Xia Cheng said, "Why do you look so surprised... Mr. Ming, you're worth hundreds of billions now, you should consider buying one. I can recommend a few suitable ones to you."
Mingyan said with a frightened look, "No, no, I'm broke."
Xia Cheng teased, "I've heard that the prices of the new fantasy worlds that Blue Star is currently looking at are all hovering around eight billion?"
He stated bluntly, "Can you really call it spending money when it comes to games?"
Xia Cheng: "..."
Xia Cheng won the first game; he was more skilled at it.
The two of them tacitly chose "next game" at the same time.
Xia Cheng casually remarked, "Remember Zhu Wenshu? His Tingxi Studio got investment from a cruise line. I heard the new game costs over 300 million and they're making a AAA title."
Ming said, "Oh, congratulations to him?"
“…I haven’t finished yet.” Xia Cheng said with a smile, “He is indeed the chief designer now, but the cruise line has assigned him a financial director, a supervisor, and an executive producer.”
Mingyan looked confused: "What are the last two for?"
Xia Cheng said, "They're not really useful. These three people are just there to supervise him. One tells him what to buy, one tells him who to eat with, and the other tells him how to make games."
Mingyan asked, "They know more about games than Zhu Wenshu, are they senior figures?"
Xia Cheng said, "Of course not, they're just playing the capital game. Tingxi Studio's stock price has soared these past two days due to capital injection. Zhu Wenshu is preparing for its IPO and has been busy hosting banquets for all sorts of dignitaries these past two days; he's quite pleased with himself."
Although Mingyan didn't know much about this kind of thing, he still figured out the underlying issue.
Cruise Capital seems to be rushing things, hastily pushing promising studios to the forefront within a few months, which must have its own purpose.
Xia Cheng smiled mysteriously and said, "Let's wait and see."
The second game ended quickly, but Ming said he had won.
He was very lucky; he stumbled upon a genius player and won the competition thanks to this lone talent.
Xia Cheng said, "This reminds me of the Great Demon King... It's a pity that Odin retired after winning the championship back then, otherwise we should be able to buy him in this simulated league 16."
He bluntly asked, "Are you a fan of his too?"
"No, no, I'm your fan." Xia Cheng laughed, his ears twitching slightly.
Mingyan, however, fell into deep thought.
Thanks to the status of the StarCraft era gaming industry, the influence of star players is even greater than he imagined.
For example, in the third season finals of League of Legends this year, there was a champion player who dominated the mid lane, whose ID was "Demon King".
As he rose to prominence like a comet in the competition, he quickly amassed a large following.
The fervor of these fans is in no way inferior to that of the entertainment industry, and they are much more tolerant—they can accept their idols dating and getting married, and they are much less aggressive.
Mingyan had another inspiration while thinking about it, and happily said to Xia Cheng, "You're right, we can take advantage of this to create a batch of star players."
Xia Cheng: "???" Wait a minute, did I just say something?
He stated clearly, "Perfect timing, it's time to strengthen the jungler's position. Next year, in the fourth season, we can replace them with a new batch of Tier 0 players."
Xia Cheng tentatively suggested, "Since we've all gotten out to play for a while, why don't we put the games aside for now?"
Mingyan thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, we'll have to go back and do it later. Let's play some of this year's selected games first."
After finishing the third round of the simulated League of Legends tournament, they quickly moved on to playing other games.
Games nominated for "Best of the Year" are certainly not ordinary; each one is a masterpiece that has captivated countless players.
Excluding the most traditional otherworldly monster-hunting and leveling-up games, there are still two VR games suitable for killing time.
In this way, an afternoon quickly passed.
During dinner, Xia Cheng was still a little reluctant to stop, saying, "It's been a long time since I've played games this focused. The last time I played this crazy was probably back in my senior year of high school..."
Mingyan laughed and said, "Then this time we can have some fun in the Central Star Province."
Xia Cheng's eyes lit up, and he said, "Is this your first time going? I can take you to see lots of fun places."
Mingyan thought about his schedule and did not refuse, saying, "I may have two days."
Xia Cheng immediately made the arrangements in his mind!
What are the most famous romantic spots in Central Star Province?
I regret that I haven't paid attention to this before!
...
On December 8, the spaceship arrived at the corresponding exit of the faster-than-light passage on time and docked at a space port in the Central Star Province.
Next, they changed to a ferry within the star system and arrived at the planet where the Alliance was holding its ceremony.
The planet is now extremely congested, with media from all over queuing in dedicated lanes, each carrying a full set of equipment.
Those who receive nominations, on the other hand, go through a different process.
You could see production teams walking together in groups, and at the exit, there were staff members arranged by Jia Lian holding up signs and waiting.
Ling Xiaoman, still clinging to Varian's back, whispered, "Look, all the big shots in the plaid shirts in each team are definitely programmers!"