In the Internet age, who still makes traditional games?

Dream Building Game Company, General Manager's Office.

Xu Meng surveyed the clean and tidy office, touching the delicate grain of the solid wood desk, feeling a bit incredulous.

"Could it be that… working overtime really brings good fortune?"

In his previous world, he was an independent game developer. Staying up late and working overtime was as frequent as eating and drinking. Recently, he had been pushing himself too hard to meet the release date of his new game, "Elden Ring Ireland," and simply overworked himself to death.

When he woke up again, he was in this slightly different world.

The physical economy was declining, and the tide of striving and internal competition was rapidly receding.

People no longer planned so much for the future, but began to focus more on the present, enjoying the moment, indulging in the internet, and savoring life.

As a result, the cultural and entertainment industry suddenly ushered in a prosperous era.

Xu Meng transmigrated here, and his newly acquired identity was a member of this prosperity.

Still a game developer, but—

He directly turned over and became the boss!

But before he could sort out the chaotic memories in his head, there was a sudden, urgent knock at the door.

Mixed with the rapid knocking was the anxious voice of his assistant:

"Boss, something bad has happened!"

Xu Meng had no choice but to pause his recollection and said, "Come in."

The assistant didn't waste a second, instantly pushing the door open and walking in, "Boss, something bad, something bad! We're trending on Weiguang's hot search list!"

—Weiguang is Xia Country's largest social networking product, and the traffic from hot searches is astonishing.

"Isn't trending on a hot search a good thing?" Xu Meng asked, puzzled.

As an independent game developer, his two released games, "It Takes Three" and "Bao Ke Meng," had both successfully broken through their initial circles thanks to the exposure brought by the internet, avoiding a disastrous launch.

But the assistant was panicking, "It's saying our game is a flop and the company might be going bankrupt!"

"? ? ?"

Xu Meng was stunned.

What the hell?

I just became the boss, and the company is going bankrupt?

As if pulling a thread from a tangled ball, the scattered memories quickly became organized—

When he graduated from college, it coincided with the booming development of the game and entertainment industries, so he and his rich second-generation roommate, Zhang Yang, hit it off and created Dream Building Game Company.

They ambitiously rented a place, renovated, hired people, and developed games with enthusiasm and passion…

After working like crazy for a year and a half, they finally released the company's first game with anticipation—a two-dimensional shooting game called "Frost Snow Project."

But after the game was released, what they ushered in was not flowers and applause, but a series of setbacks.

Major companies in the industry released major version updates on the same day, and an unknown source of internet trolls frantically stirred up trouble.

At the same time, the game's rating was only 5.3, the reputation continued to deteriorate, the revenue plummeted, and the player retention data worsened day by day.

Finally, his good brother Zhang Yang had to tell him in this office:

The game is beyond saving.

His small villa had already been mortgaged to the bank, and two of his three houses had been sold. He really couldn't hold on any longer.

If they dragged it on any longer, not only would the investment be lost, but they would also owe the bank ten million.

But the predecessor was really unwilling, so he asked him if he could let him try harder.

The final result was…

Xu Meng leaned over and opened the drawer on the right side of the desk, taking out an agreement from inside:

"Dream Building Game Company Equity Transfer Agreement"

Zhang Yang unconditionally transferred his 70% equity to Xu Meng, and also gave him a car key—it was Zhang Yang's own car.

From that day on, this game company with hundreds of employees completely belonged to Xu Meng.

Zhang Yang himself went home empty-handed to admit his mistake to his father.

Before leaving, he didn't forget to say to Xu Meng: "Don't push yourself too hard. If it really doesn't work, go to Huacheng to find me. After I act obedient for a few years and get some gold coins from my dad, we'll make a comeback!"

—Zhang Yang was afraid that his efforts would end up being in vain, and that he would be unable to think straight after taking on a huge bank loan, so he gave him a heads-up in advance.

It must be said that Zhang Yang's vision was indeed good, and what happened later completely confirmed his prediction:

All the predecessor's efforts were declared invalid.

Whether it was optimizing the game, fixing bugs, giving players more benefits, or trying to draw cakes and look forward to the future, none of them could reverse the decline of "Frost Snow Project."

The company's liquid funds were about to run out, and the expected future income had fallen to the bottom.

Good news: The cost of renting the server has been rapidly reduced.

Bad news: Your players are almost gone.

Dream Building Game Company is indeed going to close down.

It might even be forced to close down before the bank loan repayment time because it couldn't pay employee salaries.

"What should we do, Senior? Should we respond?" Assistant Chen Mengling was flustered and didn't bother to hide her identity as a relative.

Her name is Chen Mengling, and she is actually Xu Meng and Zhang Yang's junior. She is about to graduate this year.

Originally, she wanted to officially join the company as soon as she graduated, but now…

It's hard to say whether she will graduate first or the company will close down first.

"Don't panic, I'll check the situation first."

Xu Meng took her phone and looked at the keyword hanging on the tail of the hot search list—

#DreamBuildingGamesAboutToBankrupt#

Clicking in, he found that the publisher was [Game Observation].

According to the information he got from his memory, this media outlet liked to report bad news in the game circle, and was especially good at predicting the closure of game companies. People gave it the nickname "Harbinger of Doom."

Industry colleagues kept their distance.

The amazing thing is that this media outlet can always get a lot of internal intelligence, and has accurately predicted the closure of a group of large and small studios many times. It is precisely by relying on this "whoever it says will die" reputation that they can create a considerable amount of popularity every time they make a prediction.

—Behind the barbaric development of the cultural and entertainment industry are waves of failing losers.

"Due to the 'Frost Snow Project's' market performance being far below expectations, and the revenue falling to the bottom, it is about to drag down Dream Building Games."

"According to internal sources, company employees are generally pessimistic about the future, and some employees have already begun looking for their next job. According to industry insiders, Dream Building Games is expected to start large-scale layoffs this month to reduce expenses."

"But according to former Dream Building Games employees, Dream Building Company also owes the bank a high loan. Even if it lays off employees to reduce expenses, it will not be able to repay the loan, and will still be unable to escape the fate of bankruptcy."

"Internal sources?" Xu Meng was taken aback. "There's a mole in the company!?"

The reaction of netizens in the comment section was also quite unfriendly:

"Serves them right! What kind of crap is this! Garbage optimization, foot-filled values, poor shooting feel, and crazy resource hoarding. The promised online multiplayer is like it doesn't exist. One sentence summary—super big turd!"

"Honestly, this is probably the most tightly wrapped female character I've ever seen in a two-dimensional game."

"Two-dimensional my ass! There are more male characters than female characters! And they're doing CP in the game. Am I here to be a third wheel, or a camera?"

"If I wanted to be a third wheel, would I bother running into the game to be one?!"

"With your art and modeling, don't even mention two-dimensional beautiful girls. It's not sexy at all."

"Lighting a candle in advance."

"Candle, candle, candle…"

…

Occasionally, there is a calmer comment, and the style is also:

"Actually, I can feel the development team's sincerity, but their ability is insufficient. Just having the attitude is really useless."

"First of all, I believe that Dream Building Games' starting point is good. Secondly, you better not start."

…

Xu Meng almost couldn't help but laugh out loud.

But the next second, he realized: He is now the boss of Dream Building Company, and 'Frost Snow Project' is Dream Building Company's only product!

The players are scolding so fiercely, this game is obviously going to plummet to the earth's core.

If he doesn't find a way to reverse this situation, the company will really go bankrupt, and he will have to bear tens of millions of loans.

Xu Meng gasped.

He didn't owe this much money for a mortgage in his previous life!

This is not a question of whether or not to be a deadbeat, but a question of whether or not to become an aerial acrobat.

No, he has to find a way to save this game!

At the moment of making up his mind, a semi-transparent light curtain suddenly appeared in front of him, and lines of words appeared—

[The Swimmer of the Information Universe Sea.]

[Game Life (Developer Edition) is binding]

[Binding successful]

[Initial task released: The Beginning of Everything]

[As a game developer with a history of sudden death, you are deeply aware of the importance of the team.]

[Task Objective: Create a game company]

—

"?"

Xu Meng was stunned.

"Create a game company? Don't I already have one?"

"Does it mean I have to build another one?"