unexpectedly unlocked: Promotion Project.

“Description: This is an independent promotional project aid mainly at brands, not targeting any specific regular or charity project. It is an investnt project independent of ‘Regular Project’ and ‘Charity Project.’”

“Rebate form: Since the Promotion Project mainly targets corporate brand power, the profit and loss judgnt will be based on the profit growth brought by the promotion. If the profit growth within the specified ti exceeds the promotion cost, the project investnt is successful; if the profit growth is less than the promotion cost, the project investnt fails.”

Hiss—

Reading this, Shen Miaomiao clicked her tongue secretly.

A new gaplay had arrived.

Indeed, the system wasn’t stupid. For this kind of pure money-burning reputation project, the system had its own judgnt standards.

Sothing new to try?

After all, the developnt of Overwatch still had at least three or four months.

She could try this new form during the gap.

Besides, they had co all the way from Siam, sincerely seeking cooperation, and the New Year was just around the corner.

Since they ca, it wasn’t easy, especially during the New Year...

There was simply no way to refuse!!!

Thinking this over, Shen Miaomiao pondered and asked:

“So in the preliminary cooperation, what form will your company use for promotion? What’s the total expected investnt?”

A door opened!

Hearing this, Matt and Xu Zhixing exchanged a glance, both reading surprise in each other’s eyes.

“Our initial plan is to organize a ridge challenge race,”

Xu Zhixing pulled out a sheet from the materials at hand and presented it to Shen Miaomiao, clearly well prepared:

“According to our incomplete survey, among global extre sports, downhill biking and skydiving have the most participants.”

“But considering that skydiving’s visual impact is less intense than ridge downhill,”

“We suggest organizing a global ridge downhill competition held in Utah, United States. Oh, of course...”

Xu Zhixing added:

“Of course, it won’t be the devil ridge from your Peak Eight Events. For safety, we will choose a ridge with lower difficulty for the competition.”

“The total prize money is preliminarily set at three hundred thousand dollars, divided among first, second, and third place.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow.

It was clear Bull had prepared well for this cooperation.

They picked the sport, scouted the location, and even set the competition system and prize tiers.

In other words, if Golden Wind agreed,

the Golden Bull United Extre Challenge could imdiately kick off.

To be honest,

this was the kind of cooperation Gu Sheng longed for.

But,

it was the only project he was unsure about.

After all, he was just a ga designer.

Gas were easy for him; whether design or final benefits, with the system and his past life experience, the future was predictable.

But this joint challenge was different.

Strictly speaking, this had stepped outside the gaming industry.

If they did it, it would be Golden Wind’s first non-ga project.

Although in his past life, Red Bull beca a famous beverage giant through this ‘I pay, you risk your life’ promotion form, spanning extre sports, rally, F1, football, rugby, hockey, and many other sports.

But in this life, he couldn’t guarantee if this would work.

And most importantly—he had no experience doing this!

After a mont’s thought:

“Total investnt?”

“About...”

Xu Zhixing presented another report to Gu Sheng:

“Approximately seven point six million dollars.”

Before he finished,

Shen Miaomiao shouted in shock: “How much?!”

Across the table, Matt and Xu Zhixing both shuddered in surprise!

“Uh... uh...”

Xu Zhixing opened his mouth. Although he was easily a generation older than the young woman in front of him,

her glorious achievents and backing by Shen Capital made him wary.

After hesitating: “Seven hundred... sixty thousand dollars?”

“Uh-huh...”

Confirming the number, Shen Miaomiao frowned.

What kind of lousy project was this? Huh?

Big brother, are you kidding ?!

We invested 101 million dollars in Peak Kingdom!

The goal was to let players risk their lives in the virtual motion-sensing pods!

But now!

This so-called ‘United Challenge’ for real people to risk their lives only costs 7.6 million?

Split between two companies, 3.8 million each?

Do you think the extre athletes are beggars to be thrown 3.8 million?

Besides, with such a tiny budget, how could I possibly lose money?

Even if I lost to the extre, it’s only 3.8 million, multiplied by tenfold at most 38 million!

With that ti, I’d rather make another ga!

How could they increase the event’s cost?

For a mont, Shen Miaomiao frowned deeply, then slowly said:

“My suggestion is—”