You said you were going to make games, how did you become the richest man without doing anything?

Chapter 502: Longteng and Sony in Crisis

At the same time, Longteng Group's "City Simulator: Infinite" completely failed.

After the launch of City Simulator: Infinite, the glorious situation that Longteng Group had expected did not appear. Instead, the game caused a series of serious problems, leading to strong dissatisfaction and fierce protests among the player community.

First, the game was plagued by numerous technical issues. Although Longteng Group claimed their hardware was adequate for this massive open-world game, the reality was quite different. Players found the game frequently experienced severe stuttering and frame drops, even on high-end devices. Worse still, the game suffered from numerous crashes and data loss issues, causing many players to repeatedly reset their progress.

Secondly, the game's promised "exquisitely detailed" rendering failed to materialize. Players discovered that buildings and scenes often displayed low-quality textures and crude modeling. The movement of pedestrians and vehicles on the streets was stiff, far from the promised "lifelike" quality. One player even scoffed, "How can this be considered a next-generation game? It's clearly from the last century."

Even more disappointing was the game's promised "infinite" open world, which was actually filled with various restrictions and boundaries. Players quickly discovered that the supposedly "over 10,000 square kilometers" of urban space was largely a patchwork of repetitive scenes, lacking in uniqueness and exploration value. Many buildings were inaccessible, and the street design was monotonous and bland, leaving players feeling extremely bored and cheated.

The game's online system also experienced serious issues. Servers frequently crashed, preventing players from accessing the game. Even when they successfully logged in, interactions between players were often delayed and disconnected. One player angrily stated, "How can this be an MMORPG? It's just a single-player game with a terrible chat room!"

However, what angered players most was the inclusion of "horror" elements in the game. Pei Shengnan's proposed "high-impact horror sequences" far exceeded players' expectations in actual experience. Many players reported that the game's terrifying scenes were too realistic and thrilling, causing them severe psychological discomfort, even experiencing panic attacks and nightmares.

One player angrily complained on social media: "I just wanted to play a city simulation game, but I almost had a heart attack! This is not a game, it's simply mental abuse!" Another player said: "My brother couldn't sleep well for several nights after playing this game, and he kept waking up in shock. How can such a game be allowed on the market?"

……

At this time, in the office of Longteng Group.

Allen stared at his computer screen, his hands trembling as he tapped the keyboard. His Twitter profile kept refreshing, his heart sinking deeper with each new tweet.

“Another meltdown! This is the fifth time today!”

"Can someone tell me what the hell I bought for $250?"

"Longteng Group, are you kidding me? Where is this 'infinite' world?"

Alan took a deep breath, trying to calm his pounding heart. As the lead programmer of Longteng Group's "City Simulator: Infinite," he knew exactly how bad things were.

Just three days after the game's release, the internet exploded. Reddit, Twitter, gaming forums—everywhere was filled with angry players. Allen felt like he was standing in the eye of a hurricane, with anger bearing down on him from all sides.

"Hey, Alan!" Tom, my colleague, pushed open the office door, his expression more serious than usual. "Have you seen the latest game ratings?"

Alan shook his head. He no longer dared to read any related news.

Tom sighed. "IGN gave it a 3.5, and GameSpot gave it a 4. That's the lowest score they've ever given to a AAA game."

Alan felt dizzy. They had spent three years developing this game, which should have been Longteng Group's flagship product, but now it had become a laughing stock.

Just then, Allen's phone vibrated. It was a message from his girlfriend, Lisa: "Honey, are you okay? I saw the comments online."

Allen was about to reply when the office door suddenly flung open. CEO Pei Shengnan stormed in, his face livid.

"Explain!" Pei Shengnan roared, "Why did it turn out like this? Where's the 'infinite' world we promised? Where's the fine details? Where's the smooth gaming experience?"

Alan was speechless, not knowing how to answer. He knew where the problem lay - they were too ambitious and underestimated the technical difficulty; they sacrificed too much quality control in order to meet the deadline; they added those disturbing "horror" elements without fully considering the players' acceptance.

"Boss Pei, we are working hard to fix the bug," Allen said weakly.

"Repair?" Pei Shengnan sneered, "Do you think it's still a problem to repair it now? Look at this!"

He slammed his tablet onto the table. The screen displayed a news article: "Player's Family Sues Longteng Group After Developing Severe Anxiety Due to 'City Simulator: Infinite'."

Alan felt his blood curdle. He remembered how he had strongly opposed the inclusion of those overly realistic horror elements, but ultimately succumbed to pressure from his superiors.

"We're done." Pei Shengnan slumped in his chair. "The stock price has plummeted 50%, investors are demanding my resignation, and the government is investigating us."

At this moment, there was a sudden commotion outside the office. Allen stood up to check and found that the hall was crowded with people - employees of the company.

"What's going on?" Pei Shengnan asked with a frown.

A young intern timidly said, "Boss Pei, there are protesters outside."

Allen rushed to the window and opened the blinds. To his shock, the street outside the company building was packed with people holding signs reading, "Give me back my hard-earned money" and "Longteng Group, get out of the gaming world."

In the crowd, Allen saw some familiar faces - that was the player feedback that they had ignored during the game testing phase.

"What shall we do?" asked Tom desperately.

Pei Shengnan was silent for a long time before finally speaking: "We'll hold a press conference and apologize to everyone. Then... then we'll stop selling the game and give full refunds."

Allen felt dizzy. Had all his hard work gone to waste?

His phone vibrated again. It was another message from Lisa: "Don't worry, no matter what happens, I will be with you."

Alan smiled bitterly. At least in this crazy world, he still had people supporting him. But facing the storm ahead, how much longer could they hold out? The failure of City Simulator: Infinite might just be the beginning of a nightmare.
……

There was a gloomy atmosphere in Sony's headquarters building.

Yokoi Gunpei stood in front of the French window, his hands clasped behind his back, staring at the distant Tokyo skyline. His face was filled with fatigue and frustration, and his eyes flickered with anxiety.

"Mr. Yokoi," his assistant said softly, "the latest sales data and player feedback reports are out."

Yokoi slowly turned around and took the tablet from his assistant. His hands trembled slightly, and he took a deep breath and began to browse the report.

As he flipped through the pages, his face grew paler. The first-week sales of The Last of Us 3 only reached 30% of the expected sales, and player ratings on major platforms fell below 5 points. Social media was flooded with criticism and ridicule of the game.

"How could this happen?" Yokoi muttered to himself, "We invested so many resources and so much effort."

At that moment, the office door was flung open. Marketing Manager Maruyama rushed in, his face filled with anxiety. "Mr. Yokoi! The situation is terrible!" Maruyama gasped. "Someone online has launched a boycott of Sony, and over 10 people have joined!"

Yokoi felt dizzy and barely managed to stand by holding onto the table. With trembling fingers, he opened Twitter, and the homepage was immediately flooded with angry tweets.

“#Sony get out of the gaming world#”

“#RefundTheLastOfUs3#”

“#Virtual Reality Nightmare#”

These hashtags were like sharp blades, piercing Yokoi's heart.

One of the tweets caught his attention:

“Just played The Last of Us 3 for two hours and now I just want to vomit. Those realistic zombie scenes and bloody images gave me nightmares. Sony, are you making games or destroying humanity? #RefundTheLastOfUs3”

Another comment was even more alarming:
"My brother developed severe anxiety symptoms after playing this game. The horrific scenes caused him severe psychological trauma. Sony, you are responsible for this! #SueSony"

Yokoi felt dizzy and staggered into a chair, covering his face with his hands.

"How could we make such a mistake?" he muttered to himself.

At this moment, Takahashi from the Ministry of Justice rushed into the office with a pale face.

"Mr. Yokoi," Takahashi's voice trembled, "we've just received dozens of lawsuits from players around the world! Players claim our games have caused them psychological trauma and physical discomfort."

Yokoi felt his heart nearly stop beating. He raised his head with difficulty and looked around, only to find that the office was already packed with heads of various departments, each with a look of fear and despair on their faces.

"There's even worse news," PR director Suzuki whispered. "Several mainstream media outlets are preparing an in-depth investigative report claiming that we've incorporated some kind of subconscious manipulation technology into the game, intended to influence players' minds."

Yokoi stood up suddenly. "This is ridiculous! How could we possibly do such a thing?"

"The problem is," Suzuki said bitterly, "a large number of players have now begun to believe this. They claim to feel an inexplicable fear and anxiety while playing the game, and some even say they see hallucinations that are not in the game."

Yokoi felt dizzy. He held onto the table and said with difficulty: "We must hold a press conference immediately to clarify these rumors."

Before he could finish his words, Finance Minister Yamada interrupted him: "Mr. Yokoi, I'm afraid we don't have that opportunity. The company's stock price has plummeted 24% in the past 35 hours, and the board of directors is holding an emergency meeting to discuss whether to stop selling The Last of Us 3 and issue a full refund."

This news hit Yokoi like a hammer, and he stumbled back a few steps before collapsing in his chair.

"How could this happen?" he muttered. "We just wanted to create an unforgettable gaming experience."

Just then, his personal cell phone rang. It was his wife.

“Honey,” my wife’s voice was filled with worry, “are you okay? I saw the Sony incident on the news.”

Yokoi forced a smile and said, "I'm fine, don't worry."

After hanging up the phone, he took a deep breath and stood up.

"Everyone," he looked around, his voice tired but still firm, "What we need to do now is face reality and solve the problem. First, immediately stop the sale of The Last of Us 3 and issue a full refund notice to all buyers."

"Secondly," he continued, "we need to assemble a crisis communications team to immediately address the negative press and lawsuits. At the same time, I want a technical team to thoroughly review the game code to ensure there are no issues that could cause player discomfort."

"Finally," Yokoi's voice grew firmer, "we would like to sincerely apologize to all our players. We acknowledge our mistakes in game design and promise to learn from them and provide a better gaming experience for players in the future."

The people in the office looked at each other and nodded slowly. Although the outlook remained grim, Yokoi's words gave them a glimmer of hope.

However, Yokoi knew that this was just the beginning of a long battle. He looked out the window and saw the gloomy sky over Tokyo, as if foreshadowing the coming storm.

In the following days, Sony fell into an unprecedented crisis.

Negative media coverage poured in, with new accusations and criticisms emerging daily. On social media, the hashtag #SonyGetOutOfGaming continued to simmer, even spreading to Sony's other product lines.

Some extreme players began to protest outside Sony's physical stores, holding up signs with slogans such as "Give me back my physical and mental health" and "Sony is harming people."

To make matters worse, some competitors began to take advantage of the situation. Nintendo and Microsoft issued statements emphasizing their emphasis on players' physical and mental health during game development, implicitly criticizing Sony's actions.

Yokoi spent his days attending crisis meetings, giving media interviews, and discussing response strategies with his legal team. In just a few weeks, his hair began to gray, and the bags under his eyes deepened.

Late one night, when Yokoi finally finished his work for the day and was about to leave the office, his assistant whispered:
"Mr. Yokoi, there's a piece of news you might want to know."

Yokoi raised his head wearily. "What's the matter?"

"We just received news," the assistant hesitated, then spoke out. "A player, addicted to the virtual world of The Last of Us 3, developed severe cognitive impairment. He harmed his family and has now been arrested by the police."

Yokoi felt his heart suddenly stop beating. He stumbled back a few steps, leaning against the wall to barely stand.

"This is impossible," he muttered to himself, his voice full of pain and self-blame.

At that moment, Yokoi realized that this crisis had far exceeded his imagination. It not only concerned the company's reputation and profits, but also people's lives and safety.

He sighed deeply and slowly walked to the window. The neon lights of Tokyo were still flickering in the night, but in Yokoi's eyes, the city seemed to have lost its former glory.

"What did we do wrong?" he asked softly, looking off into the distance with a confused look. "We just wanted to create an unforgettable gaming experience. How could it have turned out like this?"

Outside the window, dark clouds gathered, as if a huge storm was brewing. Yokoi knew that the real test for Sony and the entire gaming industry had just begun.

(End of this chapter)