Inside the hallway of Tencent’s headquarters, a project manager in a suit walked with brisk steps. He had a document in his hand and from the expression on his face, something good must’ve happened.
Du Zhuze stood in front of Ma Huateng’s office. He took a deep breath, adjusted his tie, and knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
When he heard the voice inside, he eagerly pushed open the door.
“Boss, they agreed on the acquisition. Wanghai Lexiang Technology stated that with our support, their Deepon virtual reality equipment now has the ability to directly connect to laptops and the previous compatibility problem has been resolved. From the test they did yesterday, it can smoothly run virtual reality games such as Microsoft’s Minecraft and Eve: Valkyrie.”
The former had quite a reputation domestically. Ever since the virtual reality trailer was released in December of 2015, it received considerable attention. And the latter’s lack of publicity domestically was primarily due to the poor selection of game operators.
“Discuss publication rights with CCP. You must make them sign the contract,” Ma Huateng said with an undertone.
Without a game that people enjoyed playing, it would be extremely difficult to market virtual reality. People wouldn’t purchase VR equipment just because they could log on their QQ with VR equipment.
“But EVE’s partner Shiji Tiancheng is also in discussions about Valkyrie. They’re already the operator for EVE; we don’t have any advantage in winning the bid for Valkyrie,” Du Shuze said with a pained look.
Ma Huateng smiled mysteriously. “We have money and an even better user group.”
He hadn’t focused on EVE because it was a small market game, but now that he thought about it, what was more appealing than freely soaring in the galaxy in virtual reality?
After receiving assurance from his boss, Du Shuze felt relieved and continued.
“What about Microsoft’s Minecraft?”
“That’s a single-player game, right?” Ma Huateng had a slight frown.
“Primarily a single player game, but it has server functionality,” Du Shuze answered.
“Therefore, without the need for a large-scale server, it allows for a local network connection?”
“In theory, yes.” The project manager nodded.
“Then ignore it. We’re only focusing on MMO. The spirit of the internet is sharing, and players will naturally tire of this type of game.” Ma Huateng waved his hand to dismiss his concerns.
The project manager suddenly understood.
“Boss you’re so smart!”
[Did you even need to say it?] Ma Huateng glared at him.
But it certainly felt good to listen to flattery as Ma Huateng sunk into his chair, feeling proud. Future Technology’s sudden emergence was indeed annoying, but with the solid foundation of the Tencent empire, it would be easy to break into virtual reality.
The only reason they hadn’t made a move was because the mobile market was saturated. As a newly-formed company, they dared to fight for market shares with the three giants – Baidu, Tencent, and Alibaba? That was wishful thinking.
But since the war began, he was more focused on the plans of the other two giants.
“Keep an eye on Alibaba and Baidu; I feel they will-”
The door was suddenly pushed open, interrupting their conversation.
The person at the door leaned on the door frame while gasping for breath. He had a piece of wrinkled paper in his hand.
Ma Huateng raised an eyebrow as this employee’s rude actions displeased him. Du Shuze, by the side, glanced at the person and gloated before returning to a serious expression.
After catching his breath, the person finally stood up. Without apologizing, he hastily walked to Ma Huateng’s desk and placed the document down while shaking.
“Boss, Future Technology made a new move. This is a document I copied from a net cafe that works with us.” The person finally started to breathe normally and began to articulate himself.
Ma Huateng glanced at him before gazing at the document.
“Virtual reality experience project?”
Ma Huateng flipped through the document before he started to look concerned.
For some reason, Future Technology’s move made him feel uneasy.
“Little Du.”
“Mhmm?” Du Shuze straightened his back and awaited orders.
“You’re responsible for virtual reality. After work, go experience this for me,” Ma Huateng said nonchalantly.
“Yes Boss.”
“Ok, that’s it from me.”
Du Shuze immediately stepped out. The employee who rushed in hesitated for a moment, wanting to say something. When he saw the displeased expression on his boss’ face, realizing his recklessness, he shut his mouth and left the office with Du Shuze.
…
Wanghai City’s Star Netcafe was filled with people. There were empty computers, but the front desk was crowded with people.
The first things people said when they entered the net cafe was:
“Could you get a ‘Phantom’ virtual reality helmet for me?”
“Sorry, sir, the only four Phantom helmets in the store are being used,” the staff said with mixed emotions.
She had repeated the same line over fifty times.
“What?! Full already?” The man’s eyes widened. “Eh, why’re there only four here?”
Her explanation clearly didn’t convince this man. If it wasn’t for the fact that the staff looked cute, he would’ve cursed.
As a loyal fan of Future Technology, he followed the official site of Godly Land while waiting for the monthly updated trailer. Other than that, he also avidly followed the streamers who chose to be part of the internal test.
The streamers didn’t disclose the game content, but when they were asked if the game was fun, even straight-faced streamers would display a fervent look.
It had been half a year since the official site came online. Now that he could finally play it, he was indeed eager. As soon as he saw “Experience project” on Future 1.0, he immediately dropped everything he was doing and rushed to the closest partnered netcafe.
Yet now, the Star Netcafe was telling him it was full?
What kind of joke was this? The largest net cafe in the area only had four “Phantom”?
“How long is the wait?” the man said out of annoyance.
The new staff was about to be in tears considering how menacing the man looked.
“You’ll have to wait.”
“I know I have to wait. I’m asking how long do I have to wait?” the man said aggressively.
The older staff who just finished her tasks could no longer stand by as she dragged the new staff to the back before personally handling the situation.
“Sir, do you want to open a computer or experience virtual reality? If you want to experience virtual reality, please register on our computer. There are still 51 players before you for a total of 102 hours of wait time. We’ll alert you through text message five hours before your spot opens up. Also, if you have time at night, you could join the night list with 23 players currently waiting—”
When he heard he had to wait for five days, he immediately exploded and began yelling.
“Fu*k, what kind of sh*tty net cafe is this? I have to wait! I won’t play anymore.”
Although he said that, he still stood there. He stared at the staff while waiting for the server to give in.
But the staff was experienced as he looked at the man with a smile without displaying any emotion.
Since he was blocking the way, the people behind him began to grow discontent.
“Can you be faster? If you don’t want to play, leave. Stop wasting time.”
“That’s right.”
When he heard the voices from the back, the man’s face turned red out of embarrassment. He wanted to leave, but when he saw the long line before him, if he left, he wouldn’t be able to experience virtual reality anymore.
“Who said I won’t play? I’ll wait, how much?”
“You said that?” There were whistles behind him, but he chose to ignore them.
[Whatever you say, my skin is thick enough.]
“6 RMB an hour.” The staff pointed at the sign at the door.
It wasn’t expensive, which made him feel a bit better. By comparison, an Apple computer cost 12 an hour.
The same scene was also occurring in Wanghai, Shangjing, and other metropolises. A few days later, Phantom was set to appear in New York, London, and Paris.
When the first player put down the virtual reality helmet reluctantly and began to share his astonishment with his friends, it would mark the first intimate contact between civilization and virtual reality.