92: Chapter 92 Penguin Announces Battlefield King

"It's here, it's here! It's finally starting."

"I wonder how many new game trailers we'll get to see this year."

"I'm not really interested in the new games. I just want to know who the person is that invested in IceFrog and invested in Riot Games."

After a few bullet comments drifted by, the live stream of the awards ceremony lit up simultaneously on the screens of tens of millions of viewers worldwide.

The camera panned down slowly from the giant circular LED screen on the dome, sweeping across the VIP section in the front row.

The chat quickly spotted IceFrog sitting in his seat.

They also saw Kotick, who was sitting with CEO Ding.

Besides them, there were several producers from top 3A game companies, as well as some star producers from the single-player game industry. It's rare to see all these big shots appear together.

The chat instantly erupted.

"Whose empty seat is that next to IceFrog? Why is no one sitting there?"

"The CEO of Blizzard is here too. I'm afraid Kotick is just here to make up the numbers this year."

"The producer of dota 2 is here as well. The lineup tonight is fully stacked."

At the same time, the keyword for the Global Game Influence Awards appeared at the top of the trending lists on all major social media platforms, with popularity far exceeding other topics.

If in the past, this award only garnered attention from single-player gamers at most.

Then this year, due to the grand spectacle of the MOBA game war, countless online gamers also tuned in to this live stream.

The chat was refreshing so fast it was impossible to read.

Meanwhile, inside the venue.

Qin Mo and Ma had not yet managed to return to their seats when the live stream began. The two of them just stood at the back and didn't bother looking for their seats.

However, the two of them stopped talking; after all, there was nothing left to say.

The host took the stage and announced that this year's ceremony had officially begun.

After the opening, they didn't go straight to the awards. Instead, they first played a batch of trailers for brand-new games—online games, single-player games, and indie games were all featured.

As long as you throw money at it, you can have your game trailer played at the ceremony.

This is the annual tradition of the Global Game Influence Awards.

Light and shadow intertwined on the big screen as footage from over a dozen new games flashed by one after another.

There were fantasy RPGs with polished visuals, as well as post-apocalyptic shooters. Finally, a few indie titles with exceptionally unique styles appeared, all of which garnered quite a bit of attention.

After each trailer finished playing, polite applause would ring out through the venue.

The chat was also discussing which games looked worth looking forward to.

Among them, a trailer for a single-player sequel made countless long-awaiting players feel excited.

After all the trailers had finished airing, the host reappeared on stage. This was the moment when the chat became the most excited.

Because everyone knew that everything before was just an appetizer; the true stars of today had yet to appear.

After returning to the stage, the host first announced some awards in other categories.

Best Art, Best Sound, Best Narrative, Best Indie Game.

These awards were basically all accepted by various game producers. Some were so excited their voices trembled when they went on stage, but most just gave a brief thank you.

After these awards were presented, it was finally time to announce the most important award.

The host pulled a card out of an envelope.

First, third place—a single-player game released this year.

The big screen played highlights from the game, the producer went on stage to accept the award, and after a brief speech, stepped down.

In fact, for this year's top award, there was almost no suspense regarding the top two spots. Instead, it was third place that countless players were buzzing about, guessing who would win it.

Finally, it was time to announce second place.

The host tore open the envelope and unfolded the acceptance speech inside.

Her voice carried through the venue's speakers, filling the entire hall.

"This game has achieved the highest first-day open beta results in history."

"Currently, its daily active users are maintained at over three million, and its single-month revenue has exceeded one hundred million. It is the game with the highest single-month revenue in the online gaming sector..."

When she read up to this point, her voice suddenly paused, and the following words became quieter and quieter.

Clearly, she had realized that something was wrong with this acceptance speech.

Although the name of the game hadn't been mentioned, everyone knew it was dota 2. But on what grounds could dota 2 claim to be the game with the highest single-month revenue in the online gaming sector now?

The venue fell silent as well.

Everyone knew that league of legends' revenue of 500 million in three days had long since left dota 2 in the dust. How could such a sentence be in the envelope for second place?

Offstage, Qin Mo chuckled and glanced at Ma beside him.

The moment Ma heard this, his expression changed instantly, and he quickly realized where the problem lay.

Back then, before the revenue of league of legends was announced, Tencent had indeed added this sentence to the organizer's speech in order to step on league of legends.

After all, at the time, dota 2's revenue could indeed be described that way.

But after the revenue of league of legends was announced, their people had actually forgotten to contact the organizers to delete this sentence from the award presentation!

Ma immediately looked over at Vice President Chen Yongnian, who was sitting in his seat in the distance.

Feeling Ma's gaze from behind, Vice President Chen Yongnian's expression was equally ugly. He also realized that this acceptance speech would likely turn dota 2 into the laughingstock of the night in an instant.

And the reality was much as he had thought.

When the host read out this acceptance speech, the chat in the live stream rooms on all major platforms had already exploded.

"One hundred million a month is the highest revenue? league of legends hasn't even said anything about their 500 million in three days. Is this acceptance speech for real?"

"I can tolerate the claim about creating the highest first-day open beta results. After all, when league of legends first launched, it did only have one million players on the first day. But on what grounds do you claim this revenue?"

"Whoever wrote this speech is just sticking their face out to be slapped."

"This must have been the speech Tencent requested earlier, but they forgot to delete it. The host herself couldn't even bring herself to finish reading it."

The host's professional competence was still solid; she hurriedly cut short the rest of the speech and directly presented the second-place award to dota 2.

Although their expressions were not very good, the production team of dota 2 still rose to the stage one after another. Braden walked in front, with Vice President Chen Yongnian following behind.

And Ma glared fiercely at Vice President Chen Yongnian before also starting to walk toward the stage.

This time, Ma actually intended to go on stage himself.

The live camera captured Ma's figure.

The chat surged once again.

"Ma is going on stage himself? What big move is dota 2 planning?"

"Does Tencent have some important news to announce?"

"It should be the official announcement of that shooter game. Wasn't there a leak before saying that Tencent had licensed a shooter game from South Korea? After just taking a hit in their most specialized gaming field, Ma definitely wants to regain his standing."

After getting on stage, Braden said a few simple acceptance words and then handed the microphone to Ma.

Ma stood under the spotlight, his expression having returned to normal.

"Tencent has already achieved quite good results in the MOBA game sector."

"We have expanded the audience for MOBA games, allowing this genre to be known by more players globally."

He paused, completely unblushing about stealing the credit from league of legends. After all, dota 2 did initially increase the ceiling for MOBA games from 1.5 million daily active users to 3 million, so it could be considered somewhat relevant.

Then Ma continued.

"But our steps do not stop here."

"Next, Tencent is going to double the number of players in the shooter game category as well."

He turned to the side, and the big screen behind him lit up.

"Tencent's brand-new shooter game, officially launching in one month."

"Please look forward to it."

"alliance of valiant arms!"