The Player and Industry's Heated Discussion

On the early morning of October 31st, Chen Xu punctually uploaded a pre-recorded video to his official Weibo.

He also posted a message: "Guess what the new game is?"

Although it was early morning, it had to be said that at this hour, quite a few night owls among the players following Chen Xu's official Weibo were still awake.

As soon as this message was posted, it didn't take long to catch the attention of some players.

"What's going on? Look what I found? Chen Xu has a new game?"

"Posting a message in the early morning, the timing is way too weird, right?"

"Oh my god, what kind of video is this! Posting it late at night, I thought it was something nice to look at!"

"Wait, what the hell is this video! A horror game?"

"Damn, this DV footage is way too creepy!"

"So the next game, Chen Xu is making a horror game?"

"I don't really care about horror games, but the key is the timing—this is way too eerie, isn't it!?"

"So the next game is related to a DV camera?"

Many players were stunned.

After all, Chen Xu's intention was very obvious—this extremely eerie video was clearly telling players that the next new work would be a horror game.

But what got players talking even more was the timing of the announcement.

The next day, Chen Xu's official Weibo post triggered a wave of reposts and reports from various media outlets.

After all, there was still a bit of leftover buzz from Chen Xu winning the First Prize in the game competition with "To the Moon."

Plus, it was almost November, and there weren't really any major noteworthy releases on the market.

As for Chen Xu's video, players were also discussing and analyzing what genre his new game might be.

After all, even horror games have their sub-genres.

"There's a DV camera and it seems to be an indoor office, so it looks like a modern setting."

"Someone is holding a DV camera filming something, but the entire video is dead silent. Considering the room in the video is very messy, we can boldly guess—do you need a DV camera to see ghosts?"

"Walking through dark hallways and rooms with a DV camera, and then suddenly a ghost face appears in the DV's viewfinder, pulling the filmer into the abyss of darkness!"

"MMP, a bunch of drama queens. There's nothing there, can we stop making wild guesses? I'm reading this in broad daylight and I'm getting chills!"

"You're way too timid. Can't handle this? I suggest you wear a diaper when you play or watch it later."

"This is so creepy. I stumbled upon it last night in the early morning. It didn't reveal anything, but I scared myself thinking there was someone under my bed, and it messed me up for half the night."

Players online were buzzing with discussion, but most of it was just random speculation. After all, Chen Xu's video only hinted to players that the next work would be a horror game.

But what exact type it was hadn't been revealed yet.

It wasn't just players either—it also sparked heated discussion among industry designers and media.

"Did you hear? Chen Xu's new work is actually a horror game!"

"A bit unexpected. I didn't think Chen Xu would choose to start with a horror game."

"But it's not too surprising. For small teams and indie game designers, horror games are a relatively easy entry point."

"Small team? Chen Xu isn't a small team. Haven't you seen the introduction for Nebula Games? Chen Xu's team isn't that small either."

"That's normal. After all, 'Undertale' and 'To the Moon' both sold pretty well."

"But horror games are still pretty niche. Not just domestically—even abroad, there aren't many standout horror games, right?"

"Yeah, although VR seems like a good fit for horror games, the market and cost are still big issues."

"I think Chen Xu's horror game might be like hanging a sheep's head and selling dog meat."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at 'To the Moon' and 'Undertale.' It's obvious Chen Xu is a designer who's good at telling stories. So is it possible that this so-called horror game is just wrapped in a layer of horror skin, telling a heartwarming story?"

"Now that you mention it, it's not impossible. After all, didn't Chen Xu call himself the Warrior of Love before?"

"That makes sense!"

Game industry designers discussed Chen Xu and the news of his new work.

But for various game self-media outlets chasing traffic, it was a bit of a chaotic frenzy.

"Late-night eerie video release—what is Chen Xu up to?"

"From heartwarming to horror? Designer Chen Xu switches to horror games!"

"Abandoning his area of expertise to try niche horror games—confidence or blind arrogance?"

Article after article flooded various websites and forums.

Some of the larger media sites managed to stay relatively neutral.

But for marketing accounts and second- or third-tier small game media, it was all about stirring up drama.

This was mainly due to the type of game Chen Xu had chosen.

After all, it had been many years since the industry had seen an excellent horror game.

The entire horror game industry wasn't exactly a stagnant pool, but it certainly lacked vitality.

Most of the horror games that sold reasonably well on the market were IP series, and their annual sales were steadily declining.

The types of horror games were also incredibly varied.

Domestic themes like zombies and female ghosts.

Overseas themes like murderers and the Devil.

Realistic and surreal.

You could say there was a bit of everything.

But none of them managed to achieve blockbuster sales.

The main reason was that these horror games hadn't broken out of a certain mold.

They still relied on the compact formula of jump scares, gunfights, and cutscene-driven progression.

It wasn't that this formula was bad, but making it truly compelling was extremely difficult.

Out of all the countless shooters combined with horror from the past life, how many left a lasting name?

Just Resident Evil and Dead Space, and even then, only the former could still be considered a top-tier IP, while the latter died off completely until years later when EA had no other cold leftovers to reheat and pulled it out again.

However, for Chen Xu and the entire Nebula Games team, these online discussions didn't have much impact.

Because the game's development progress was visibly advancing.

The game wasn't complete yet, but it was already possible to experience some of the earlier content.

And after experiencing it, Yang Xin, Ruan Ningxue, and everyone else on the team had only one thought.

That was... there was no way in hell they were playing this at night!

There was no helping it—it was just too damn scary.

Even though everyone had participated in the game's development and every point was the result of their collective effort.

That didn't mean they weren't afraid!