First Meeting!

The game was released on the Steam platform, which also took a certain percentage of the revenue.

For an excellent game, translating it into multiple languages was mutually beneficial, so when they offered to help translate it into other languages, Ethan Vale did not feel much about it.

It was not as if he were the only one benefiting.

But now, Carter had actually said he wanted to discuss something with him.

Ethan Vale narrowed his eyes and remained silent, seriously considering what the other party might want from him. He roughly went over everything that had happened recently in his mind.

He truly could not figure out what a designer from a gaming platform would personally come to contact him about.

That made it rather intriguing.

"Please, go ahead." Ethan Vale's tone became more polite.

"Do you have plans to make another game?" Carter asked cautiously.

As the person in charge of Steam's Great Xia region, he knew very clearly how much this game studio called Sprout Studio had earned from Dead Cells.

That was only domestic revenue. Given how popular the game was, it would certainly make another fortune once it launched overseas simultaneously.

He also knew that after acquiring a massive fortune, many people would not choose to keep working hard. Instead, they would choose to squander it.

Ethan Vale smiled when he heard that.

"As you can see, our studio has been expanding recently in preparation for our next game."

"Then how much are you planning to invest in developing your next game?" Carter grew extremely tense. This was what he cared about most.

Ethan Vale froze for a moment. He still had not figured out why the other man had come to see him.

He was merely a game development studio. Logically speaking, what games he made had nothing to do with the platform.

Yet Carter seemed deeply concerned about whether he would make another game, as well as what he planned to make next.

"Let me introduce Sprout Studio's development history." Ethan Vale spoke softly. Although he did not know why the other party had come to him, he knew this was definitely a good thing.

No matter what Carter's intentions were, his tiny studio had nothing the man could possibly covet.

Ethan Vale had never been stingy about displaying his strengths to gain greater benefits.

"Sprout Studio was founded two months ago. When we first made Getting over it, it cost us zero yuan and earned us 1.5 million."

"As for the production cost of Dead Cells, we spent that entire 1.5 million."

Hearing this, Carter could clearly feel his breathing quicken.

There were many people who made money from games, but very few who pulled off something from nothing.

Especially people who, after making one game, would go all-in with all their earnings to develop the next one. Since entering the industry, Ethan Vale was the only person Carter had ever seen do that.

"Mr. Ye, could we arrange a meeting? I would like to discuss something with you." After hearing Ethan Vale's words, the weight in Carter's heart had already lifted. He no longer had any of his previous reservations.

"I'll be waiting anytime." Ethan Vale smiled.

It had to be said that Steam's gaming platform worked with remarkable efficiency. After Ethan Vale sent them all the game text for Dead Cells, they produced versions in the languages of ten countries at once.

In just one day, Dead Cells was listed in Steam's other regional stores.

Generally speaking, Weibo's top trending topics were always dominated by traffic stars or hot current events. Very few other kinds of news could reach the number one spot.

When the post [Dead Cells Successfully Launches in Multiple Regions!] hung at the top of the trending list, it became a celebration for the entire gaming community.

Domestic games were flooded with too much shoddy work. Few games could leave the country and reach the world.

Even games themselves had always been a lukewarm presence across the various media channels.

The Dead Cells topic was flooded with comments from netizens.

'My Beheaded is going global!'

'Just passing by, what kind of game is this Dead Cells you guys keep talking about?'

'Oh no, it's time to torment foreigners. Can you all handle it?'

'Anything can take the number one trending spot now? The entertainment industry has gotten more and more useless lately.'

'Seriously, how do you translate "if you're bad, practice more"?'

'You guys don't know this, but Dead Cells was already famous abroad two weeks ago. Back then, plenty of foreign IPs were already bypassing the firewall to download the game from the Great Xia region.'

When they saw that foreign players had bypassed the firewall to play Dead Cells in Great Xia, everyone was somewhat dazed.

They had never heard of such a thing. Or rather, whenever anyone bypassed the firewall, it was always them going outside; never had people from outside come in.

Soon, a video of a foreign streamer playing the game was posted online. Since there was no translation in his language, he held a printed A4 sheet listing the equipment names and their corresponding translations.

The entire gameplay process looked like he was consulting a dictionary, reading the A4 sheet while playing.

Whenever he died and returned to the starting point, he would even say a sentence in Great Xia's language with a somewhat strange accent.

"If you're bad, practice more!"

For a time, there were countless edited clips of that foreign blogger online. Whenever he played the game, he was the very picture of someone completely losing it!

Besides clips from his earlier streams, there was also a recent short video.

After Dead Cells launched in his region, he immediately tore the A4 sheet in his hands to shreds on stream.

The blond, blue-eyed streamer bought the game without the slightest hesitation.

He even had time to visit other streamers' channels. Whenever he saw someone make a painful-to-watch play, he would laugh and say, "Very easy."

That day, Dead Cells became like a brand-new plague, beginning to sweep across the world.

And just as Dead Cells was advancing step by step toward players around the globe, Carter and Ethan Vale arranged to meet at Sprout Studio.

Sprout Studio was no longer the crude student dormitory it had once been.

Ethan Vale had rented an entire floor of an office building near Sea City's third ring road. The area was filled mostly with internet companies, and Sprout Studio looked entirely unremarkable among them.

Compared to the beginning, the studio had expanded to thirty people.

It was not large, but it had begun to take shape.

On the ground floor of the office building, Ethan Vale personally received Carter, the head of Steam's Great Xia region. Carter had reddish-brown hair and was nearing middle age, with a somewhat stout build. He stood before Ethan Vale with a smile.

"Mr. Ye, it's our first meeting! I'm very pleased to meet you."

"Hello, Mr. Carter. I'm very happy to meet you as well." With that, Ethan Vale led him toward his office floor.

In the elevator, the two exchanged smiles.

"The studio just moved here, so it's a little bare-bones. Please don't mind it." Ethan Vale led him out of the elevator. The moment they entered, the employees at every workstation looked up toward the two of them.

Only after Carter followed Ethan Vale into his private office did the people outside begin discussing in hushed voices.

"That man looks so familiar, but I just can't remember where I've seen him..."