Building a Gaming Empire From Scratch

Chapter 456: 439: Plan Advancement

When he used to play VR games, although the mechanics of different games were varied, the core skills required were quite similar.

The club could manage with a very streamlined team to participate in as many competitions as possible.

Of course, this also requires higher standards for professional players, making each and every main player of the club very important.

This is the reason why Lance, at a young age, could make so much money and clear the family debt.

Now, with the explosive development of the game market, his professional team even won the first national competition for virtual reality games, seizing a crucial opportunity once again.

Take-off was right in front of them!

Compared to many professional players, who had mediocre performances in the recently concluded competition due to their physical talent being leveled, his situation was already excellent.

Seize the opportunity, ride the wind, and multiply his income tenfold; it’s not impossible.

However, Lance couldn’t help but ask himself: Is making more money really what I want?

At this age, ordinary people might not think about this question too much.

But because of being trapped in family debt, Lance took responsibility, went from a rookie professional player to becoming a superstar player with a large fan base, and cleared the family debt.

What he has seen and experienced far exceeds ordinary peers, making his thought process more mature.

This allowed him to calmly ask himself when facing a massive opportunity: What is it that I really want?

Money?

Of course not.

Money is only a family need, the purpose is to pay off the debt.

The debt was already paid off long ago, and they even managed to save up a decent amount of money again.

The recent “Assassins’ Alliance” national competition further enriched this sum.

The money he personally received even exceeded the prize money set by Cloud Dream for the champion team.

Even though the prize money set by Cloud Dream was already the highest amount in domestic game competitions, it was still less than what the sponsors were offering.

Especially as a celebrity player, he had several personal sponsors.

The storm stirred up by Cloud Dream undoubtedly also affected countless brand owners, and those who had already invested in the esports field felt the strongest impact.

Before Cloud Dream, esports competitions always existed, but because the user base was relatively precise, the advertising effect was quite good.

However, the heats incited by Cloud Dream had reached an unprecedented level.

Although the buzz faded in the second half due to the release of new games and couldn’t maintain its growth momentum, the stable audience number was still astonishing.

Although in this way, the user base wasn’t as precise anymore, the powerful scale effect had completely compensated for it.

Compared to the astonishing exposure brought by competing players, the sponsorship and endorsement fees they paid were too cheap!

Of course, that was just for this round.

After this, many well-performing clubs should start reconsidering their offer.

Because big brands that could afford higher offers had already set their sights on this heating trend, eagerly planning to get involved and grab a piece of the cake.

Even some were simultaneously cooperating with Cloud Dream on one side and investing in esports competitions on the other side.

This was also the direct cause for the skyrocketing value of professional players.

Old sponsors increased their offers, new sponsors emerged, and live streaming platform contracts were reevaluated. Various aspects of these matters would appear before professional players, with or without their own understanding.

The prosperity of the esports industry seemed to be just around the corner, and all esports clubs were thrilled.

However, for the professional players themselves, the feelings were split between heaven and hell.

Because not all professional players could enjoy this prosperity.

This booming trend and hot money would only flood into areas related to virtual reality games.

If they couldn’t demonstrate their strength in virtual reality games, they were doomed to be left behind.

They might not necessarily be eliminated since previous PC, console, and VR competitions still existed.

But they were destined to miss out on this wave of prosperity and enthusiasm, even needing to worry about whether they’d be abandoned by the clubs in the future.

However, there was no other way, as the esports industry has always been a gathering of talents.

But now, there’s a change in the “talent” requirements.

Even though no one has figured out what qualities are truly needed for virtual reality games.

It doesn’t matter, just play a few rounds and it’ll be clear, as victories never lie.

In the past, people hadn’t completely figured out what qualities were required for VR games – not simply physical qualities and mindsets. Even the top VR professional players’ physical qualities were far inferior compared to professional athletes.

But that didn’t prevent clubs from finding the most gifted players.

Because the winning rate can prove everything.

Lance belonged to the lucky portion, his skills still satisfied the new game format even as the game medium changed.

However, at this juncture, he hesitated.

Because now he had a completely different choice – retire and return to school.

Going back to the path he had once abandoned.

Money would indeed be much less, but money has never been the goal – what to do with the money is the real goal.

Because his parents were loving and his family was happy since childhood, even debt hadn’t changed that.

So his life goal was to be like his parents: to start a family with an outstanding girl, living happily together.

Of course, if that girl were Shuihua, it would be even better…

In this naive boy’s heart, if his own education level couldn’t keep up and if Shuihua went to university and grad school while he only had a high school diploma, then their prospects might not be so optimistic.

In the heart of a 17-year-old, love truly matters more than the future.

He just hadn’t talked about this with anyone yet, only claiming that he missed school.

But this reason was enough for his parents.

Moreover, Daxia’s policy of protecting minors allowed him to completely ignore the club’s opinions and forcibly return to school.

The price to pay would be: never being able to return to this industry in the future.

Of course, Lance wouldn’t go that far, but it was true that when he signed the contract as a minor, he could only sign until he came of age.

There were only a few months left before his contract expired anyway…

After receiving this news, everyone at Burned Boat Club – the manager, coach, and boss – couldn’t hold back their tension.

While discussing the new contract for Lance with all the benefits maxed out, they suddenly heard that Lance wanted to retire?

They even had to wonder if he really wanted to retire, or if he was just looking for an excuse to terminate the contract and join another club?

The coach said, “Lance isn’t that kind of person.”

But the manager thought that with the fierce competition in the industry, it couldn’t be guaranteed that he wouldn’t be led astray by someone with ulterior motives.

The boss didn’t care about any of that, he just said one thing: “Keep him.”

All the clubs in the industry were looking forward to Cloud Dream’s second major national competition, and at this critical moment, they absolutely couldn’t lose a main player or even allow his mentality to be affected too much.

So…

“Resolve it as soon as possible!”

The boss only left two instructions before walking away, leaving the management to exchange glances.

The next morning at Burned Boat Club’s morning meeting, the manager presented a proposal –

[Esports professional players’ academic care plan]

Skipping past the forced reasons used to decorate the façade, the core content was just one point:

Allow professional virtual reality games players to complete their daytime schooling, and change their training time to the evening.

They could even take time off during exam weeks! So considerate it’s beyond words.

However, there’s one catch – this plan is application-based.

Players apply, the club reviews, and only after approval can it be implemented.

As for the conditions for approval?

We’ll talk about it later.

“Let’s all discuss whether this plan can work or not.”

At the same time, on social networking sites, a video quickly spread.

It was a team of players riding on the motorbikes they found at a supply point on Dinosaur Island, racing across it. They suddenly noticed a person and quickly rushed over to exchange information.

As the person turned around, it turned out to be Lincoln!

The team of players stopped their motorbikes, excitedly ran over: “Lincoln!!”

“Ah?” Lincoln was surprised, “How did you get here so fast? Oh well, wait a moment.”

Lincoln began setting up supply points right in front of the team.

He took out the most common supply point model from the panel, enlarged and adjusted it, then sunk it underground to modify the terrain.

It took only about ten seconds.

“You’re… not done with this?” a player blinked and asked uncertainly.

Lincoln slapped off the non-existent dust on his hands, not wanting to admit it.

After thinking, he suddenly stepped forward, stood in the middle of the players, and took three continuous photos with a camera.

“Let me give you a few group photos. Pretend you didn’t see me today, alright?”

“Anyway, have fun!”

Before waiting for the players to say anything, Lincoln quickly finished the series of tasks, then slipped away and disappeared from the scene.

Only the players’ puzzled faces remained in the camera lens.

“Dude, no one wants your group photos!!” the player who started the conversation appeared speechless.

“Wait! The group photos? You took them with your own camera and said you’d give them to us??” another player was even more speechless.

As they were complaining, several physical photos suddenly flew in from outside the lens and stopped in front of the players.

The players were silent for a moment, then looked around, and the camera followed suit.

“Lincoln? Boss Lin? Are you still lurking nearby peeping?”

But no one could answer their question, and there was no more movement around them.

They could only pick up the photos speechlessly, and the video ended.

This short video brought about high discussion rates.

The focus of everyone’s discussion was not Lincoln being “caught for not finishing his game” or his childish attempt to bluff his way through.

Everyone’s attention was on the part where Lincoln was creating the supply points on the scene.

This was the first time netizens saw Lincoln working on a game live.

And this production process was completely different from what they imagined!

No computer, no code, no complicated stuff at all. He just took out a model, enlarged it, adjusted the position of the objects inside, and then put it into the game map.

That’s it.

Netizens were dumbfounded –

“So this is how you make a game?!!”

“No wonder Cloud Dream can make games so fast! One month’s worth of production is equivalent to a year’s for others!”

“I feel like I could do it too!”

“With this technology and so many people, how can you guys only produce one game every two months?! Don’t your conscience hurt?!”

“Exactly! Hurry up and bring the new game!!”

“Of course, my conscience won’t hurt…” Lincoln shook his head and closed the comment section.

But he still sent a message to Fred and Samuel, asking them to advance the plan and find something for the players to do.

After sending the messages, Lincoln put down his phone, went downstairs to the lab.

With all the materials and equipment ready, the project had only been delayed for two days because of Dinosaur Island, and now it could finally begin.

Goal: In one week, live streaming while driving the Twin-Wing Propeller Fighter!