The virtual empire starts from the game

Chapter 603 "Game Developers' Grievance Meeting" (Seeking monthly votes at the end of the month)
The global gaming industry is undergoing a comprehensive transformation towards virtual gaming.

The meaning and impact are completely different for different people.

For players, this revolutionary gaming experience is almost equivalent to immersing themselves in a variety of completely different and extraordinary lives, so they naturally cheer for it.

But the reason why industrial transformation is called "transformation" is precisely because it has a near-devastating impact on the old industry.

Players around the world have witnessed the collapse of two giants: Sony Games and Soford Game Box.

I witnessed Ren Tiantang bowing down.

We are also witnessing the daily active users of the Vapour gaming platform declining day by day.

But is that all?

of course not.

It's just that the collapse of giants naturally attracts more attention.

Under the shadow of giants, developers around the world have long been polarized.

The developers recruited by DreamChaser felt that the future was bright, and that an infinitely vast world with endless possibilities was waiting for them to explore.

Without Xu Meng needing to urge them, they all frantically pumped themselves up.

Work efficiency is off the charts.

But those developers who weren't accepted by Dream Builder—especially independent developers—suddenly fell into a deep freeze.

Moreover, this is not a short- to medium-term winter like the tightening of game licenses, market shrinkage, or unfavorable public opinion, but a desperate winter where the very soil for survival has been completely lost!
The giant was so large that its collapse attracted worldwide attention.

The rising smoke and dust obscured the closure and shutdown of several small and medium-sized game companies below.

One by one, independent game development projects were terminated.

One by one, development teams disbanded.

In fact, while the dream of building a gaming industry is propelling it into a prosperous era, a major depression in the gaming industry is also taking place silently.

Yu Liyan was one of those affected by this Great Depression.

He is an independent game developer.

Before the revival of "Frost and Snow Project", he had been leading his small team of 8 people to develop an ancient-style management and construction game called "Tiangong City".

Thanks to his frequent updates on the development progress on Pilipili, he has managed to attract some attention from players.

Not many; converted into a wishlist on the Vapor gaming platform, it would only amount to a little over 3000.

But this is already quite an achievement for a small team like theirs.

This also gave Yu Liyan some confidence.

Then came the major overhaul of "Frost and Snow Project," and the entire Dream Building game began to surge forward under Xu Meng's leadership!
Yu Liyan felt that in the blink of an eye, he had already fallen behind the times.

Before "Tiangong City Affairs" was even fully developed, it was almost eliminated by the market.

The reason I say "almost" is because Yu Liyan hasn't given up yet.

The team of 8 people was reduced to 5.

After the Dream Machine appeared, he used his sleeping time to work part-time as a streamer, both to drive traffic to his game and to earn money to subsidize his team.

That's how they managed to stay afloat.

But just last week, the team's graphic designer felt hopeless and chose to give up and leave to go back to her hometown to find a partner and get married.

Yu Liyan was utterly dejected.

His experience over the past year is a microcosm of the experiences of numerous small and medium-sized development teams worldwide.

Those startup teams that were already ignored have mostly disbanded.

Projects with some recognition have significantly reduced their team size.

Established companies with operational projects have drastically reduced their investment, and the research and development of new projects has almost come to a standstill.

It's just a struggle to stay afloat.

The flames at the top are burning brightly, while the middle and lower levels are slowly withering away in the industry's winter.

Therefore, when Yu Liyan saw Xu Meng's praise for Huodao's article, expressing the clear ambition to "include all developers in the virtual game system," he was so excited that he could hardly contain himself!

His hands trembled with excitement as he typed.

"Hello everyone, I am Yu Liyan from the development team of 'Tiangong City'."

I was thrilled to learn that Mr. Xu Meng intends to transform the virtual world into a semi-open game development platform, attracting developers from all over the world to use Zhumeng's technology and standards to develop games.

For our team, struggling on the verge of disbandment and deeply uncertain about the future, this is the best news we've had in the past year! We finally see hope for survival!
I, along with all the remaining members of the "Tiangong City" development team, wholeheartedly agree with this decision and sincerely look forward to this day coming soon!
We can't wait to get started developing virtual games!

Of course, I also understand that this is bound to be a complicated and massive task, requiring a lot of preliminary preparation, which will inevitably consume a lot of time.

I am willing to wait.

However, I must also mention a reality:
In just six months, our team has shrunk to half its original size.

I don't know how much longer I can hold on.

I believe there are countless developers or development teams in the industry who are in a similar situation to us.

Teams are disbanding every day.

Every day, ideas are frozen.

So... if I could, I truly hope that day comes soon.

Even a one-day difference could save a company on the verge of bankruptcy and retain a team full of hope.

Please!
-
Yu Liyan's statement quickly resonated with a large number of developers.

The development experience of Yu Liyan's team over the past year resonated deeply with them.

then--

Meng Man, creator of "UFO Team".

Shi Ying, the creator of "Starfire".

Lu Jinjin, the creator of "The Legend of Flying Clouds".

……

Individual developers and development teams have stepped forward to speak out.

In the beginning, they were all small, unknown teams.

These developers, who have very little influence, are just complaining on their own, and hardly anyone pays them any attention.

Before the rise of Dream Building, it wasn't uncommon for several game companies to go bankrupt or for several development teams to disband.

Back then, even Game Observer predicted that Lianzhumeng would go bankrupt.

But as more and more people spoke out, the situation quickly changed!
Soon, some well-known IPs with high popularity also emerged.

The Fate Master, Hell Ballet, The Feather Seeker...

Works that garnered significant attention before their rise to prominence but are now facing production difficulties have also come forward to complain and petition.

Then, the news spread overseas.

Many overseas development teams have also come to Cirrus Cloud to voice their opinions.

—Some people even went so far as to register accounts on Xia Guo's social networks, sincerely recounting the team's predicaments, afraid that Xu Meng wouldn't see it.

The social network, which was originally full of content about "Resonance of Space", turned into a global "game developer grievance conference" in just a few hours!
Netizens then realized:
The number of development teams struggling on the brink of survival is astonishing!

"No way... a major recession in the gaming industry? That's so counterintuitive!"

"I was wondering why 'The Legend of Flying Clouds' and 'Seeking Feathers' were both delayed. Turns out they were already dead?!"

"No way! @Xu Meng, Boss Xu, please help me!"

"@Xu Meng, Boss Xu, at least make 'Hell Ballet'!"

"Learn from Project Frost and Snow! Use some eroticism to save them! If it works, maybe you'll be the next Dream Chaser!"

……

Players realized something was wrong and began to speak out for their favorite game developers, hoping that Xu Menglai would step in.

This has even led to many extremely radical suggestions, such as:
"Mr. Xu is so rich, why don't you just buy up all the development teams in the world?"

"Mr. Xu, how about we give subsidies to all game developers? We can support the elderly in rural areas all over the country, so supporting a few more white-collar workers shouldn't be a problem!"

"Since the [rejuvenation] project is so profitable, I think it's a good idea to buy up the whole world!"

……

These suggestions didn't summon Xu Meng; instead, they made Huo Dao's heart pound with fear!
He rushed out to stop the increasingly outrageous comments from netizens:

"Everyone calm down!"

"Xu Meng has already done a lot for the game industry. It's really pushing his luck to put more pressure on him like this!"

(End of this chapter)