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Chapter 504 The World's Largest Game Company

In an apartment in Philadelphia, Derek Brewer sat in front of his computer, intently staring at the screen.

Suddenly, the screen froze on the defeat screen, and the intense battle stopped instantly.

Derek's body stiffened abruptly, and the focused expression on his face was instantly replaced by anger.

He abruptly removed his hands from the mouse and keyboard, swung his arms in the air, and then accidentally knocked the headphones off his head.

The headphones were thrown heavily to the ground with a "thud," and the outer shell cracked instantly, with some parts scattering out.

However, he didn't immediately check his headphones; instead, he leaned heavily back in his chair, his chest heaving.

He is a hardcore gamer, especially obsessed with FPS games. Since high school, he has developed a strong interest in these exciting and challenging games, and has devoted almost all of his spare time to them.

Since the release of Counter-Strike by Leap Games, Derek has been captivated by its unique gameplay and intense, exciting combat mode, becoming a loyal player of the game.

Later, when Leap Games released Call of Duty, Derek's admiration for the company reached its peak, and he regarded Leap Games as a sacred place in his heart.

In his view, YueDong Games' achievements in the FPS game field are unparalleled, and no other game company can surpass YueDong Games in terms of the quality, innovation, and influence of FPS games.

And indeed, just as he believed, in the highly competitive field of FPS games, Leap Games has always been in a leading position, with few rivals.

Whether it's game sales, online player count, or player reviews and ratings, YueDong Games leads its competitors by an absolute advantage, dominating the FPS game market with an almost hopeless attitude.

Since its launch, Counter-Strike has seen record-breaking online player numbers and boasts a massive player base, with countless players engaging in intense battles every day.

The highly anticipated game "Call of Duty 2," which has millions of gamers eagerly awaiting its release, is expected to be available early next year. This news has excited many players, including Derek, and filled them with anticipation.

And in this quiet period, Half-Life, a game developed by Leap Games' subsidiary studio, was launched.

The YueDong platform has launched many FPS games, many of which are masterpieces from various studios under YueDong Games.

The game is fun, but Derek always felt it was missing something, something that could really impress and resonate with people.

This is the first time that YueDong Games has personally endorsed and promoted an FPS game from one of its studios.

Out of faith in the company, Drake bought Half-Life and became addicted to it in just one night.

"This is absolutely a masterpiece of FPS that can be compared to Call of Duty. It will definitely become one of the most classic games in gaming history," Derek exclaimed sincerely.

He had no doubt about his judgment, because Half-Life's emergence once again opened up a new path for the development of FPS games.

Before Half-Life, most traditional FPS single-player games focused on creating a sense of gore and tension, with core gameplay revolving around shooting and combat, and virtually no storyline.

Players in the game mostly play the role of a lone warrior, constantly eliminating enemies and completing various tasks, making it difficult to develop a deeper emotional connection with the game.

The emergence of Call of Duty broke this conventional pattern.

While retaining the core shooting gameplay of FPS games, it incorporates a dramatic storyline, allowing everyone to understand that adding a storyline to shooting games is not a downside, but rather can greatly enhance the game's appeal and depth, adding a lot to the game.

Half-Life, on the other hand, takes the storyline of Call of Duty to a new level.

It's not just about adding a storyline to the game; it's about perfectly integrating the storyline with the gameplay and the game world, creating a vast and complete game world view.

In the game, players are no longer simply task executors, but become the core characters of the story, and every choice and action will affect the direction of the plot.

For Derek, playing Half-Life was no longer just playing a game; it was more like participating in a well-made movie, and the immersive experience left him with a lasting impression.

Unfortunately, he, the protagonist, once again perished during the mission, which made him very angry.

Seeing the shattered headphones on the ground, Derek showed a hint of regret. "I should have known better than to get so worked up. My allowance is going to be cut again."

As a student, Derek's social circle was relatively simple. Unlike other students, he didn't like going to bars or participating in various social activities, and he didn't have a girlfriend. His daily life revolved almost entirely around gaming.

His social circle is also basically built around games; on Google Messenger, more than half of his friends are people he met through games.

Therefore, gaming equipment is very important to Derek, as it is a crucial guarantee for him to enjoy the fun of gaming.

"Shall we check out the flash sale?"

Flash sales are definitely a website that holds a place in his heart no less important than games.

That convenient food delivery service was a godsend for Derek, who preferred to stay in his apartment playing games.

Through Flashbuy's food delivery service, he can easily buy all kinds of daily necessities and food without having to leave home, which allows him to save a lot of time each day to spend on games.

More importantly, the prices of goods in flash sales are very cheap. The platform launches a large number of coupons and promotional activities every day, which are even lower than the price of buying groceries at the supermarket.

"But what about tomorrow? Flash delivery will probably take a few days, right?"

He couldn't wait; he couldn't tolerate going a day without playing games.

"Buy an NBA 1998?"

This highly anticipated game, released just two days ago, became an instant hit in the gaming world.

Thanks to this blockbuster game, Ambition's stock price surged by more than 20% in two days, reaching a market value of $378 billion, surpassing Nintendo to become the game company with the highest market value in the entire gaming industry.

Unfortunately, he's not a big fan of games other than FPS, but he'd be willing to give it a try if it's from Leap Games.

"That way, we won't need headphones anymore. The delivery from the flash sale should take about three days, right?"

I glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the screen; it was already 1:30 a.m. Muttering to myself, I didn't slow down; I had already logged into the Flash Sale website.

"Let's see. If the estimated delivery time is too slow, we'll have to go to the local electronics store tomorrow during the day."

"I heard that flash sales in New York allow you to buy all kinds of electronics with same-hour delivery. Why doesn't Philadelphia have that?"

The browser page opened quickly, and as soon as I entered the flash sale interface, a notification sound came from the lower right corner, indicating that there was new unread information.

Derek usually wouldn't even glance at this kind of news; it's mostly useless nonsense.

But today, he inexplicably clicked on it, probably because he had nothing better to do.

Then, the instant he saw the message, Derek's eyes widened, his mouth opened slightly, and an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.

"I must have been playing too many games and my eyes are playing tricks on me, I'm hallucinating," Derek muttered incredulously, rubbing his eyes.

But when he focused his gaze on the screen again, the text was clearly visible, without any blurring or misalignment.

A coupon worth $1132 was prominently displayed before his eyes, with its usage rules and expiration date clearly written out.

"This is definitely a scam!" That was Derek's first thought.

Flash sales offer substantial subsidies, but not to this extent.

He's never received a coupon worth thousands of dollars, not even one worth more than ten dollars.

"Something's not right." He quickly realized the problem, because the message came from the official Flash Sale website.

"The official website was hacked, and the data was altered?"

He immediately shook his head; it was probably impossible.

He then switched to customer service to inquire about the situation.

The reply he received gave him the feeling of receiving a windfall.

Because the Flash Sale platform has recently received a large number of negative complaints about its partner store, Wawa, in order to compensate consumers for their losses and maintain the platform's reputation, after multiple negotiations between the Flash Sale platform and Wawa stores, it has been decided to refund three times the amount of the purchase to all consumers who have made purchases at Wawa stores on the Flash Sale platform.

The $1132 coupon that Derek received was the compensation he was entitled to.

"It's actually Wawa's compensation, and it's a three-times refund with no discrimination!" Derek couldn't help but exclaim.

"This flash sale is really amazing." He didn't believe any of the claims that the two sides had negotiated multiple times.

No wonder he has such a big coupon, because he basically eats all three meals a day at Wawa, since their products are cheaper.

"$1132, that's enough for me to buy another computer." Derek stood up from his chair excitedly, feeling a surge of sudden wealth.

After sitting down again, he quickly typed Dell's name into the flash sale search bar and found Dell's store.

He had his eye on that latest Dell computer, which had been released two months prior; it could run any game on the market perfectly.

However, the price of $1399 prevented him from making a purchase.

He knew that flash sales offered a 5% subsidy to these PC manufacturers, meaning he only needed to spend $200 to get the computer.

Dell also offers a free choice of headphones, keyboard, or mouse, so even the purchase of headphones is taken care of.

Then I can sell this old computer on the second-hand market and get at least three or four hundred dollars.

Without spending a penny, they replaced the equipment and even got a couple hundred dollars for free.

"I absolutely love you." Derek kissed the screen directly, his lips aimed right at the flash sale logo.