RBCT Chapter 124 Penguins Want to Steal Fruit Ninja
Chapter 124 Penguins Want to Steal Fruit Ninja
Chapter 124 Penguins Want to Steal Fruit Ninja (4k)
In Shanghai, on the Bund, in a high-rise apartment building of China Resources Bund Nine.
As dusk settled outside the window, a few brightly lit cruise ships occasionally sailed by on the Huangpu River, but Gu Wanning's gaze kept drifting towards her phone screen.
"Wan Ning, how many times have you spaced out like this?" Luo Yanling bit into the cola chicken wing she had made, staring suspiciously at her best friend across from her. "The rice in the plate is practically turned into mush by you. What happened?"
Gu Wanning snapped out of her reverie and subconsciously pulled her chopsticks away from the rice: "N-nothing, I was just thinking about a client's case."
The client she was referring to was, of course, straightforward.
It has been a full two hours since I last replied to a QQ message with my straightforwardness.
What's going on over there? Is the meeting over? Were they being given any difficulties? Did they get into an argument?
She opened the chat box countless times, typed and deleted, then typed again.
I want to ask, but I'm afraid of bothering him. If I don't ask, my heart is in turmoil. I've practically worn out my phone from looking at it so many times.
"Oh, so Attorney Gu, who never used to bring work home, has broken her rule now?" Luo Yanling placed a chicken wing on her plate, winking meaningfully. "It's almost Chinese New Year, what are you thinking about work for! Come on, try my cooking, praise me!"
"Hmm, it tastes really good." Gu Wanning took a bite, her mind clearly not on the food. "Chef Yanling is getting more and more professional."
"That's right! I'm a three-star level now!" Luo Yanling proudly waved her chopsticks.
The two chatted for a few minutes, and Luo Yanling, who had just browsed a news article, suddenly said, "Wanning, I just saw someone say that driving home for the Spring Festival is a lot of fun. How about I drive back this year too?"
"No, Yanling, are you crazy?" Gu Wanning was finally pulled back to reality, rolling her eyes at her. "Didn't you already buy your plane ticket to Beijing?"
"Just cancel it, what's the big deal? It also helps other passengers who couldn't get tickets," Luo Yanling said earnestly.
Gu Wanning stared at her best friend for three seconds, making sure the girl wasn't joking, then put down her chopsticks and said, "Big sister, it's over 1,200 kilometers from Shanghai to Beijing. At your snail's pace, where you think 60 km/h is fast, it'll take you 20 hours! Can you manage by yourself?!"
"Then come with me!" Luo Yanling's eyes lit up. "Your uncle and the others are going back to their hometown soon, right? It'll be so boring for you to be alone in Shanghai. Come back to Beijing with me to see the snow!"
As Luo Yanling spoke, she placed another chicken wing on Gu Wanning's plate, her eyes pleading.
"You can be crazy, but I'm not crazy, I'm not." Gu Wanning shook her head.
"No, we can drive slowly, heading north and having fun along the way. Wouldn't that be so much fun, hahaha!" Luo Yanling advised.
"Miss Luo, what if it snows again or there's a traffic jam on the way? We'll have to spend the New Year on the road."
"Life is about experiences, and life is about journeys!" Luo Yanling declared confidently. "Spending the New Year on the road is also a deeply memorable experience!"
For the next ten minutes, Luo Yanling used every trick in the book, appealing to emotions and reason, from "Youth should not be wasted" to "If you don't go crazy now, you'll be too old," and finally even resorted to lying on the sofa and throwing a tantrum.
No matter how much Luo Yanling pleaded, Gu Wanning simply wouldn't budge.
Luo Yanling had no choice but to give up and angrily gnawed on the chicken wing.
While giving her best friend a perfunctory reply, Gu Wanning mechanically swiped her phone screen, refreshing one news channel after another, paying attention to whether public opinion on Geng Zhi showed any signs of turning around for the better.
While browsing Weibo, two updates on the homepage caught my eye, both from Gengzhi's account:
Article 1: "When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked; when the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the enemy state is destroyed, the strategist is killed!"
Article Two: "The innocent will prove themselves innocent; time will tell!"
Gu Wanning's heart tightened suddenly.
"It's over!" Gu Wanning suddenly said, startling Luo Yanling.
"Wan Ning, what? What's over?" Luo Yanling asked anxiously.
"The straightforward meeting is over," Gu Wanning replied subconsciously.
Luo Yanling finally realized what was happening, put down her chopsticks, and gave a "solved the case" look: "Tsk tsk tsk! The client you were talking about is that straightforward guy! No wonder you were so distracted just now, no wonder you brought work home, no wonder you were staring blankly at the chicken wings, it turns out it was all related to straightforwardness!"
Gu Wanning ignored Luo Yanling and immediately opened QQ to send a message to Geng Zhi to inquire about the situation, her face full of worry.
After she sent the message, she looked up and almost bumped into Luo Yanling's face, which was leaning close to hers.
"Look at how worried you are, tsk tsk tsk!"
"What are you peeking at? Go eat your chicken."
In the VIP waiting room, Geng Zhi was staring at his laptop screen, carefully reading an email from LeDoo Games.
The email stated that iDreamSky is a game development and mobile game publisher founded in Shenzhen, China. The team owns the proprietary intellectual property "iDreamSky SDK," which has significant influence in the domestic game market.
They are eager to collaborate deeply with AvengersGame, securing the domestic distribution rights for "Fruit Ninja" at a high price, and helping this excellent game reach new heights.
Geng Zhi quickly skimmed through the email. The other party's self-introduction in the email wasn't boastful, and their attitude towards cooperation was extremely sincere.
Having previously worked in the game industry, Geng Zhi had a brief understanding of LeDoo Games when researching the history of game development.
As far as I can recall, iDreamSky has been the exclusive distributor of games such as Fruit Ninja, Temple Run, and Subway Surfers in China.
It was precisely by relying on the core model of "importing high-quality overseas games + localized operation + distribution across all channels" that it obtained strategic investment from companies including Tencent and successfully went public in 2014, establishing its industry position.
He pondered it carefully.
Currently, iDreamSky is still an unknown small company with no notable games and is actively searching for suitable IPs in hopes of achieving instant success.
By connecting with them at this point, AvengersGames will undoubtedly gain the upper hand; the only question is what price they will offer.
Ideally, it would be even better if two or three companies bid together, driving up the price. I just don't know if the big companies are even interested in these kinds of casual games anymore.
Geng Zhi muttered to himself, glancing at the time; there was still a while before boarding.
So he carefully wrote three emails in English.
Instead of replying to iDreamSky, the message was sent separately to three mobile game publishing companies in the United States:
Chillingo, ngmoco and Glu Mobile.
Negotiating cooperation with domestic companies can be quite complicated. But when it comes to American companies, the straightforward approach is to simply ask for prices directly, and the highest bidder wins.
After sending the email, Geng Zhi began operating the backend to officially launch "Fruit Ninja" in China.
The boarding announcement had already sounded. Geng Zhi was packing up his computer, preparing to board the plane, when he received a QQ message from Gu Wan Ning.
[Gu Wanning]: "Hey, you big liar, how's things going on your end? Is everything going smoothly?"
After reading the message, Geng Zhi grinned and started typing away with Gu Wan Ning, offering her some comfort.
[Straightforward]: "I need to get ready to board the plane, talk to you later."
[Gu Wanning]: "Okay! Have a safe trip, and remember to send me a message when you land."
[Gu Wanning]: "Also, my aunt and uncle have invited you to their house for a meal before the New Year. Would you like to consider whether you want to go or not?"
No need to think twice, I'll definitely go!
As Geng Zhi thought this, he packed his things and headed towards the boarding gate to return to Shanghai.
In the Momo team office in Shanghai, bad news kept coming in, and everyone was feeling down.
First, there was Zou Lu. Something unexpected happened at his home, so he had to rush back to his hometown. He only left a message in the group chat before leaving in a hurry.
Without Zou Lu's involvement, the final stage of joint testing for the Momo app had to be terminated prematurely, and its launch before the Spring Festival was completely out of the question.
Everyone on the team was holding their breath, but had nowhere to vent.
Work has stalled, the boss is still on the plane, and no one can make a decision about what to do next.
Then came the public opinion. Various influential figures and online trolls joined in, and the attacks on Geng Zhi became increasingly fierce online, with all sorts of nasty remarks flying around.
Yang Mingxia was very unhappy to see her boss being wronged. She wanted to use her skills to help Geng Zhi explain online, but Geng Zhi stopped her, saying that he should let public opinion ferment naturally.
Yang Mingxia could only hold it in, like a fire-breathing dragon with its mouth gagged, pacing back and forth in the office grumbling and spreading her negative energy to everyone.
Finally, there was the email sent by CEO Ma Chunmei to all employees that Yang Mingxia and Shu Beibei received.
The email stated that, effective immediately, Geng Zhi's position as CT0 was terminated and that Manager Zhao would take over. It was all in black and white, stamped with the company seal.
"What's wrong with these netizens? Can't they see how obviously they're trying to stir up trouble? It's really too damn f***ing—" Lu Zhijie couldn't help but swear.
"Don't blame the netizens, blame those paid influencers and commentators who have no conscience!" Huang Haitang said angrily.
"That Ma Chunmei is even more brain-dead, letting a scumbag be the CT0, as if there aren't enough major bugs already!!" Song Qing, who had never criticized anyone before, also started spewing insults.
"TMD." Yang Mingxia, who had been complaining for a long time, didn't say anything more, but just repeated the three beautiful letters over and over again, "TMD, TMD, TMD."
Shu Beibei sighed as well: "This afternoon has been filled with bad news, one after another. I'm on the verge of a breakdown. How can I relieve this stress?!"
No one answered her; no one knew how to answer. The office was deathly silent.
dong dong dong.
Just then, there was a knock on the office door.
Hao Pengxiang peeked in, clutching his phone, his face beaming with barely concealed excitement.
"Hey, what's wrong with you all?" He looked at the solemn expressions on everyone's faces and asked curiously, "Why do you all look like you've been hit by frost?"
Yang Mingxia briefly explained the situation.
"Oh, I see—" Hao Pengxiang clicked his tongue. "That's really upsetting. I feel sorry for Senior Geng."
He offered a few words of comfort, then his face suddenly lit up again: "However, if you want to make Senior Geng happy, I have a good idea."
"What method?" Shu Beibei, Yang Mingxia, and Huang Haitang asked almost in unison.
Lu Zhijie, Song Qing, and Lü Sifeng all looked at Hao Pengxiang.
Hao Pengxiang held up his phone and waved it mysteriously: "I'm recommending a game to you guys—it was made with Senior Geng! The more you play it, the happier he'll be!"
As Hao Pengxiang spoke, he recommended the newly released version of the "Fruit Ninja" game to everyone.
Two minutes later.
The office was filled with a series of "swish! swish! snap!" sounds.
"Ouch! I cut the bomb!"
"Haha, I did seven in a row!"
The emotions that had been suppressed all afternoon were finally dispelled by the splashes of juice.
In a small office of the Interactive Entertainment Division at Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen.
Sun Binbin, the chief planner who had just finished reviewing the main scene design drafts with the art team, was taking a coffee break in the tea room while scrolling through his phone.
While browsing the featured games on the App Store, an icon suddenly caught his attention: a large watermelon cleaved in two.
Wait, he rubbed his eyes. Fruit Ninja?
Is it a high-quality imitation of FruitNinja?
A domestic company has already beaten Tencent to the punch and developed a fruit-cutting game? And it even got featured on the recommended list?
Sun Binbin quickly downloaded the game and played it for a while to experience it.
He found that it was exactly the same as FruitNinja in terms of gameplay and design style, except for a few more Chinese-style embellishments.
Sun Binbin's professional instincts sent a chill down his spine. He quickly went back to the App Store to check the developer and discovered that it was also Avengers Game.
He instantly realized what was happening and rushed to Le Aimin's office to report.
"Brother Min! There's a new development," Sun Binbin said.
Le Aimin was looking at reports on the computer when he saw Binbin rushing in in a panic. He smiled and asked, "What's wrong, Binbin?"
Still not satisfied with the artwork?
"No, Brother Min!" Sun Binbin handed over the phone. "Fruit Ninja has been released in China! It's already surpassed 10,000 downloads!"
Le Aimin took the phone and glanced at it a few times. The smile on his face slowly froze, and he was no longer as calm as before.
"Can our own 'Fruit Ninja' be released earlier, at the end of February?"
"Impossible, Brother Min!" Sun Binbin quickly shook his head. "Right now, only the lead programmer, Lao Kong, is doing the development. He's going back to his hometown tomorrow for the holiday and will be preparing for his wedding after the Spring Festival. That will take up a week of development time."
"How about we bring in another programmer from the card game porting team to develop 'Fruit Ninja'?" Le Aimin asked.
"That's even less reliable, Brother Min!" Sun Binbin quickly shook his head.
Seeing Le Aimin's expression, Sun Binbin knew what he wanted to say, and quickly continued to explain: "The progress on the chess and card game team is also very tight, and only Lao Kong understands the new development engine. If we bring in new people, it will probably take one or two weeks just to get them up to speed, which will be even more impossible —"
Le Aimin didn't say anything more.
He knew that Sun Binbin was telling the truth.
It does take time for new team members to get used to another development engine.
Moreover, under his own pressure, the lead programmer Lao Kong has been working more than ten hours a day to catch up on the progress. He can't possibly sacrifice his wedding to work overtime to make the game, can he?
Now all the pressure is on him.
Originally, "Fruit Ninja" was his big surprise. With its smooth, native touchscreen gameplay, he wanted Tencent to get a head start in the mobile game market.
Externally, this can establish the perception that "Tencent is a pioneer in the domestic mobile game industry." Internally, the company's mobile game division can step up its leadership to secure more resources.
But when Fruit Ninja entered the Chinese market, the situation was quite different.
He understood that, given the momentum of "Fruit Ninja," it would most likely sweep the casual game charts during the Spring Festival.
Even if their own "Fruit Ninja" is released a month later, it might become a disappointment. It will definitely be criticized by many players for "Tencent copying again," and what's more, it's a casual game they've copied.
He can joke about his colleagues in other game development teams being plagiarists, but he can't bear the embarrassment of being the one doing it!
"Fruit Ninja" is halfway developed and is now in a dilemma.
"Brother Min, I don't think we need to be too anxious," Sun Binbin reassured him. "Fruit Ninja is an outsider, and it's highly likely that it won't adapt well to the local market in terms of operation and marketing."
"Even though Fruit Ninja was released a month later, with Tencent's traffic and funding, it's only a matter of time before it surpasses Fruit Ninja."
Le Aimin shook his head: "Binbin, what our mobile game department needs to do right now is to be number one and gain recognition. Making money is secondary."
"Huh?" Sun Binbin looked at Le Aimin in confusion, then suddenly realized.
"Moreover, if they collaborate with other domestic companies, we'll miss out on more than just this game," Le Aimin added.
"Brother Min, is this... likely?"
"The probability is not small."
Sun Binbin was silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Brother Min, if this really happens, what should we do next?"
Looking at the split watermelon on the screen, Le Aimin slowly uttered five words: "Then take it."
P.S.: Requesting 1 monthly pass and a few recommendation votes, thank you~
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