Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

“I’m extremely sorry, but orders in progress cannot be cancelled.”

The female employee from the Spiritual Rhinoceros’s Advertising Department, who was in charge of client relation, conveyed her apologetic sentiment to Gary in a rather courteous manner over the phone.

“It just made it to the trending list 10 minutes ago!” Gary was on the verge of going ballistic.

“I have placed a 6-hour order, all I ask for now is a refund for 5 hours of it! You can pull back the trend immediately, freeing up the 6-hour advertising slot!”

“I’m sorry, but as per our policies, ongoing orders can’t be cancelled.” The voice on the other end of the line remained sweet.

“So, you’d rather keep making a laughing stock out of yourself on the headline instead of issuing a refund?”

“Pfft—

Gary felt he could hear a faint stifled laugh on the other end.

“Ahem! Not to worry, there’s really no need for you to worry on our behalf.” Replied the Little Sister in her sweet voice.

“Hahaha…”

Gary was sure that he could hear more than one person laughing in the background at the office on the other end!

” What’s so funny!? Is this how you people treat your customers?”

“Sir, we weren’t laughing. We sincerely serve each and every one of our customers.”

Of course, apart from the voice of this female staff, the background was filled with giggles which gradually became more distant from the phone.

Apparently, someone was laughing while moving away from the phone.

“Cancel the order!” Gary was furious but he still had to deal with the important issues.

He continued to be the subject of ridicule on the trending list right now!

Did he just want to vent now, and keep the target up for the netizens to ridicule for the next 6 hours?

Was he a masochist?

Six hours! Even masochists wouldn’t take that much!

“Alright, I’ll cancel the order for you right away.” The female employee regained her composed and sweet voice, “Alright, the order has been cancelled.’

Gary didn’t want to utter another word, furiously, he hung up the phone. Just as he hung up, Richard’s assistant knocked on the door, saying the boss wanted to see him.

Assuming the boss was bound to reprimand him soon, he instinctively became nervous.

However, once he arrived at Richard’s office, before he could utter a word, the young boss began to praise, “Well done! It didn’t look very pleasing but we achieved our goal.”

Gary breathed a sigh of relief. “Still there were some mistakes, due to the lack of time, a lot of budget was wasted.”

“Money is not an issue at all.” Richard casually shrugged it off. “Now, there’s a new problem and I would like your opinion on it.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Remember when the trial version of “Traveler of the Wind” was released, and our VR Console refused to be compatible?”

“Of course.”

“Now that “Traveler of the Wind” has released a multi-platform version, what do you think we should do?”

This question left Gary stumped. Too many things had happened in such a short time, with so many twists and turns, he had hardly noticed these details.

When the boss threw out this question, he realized it.

But isn’t the solution to this problem very simple?

Maintain the status quo and refuse to be compatible?

Then it’s inevitable for the players to curse.

With NetDragon’s reputation dropping drastically over the last month, adding another round of cursing by the players wouldn’t worsen their situation any further, or wouldn’t bite as hard.

Even if they weren’t afraid of being cursed, what if the players, who desperately wanted to play the game, turn towards other manufacturers? Then what?

You should know, there are three major VR equipment manufacturers, only they, NetDragon, refuse to be compatible. Wild Island and Flying Fox did not have this restriction!

So this option is ruled out directly.

But what about lifting restrictions and actively being compatible?

Let’s not forget, it was the boss and high-ranking members who had unanimously decided not to be compatible with “Traveler of the Wind”. If the boss asked to lift that restriction now…

Wouldn’t that be like shooting yourself in the foot? Moreover, it would be almost equal to the boss yielding to Lincoln.

Richard was still too young, and his pride wouldn’t allow him to admit his mistake.

So, even to get a Flying Dragon Series VR Device tested for compatibility, he was not willing to speak up himself. He wanted Gary to be the one to bring it up.

So what could he say?

“I suggest that we lift the restrictions on one device for a compatibility test. If it can be compatible, then we lift the restrictions altogether.” Gary gave the answer that the boss wanted.

“Good, let’s do it that way. You can continue with your work now.” Richard nodded his agreement, indicating for his assistant to make these arrangements.

Then Gary also left the office.

After leaving the office, he shook his head imperceptibly and sighed.

It was you who had first denied compatibility, and now you are willing, but would Cloud Dream reciprocate?

It was a difficult question to answer. If either Gary or Boss Zack were the decision-makers at Cloud Dream, they would not hesitate to refuse.

However, they believed that Lincoln—he might be detestable, but there could be no doubt that he was a passionate person when it came to gaming and gamers.

Despite revealing some hidden agendas, despite potential impacts on console sales, he had swiftly launched the multi-platform version of the game, within just three days.

Such a person was either naive or idealistic.

But nothing could be gained from guessing. They could only wait for the test results and hope that Lincoln would be able to lend a helping hand.

It is said that distance makes the heart grow fonder, when you don’t know someone well enough, you may misjudge them.

At this point, Gary and Richard have seriously misjudged Lincoln.

Lincoln does give importance to the game and the players, but he’s a very meticulous person.

Even if you are his player, as long as you upset him, he would deal with it without hesitation.

Needless to mention, it involves NetDragon!

Whenever there was a chance to undermine NetDragon, even if he had to pay for it, Lincoln would never miss it!

He was quick to launch the multi-platform version of “Traveler of the Wind” primarily because it required little effort from Mavis to do so.

Moreover, with the launch of “Assassins’ Alliance” just around the corner and the targeted “Light Encounter” already in production,

He only wanted to wrap up “Traveler of the Wind” as quickly as possible, so he could completely put the game out of his mind.

All he could think about now was “Assassins’ Alliance”!

That was why Richard was destined to be disappointed.

As for the closed beta test of the “Assassins’ Alliance”, ignoring all the bizarre behaviors exhibited in the process, it proceeded rather smoothly.

Moreover, these mischievous streamers demonstrated that “Assassins’ Alliance” had ample room for exploration and freedom, which are the lifeblood requirements for a game.

Super Tomato was in a taxi heading eastward, and as they drove on, he felt a sense of déj? vu about the scenery outside the window.

After a while, he finally confirmed that after progressing in a certain direction for a certain distance, he would enter an endless loop of space. If he continued, he would unwittingly keep going in circles.

Once he retreated, he would automatically exit this loop.

Through this, Lincoln had hidden the map boundary of the game.

“That’s brilliant!” Super Tomato couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

By this point, the fastest-progressing Lance had already triggered a convenience store battle.

The beautiful and cool Assassin Firefox handed him a gun. Without hesitation, he took it and joined the gunfight.

With his sharp reaction and superfast hand speed, he seized a fleeting opportunity and emptied his magazine at the mob soldiers on the other side!

Then… it all ended in loneliness..