Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 480: Internal and External Troubles! A Desperate Gam

"...I can understand, I get it, but the shareholders won't listen to our explanations! Do you understand?!"

Western Hemisphere.

United States.

Illusion Engine Technology R&D Company.

Carter Walker, the CEO, was roaring in a panic:

"If this is what happens now, then I will not agree to their so-called aggressive price adjustnt plan!"

Walker was on the verge of losing it.

Rember, when Konik spoke for Vivendi and ca to him, both sides had imagined a bright future!

CloudPower could use its strength to impose the most notorious blockade on Golden Wind, trapping them in a situation with no available engines.

Their Illusion could also leverage Vivendi's money and influence to further expand its market share in the gaming industry.

Back then, Illusion's market share in the gaming engine market was about 45%.

Not a monopoly, but in so sense, only one step away from it.

If they hitched a ride with Vivendi's fast train,

global market share over fifty percent would be within reach.

However!

What nobody expected was!

The desperate predicant unintentionally triggered Golden Wind's developnt potential!

After only a brief period of having no usable engine, they imdiately started a self-developed engine project!

Oh no!

No no no!

That one ga made without an engine, built entirely by hand, was not Golden Wind's low point!

It was their highlight!

According to recent compiled statistics, the global sales of My World have now surpassed thirty million copies!

One of the top three best-selling motion-sensing pod gas in the world!

The dual-platform launch share on Yiyou and XunTeng exceeded 97%, second only to the 103% share once held by Titanfall!

What kind of concept is that?

A ga released less than a year ago!

It managed, on the strength of its gaplay and a massive, even gargantuan Workshop mod library, to secure a top-three sales spot for motion-sensing pod gas in the past decade!

And that terrifying sales figure continues to grow with Yiyou and Polar Bear's increasing market share in motion-sensing pods!

"A world number one ga" is within sight!

Choking Golden Wind at the throat?

Ridiculous!

Whenever Walker thought of Konik's self-satisfied tone back then, he couldn't help but sneer inwardly!

You're the one getting choked! Idiot!

Of course!

No matter how well another company's ga sells, it doesn't matter much to Illusion.

Even if My World sold three hundred million copies, it wouldn't greatly affect Illusion.

After all, GW purely hand-crafted that thing; it didn't really use an engine, so its sales don't change Illusion's market share.

But!

What followed My World was the deadly problem: Battlefield Storm: Rise!

After just half a year of the "no engine crisis," Golden Wind boldly spent more than $120 million, mobilized a team of over 2,500 in Huaguo, and forcibly developed their own engine from scratch!

Before that, Kora's battle royale ga Conflict Zone—built with the highly anticipated Illusion V engine produced by the Kora Group—turned out to be no match at all against Battlefield Storm: Rise!

Pure one-sided steamrolling!

Whether Kora lived or died wasn't Walker's concern.

But for Illusion Engine, it was a heavy blow!

From that mont on, Illusion Engine's market share began to plumt!

Don't even talk about the once-confident, seemingly easily obtainable over-fifty-percent market share!

Now!

Among Illusion's two flagship engines, the market share of Illusion V had shrunk to 33%, a staggering 12% collapse in less than a year!

The other flagship aid at the mid-tier market, Fantasy 3, fared even worse!

Because the mid-tier market's technical barriers are lower, competition is fiercer!

Their Fantasy 3's market share fell from 38% to 18%—cut in half!

Now, unless absolutely necessary, Walker wouldn't even dare glance at his company's market share statistics!

He feared one look too many would make him explode!

After all, such a plunge-like halving of market share brings imasurable market value loss!

Once the power commanding half of the global engine industry, the Illusion that once ordered the field has now beco prey, eaten away continuously by competitors.

External threats surround them, internal investnt wavers.

With troubles at ho and abroad, Walker's head was pounding.

He could no longer afford dreams of domination.

He just wanted to stop this terrifying slide as fast as possible.

And the most direct thod was to break apart the Golden Engine industrial alliance.

As the CEO of an engine tech company, Walker knew exactly what the Golden Engine was!

It was not an engine! It was a platform!

If they didn't dismantle that industrial alliance in ti, it would act like a black hole, sucking in cutting-edge engine technologies from every direction!

In the end, Illusion would be swallowed!

What?

You ask why not cancel the current price policy and reopen supply to the Huaguo ga industry?

I'd like to, but I can't.

No turning back once the arrow is released.

Although this price adjustnt policy is the cause of the current market share collapse, from another perspective it has indeed increased revenue for the Illusion series engines.

And raised it a lot.

So much so that now, despite the base plunging, Illusion can still stabilize revenue thanks to this price policy.

Like a patient who can only survive with morphine-level painkillers; I know this thing is addictive and poisonous.

But removing it would cause the entire company to collapse instantly, irretrievably.

"So..."

Taking a deep breath, Walker barely cald his emotions and asked:

"Can we trace Golden Wind's cash flow? Any funny business?"

Golden Wind's financial situation.

Walker had always been most suspicious of Golden Wind's finances—

Where did this ghost company get so much money???

Based on the current situation, from the ti Illusion published the price adjustnt policy and issued the blockade,

Golden Wind had developed an engine, released four gas, invested in a film, acquired part of an engine company, and partnered with a self-developed engine ga company for technical upgrades.

All that costs money!

Golden Engine cost $120 million; My World $50 million; Payday about $70 million; Battlefield Storm: Rise $235 million; Dark Souls $220 million; the film John Wick investnt $40 million; acquisition of Phoenix equity $1.8 billion; joint upgrade with Aurora Gas let's say $50 million.

Even without counting their marketing, daily operations, maintenance of old projects, and DLC updates.

All together, that's about $2.6 billion!

In less than a year!

Dumping $2.6 billion!

Granted!

Gas and films, and older projects like APEX and Overwatch, continuously provide revenue streams to Golden Wind.

But in such a short ti, that volu of cash flow seems like sothing a ga company with less than ten billion in assets couldn't just spend from its pockets, right?

Where the hell did that money co from?

Walker couldn't make sense of it.

So he specially sent people to look for clues in the threads, to find financial irregularities at Golden Wind.

But unfortunately—

"Can't find it," the vice president shook his head:

"Completely can't find it, and it's impossible to find."

What kind of company is Golden Wind?

A benchmark private tech enterprise in Huaguo with family backing and non-listed status.

Translation: a copper wall, iron gate, steel turtle shell.

Not to ntion they never list publicly, so they never release financial statents; they couldn't obtain Golden Wind's inco and expenditure through official channels!

Even if they tried side channels using unconventional thods, there was nowhere to begin!

Not just Illusion—a U.S. tech company—would find this hard to probe!

Even the FBI would have to consider whether they had the capability!

Four tis nad in China Daily, publicly called out as the leading ga tech company that, with a "Golden Engine," reversed investnt issues in Huaguo!

Do you think they'd let us casually audit their books?

Even if Golden Wind let you audit, would you dare?

Who are we? Small fries? What right do we have to casually audit them?

ss this up and there will be huge trouble!

"Let's drop that idea," the vice president waved his hand, showing a grim expression, signaling to Walker that so things they simply could not do or they'd risk destroying themselves:

"While Golden Wind hasn't made any major moves yet, hurry with publicity for our Illusion 6 to seize market first-mover advantage,"

"Also publicly announce the strategic partnership with CloudPower and showcase early experiences, preparing for the official release!"

The vice president was ultimately clear-headed.

He knew Illusion faced severe troubles at ho and abroad.

But no matter how anxious, they couldn't stoop to underhanded, shady tricks against a top company approved by Huaguo's leadership.

Moreover, sar campaigns only patch symptoms; they don't cure the problem at root.

To stabilize the situation and reclaim lost market share, they needed real substance.

For example, their soon-to-launch "world-leading next-gen motion-sensing ga engine"—Illusion 6—was their all-or-nothing gamble amid the crisis!

"President Walker," the vice president said, taking a breath, his eyes full of determination and heat:

"I firmly believe, and have always believed,"

"From start to finish, Illusion Engine has been at the forefront of engine technology innovation,"

"It was so before, it is so now, and it will be so in the future,"

"We have the most powerful R&D team, the highest R&D funding, and the deepest developnt accumulation,"

"Back in the Illusion V era, we dominated the comrcial engine industry with unquestionable technical strength,"

"And now, with the arrival of Illusion 6's next generation, we not only inherit Illusion V's cutting-edge compatibility technologies, but more importantly,"

"Our newest, strongest, most creative system that completely surpasses external full-sensory auxiliary systems—"

"Brand-new virtual sensory presentation technology"

"Unprecedented imrsive gaming experience"

"The mountains you once saw were not real mountains"

"The rivers you once crossed were not real rivers"

High peaks, flying birds, roaring torrents.

Star rivers, spaceships, rolling lava.

Ad actors in the video flitted through breathtaking virtual worlds.

Sotis navigating raging rapids, sotis piloting a spaceship across the vast star fields.

Sight, sound, touch, sll, and taste—every sense is pushed to the peak, and players fully imrsed in the virtual world seem to gain senses more acute than reality.

"Feelings, sensations, emotions, moved to tears"

"An unprecedented, extraordinary experience"

"An incomparable technological pinnacle"

...

"What advertisent for idiocy are you watching now?"

That night, Gu Sheng had just finished washing up and returned to the bedroom when Little Nezha's phone emitted an overhyped, fake-serious ad tone like so ultra-premium brand:

"Another VIP-only ad?"

Little Nezha had recently been obsessed with watching dramas.

Gu Sheng assud she was again being victimized by a streaming platform—having VIP but still forced to watch those infuriating "VIP-exclusive ads."

However,

Little Nezha paused the ad, looked thoughtful, and turned to Gu Sheng:

"This... probably isn't an idiotic-money ad, right?"

As she spoke,

Shen Miaomiao rose, climbed a couple of steps out of bed, and handed the phone to Gu Sheng.

He pressed play, curiosity fixed on the comrcial.

On the ad video, accompanied by majestic symphony music, actors continued to traverse the virtual world.

At tis walking through bone-chilling polar ice, shivering in the cold.

At tis crossing scorching deserts, gasping under hot winds.

Turning on a flashlight, dust floated in the air carrying the scent of an ancient tomb.

Pushing open a door, passionate samba erupted, bringing hot exotic flavor.

And just when this vibrant imrsive experience reached its peak!

Everything went suddenly silent.

—

As the motion-sensing pod door slowly opened,

a radiant crimson logo appeared—

Illusion Engine Technology Company

Reality Augntation Technology

Illusion V Engine

"New Motion-Sensing" Era

Coming Soon

Hiss—!!!

The ad ended.

Gu Sheng froze where he stood, involuntarily drawing a cold breath!

Little Nezha was right.

This really wasn't a stupid-money advertisent.

It was, damn it...

the first teaser trailer for the sixth-generation Illusion engine—Illusion 6!

Yes!

While Golden Wind was in the middle of developing an engine, Illusion's newest generation engine had also been completed!

Actually, Illusion 6's appearance wasn't unexpected to Gu Sheng.

After all, Illusion V had been out for many years.

He rembered that when Golden Wind was newly founded, the 3S-level motion-sensing masterpiece under XunTeng had used Illusion V engine.

Now, four years later, with the speed at which motion-sensing pods have developed, engine quality would naturally improve rapidly with the tis.

The arrival of a sixth-generation Illusion wasn't surprising.

What truly surprised him, even made his heart skip a beat, was the core innovation Illusion chose to promote alongside the release of the sixth-generation motion-sensing engine—the feature highlighted at the end of their trailer:

Reality Augntation Technology.

This "technology that enhances the subtlety of motion-sensing ga feedback, further strengthens player imrsion, and grants players perceptual abilities beyond reality in certain ga scenes"—

had only been specifically ntioned by him at the company eting this morning!

It was one of the three missing modules among the seven modules of their Golden Engine!

Gu Sheng's expression grew complex, and a villainous thought surfaced in his mind—

Things, it seed, were getting interesting...