Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 104
“President Shen is a person of character,”
Gu Sheng waved his hand, signaling Wang Xiaoming not to be surprised.
“Golden Wind has always been a company that values ability over seniority,”
“As a conscientious entrepreneur, President Shen has always emphasized one thing,”
“That is, heroes come from all walks of life.”
“She never cares what job someone had before coming in for an interview,”
“As long as you have good character, no criminal record, and love the gaming industry,”
“Then to Golden Wind, you’re someone with passion for games and a drive to contribute to the industry’s growth.”
“Golden Wind is constantly evolving,”
“So don’t be surprised,”
“Because in President Shen’s eyes—”
“You are absolutely qualified for this position!”
Hiss—!!!
Gu Sheng’s words hit Wang Xiaoming like a shot of adrenaline—
Right in the chest!
He couldn’t help but feel stirred, his spirit lifted!
What incredible vision! What openness!
Working in a company that genuinely cares about its people…
No wonder Golden Wind could constantly innovate, redefining the gaming landscape time after time with surprising creations!
“I understand now!”
Wang Xiaoming nodded solemnly.
It seemed his bold decision to quit was the right one!
From this moment on, his ordinary and unremarkable life was about to change completely.
A vibrant and imaginative career path now lay wide open before him!
“Also, I have one small request, sir,”
Wang Xiaoming hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
“Actually, the ID ‘Ordinary Xiao Wang’ doesn’t just represent me. I have a few friends under the same alias—maybe three to five of them,”
“Most of them are old classmates. Like me, they come from different industries, but we’ve all admired Golden Wind for a long time and taught ourselves the relevant skills.”
“Can I...?”
He wanted to bring his whole crew with him.
“Of course,”
Gu Sheng nodded.
“A team that’s already gelled will get twice the results with half the effort.”
Naturally, Gu Sheng was happy to accept the proposal.
Sure, these “lone wolves” couldn’t compare technically to those with formal training—
But when it came to creating and expanding gameplay content, they were sharp as a tack!
If he remembered correctly, the maps they’d modded were even more popular than some of the official ones!
And in operations, well—
It’s “operations” for a reason. “Ops” first, “maintenance” second.
For the technical side like maintenance, Gu Sheng could always get YiYou to provide training and help Wang Xiaoming and his team level up.
But for operations—understanding player preferences, designing content, planning events, and building collaborations—
That required talent.
It wasn’t something you could teach in a few workshops.
That took intuition, market sense, and game insight.
The “Ordinary Xiao Wang” team might be a wild bunch, but they’d proven their chops.
Defeating official maps with homemade content—
That’s no small feat. They were true grassroots experts.
Golden Wind’s projects were only going to increase in number.
Multiplayer competitive games wouldn't stop with PUBG.
You could hire maintenance personnel anytime—or even outsource them.
But a team with the kind of gamer radar that Ordinary Xiao Wang had?
Now that was rare.
So of course, Gu Sheng welcomed them with open arms.
The decision was made.
And after Wang Xiaoming left, Gu Sheng immediately reported it to Shen Miaomiao.
Shen Miaomiao nearly jumped out of her chair when she heard.
Well now!
Good!
A whole pack of wild-card heroes from the underworld!
I thought hiring an insurance agent as an ops supervisor was already peak absurdity—
Who knew the surprises just kept on coming!
One rogue hire ends up dragging in a whole gang of rogues!
With talent like this, how could I possibly not lose money on our next big shooter like PUBG?!
Hahahahaha——!!!
“Good! Too good!”
Shen Miaomiao gave Gu Sheng a big thumbs-up.
“You really know how to run interviews, Old Gu…”
And just like that—
A few days later, the Golden Wind ops department was officially established.
Seven people in total, led by Wang Xiaoming, responsible for PUBG’s post-launch support.
Aside from basic operations and maintenance,
Gu Sheng also gave them special authorization to contribute to game updates.
The ops team, centered around Wang Xiaoming, could pitch content ideas.
With Gu Sheng’s approval, they could even request budget and outsource production as needed.
On one side, Golden Wind was booming with energy and steady growth.
On the other—
The gaming world was roiling with tension, like a storm brewing on the horizon.
Because today—
YiYou announced the final list of development partners for its flagship YiYou X2 title across all major platforms.
The partners were:
Angry Flame Games, an established racing game developer deeply tied to YiYou;
Kol, a veteran Japanese sports game studio;
And Golden Wind—the recent rising star who just snagged a gold crown at the Asia Esports Games and was known for their hit shooters.
The moment the official list dropped—
The entire gaming community exploded.
From media outlets to rival studios to gamer forums—
Everyone was talking.
Quick posts flooded the internet:
"YiYou names Golden Wind as the developer of its final flagship title!"
"Clash alert! YiYou X2 to release early next year, facing off directly with Polar Bear 3!"
"Scatter strategy or focused firepower? Industry insiders break down the sensory pod battle!"
Articles piled up fast:
“YiYou’s selection of Golden Wind for its X2 shooter reveals their head-to-head battle with XunTeng…”
“One against three—Golden Wind will face united pressure from industry veterans…”
“This move reeks of Tian Ji’s horse race strategy…”
“Has the Supernova gotten too cocky? Taking on the big three alone seems like a losing game…”
“Once a rising star, now a sacrificial pawn—Why did YiYou toss Golden Wind into the fire?”
Forum threads erupted:
“This is wild. Is YiYou throwing Golden Wind under the bus?”
“Exactly! It’s like they’re using Golden Wind as a shield, and even President Ou and Gu Sheng are okay with it?”
“Eh, guess they got cocky after winning the Asia Games.”
“Definitely feels like they’ve lost touch with reality.”
“Golden Wind looks broke AF in the middle of all this.”
“D*mn, one versus three? I thought YiYou was giving up on their shooter flagship!”
“Same! Especially with XunTeng rolling with those three powerhouses.”
“Just the amount of hardware alone will crush Golden Wind.”
“…”
Critics were skeptical across the board.
This was a flagship title, after all.
And to be a flagship game, the product needed high production value—
To fully showcase the capabilities of the next-gen sensory pods.
It wasn’t just about gameplay anymore.
Production cost now played a huge role.
No one could imagine—
How a game studio barely worth a hundred million could possibly break through such a stacked lineup.
“No matter what fancy tricks they pull, Golden Wind’s outmatched this time…”
In Shenzhen, inside XunTeng’s meeting room—
Executives and their partner studios were chatting and laughing over the news.
Ding Kai, director at Glory Games, was the first to speak:
“A flagship title demands industrial quality and production scale.”
“And those are both money-burners.”
“No matter how talented Golden Wind is, they’re still a small company.”
“As the saying goes—no flour, no bread.”
“Their budget is what, 200 million at best? And that’s pushing it.”
He held up two fingers, laughing.
“Two hundred million! What can you even do with that? Hahaha…”
The director from Tianlang nodded in agreement:
“Old Ding’s right,”
“With limited funds, Golden Wind has to give up either scale or quality.”
“But whichever they abandon, they lose—because those are the two pillars of a flagship game.”
“Unless…”
He paused, deep in thought.
XunTeng’s deputy asked, “Unless what?”
“Heh. Unless they cut their losses and go full survival mode.”
The director from ZhenTing Studio chuckled and added:
“Shrink the game’s scale as much as possible while keeping the production quality high,”
“Use cinematic storytelling to deliver a moving narrative and bring something fresh to the table,”
“Make players want to pay full price for a smaller game.”
Hiss—
That drew a collective gasp from the room.
Getting players to pay flagship prices for a smaller game?
That’s not design.
That’s magic.
The room burst into laughter.
“Forget it, forget it… too much thinking.”
“Let’s just enjoy the tea…”
“Let each team handle their own mess…”
The battle between YiYou and XunTeng sent ripples through the entire gaming industry.
And at the eye of the storm was none other than Golden Wind.
For a whole month,
Media, rival devs, and gamers watched Golden Wind like hawks,
Waiting for their response.
Would they issue a press release?
Share concept art?
Drop some hints on social media?
Finally—on the very last day of the month—
After a month of complete silence following their PUBG championship win—
Golden Wind broke the silence.
@GoldenWindOfficial:
“We’re honored to be invited once again to participate in the @YiYouPlatform Mini Game Festival!
The festival kicks off tomorrow night at 8 PM! Our adorable President Ou @MeowMeow and our handsome Supernova Designer @GuShengSam will be joining the live broadcast to reveal a brand-new two-player co-op mini game! Don’t miss it~”
The gaming world was stunned.
Media, competitors, players—utterly confused.
The comments section exploded:
“???”
“WTF?”
“HUH?”
“So we’ve been waiting for a flagship game, and you guys were making a mini game??”
“I’m losing my mind!”
“This is like two armies about to clash, and the general on one side starts playing jump rope.”
“Are you sure you’ve even been told you're the flagship developer?”
“Gu Sheng: Huh? I didn’t get the memo.”
“LOL this is absurd!”
“Golden Wind’s mini game > your flagship title”
“Now that’s a headline!”
“Time to apply to Shock Department tomorrow…”
The entire gaming community was floored.
Everyone had been eagerly waiting for a month like hungry raccoons in a melon patch—
Only to find out Golden Wind was busy prepping a mini game for a festival?
It was so ridiculous people didn’t even know whether to call Golden Wind cool-headed or just totally clueless.
But what they didn’t know was—
This was exactly the reaction Gu Sheng had been hoping for!
After all—
The whole point of this mini game was to attract attention and get more players to generate emotion points for him!
He’d been wondering how to draw attention to the livestream—
And YiYou’s flagship announcement caused the perfect stir.
As the hype grew, Gu Sheng was thrilled.
So he decided to keep them hanging.
Like an old player keeping all the suitors guessing—
He let the curiosity build.
Once the mini game dropped, he’d reveal it all.
That way, not only could he score free attention,
He could also ignite serious curiosity.
Clearly—
It worked.
And it worked brilliantly.
“Alright, check the equipment again…”
“Add another fill light over here…”
“Adjust the camera angle a bit more…”
“…”
In the bustling livestream studio,
Shen Miaomiao sat on the guest couch, a little nervous.
She tugged on Gu Sheng’s sleeve and whispered,
“Old Gu, are you nervous?”
“Nervous?”
Gu Sheng shrugged.
“I don’t even know how to spell that word.”
As a total extrovert, Gu Sheng could crack jokes in front of tens of thousands at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
A livestream? That was child’s play.
“Well, I’m a little nervous.”
Shen Miaomiao gave a crooked grin, eyeing the large monitor behind the camera—
It showed real-time comments and viewership.
The broadcast hadn’t even started,
And the stream already had over three million views.
The comments were flying by nonstop.
“I’m counting on you,”
She patted Gu Sheng on the arm, passing the baton.
“I just need a bit to get used to it. Once we get into the game, I’ll be fine.”
Crap.
Gu Sheng flinched.
She didn’t even realize—
That sentence made him nervous.
Because the game he’d prepped to harvest emotion points…
Was the infamous Overcooked, aka “Friendship Destroyer.”
He’d painted it in rosy terms:
Cook delicious meals, feel the warmth of home, delight happy customers, strengthen friendships, deepen love…
And Shen Miaomiao believed every word.
But he knew what the game really was.
Warmth of home while cooking?
Running in circles because you can’t find the fire extinguisher!
Delight customers?
Orders piling up until your brain explodes!
Deepen friendships and love?
Sky-high blood pressure and shattered relationships!
He still shuddered thinking of the time Little Nezha sprayed him all over the room with the water gun…
“…Make sure you keep your lady-like composure, we’re on livestream.”
Just in case, Gu Sheng gave her a friendly reminder.
“Huh?”
The out-of-nowhere comment threw Shen Miaomiao off.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Am I not ladylike today?”
She was genuinely confused.
Aside from that one time at settlement screen, she’d been calm the whole time.
Why would he say that?
Before she could press further—
The director’s voice rang out in the studio:
“All departments ready!”
“Three! Two! One!”
“Stream’s live!”
Click click click—
Three red camera lights lit up.
The stream went live to millions.
The host smiled brightly:
“Good evening, everyone! Welcome to the YiYou Mini Game Festival livestream!”
“Our annual mini game fest is back, and we know you’re all excited!”
“To match that energy—
We’ve invited some very special guests to kick things off!”
She turned dramatically, and the camera followed suit:
“Let’s welcome our featured guests—
President Shen Miaomiao of Golden Wind, and Supernova Designer Gu Sheng!”
Boom!
The stream erupted with excitement.
The show had begun.