Chapter 434: A Sudden Turn of Events! A deluge of Questions! |
Soon!
Discussions about the Payday DLC "John Wick" began spreading like wildfire throughout the gaming community.
And just one short week later, as Golden Wind and Legend Pictures jointly announced the official start of filming for the DLC's namesake movie "John Wick," along with revealing part of the cast lineup.
This game-adapted film quickly broke out of the gaming circle.
The discussion heat wasn't just blazing within gaming circles—it captured massive attention in the film and entertainment industry too!
After all, compared to other game-adapted films, this "John Wick" cast lineup could be called unprecedentedly powerful.
Even the once hugely popular "Resident Evil" couldn't compare to it.
It was truly deserving of being called the most powerful cast lineup in game-adapted film history, bar none!
For a time, various reports came flooding in—
"Dream Crossover! Following 'Pacific Rim,' Golden Wind and Legend Pictures Deepen Cooperation!"
"The Game Designer Who Understands Cinematography Best & The Film CEO Most Obsessed with Games! What Kind of Sparks Will Gu Sheng and Thomas Tull Create?"
"The Collaboration of a Lifetime! Golden Wind and Legend Pictures Join Forces, Game-Adapted Film 'John Wick' Receives Widespread Attention!"
"The True 'Golden Film Studio'! Golden Wind x Legend Pictures to Co-Produce Game-Adapted Film 'John Wick,' Led by Keanu Reeves!"
......
At this moment, it was late winter turning to early spring.
Though the temperature remained somewhat chilly, with the announcement of this game-adapted film's production start, Golden Wind's popularity seemed to reach unprecedented heights.
A storm-center level enterprise in gaming circles, plus an unprecedentedly luxurious cast lineup.
Everything happened exactly as Gu Sheng had previously predicted—instantly igniting excitement in both gaming and entertainment circles.
A game company.
Developed a game.
Adapted it into a film.
Ignited fiery anticipation across gaming and entertainment.
This situation inevitably made people think of another company's top-tier operation at the recently concluded Cologne Games Exhibition earlier this year—
"Really makes one sigh. Some people are thriving with game-adapted films, while others turned a top-tier IP derivative into a formless piece of crap."
"Konik: Hey? What kind of talk is that! What is this?"
"I always feel like Little Yellow is doing this on purpose."
"Teaching with both hands, right?"
"Tell Konik to go back to Gotham. Batman promised not to hit him anymore."
"The key is this move is so targeted, and Cologne just ended not long ago—hard not to make connections."
"Golden Wind: Watch carefully, I'll only demonstrate once."
"Feels like the kind of dark humor that crafty old thief would pull."
"Whether the old thief is humorous or not I don't know, but comparing the two, Konik is genuinely pretty funny."
"To this day, I still can't understand how they turned such a top-tier IP like Lord of the Rings into a pile of crap?"
"The Unnamed History."
"Hahahahahaha damn..."
......
Clearly!
With the movie production announcement, not only did the fiery effect Gu Sheng had envisioned materialize.
The "teaching with both hands" that Shen Miaomiao had casually mentioned also strangely came true.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Previous discussions about Payday's mediocre industrial quality seemed to gradually fade from people's minds with the John Wick news.
Until half a month later!
The appearance of one piece of news made Golden Wind's previously smooth-sailing reputation suddenly take a sharp turn for the worse—
"Game-to-Film Adaptation: Diversified Development? Or At Wit's End?"
This article first appeared in SNG Weekly.
Written by a Huaguo-nationality SNG editor.
As the world's largest comprehensive gaming media outlet, this article immediately attracted widespread attention upon publication.
Although the article's title didn't name names.
At this moment, with such an article published in the world's most influential gaming weekly, who it targeted wasn't hard to guess.
The article pointed out—
["The current game-to-film adaptation frenzy is certainly a 'double delight' for both gaming and film circles, but the hidden problems behind it still cannot be ignored..."]
["...We can't help but ask: Is such a massive redirection of players' attention, shifting focus from mediocre games to star-studded film adaptations, really a new path forward for our struggling gaming industry development?"]
["We can't help but ask again: Can temporary frenzy truly solve the predicament of having no usable engine, the predicament of hindered industry-wide progress?"]
["We can't help but ask further: With the host country's major event imminent, and key core issues showing no progress! At such a critical time, can such frenzy truly be called 'new progress' in industry diversification? Or is it just a desperate move when at wit's end?"]
["...As a Huaguo citizen, I'm very pleased to see the progress and development of Huaguo's gaming industry in recent years,"]
["But as a media professional with over ten years in the gaming industry, I'm even more aware that behind these brief, numb cheers lies the core technology wound of Huaguo's gaming industry..."]
A single stone stirred up a thousand waves!
Without doubt!
The appearance of this article was like throwing a massive boulder into rippling lake waters!
Instantly creating huge waves!
After all, this was a Chinese editor working at SNG, who inherently had more national advantage when commenting on the "Huaguo engine predicament" issue.
Plus this article was so "clear-eyed," "objective," "rational," and "well-reasoned."
In an extremely short time, it curbed the previous discussion heat about John Wick.
And guided countless global players to "see the essence through the phenomenon."
Redirecting attention back to the key issue—[Golden Engine predicament].
Players discussed extensively—
"OMG, truly Huaguo's editor, the analysis of the problem is so thorough."
"A sharply insightful article, and both objective and rational."
"Golden Engine indeed still faces predicament, mediocre technical capability still can't support Sam realizing his game concepts."
"As the article says, with Huaguo's engine being blocked, hyping a game-adapted film indeed seems like trying to cover up shortcomings."
"What a worrying fact?"
"Put this way, it seems game-adapted films indeed shouldn't be given such extensive coverage. Golden Wind seems to be deliberately using other more explosive news to cover up their own shortcomings."
"After all, Payday is just an experimental game—it shouldn't logically receive such unprecedented treatment. And if GW seriously wants to develop into film adaptation, Escape from Hell seems more suitable than Payday."
"Using film adaptation to compensate for game technology shortcomings? I feel this article's analysis makes a lot of sense..."
"I believe Sam must be pretty helpless too, can only resort to this last resort."
"But the Huaguo exhibition is coming soon..."
"Yeah, that's why they're using John Wick to test the market. Then they can follow this template for promotion at the CJ exhibition?"
"But what I ultimately love is still GW's games..."
"Feels like GW is overextending their game development capability..."
......
The power of words.
Using a pen as a knife has never been an exaggerated description.
In fact, to some extent, the pen of a widely influential media professional is even more powerful than John Wick's pencil!
With the trend rapidly shifting!
The gaming community seemed to all "woke up" overnight—
"Covering Up Shortcomings? Is the Game-to-Film Path Really 'Teaching with Both Hands' or 'Testing Player Bottom Lines?'"
"Self-Developed Engine in Predicament, Golden Wind Finds Alternative Path"
"Golden Dust Covered, Self-Developed Engine Facing Multiple Predicaments; Host Country Predicament, Alternative Solutions Treat Symptoms Not Root Cause"
"Diversified Development or Desperate Move? Highly Anticipated 'John Wick' May Mark Start of Golden Wind's Decline"
......
Article after article came flooding in!
Voices predicting decline grew increasingly loud!
Although superficially, this wave of criticism seemed to resemble the previous criticism of Payday and accusations of Golden Engine's mediocre performance.
But actually!
Everyone knew.
The lethality and seriousness of this public opinion far exceeded the previous minor skirmishes!
This time, what the media and public opinion were pointing out wasn't just how mediocre your self-developed engine was—they were directly stating that "Huaguo's gaming industry self-developed engine path would likely meet with Waterloo"!
And as related discussions grew increasingly intense!
Just as people were still speculating and questioning!
An even more explosive news followed.
And with this news breaking, the suspense seemed to be instantly killed.
Speculation about Golden Wind's decline, and even Huaguo's self-developed engine meeting Waterloo, seemed to be settled right there—
Someone claiming to be a "Golden Engine R&D executive" posted on the [Huaguo Game Developers Forum]:
["Risking My Life to Leak! Engine development situation indeed isn't very optimistic...."]
In the first post, the leaker first posted a work badge with their personal name blurred out.
In the unblurred parts, words like "Golden Engine R&D Department" and "Senior Engineer" were clearly visible.
"Taking first post myself, currently at internet cafe, risking my life to leak, first uploading internal work certificate image, personal name blurred for understanding..."
Standard leak format occupied the first post.
There's a saying that goes well—
On the internet, you never know if the person on the other end of the information flow is a human or a dog.
In the current public opinion environment, with everyone saying different things and speculation running rampant.
Leaking information itself is the best way to attract attention.
Especially this kind of "speaking from personal experience" leak.
Plus this quite convincing work certificate.
Without doubt, the forum instantly exploded!
In just three short minutes, the post count had already soared past two hundred—
"Holy crap! Pictures and truth!"
Intense onlookers!
"Poster awesome!"
"Uninformed bystanders waiting to understand."
"Holy shit this is too explosive, it's really damn a senior engineer from engine development."
"Indeed risking life to leak."
"Are the sources reliable? (dog head)"
"Front row selling peanuts, melon seeds, small stools..."
And amid everyone's urging voices, the leaker began slowly revealing the "internal situation" they claimed to know—