Chapter 78 - #78: Sony’s Attention

Chapter 78: Chapter #78: Sony’s Attention

"I’m actually losing my mind!" Ivan stared at the urgent notification his logistics team had just sent to his phone.

He had just received absolute confirmation: the entire global inventory of their current-generation Xbox consoles had completely sold out.

Console manufacturing was strictly regulated by volume batches.

Aside from basic supply chain logistics, developers often utilized artificial scarcity—hunger marketing—to drive up demand.

Historically, Xbox had never actually managed to sell out an entire production run, because the initial demand simply wasn’t high enough to trigger the psychological panic.

But reading the finalized logistics report, confirming over and over again that they had zero units left in warehouses across the globe, Ivan’s heart rate spiked to 130 beats per minute.

"Do we need to authorize an emergency manufacturing run to restock the current consoles?" an assistant asked frantically.

Ivan shook his head firmly. "No. Let them stay sold out. The next-generation hardware launches soon."

Hunger marketing was a delicate psychological game. A company heavily advertises a product to build massive consumer desire, but artificially restricts the initial supply.

This forces the customer base to endure a painful waiting period, astronomically increasing their desperation to buy.

When the product finally hits the shelves, the starved market eagerly accepts price hikes and guarantees massive, immediate mass-market sales.

For the very first time in his career at Xbox, Ivan finally felt the true, terrifying power of that marketing strategy.

The upcoming next-generation Xbox would absolutely be backward-compatible with Ethan’s older titles, and perfectly optimized for Dark Souls.

But there was no guarantee the older, discontinued hardware would be able to handle the massive processing power required for Sprout Studio’s future AAA releases.

By hard-stopping the production of the current console right now... Ivan could clearly envision the sheer, unmitigated chaos that would unfold on the launch day of the new hardware.

Ivan clenched his fists, goosebumps erupting down his arms. He almost didn’t dare to imagine the apocalyptic frenzy at retail stores.

The players who hadn’t managed to snag a console today would be forced to wait in absolute agony until the next-gen console launched simultaneously with Dark Souls.

But before Dark Souls arrived, the global gaming community was waiting for a different answer.

Bloodborne.

If Bloodborne managed to secure even a baseline passing grade of 60 out of 100 from the critical community, the residual hype would cause the next-gen console sales to completely detonate.

But would the players merely rate it a 60?

Ivan instinctively looked up at the young man standing on the center stage.

No. They won’t.

From the very first day Ethan Vale started developing games, every single project he had ever delivered to the players was an absolute, undisputed 100/100 masterpiece.

Across the VIP section, the lead Sony executive had just received the exact same market report.

He had also been genuinely stunned by the two trailers, but reading the internal analytics from his own staff chilled him to the bone.

Bombarded by the sheer hype of those two cinematic reveals, the global player base had finally lost all self-control and mass-purchased Xbox hardware.

Meanwhile, Sony’s PlayStation sales had only seen a completely negligible, standard bump from their own E3 keynote.

"Get in touch with this developer immediately. I want to know exactly what his price is to jump ship to Sony," the executive ordered, his fists clenching tightly in his lap.

From his seat, he had a clear view of the Xbox VIP section. He hadn’t seen Ivan stop smiling since Ethan took the stage.

"Find a way to open a back channel. I don’t care how much money it costs, just buy him out," the executive whispered sharply to his assistant.

"Preferably, negotiate a buyout clause for the Dark Souls IP as well so he brings it with him."

"We possess the largest install base in the world. We have the most users, the deepest pockets, and the best infrastructure. We can offer him a far brighter future than Xbox ever could, can’t we?"

In the distance, Ivan and Carter were on their feet, clapping frantically and cheering at the top of their lungs.

They were easily the loudest executives in the entire convention hall.

The Sony executive had already run a background check on Carter. The intel had completely surprised him.

Not long ago, Carter was just a mid-level regional manager, desperately filing transfer requests to escape Steam’s rainy, dead-end Seattle outpost.

In the corporate hierarchy of Terra, the massive global headquarters for tech giants like Xbox and Steam were firmly entrenched in the sun-drenched tech utopia of Silicon Valley, California.

Anyone who wanted real corporate power needed a desk in California.

But recently, Carter’s trajectory had defied all corporate logic.

Because Ethan Vale had turned Seattle into the hottest gaming incubator on the planet, Carter had been rocketed up the corporate ladder.

While he wasn’t the Global CEO just yet, he had recently been formally appointed as the Senior Vice President of Global Distribution.

He had effectively conquered the Silicon Valley elites from his own rainy backyard, securing a massive, untouchable seat at the highest executive table.

He wasn’t just managing a domestic outpost anymore; he now held a concrete, ironclad grip over Steam’s international publishing strategy.

"Nova..." the Sony executive muttered, testing the syllables of the designer’s alias on his tongue.

Today was the first time this designer had ever truly registered on his radar as an existential threat.

"Get me a comprehensive dossier on him. I want to know exactly who we’re dealing with."

Ethan stepped off the stage, handing the microphone over to the remaining Xbox developers to fill out the rest of the presentation block.

Before Ethan’s flight even touched down back in his home, First Game News had already published a massive, highly-edited retrospective video essay on his career.

The video was a sprawling, emotional tribute to his legacy. It started from the very beginning, showing clips of the agonizing rage induced by Getting Over It, cutting seamlessly into the melancholy depths of Hollow Knight.

It showed montages of streamers violently slamming their desks, intercut with players wiping tears from their eyes as they read the final lore tablets of Hallownest.

From witnessing the tragic rise and fall of an underground bug kingdom, to the heart-warming, profound psychological redemption on the snowy peaks of Celeste Mountain...

The video tracked his evolution. And now, it showed him standing firmly on the world’s biggest stage at E3, his head held high with a confident smile.

I’m incredibly glad you’ve all been enjoying our games. Today, I’m here to show you the second official gameplay trailer for Bloodborne.

The video cut to the terrifying Hunter in the black trench coat, wielding the serrated cleaver to slaughter the rabid monstrosities tearing through the Victorian streets.

It showed Ethan’s promise: that he would soon use the medium of gaming to define exactly what the ultimate romance was for a man.

Please enjoy the cinematic premiere for the flagship exclusive of the next-generation Xbox console.

Finally, a towering, ember-lit giant arose from the darkness. You looked up at him, and he looked down at you.

The video was backed by an incredibly hype, cinematic orchestral track, pushing the emotional resonance of the montage to an absolute climax.

[

Logan67: AHHHH IM ACTUALLY LOSING MY MIND! THE HYPE IS UNREAL!

Sfrawly: I am literally covered in goosebumps. Nova is standing at the absolute pinnacle of the industry right now.

IamUgoH: These last few games made me feel like I lived an entire lifetime. I hadn’t played a genuine masterpiece in five years, and then Nova dropped three of them in under twelve months.

NicoGab: First Game News has basically just become the official Sprout Studio fan club at this point LMAO

jsHall: I mean, conquering the top gaming journalists is just a natural side effect of conquering the entire player base.

thevidler: Post more! I love these edits, I need more content!

Unsound14: Xbox is the real winner here. They literally struck gold. Even Sony has never managed to completely sell out their entire global console inventory in a single afternoon. Also, respectfully... FUCK THE SCALPERS! NOT A SINGLE CONSOLE LEFT FOR ME?!

]

However, the massive sell-out event that day actually had very little to do with professional scalpers.

Before the bot networks and scalping rings could even react to the trailers, the actual, genuine player base had already frantically bought up every single unit.

But precisely because of the absolute chaos that unfolded that afternoon, Xbox upper management convened an emergency meeting and drafted a new corporate policy overnight.

Moving forward, all next-generation console pre-orders would require strict, real-name ID verification, capping purchases at a maximum of three units per verified household.

Xbox even issued a public statement guaranteeing that the production pipelines for the new consoles would be robust.

They strictly prohibited scalpers from hoarding stock, ensuring that genuine fans would be able to successfully secure the hardware.

When Sony headquarters saw the new Xbox policy, they actually laughed.

For years, Sony had controlled over half the global console market, and they had never once dared to implement a restrictive sales policy like that.

After all, a console was just a home entertainment appliance. A sale was a sale.

Why would a corporation care if a scalper bought ten thousand units, as long as the money cleared? Why waste resources protecting the consumer?

But Sony failed to understand a core psychological truth: the harder something is to obtain, the more desperately the market wants it.

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