Chapter 337 - 215: The Bizarre Ancestor Tree (Part 2)

Chen Ba bought these two sheep, both quite big, enough to feed everyone.

But he worried it wouldn’t be enough, so he had someone buy four chickens and two geese nearby.

As the first team-building event since the studio was founded, everyone’s enthusiasm was high, especially when they heard there’d be roasted whole lamb later, their mouths were watering.

With dozens of people working, plus two chefs from the farmhouse, there were definitely enough hands.

Even if it was slaughtering pigs on site, these dozens of people could hold down an old sow weighing four or five hundred pounds.

So Chen Ba lazily enjoyed himself, saying that as long as he provided money and ate without causing trouble, it’s his greatest mercy to everyone.

Otherwise, ask him to cook?

Really, don’t!

Lu once had the "Ba’s Signature Egg Fried Rice," the taste was unforgettable, requiring five liters of water to wash it down.

Ba’s cooking skills were great, but his heavy tastes made his food hard for most people to eat.

"Actually, it’s not that exaggerated."

Yang Dong commented reasonably, "Ba’s taste is just like that, heavy oil, heavy salt, heavy spices, likes sour flavors, heavier tastes overall."

"If he cooks to his liking, someone like Lu, a local from Jiangning, would feel like they got food poisoning."

"Exactly!"

Chen Ba nodded, "I’ve been in Jiangning for quite a few years, but I still can’t get used to the salty and sweet tastes here."

The local environment definitely nurtures the locals!

Luckily, Old Chen sends him chili sauce every year, and now it’s easy to order takeout, or else Chen Ba would’ve left Jiangning long ago.

Chatting casually, the topic shifted to the game "Space-Time Reconnaissance."

There’s a positive sign.

Thanks to the viral videos like "Bullet Bending" and "Bullet Time," countless netizens became interested in "Space-Time Reconnaissance," a FPS game with a cute style.

Thus, the number of registered players skyrocketed.

As of Arbor Day, the game’s total platform downloads exceeded ten million!

Unfortunately, it’s a free game. If it were paid, even at one yuan apiece, it would’ve been a full ten million.

"Downloads are just that..."

Chen Ba said as he opened a bottle of cola, "The download numbers of free games, honestly, are just for fun, it’s crucial to look at the average online number and total active players."

The download numbers for King of Glory are tens of billions, even nearing hundreds of billions, are there that many players?

No, no, no!

Downloads can be repeatedly counted, one player can contribute to several or even dozens of downloads, so this data isn’t very useful.

Key data, which is the online player number, "Space-Time Reconnaissance" is still relatively average, considering it’s a newly released game.

"Approximately 400,000 to 600,000 people."

Yang Dong estimated and said, "Definitely not comparable to those hugely popular FPS games, but not too unpopular either, still quite a lot of players."

"However, this online number, many are rushing for Bullet Bending and Bullet Time, how many will stay long term is hard to say..."

FPS games, except for a few classics, mostly come and go fleetingly.

No joke!

Over the years, FPS players still play CF, CS, proving breaking through with other FPS games is extremely difficult.

The last FPS game that broke through was Riot’s Valorant! The one before that traces back to PUBG...

"Space-Time Reconnaissance" is unlikely to become another breakthrough FPS game after PUBG and Valorant.

That’s unrealistic!

Chen Ba never expected that, as long as the current situation is maintained and the game doesn’t flop, it’s enough. Whether it becomes popular depends entirely on fate.

"It definitely won’t flop."

"Anyway, our game has two world-leading selling points, surely attracting a group of players."

Old Luo teased, "No cheats is one point, experiencing Bullet Bending and Bullet Time in-game is another!"

"As long as we have these two points, ’Space-Time Reconnaissance’ even if it declines, won’t plummet too much because there’s no better alternative."

"Absolutely."

Chen Ba nodded.

Games under Tianba Studio might not be top-notch, outstanding, or brilliant, some might even be a bit lousy.

But one thing makes players reluctant to give them up, Tianba games are hard to find substitutes for!

Take "Star Emperor" for instance...

After so many years, games surpassing "Star Emperor" in graphics have appeared, but their optimization is either argumentative or overly conservative.

Unlike "Star Emperor" with Path to Immortality, pioneering the industry, turning from a game into a graphics card benchmark!

Where can you find a substitute for such a game?

"Oh, right!"

Speaking of substitutes, Chen Ba seemed to remember something, curiously asking, "What’s happening with that Magic Animation by Tencent now?"

Haven’t kept up with it for a while.

The last news about "Magic Animation" was from a blogger who took money, hyping it up, even saying "Divine Grace Continent" couldn’t hold a candle to it, blah blah blah.

The blogger got severely criticized by netizens.

It’s been quiet for a while, promotional resources seem halted, Chen Ba is curious about its current status, has it been shelved?

"Probably abandoned."

Huang Qing, somewhat knowledgeable about Tencent, said, "Internal competition at Tencent is fierce, they must show results to get resource support. Magic Animation failed to meet expectations, naturally, it would be sidelined by management."

"What a pity."

Chen Ba shook his head lamentably, "Now there’s no fun to watch! Wasn’t thinking, when this broken software updates, I’d do some antics!"

Not giving the chance for antics is quite disappointing.

Honestly speaking...

Chen Ba is somewhat worried that if a giant like Tencent is determined to make Magic Animation succeed, overcoming all obstacles, they could catch up.

But since Tencent itself decided to give up, there’s no need to worry.

Seems like making Magic Animation was just testing the waters, thinking AI animation seemed promising, wanting to grab a share.

In the end, it didn’t gain a slice, ended up in trouble, so they just quit.

Tencent, being huge, indeed doesn’t care much about the losses in this field, as their core business is actually social networking. As long as they secure that, losing everything else, they could rise again.

Just like their approach to making games.

No matter what game, once it connects to QQ and WeChat traffic portals, it never lacks players, that’s enviable.

Chen Ba envies that too!

However, when Tencent offered it, he genuinely didn’t dare use that traffic portal...

After all, he spent years, barely crafting a "Tianba Account + Community + Nobug" system, thoroughly anchoring the players.

If he seeks convenience and shortcuts, connecting through Tencent’s traffic portals, which player would use the Tianba account to log in to games?

Short-term, no big deal, but long-term, it’s a significant loss for Tianba Studio, given the cultivated user base would vanish.

So Chen Ba’s stance is firm.

No matter the game, only Tianba accounts are used for logging in, providing only email and phone methods, no third-party one-click logins.

As a player, one-click login is convenient, no separate account for each game to remember.

But as a game producer with ambition, ideals, and goals, Chen Ba would only accept Tianba account for logging into his studio’s games, nothing else to consider.

Previously, Steam platform’s one-click login was available, later canceled by him, emphasizing crossing the river and tearing down the bridge...