Game Development: Starting with Recreating the Anime Game Style

Chapter 235 Opening Champagne Together
Just when things were getting heated in China.

IGN withdrew its 6-point review, citing that the review editors had not played the entire game.

Following this, IGN issued a clarification statement that "did not apologize," stating that in the more than ten years since IGN was founded, they have always served the players and have never accepted any funding related to reviews.

Meanwhile, IGN's operations department stepped in and pointed out that the recording was fake.

And all players are welcome to provide oversight.

Regardless of the reactions in Europe and America to IGN's retraction of the ratings, a large number of people in China were completely dumbfounded, since IGN would not have informed domestic media before retracting the report.

So, a group of "uninformed" "players" are still charging in.

Then, as they kept charging, they noticed that the players who used to explode at the slightest provocation were no longer exploding; instead, they were looking at them like they were clowns.

And it's fast.

StarCraft America released a poster celebrating that the "Endgame Survival Guide" had sold over three million copies in the US in just five days and over seven million copies worldwide.
This data, once released, caused even more astonishment.

Clearly, IGN's 6 points not only did not affect the game's sales, but actually accelerated them.

"Holy crap?! IGN retracted the paper!!!"

"Can't you Americans have any backbone?! You retract your papers just because you get criticized?! How can IGN be so spineless?!"

This is a sentence that IGN cannot hear.

Otherwise, IGN people would probably say something like, "The stick wasn't really hitting you, so of course you have backbone."
unfortunately
The people of China cannot hear this.

"Damn, I just finished writing a piece about Black Star!"

"So, will this article still be published?"

"Release it! Release my ass! Hurry up and release that piece about blowing stars!!"

"Change the title! Change it to 'Phenomenon-Level Marketing! IGN's 6/10 Score Helps a Chinese Game Top North American Trending List!'"

The media has never had any integrity.

Since the wind has shifted, they naturally have to change as well.

Soon, the tide turned in China's internet landscape.

One second the forum was discussing "Chinese single-player games are indeed not going well overseas", the next second it was flooded with articles such as "Shocking! IGN ratings have become a reverse indicator?" and "From 6 points to number one on the hot search, how did StarCraft Games ignite the North American public opinion field?"

Countless domestic players were stunned.

~~~
With the almost visible shift in media opinion, many Starry Night Games communities went "crazy".

"Holy crap! Is this true?"

"Seriously! Go check it on Twitter yourself! The original post is gone!"

"I just went online to check, and it's really gone! There's only a clarification statement left!"

"Hahahaha! What a joke of the year! They just said '6 points is the final rating and will not be changed,' and then they deleted the draft? The slap in the face is so loud that I could hear it even in Northeast China!"

"Screenshot! Does anyone have a screenshot of Jonathan's 'final assessment' tweet? Hurry, it's a historical artifact, we must save it!"

The group chat was like it was Chinese New Year, with all sorts of silly emojis and screenshots flying around. Without even looking at a single message, the chat history had already reached 99+.

Zhou Weiwei jumped up from the bed with a start.

When he saw media reports confirming that IGN had indeed retracted its glaring 6-point review and disappeared, and that IGN's homepage now only contained a bland clarification statement, he was deeply moved.

An indescribable surge of ecstasy rushed from my chest to the top of my head.

"Fuck!"

He couldn't hold back and let out a loud shout, startling his roommate who was listening to music with headphones next to him.

"What the hell is your name?"

His roommate took off his headphones and looked at him with displeasure.

"They pulled it! Those bastards at IGN pulled the review!" Zhou Weiwei was so excited that his face turned red, and he shoved his phone screen in front of his roommate.

His roommate plays World of Warcraft and doesn't usually play StarCraft games or follow the StarCraft community, but he knew about this.

So he made a rare appearance and came over to take a look.

"Seriously? You're so spineless? You were pretty hard yesterday, weren't you?"

"Who knows what's wrong with them!"

Zhou Weiwei paced back and forth in the dormitory excitedly, pumping his fist as he went.

"Awesome! This is fucking awesome! It's even more awesome than beating a boss in a game!"

All the pent-up frustration he had been holding in during his online arguments yesterday seemed to find an outlet in that instant, transforming into unparalleled relief.

He immediately returned to the chaotic game forum he had visited before, and sure enough, the entire forum's atmosphere had undergone a stunning 180-degree reversal.

The homepage no longer displays any posts criticizing "The End of the World Survival Guide." Instead, it's filled with various headlines brimming with jubilation.

[A historic moment! Players' anger forces IGN to retract its review!]

[Gather your fun! A massive face-slapping moment is happening, with snacks and drinks for sale in the front row!]

[If you don't understand, just ask: a game rated 6 out of 10 sold 7 million copies in five days. What kind of level is that?]

Those posts that were previously filled with intense online battles have now become the most hilarious "graveyard".

Zhou Weiwei clicked on the post he had spent the whole afternoon working on yesterday. The poster, named "The Only Pure Stream in the Game Industry," argued with conviction that "IGN's professionalism is beyond question, and domestic games are garbage."

Yesterday, a large group of "rational Chinese people" gathered under this post, cheering it on.

"The original poster is right, the fans are too biased."

Is it so hard to admit that domestically produced games are not good?

"Chu Chen's myth should be shattered; stop praising him so much."

Now, all those comments are the latest replies.

"@Where is the only upright person in the gaming world? Your dad's face got slapped so hard it's swollen, aren't you going to come out and put some medicine on him?"

"Come out and keep flowing, huh? Why aren't you flowing anymore? The Pacific Ocean isn't covered, swim over there and kowtow to your master!"

"Hilarious! I came back specifically to visit. Everyone, this is the Cyber ​​Terracotta Army, completely still."

"Stop criticizing. The original poster might be writing a new article, titled 'On the Deeper Professional Considerations Behind IGN's Retraction of the Paper.'"

Zhou Weiwei laughed so hard he almost broke the bed railing when he saw the comments.

He found the replies from yesterday where he had been attacked. He had analyzed the game design logically and with evidence, but was rendered speechless by the other party's retort, "What do you think you know when professional editors don't understand?"

Now, the IDs of those who replied to him are all grayed out, showing "This user has been deleted".

Seeing that this has been withdrawn is incredibly refreshing.

He even went to Bilibili and found that video with the "10,000-word analysis" of the world view. The comment section, which used to be a battlefield, is now as harmonious as a family.

The top-rated comment is: "To the friend who argued with me during his previous live stream and said that IGN's ratings were objective, please come out and give me a Governor rating if you go live again. I just want you to analyze it again."

Below are a bunch of replies.

"No, going to the governor's office is too expensive. Let's visit his grave instead, it's more economical."

"Why bother going to the grave? Just burn paper money. I have a poster from Starry Night that just sold 700 million copies. Print it out and burn it for him, so he can see what a world-famous painting looks like."

The entire Chinese internet was filled with an absurd yet joyful atmosphere.

This is just like winning the League of Legends World Championship.

At least for this moment, Starry Games has gained several days of "freedom from criticism," and Starry Games' fans have also been granted the privilege of "collectively popping champagne."

(End of this chapter)