After PixelPioneers Games relied on The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim to claim the Game of the Year award, a wave of large-scale promotional activities quickly followed. A series of classic titles, including Resident Evil, Octopath Traveler, Binding of Isaac, and Outlast, all launched limited-time discounts. Special in-game content was also introduced, such as exclusive wedding costume items in Resident Evil Resistance, along with price cuts on key items and other purchasables.
At the same time, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim itself rolled out a global 50% discount, igniting another surge of enthusiasm among players worldwide.
Meanwhile, Gemtechs, as one of the key participants behind The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, naturally capitalized on the momentum. Multiple titles under its banner launched celebratory events and promotional discounts, riding the wave of attention generated by the award.
Of course, Gemtech had every right to do so. After all, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim was backed by their investment, and more importantly, they had provided significant technical support to PixelPioneers Games during development.
However, the actions of several other developers, particularly second-tier studios, left players scratching their heads in confusion. Even the three giants, including Moondustries and Essence, joined in, publicly congratulating The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim for winning the international Game of the Year award while launching their own so-called "celebration events."
This series of moves left players utterly baffled. What does The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim have to do with you?
Despite the confusion, one thing was undeniable: The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim winning the international Game of the Year award marked a major breakthrough. A title that had already been on the market for over half a year once again surged to the top of trending charts and hot search rankings.
Major gaming media outlets flooded their coverage with discussions about The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, while also revisiting the development journey of PixelPioneers Games.
At the same time, many outlets shifted their focus toward the company's future, especially the highly anticipated Metal Gear: Phantom Pain. Even UEGame officially confirmed that they had secured distribution rights for Metal Gear: Phantom Pain, launching an aggressive overseas marketing campaign. However, compared to domestic players, international players received noticeably fewer benefits.
For instance, they could not enjoy bundled discounts after purchasing Metal Gear Solid: Original Burst Point. That said, they could still use it to access the free THE BOSS storyline featured in Red Alert: World War II. All the while, anticipation for Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain continued to build steadily.
In their bid to prevent Ansoft from rising as the fourth gaming giant in the market, Gemtechs, Moondustries, and Essence all provided substantial promotional support for Metal Gear: Phantom Pain. Coupled with the recent Game of the Year win, John now carried an even brighter halo of prestige. It could be said that this unreleased title had already captured the attention of countless players.
Amid this growing anticipation, John and Luna had just returned from their honeymoon in Hawaii to the PixelPioneers office in Jiangshi.
"After being out for so long, I feel like I've gotten a lot dimmer." John glanced at his arms and face, unable to resist commenting on his noticeably tanned complexion.
"Whose fault is that? You refused to use sunscreen." Luna shot him a glance before calling out, "Doggo, come here!"
Hearing the familiar voice, the dog lying on the floor immediately rolled over, opened its mouth as if smiling, and wagged its tail excitedly as it trotted over to Luna, circling happily around her feet.
"Evelien and the others must have been overfeeding you! Why are you so chubby now? You need to lose weight!" Luna said as she picked up the dog, feigning a stern expression.
"Woof! Woof!" Not understanding a word, the dog simply assumed it was being praised after a long absence and barked happily in response. But in the next moment, its expression froze. Luna walked over to its food bowl and calmly transferred the dog food into a cabinet.
"Woof…?" The dog blinked its large eyes, completely stunned.
Meanwhile, John headed to Armani's office to catch up on company matters from the past few weeks.
"The comic division is still operating at a loss," Armani began, skipping over the game division entirely and focusing on the company's other sectors. "However, merchandise sales, watches, figures, phone cases, and mugs are generating solid profits. We've also released part of our game distribution channels. It's a complicated process on our end, but the titles within our partnered copyright library remain under our control."
"Additionally, I conducted a dedicated study on VR experience centers. If operated independently with the right strategy and location, profitability isn't difficult. The real issue lies in the large-scale VR channel expansion you proposed earlier." Armani paused before continuing. "For small-scale setups, like family or dual-user environments, the impact is minimal. But for large offline deployments, venue rental costs alone become a massive burden. Our current funds simply can't sustain that level of expansion."
Hearing this, John nodded thoughtfully. He fully understood what Armani meant. The concept of offline VR expansion had potential, but without sufficient capital, it was simply unrealistic.
"I see. Let's put that plan on hold for now," John said with a faint smile, choosing not to dwell on it further.
"Then what kind of exclusive title are we planning to use to attract players?" Armani asked, curiosity evident in his tone.
This was something he had long wanted to ask. There were already countless VR experience centers on the market. If PixelPioneers wanted to enter this space, exclusive content would be essential. But what kind of game could truly draw players away from competitors?
John didn't hide anything and began explaining his ideas about integrating VR and AR technologies.
"So it's not just a VR game?" Armani's eyes lit up almost instantly. "You're combining card-based gameplay with VR and AR, and leveraging comics, animation, and other IPs to expand influence, bringing in entirely new players rather than relying solely on existing ones?"
Clearly, Armani grasped the concept far more quickly than most. In his mind, a massive IP ecosystem had already begun to take shape, though its success would depend heavily on execution.
"If that's the case," Armani continued, excitement building, "we might not even need to open our own experience centers at all."
He looked at John, a sly grin spreading across his face. "We could just… leverage others' platforms for free."
"…Wait, what?" John stared at Armani, his expression turning complicated.