The VRMMORPG world was in frenzy, Unicorn’s media department just announced the closure of “Royal Road.” The oldest running game, the oldest virtual reality game, the classic, the must play game of the century! It had so many titles. With nearly some ex-3 billion players. The news of it shutting down took the world by surprise. Those who knew, Royal road was ranked somewhere in the late twenties. Most games would never shut down even if they fell below top 100 ranks.
Every major game developer was glued to the TV. Unicorn had pretty much defined VRMMORPG, every time they released a title, counter measure teams were created to ensure they never succeeded. So even if it meant Unicorn was shutting down, it didn’t mean the developers could take it easy. There would be 10 million players released and no matter how you look at it, it is a huge number.
Kang Jin Cheol was on TV as he announced, “It is with deep regret that we will be closing all our titles, including our most popular title Royal Road, by the end of the year.”
11 months till all titles are removed? Jin Hyuna thought to herself. Time to look for another job?
Cameras glared at Jin Cheol as he read out the terms of the closure statement. “All ex-player related data can be accessed during this period and exported in a virtual reality format. All items collected can also be exported. Players who have paid for premium accounts will receive complete refund for their subscription….I will now take any questions.”
Every reporter raised their hands.
Kang Jin Cheol sighed, this was so not going to be easy. “Yes lets begin with the lady in pink.”
“Is Unicorn Corporation shutting down?”
“No. Next.”
All the reporters were puzzled if you aren’t shutting down, then why the heck would you close the only source of cash inflow you have?”
“If you are not shutting down, then why would you close all titles with 10 million players.”
“We are cost cutting.”
The reporters were somewhat disappointed, Kang Jin Cheol usually gave more descriptive answers. This did not explain anything.
“Then will you be firing employees?”
“We are not sure at this moment.” He really wasn’t sure. Lee Hyun only told him to make a few
announcements as soon as they left Pinnacle (where they didn’t order anything to eat).
Questions were asked one after another, but most answers were, “we are unsure at this moment.”
Frustrated some reporters got up to leave. At this moment, Kang Jin Cheol requested them to sit and listen to more announcements from their company’s new CEO.
“Did he say new CEO?” people whispered to each other. Nobody, not even the employees of Unicorn were aware that they had a new CEO.
Once again all camera’s were focused on Kang Jin Cheol.
“Please let me introduce to you, Lee Hyun.”
Who? Most reporters asked each other? They had never heard of a Lee Hyun. Even most of the veteran reporters and experts were confused. They had never heard of any such Lee Hyun in the last 20 years. Who was he? Just as reporters ask, game developers around the world pondered. Most people knew the player name Weed, and some knew from professional gaming lectures at university of Professor Weed. But no one knew Lee Hyun. Lee Hyun – the name was a forgotten relic lost in an older era. This new world had no idea Lee Hyun’s existence.
An elderly man dressed in a cheap suit walked up in front of the stage. He smiled, shining his dentures and spoke, “I am Lee Hyun.”
Smart camera’s began running a database match of Lee Hyun’s face against all known people in Korea. It took ten minutes but little by little confirmations started flowing in. Reporters pressed the ear pieces tightly against their ear to reconfirm who stood in front of them. “I repeat this person was Royal Road’s greatest player, his in game character is Weed.”
Now the name Weed on the other hand was mentioned as reference in history sections in every
professional gaming course as a successful player known to have made money through professional gaming. During his tenure as professor, some of the best professional gamers and guilds were born. Even the real exploits of Weed in his quests were stories that grandparents told their grandchildren (of course they would claim to be the main protagonist in these stories, so the name was often changed). Everything changed the moment reporters knew that this was “the legendary Weed” who stood in front of them.
The VRMMORPG world went for a toss again. Game developers who were celebrating just moments ago the downfall of Unicorn were left numbed by the revelation that Weed had joined Unicorn. Students of Weed watched the news closely, their teacher was nothing short of brilliant. He taught them how to explore dungeons to finishing impossibly difficult quests. He was their living inspiration. They too (like rest of the world watching the news) were surprised to see how much he had aged. It was a true testament that over time everything ages.
“Professor Weed?” Asked a female reporter.
“I am not a professor anymore.” Smiled Lee Hyun.
“Yes, I apologize. Mr. Lee, you were Royal Road’s greatest player. Why would you shut down Royal Road?”
“Because its too old. I played that game for a long long time and I think it has been running for 40 years. I think we can do with something new.”
“Does this mean Unicorn is releasing a new game?” asked a male reporter, while typing down notes on his pad.
“Yes.”
“Can you share some more details with us about this game.”
Lee Hyun thought for a while. “Yes, I think it’s best if I explain it little by little.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Kang Jin Cheol eyes were popping out. “New Game?? When did he think of that? They only just got back from the Pinnacle!”
“The new game structure will be designed by me.”
Silence encompassed the room. One of the most brilliant professional gamers just declared he would be designing the game. The difficulty would be incalculable. Some were dismayed by the idea of Weed making a game. Professional gamers often developed their own games, however such games were usually never all that popular. In fact, more brilliant the gamer, the harder were the games in difficulty, and thus only attracting a niche segment of players. Lee Hyun could understand their dismay, but he was only going to make it more interesting.
“As you know, all current VR titles will be removed within the end of the year. We have additionally provided players with an option to export their characters. I would like to inform you all, that these characters / items will be encashable in the new game.”
Some reporters were slightly puzzled, encashable?
“Yes. Encashable. You can trade your characters and items collected for real money or base points or other items offered at the time for the new game.”
Some reporters nodded. Of course, this was a gimmick, Unicorn undoubtedly needed some way to entice players to the new game. Offering money was clearly a good way but every company has limited amount of money and if everyone encashes the prices of that particular item or character (class and level) would fall. Given the fact Unicorn is nearly bankrupt, some experts logically concluded that each user was worth US$0.01 on an average. Just reactivating accounts would cost $10. No one would encash their characters. But the so called experts of this era didn’t know Lee Hyun had a knack of proving experts wrong.
“Unicorn will offer $10 starting price for any character encashed and based on the level we will adjust the prices accordingly.”
US$ 30 billion! Is what Lee Hyun would need to make such an offer work. Yes some players passed away and can no longer encash their accounts. But if they have children then those children can inherit and encash them! So technically the amount encashable still remains at $30 billion.
Kang Jin Cheol was sweating uncontrollable. The firms current market value was a little over $500 million, Lee Hyun’s investment was US$ 50 million. There was no way for them to provide that much cash even with loans. Jin Hyuna fainted as Lee Hyun’s business strategy was beyond her.
Murmurs broke out throughout the room. No company ever offered to pay cash. Even in gaming events, the prizes were usually in game oriented – skill points etc. Actual money! Unheard of. Pretty much every professional gamer around the world was glued to their TV set. There was a possibility to make money and lots of it.
Lee Hyun spent the next half hour explaining possible tentative rates for various characters (based on class and level) and items. The media teams offsite were number crunching. At the end of Lee Hyuns explanations, it appeared Unicorn would shell out as much as $300 billion for encashing. There were huge questions as to how this would be funded, but Lee Hyun only replied saying that an investor agreed to put lots of money in the company. He gave no more details than that. Most reporters finally decided to write off Unicorn and their new CEO, Weed, as liars and the entire news announcement to be media attention grabbing gimmick. Stock analysts just proved them right when they showed that Unicorn just didn’t have the money in its bank account to back what Weed said.
They weren’t entirely wrong. Lee Hyun, did plan to use the media to set up anticipation for the new game but he wasn’t lying either when he said the player characters and other items were encashable. Whatever the truth maybe, Lee Hyun managed to pique the interest of every professional gamer. ProGaming companies started religiously following all news related to Unicorn and Weed. Even solo players, started reading up about Weed, his exploits and tried coming up with theories of what type of game could he be developing. People had learnt over time, that information was key to beating VR titles and Lee Hyun knew this.
That day, at the end of the news announcement, Unicorn’s stock price closed 50% higher. It was trading at $750 million. Lee Hyun just made everyone richer by $250 million overnight. Was it all planned? The world would never know. But Lee Hyun smiled as he saw his lifetime earnings increase to $75 million in a single night – clearly a better option than gaming.
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Authors Note:
1. Editing Credits: Knaivvs
2. Share prices do fluctuate with what a CEO says in RL, even if it borders absurdity.
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Connect to Royal Road – Elementarem Vim next Chapter?YesNo
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