Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

The executives looked at each other in bewilderment.

Compared to Bobby, they are somewhat more aware of the current public opinion situation, and if we follow Bobby's suggestion, we can conduct reverse public relations.

This matter could escalate further.

But... Bobby isn't the same Bobby he was a few years ago. In the end, they could only nod silently and leave the office.

The room fell silent again, leaving Bobby alone.

Bobby's anger vanished, and he fell silent.

He likes authoritarianism and controlling everything, but Bobby isn't stupid.

On the contrary, having been in the gaming industry for so many years, he sees many things more clearly than outsiders.

It was precisely because he had a clear understanding of game development that he confidently reduced the budget and development staff for Warcraft 3 Remastered, because he believed that players would buy into the game simply because of the Warcraft 3 name.

But reality seems to have slapped me in the face.

"It shouldn't have been released at the same time as Spark..."

After a silence of more than ten minutes, Bobby came to a conclusion: he still believed that his decision was correct, and that Spark was the one who was wrong.

Chapter 555 Battlefront

"What is Blizzard doing?!"

"Are they crazy?!"

What an incompetent teammate!

Penguin Games.

Li Weixi was completely stunned when he saw the Blizzard announcement that had surfaced online.

What kind of public relations tactic is this? Is it adding fuel to the fire?

The first half of the statement was alright, explaining the problems with the Warcraft 3 remaster and promising to fix them.

Although the wording was extremely perfunctory and official.

At least they admitted their mistake, but the second half went completely off-topic, first saying that the Warcraft 3 remake received malicious negative reviews, then implying that "players' expectations were too high."

Good guy, really good guy.

The chef who made the dish turned around and said the diners were too picky.

Li Weixi stared at the backend data, his expression growing increasingly grim.

The number of refund requests for Warcraft III Remastered on WEGAME's backend is skyrocketing, with dozens of new refund requests popping up almost every second.

He had hoped that the Warcraft III remaster would generate buzz and bring some positive effects to Tencent Games' platform, but Blizzard's actions backfired spectacularly.

"Damn it, I was hoping Warcraft 3 would boost morale, but this is what happened."

Li Weixi couldn't help but curse.

Compared to the Spark Remastered Games Festival, which is like a fist, releasing all the remastered games at once, this festival is much more aggressive.

Because Steam is owned by different game publishers, their release dates are staggered.

This is actually in line with business logic. After all, staggered game releases allow each game to have sufficient exposure and discussion, avoiding resource waste.

Initially, Ma Xiao, Li Weixi, and Aldrich from Steam all believed that Spark would follow the same model.

After announcing the redesign of the game festival, they began releasing new games one by one.

However, the reality is quite the opposite.

Spark chose the ruthless approach of releasing all the remastered games at once.

Although this would result in a loss of sales, it created a powerful "remastered game storm" in terms of reputation and marketing, instantly attracting the attention of a large number of players.

Players were drawn to the intensive bombardment of remastered game lineups, and almost all their attention was focused on the Spark platform.

On Steam, while Warcraft III: Remastered, which was touted as a great start, did indeed have a successful opening, it was at a significant cost to the company.

This also resulted in the GTA remake, a major IP, appearing somewhat weak under the strong offensive of Starfire.

"It's alright, Brother Li, GTA should still be fine..."

Lee Wei-hee glanced at his assistant.

"Stable? Stable my ass."

"At least it's a GTA remake..."

"Heh, a remake? Didn't you see the trailer? Hoping for a GTA remake to turn things around? You might as well hope for Valve's Half-Life."

Lee Wei-hee was genuinely speechless.

WEGAME abandoned the international market in order to enter Steam and compete with Spark through Steam's game lineup.

However, as the fight went on, Li Weixi suddenly noticed something very strange.

It seems, it appears, that Steam can't beat Spark either?

"Damn it, how come even after bringing in Steam, we still can't beat Spark? Was bringing in Steam a complete waste?"

Li Weixi was speechless, and even his assistant next to him didn't know how to respond.

"What should I do?"

"What else can we do? We can only bite the bullet and go for it."

Li Weixi's voice carried a hint of determination.

"While a GTA remake might not be able to turn the tide, it shouldn't suffer the same critical backlash as Blizzard's version. And then there's Valve's Half-Life; that's our trump card..."

~~~

Whether Valve's Half-Life is a trump card or not, Shen Wansan doesn't know.

But he knew very well.

In this legendary second war in the gaming industry, it's clear that Spark has gained the upper hand.

Shen Wansan sat in his office, and on the computer screen in front of him was a video of a popular overseas content creator commenting on the Spark Reset Game Festival.

This blogger compared several remastered games available on the Spark platform with several remastered games already released or about to be released on Steam.

The conclusion was quite explosive.

Judging solely from the trailers, apart from Valve's own Half-Life Remastered and 2K's Mafia: Definitive Edition, which have received relatively good reviews on Steam, the rest are mostly...

Previously highly anticipated titles include the Warcraft III remake, Grand Theft Auto: Trilogy Ultimate Edition, and Command & Conquer: The Remastered Collection.

Now Warcraft III Remastered is directly

Microsoft's Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has received good reviews, but the game is available on the Microsoft Store and the Starfire Store.

Capcom's Resident Evil 3 Remake PC version was only released on the Spark platform.

So after a comparison, surprisingly, the works from Spark's Remastered Game Festival were superior in every aspect.

This is not only because Spark remastered a classic game, but also because they created a sequel to a classic IP.

Before this, these IPs had already been declared dead by the industry, or even forgotten, such as "Rise of the Dragon" and "Julius Caesar".

These are all games that are considered classics only within a very small circle. They are very famous and have a better reputation, but because they were released a long time ago, the new generation of players have hardly played them.

However, precisely because of this, their reset is all the more meaningful.

"I'd only heard people say this game was a classic, but I didn't expect it to be this fun. Is it really a game released in 2000? The gameplay feels even better than many modern games..."

Similar reviews are very common online, and it's easy to see from these reviews that Spark actually put a lot of thought into selecting the games.

"Brother Shen! The latest data report has been compiled."

Shen Wansan's assistant editor pushed open the door and entered, holding a report in his hand, his tone tinged with urgency.

"Quickly! Report this, then quickly break it down and prepare to publish an article."

So many years have passed.

1717's own website traffic was actually quite poor, but because of the addition of the major traffic keyword "Spark Platform", 1717's editorial department did not shrink.

Instead, it underwent a certain degree of expansion.

The biggest secret is speed. Compared to other media, 1717 is definitely top-notch in terms of reaction speed.

A quick reaction means you get to be among the first to try something new.

Take this data report, for example. Everyone knows that as long as the data report of this "game world war" is released, it will definitely generate traffic.

Just like Russia and Ukraine in later generations.

In no time, at least a dozen battlefronts and related accounts were created.

The majority of the traffic to these accounts each day comes from information about where the battle lines have progressed and the battle data for both sides.

The same logic applies now.

However, what everyone cares about is not the battle, but the sales figures.

Chapter 556 Single Player & Multiplayer

"Speak quickly, speak quickly."

"Yes, according to our own calculations, the total sales of the Spark Remastered Games Festival have exceeded 5 million copies in the first three days, with Heroes of Might and Magic III Remastered Edition accounting for the majority. Based on the number of reviews, positive reviews, and the number of cards redeemed, we estimate that sales have exceeded 3 million."

While the games based on the IPs "Rise of the Dragon" and "Julius Caesar" are good, it's clear that their popularity doesn't match that of "Heroes of Might and Magic III".

More importantly, Heroes of Might and Magic III had a historical advantage in marketing and promotion.

So this result is not surprising.

"The sales of the remastered versions of Rise of the Dragon and Julius Caesar are hard to predict, but based on the number of online players, they should sell 50 and 40 respectively."

In just three days, sales reached 50, which is actually quite good. Since Rise of the Dragon is a domestic theme, its overall sales are higher in China.

Julius Caesar, on the other hand, had higher sales overseas.

"In addition, sales of Rise of the Dragons 2 and Julius Caesar 5 should be higher than the remastered version, estimated at 60 and 50 respectively."

After listening to his assistant report the data, Shen Wansan casually asked a question.

"What about Activision Blizzard?"

"Warcraft 3 Reforged's rating has dropped to 0.5, and players are vehemently criticizing it. They haven't released any data, but there are calls for refunds online. Activision Blizzard's stock price is also continuing to fall, and the market clearly lacks confidence in them."

The assistant replied, with a hint of schadenfreude in his tone.

Shen Wansan, on the other hand, showed a look of delight.

"Spark really fought a brilliant battle this time."

It is often said that the media should report the news without bias, but as long as one is human, it is impossible for one to be without emotions and biases.

Take this "World War II of gaming" as an example.

In their previous promotional materials, Western media outlets practically touted Steam as a beacon of the industry and lauded a host of Western remastered games.

The response to Spark's remastered game festival was lukewarm.

Domestic media, on the other hand, take the opposite approach, due to both the different audience they reach and their different stances.

The Spark Reset Game Festival is currently a huge hit.

Shen Wansan also felt inexplicably inspired, and he wasn't the only one; several editors around him shared the same thought.

"That's right. Who would have thought that Xinghuo could beat Blizzard's Warcraft 3 with two ancient games? It's just too exaggerated."

Shen Wansan smiled.

"Do you think Xinghuo succeeded easily? They already had a large following, so when choosing to remake a game, they naturally didn't need to care about the popularity of the original IP. What they wanted was a good reputation."

In the gaming industry, reputation is a truly magical thing.

"On the surface, Spark is selling games this time, but in reality, it is selling 'trust' and using two well-received titles to solidify its reputation as the Reset Game Festival."

"trust?"

"That's right, trust."