Chapter Summaries

A'Dai accidentally hooked his hammer onto a dangerous object in Getting Over It and fell all the way back to the starting point, prompting him to rage-quit and uninstall the game. As streamers and players shared their failures, Wang Chuan's claim that the game taught players to face failure with a smile sparked an online argument.

• A'Dai cautiously advanced through a new area but accidentally caught his hammer on a black snake-shaped object and fell back to the starting point.
• A'Dai shouted at the game, quit, and removed Getting Over It from his library.
• Players and streamers posted clips of their repeated failures, while curious newcomers tried the game and often uninstalled it.
• Gaming outlets reviewed Getting Over It by quoting Wang Chuan's inspirational remarks and describing repeated failure as a chance to grow.
• A cosplaying streamer argued that the game had driven players insane and shared a photo of Wang Chuan smiling as an international visitor watched the character fall.
• Players rallied beneath the comment, agreeing that the game had made them suffer rather than enjoy failure.

Wang Chuan finalized plans for the overseas release of League of Legends and reflected on the contrasting popularity and longevity of Getting Over It and Plants vs. Zombies. The chapter ended with him laughing at streamers being sent back to the start by Getting Over It’s “Don’t Play with Snakes” trap.

• Wang Chuan and the Huangtu Game Company staff discussed releasing a MOD tool and a follow-up update for Plants vs. Zombies.
• Huang Shanshan, Gong Yingnan, Zhao Jing, Qin Ming, and Wei Wei joked about Getting Over It’s success and players waiting to confront Wang Chuan at the experience store.
• Wang Chuan confirmed with Zhenguo Software that the overseas version of League of Legends was ready and discussed its launch and promotion plans.
• Wang Chuan judged that Getting Over It’s popularity would fade while Plants vs. Zombies would remain replayable for longer.
• Wang Chuan watched streamers play Getting Over It and laughed as the “Don’t Play with Snakes” trap sent players back to the start.

Wang Chuan predicted that Heroic Ballads would lose its threat to League of Legends unless it changed substantially, while Penguin’s team saw the game’s player numbers falling again. The chapter left the developers facing growing player complaints as some returned to League of Legends.

• Wang Chuan told an industry chat group that Heroic Ballads would flop and cease to threaten League of Legends within roughly half a month to a month if it did not undergo major changes.
• The game producers in the group were stunned by Wang Chuan’s claim that Heroic Ballads and League of Legends had completely different gameplay cores, but Wang Chuan put away his phone without explaining further.
• Lin Yao, Lu Hui, and Tian Boxun saw Heroic Ballads’ daily active users and related metrics decline sharply again after League of Legends released a new update.
• Players reported longer matchmaking times, inactive friends, uneven skill matchups, and waning interest in Heroic Ballads, with some saying they were returning to League of Legends to play Yasuo.

Penguin’s team struggled to identify why Heroic Ballads was losing players despite its strong reviews, while Wang Chuan explained that the game’s decline had been predictable. He left A'Dai puzzled about what made Heroic Ballads fail.

• Lin Yao, Lu Hui, and Tian Boxun saw Heroic Ballads’ daily users dropping sharply and concluded that its problems came from its content, not operations.
• Wang Chuan returned to Huangtu Game Company’s demo store, where A'Dai complained about repeatedly failing to clear Getting Over It.
• Wang Chuan reminded A'Dai that he had warned players the game was hardcore and said someone had cleared it in under ten minutes.
• A'Dai asked Wang Chuan why Heroic Ballads had suddenly died despite its earlier popularity.
• Wang Chuan said the decline had been expected and suggested A'Dai would understand why if he had played the game.

Wang Chuan explained why Heroic Ballads lost players despite its strong launch: its beginner-friendly design left intermediate players with too little satisfying individual progression. He left the team with a comparison to League of Legends, whose many layers of gameplay provided positive feedback.

• Wang Chuan returned to Huangtu Game Company and found Qin Ming, Wei Wei, Huang Shanshan, Gong Yingnan, and other employees waiting to discuss Heroic Ballads.
• Wei Wei praised Wang Chuan for predicting the game’s failure, while Qin Ming and Huang Shanshan admitted they had enjoyed it at first but later grew bored.
• Wang Chuan explained that Heroic Ballads’ shared experience and removal of equipment and last hits eased the learning curve but made kills and deaths feel less meaningful.
• Wang Chuan described beginner, intermediate, and expert players, arguing that Heroic Ballads depended too heavily on idealized teamwork and advanced map play.
• Wang Chuan contrasted Heroic Ballads with League of Legends, where players could still gain positive feedback by winning through individual skill even without strong macro awareness.

Lin Yao, Lu Hui, and Tian Boxun examined Heroic Ballads' player data and surveys and realized its simplified mechanics punished most mid-tier players instead of rewarding them. The game had entered a vicious cycle of player losses, uneven matches, and hostility, leaving its failure nearly impossible to reverse.

• The chapter explained that Heroic Ballads made kills and minion farming feel unrewarding because team coordination mattered more than individual skill.
• Players followed conflicting strategies, while hidden deaths and the lack of equipment made it difficult to judge who was contributing or establish a credible team leader.
• The game's mechanics left even skilled players unable to overcome a weak teammate, giving most mid-tier players negative feedback despite positive experiences for beginners and experts.
• As players left, Heroic Ballads' matchmaking grew less balanced and its remaining players became more hostile.
• Lin Yao, Lu Hui, and Tian Boxun compared player surveys with game data and concluded that Heroic Ballads was trapped in a vicious cycle and was nearly beyond saving.
• Tian Boxun understood that Heroic Ballads had failed because it did not capture the proper gameplay of the MOBA genre.

After Heroic Ballads failed to challenge League of Legends, Penguin cut its investment and left the game with a minimal operations team. League of Legends then launched overseas under Huangtu Game’s direct operation, drawing attention from players familiar with the company’s earlier hits.

• Penguin withdrew further investment in Heroic Ballads and left the game largely unattended.
• Game Producers and companies concluded that League of Legends balanced an easy start with deep mastery through matchmaking that grouped players by skill.
• Wang Chuan began overseas promotion for League of Legends after rejecting Zhenguo Software’s request for full agency rights.
• Huangtu Game agreed that Zhenguo Software would provide overseas distribution channels for a service fee, while Huangtu Game bore the operating costs.
• League of Legends launched overseas, and players on overseas forums discussed its popularity, developer, and MOBA gameplay.

League of Legends launched overseas and quickly gained players, while Wang Chuan prepared to establish the game’s esports scene. He invited livestreaming executives, club owners, and tournament organizers to Huangtu Game, where they anticipated he would announce a tournament.

• Overseas players praised League of Legends’ accessible controls, gameplay, and matchmaking, and the game reached about 1.1 million daily active players on its first day with 70 percent next-day retention.
• League of Legends’ overseas player base grew rapidly as players spread the word and MOBA games gained acceptance.
• Wang Chuan began planning League of Legends esports, considering regional leagues and a Global Finals for when the competitive scene matured.
• Zhou Yijian, Zhang Xiao, Liu Ran, other club owners, and tournament organizers gathered at Huangtu Game after Wang Chuan invited them.
• Zhou Yijian and Zhang Xiao discussed League of Legends’ popularity and the challenges of building competitive teams, while Liu Ran speculated that Wang Chuan planned a tournament.

Wang Chuan presented League of Legends’ enormous player figures and proposed building a formal esports league system with regional seasons, promotion and relegation, youth training, and player transfers. The club owners doubted his ambitious vision but found it difficult not to hope that esports could reach the scale he described.

• Wang Chuan entered the meeting and shared League of Legends’ domestic and overseas player statistics, stunning Zhou Yijian and the other attendees.
• Wang Chuan proposed regional leagues whose top teams would compete in a Global Finals, and said he had begun negotiations overseas.
• Wang Chuan urged the industry to establish formal systems for promotion and relegation, youth development, and player transfers.
• Zhang Xiao acknowledged that clubs had discussed improving player contracts but questioned whether millions of people would watch esports matches.
• Wang Chuan smiled, having expected the attendees to doubt his vision.

Wang Chuan outlined his plans for League of Legends esports, promising major prize pools and a Global Finals the following year to win professional clubs’ support. The club owners agreed to cooperate, and Wang Chuan later discussed online tournaments with Zhou Yijian.

• Wang Chuan announced that the first League of Legends Global Finals would combine invitations and qualifiers, offer at least ten million US dollars in prizes, and take place around May or June next year.
• Zhang Xiao questioned whether Wang Chuan was serious, and Wang Chuan assured the club owners that the tournament plans were genuine.
• Zhang Xiao committed his club to participating, and the other club owners also agreed to cooperate.
• Wang Chuan explained the tournament format and key details to the club owners, then discussed online League of Legends tournaments with Zhou Yijian.

Wang Chuan laid plans to standardize League of Legends esports and expand its tournaments through regional partners. With Huangtu Game’s platform backed by a huge user base and League of Legends revenue, he prepared to launch a redesigned platform modeled on Steam and claim a much larger share of the PC gaming market.

• Wang Chuan discussed small, standardized League of Legends tournaments with Zhou Yijian and planned a dedicated esports department that would work with regional partners.
• Wang Chuan explained that standardized rules were needed for esports to grow beyond informal internet cafe tournaments, then handed the work to dedicated staff.
• Wang Chuan reviewed League of Legends’ revenue—five hundred million yuan domestically and seventy million US dollars overseas—and decided Huangtu Game had enough support to make a bold move into the PC market.
• Wang Chuan unveiled the unlaunched version of the Huangtu Game platform, with a redesigned store and a Workshop for player discussions and game MODs.
• Wang Chuan prepared to launch the platform, which had around seventy million domestic registered users and more than twenty million daily active users.

Wang Chuan announced that Huangtu Game would become an open digital game platform with a permanent 30 percent revenue share, no exclusivity requirement, and limited interference in game content. Game producers discussed the platform’s potential to reshape the industry, while noting that its success and the response from major competitors remained uncertain.

• Wang Chuan and Huangtu Game announced that third-party producers and publishers could list approved games on the platform after review.
• Wang Chuan set terms allowing games to appear on other platforms at matching prices, protecting developers’ content autonomy, and charging a 30 percent share that could fall to 15 percent for outstanding games.
• Game industry members reacted to the announcement, praising the platform’s terms and anticipating competition from Penguin and the Three Factories.
• Members of the Gaming Empire chat group debated whether Huangtu Game could succeed, questioning whether its users would buy games beyond Wang Chuan’s own titles.

Penguin Games' Ding Ke discussed how to counter Huangtu Game's low commission rate and new distribution platform, deciding to recruit strong developers and publishers without directly attacking Wang Chuan. Penguin, Net Entertainment, and the Bali Three Major Manufacturers then formed an exclusive Channel Alliance, escalating the competition for games.

• Ding Ke reviewed Huangtu Game's move and recognized that its strong game lineup and independent finances made it difficult to undermine.
• Penguin's operations head proposed exclusive contracts, lower commission rates, and efforts to make developers question whether Huangtu Game could earn them more money.
• Ding Ke approved concessions to retain outstanding developers and publishers, but rejected a direct public-relations attack on Huangtu Game.
• Penguin, Net Entertainment, and the Bali Three Major Manufacturers signed exclusive game contracts and set their default channel revenue share at forty percent.
• The Three Factories announced shared channel resources and a dedicated Channel Alliance with transparent recommendations, requiring member games to stay off rival platforms.

Game Producers debated whether Huangtu Game platform had enough paying users to support their games, while Zhao Jing suggested subsidies to ease their concerns. Wang Chuan rejected competing through subsidies and decided to prove the platform could make a good game profitable, leaving Zhao Jing asking whether he meant prioritizing an outstanding producer.

• Game Producers discussed Huangtu Game platform's policies and worried its user base might not spend money or keep their games alive.
• Some producers considered joining Huangtu Game, but most chose to wait and see whether the platform could support their games.
• Zhao Jing asked Wang Chuan whether Huangtu Game should subsidize producers, and Wang Chuan rejected the idea because Huangtu could not outspend Penguin and the Three Factories.
• Wang Chuan said Huangtu Game would set a benchmark by showing that a good game could make money on the platform.
• Zhao Jing asked whether Wang Chuan planned to sign an outstanding producer and focus support on that producer's game.

Wang Chuan decided to secretly make a new game for the Huangtu Game platform to prove that it could attract players and sell games, with official oversight certifying the platform’s fairness. He left Zhao Jing to gather the team while he prepared to use the opportunity to build the platform’s credibility against its rivals.

• Wang Chuan told Zhao Jing to call Wei Wei, Qin Ming, and the others so they could make a game under a disguise through a shell game company.
• Zhao Jing worried Penguin and the Three Factories would accuse Huangtu Game of manipulating platform data, but Wang Chuan said the authorities would certify its fairness.
• Wang Chuan explained that official regulators had authorized verification of Huangtu Game’s recommendation system and data while leaving the platform under its own operation.
• Wang Chuan reasoned that the platform needed successful third-party games to prove players would buy games through it, but forcing promotion of a mediocre game would damage users’ trust.
• Wang Chuan concluded that, with official approval, he could create a new game himself and use it to establish the Huangtu Game platform’s credibility.

Wang Chuan told Qin Ming, Wei Wei, Huang Shanshan, and Gong Yingnan that Huangtu Game did not need a big-budget flagship title yet. Instead, they would disguise themselves as a small game company or ordinary Game Producers and make a modest, non-mainstream game to prove that developers could earn money on the platform, leaving the genre undecided.

• Qin Ming asked whether the team would develop a big-budget flagship game for Huangtu Game.
• Qin Ming, Gong Yingnan, and the others excitedly proposed genres including ARPGs, action-adventure games, and FPS games.
• Wang Chuan explained that League of Legends, Warcraft, and Minecraft could support the platform for now, so it did not need another blockbuster immediately.
• Wang Chuan said the team would make a lower-budget, non-mainstream game while posing as an ordinary small developer.
• Huang Shanshan suggested a tabletop card game like Sanguosha, and Gong Yingnan asked about a game like Soul Knight.

Wang Chuan ended the discussion about the studio’s next game and unveiled Outlast, a horror game set in an abandoned psychiatric hospital. He explained the challenges of making horror games and left the team facing a rushed, one-month development schedule.

• Zhao Jing suggested Plants vs. Zombies and Undertale, while Qin Ming advocated making another game like Getting Over It.
• Wang Chuan said the studio would use a modest-budget model and aim to finish and release its next game in about a month.
• Wang Chuan revealed a design document for Outlast, surprising the team with the choice of a horror game.
• Wang Chuan explained the difficulties of making horror games, including the risks of jump scares and the limits of VR.
• Wang Chuan said he had found a relocated psychiatric hospital as the game’s setting and joked about taking the team there at night.

Wang Chuan explained the design of Outlast to his small team and assigned their roles as development began. The team worked smoothly on the low-budget horror game, with Qin Ming collaborating with Wang Chuan on its story and gameplay systems.

• Wang Chuan handed out lists of horror movies and rejected Gong Yingnan's suggestion that the team study other companies' horror games instead.
• Wang Chuan explained Outlast's unarmed journalist protagonist, battery-powered camera night vision, and horror pacing to the team.
• Wang Chuan reminded the team to keep the project secret from the Outsourcing Team because their small company was betting everything on the game.
• Wang Chuan assigned Qin Ming to work on the story, levels, and monster behavior logic, and Outlast's development progressed smoothly.

As Penguin, Net Entertainment, and Bali tightened their control over game distribution, Wang Chuan quietly developed “Outlast” and prepared to promote selected games on Huangtu Game platform. Industry insiders learned that Huangtu Game was organizing a “League of Legends” tournament alliance, while Penguin’s Ding Ke concluded that Huangtu had few moves left.

• Penguin, Net Entertainment, and Bali changed their recommendation rules, signed exclusive agreements with smaller producers, and launched an independent game competition as the industry debated their pressure on Huangtu Game.
• Wang Chuan accelerated development of “Outlast,” contacted several producers whose games had appeared on Huangtu Game platform, and promised them ongoing promotion if they signed nondisclosure agreements.
• Huangtu Game helped established domestic clubs form a “League of Legends” tournament alliance, and news of the alliance spread among Game Producers even as the planned prize pools remained secret.
• Ding Ke reviewed Penguin’s data and said Huangtu Game had few tricks left, dismissing the producers who had joined its platform as a cause for concern.

Ding Ke dismissed Wang Chuan’s esports plans but ordered his staff to monitor Huangtu Game for games and developers they could poach. Meanwhile, Wang Chuan’s team completed Outlast and launched it on the Huangtu Game platform with minimal promotion, leaving its success to be judged by its performance.

• Ding Ke told his staff to watch Huangtu Game and offer to cover contract termination fees to recruit promising Game Producers.
• Wang Chuan’s team finished developing Outlast after submitting its plot and graphic scenes for review.
• Wang Chuan explained that Outlast would not go in the experience store because playing alone would make its horror more effective.
• Wang Chuan decided to launch Outlast as an unknown studio’s game, with no advertising budget or major platform promotion.
• Outlast launched on the Huangtu Game platform alongside other games, and Wang Chuan planned to publish its launch data afterward.