My game is depressing worldwide.

Upon hearing this, Fang Juexia felt unbearably ashamed and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

After a long period of tension, Chen Xuan suddenly chuckled and said, "This isn't entirely your fault; after all, you're not the CEO of Pixiv."

Fang Juexia breathed a slight sigh of relief, then tentatively asked, "What about the matter of distributing Honkai Impact 3?"

"We still need Manager Fang to mediate slowly," Chen Xuan said with a smile. "The lifespan of a continuously operating game is very long, so there's no rush."

Is there no rush?

What's the difference between this and the collaboration falling through?

Fang Juexia was somewhat disappointed and angry.

The platform's higher-ups are incompetent.

Instead of embracing such a cash cow, they go and fawn over Tianshuo, a company that has long been stagnant and completely incapable of producing excellent works.

But there's no use being depressed; all we can do is maintain the current relationship and make plans later.

Since that's the case, Fang Juexia doesn't mind doing someone a favor.

"Mr. Chen, I heard that the Asylum Studio is experiencing some financial difficulties recently. I wonder if you have any plans to transfer ownership of the studio or offer some shares to raise funds?"

Chen Xuan raised an eyebrow.

The answer, of course, is no.

However, the other party's question was not unfounded.

The usual practice of major internet companies is to copy first, and if they can't copy, they buy; if they can't buy, they ruin the company, and then buy at a low price.

It seems this has caught someone's eye.

After Lenovo Pizhan and Tianshuo reached an agency agreement for "Starry Night", they faced unreasonable high commission rates from "Honkai Impact 3" and some previous conflicts with Tianshuo.

Even in the "Outlast" incident, they indirectly splashed dirty water on the other party, and the impact has not completely disappeared to this day.

If nothing unexpected happens, it should be this old nemesis.

Chen Xuan hesitated for a few seconds and then said, "Manager Fang, thank you. I need to leave for a few minutes, please wait a moment."

"Please go ahead."

After briefly leaving the meeting room, Chen Xuan summoned Yu Xiaoming directly.

"Has there been any negative comments about us online in the past day or two?"

"Of course, Brother Xuan, you know that our studio has been constantly working on things since our very first project. We've all become desensitized."

"I'm not referring to the kind of obviously paid online trolls that create unnecessary negativity. Are there any strange trends emerging among gamers?"

A bizarre trend?

Yu Xiaoming frowned and thought for a moment.

"There really are some... Recently, a group of die-hard fans from some unknown studio have been praising it everywhere. They say that Outlast is a milestone in the history of horror games, or that Outlast: Trials crushes all cooperative games, or that Invisible Guardian saved the short drama industry, or that the plot of To the Moon beats all domestic games."

Chen Xuan frowned slightly, then chuckled.

This is much smarter than Zheng Yanbin, who was defeated by him.

The effect of awkward criticism is far less than that of awkward praise.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be the saying that one fan is worth ten haters.

After all, games are all about the right audience.

Historically, only a few titles, such as the Mario series, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, or GTA, have been able to withstand all the excessive hype.

Even a masterpiece like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt still gets criticized, and many people dislike it.

Over time, this kind of awkward praise will evolve into a "meme" in the player community, and even players from unrelated fields will take a jab at you when they meet.

Only intervention from the national team can curb this strange trend to some extent.

These are representative examples of two types.

One is miHoYo, which has been used to being criticized, and sometimes even its own game fans make jokes about the negative things they hear.

One is Game Science, where Iron Fist and the Golden Cudgel work together to smash demons and monsters to pieces.

This is the destructive power of unwarranted praise.

Throwing dirty water is a timeless, classic, and effective tactic in business warfare.

Seeing Chen Xuan's expression, Yu Xiaoming realized something was wrong and asked timidly, "Brother Xuan, did I not do my job well? Have we been messed with again? Should we do something to fix this?"

"I've already guessed their next move," Chen Xuan chuckled.

"They seize upon the comments made by some of our extreme fans or trolls, and then spread them wildly across various gaming communities, short video platforms, and QQ groups."

"Then create some crazy and easily spread memes, and let some memes spread like wildfire."

"Finally, create a topic like, 'Your game is so amazing, why doesn't it win awards? Your game is a rip-off of xxx, come at me!' or 'What's wrong with your game? Are you biased?'"

"Like that."

Yu Xiaoming was speechless, and couldn't help but ask, "Brother Xuan, why does this look so familiar to you?"

"Nonsense, I've already done all that before."

"So we're just going to stand by and do nothing?"

This is where the insidiousness lies.

Even though you know exactly what your opponent will do, you still have no way to deal with it.

Otherwise, those game developers who were conservative about LGBT issues in the past wouldn't have knowingly added this content despite knowing it would damage their brand image.

For example, Chen Xuan's previous counterattack against Zheng Yanbin was a typical example of setting the agenda.

This is a classic case of waiting for you to jump in.

As expected, all of this is just preliminary groundwork; Tian Shuo will soon reveal his true intentions.

"Of course not." Chen Xuan scoffed. "I need to urge the other side to act quickly, or I'll miss out on this wave of popularity."

"......ah?"

"Alright, go back to work. Keep a close eye on the direction of public opinion online."

".......good."

Yu Xiaoming left, completely baffled.

Back in the meeting room.

Fang Juexia glanced at the time, stood up, and said goodbye: "In that case, I should leave after I take care of some other things in Lincheng."

"Actually, there's no need to rush. Manager Fang has been so kind to me before, so let me reciprocate by being a good host. How about this, come to the company the day after tomorrow morning and we can watch the awards ceremony together?"

Awards ceremony?

Fang Juexia was dumbfounded.

He certainly knew what Chen Xuan was talking about.

The WGA Awards ceremony, held annually at the end of the year, presents the best game of the year and is a grand event for gamers.

But......

My dear Mr. Chen, what's on your mind now isn't Zheng Yanbin or those little conflicts between you!

Tian Shuo has his eye on you.

This is no small matter.

If you don't try to come up with countermeasures in advance, how can you even be in the mood to look at WGA?

However, Fang Juexia was also a little curious. Since the other party was so fearless, they must have some kind of confidence.

"At the same time, I need to trouble Manager Fang to pass on a message," Chen Xuan said meaningfully, "I do have the idea of ​​raising funds, exchanging 3000 billion for 15% of the shares."

"what?"

Fang Juexia was dumbfounded.

What is this, a provocation?

This is clearly a provocation!

But what's the point?

"Mr. Chen, please think it over..."

"I've been thinking about it again. WGA is such a big event in the gaming industry. It would be more exciting if there were more people watching, right? How about this, let's invite the person in charge of the acquisition of the Asylum Studio from Tianshuo to come to the ceremony. We can also discuss the investment and acquisition matters while we're at it."

Although we don't know what Chen Xuan is up to.

Fang Juexia hesitated for two seconds, then nodded.

I just had a feeling in my heart.

Did this whole thing turn out badly despite good intentions?