[Penguin is awesome, how'd they pump out a new game so fast?]
[666, and it's free-to-play too!! Penguin is so generous!]
[Honkai 3? Trash game. Never touching it again.]
[Damn miHoYo, how could you kill off Himeko? I've blacklisted your studio.]
[I can't wait even a single day, Penguin hurry up and launch!]
[Girls' Odyssey! Isn't Zera way better than Himeko anyway?]
[I've been playing Honkai 3 since day one, but miHoYo really let me down this time. Go Penguin!]
[Down with Honkai, long live Odyssey!]
...
Under Penguin's promo video for their new game, the top-liked comments were almost all praises for Girls' Odyssey.
As for the word "plagiarism"? Nowhere to be seen.
And the same thing was happening across the net—on TapTap, Douyin, Bilibili…
Even Penguin's advertising methods were basically copied straight from miHoYo. Their goal was obvious: rip a chunk of meat right out of miHoYo's mouth.
This brazen move, paired with hired water armies and comment control, infuriated Honkai fans, who swarmed to curse Penguin for being shameless.
And since Eden's support for Honkai 3 was still trending hot, the debate of [Honkai vs. Girls' Odyssey] shot up to the top of the trending chart again.
Penguin fans, miHoYo fans, and casual bystanders argued endlessly.
But because Penguin had such a bad reputation, and this was open plagiarism on top of that, they kept finding themselves at a disadvantage.
Not that Penguin cared—in fact, they were happy about it.
As long as there was buzz, there'd be customers.
Besides, Penguin Games did have their own loyal fans.
Either way, the hype for Girls' Odyssey was already set in stone.
With that in mind, Zhao Wenbo struck while the iron was hot and dropped another announcement, throwing more fuel on the fire of the gaming world:
"Congratulations! Girls' Odyssey pre-registrations have surpassed 30 million."
"To thank our players for their support, TiMi Studio solemnly promises: the game will officially launch at 2 PM on the 21st."
"Free-to-play. Log in and get an S-rank Valkyrie. Pre-registered players also receive 66,000 crystals (66 pulls). [Pre-register here]."
The news made even some diehard Honkai fans hesitate.
An S-rank Valkyrie just for logging in? And 66,000 crystals?! Too tempting…
Since when was Penguin this generous?
Wait a second…
Many sharp-eyed players suddenly thought of something, rushed to miHoYo's official account, and started leaving comments:
[Girls' Odyssey looks too good—miHoYo, are you panicking yet?]
[Give us a free selectable S-rank Valkyrie, or I'm switching! (5)]
[Himeko's gone, but I found her replacement! Odyssey's Zera is gorgeous… already uninstalled Honkai 3.]
[Not even asking for a selectable S-rank—just 20k crystals would be fine, right? (winks)]
[Down with Honkai, long live Odyssey! (5 RMB)]
[Hey guys upstairs, let me in on that paycheck too.]
[Worst paid posters ever, at least delete the brackets lol.]
...
Of course, Penguin did still have a sizable core fanbase.
But after so many years, they'd also racked up a huge number of disillusioned players.
Now that they were pulling the plagiarism card so blatantly, those already disgusted with Penguin felt even sicker.
So they flocked to miHoYo's official account instead.
Some came to cheer.
Some came to meme.
Some begged and wept for Himeko's side stories…
In short—they were giving miHoYo traffic.
...
Compared to a few days ago, the comments under miHoYo's official account had flipped again.
Now it was mostly praise and encouragement. Almost no insults remained.
The studio's girls were overjoyed as they scrolled through the comments together, whispering and giggling.
The fact that Honkai 3 had blown up to this degree was beyond anything they'd ever dared dream.
Sure, the game itself was entirely Mo Li's work, but the voice acting, event planning, and side stories—they had all contributed.
They might not be the "mothers" of the game, but "stepmothers" at least, right?
And the in-game characters were them, after all.
All those so-called "Himeko stans" or "Mei stans" were basically just their fans in disguise.
Even if they usually stayed low-profile, seeing so many people love them filled their hearts with happiness.
After all, girls will always have at least a little vanity.
"Bronya, has the boss come up with a plan yet?" Durandal finally put down her phone, frowning as she glanced toward Mo Li's office.
Bronya shook her head slightly. "I asked. He said there's no need to rush. Penguin can't steal Honkai 3 players. Just wait."
"I think… he'll give us a plan soon."
At that moment, Ganyu said timidly: "But… It's almost the end of the workday. I remember the boss never works overtime…"
Himeko sighed helplessly. "Seriously… such a massive hit game, and he's still so laid back… We want to work overtime but he stops us…"
Mei, on the other hand, covered her mouth and giggled.
"If this were another company, the boss would probably be forcing everyone to crunch. When you think of it that way… our boss is actually pretty nice."
"Tch… I never said he wasn't. I'm just worried about the Penguin…"
Just then, Mo Li walked out of his office.
Seeing all the girls gathered together, he asked curiously, "What are you all chatting about?"
Bronya gave him a look. "Your plan? Penguin's already pressing right up against us—aren't you going to respond?"
"Oh, that?" Mo Li chuckled. "That's easy. We'll just push new story and new events early."
"As long as we have fresh content, the players who truly love our game won't leave."
"So what I'm more concerned about right now is—any progress with the overseas publishers?"
"Yes!" Durandal quickly stood up, her face bright with excitement. "There's strong interest from the Sakura Country. They even sent two people over to negotiate with us."
"They should be arriving tomorrow."
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