Creating a zombie in a mountain village terrifies players worldwide.

Chapter 46: Does the game theme allow us players to choose?

The players were stunned when they heard the news.

A collaboration with Pixel Interactive Entertainment?
You can't say that, right?
Pixel Interactive Entertainment doesn't have a very good reputation among gamers!

Thirteen years ago, Graveyard alone ruined the entire horror game market, turning the genre into a living hell and drawing widespread complaints from players.

Last year, a heavyweight game called "They Are All Ghosts" was released, which made players both in China and abroad lose their temper and angrily criticize it as a trash game.

In addition, the games released in recent years have been of mediocre quality, with ordinary gameplay, and are very similar to other games on the market, making them quite boring. Most players don't even finish the game before deleting it.

If you ask a player to praise a company like this, the player will be at a loss for words.

However, Pixel Interactive Entertainment is not without its advantages.

While the games they develop themselves are like fancy-packaged instant noodles, the games from the smaller companies they distribute are like delicious little cakes!
Therefore, although players do not like Pixel Interactive's first-party games, they really like the third-party games they publish, making Lingjing Platform one of the top game sales platforms in China.

There's nothing special about it except that there are many games available, and they're often on sale or free for a limited time.

All I can say is that for real games, you still have to look to the smaller companies.

When large companies develop games, there are always one or two high-level executives who get involved and mess things up.

Therefore, when players saw that O5 was preparing to cooperate with Pixel Interactive Entertainment, their first concern was whether the game could be done well.

Will the top executives of Pixel Interactive Entertainment get involved and interfere?

Can O5 develop games properly?

Don't let them trip you up, make all sorts of demands, and end up isolating and marginalizing you, resulting in a subpar and poorly made product. That would ruin O5's reputation and brand!

As for Pixel Interactive Entertainment, they've long since lost their reputation and are incredibly shameless; they're not afraid of anything.

So, thinking of this, the players immediately logged onto Weibo and found O5's account.

Sure enough, he sent out a notice, the content of which was roughly as follows:

Dear players, hello.

Thank you all for your continued support. It is because of your love that I have come this far.

Without you all, I would probably still be an unknown independent developer.

I will always remember this heartfelt support.

Thank you so much, everyone!
Today, I have another important announcement to share with you all.

Yes, you read that right. I, O5, will be collaborating with 'Paradox Studio', a subsidiary of Pixel Interactive Entertainment.

We will work together to create a brand new, higher-quality horror game.

As this is the first collaboration with a top domestic company, they are responsible for providing resources and manpower support. Therefore, the quality of this game should not disappoint.

With abundant resources, I was finally able to try some bold designs that were impossible due to a lack of manpower!

There's only one goal: to continue making horror games that will scare everyone to death, yet leave a lasting impression!
The goal is to make the game exciting, thrilling, and so exciting that players will want to sleep with their sister-in-law.

Therefore, please look forward to this new horror game; we will strive to deliver a result that everyone will enjoy.

Besides, do you think that's all?

Did you think we would work behind closed doors and keep quiet about developing a big surprise?
Do not!
I firmly believe that the best games are inseparable from the voices and wisdom of the players.

So this time, we've decided to go all out!
The theme of this brand-new horror game will be determined by you, the viewer!
(This is a questionnaire)

Open the questionnaire above, write down the theme you want to play, such as: ancient, modern, future technology, etc., select submit, and the theme you filled in will automatically appear in the voting options below the post.

We will adopt the option with the most votes for development.

This time, you place the order, and we'll take care of making this terrifying feast a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate, guaranteed to be filling and thrilling!

——Developer O5
——2055.6.24.
Players looked on in disbelief after reading the blog post.

My lingering prejudice against Pixel Interactive hadn't even dissipated when I was completely stunned by the 'players decide the theme' questionnaire. O5 is making a new horror game, and they're letting players choose the content and theme?
Holy crap! What the hell is this?!
What themes a game company develops are all decided behind closed doors by the bigwigs, right?
When did we become entitled to give orders and suggestions?
Isn't he afraid that players will pull some funny tricks?
It's worth noting that the majority of players are "fun-loving people".

If you dare hand the steering wheel to us, we dare drive you into a ditch!
If they really submit a 'Rural Romance Horror Story', or a 'Palace Intrigue Horror Story', or a 'Horror Game of Playing as a Small Animal' for you... even if you're a genius, you can't do it well, right?
If the executives at Pixel Interactive Entertainment saw this voting result, wouldn't they be so angry they'd faint on the spot?

Fortunately, O5 is collaborating with Pixel Interactive's Paradox Group.

As long as we don't collaborate with that infamous "Rainbow Group," it's fine.

The Rainbow Group's thought process is abnormal. If you cooperate with them, "They Are All Ghosts" is the best example!

However, the paradox group isn't much better off.

This studio seems to have hit a dead end in recent years, only making shooting games over and over again without any innovation.

The gameplay is all the same old stuff in new bottles, it's incredibly boring and can make you sleepy.

Expecting them to provide any innovative gameplay support for O5's horror games seems a bit risky.

So, does this mean that Paradox Group actually benefited from O5's collaboration?

The emergence of O5 might bring the Paradox Group back to its former glory.
Thinking of this, the players suddenly grasped another, even more crucial, element: Watson.

So, what gives O5 such power to directly hand over the choice of game themes to the players?
This is a crucial decision that determines the direction of game development.

Did Pixel Interactive Entertainment have no objections?
Would their superiors approve of this kind of "nonsense"?
Or did O5 sign some special agreement with them?
The more the players thought about it, the more outrageous it seemed; it simply didn't fit their understanding of Pixel Interactive.

So, they went to check out the Weibo account of the Pixel Interactive Entertainment Paradox Group.

Sure enough, the Paradox Group also reposted O5's blog post and even added an official explanation.

The explanation emphasized two key points:
Teacher O5 joined this collaborative project as an "external hire," serving as the "main producer."

"It's an honor for Paradox Studio to collaborate with such an outstanding independent developer as O5."

Regarding the voting process for choosing the theme, the official statement has been released:
'The studio will seriously consider and adopt any excellent ideas that are within reasonable limits.'

Of course, for those polls that are purely for disruption or amusement, no matter how high the ranking or number of votes, the studio will only use them as a "reference."

Upon seeing these lines, especially the words "outsourced" and "main producer," the players' worries were temporarily put to rest.

Hiring external staff is good; it means O5 is relatively independent and not directly incorporated, so it should have considerable influence.

Being the main producer carries even more weight, meaning that O5 still has the final say on the overall direction of the project.

As long as O5 is in charge of development, the quality is definitely not a problem.

Pixel Interactive's move seems to show some sincerity.

So, the players then turned their attention to the survey link.

Finally, it was our turn to "order" our food.

At this moment, many players had expressions that were both excited and a little mischievous on their faces.

Letting players decide the game's theme? This is unprecedented.

Should we choose a more mainstream modern urban fantasy? Or a sinister and eerie ancient folk tale?

Or... to play a prank, could you vote for a "Sports Basketball Horror Game?" or a "RTS Horror Game?"

I'm curious to know what O5 would think if it saw these options.

However, jokes aside, most people still hope to play a truly high-quality horror game.

Therefore, most players began to fill in the theme content they wanted.

Soon, not long after, Lin Shu saw the options filled in by the players.

(End of this chapter)