93: Chapter 93 Fist Investor, Qin Mo!

On the big screen, the trailer for alliance of valiant arms began to play.

The visual quality was instantly maxed out.

Two teams skirmished around a heavy armored vehicle, bullets sparked off the armor, smoke grenades exploded in the middle of the street, and snipers set up their guns in high-rise buildings; the atmosphere of the entire battlefield was so tense it was suffocating.

In the final scene of the promo, the armored vehicle crashed through a wall and charged into the enemy position, freezing the frame.

A line of text appeared: "Original Armored Vehicle Mode, reigniting the passion."

Once this promo aired, the chat stream truly exploded; many players didn't even notice that Pony had just been trying to gild the lily for dota 2.

Before this, the only globally popular shooter was CS:GO. Putting aside whether Blizzard's Overwatch could be considered a traditional shooter, even if it were, it couldn't keep up with CS in the long run.

Yet, this alliance of valiant arms had better graphics and looked even more fun.

Plus, the original Armored Vehicle Mode, with its rampaging display in the trailer, instantly captivated countless shooter fans watching the livestream.

The promo was indeed well-made, successfully hooking the expectations of these players.

The chat stream was flooded with comments. "The graphics are too good! This is easily top-tier among shooter games. So cool, so cool, so cool." "The Armored Vehicle Mode looks so interesting." "Tencent is really going all out on shooters this time. It goes into open beta in a month, I'm playing it first!"

The venue erupted into the most enthusiastic applause of the night.

Watching this, Pony nodded with satisfaction.

alliance of valiant arms was Tencent's next key game project, destined to cause a surge in shooter game player counts. In Pony's vision, surpassing CS was just the beginning.

You have to know, although CS currently only has a daily active user count of around 1.3 million, it once reached 1.5 million.

In Tencent's eyes, alliance of valiant arms would be able to completely crush CS. It would surely reach a level of height and popularity that no shooter game had ever achieved before.

After the promo finished, Pony and the others soon left the stage. At this moment, the chat stream grew expectant again. Because now it was time for the final grand prize, the award with the least suspense; everyone knew who it would be given to. In fact, this time the host didn't even try to hide it; before opening the envelope for first place, the screen behind them already showed footage of league of legends.

It was the launch trailer for Yasuo, with Yasuo constantly dashing through minion waves. Although this champion hadn't been out for long, he had already become the highest pick-rate champion in league of legends globally. Of course, he was also the most banned.

Although the award hadn't been officially presented yet, the chat stream was already frantically flooding with comments about how hard it was to guess who the winner was.

Soon, the host opened the final envelope. "This game has created an unprecedented miracle." "Within one month of its open beta, it reached 20 million daily active users, breaking the global daily active user record for games!" "And since reaching those 20 million, it has never dropped; today, the daily active user record is still being broken every single day." "You have to know." "A year ago, this number was only 1.5 million for dota 1, yet this game has multiplied it by more than ten times." "It even created a terrifying revenue achievement of 500 million Great Xia currency in three days."

The host looked up, voice rising by half a tone. "Game of the Year, league of legends!"

IceFrog stood up from his seat. The core creative team of Riot Games followed behind him as they walked onto the stage. Qin Mo was still off-stage.

At this time, Pony returned to Qin Mo's side. A waiter carrying a tray walked over, and Qin Mo and Pony each took a glass of champagne.

The two stood in the back row, watching the high-spirited IceFrog on stage, and Pony couldn't help but speak. There was an indescribable, complex emotion in his voice. "Back when he was at Tencent, IceFrog had already expressed his ideas for a new game, believing that MOBAs should serve casual players." "But we didn't approve; instead, we kicked him out."

He swirled the champagne glass in his hand and took a sip. "I didn't expect that IceFrog's ideas would be noticed by someone else, who invested in him to create league of legends." "Thinking about it now, kicking IceFrog out was the decision I've regretted most in the last ten years."

Having said that, Pony remembered that Qin Mo, standing beside him, had also said he wanted to make games. So he turned his head, his tone carrying a hint of undisguised sarcasm. "Not just anyone has the vision required in the gaming industry. The person who invested in IceFrog and created league of legends is the only one with real ability." "He is also the only rival I've recognized in the gaming industry in all these years."

He paused, his voice gaining a hint of seriousness. "That person's vision in the gaming field is likely already ahead of the entire world." "Back when hardcore players still controlled the discourse in the MOBA genre, he already knew the potential of casual players. Investing in IceFrog to create league of legends—not everyone has that kind of perseverance."

Qin Mo listened to these words without responding. He simply held his champagne glass and nodded as if in agreement.

On stage, IceFrog had already accepted the Game of the Year trophy. He spoke a few words of acceptance into the microphone, his tone as steady as ever.

The host waited for him to finish speaking, then smiled and asked, "Although Riot Games is registered in Great Xia, the investor behind it has never been public. The outside world is guessing; we don't know who has such forward-thinking vision." "I wonder if we could take this opportunity today to let everyone meet them."

IceFrog nodded. "Everything at Riot Games depends on him." "Back then, my concepts were rejected by game companies worldwide; only he took me in." "Not only that." IceFrog's voice rose a few notches. "The core code of league of legends, the development pipeline setup, and most of the gameplay design details all came from his hands." "Even." "The record-breaking revenue events from a while ago, the upcoming global esports tournament, and the design of the currently most popular champion, Yasuo." "They were all his work."

IceFrog paused, his tone extremely serious. "To be specific, he is the true producer of league of legends, and I only did the work of building the game." "Even the concept of serving casual players was already determined before he found me, so this concept wasn't proposed by me either."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire venue was shocked. The chat stream exploded instantly. Previously, everyone thought that the person who invested in Riot Games at most just had forward-thinking game vision and knew the potential player base for MOBA games. But no one expected that this game, league of legends, was actually led and created by that person!

"What? league of legends wasn't made by IceFrog?" "The investor behind it actually participated in most of the game design?" "The battle pass event and the Lobster were also his ideas?" "No wonder Riot Games never revealed the boss behind it; it turns out they were hiding such a huge figure. This is too exaggerated; IceFrog is actually just an employee."

In the venue, a flash of surprise crossed Pony's eyes. He looked at IceFrog on stage and muttered to himself. "It wasn't just investment vision; league of legends was created by him single-handedly, even including the previous events which were his ideas." "This person is indeed a genius; I have to admit it."

Just as his voice fell, IceFrog's voice rang out on stage again. "He is." "The founder of Inspur Technology, and my boss." "Qin Mo, President Qin!"

As the words fell, a spotlight suddenly shone down from the dome, cutting through the entire venue and landing precisely on the back row, shining on Qin Mo.

Qin Mo stood in the center of the light. He turned his head and gave a light laugh to Pony beside him. "Thank you."

After saying this, he handed over the champagne glass in his hand, and Pony subconsciously took it with his other free hand. Meanwhile, Qin Mo had already slowly started walking towards the stage.

Watching Qin Mo's back, Pony held a champagne glass in each hand, his expression instantly frozen.