This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature

Chapter 486 - 296: Chiba Love Story_2

After all, from the picture composition, character creation, storyline, to voice acting and music, the judging panel found little fault and gave it very high scores.

Not winning an award would be unusual!

Although the gold prize was taken by someone from Neon, which made Chen Ba a bit displeased, he soon got over it.

The animation industry over in Neon really is impressive, and this is just the first year, so what’s the hurry?

He doesn’t believe that the gold prize at the Divine Grace Animation contest would go to a foreign work every year. That’s impossible! Sooner or later, a domestic work will claim the gold prize.

Gold prize, 5 million yuan in prize money!

The prize money was issued in the form of a check, and the hostess brought the large "check board" to Chen Ba’s side, causing him to roll his eyes.

When he was a child, he was always curious about why the checks given out at various award ceremonies or prize-giving events were so large. No one could lift it, and it seemed fake!

Later he understood.

This oversized "check" used for award ceremonies is merely a "prop" for the convenience of the prizewinner and the award presenter to pose for photos.

Exactly, it’s purely a prop, made this big just so that the audience below can clearly see the "amount" on it.

The real check is actually issued after the event, when finance personally contacts the winner to settle tax and cash matters before disbursing it.

How annoying!

It was amusing to think that as a child, he truly believed that the actual check was that oversized piece of cardboard hoisted by leaders.

Watching melodramas back then, when the wealthy male lead’s mother slapped down a check for the female lead, demanding "Here’s five million to leave my son," Chen Ba would often criticize the director for not being meticulous—The check’s so small?

There’s no grandeur at all...

Whipping out a real five-million-dollar check and physically knocking the female lead out—that’s what being truly wealthy looks like!

Just as Chen Ba was lost in thought, the winner Mr. Takasaka finally came up on stage to accept the award.

Wait, why was it a woman who came?

"Sorry, my brother couldn’t make it due to a last-minute issue, so I’m here to accept the award on his behalf, sumimasen..."

Oh well, the sister is pretty cute!

After presenting the award, they took a photo together holding the oversized check, thus ending Chen Ba’s task.

He was only responsible for presenting the gold prize; the silver prize and merit awards were someone else’s business.

He had more important things waiting for him!

Tencent, Pig Factory, Mi Factory, and Perfect, among other major domestic game companies, had set up a meeting, inviting him to join in on something big.

"A Hongmen banquet?"

"Wouldn’t go that far..."

Chen Ba felt that although banquets never mean good news, it hadn’t reached the level of being a Hongmen banquet. It was merely these industry peers wanting to have a word with him.

The location for the invitation was in Jiangning.

After leaving the headquarters of the Divine Grace Animation Association, Chen Ba, along with Huang Qing, went to the designated location, an old private restaurant that had been open for nearly thirty years.

Indeed, the more significant the business dinner, the more they prefer private kitchens, making their way into little alleyways.

Chen Ba didn’t understand who else, besides those for business dinners, would come to such hidden private restaurants?

They’re secluded, expensive, and most require an "appointment."...

Who would actually come to eat here?

"Maybe they only cater to business dinners and not casual diners?"

Huang Qing laughed, "It’s fine, after all, we’re not the ones paying for the meal, so why overthink it?"

"True enough..."

Chen Ba thought it made perfect sense. If someone else is treating, who cares? As long as it’s delicious. If he were hosting, he probably wouldn’t have come to such a place.

Upon arriving at the appointed private room, Chen Ba realized that quite a number of people had gathered for this dinner.

Famous domestic game companies had all sent representatives, packing two large tables full, led by game department heads from Pig Goose factories.

"If you have something to say, just say it. I’m very busy."

Chen Ba didn’t bother with small talk, directly asking, "Everyone gathered in Jiangning, you’re not here to cause me trouble, are you?"

"No such thing..."

The representative from Tencent smiled and waved, saying, "We just happened to be passing by Jiangning and thought to pay President Chen a visit."

Do you think I’ll believe that?

Chen Ba rolled his eyes and said straightforwardly, "Go ahead, tell me what’s up. Out of consideration for today’s meal, I’ll help if I can, but if I can’t, there’s nothing I can do."

"It’s like this..."

This time, it was the overseas department head from Pig Factory who spoke, explaining the origin of this banquet.

A few years ago, Tianba Studio spun off a Nobug Game Platform of their own.

Initially, it was just something for fun and wasn’t worth anyone’s attention. After all, who doesn’t have their own game platform these days?

Besides...

What even is the Nobug platform? It’s mocked as the Star Emperor Launcher, the Cultivation Fantasy Launcher, the Divine Grace Continent Launcher, and the Speeding Frenzy Launcher. Its reputation isn’t unearned.

Simply put, the Nobug platform isn’t so different from Tencent’s WeGame.

WeGame is jokingly referred to as the LOL Launcher, Teamfight Tactics Launcher, and CF Launcher, which is very similar to the situation of the Nobug platform.

Therefore, no one paid attention to this platform at first, until a bit ago when a foreign gaming media outlet revealed that the market share and active player base of the Nobug platform had surpassed E-Shop, Origin, and Uplay, leaving everyone astounded.

What on earth is going on?

BaChu... uh no, Ba’s platform isn’t just a bigger WeGame, so how did it surpass the West, becoming the second-largest global PC gaming platform?

How strange!

Curiosity piqued, everyone scrambled to unearth the original text of this overseas report and examined it word by word.

This research left them even more surprised.

Because the data showed that the Nobug Game Platform had hundreds of millions of users overseas, with active online players reaching the tens of millions.

Again, I say...

The joke about the Nobug platform being a game launcher isn’t far from the truth. That’s simply what it is; many people use this platform primarily to play games from Tianba Studio.

However, many people, including domestic peers, overlooked an important fact.

That is, Tianba Studio’s games aren’t just popular domestically—they’re quite popular overseas too. Especially games like Speeding Frenzy and Divine Grace Continent, where overseas players are no fewer than domestic ones.

So what if it’s a launcher?

When your game is popular enough and reaches a certain level of influence, then even if it’s a launcher, the platform holds significant value.

This is identical to WeGame.

Despite being jokingly called the LOL Launcher, it can’t be denied that this platform, riding on the fixed traffic from games like LOL and CF, has high viewership.

With this traffic, just a nudge can steer players’ attention to other games, which is precisely the strategy WeGame has been executing: continually recommending players to other games.

By comparison, the Nobug platform may not catch up with WeGame in China due to Tencent’s stronghold in social networking.

But overseas, it is, in truth, the second-largest PC gaming platform, right after Steam.

Indeed...

You could say the Nobug platform doesn’t even deserve to carry Steam’s bag, given Steam’s massive player spending potential, while players on the Nobug platform merely play Tianba’s games.

Nonetheless, the Nobug platform has so many active players!

This news couldn’t be more exciting for domestic gaming companies eager to go global.

Imagine their games landing on the Nobug platform, facing tens of millions of overseas players, with Ba giving a little push in terms of resources and recommendations—it’s a delightful vision!

"Stop, stop, hold on a second!"

Chen Ba saw that everyone was eagerly slobbering and couldn’t help but quip, "What made you guys think Nobug players would even buy games?"

Come on!

On the Nobug platform, Chen Ba can hardly push his own games. Players just see the platform as a launcher—what can he do?

Players of Speeding Frenzy just play Speeding Frenzy. Even if the platform recommends Star Emperor 2 or other games every day, they’re not very interested. That’s the awkward truth of the Nobug platform.

If he can’t push his own games, helping to push others is out of the question. Seriously, are you out of your mind?

Let’s just say, isn’t there a possibility that Nobug, the second-largest global PC gaming platform, is practically worthless?

Forget about Steam—even when compared to E-Shop, the players’ spending potential and desire to spend seem far beyond that of the stingy players on the Nobug platform!