Penguin Games Department, Zhao Yi's studio.
Ever since he was rejected at the door of miHoYo a fortnight ago, Zhao Yi had been accelerating the development of his game.
He didn't care a bit about the game made by the new miHoYo boss.
In his opinion, a small workshop like miHoYo couldn't possibly achieve anything.
Even with a new boss, what could they do?
In the domestic gaming industry, only Penguin and Tencent mattered; the rest were trash, mere scraps vying for a meager share of the pie.
Therefore, he was both furious and dismissive of You Lan Dai Er's rejection.
After returning, he spent a good half-month stewing in anger, vowing to make You Lan Dai Er and the others regret their decision once his game launched.
He would wait until the new miHoYo boss went bankrupt, then swoop in to take over, rescue miHoYo from the flames, and finally embrace the beautiful woman.
Hehehe… what a fantastic plot.
Even if something unexpected happened, even if Honkai Impact 3rd wasn't a complete flop, he could still use Penguin's backing to completely crush it.
In his calculations, miHoYo's new game was absolutely incapable of making any waves, and the new boss's bankruptcy was a foregone conclusion.
However…
What he couldn't have imagined was that miHoYo's Honkai Impact 3rd would, by a bizarre coincidence, be released on the same day as his game!
Not only that, but miHoYo's new game crushed his game's popularity, reducing it to a mere shadow.
A whole day passed, and not a single news article about Penguin's new game was to be found.
The hot searches were completely dominated by Eden and Honkai Impact 3rd.
On the Tap Tap new game rankings, Honkai Impact 3rd was far ahead, leaving other new games in the dust.
In the first 24 hours, it achieved an incredible 50 million downloads…
The game in second place barely reached 10 million downloads. As for the game Zhao Yi was responsible for… it was ranked 8th.
With such data, it wasn't even possible to compete with the first-place Honkai Impact 3rd, let alone the second-place game.
This outcome immediately attracted the attention of the higher-ups.
After all, since Penguin entered the gaming industry, it had never suffered such a crushing defeat.
Even if they lost, they shouldn't lose this badly, especially not to a small, unknown workshop.
However, considering that Eden had taken away most of the traffic, and his uncle had helped to cover up the situation, Zhao Yi didn't face any punishment.
His uncle merely gave him a stern scolding.
“Damn it… lucky for you,” Zhao Yi gritted his teeth, his mood extremely agitated.
“But I won't give up…”
Although he had an uncle in a high position, his current position wasn't something he could simply inherit with just an uncle. To solidify his position, he needed to demonstrate some ability.
Zhao Yi was capable and not stupid.
Seeing Honkai Impact 3rd achieve such success on the first day, he naturally wanted to analyze it.
After a full day of playing and analyzing, Zhao Yi had to admit that the new miHoYo boss was clever, a true marketing genius.
Honkai Impact 3rd's success wasn't solely due to Eden.
First, the game had a very clear target audience.
That was “anime.”
Coincidentally, none of the games released by Penguin or Tencent had any anime style whatsoever.
The new miHoYo boss could accurately seize this opportunity and launch a swift attack, snatching a large chunk of the pie from Penguin and Tencent’s mouths… This alone was enough to make anyone in the gaming industry turn their heads.
“Anime… why didn’t I think of that?”
Realizing this, Zhao Yi felt a flash of inspiration.
Besides its anime style, Honkai Impact 3rd’s greatest strengths were its… plot, beautiful girls, and art style.
He didn't have to worry about the art style. With Penguin's resources, they could create something incredible if they wanted to.
As for the remaining "plot" and "beautiful girls"...
“If we directly collaborate with a famous anime and adapt it into a game…”
Zhao Yi abruptly stood up, a look of狂喜 (kuáng xǐ) on his face.
He hurriedly picked up his phone and called his uncle.
“Xiao Yi, what’s the matter?”
“Uncle, I have a great idea…”
Zhao Yi then carefully explained his idea.
On the other end of the line, a middle-aged man nodded silently: “It seems you still have some talent, but this approach isn't suitable for Penguin.”
“Why?” Zhao Yi was a little confused.
“Over the years, the online criticism towards Penguin, the higher-ups are aware of it, and there were ideas to make changes…” The middle-aged man paused, then continued: “The game you made was a test the higher-ups gave you. The results are clear: the original route is inferior to imitation.”
“We have a huge amount of traffic; we don't need to take the risk of originality. Besides, your idea requires buying anime adaptation rights, which involves too much upfront investment.”
“The higher-ups have already given us a task: focus on that Honkai Impact 3rd and imitate it.”
“Don't think too hard, and miHoYo has already paved the way for us. All we need to do is quickly create Honkai Impact 4th. Do you understand?”
Zhao Yi slapped his thigh: “Oh, right! How could I have forgotten…”
“I understand, Uncle. So what do I do next?”
“Next, everyone in your studio will come to my side to help. Leave the game you were working on to someone else.”
After hanging up the phone, Zhao Yi sneered: “miHoYo… your good days are numbered!”
Although miHoYo managed to snatch a large chunk of the pie from Penguin and Tencent by targeting the anime audience.
But what is Penguin?
A famous imitation genius! Give them half a month, and they can use their powerful team to successfully “imitate” a “similar” game.
Then, relying on Penguin's massive traffic, taking down a small workshop would be a piece of cake, right?
“It seems the higher-ups must have contacted the miHoYo boss.”
“Heh, what a fool! We offered to acquire you as a gesture of goodwill. Don't blame us if you don't appreciate it.”
…