Chapter 540: There's a Future with Chairman Qi

Chapter 540: Chapter 292: There’s a Future with Chairman Qi

“It might not be Chairman Qi’s own money. Maybe it’s a bank loan.”

“Even if it is a loan, that’s still freaking awesome, okay? You really think just anyone can get a loan from a bank like that?!”

“I heard they sold the company for 12 billion. President Cai himself cashed out for nearly 5 billion.”

“Bro, you’re missing the point entirely. Our Chairman Qi did an all-cash acquisition. How badass is that?”

“True. When Mg Group acquired Mobike, they even used a stock swap. Anyway, I’m not planning on jumping ship anymore. I feel like there’s a future following Chairman Qi.”

“Jump ship my ass. President Cai is a genius, no doubt, but he’s too arrogant. He never even showed much respect for President Liu or President Luo.”

“Exactly. We’re just employees; no need to get sentimental about the old bosses. We worked our asses off on Genshin Impact for three years, after all. Seeing how Chairman Qi operates, our year-end bonuses are definitely going to be huge!”

…

The looming threat of employees being poached was easily neutralized by Qi Sheng’s purchase of the headquarters building.

Cai Haoyu, Liu Wei, and Luo Yuhao sat in a teahouse, and none of them looked pleased.

Liu Wei, in particular, looked extremely awkward.

He had originally sworn with complete confidence that Yu Chenxi, his right-hand man, would definitely jump ship and follow them.

But in the end, the man had blocked him directly.

Liu Wei knew exactly what that meant.

“This Chairman Qi is really something. The attitude of many of the old-timers I contacted has become ambiguous.”

“They’ll only jump ship if we increase the cost of poaching them.”

Liu Wei sighed, feeling for the first time that the situation was tricky.

Having been forced to sell their company, the three “brothers” were naturally planning to stage a comeback.

The feeling of powerlessness, of seeing the dawn only to have someone else snatch the prize, made it impossible for them to simply retire in peace.

So, Cai Haoyu put up 2 billion, while Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao each contributed 1 billion.

They founded Time Knot Technology to be the new ‘Miha You’.

But the problem facing them was what kind of new project to launch.

Cai Haoyu was the calmest of the three.

Because in his mind, Genshin Impact was merely a mediocre work.

Only a project like Sword Art Online could fill him with fighting spirit.

Therefore, Cai Haoyu felt that selling Miha You wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

He finally had enough capital to develop the epic project that had been swirling in his mind for so long.

“Old Liu, Old Luo, if you trust me, let’s have our new company focus all its efforts on developing Project ‘PJSH.’ I guarantee this game’s prospects will be no worse than Genshin Impact’s!”

Although Cai Haoyu was the new company’s majority shareholder, he couldn’t just act willfully.

After all, Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao had each invested a billion as well.

The company belonged to the three of them, so for a project to be approved, it naturally needed the consent of the other two partners.

“Old Cai, you’re still not giving up on ‘PJSH’?”

Liu Wei’s brow furrowed. He hadn’t expected Cai Haoyu to be so obsessed with that project.

You could say that the main purpose of developing Genshin Impact was to raise R&D funds for the ‘PJSH’ project in Cai Haoyu’s heart.

It was just that no one had expected Genshin Impact to become such a massive hit, letting Miha You make a fortune.

“Old Liu, we didn’t have money before, so I had to shelve this project. But now we’re all rich, and you two don’t have any suitable projects to develop. Why not make a 3A shooter with me?”

Cai Haoyu did his utmost to persuade his two closest friends.

“Since these domestic employees don’t want to leave, let’s go abroad and recruit top-tier talent. We’ll develop an epoch-making 3A shooter masterpiece for the domestic market.”

“Old Cai, I still think it’s too risky for us to tackle a 3A shooter with our current capabilities.”

Liu Wei had a more cautious personality and felt that going all-in on a single project was too big a risk.

“3A games have always been a weakness for domestic game developers.”

“Aside from a few action games in the wuxia style, there are few impressive works to speak of.”

“And shooters are the weakest of the weak.”

“We don’t need to challenge the highest difficulty level right away.”

“It’s not too late to develop a few profitable games first and then tackle a 3A shooter.”

“Old Liu, I really can’t wait any longer! Genshin Impact alone made me wait three years. This is my dream, and I hope you’ll support me!”

Cai Haoyu looked at Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao with a burning gaze.

“If you really don’t agree, I can buy back your shares. Even if ‘PJSH’ loses every last penny, I will see it through!”

“Uh…”

Liu Wei and Luo Yuhao exchanged a look, both seeing the helplessness in the other’s eyes.

In some respects, Cai Haoyu was indeed a bit of a despot.

Just like with 3A shooters, which no one in the country dared to touch, Cai Haoyu was daring enough to try.

Call it commendable courage or call it being hard-headed.

His ability and personality truly made them have a love-hate relationship with him.

When it came to game development, Cai Haoyu was truly a genius.

But does a genius always succeed?

“Haaah… Let’s bet on it!”

It was true that Liu Wei had a cautious personality, but he wasn’t without his decisive side.

“It’s not like we have any other good projects anyway. If we could create Genshin Impact back then, who’s to say we can’t create a ‘PJSH’ now?”

“Old Liu is right. It’s just a 3A shooter, isn’t it?”

Luo Yuhao usually had little presence, but he was Cai Haoyu’s right-hand man. At Miha You, his main role had been managing and developing existing projects.

With the support of the two brothers who had founded Miha You with him, Cai Haoyu was now filled with confidence for his new project.

“The worst that can happen is the project fails, and we each go back home with our billion-plus to retire.”

“If it succeeds, it’ll be another Miha You, or even a NetEase, or perhaps a Penguin!”

Cai Haoyu firmly placed his hand on top of Liu Wei’s and Luo Yuhao’s.

His words were filled with high hopes for the new project.

“Let’s hope so!”

For some reason, Liu Wei felt a strange sense of unease.

He had a premonition, a feeling deep down.

This new project probably wouldn’t go too smoothly.

But aside from Cai Haoyu’s project, they really didn’t have any other good game ideas.

The copyrights for the Honkai series were all in Miha You’s hands.

When they sold the company, they naturally didn’t take the copyrights with them.

And when the news reached Qi Sheng and he heard that the tentative name for the project at Cai Haoyu’s new company was ‘PJSH,’ he nearly popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate.

‘Even if you weren’t a fan of Genshin Impact, you would have heard about how this highly anticipated Miha You project had met with a disastrous end.’

‘Even founder Cai Haoyu’s invincible reputation, built internally on the success of Genshin Impact, was shattered, and his prestige plummeted.’

‘The domestic industry has no real capability to develop 3A titles.’

‘But just because others can’t do it doesn’t mean I can’t.’

‘As long as I’m willing to throw money at it, the talent provided by the system will be as incredible as I need them to be.’

‘But for now, I should focus on consolidating my base.’

‘It’s not too late to make a killing off Genshin Impact first, and then slowly plan the development of a 3A game.’

‘Who knows, after Cai Haoyu and his crew hit a wall, they might even come crawling back to Miha You.’

‘I wouldn’t mind taking the three of them in. After all, I have the Talent Recruitment Card.’

‘As long as they’re willing to join Miha You, they’ll become my most loyal followers!’