Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 32: First Round Voting Results

Sun Guoping’s question hit the exact spot Chen Hang had been hoping for.

“Well, about that…”

Chen Hang hesitated briefly, then gave an awkward chuckle:

“How it performs… well, that depends on one word from you, Senior.”

This call today—this was exactly what he’d been aiming for.

Just as he said,

As the Director of Marketing at the YiYou Platform, whether a ga exploded in popularity or not was directly tied to Sun Guoping.

After all, Sun Guoping had the power to tweak the hopage and keep a ga prominently featured for a long ti.

Nowadays, it’s not like the old saying "a good wine needs no bush" still holds.

If a ga wanted to blow up, its exposure and promotion were everything.

That’s why so many dostic ga companies bowed and scraped before Sun Guoping, fawning shalessly—

Because he could hook you up with pri promotional resources!

And of course, once these behind-the-scenes deals started, they only multiplied.

If Ga Studio A tried to curry favor with Sun Guoping, Ga Studio B would naturally co knocking too,

Just to secure their own share of promotional weight.

Even studios that didn’t want to grovel were often forced to play along,

Otherwise, their gas might just mysteriously lose visibility.

Classic case of bad money driving out good.

This kind of under-the-table cooperation was nothing new for Chen Hang and Sun Guoping.

And naturally, Xingmang Gas had also paid its fair share of "appreciation" over the years.

But this ti—

When Chen Hang dropped his familiar "hint,"

Sun Guoping hesitated.

“Hmm—well, here’s the thing, President Chen,”

“This ti, President Yan gave strict instructions: all gas participating in the event must be rotated randomly on the page,”

“To ensure equal exposure and maintain fairness and transparency.”

Then, with a sowhat helpless tone, Sun Guoping continued:

“I know Xingmang always puts out high-quality titles, and your team’s got loads of experience,”

“By rights, you deserve special support.”

“But…”

“With the President’s direct order in place, my hands are tied.”

Old fox.

Hearing this, Chen Hang curled his lips on the other end of the line and scoffed inwardly.

Orders from the company, directives from leadership—

Didn’t their company always preach against abusing power for personal gain?

And yet, no one had profited more than Sun Guoping over the years.

Chen Hang wasn’t fooled.

He knew exactly what Sun Guoping was really saying—

He wanted more money.

Chen Hang wanted to call him a greedy bastard to his face,

But under soone else’s roof, you had to keep your head down.

After a brief pause, he burst into a laugh:

“Hahahaha, I understand! Totally understand!”

“President Yan’s making bold reforms, and of course, as a senior staffer, you’d be right there supporting him!”

Then, just like that, he shifted the topic with a casual air:

“By the way, Senior, how’ve you been liking those tea leaves I gave you last ti?”

“I’ve actually got my hands on two cakes of Old Banzhang recently—real King of Pu’er stuff.”

“When you’re free, I’ll co pick you up and we can have a taste together?”

Well played.

Hearing that, Sun Guoping nodded with satisfaction.

He knew full well that Chen Hang wasn’t really inviting him over for tea.

He nodded. “Sure, I happen to be free these next couple of days,”

“Wherever you want to et, you decide. I’ll co enjoy the perks of being your ntor and get a taste of this so-called King of Pu’er.”

Chen Hang laughed heartily. “Oh, co on, Senior, don’t tease .”

The two chatted happily and hung up, with everything understood without being said.

In the blink of an eye!

The first week of the Developnt Festival passed.

These past few days, Shen Miaomiao hadn’t been in the best of moods.

Not because of anything serious—

But because the unexpected popularity of Vampire Survivors had completely caught her off guard!

Since day one of the festival,

Discussion around the ga had only grown more intense in the player community!

Strears across platforms were completely hooked,

Controlling that little guy who could only move up, down, left, and right like maniacs—

Playing for hours on end, restarting over and over, loving every second of it.

Players were just as obsessed, diving deep into theorycrafting.

Pop open Xiaohei Box or TabTab, and you’d find that one in every ten threads was about Vampire Survivors.

People were posting Super Weapon combos, tier lists, build guides—

There was even a guide thousands of words long, analyzing every ga stage in detail and how to get Super Weapons as fast as possible.

To Shen Miaomiao, it was all too much.

Are you all nuts?!

Nearly 600 gas were participating in this event!

From visuals to genre, gaplay to polish—

At least 90% of them were way better than Vampire Survivors!

And worst of all—

This was the ga she personally led production on!

She, a total gaming noob, had sohow created this piece of trash…

And it blew up?!

Am I secretly a ga design genius?!

But I just want to be a couch potato!

A very salty, very lazy one!

“Ugh—”

She slumped in her office chair and sighed.

Today was the day the first-round voting results were to be released.

She figured their ga was probably going to hit the top again…

Just as she was thinking that—

Knock knock knock.

Soone was at the door.

She didn’t even need to open her eyes to know who it was.

The last person she wanted to see right now:

“Co in, Chu-jie…”

Shen Miaomiao slumped down like jelly and rolled her eyes, fully surrendering to the chaos of life.

“Um… President Shen, the first-round results from the Developnt Festival just ca out. I’m here to report them.”

Right on target.

The person walking in was none other than Executive Assistant Chu Qingzhou.

“Ah, sure, go ahead…”

Shen Miaomiao could barely be bothered to respond.

She wasn’t stupid.

Judging by the way Vampire Survivors was being talked about,

Xingmang’s ga would easily land in the top three—if not the number one spot.

Good thing she used the Settlent Ti Reduction Card,

Cutting the actual profit calculation ti down to just one hour.

Otherwise, this d*mn ga would’ve made money again, and she wouldn’t have lost a cent!

Thinking of that, she waved her hand:

“Go on, what place did we get?”

“Top six? Top three? First again?”

She glanced over at Chu Qingzhou—

Only to see Chu Qingzhou shake her head.

And for once, she didn’t look excited.

Instead, her brows were furrowed, looking worried.

Shen Miaomiao’s heart sank. “What happened?”

After a short silence, Chu Qingzhou took a deep breath and said:

“President Shen, according to the first-round results published by YiYou today…”

“We’re ranked 428th.”