Chapter 23: The Di-fied Big Duck! Her Imagination is Terrifying!
Since the last failure, Kiana had pinned the "loss" of 820,000 yuan on Su Mu's head. Some might ask: if the company made money, shouldn't Kiana, as the President, also get a lot of it? But that money didn't belong to Kiana alone; it had to be used for company operations. Kiana wanted to embezzle it, but her "stinky old man" was watching her at all times... It certainly couldn't compare to having 820,000 yuan directly in her personal vault to squander as she pleased.
The failure of her plan had left Kiana depressed for a while. Even today, at the office, she had been absent-minded while listening to Su Mu explain the *Honkai Impact 3rd* proposal. After some reflection, Kiana concluded that the success of *Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy* was inseparable from Pardofelis's livestream. For a "streamer-oriented" game like that—a game people enjoyed watching others suffer through—if there hadn't been a streamer to promote it at the start, it definitely wouldn't have gained such traction.
So, in the end, she had shot herself in the foot! If she hadn't looked for Pardo to promote it, the game might have flopped! Argh! She should have known not to increase the budget for promotion! She should have pestered them to increase the production costs instead!
"I misjudged Su Mu!" Kiana thought. If it weren't for her mistake, Su Mu's game couldn't have gone viral! She had ruined his failure!
...Wait, that didn't sound right either.
In short, Kiana pondered for a long time and reached a conclusion: all misunderstandings were cleared. Su Mu was just a "clear-eyed and foolish" fresh graduate! A newbie with no game production experience! She shouldn't have questioned his "ability" or suspected that he was actually some hidden master!
Thinking of this, Kiana suddenly felt revitalized. She regained her spirit and began to carefully study Su Mu's new game. After quickly scanning the entire proposal, Kiana was initially a bit undecided. But then, she heard Bronya voicing her concerns.
As if hit by a bolt of lightning, Kiana's feet left the ground, and her IQ instantly occupied the high ground!
A 3D action mobile game!
First of all, 3D mobile games were an incredibly difficult "track" to navigate! Not only did they require superb technical skills, but they also needed "liver-burning" levels of work from programmers; otherwise, there would surely be all sorts of maddening bugs! Furthermore, they required a massive capital investment!
Making a 3D mobile game was risky. If handled poorly, it could bankrupt the entire company in one go. Bankruptcy and liquidation—a perfect combo! It was essentially the "forbidden zone" of the gaming industry!
Although Kiana wasn't as well-versed in the industry as Bronya, she had crammed enough knowledge to know that many companies had met their end by touching such projects! Thus, there was a saying in this world's gaming circles: "To make 3D mobile games is to walk the path of death!"
She hadn't expected Su Mu to give her such a huge surprise after a month of silence. In any other company, anyone proposing such a plan would be told to pack their bags and leave! After all, with such high investment and high risk, a single flop meant the whole company would collapse!
But! But! But! In *her* company! Was there any answer that could satisfy Kiana more?
Making a 3D mobile game was already a perfect answer for Kiana, but Su Mu had even provided extra credit: he had put real-life people into the game as prototypes! Not only did this mean wasting a lot of time and money to obtain authorization from those individuals... but as long as Su Mu didn't write the story well... it would definitely invite vitriol from the fans of those public figures!
When the time came, the reputation would explode, revenue would plummet, and the game would bomb. It would be a massive step closer to Kiana Kaslana becoming the richest person in the world! 3D was already a dead end—why look for any other way? With a game genre that had a naturally high failure rate, as long as she operated it a little, she wouldn't have to worry about losing her way to the top overnight!
"Let's do it! We are definitely making this! Let's make *Honkai Impact 3rd*!" Kiana looked at Su Mu with an excited expression. "Su Mu, I believe in your ability!"
Bronya was somewhat hesitant: "But, Kiana..."
Kiana turned to the Big Duck beside her: "Bronya, let's support Su Mu's idea! Didn't you read the proposal too? Although the path of 3D mobile games is arduous and the risks are huge, however..."
As if suddenly understanding something, Bronya blurted out: "However, the rewards are equally massive!"
Kiana's words seemed to awaken Bronya. Her mind was instantly filled with a storm of realization!
"True, the cost of a 3D mobile game is extremely high, and using real-life people as prototypes is a major challenge... but similarly, if we can carve out a path in the 'Death Zone' of 3D mobile games, miHoYo will truly have a place in the gaming world!"
"Furthermore, although the licensing fees for real people are expensive, they also serve as a form of promotion! After all, these real-life figures come with massive inherent popularity!"
"As long as the game quality is high enough and the story is compelling, we might be able to attract the fans of those character prototypes!"
"In that case, miHoYo will gain immense attention and traffic!"
"Su Mu, traffic and popularity..."
"Equal fame and money!"
At this moment, Bronya felt like her eyes had been opened. Although the plan was extremely risky, the potential rewards were too rich to pass up. It was indeed worth a try!
"I didn't expect Kiana to see it on this level!"
The more Bronya thought about it, the more her heart was turned upside down! She had originally thought Kiana was just someone who didn't understand anything and was just idling away her time as President. But! Last time, *Getting Over It* achieved massive success precisely because Kiana greenlit it! This time, Kiana was betting on *Honkai Impact 3rd* again... and she had considered it one step further!
Bronya had thought Kiana was just dazing off earlier, but thinking back, that girl might have been calculating the feasibility of the game proposal from the moment she stepped into the meeting room!
*Kiana... you... you're really not as simple as you look!*
Bronya looked at Kiana with an admiring gaze.
Kiana Kaslana slowly typed out a mental question mark.
What was with this sudden feeling of being respected? She hadn't done anything worth praising, had she?
END OF CHAPTER