Agreeing to Create Bad Games, What the Hell Is ‘Titanfall’? Chapter 46

Oh—right.

After a moment of thought, Chu Qingzhou remembered.

This scene in front of her seemed just like Gu Sheng’s first interview.

Back then, too, she’d raised an objection, but the boss had acted like she’d gone crazy, singing Gu Sheng’s praises like there was no tomorrow.

Were these two... up to something?

Chu Qingzhou furrowed her brows.

One's a quirky weirdo, and the other's a rich fool.

Gu Sheng was like a sly military strategist, while Miaomiao was a clueless boss. One was bold with ideas, and the other bold with action.

Chu Qingzhou opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t figure out where to start. So, wisely, she chose to keep quiet. Honestly, she was curious to see what kind of crazy plan these two were going to come up with this time.

Gu Sheng hadn’t expected Shen Miaomiao to agree so readily.

He blinked in surprise.

“Very good? So... we’re going ahead with it?”

Seeing his shocked face, Shen Miaomiao chuckled.

“What’s up with you? It’s rare to see you so lacking in confidence!”

Go ahead with it? Hell yeah, we’re going ahead!

Gu Sheng, suggesting a big-spending plan for once, had her grinning from ear to ear.

The best part was, this proposal hit her sweet spot!

Earlier, she’d been racking her brain over how to bring up the topic of developing a motion-sensing pod.

After all, everyone knew that entering the motion-sensing pod market was a huge risk.

Think about it!

As of the end of this month, according to the finance department’s numbers, Golden Wind’s total revenue was only around 3 million.

For a small game company like theirs, that wasn’t exactly bad.

But in the motion-sensing pod market? That was peanuts!

If she brought up the idea of getting into motion-sensing pods at a meeting, she’d probably get shot down by all the higher-ups.

Not that she really cared what others thought.

Her main concern was whether Gu Sheng would object.

If the project lead didn’t give the green light, the project couldn’t move forward.

Exactly.

On the surface, it seemed like she was Gu Sheng’s boss. But in reality, their roles were reversed in many ways.

That’s why she’d specifically called Gu Sheng in today—to pitch her idea and hopefully win him over.

But to her surprise—

Gu Sheng was already on the same page as her!

Sure enough, no matter how mature and steady a person seemed, once they’d tasted a few victories, they’d start getting cocky.

And Gu Sheng was practically a legend!

Since his debut, three games—three massive hits, all smashing sales records across platforms.

His latest work had even broken multiple records on the platform.

He’d been awarded the title of “Supernova Designer” by a top gaming platform, and the media couldn’t get enough of him.

Ever since he’d stepped into the gaming world, he’d been undefeated—a young genius, soaring high. How could he not get a little full of himself?

Exactly.

Shen Miaomiao didn’t know about Gu Sheng’s past life, so it was only natural for her to think that his bold proposal to enter the motion-sensing pod market was just—

Because he was cocky.

Perfect!

The moment someone gets cocky, they start making dumb moves. The old sharp mind? Gone.

Looks like my good times are finally on the horizon!

Losing five bucks was just the beginning.

This time, Shen Miaomiao was ready to go big!

Grinning, her little white teeth showing, she said:

“I’ve actually been interested in the motion-sensing pod project since that last conference,”

“I think it’s a great market, and there’s a lot of potential for us.”

Chu Qingzhou listened from the side, her face a mask of awkwardness.

At this moment, Shen Miaomiao looked just like one of those clueless, greasy middle-aged bosses—totally ignorant but green with envy over anything that seemed hot.

See e-commerce booming today? She’d rush to get her team on e-commerce.

See streaming trending tomorrow? She’d immediately have her team jump into streaming.

See short videos on fire the day after? She’d have her team chase after that too.

She only saw how much money those projects were making, without the faintest clue about how to actually run them.

Her favorite lines?

“If others can succeed, why can’t we?”

And,

“You need to get big results with small money—that’s how you prove your ability.”

Then she’d cook up a bunch of half-baked, wildly off-the-mark plans, run her employees ragged, and achieve absolutely nothing in the end.

Of course, unlike those clueless bosses, there was a key difference with Shen Miaomiao—

The typical clueless boss might not understand anything, but at least they’d try to cut costs and squeeze every last drop out of their workers to get results.

But Shen Miaomiao? She didn’t care about costs at all. She threw money around like it was confetti, as if she had a personal vendetta against it.

Naturally!

With a boss like that, the employees couldn’t be happier.

Unlimited budget!

As long as it was within the company’s financial capacity, they could go wild!

This was the dream of every designer.

Seeing how quickly Shen Miaomiao agreed, Gu Sheng grinned.

“Well, if that’s the case, our investment scale will need to increase...”

Shen Miaomiao’s eyes lit up.

See! This is what a pro looks like!

The project wasn’t even set yet, and he was already asking for more money. What a gem!

“Come, come, tell me more…”

Shen Miaomiao beamed, gesturing for Gu Sheng to continue.

She loved hearing about spending money.

“To break into the motion-sensing pod market, we first need to secure equipment support,” Gu Sheng explained.

“From what I know, there are five main manufacturers of motion-sensing pods globally—three of them are foreign companies. The remaining two are Xunteng Technology’s ‘Polar Bear 2nd Gen’ and YiYou Technology’s ‘YiYou X1’.”

“The YiYou X1 has only been around for a few years, so its market share is relatively small,”

“But considering that all our games are launched on the YiYou platform, going with YiYou X1 gives us better value for money.”

That was Gu Sheng’s well-thought-out assessment.

He knew that the profit models for motion-sensing pods and gaming platforms were different.

Typically, gaming platforms made money through commissions, usually around 30%. YiYou’s cut was lower, only 20%, and to support indie games, they’d even introduced a special policy this year:

For games with a total investment under 500,000, they waived the commission altogether.

That was one of the main reasons Gu Sheng had always launched his games on YiYou.

But motion-sensing pods operated differently.

With only a few manufacturers worldwide, it was a seller’s market.

So, if a game wanted to be available on a motion-sensing pod, the developer not only had to pay a commission, but also a ‘device access fee’.

That could range from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands.

Gu Sheng found this unreasonable, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

“My suggestion to go with YiYou X1 is mainly because its access fee and commission are both lower,” Gu Sheng explained.

“Plus, given our current ‘honeymoon’ relationship with YiYou, I think we still have room to negotiate the price.”

Gu Sheng’s reasoning was solid.

But Shen Miaomiao frowned.

She was a bit torn.

Looking at market share, she definitely leaned toward the YiYou X1.

After all, lower market share meant fewer players, which could help suppress game sales.

But the problem was, the YiYou X1’s access fee and commission were also lower—

That wouldn’t help her rack up a big spend.

Hmm—

What to do?

Shen Miaomiao mulled it over.

Was there no option that combined low market share with high access fees?

Should she develop her own motion-sensing pod?

No way.

She shook her head.

Developing a motion-sensing pod was a massive undertaking, with costs easily running into tens or even hundreds of millions.

Given Golden Wind’s current financial situation, they were a long way from being able to develop their own pod.

But if they grew big enough in the future, investing in motion-sensing pod development could be a fantastic way to burn through funds.

For now, she’d just keep that little scheme in the back of her mind.

Back to the problem at hand—

How could she have her cake and eat it too?

Maybe...

She should take another trip to Zhongjing, have a chat with Yan Sheng, and see if she could get them to bump up the price.