Yang Liang was shocked.
He stared incredulously at the information on the list.
Both the game genre and the gameplay description were exactly as Old Song had told him.
He even vaguely remembered the name "slay the spire."
That "trash game" he had rejected outright, how could it be released so quickly and even climb to fifth place on the daily sales chart?
How was this possible!
Yang Liang suddenly looked up, "Quick, go find out who made this game, I want all its information!"
"Ah? Oh, okay, I'll go right away."
The employee was clearly not expecting such a strong reaction from Yang Liang; he glanced at the game's name, then immediately turned and left the office to return to his workstation.
Ten minutes later.
A detailed industry report appeared in Yang Liang's hands.
His face was grim as his gaze swept back and forth across it.
When he saw the words "Dawn Studio" in the outsourcing list, he felt his breathing hitch.
It really was the game he had rejected!
In just two months.
They had created a game with such a good market response, making his face even more unsightly.
He had miscalculated.
He had actually missed out on a game with immense potential.
If the Board knew, they would definitely hold him accountable and deem him inefficient.
But to make him humble himself and go back to Dawn Studio, he absolutely could not do it, nor could he lower himself for a small studio.
After all, he was the one who had rejected them.
Now, the only way out was to find a way to make up for his mistake and fill the void of losses.
"Immediately contact the author of this game and discuss a buyout; we can offer a high price!"
Although he didn't understand why this simply styled game suddenly exploded in popularity, it didn't hinder his judgment.
As for money, Star Travel had plenty.
He wasn't afraid of a single independent Designer refusing.
As long as they acquired this game and then increased operations with the company's investment, they would definitely achieve results far beyond what it currently had, and then even if the Board had opinions, they wouldn't be able to say much about him.
"Oh, right, didn't the R&D department have a similar shelved project before? I think it was called Lost Castle? Have them pull out the filing documents and make another card-themed game based on it."
"Okay, I'll go notify them right away."
With a response, the employee hurried away to the R&D department to find the relevant person in charge.
As a professional in the gaming industry, his sense of the player market was very keen.
This suddenly popular "slay the spire" undoubtedly pioneered a completely new gameplay, allowing card games to experience a second spring.
Even if they didn't act, other game developers would certainly rush to imitate and squeeze in to get a slice of the pie.
So, they needed to be prepared for both scenarios.
Even if the acquisition failed, they could quickly launch their own card game.
At that time, with Star Travel's reputation and resources.
Would they be afraid of not being able to surpass this individually released game?
As expected.
In just a few days.
Many game developers successively revealed projects currently under development, including several games similar to slay the spire.
Several developers focused on the card game genre even worked overtime, slightly modifying their original projects, changing them to similar gameplay, and urgently releasing them, immediately attracting a large number of players.
"Good heavens, did they poke a card nest?"
"Why are all the recently released games of this type?"
"You still don't know? There was a card game called 'slay the spire' that became popular, and these developers are all riding the wave."
"Haha, I know, it's that bizarre game that turned its CG into an anime series!"
"Isn't it watching anime to get the game? (Laughs)"
"Don't even mention it, that anime is quite good, especially the battles are explosive, I've already watched up to episode six."
The CG animation released by Chen Lin was produced based on the worldview of slay the spire.
The spire, originally named the Tower of Babel, was a staircase to heaven.
To prevent humans from continuing to build, the gods personally descended to earth, changed human languages, causing humanity to split into chaos, and the construction of the Tower of Babel also ceased.
On the surface, the gods brought higher technology (cards) to the tower, but in reality, they brought a curse.
After gaining immense power, the factions within the tower began to compete, suspect, and attack each other.
Countless civilizations and adventurers died in the battles.
The curse of the cards and the resentment of living beings corrupted the tower, devouring all adventurers who attempted to ascend it and imprisoning their souls.
And the protagonist of the animation.
Was the child in the fleeing group from the first episode.
Because he forcibly left the tower, half of his soul was confined within it, forcing him to embark on a journey of self-discovery.
This is the origin of slay the spire.
"Look! slay the spire Episode Seven is updated!"
Just as everyone was discussing the changes in the gaming industry, Chen Lin's official account suddenly posted a new update.
"slay the spire Episode Seven, Battle of Destiny! Updated."
It's updated!
The CG animation of slay the spire has been updated again!
Seeing this news, the players couldn't hold back.
Only a few days had passed, and they had never seen a developer update CG more frequently than they updated their game.
"Damn! I haven't even finished the game yet!"
"Seeing so many people riding the wave, and they still have the mind to update the animation, their heart is too big."
"Great! Is the protagonist finally going to have a fated showdown with his other half of the soul?"
"Woohoo~ Anime fans take off, the fated showdown is coming!"
"When I finished fighting the Time Eater in episode six, I had a feeling the protagonist would encounter his soul sealed in the tower, and I didn't expect it to actually come true!"
"After merging with the other half of his soul, he should be able to reach the top of the tower, right? I really want to see the ending quickly!"
Just like the game itself.
There were quite a few people following the slay the spire anime.
As soon as they received the news, they immediately flocked to Bilibili, clicked on the update page to check it out, and the popularity was even more exaggerated than the game.
However, immediately, something even more outrageous happened.
Because Chen Lin's account had yet another new update.
"As the protagonist retrieves the other half of his soul, the corrosive power of the tower loses its suppression and erupts in chaos. 'slay the spire' will simultaneously update with an advanced mode, adding 20 advanced difficulties. For details, please check the game's homepage."
???
Even the game updated with it?
Players were shocked.
Did this Designer have three heads and six arms? He just finished updating the animation and immediately updated the game, and it was such a big update.
"What does that mean? Does it mean that what I've cleared so far is just the lowest difficulty?"
"Awesome! I was just thinking the difficulty might be too simple, but I didn't expect it to be just an appetizer."
"There's even new gameplay, buying this game for 50 yuan was really a huge gain!"
"Perfect for trying out the strategy I just figured out."
"Charge, charge, charge! I want to be the first man to reach the 20th floor of the tower!"
The dual update of the CG animation and the game finally pushed the popularity of "slay the spire" to its peak, and sales began to surge.
Those developers who had just released games didn't manage to ride the wave; instead, even their own players were drawn away, leaving them frantic.
They simply couldn't understand where they had lost.