Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 286: 284: Fun-loving people urgently striving for performance

After all, looking at the comment section, the players seemed to be on the verge of rioting.

But Lincoln was very calm, even reassuring her: “It’s a small matter, don’t worry about it.”

“But it’s only been a few minutes, and it’s already on the hourly trending topics list!” Samuel couldn’t calm down, “At this rate, it might get scolded onto the hot search list!”

“Isn’t that better?” Lincoln was quite happy, “Once it’s on the hot search list, more netizens will see it!”

“…” Samuel was silent for a moment, “More netizens will scold it too…” “Think about it this way, how many people have seen the trailer by now?”

Samuel lowered her head and looked at her mobile phone, “The view count on the three platforms has exceeded 8 million; even considering multiple views, at least over 4 million players have seen it.” “How many comments are there?”

“Over 83,000.”

“There you go! Only a minority commented. And besides, after a while, when the players’ excitement dies down, the calm comments will regain the upper hand. No need to worry, no need to worry.”

Samuel really wanted to say: there could be many people scolding it in their hearts but not saying it in the comments…

But it was still inappropriate to directly debunk the boss’s claim, so she could only pray he was right.

“Also, who’s the ‘Dream’ you added as a special thanks?” Samuel asked about another doubt.

“A friend who helped a lot with getting the game done so quickly.”

Lincoln briefly explained and then, without waiting for Samuel to continue asking, cut off the conversation: “Let’s not talk about that for now. There’s something else I need you to help me with.”

“What is it?”

Lincoln took out a USB drive from his pocket and handed it to Samuel, “Take this and go through the review and rating process again.”

Samuel’s eyes widened, throwing her previous doubts to the back of her mind.

A terrifying thought crossed her mind, and she unusually lost her composure, exclaiming in a much louder voice than usual: “Another new game?”

—Are you even human?

“No, no, no.” Lincoln waved his hands repeatedly, “It’s actually the public map of Metropolis. I extracted it from “Assassins’ Alliance” and wanted to re-rate it.”

“I see.” Samuel breathed a sigh of relief, her excitement subsiding.

But soon, she became puzzled again: ‘Why do you need to rate it separately?”

Lincoln explained: “The amusement park is now open to players under 16. Metropolis is also something we’ve worked hard on, and we’re still constantly updating and expanding its content. It would be a waste to not let players see it.”

“I see.” Samuel nodded, “I understand, I’ll prepare the information and send it over before the end of work.”

Lincoln’s real purpose was actually a bit more than that, but he didn’t want to explain further; he thought it would be too troublesome.

His plan was to make more use of Metropolis, which could not only have [Metropolis Honorary Citizens], but also [Light Encounter Honorary Players], [Wind Traveler Honorary Players], and even [Night City Honorary Citizens].

But the prerequisite for all these was to unify the ratings.

Otherwise. the honorary plavers of the all-ages casual games would not be able

to enter Metropolis.

Even the Honorary Players of “Assassins’ Alliance” wouldn’t be able to enter [17+] rated Night City for some people…

So the public map should be extracted from the game, and the combat elements that cause the rating to increase should be removed, making it an all-ages map.

Afterwards, he would also make a copy of Night City, likewise removing content that raises the rating and linking it with Metropolis.

—Of course, considering Night City’s “special service industry” was a bit excessive, the task might be a bit troublesome…

But it’s all a matter of effort!

Just give Fred an arranged date as a break, and while he’s not around, modify the map. It should be done pretty quickly.

Just as Samuel left the office with her new task, Randall came over.

—Today, the office move had already been announced to be completed, and Randall’s team was among the last two groups to move over.

The original office was also being kept as a base for the marketing and legal departments.

On his first day at the new company, Randall rushed to see Lincoln right away as he felt his operations team had been neglected for quite some time.

His purpose was straightforward: “Assassins’ Alliance, it’s time to prepare for the official competition, right?”

Yes, the previously held Freedom Day event had been grand and lively.

But in the end, it was still an in-game event and not an official esports competition.

After that event, however, Lincoln’s enthusiasm for “competitions” had already been mostly exhausted…

So—

“Yes, it can definitely proceed.” Lincoln nodded seriously.

“Then, the preparation for the ‘Assassins’ Alliance’ Esports competition officially begins now. You have complete decision-making authority for all related matters! Samuel can assist you with competition-related matters. If necessary, you can also bring in relevant talents as long as they pass the background check, and you can make all the decisions.”

Randall stared at Lincoln in surprise, only managing to say one word after a moment- “Huh?”

Obviously, he did not expect Lincoln to leave everything in his hands and take a hands-off approach…

“At least take a look at the competition plan?” Randall tried to negotiate. “No, no, I won’t get involved. I believe you guys can do a great job! Keep it up!” If it were any other time, Lincoln might compromise a little.

However, Lincoln felt justified this time: you think I want to be a hands-off manager? Isn’t it to make time to build a game cabin for your wife?! So, hurry up and get it done without further negotiation!

Randall sighed helplessly and left Lincoln’s office.

Before entering the virtual world, Lincoln took a final look at the employees’ posts.

Liang Tian took a week off, stating that he would return to his hometown to set up an Experience Store.

After more than half a month, the five branches of the Cloud Dream Experience Store opened by Liang Tian had all entered stable operation, with the guests lining up every day.

Each store had a reliable store manager, and after ensuring that no faults would easily occur, Liang Tian took a leave of absence to return to his hometown, the county town, to bring the latest games and equipment to the local players.

So, Lincoln changed the request from [Leave] to [Business Trip], and after confirming, he left a message for him:

‘Ten years of drinking ice, the enthusiasm remains unwavering’

‘Keep it up’

Aside from Liang Tian, there was Jerome.

JérÖme’s flight to Izumo was about to take off.

Jerome had been very busy this week;

First, he led the team to acquire two IPS in two days and spent a day interviewing and training two subordinates, almost personally letting them familiarize themselves with the work they had to do later.

As for the negotiations with brands seeking to collaborate, they chose to suspend for now.

Because so far, none of the companies that have reached cooperation with Cloud Dream are nobodies; they must be very cautious.

After finishing these tasks, Jerome finally embarked on a plane to visit overseas partners.

It’s hard to ensure that the information obtained through telephone calls or invitations for face-to-face talks is reliable.

So far, not a single piece of information about Cloud Dream’s partner selection has leaked out, so the public knows nothing.

Even the staff from the marketing department on the plane still think they are just going abroad to acquire IPs.

Only after the plane lands will Jerome officially announce the purpose of the trip.

Lincoln quickly sent a text message wishing him a smooth journey.

Then, he entered the virtual world with ease.

At four in the afternoon, Samuel had all the materials ready and prepared to submit them for review, but couldn’t help but open the trailer’s comment section to see if the players had calmed down.

Then he was surprised to find out that the situation was developing just as the boss had predicted.

In the comment section, a large number of players had already calmed down and started discussing the content of the trailer.

But the content, well…

“Fine, let me tell you: behind the door is a fairytale-style candy amusement park where all the rides can be eaten directly!”

“Don’t listen to that nonsense upstairs, they can’t be eaten at all, they’re for cream pie fights!”

“Both of you are talking rubbish, it’s clearly a water gun battle! Divide into two teams and spray sugar syrup at each other with large-caliber water guns, and in the end, the winning team is determined by the coverage of the sugar syrup…”

“??? Did I participate in a fake closed beta? Isn’t it a big eater contest, to see who can eat the most?”

Yes, the players, who had originally thought that the trailer would expose all the true and false insiders and fun-loving people, found out:

That damn teaser actually extended their lives by a day!

Why not take this opportunity to improve their performance? How could they not take advantage of the chance given by Cloud Dream?!