ROSGT Chapter 166: At Worst, I'll Compensate Her When She Grows Up
Volume 1
Chapter 166: At Worst, I'll Compensate Her When She Grows Up
Zhang Xing coming over to apologize was something Ye Chui had expected.
However, Ye Chui had no intention of accepting his apology.
From the beginning, he never considered Zhang Xing a trustworthy partner. People like Zhang Xing, who are driven solely by their own interests, can betray at any moment.
Since he had already betrayed him once, why should Ye Chui give him a second chance?
So, Ye Chui's refusal was firm.
Zhang Xing awkwardly laughed and quickly said, "Mr. Ye, why bother? We can make money together. I promise that in the future, all arcade machines will have your games, and I won't install any other games!"
"Please, I'm not someone who leaves no room for others. I dislike vicious competition the most. Let's compete based on our abilities. What does it matter to me if your arcade machines have my games or not?" Ye Chui said with a smile. He meant what he said; he believed in fair competition and had no intention of using underhanded tactics to squeeze out competitors from the arcade machines.
Zhang Xing said bitterly, "Mr. Ye, what would it take for you to forgive me?"
"Mr. Zhang, this isn't about forgiveness; it's about trust," Ye Chui said solemnly. "Sorry, I no longer trust you. Since that's the case, why should we continue our cooperation?"
After saying this, Ye Chui ended the communication without giving Zhang Xing a chance to respond.
In the Wolverine Game Studio...
"That guy knows regret now, doesn't he? Serves him right. I can't understand what he was thinking," Fang Nan said indignantly. She restrained herself from cursing because of the presence of a child in the room.
"He probably saw Wu Haotian's game gaining momentum while I was just maintaining my standard and thought I would soon be surpassed by Wu Haotian," Ye Chui said with a smile. Then he turned to Fang Xi, "How's the performance of 'Tianlang Goddess'?"
"Hehe," Fang Xi beamed. "Initially, their game sales were pretty good, but after our fight videos were uploaded, everyone started talking about 'Street Fighter 2'. No one mentions 'Tianlang Goddess' anymore. It's like everyone simultaneously forgot about it. After an initial spike to 180,000 units in the first few hours, their sales quickly dropped. As of now, they've only sold about 200,000 units."
Defeating a competitor is most satisfying not by crushing them but by making everyone forget they even exist...
'Tianlang Goddess' originally had the potential to sell at least 500,000 units, but under these circumstances, even surpassing the first game's 300,000 units seems uncertain.
Even Ye Chui hadn't expected the 'Street Fighter 2' videos to have such a significant impact.
He glanced at the little girl, Wang Shiyu, sitting at the nearby table. Patting her head, he said with a smile, "We owe this success to you. Looks like I owe you a red envelope."
"What about me?" Robert said with a pitiful expression. The fight videos were basically tutorials showing how he got thoroughly beaten. He badly needed a big red envelope to console himself.
"Don't worry, you won't be left out," Ye Chui laughed.
At this point, 'Street Fighter 2' had sold 1.76 million units. Given the current trend, it's hard to predict its final sales, but it would certainly surpass the 2.5 million units sold by 'Street Fighter 1'.
In another world, 'Street Fighter 2' sold over 6 million units. Even if this world couldn't reach that due to different circumstances, surpassing 5 million units should be achievable, right?
That's 50 million in revenue.
There would definitely be red envelopes for the studio members, and Ye Chui wouldn't be stingy with Robert's envelope.
Little Wang Shiyu looked up and asked, "Brother Chui, how much will be in my red envelope?"
"Well..." Ye Chui thought for a moment. Wang Shiyu played a crucial role in 'Street Fighter 2's' sudden success. He shouldn't be too stingy. After some thought, he said, "How about 1,000 yuan?"
— It's not that Ye Chui was being stingy, but 1,000 yuan should be quite satisfying for a little girl, right?
At worst, he could compensate her more when she grows up.
"Che!" Wang Shiyu pouted, "Just that much? Are you treating me like a kid?"
"Well, you are a kid," Ye Chui thought.
But Wang Shiyu clearly wasn't an ordinary kid: "Brother Chui, you can keep it."
"Um..." Ye Chui was taken aback, "Xiaoyu, are you sure you don't want it?"
"That little money doesn't interest me," Wang Shiyu said disdainfully. She wiped her face with a tissue and went back to playing her computer game.
"..." Ye Chui was speechless. Did this child confuse points won in the game with real money? She didn't want 1,000 yuan, which is a lot of money for a kid...
"Chui, Xiaoyu seems to be addicted to that card game recently. Is that okay?" Fang Nan asked worriedly.
Ye Chui was also concerned, but after thinking for a while, he shook his head, "She's not an ordinary little girl. She seems to have good self-control. We shouldn't worry too much. Besides, I think she'll get bored of it after a while—she can't actually earn much pocket money from it."
Fang Nan nodded, reassured by Ye Chui's reasoning. "But how much has she won recently? She keeps it a secret."
"She's just a kid. How much could she have?" Ye Chui didn't care much. At most a few hundred yuan. Let her be.
The buzz around 'Street Fighter 2' continued to grow.
'Street Fighter 2' was best played on arcade machines, but now all arcade machines lacked 'Street Fighter 2', driving fans crazy.
Currently, there were a few thousand arcade machines across the country and some overseas. While not a vast number, the number of dedicated fans was high. All these machines were contracted by Zhang Xing. Since he broke the contract with Ye Chui, these machines no longer had Ye Chui's games and were replaced with others.
However, fans insisted that arcade machines existed for Professor X's games.
According to incomplete statistics, over a thousand arcade machines had been stolen, and more than ten thousand had been smashed.
Fans, driven mad by the hit fight videos dominating the top ten on Kuoyou Video, were capable of anything.
"Why can't we play 'Street Fighter 2' on arcade machines?" On the Professor X game site's forum, a player tagged Fang Xi, hoping for an answer.
Fang Xi loved browsing forums. Back when he was with Simple Genius Studio, he had this habit. Now, while no longer frequenting the Software Alliance, he was a regular on Professor X's game site. His account, "Seek Solitude to Slim," was well-known and respected.
Seeing the post, Fang Xi casually replied, "Blame the arcade machine contractor, Zhang Xing. He unilaterally broke the contract with Professor X. If you want to blame someone, blame him."
Fang Xi didn't think much of it and moved on.
So, that evening, when he saw the news on TV, he was shocked—
"Today, a violent incident occurred at Golden Sun Entertainment City. A group of about thirty visitors suddenly stormed the office and severely beat the entertainment city owner, Zhang. It appears these people were organized and premeditated. Investigations show they were dissatisfied with Zhang's arcade machines no longer featuring games developed by Professor X, prompting their violent actions..."
The news showed chaotic footage of Zhang being beaten, and it was indeed tragic.
Seeing the news, Ye Chui was stunned: "Seriously? This is getting out of hand."
Fang Xi was also taken aback: "Really? They actually went to trouble Zhang?"
Ye Chui, Fang Nan, Robert, and Ava all looked at Fang Xi.
"It wasn't me who instigated this! I just mentioned on the forum that it was Zhang's fault..." Fang Xi quickly explained, then smiled, "But this news is quite satisfying. Should I go back and rile them up again? Clearly, Zhang didn't get beaten enough."
"Don't stir up more trouble," Ye Chui sighed. "This has already gotten too big. It doesn't reflect well on us... I didn't expect arcade machines to be this popular."
Ye Chui hadn't planned to focus much on arcade machines, given that his father's handheld console would be developed soon. According to the trajectory of the other world, handhelds and consoles would soon replace arcades.
But the passion for arcade machines was currently soaring.
"Hmm, looks like I need to find someone to produce more arcade machines," Ye Chui mused.
In the past few days, some people had approached him to propose collaborations for producing arcade machines. Ye Chui had been hesitant, but now he saw the need to consider it seriously.
Later, Ye Chui posted a video on the Professor X game site, advising fans not to engage in extreme actions and promising to address the arcade machine issue.
Seeing Ye Chui's video, fans were overjoyed.
The next morning, as Ye Chui was getting up, he received an unexpected communication request.
"Hello, is this Professor X?" A steady female voice asked.
"And you are?"
"I'm the host of Urban Topics. We'd like to invite you for an interview. Would you be interested?" the voice continued.
"An interview?" Ye Chui was taken aback, then recalled the
show. It was the same program where the editor-in-chief of Comic Weekly had harshly criticized 'King of Comics' as garbage.
Thinking about the show's popularity, which had significantly boosted the sales of 'King of Comics' after the criticism, Ye Chui smiled and said, "Sure, I have some things I'd like to say on your show."