Company Founded, Only Game

To register the company, Meng Shu spent another week.

After withdrawing the video earnings, he took the money to a reputable registration agency with good credentials, handed over the details, and let them handle the legwork.

Meanwhile, he began scouring the city for office space, which was extremely time-consuming—roughly four days out of the week were spent running around looking at rentals, following agents from one place to another, but nothing felt right.

Good environment, high price.

Good price, poor environment and remote.

Or empty spaces that needed self-funded renovations.

Staring at the measly ten thousand or so yuan in his pocket, Meng Shu was truly on the verge of tears.

At the start of a venture, the initial capital was too little; he desperately needed money!

Now he could only hope that the highly acclaimed official version of Dark Forest would sell well.

Another day passed, but fortunately, things weren't that bumpy.

Meng Shu finally found a suitable office in an industrial park.

The space was small, with basic renovations. The previous company, reportedly an e-commerce business, had gone under for some reason and left in a hurry, leaving behind some desks and chairs.

Meng Shu figured these could serve for now, so he rented the leftovers along with the space.

After solving the venue issue, he rushed to an advertising shop to design a passable logo as the company's initial emblem, planning to replace it later.

And so, after a week of hustling, his small company in this world—"Only Game"—was officially established!

He even had an LED glowing sign made and installed at the front desk entrance, so anyone could tell at a glance it was a game company.

The name "Only Game" was decided in about two minutes, basically a spur-of-the-moment idea.

There was no deep, far-sighted meaning behind it.

It was purely catchy, easy to remember, common, and striking.

Meng Shu was a practical man; he didn't want to cram some convoluted, messy significance into the company name that would be hard to recall and a headache to think about.

Wasn't it better to pick a name even a grade-schooler could remember?

He arrived at the industrial park, went up to Building C, 5th Floor, walked to Room 520, and opened the glass door.

Then, at a glance, he saw the neatly arranged company, ready to start operations at any moment.

The glowing "Only Game" four characters on the front desk wall were clearly displayed, bright and conspicuous.

Meng Shu took a stroll through the small company, then pulled out a chair, sat down, and casually lit a cigarette, blowing out smoke rings.

Then, in a voice only he could hear, he muttered softly.

"Starting the company is done. Next up, it's time to go all-in on game development."

He pulled out his phone, opened the Danmu Network, and felt a headache at the mountain of 99+ notifications.

Glancing at the private messages, there were still no new investors contacting him. It seemed that in this world, even if horror games gained popularity, no company would bet on them.

This gave Meng Shu a deeper perspective on the horror genre in this world.

Compared to other game types, horror games, before they truly exploded, were hard-pressed to attract big companies.

Meng Shu shook his head; it was only natural.

If Dark Forest were swapped for something else, like Call of Duty or Need for Speed, with its current popularity, someone would probably have already offered investment.

Meng Shu exhaled and spun around in his chair.

He needed money; he wanted to make a VR version, and he had the know-how for it.

Meng Shu believed that with the system's help, the VR game he made would be far superior and more realistic than those in the original world!

It would surely stir up a storm in this world, where VR games were unremarkable, even virtually nonexistent!

But he wasn't without a way out. Since there was no investment and no money, with his company already set up, only one path remained.

Meng Shu tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling, steadied himself, and crossed his legs.

That was EA testing!

The Early Access version!

Simply put, it meant directly putting an unfinished, still-in-development game up for sale.

Then, while making money, he could continue development, easing the financial strain so he wouldn't run out of funds.

This method was fairly common in the original world.

For example, Cyberpunk 2077 was put up for pre-order over a year early, using the sales money to continue development and alleviate funding issues.

Another example was Baldur's Gate 3, which released its EA version early at 298 yuan and sold quite a bit, but even by the time he transmigrated, the full version still hadn't come out.

This model of selling while developing had sustained several small game companies back in the original world's domestic market.

Games like Amazing Cultivation Simulator, The Scroll of Taiwu, Seeking Longevity, and Dyson Sphere Program—all domestic titles—solved their initial funding problems through Early Access.

And during the sales period, they continuously used the earned money to polish the game and develop new content, keeping player online rates high even for the unfinished EA versions.

Coincidentally, in this world, there was a global game and software platform called Cyber.

After being localized in Huaxia, this platform was renamed "Cyber Platform" based on its transliteration.

The Cyber Platform is very similar to the Steam platform from the original world, hosting many domestic and international games as well.

The difference, however, is that Huaxia now has a local agent, so domestic games looking to launch on the Cyber Platform must submit for review and obtain a license.

Fortunately, this world isn't bogged down by excessive red tape. Submitting a game for review here is a perfectly normal process, and there's no situation where a review drags on for years.

As long as it doesn't involve politics or contain offensive content—even if the game has red blood or supernatural ghosts and spirits—it can generally pass and obtain the relevant certification.

In other words, this world greatly encourages diverse development among game industry professionals.

Meng Shu decided to take the path of selling while developing, then when the official version launches, he'll release the VR version alongside it, shocking the players and making them offer up their Fear Points.

As for console platforms, porting is a given, no doubt about that.

But he planned to wait until he had enough funds to hire people for that.

After all, the platform's cut isn't cheap, and without money, it's truly impossible.

There was another matter too: the game's popularity had started to decline.

Meng Shu frowned as he watched the video data in the backend trending downward.

But then he felt a bit relieved, thinking that this was only natural.

After all, there are too many fun things on the internet these days, easily diverting everyone's attention.

A game like Dark Forest might have drawn massive attention before, but without subsequent updates to maintain hype and viewer retention, it would only grow colder and colder.

Meng Shu needed to release the EA semi-finished game to make money for developing the VR version.

But if the hype wasn't enough and the visibility was low, the game might flop on release!

So, before launching on the Cyber Platform, he needed enough material to attract players and spark their interest, paving the way for the release.

And he had to make players believe that his game was truly in stable development.

Only then would everyone willingly pay to support it.

With that thought, Meng Shu closed his eyes and browsed the asset resources included with Dark Forest in the system.

There was still a promotional CG—he couldn't release that yet; it had to wait until the game launched.

There was also the original soundtrack pack, which didn't really matter whether he released it or not, as it contained no memorable music.

So what remained were the game's concept designs and art assets.

Looking at these two things, Meng Shu leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and pondered.

Time ticked by, and he didn't know how long had passed.

Gradually, voices came from outside the company—it seemed to be time to clock out.

Just then, Meng Shu opened his eyes, having settled on what to reveal.

"In this world where the horror genre is so backward, the character and monster designs of Dark Forest should be quite novel, right?"