The diva and I cross each other

On Monday, May 5st, the beginning of a new week, Luo Ming just arrived at the conference room and saw Zhao Ningyuan.

There are only 10 days left before "Fengshen" goes online. Zhao Ningyuan came here at this time, he must have something to say.

"I hope it's not bad news!" Luo Ming thought to himself.

What you fear will come true. When it was Zhao Ningyuan's turn to speak at the weekly meeting, he made a big move.

"Boss Luo, something went wrong with our Investiture of the Gods overseas."

Luo Ming sighed and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Well, Mr. Luo, there is a review website for multimedia and games abroad called IGN. Last Saturday, IGN sent us an email saying that our game is not diverse enough and not inclusive enough. They suggested that we postpone the launch and find some professional consulting companies to ask how to rectify the situation."

Luo Ming was confused. What? Diversity, inclusion? How could such a thing be related to games?

When Luo Ming traveled through time, it was the end of 2023. He didn't know that there was such a thing in his previous life "Black Myth: Wukong".

It’s just that in the previous life, when IGN hadn’t made its position clear yet, some groups naturally couldn’t sit still, mainly some zzzq groups abroad.

The first to launch the attack was a company called Sweet Baby.

This company is a professional consulting firm established by an employee of a former famous game company. The purpose of establishing this company is to rewrite the scripts, story frameworks, and change some of the settings of various classic blockbuster games when they are launched.

The purpose is to incorporate diversity, equality and inclusiveness into these classic masterpieces.

In her previous life, this sweet baby made trouble on the day when the release date of "Black Myth: Wukong" was announced.

This company asked Youke, the developer of Black Myth: Wukong, to pay 700 million U.S. dollars. After the payment, this company will tell the team of Black Myth: Wukong how to make improvements to make the game more "open and inclusive."

As soon as this news came out, many domestic netizens dug up the news and started to confront the company.

One genius netizen even went straight to the company's Twitter account and left a message saying: Monkey King came out of a crack in a rock, so he is a person whose gender is not defined; Monkey King has a different skin color, so he belongs to an ethnic minority; Monkey King is a vegetarian, so he is a vegan; Monkey King does not produce industrial waste, so he is an environmentalist; Monkey King was suppressed by the Five Finger Mountain for 500 years, so he is an anti-oppressionist; Monkey King is a monk, so he is a monk; Monkey King respects his teacher, so he is polite and respectful to his teacher; Monkey King saved Bajie and Wujing, so he is kind-hearted and protects the weak; Monkey King went to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures, so he is pro-Western.

This pile of zzzq buffs directly made sweet baby delete the reply from this netizen and block the netizen at the same time.

Youke, the developer of "Black Myth: Wukong", also did not compromise and simply ignored what they said.

At this time, in the conference room of Zhuoguang Technology, the senior management of Zhuoguang Technology showed no intention of compromising.

"What's this about inclusiveness and diversity? It's all bullshit. Just ignore them." Qian Ning, CEO of Zhuoguang Bio, said with disdain.

After graduating from the Department of Biology at Tsinghua University, Qian Ning went abroad for further studies. She studied for a master's degree in biology at the University of Leeds, and later went to Boston University in the United States to pursue a doctorate in biology. After obtaining her doctorate, she worked in the United States for 5 years and is very familiar with this kind of foreign culture.

"Boss, you don't need to worry about these things. It seems that there is a lot of noise about this topic overseas, but in real life, there are not so many weird things. At least I haven't encountered them.

When it comes to such diverse topics in the field of games and animation, people are even more disdainful. If they really spend money to hire a consulting company and make random changes, it will only make foreign players unhappy and be counterproductive. "

After listening to Qian Ning's words, Li Yan, who also had experience studying abroad, agreed: "Boss, I also think that diversity is just thunder and thunder with little rain. Don't worry about them."

The other senior executives of Zhaoguang Technology also felt that there was no need to spend this money.

After listening to everyone's opinions, Luo Ming turned to look at Zhao Ningyuan: "Boss Zhao, you should have heard everyone's thoughts. How do you think we should deal with it?"

“I definitely don’t want to change.”

"Then let's not change it!" Luo Ming made the decision.

"If you're sure you won't change it, then we can use this email to hype it up." Rong Mu said.

"How do you hype it up?" Tong Mingwei asked curiously.

"This email is a blatant extortion no matter how you look at it! A foreign ratings website is blackmailing a domestic game manufacturer. I think everyone should know what to do next, right?"

Everyone suddenly realized.

That afternoon, the email was leaked online by an "informed person".

Public opinion on the Internet exploded instantly:

"Good fellow, there is still someone who wants money like this? Why doesn't he just rob it?"

“Isn’t this just robbery?”

"Let's not talk about the quality of Investiture of the Gods, but it's too disgusting to be blackmailed in this way, right?"

"It's really disgusting. I originally had no interest in this type of buy-to-play game, but now I have to support it."

"Support +1, we can't watch domestic 3A games being bullied like this."

"I've already bought the 299 deluxe edition. I hope Blazing Light Games won't compromise."

"Scorching light, hold on! Don't lower your head."

For a time, netizens were very excited, and the pre-sale results of "Fengshen" went straight to a new level, exceeding 20 copies.

The next day, the official Weibo account of Zhuoguang Games posted a message: "Games must be authentic to be fun."

The tough attitude of Zhuoguang Games made netizens even more excited, and the number of pre-sales increased a lot.

After the extortion incident, "Fengshen", which had already received a lot of attention in the gaming community, broke out of its circle, and many passers-by who did not play games knew about this game.

In this way, the time finally came to June 6.1st, the day when "Fengshen" went on sale.

Players who had been sitting in front of their computers waiting for a long time bought and downloaded the game for a trial run, including anchors from major live streaming platforms.

Not to mention the anchors on other platforms, all the internet celebrities on Zhuoguang Technology, especially those incubated by Zhuoguang Entertainment on Douyin, are live streaming "Fengshen".

The most popular among them is Yang Lanlan. Yang Lanlan is the first internet celebrity incubated by Zhuoguang Entertainment. When Douyin and Kuaipai, supported by Alibaba, were competing against each other, Zhuoguang Entertainment allocated a lot of resources to Yang Lanlan.

At first it was "Learn to Meow", and later "Clouds and Smoke Become Rain", and during the Chinese New Year she also showed up in "The Wandering Earth".

With this series of resources, Yang Lanlan already has 30 million fans, far ahead of other female internet celebrities on Douyin.

Today, Yang Lanlan received an order from the company to live stream "Fengshen". She downloaded the game in advance and got up early, intending to play it as soon as it was launched. However, the game took two hours to load, and Yang Lanlan's butt was numb from sitting, but she didn't even enter the game.

At this time, someone in the barrage reminded her: "Lanlan, did you download the game to the mechanical hard drive?"

Yang Lanlan said without hesitation: "Impossible, absolutely impossible, I am not a computer novice, how could I make such a low-level mistake?"

Having said that, Yang Lanlan still checked the game, and then she fell silent.

The barrage was instantly filled with laughter, and the show was already at its best before it even started.

Yang Lanlan gritted her teeth and said, "It's almost noon, the anchor should go eat first and come back to play!"

After saying that, Yang Lanlan hurriedly ended the live broadcast. She quickly called her assistant over and re-downloaded the game and installed it on the solid state drive.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Yang Lanlan started broadcasting again, and this time she entered the game smoothly.

Yang Lanlan glanced at the meaningless comments sent by the stupid netizens, then cleared her eyes and said, "Family, today is the day when our company's new game is launched. Let's experience it together."

"If you don't understand, why do we have to pay for our own game anchor to play "Feng Shen"? Is the anchor outsourced?"

“I don’t know if the anchor is outsourced, but when the anchor was working on the show effects in the morning, I went to watch some of the other anchors and felt that the game was pretty good.”

"Is it really good? I heard that the production cycle of this game is only two years. Although there is sufficient funding, can an excellent game be polished in two years?"

"To be honest, I heard that foreign AAA blockbusters often take 3 or 5 years to make. 6 years is a bit tight. It feels like it's just a gimmick. Anyway, I'm not optimistic about it."

"Let's not talk about this. Let's open the market. Guess which angle Lanlan will choose?"

"That must be Erlang Shen's perspective. I've watched so many anchors, and 90% of them start with Erlang Shen."

"That's interesting. How many times do you think Lanlan will die in front of the first mini-boss, the blue-headed monster?"

"20 times is a good start! When I played it myself, I died at least 20 times in the early stages."

"I'll bet 50 times."

"I also think I have to die at least 50 times."

Yang Lanlan glanced at the barrage and curled her lips in disdain. For the game "Fengshen", many employees of Zhuoguang Technology, including trainees from Zhuoguang Entertainment who had no performance arrangements, were pulled in to participate in the internal beta test. Yang Lanlan herself had played the second chapter of the internal beta test and even passed it.

She had already cleared the second chapter, and the little boss in the first chapter made her die 100 times? Is this a joke?
"Okay brothers, the game is ready. Let's take a look at its quality and content first." After saying that, Yang Lanlan clicked into the game.

Yang Lanlan herself doesn’t really like playing games, and she hasn’t played many games. Her favorite is probably “Honor of Kings”.

To put it bluntly, Yang Lanlan has no ability to appreciate games, but when she saw the opening animation of the game, she couldn't help but take a deep breath.

"Hiss~Isn't the picture quality too good? I chose the intermediate picture quality." Yang Lanlan said in shock.

Although she has no ability to appreciate games, she still understands the basic picture quality.

After a CG clip, Yang Lanlan entered the game. Except for the first chapter, the overall plot of the game is the same in the next five chapters.

Players can choose five identities, or five perspectives, and watch the game from five different angles.

One is the descendant of the great immortal Yangmei from the perspective of the Shang Dynasty, one is Lei Zhenzi, one of the 100 sons of Ji Chang from the perspective of Xiqi, one is Zhu Ganglie, the Marshal of the Tianpeng Sect from the perspective of the Human Sect, one is the famous Erlang Shen Yang Jian, the third-generation disciple from the perspective of the Orthodox Sect, and one is the Holy Mother Wudang, a direct disciple of the Master Tongtian from the Jie Sect.

Among them, the four perspectives of Da Shang, Xiqi, Chenjiao, and Jiejiao belong to the eyewitnesses of the battle in "Fengshen", while Marshal Tianpeng from the perspective of Renjiao unfolds more from the perspective of a bystander.

After hesitating for a while, Yang Lanlan chose the perspective of Erlang Shen Yang Jian.

The story from Erlang Shen's perspective begins with many heavenly soldiers and generals in heaven surrounding Yang Jian's family.

The story begins with Yang Jian, who is about twelve or thirteen years old, hiding from a celestial soldier from heaven.

Although Yang Jian is half human, half god and is born with a strong physique, he has not practiced yet and is definitely no match for the heavenly soldiers. Yang Lanlan had a lot of trouble controlling the young Yang Jian into CG.

The heavenly soldier was holding a spear and was about to pierce Yang Jian. At this time, a Taoist appeared out of nowhere, and with a roll of dust in his hand, he threw the heavenly soldier away.

After defeating the heavenly soldiers, Jade Ding Zhenren asked Yang Jian, "I am Jade Ding Zhenren, one of the twelve golden immortals under Yuanshi Tianzun of Kunlun Mountain's Yuxu Palace. My friend, are you willing to take me as your master?"

Yang Jian was naturally willing, and after he became the apprentice, the game officially began.

In a blink of an eye, 20 years passed. Yang Jian had achieved great success in his cultivation and wanted to rescue his mother. Jade Ding Zhenren helped Yang Jian borrow the axe that Dayu used to control floods. This axe could help Yang Jian split Taoshan and rescue his mother. Then Jade Ding Zhenren sent Yang Jian to the vicinity of Taoshan.

Yang Lanlan controlled Yang Jian and started climbing up Taoshan Mountain, and soon she encountered the blue big-headed monster mentioned by netizens.

The big blue-headed monster is called Taoshan Mountain God. He is the smallest god on Taoshan Mountain who is responsible for guarding Yao Ji.

Yang Lanlan controlled Yang Jian and rushed forward with a mountain-splitting axe, and as expected, the result was GG.

"This is the first time I'm not familiar with its skills, I'll be able to pass it next time."

After dying 57 times in a row, Yang Lanlan finally chopped down the Taoshan Mountain God.

She glanced at the time. Four hours had passed and Yang Jian had already reached level 21, all gained by killing monsters on the way.

From the resurrection point to the encounter with the Taoshan Mountain God, there were 3 small monsters along the way. Yang Lanlan relied on these 3 small monsters to reach level 21. You can imagine how many times she died.

Yang Lanlan felt like crying but had no tears. This game was too difficult.

However, many people in the barrage asked: "Streamer, I see you have been playing for four hours. Is there only one monster in this game?"

Yang Lanlan took a deep breath and blocked the barrage directly.

Finally, after struggling for 8 hours, Yang Lanlan completed the task of splitting the mountain to save her mother. Jade Ding Zhenren stepped forward to negotiate with the Heavenly Court and gave Yang Jian a chance to redeem himself and allow him to assist King Wu in defeating King Zhou. This is the end of the first chapter.

Although she played for 8 hours, Yang Lanlan didn't feel tired at all. On the contrary, she felt as if she had not yet finished.

One can imagine the quality of "Fengshen" if even a newbie like Yang Lanlan can enjoy the game so much.

With such excellent quality, the sales of "Fengshen" will naturally not be bad. (End of this chapter)