October had arrived, and for the first time this year, the Great Zhou drama market entered a season without a single production from Jing Yu.
The six major TV stations made a strong comeback, with thirteen of their main productions ranking in the top twenty for viewership. Naturally, Yunteng TV's winter lineup also managed to place within the top ten.
Jing Yu's years of collaboration with Yunteng TV had brought the station immense popularity. Although it was still somewhat behind the top three networks, even without a new drama from Jing Yu, it had no trouble competing with the bottom three.
Higher ratings meant higher profits, and more money meant being able to recruit more talented professionals. In fact, Yunteng TV had steadily improved its strength not only in drama production, but also in variety shows and educational programming.
So with October underway, the TV drama scene had a "hundred flowers blooming" atmosphere. The major stations were engaged in fierce back-and-forth competition.
Of course, for drama fans, things still felt... a little off.
While many had complained that Jing Yu's 'Legal High' and 'Natsume's Book of Friends' weren't as exciting as 'Hikaru no Go' or 'Initial D', they were still miles better than what the Big Six were currently putting out. 'Natsume's Book of Friends' was still airing, sure—but only twenty minutes a week? Who is that supposed to satisfy?
Under Jing Yu's social media posts, hordes of fans were urging him to stop slacking and drop a new drama already.
Even the staff of Jing Yu's Blue Star Media & Film Company were restless this quarter. With no projects, they had nothing to do and had started expressing their eagerness to get back to work through every channel possible—they didn't want to keep living like salted fish.
But Jing Yu could only shrug. Even he couldn't juggle 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', the game, a new drama, and 'Fate/Stay Night' all at once.
He wasn't just some boss who threw money at projects and left everything else to his employees. Even for works like 'Natsume' and 'Legal High'—where he didn't act—he still personally oversaw the quality of various episodes.
So, as far as future drama planning went, he wouldn't even consider anything until 'Fate/Stay Night' finished launching and he was free from its marketing duties.
While the TV industry was locked in a brawl among the big networks, the gaming industry had also entered a full-on battlefield as of October.
All the major developers had chosen this window to release their big titles. Last month, one of Great Zhou's "Big Three" game companies, Mengluo Games, launched 'Wilderness'. As of this month, total sales had hit 2.4 million. It was still selling steadily, and 3 million total seemed within reach.
Considering its production cost of just over 100 million, it had definitely broken even—just not super profitable.
In comparison, Mirror Games, another of the Big Three, had clearly come out stronger with its title 'Jade Dragon'.
With a 76% positive review rate, it wasn't groundbreaking, but thanks to its gorgeous graphics and soundtrack, it attracted a large number of female players. Within less than a week of release, it had sold nearly 2 million copies.
Meanwhile, the third member of the Big Three, Rainbow Star Games, had originally scheduled Adventurer to release a week after 'Jade Dragon'—on October 15. But they had abruptly delayed it to November 1.
That move sparked a storm online among Great Zhou's gamers—especially Jing Yu's fans, who led the charge.
His fanbase, made up of both drama and gaming enthusiasts, clashed head-on with hardcore gamers in heated online debates.
"Typical Rainbow Star Game move. Every time there's a hot release nearby, they chicken out and delay by a month or two."
"But why November 1? You trying to step on Jing Yu's 'Fate/Stay Night'?"
"Come on, like Rainbow Star is scared of 'Fate/Stay Night'. Sure, the budget and marketing seem massive—nearly 200 million—but everyone knows how this works. Smaller studios claim 200 million investment, but the real figure's maybe half that. They say they spent 10 million on promo but pretend it's 30 million, just to scam drama fans into buying in."
"Exactly. Rainbow Star only delayed because 'Jade Dragon' is still climbing the charts. No point releasing 'Adventurer' now and splitting the market. As for 'Fate/Stay Night'? Let's be real—it's just milking drama fans. Even if it's hyped, the player base doesn't overlap. You guys are just being paranoid."
"Still, of all the dates, they pick November 1 to compete head-on with 'Fate/Stay Night', then flood the internet with articles predicting how 'Adventurer' will crush it? How is that not piggybacking?"
"You call that piggybacking? Wow, Jing Yu must be such a god. Just because his game launches on the 1st, no one else is allowed to?"
"Not saying they can't, just that Rainbow Star's tactics are shady."
"Rainbow Star knows full well Jing Yu isn't a pro game dev. His game's probably only being bought by drama fans—not actual gamers. So they're using this whole 'rival launch' setup to generate buzz, get free promo, and then, once 'Adventurer' outsells 'Fate/Stay Night', they'll have the media trash it. Makes 'Adventurer' look better and boosts sales, right?"
"That's just speculation."
"Speculation? Drama fans and gamers are already at each other's throats. You think Rainbow Star didn't hire PR firms to stir this up? Don't be naive. I saw those 'neutral' gamers trashing 'Fate/Stay Night' just because some 'critics' said it's weak."
"Exactly."
Jing Yu's fans had been waiting over half a year for 'Fate/Stay Night'. Its release week was supposed to be smooth—no big competing titles.
But suddenly, here comes 'Adventurer'.
Not only was it launching the same day, but online discourse was filled with praise for 'Adventurer' and attacks on 'Fate/Stay Night'.
Did Jing Yu's fans know he'd never made a game before? Of course they did. They weren't buying it for gameplay—they were here for the story. Even if the mechanics were mid, they trusted the narrative would deliver.
They didn't need the media tearing it down and scaring off potential buyers.
Especially when 'Adventurer's devs kept leeching off 'Fate/Stay Night's fanbase to promote themselves—and then turning around to trash it.
By mid-October, even members of Jing Yu's dev team were getting fired up.
"How's 'Jade Dragon' doing?" Jing Yu asked, half-focused as he played it on his PC.
"2.8 million sold so far. Sales are rising fast—much better than 'Wilderness' last month."
"And the online debate over 'Adventurer' vs. 'Fate/Stay Night'?"
"Getting worse every day."
Jing Yu paused for a moment.
He hadn't expected a major release to suddenly shift its launch date to compete with 'Fate/Stay Night'. It was obvious that Rainbow Star Games didn't take him seriously. Despite his fame in Great Zhou, he was still a newcomer in the gaming world.
They were clearly using influencers and the media to run headlines like:
"Top Drama Writer Jing Yu's Game Debut 'Fate/Stay Night' to Be Crushed by 'Adventurer'!"
For someone who ruled the film and TV world, this was the first time he was being positioned as the underdog in gaming.
And yeah, it was annoying—but technically, this kind of marketing warfare was fair game. Nothing too outrageous.
That said... Jing Yu was a petty man in some ways.
They thought he was some soft noob? Then fine—he wouldn't back down.
A game's momentum peaks in the two weeks after launch. Players buy it, spend a week or two finishing it, and move on.
That's why most big games are spaced out by at least a week.
If Jing Yu wanted to play it safe, he could've moved 'Fate/Stay Night' to November 13, when there were no major launches. Rainbow Star clearly didn't see him as a threat and just barged into his launch window.
From their perspective, being wary of a crossover drama writer was overkill. Fair enough.
But since they pulled this little stunt, Jing Yu had no intention of backing down now. Any idea he had about "being the bigger person" was gone.
If it's a showdown they want, then bring it on.
Rainbow Star thought 'Jade Dragon' was the real competition and that 'Fate/Stay Night' wouldn't be a threat, so they jumped the schedule.
Fine. Let's clash head-on.
Worst case? Both games cannibalize each other's sales and flop.
Or—
One game utterly crushes the other.