Chapter 101: Sweeping the World (Part 2)

Rocky had never held Huaxia games in high regard.

In his mind, Huaxia games were backward.

This didn’t just refer to outdated gameplay, but also the graphics, the mechanics, and the core game design…

Every aspect was stuck in a primitive stage.

When he received Plants vs. Zombies, Rocky had only accepted it to save face for someone else.

Thomson…

The founder and organizer of the TCA games, Thomson was not only a massive personal influence in the gaming circle, but his family also carried significant weight in New York.

When he excitedly brought over this Huaxia game…

Rocky naturally found it difficult to refuse and could only nod in agreement.

Although there had been some negative rumors surrounding TCA this year, they were quickly suppressed, and he hadn’t bothered to look into them.

This didn’t hinder his core position in the international gaming market.

Whether out of personal friendship or professional courtesy, this was a favor he had to grant.

And so, he agreed to handle the regional distribution.

“Treat this game as a paid title.”

“Where should we put it? Just stick it on our company’s third-tier game recommendation page.”

“Rotate the promotional resources with the other games; there’s no need to give it too much attention…”

“…”

Back in Huaxia, the download for this game was completely free. However, in America, the game was released as a paid, legitimate download.

The price was set at five dollars per download.

Well, that was standard for a typical single-player game.

A portion of the revenue would cover the American company’s operations, while the rest would be sent back to Huaxia as royalties.

A buyout was out of the question!

Even if Rocky respected Thomson, he would never buy out a game with a name as strange as Plants vs. Zombies.

Wasn’t several million dollars real money?

How could he just throw it away?

Was he supposed to be insane?

If Plants vs. Zombies sold well, they would keep selling it. If it flopped, they would just pull it from the shelves. Either way, he had given Thomson enough face.

That was Rocky’s decision.

November 13th.

The game was listed on the American UC single-player game store.

It wasn’t on the front page, but on a third-tier page. Generally, third-tier pages were the default graveyard for games the merchants didn’t think highly of. Many players wouldn’t even bother clicking through to see them.

The games recommended there were consistently garbage. Usually, once a player touched one, they would unleash a torrent of abuse and demand their money back.

In Rocky’s eyes, Huaxia games were basically all like that.

He couldn’t be blamed for thinking so!

After all, he had paid attention to Huaxia games in the early years. He had even gone out of his way to buy out a shooting game called Mysterious Thunder from Mumaen Technology.

But…

The result was a catastrophic loss, and the players had absolutely shredded it in reviews.

Many Huaxia games followed after that. Initially, they still ran evaluations, but after numerous tests proved that Huaxia games were consistently terrible, the company eventually stopped bothering with evaluations altogether. Whenever they received a game, they just tossed it onto the third-tier pages to sink or swim on its own.

In fact, history had proven that these Huaxia games were indeed trash. Aside from Legend of Sword and Fairy, which managed to make a small splash and gain some reputation, the rest…

Were unwatchable!

Half a day passed quickly.

Rocky sipped a cup of coffee, standing quietly on the 20th floor of the UC Building, looking down at all the cars and pedestrians below.

They looked like ants.

This was his business empire.

He was very satisfied with his current status.

Just as he was about to finish his routine of admiring the view and head back to his office to work, his assistant rushed in with data in hand, her eyes wide with shock!

“Ah! Oh my God, this is crazy!”

“I’ve never seen anything like this, heavens…”

“Mr. Rocky, it seems we’ve thrown a masterpiece into the trash heap!”

“…”

“…”

Rocky looked at the expression on his assistant’s face.

He found it strange.

“What’s wrong, Katie?”

“Just now, despite only being on the third-tier recommendation page, Plants vs. Zombies actually broke into the top fifty of the download charts! And its popularity seems to be skyrocketing. It’s already climbed to the forties…”

“Huh?” Rocky was dazed, finding it hard to believe his own ears for a moment.

“I just had the technical and evaluation departments re-evaluate the game. The result is that this game is a groundbreaking Semi-Masterpiece…” Katie adjusted her glasses and immediately held up the evaluation report.

“…” Rocky took the report and saw a specific comment inside.

He was stunned!

A Semi-Masterpiece!

That title wasn’t something just any game could earn. Generally, any game that received such an evaluation in this company was a guaranteed candidate for a global hit of the year!

In other words, it was the kind of game that would make them money until their hands cramped from counting it.

“Mr. Rocky, a work like this cannot stay in the third-tier pages with that trash. I’m here to apply for a move to the first-tier recommendation page…” After seeing Rocky’s shock, Katie also felt it was incredible, but she still performed her duties diligently.

In their world…

Sales spoke for everything!

After all, the point of running a company was to make money. No one would turn their back on profit, and it was even more impossible to leave a potential blockbuster buried in the trash…

Wouldn’t that mean their brains had been eaten by zombies?

Ugh…

Damn that evaluation department, I’m starting to get influenced by the game’s theme!

“Has Huaxia finally produced a high-quality game after all these years? But why have I never heard of this company, Universe Technology?” Rocky nodded, but the shock in his eyes only deepened.

Although Huaxia’s games were usually subpar, he still monitored the development of the Huaxia gaming industry every six months.

“This game company hasn’t even been established for half a year!”

“What? They conceived and built a game like this in just six months?” Rocky was astonished.

“No, this game is their company’s fifth work!” Katie looked at Rocky with a serious expression.

“My God, how is that possible? What were their previous works?”

“I was shocked when I got the news too. The controversial Road Rash from the TCA awards was actually produced by Universe Technology. It’s just that while Road Rash is very famous in Huaxia, not many people outside the country have heard of it. We didn’t pay much attention to it at the time. I’ve already instructed the marketing department to evaluate Road Rash. In fact, the game previously collaborated with the BMW Group in Germany, but because it was through their Huaxia branch, it didn’t cause much of an international sensation…” Katie explained earnestly as she looked at Rocky.

Not long after she finished speaking, her phone rang.

“What! What did you say? Road Rash is also a Semi-Masterpiece? The marketing department is very optimistic about it? They strongly recommend importing it?”

“You’re saying this game breaks the boundaries of other racing genres and has high playability?”

“…”

After Katie hung up the phone, her eyes sparkled with excitement as she looked at Rocky in surprise.

“Boss! I suggest we contact the Huaxia side. If possible, we should secure Road Rash. It might have some restrictions in Huaxia, but there are absolutely none over here!” Katie’s voice was filled with excitement as she pushed up her glasses and made her recommendation.

“Good! By the way, does this company have any other games?”

“I’ll have the marketing department continue their evaluation immediately. The company has two other games!”

“Excellent!”

Katie left in a hurry.

Rocky, meanwhile, returned to his office.

He found it hard to believe.

A Huaxia game company could actually produce a Semi-Masterpiece according to their marketing department, and they had two of them at once?

This was truly staggering!

The first thing Rocky did upon returning to his office was open the popularity rankings on his computer.

Plants vs. Zombies had already reached the number one spot on the third-tier page!

Furthermore, in the time it took for their brief conversation, its download ranking had climbed another ten spots, breaking into the top thirty…

It had only been on sale for three hours!

The game’s downloads had already surpassed ten thousand!

Good heavens!

These were statistics from a third-tier page!

A download count of ten thousand stood out like a crane among chickens^[1] compared to the dozens, hundreds, or at most a thousand downloads of its peers.

There were countless comments below!

In the past, players spent all their time cursing the games on these third-tier pages.

Now, many players were using exclamation points to describe it as a “Masterpiece.” Comments like “My God, why is this game on a third-tier page?”, “I almost missed this!”, “Damn, this game is fun!”, and “Highly recommended!” flooded the section.

Shortly after, the operations department moved Plants vs. Zombies to the primary front page and added a “HOT” tag to the game’s download page.

After about ten minutes of relative calm, the game’s download numbers began to skyrocket like crazy.

In less than half an hour, the paid downloads surged to twenty or thirty thousand!

And those were paid downloads!

People were actually spending money!

At that moment…

Rocky felt as if he could see gold coins dancing in sync with his pounding heart.

About two hours later…

He heard a knock at the door.

Then, he saw Katie rushing back in.

“The game Beat the Grass Mud Horse, while a small title, received an evaluation score of over sixty. If the graphics were more refined, the score would likely be over seventy. We recommend importing and optimizing it! Once optimized, it has the potential to be a hit!”

“The romance version of God of Conquest scored an eighty, which puts it in the excellent category…”

“The study version of God of Conquest is harder to judge. Opinions are divided. Some evaluators think it’s a hit Semi-Masterpiece, while others think it’s quite average and find the difficulty a bit high. However, even the evaluators who found it average gave it a passing score of sixty. If possible, I suggest we bundle it for import to test the market reaction. Projections suggest this game also has hit potential…”

“In summary, every game produced by Universe Technology so far is of excellent quality!”

“…”

As Rocky listened to Katie calmly deliver this series of reports, he became incredibly agitated!

He was so excited he was speechless.

To receive unanimous approval from his company’s evaluators meant these games were guaranteed to make money-a lot of money!

He hadn’t expected to receive such a staggering gift at the end of the year!

He was ecstatic!

Then, while marveling at how miraculous Universe Technology was, he also felt a sense of professional negligence.

In less than half a year, they had produced so many excellent works, and he hadn’t even known…

“Boss?”

“Negotiate with Universe Technology. Bundle and import^[2] every single one of their games!”

“Understood.”

“Wait. If possible, go to Huaxia yourself. See for yourself what kind of company this really is!”

“Will do.”

After Katie left, Rocky couldn’t suppress his excitement and pulled out his phone!

“Mr. Thomson, I love you! I love you to death! I want to kiss you so hard right now that your own mother wouldn’t recognize you!”

“????”

…

“This is a trash game, a total waste of time!”

“The biggest failure from Universe Technology. No wonder it couldn’t win a TCA award!”

“Anyone who plays this game is an idiot.”

“Plants vs. Zombies is garbage, it’s not fun at all!”

“…”

“…”

The afternoon of November 13th.

Countless internet trolls appeared across various Tieba forums, all of them bashing Plants vs. Zombies in unison.

However…

It seemed to be useless.

The online downloads for Plants vs. Zombies continued to charge toward the one-million mark like a runaway train, showing no signs of slowing down despite the haters and the manufactured controversy.

After a brief surge of criticism, the internet trolls attacking Plants vs. Zombies were instantly drowned out by a flood of game reviews on Tieba.

The internet was also teeming with posts asking for help.

In these help threads, some players were stuck on level 4-3, others didn’t know how to optimize their plant layouts, and some were searching for better strategies. Of course, there were also those hunting for cheats.

A massive wave of popularity had swept through the gaming Tieba, and it wasn’t just limited to gaming circles anymore – it had officially gone viral!

Even people who weren’t part of the gaming community were talking about the sensation that was Plants vs. Zombies…

Many game companies in Huaxia suddenly realized something…

They realized that Plants vs. Zombies was unstoppable.

No matter how much they tried to obstruct it, they couldn’t stop this game from becoming a blockbuster hit!

Damn it…

Universe Technology had produced another smash hit!

How were they supposed to handle this?

…

Night.

It was late.

Yinlun Game Technology.

A middle-aged man was chain-smoking, pacing back and forth in his office, feeling both irritable and troubled.

When the data on his screen showed that downloads had surpassed one million, the man suddenly broke into a fit of coughing…

His emotions were spiraling out of control, and his eyes were bloodshot.

This man’s name was Song Chaoyang.

The emergence of Universe Technology had forced him to double his company’s salaries, causing him massive financial losses. He felt both hatred and deep regret.

He hated the losses his company suffered, and he regretted why he hadn’t hired Zhang Yang in the first place.

And so!

He had participated in the TCA, bribing the judges to cast dissenting votes against Road Rash.

He didn’t want to see Universe Technology making a name for itself on the international stage.

Did it bring shame to the country internationally?

What did that have to do with him? It was anonymous anyway! Besides, the rules stated that the voting records couldn’t be exposed…

So, why should it matter?

Was he being unpatriotic?

Could patriotism pay his bills?

In fact, the various internet trolls and the voices slandering Zhang Yang were the result of him teaming up with other companies to take Zhang Yang down.

They wanted to crush Zhang Yang completely.

When an ambitious young man falls from the highest peak, there is a very high probability he will never be able to climb back up again.

At the beginning of the month, Zhang Yang’s company had indeed gone quiet.

This had made him very happy.

But…

Things were becoming increasingly wrong.

“One million… how can his downloads be at one million!”

Staring at the data on the screen, Song Chaoyang’s mental state began to crumble.

He never imagined that Zhang Yang, after hitting rock bottom, would return like a monstrous tidal wave sweeping through the entire gaming industry.

Even more unthinkable was that a new record was about to be born.

“It’s only because it’s free!”

“Yes, free! It’s free!”

“…”

Song Chaoyang tried to comfort himself with these thoughts.

But a subsequent short message nearly made his heart stop.

“What!”

“Plants vs. Zombies is a hit in America?”

“And they’re charging for it there?”

“I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it!”

“How is that possible? How can that be…”

“Damn it! To hell with this! It’s like seeing a ghost!”

“…”

(End of Chapter)