Chapter 76 - #76: A Power Fantasy Game

Chapter 76: Chapter #76: A Power Fantasy Game

"Hah. This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone make a move like this. Would you call this arrogant brilliance, or just youthful ignorance?" The lead Sony executive chuckled.

Even Sony, with all its market dominance and legacy IP, would never dare to drop a live pre-order countdown during an E3 keynote.

"Is that the developer they call Nova?" the executive asked, turning his head slightly to murmur to the assistant standing beside him.

The young man standing on the Xbox stage was wearing a sharply tailored suit.

His features were clean, striking, and effortlessly composed.

Just looking at him, it was impossible to connect this calm, handsome developer with the sadistic mastermind the gaming community constantly cursed.

"Yes, boss. That’s him."

The second the two men finished whispering, the massive multimedia screen behind Ethan abruptly shifted.

The bloody title card for Bloodborne vanished.

In its place, the official Xbox pre-order storefront was mirrored directly onto the screen.

In the center of the page, a massive, ticking sixty-second countdown clock appeared, indicating the exact moment pre-orders would officially go live globally.

The Sony executive’s jaw practically unhinged.

???

His immediate, visceral reaction was that Ethan Vale had completely lost his mind.

If a developer quietly launched pre-orders after a show and the initial numbers flopped, the industry would just quietly mock them behind closed doors.

But projecting a live sales tracker on the main stage of E3?

That was the equivalent of laying your face flat on a table and daring the entire world to come up and slap it.

The sixty seconds bled away in absolute silence.

No one in the massive convention hall spoke a word; thousands of eyes were glued intently to the big screen.

Backstage, Ivan and Carter simultaneously whipped out their phones, frantically logging into their respective digital storefronts to purchase a copy the second the clock hit zero.

Even though they both knew two sales were just a drop in the ocean, they desperately wanted to contribute to the momentum.

The launch price was locked at $59.99—the standard, premium price tier reserved exclusively for massive, high-quality AAA releases.

A new, ten-minute countdown clock appeared next to the purchase button, indicating that the live tracker would only display the sales data for the very first ten minutes of availability.

"Hah, how could anyone possibly..." the Sony executive started to sneer.

Before he could even finish his sentence, the sales counter beneath Bloodborne violently surged.

The numbers blurred, rocketing from one, to ten, to hundreds, to thousands, to tens of thousands at a terrifying, exponential speed.

In exactly three minutes, the pre-order volume shattered the 100,000-copy milestone.

Standing on the stage, Ethan secretly let out a long, quiet breath.

Beneath his composed exterior, he had genuinely been terrified of a live flop.

But the sheer quality of his previous games had never failed the players, and in return, he had earned their absolute, blind trust.

"NOVA YOU ABSOLUTELY COOKED!" a frantic, roaring voice echoed from the back of the convention hall.

It was just some random, overwhelmed fan, but the entire venue couldn’t help but laugh and cheer in agreement.

Because it was true.

He cooked.

Launching a live pre-order tracker was a massive gamble.

Not only did Ethan have the sheer audacity to place the bet, but he had undeniably won the pot.

"Nova, if I may, could I ask a quick question?" A gaming journalist sitting in the front row of the press pit tentatively raised his hand.

"Go ahead," Ethan nodded.

The pre-sale clock was still ticking down, and he was more than happy to fill the dead air with a brief Q&A.

"Every single game you’ve developed so far has been... well, let’s say they’ve provided incredibly ’stimulating’ experiences for players’ keyboards," the journalist asked carefully. "Have you ever considered developing a game designed to provide a stimulating, uplifting experience for the player’s spirit?"

The journalist’s phrasing was incredibly tactful, but the millions of players watching the live broadcast immediately understood exactly what he meant.

[

kindred: You can tell this guy is a professional journalist. He really knows how to spin a phrase.

NicoGab: High EQ: Stimulating for the keyboard. Low EQ: You make us suffer, please stop.

Syl: Wait, he’s actually asking the sadist to make a power fantasy game?! Bro is going to get us killed!

]

"A stimulating experience for the spirit?" Ethan paused, taking a moment to process the request. He understood exactly what the journalist was asking for.

"You mean a true power fantasy," Ethan noted, a slight, genuinely embarrassed smile crossing his face.

It seemed his relentless barrage of brutal, psychological gauntlets had really taken a toll on the global player base.

Hearing Ethan actually say the words "power fantasy," the journalist’s blood ran cold.

For a terrifying second, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of twisted, sadistic nightmare Ethan would consider a "power fantasy."

In that moment, the journalist felt the phantom, glaring death stares of millions of gamers boring into the back of his head.

"No, no, I’m just joking! It doesn’t have to be a power fantasy!" the journalist rapidly backpedaled, frantically waving his hands in refusal.

Watching the live exchange, the stream chats across the globe exploded with laughter.

[

NoRest: For a second there, I was ready to hunt that journalist down myself.

Pandopa: Look at him backpedaling! The sheer terror in his eyes!

TRice: Honestly though... what would a Nova power fantasy even look like?

]

A few players expressed genuine curiosity, but most dismissed it as a passing thought. Every great game developer had their own specific niche.

There was a popular saying in the gaming community: ’Don’t try to teach the developers how to developer their game; they have their own understanding.’

As long as Ethan continued to deliver flawless, genre-defining masterpieces in the soulslike and precision-platformer spaces, there was no need for him to pivot. No one could be a master of every single genre.

"It’s fine, really. It’s actually an idea I’ve had in the back of my mind for a long time," Ethan said, shaking his head.

He had wanted to make this specific game for months, but the System’s task constraints hadn’t aligned with it yet.

"Since you all genuinely want a power fantasy, I’ll make one for you," Ethan said, his tone turning completely serious.

The convention hall went dead silent.

"I once saw a question floating around the internet: What exactly is the ultimate romance for a man?"

"It’s an eternal debate. But in the near future, I’m going to give you my definitive answer. I’m going to use my next game to show you exactly why this specific genre is considered a must-play romance for every single guy out there."

The journalist blinked in shock.

He stared at Ethan, realizing that the notorious sadist was actually being completely earnest.

He wasn’t plotting another torture device; he was genuinely promising to build a massive, blockbuster power fantasy.

"It’s a shame I didn’t prepare any marketing materials for it today, otherwise I’d show you some concept art," Ethan grinned sharply.

After all, how many men on Earth could possibly resist the sheer, visceral allure of dropping a massive, heavily-armed mecha from orbit?

Back in his previous life on Earth, 2016 had been an absolute bloodbath for the FPS genre.

Battlefield 1 had dropped with earth-shattering momentum, followed closely by the meteoric rise of Overwatch and the cultural explosion of PUBG.

Caught in the middle of that crossfire, Titanfall 2 had launched to incredible critical acclaim, but had unfortunately been completely smothered commercially, performing like a forgotten extra in a blockbuster movie.

On paper, the core narrative of Titanfall 2 sounded incredibly cliché.

It was the standard story of a rookie rifleman unexpectedly forced to step up as a super-soldier, slaughtering his way through enemy lines to stop a dictatorship from firing a space-folding superweapon, ultimately saving the planet.

It was the quintessential, standard-issue of soldier hero trope.

At first glance, the premise offered nothing new.

Players had already been "supermen" saving the world a thousand times over; the concept alone wasn’t enough to hook them.

But when you added a loyal, sentient, forty-ton Vanguard-class Titan to that classic hero’s journey?

The emotional resonance shifted entirely.

Hearing Ethan’s promise, the fans watching the live broadcasts completely lost their minds.

[

NoRest: The sadist is talking a massive game right now! A must-play for guys?! Say less, my wallet is ready! Take my money now!

GamerDad88: I believe him. I am fully willing to blindly fund whatever he’s cooking.

LoreMaster: Wait, is Nova actually the biggest pie-baker at E3 this year?!

PraiseTheSun_99: Nova doesn’t bake pies. He serves full-course meals.

]

Ethan glanced over his shoulder.

The ten-minute pre-order tracker on the massive screen was ticking down to its final seconds, the explosive growth rate finally beginning to level out.

In exactly ten minutes, Bloodborne had sold over 800,000 copies globally.

And that was just the raw pre-order data, not the actual launch day surge.

As the storefront faded from the screen, not a single person in the venue questioned his bold pre-order strategy, and absolutely no one dared to call it a failure.

"Thank you all so much for your incredible support," Ethan said, his voice dropping into a somber, dramatic register. "But our story today isn’t over yet. To close out our presentation, I’m thrilled to unveil the official, flagship exclusive designed to launch the next-generation Xbox console."

The massive screen went pitch black.

Slowly, the faint, crackling sound of a dying fire echoed through the hall. Glowing, ember-lit text slowly burned into the darkness, flickering weakly like the last dying coals of a forgotten age.

— Dark Souls —

( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°) ( ?° ?? ?°)

Titanfall 2 and Dark Souls... Who’s excited? ( ?° ?? ?°)

Stone me if you’re excited!

You can support me at patreon.com/Chaos_King and read 25! Yes, 25 advanced Chapters.