The idea of hiring bodyguards was nothing more than a running joke. Although John was incredibly wealthy and his name echoed throughout the gaming world, his real life remained surprisingly ordinary. In reality, almost nobody recognized him. At the very least, whenever he went downstairs to buy his favorite roast duck, he had never run into a player who could identify him.
He didn't drive a flashy supercar either. Instead, he preferred a premium SUV and lived in an upscale yet perfectly ordinary residential community. As for lavish mansions, private yachts, or helicopters, while John's fortune was more than enough to afford them, neither he nor Luna had ever been particularly interested in such extravagant luxuries.
Their daily routine was simple and satisfying. They went to work, discussed ways to make their games even better, and enjoyed a life free from financial worries. Whether it was expensive cosmetics, designer handbags, handcrafted collectibles, or cutting-edge technology products, they could buy whatever caught their attention without ever looking at the price tag. To John, that was already an ideal life.
There was, however, one exception. Both John and Luna had developed a genuine enthusiasm for buying houses. After all, money sitting idle was money wasting away. If they weren't investing elsewhere, purchasing real estate to preserve its value was a perfectly reasonable choice.
As July drew to a close and half of the summer vacation slipped by, Assassin's Creed, which had briefly stolen everyone's attention with a sudden burst of promotion some time ago, once again fell completely silent. Meanwhile, Gemtechs' Empire and Ansoft's Life Soul officially announced their release dates. Among all the companies involved, the one that puzzled everyone the most was undoubtedly PixelPioneers.
Every major publisher was steadily building momentum toward launch, but PixelPioneers had abruptly fired a single shot before disappearing into complete silence. If that promotional campaign had at least been followed by another major announcement, players would have understood. Instead, after releasing one impressive CGI trailer, there was absolutely nothing.
No additional reveals.
No gameplay showcases.
No developer diaries.
Nothing at all.
Compared to PixelPioneers' mysterious marketing strategy, Gemtechs and Ansoft followed a far more traditional approach. From the beginning of their promotional campaigns to their scheduled release dates, every announcement was methodical, consistent, and aggressive. Every move was made openly, with confidence.
Both games were launching during the same period.
Both carried the standard AAA price tag.
Both were aiming directly at the same audience.
At the same time, PixelPioneers' multiplayer titles, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Resident Evil Resistance, continued to rank among the most-played online games. Nevertheless, the arrival of Life Soul and Da Qin inevitably siphoned away a noticeable portion of their player base. Although both titles remained extremely popular, their concurrent player counts had visibly declined compared to previous weeks.
Several medium-sized games also launched during the same release window, but none of them managed to generate enough momentum to challenge the enormous attention surrounding Gemtechs and Ansoft.
On launch day, both companies proudly announced that their games had surpassed one million copies sold in just under ten hours. As for overseas sales, neither company mentioned them. The reason was fairly straightforward.
Life Soul, published domestically by Ansoft and co-published through UEGame, generated overseas revenue that barely registered compared to its domestic performance.
Gemtechs' silence regarding overseas sales was even easier to understand. The results were simply disappointing.
On one hand, Gemtechs' international publishing network had yet to mature, and its overseas marketing campaign was nowhere near as extensive as that of Life Soul.
On the other hand, there was an even greater obstacle. Their game was a game deeply rooted in their history and culture.
Contrary to popular belief, overseas players weren't uninterested in culture. In fact, many found it fascinating. The real problem was that a game like theirs relied heavily on historical context, cultural symbolism, and traditional storytelling techniques that were difficult for international audiences to fully appreciate.
Even with professional localization, countless references, idioms, historical events, and cultural nuances inevitably lost much of their meaning. Simply put, certain cultural experiences couldn't be perfectly translated.
Back at PixelPioneers, John temporarily set aside development on Warcraft alongside Luna. The two immediately purchased both games in the office and began experiencing them firsthand.
For game developers, playing games wasn't merely entertainment; it was part of the job. Rather than completing the entire games, they focused on the opening two to three hours. Even that brief experience was enough for John to form a fairly accurate impression of each title.
Life Soul avoided unnecessary complexity, so its storyline was straightforward. An ordinary young man awakened the power of a legendary Life Soul, only to discover he carried the bloodline of an ancient hero. At the very moment an ancient Demon King broke free from his seal once again, the young protagonist embarked on a journey to uncover the truth behind his origins, save the world, and, naturally, meet several beautiful companions along the way.
As for Gemtechs' Empire, it was a sandbox action RPG.
While playing, John immediately sensed strong inspiration from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Much of the quest structure clearly borrowed ideas from Skyrim, while blending them with a wide variety of interconnected gameplay systems.
"Gemtechs is still Gemtechs." John set down his mouse and silently praised the developers.
Despite the countless jokes players made about Gemtechs, Moondustries, and Essence, claiming they designed games with their feet while filling them with endless monetization, the truth couldn't be denied. A company didn't reach this level through monetization alone, at least with this, Gemtechs demonstrated world-class development capabilities.
Although many aspects of its quest design were inspired by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, its overall mission pacing and arrangement actually improved upon several of those ideas.
More importantly, one thing surprised John. Unlike what he had originally expected, it didn't simply cram every advertised feature together into an incoherent mess. Instead, the game possessed a remarkably clear core gameplay loop while everything else served only to reinforce that foundation.
Of course, another way to interpret Gemtechs' marketing was simply this: "Our game can do everything!"
Whether players ultimately felt disappointed depended entirely on one factor: the quality of the game itself. And another equally important factor was how much players trusted the developer before release.
Gemtechs had exaggerated its games so many times that most players instinctively believed only thirty percent of what the company promised. Ironically, after finally playing the Empire, many players discovered that the finished product actually exceeded those lowered expectations.
That style of exaggerated marketing worked perfectly for Gemtechs, but it absolutely wouldn't work for John or PixelPioneers. If John suddenly posted on PixelPioneers' social account claiming that the upcoming Assassin's Creed would recreate an entirely real world with revolutionary physics simulation, dynamic ecosystems, limitless AI behavior, and countless other groundbreaking features, players would believe nearly every word.
That was precisely the problem, as player expectations toward PixelPioneers were fundamentally different from those toward Gemtechs. If Assassin's Creed failed to meet even one of those enormous expectations, then regardless of how outstanding the finished game actually was, even if it reached the highest level of AAA quality, it would still be branded a disappointment by many players. PixelPioneers had climbed so high in players' minds that every new release carried impossible expectations.
As for Empire and Life Soul, which game would ultimately emerge victorious? John couldn't judge purely by their quality, as both were excellent games. However, if he had to predict the final outcome, he still believed Gemtechs, or perhaps one of the industry's established giants, would ultimately claim the last laugh.
Although Ansoft had partnered with UEGame, the gap between them and companies like Gemtechs, Moondustries, and Essence remained significant. More importantly, Ansoft's greatest strength had always been producing one astonishing AAA masterpiece after another. Meanwhile, Gemtechs, Moondustries, and Essence possessed something equally formidable: their in-house development capabilities were among the strongest in the entire industry.