Chapter 1464 *Gun痕 2* Takes the Top Spot!

This time, the FV team's championship skin was a bit strange.

Take the jungler, for example. Last year's championship skin was Storm Swordsman, and this year's championship skin was Storm Swordsman - Void Lurker!

Storm Swordsman is a normal human figure, wearing armor surging with storm energy and wielding a long sword. Void Lurker, on the other hand, looks more like a humanoid Void Zerg, with two claws as weapons.

The two figures are quite different in themselves, with not much comparability, but they were forcibly brought together.

The finished Storm Swordsman - Void Lurker skin used the original animation rig of the Void Lurker, but with the Storm Swordsman's armor overlaid. The original Zerg claws were replaced with two short swords, and the whole body still had the storm surging effect.

Movement, attack animations, and skill animations were kept as close as possible to the characteristics of the Void Lurker, only leaning towards the Storm Swordsman in appearance.

Keeping the original animation rig was reasonable, after all, it had to be clear to the players which hero it was.

In addition, there was the recall animation: the Storm Swordsman's armor shattered, the long sword was thrown to the ground, and the Void Lurker crawled out from inside and遁入虚空 (dun ru xu kong, escaped into the void).

The skins for the other four members were the same.

In fact, this approach was quite common. *ioi* had previously released "element exchange" themed skins, which exchanged the elements of the beast master and the pet. The response at the time was quite good.

But after this skin came out, it was discovered that things were not so simple.

The players were too imaginative, completely misunderstanding!

The players speculated that this championship skin contained at least three layers of meaning.

First of all, it shows that compared to Void Lurker, Storm Swordsman is the player's true love. Choosing Void Lurker as the skin was a last resort. The official forced a buff on Void Lurker, so that he could only be used in the finals. What else could he do?

But in any case, the hero of his heart is always the Storm Swordsman.

Secondly, the Storm Swordsman is dead. The armor is broken, and the long sword is thrown on the ground. Was he killed by the Void Lurker? Of course not, he was killed by 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company. 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company nerfed the Storm Swordsman with one knife, making him no longer have any meaning to continue living, and forcibly let the Void Lurker replace him.

Finally, is Void Lurker the end? Maybe this time the Void Lurker crawled out of the Storm Swordsman's body, and next time another hero will crawl out of the Void Lurker's body. This time 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company targeted the balance of the game and nerfed the Void Lurker, which actually foreshadowed such an ending.

In summary, this skin is to remind everyone to remember the good deeds done by 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company during the two World Championships. In any case, each player has his own interpretation, and everything is self-evident.

Think about the scene of the FV team dominating the first *ioi* Global Finals with their main heroes.

Then think about the scene of the FV team struggling to win the second *ioi* Global Finals with the strong heroes they had painstakingly trained.

Behind all this is the dirty backroom manipulation of 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company!

Pei Qian looked at the players' discussions and was filled with mixed feelings.

He also wanted to speak up for 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company!

In fact, can all these faults be blamed on 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company? Not entirely. Some things may not be the original intention of 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company, maybe because of some objective restrictions, or simply because they were misunderstood by the players.

But the problem now is that the players have completely lost any trust in 指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company!

This is the so-called "Tacitus Trap": once the emperor becomes an object of hatred, then whether he does good or bad deeds, it will equally arouse people's disgust towards him.

In other words, once an organization loses its credibility, everyone will think it is telling lies, no matter whether it is telling the truth or lies; no matter whether it is doing something out of kindness or malice, everyone will think it is out of malice.

Take this event as an example, what would happen if *gog* had the exact same event?

Nothing would happen. Everyone would happily whale on the Spring Festival skins, Valentine's Day skins, and championship skins.

As for the championship skin, everyone would definitely not interpret and speculate on it so maliciously, but simply see it as a playful joke.

There's no way, this kind of differential treatment is the result of previous word-of-mouth accumulation. Nothing can be done.

In short, the various comparisons between *gog* and *ioi*'s Spring Festival events made Pei Qian feel that something big was wrong.

"Wait, something's not right. This ten million... how does it seem like I personally gave it to *gog*?"

Pei Qian felt that this Spring Festival red envelope event was a bit familiar. On closer inspection, wasn't this the ten million in profit concessions?

At that time, Pei Qian also asked various departments to submit a report explaining how they would use this ten million in profit concessions. As a result, *gog* did not submit an application, as if they did not need this ten million.

So Pei Qian forcibly stuffed this ten million to them.

He never expected that it would be used here!

In fact, without *gog*'s red envelope event, *ioi*'s Spring Festival event would not have been scolded so badly. With *gog*'s comparison, the players on the *ioi* side immediately couldn't stand it and ran away.

It can be said that *gog*'s ten million completely added fuel to the fire!

But can this be blamed on Eric and Zhao Xuming? It seems... they can't be blamed either.

Pei Qian has stuffed this ten million to them, what can they do with it? Holding a Spring Festival event and giving out red envelopes seems like a reasonable choice...

"What to do, can *ioi* still hold on..."

"Let me take a look at Longyu Group's official website. Brothers, you must not lose confidence. I'm still counting on you to pull me up..."

Pei Qian opened the official website of Longyu Games, but he was dumbfounded after seeing the homepage.

The large banners on the homepage of the official website are basically various games代理 (dai li, distributed) by Longyu Group. Previously, *ioi* had always been the first and was also promoted as a key game.

However, now the most important game on the homepage has changed hands!

指头 (zhi tou, Finger) Company's *ioi* has been squeezed to the back, and the first game has become *Gun痕 2*!

"What's going on? Even *ioi*'s recommended spot has been removed??"

"People leave, tea cools! Longyu Group is too unkind, isn't this kicking *ioi* when it's down?"

"Too much! Condemn, must condemn!"

"Uh... something's not right, wait a minute."

"Now they're promoting *Gun痕 2*? This game has actually been completed?"

"I get a share of the money *Gun痕 2* makes... then never mind, please increase your efforts!"

Pei Qian was originally aggrieved for *ioi* because he had high hopes for *ioi*. If *ioi* couldn't stop *gog*, then it would really unify the MOBA circle, which Pei Qian definitely didn't want to see.

At that time, *gog* would have no final opponent, and would really make money lying down!

There would be no opponents to burn money and fight price wars with!

Although the skins are cheap, there are many players! Moreover, in addition to charging for skins, various derivative industries, including the e-sports industry, are also making money. This is a very complex chemical reaction that Pei Qian absolutely cannot bear.

Now it's not just that *ioi*'s recommended spot on Longyu Games' official website has been changed.

Because this shows Longyu Group's attitude, the subsequent publicity resources will naturally be reduced!

Isn't this a terrible disaster?

But Pei Qian thought about it and realized that something was wrong. Longyu Games is promoting *Gun痕 2*, and as the designer of *Gun痕 2*, he can get 4% of the bonus from this game!

Of course, this 4% refers to 4% of the net profit that Tianhuo Studio gets from this game, but that's not a small amount!

Pei Qian started developing *Gun痕 2* with the intention of losing money, mainly to test the waters. If he could summarize the failure experience, then Tengda might be able to use it.

But after knowing that he also had a bonus share, Pei Qian had completely changed his mind.

If this game loses money, the money will be paid by Tianhuo Studio and Longyu Group, and Tengda will not share the loss amount. But if it makes money, it will be a real bonus!

The key point is that as a direct competing game with *Seabound Fortress*, it may reduce the income of *Seabound Fortress*, which is still quite attractive.

"Become a hit for me! The hotter the better!"

"Although Tengda will also get a 30% share of the money earned, I can bear it! For the bonus, I am willing to spend more brain cells to think about how this money should be spent!"

Pei Qian instantly forgot the previous unpleasantness and clicked on *Gun痕 2* to start playing.

"Min Jingchao, I have pinned all my hopes on you. You better design this game well for me. If I can't get the bonus, you can wait to go to the VIP class of the Suffering Travel!"

…

At the same time, the news of the official launch of *Gun痕 2* spread like wildfire in many FPS game player groups.

There were also many people discussing it in Chen Sha's fan group.

Chen Sha's online name is "Zheji Chensha (Broken Halberd Sinking Sands)", and he is a very资深 (zi shen, experienced) player of FPS games with good skills. He was originally a well-known figure in the *Counter-Terrorism Project* circle.

When Tianhuo Studio developed *Gun痕*, they invited him as a opinion leader in the player community to experience the game. Later, through Lin Wan's connection, he made great contributions to the promotion of *Seabound Fortress*.

Of course, he gradually stopped playing *Counter-Terrorism Project* and *Gun痕*, and focused on *Seabound Fortress* instead.

Later, with the rise of live streaming, Chen Sha also signed a contract with Langya Live, and now he is considered one of the top streamers in the *Seabound Fortress* category.

In fact, Chen Sha had considered Tuwei Live at the beginning, but there was no way, Langya Live offered him a big contract, and earning money was more attractive.

His fan group is basically composed of loyal FPS game players. Every day, in addition to playing games together, they chat in the group.

And recently, everyone's gaming time has obviously been shortened.

This is mainly because the game *Seabound Fortress* is indeed a bit old. After all, it is a game from 2009, and it is now 2013. Although the DLC and daily updates are good, and there are some new epic weapons, the decline in interest is unavoidable.

But in the past two days, the players in the group have obviously found a new focus of discussion.

Because Chen Sha, as an old friend of Tianhuo Studio and Tengda Group, and also as a 资深 (zi shen, experienced) player of FPS games, participated in the internal testing of this new FPS project some time ago!