Chloe Quinn froze in Zoey Parker's Seattle office, a déjà vu chill hitting her. This scene mirrored Gus Harper's first interview—her objections ignored, Zoey hyping Gus's wild plan. Something's wrong with these two.
She frowned. Gus was an abstract wildcard; Zoey, a reckless tycoon. One dreamed up insane schemes, the other bankrolled them. Chloe opened her mouth but shut it. Let's see how this trainwreck plays out.
Gus blinked, stunned Zoey agreed so fast. "You're serious? It's doable?"
Zoey grinned, baring her teeth. "What's with the doubt? You're usually cocky!" A money-burning idea? I'm ecstatic! Gus's VR pod pitch matched her bathroom epiphany perfectly. She'd fretted over pitching VR herself—WindyPeak's $400,000 revenue (per finance reports) was peanuts for VR's costs, and execs might balk. Worst case, Gus, the system-bound manager, could veto it. But he'd handed her a golden ticket to tank.
Zoey didn't know Gus's past life, so she pegged his boldness as post-Vampire Survivor arrogance. Three hit games, a "Supernova Designer" title, media frenzy—he was floating, ripe for dumb moves. My rebate's coming. The $40 framed on her desk was just the start. This time, she'd lose big.
Chloe, meanwhile, saw Zoey as a clueless CEO chasing trends. E-commerce, streaming, now VR—Zoey seemed to greenlight anything hot without weighing risks. Unlike stingy bosses squeezing workers, Zoey threw cash like she hated it. Devs loved her for it. Unlimited budgets? A dream.
Gus, emboldened, pushed forward. "VR means scaling up investment big time."
Zoey's eyes sparkled. Jackpot. "Lay it out."
"We need equipment," Gus said. "Five major VR pod makers exist—three overseas. The U.S. options are Apex Interactive's 'Polar Bear II' and IndieVibe's 'VibeX1.' VibeX1's newer, smaller market share, but our games are on IndieVibe, so it's cheaper."
IndieVibe's platform took a 20% commission (low compared to 30% industry standard) and waived fees for games under $500,000 investment—a perk Gus leveraged. VR pods, though, charged a "device landing fee" ($50,000–$200,000) on top of commissions. Gus hated it but saw VibeX1's lower fees and their IndieVibe ties as a win. "We're tight with IndieVibe. We can haggle."
Zoey nodded, scheming. VibeX1's low market share was perfect—fewer players, fewer sales. But its lower fees cramped her loss plan. Can I find a low-share, high-fee option? Developing their own VR pod crossed her mind—tens of millions in costs, pure loss—but WindyPeak's $400,000 couldn't touch that. File that for later. Maybe she'd pitch Victor Lang in Seattle to jack up VibeX1's fees.