Chapter 629
Even though he was away, Michael still paid close attention to Sophia and herpany.
He had to admit that Stanley’s game, Soul of Sniper, was a pretty fun game. Whenever he had free time
after filming, he would y it. Pretty soon, he watched as the game expanded and its yer base grew.
The game ranked higher and higher on the charts, and the in-game experience improved. In fact, it was
a miracle that such a ragtag team had made it.
The gamingpany’s initial investment had been sizable; the powerful servers themselves were
already a huge investment. However, their monthly profit was substantial since the game had taken off
running, and it was bound to increase even more in the future. He had a feeling that this game would
be a ssic in gaming history.
However, Michael was unable to log into the game when he started it up a few dayster. He wasn’t the
only one; everyone around him wasn’t able to log in, so he quickly phoned up Stanley.
Stanley was sweating buckets over there, a cigarette between his lips as he ran himself ragged.
“Someone has sabotaged the servers, Uncle. The game is currently offline now, and I’m running the
emergency repairs. Everything will be up and running again soon.”
After he hung up the call, Michael took a look at the time. It was currently 8.00 PM, which was the
game’s peak hour. However, such an incident would definitely have a great impact on the yers’
enthusiasm for the game.
Thepany’s employees must be working overtime since the yers were unable to enter the game.
Michael wanted to call Sophia and ask about it, but he was also worried that he would end up bothering
her while she worked. Hence, all he could do was to silently follow the news.
After a night’s worth of emergency repairs, the servers were finally back to normal. yers could log in
again, but a lot of in-game data had been lost.
The first thing Michael noticed was that all of his ount’s in-game currency had been lost. He had
poured in a lot of money into the game too, having spent hundreds of thousands buying expensive gear.
In a single night, all of that premium equipment and currency was gone.
Michael wasn’t the only one; many famous yers had their ounts altered. Their equipment and
premium currency had vanished as well.
Five days after the server fiasco, Michael realized that his lost equipment had been put up for sale on the
ck market.
There were ck markets for online games too. It had plenty of equipment from various games up for
grabs, just like an actual ck market in real life. However, this was all online, and the goods were virtual
items from games.
Soul of Sniper had been a rising star in the gaming world. It was like a dark horse that enthralled the
entire nation in just a short amount of time—there were even talks about expanding the game overseas.
There hadn’t been any local shooter games worth ying prior to Soul of Sniper’s arrival; all they had
were a bunch of knockoffs aping internationally renowned shooters. Those games were constantly
criticized, and the graphics andbat fluidity couldn’t bepared at all. Now that Soul of Sniper was
born, it filled in this gap in the market, attracting hordes of fans purely for its high production values.
To top it off, this game was created by an entrepreneurial team; it was said that the brains behind this
game were university students too. This ruffled the feathers of several local developers in the industry,
making them enemies. Now that Soul of Sniper had been dealt a bad blow, those industry yers kept
striking them while they were weak. Soon, scores of ounts—some actual, some paid—popped up
and began ming the game. They wanted the gamingpany to step up and rify things. There
were even people who came storming up to thepany’s doors looking for an exnation.
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The wave of negativity was strong. Every day, more bad news surfaced; rumors and nder spread
everywhere. For the new game made by a new team, it was definitely a bad sign.
Michael could smell a rat. In fact, he could smell several of them. Stanley would definitely not sabotage
his own game; stealing his own yer base’s equipment and brazenly selling them was practically
suicide. If this was done by apetitor, their methods were crueler and more insidious than they had to
be.
Michael kept up with the news every day, and he still appeared in the daily entertainment news sections.
Those entertainment news outlets ran like clockwork; if Michael wasn’t supposedly starting brawls in
clubs, he was picking up girls; if he wasn’t, he was racing illegally. It was hriously absurd.
There were many reports on Soul of Sniper as well. There would be a report ‘exposing’ thepany for
dragging their feet about money they owed, but another report about the yers moring for an
exnation at thepany’s doors would appear momentster. There’d also be another article about
famed esports yers and livestreamers using Soul of Sniper of shady behind-the-scenes dealings.
There would also be reports of supposedly famous people threatening to reveal the truth anonymously.
In just one night, all sorts of ridiculousness sprouted up. This was the definition of striking while they
were down.
Michael was worried as he watched the news. Just as he was about to make a phone call, he heard
sounds of someone sobbing from Harry’s room. He went over to take a look and saw that the door was
ajar. Harry was in the middle of calling Sarah on video; she was sobbing hard on-screen, and her words
wereing out all slurred and garbled.
“Thendlord suddenly ripped up the rent agreement without our input. He wants us to have everything
moved out in two days. We can’t possibly move everything on such a short notice! We don’t have the
time either, especially not with what’s been going on! We’ve uncovered the culprit’s identity, but we
haven’t been able to get into contact or find him. He broke the CCTVs, and he’s also the one who altered
the data. We’ve already reported this to the police. However, it’s no use now; the yers won’t believe us
at all! We didn’t know that the jerk would sell ourtest game to someone else after we poured so much
effort into developing it, not to mention what he did to our servers and database! The shooting game
which wasunched today by that gamingpany is actually an upgrade we did for an existing client! I
was the one who personally drew most of the assets in there! Oh—”
Harry quickly soothed her through the screen. “It’s okay, it’s alright now. Everything will be over soon.
Here, let me kiss you—”
After hearing Sarah vent, Michael quietly returned to his room. He never expected things to havee
to this.
Soul of Sniper had been continually praised since itsunch, and its production values were not like that
of other locally-developed shooters. This wasn’t a coincidence; every single line of code had been put
together painstakingly by the team. All everyone saw was the buzz it got and the high revenue it was
pulling in, but no one saw Sophia working overtime into the night despite thete hours. She had
headaches throughout that period, but she still insisted on working every day.
The new game was built sessfully with the team working overtime, testing and improving it
continuously until it was ready for release. No one thought that it would be stolen just like that.
No one knew just how many of those dissenting voices were paid shills, but to apany new to the
business, the negative impact was massive. They were most worried that they would lose their yer
base, and there was a high chance that they would never be able to rise again after this.
She probably feels helpless now… Maybe she’s already crying in frustration.
Unfortunately, Michael wasn’t in Bayside City. He couldn’t leave this ce now, so he hastily called up
Sophia.
Soon, Sophia picked up his call. She seemed to be working overtime at thepany, for her ts made
loud, smacking sounds as she walked across the room. Her steps were rushed with a rhythm to them,
and the background was incredibly noisy. He could tell from the background noise that thepany was
working themselves like donkeys. He took a look at the time and realized that it was already 10.00PM.