Chapter 537: Players Launching Protests (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Chapter 537: Players Launching Protests (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

A sudden wave of perfect scores caught both FOW and Zeus slightly off guard.

According to their original plan, this year was supposed to be their year of abundant harvest.

After all, Wasteland 1978 had previously performed exceptionally well.

Zeus and FOW's initial strategy was to create hype first—claiming that Wasteland 1978 had all but secured the Game of the Year title, a claim justified by the game's quality and potential.

Once the game's popularity surged again, they could further expand Wasteland 1978 into a broader IP, such as adapting it into film and television.

Of course, they wouldn't immediately greenlight a project—just stir up buzz, then wait two or three years before releasing actual content.

After all, film adaptations for games come with both benefits and risks.

On the plus side, a successful adaptation would be like adding flowers to brocade.

On the downside, film adaptations are extremely difficult for games. A misstep could even tarnish the original game's IP.

But all of this was based on the premise that Wasteland 1978 would hold an absolute advantage.

But what had just happened?

The Witcher: Wild Hunt had received uniformly perfect scores?

While it wasn't as exaggerated as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, where almost no gaming media gave anything less than a perfect score, The Witcher: Wild Hunt's ratings were still terrifying.

Global media aggregate score: 9.6 out of 10.

It only appeared to be 0.3 points higher than Wasteland 1978, but this was the global media aggregate score.

That was already a significant margin. Recently, Alex had been entirely focused on the subsequent operations of Wasteland 1978, so he hadn't directly experienced The Witcher: Wild Hunt's quality.

Yet, as a top-tier Game Designer, Alex clearly understood what perfect or near-perfect reviews meant for a game.

First, it meant the game had gained recognition from mainstream gaming media and players, and had either achieved perfection in a certain area or pioneered an entirely new domain.

Second, the game itself either featured massive innovation in gameplay or demonstrated exceptional depth in its story.

And as a designer in the gaming industry, Alex knew very well that so-called masterpieces would become increasingly rare as the gaming era evolved.

For example, some early masterpieces, when viewed through today's lens, weren't actually that enjoyable.

They were considered masterpieces mostly because they brought breakthroughs to the gaming industry at the time—games that charted new courses, such as establishing operation modes and camera systems for PC 3D games and VR games.

Or games that pioneered genres like FPS and RPG—ancient titles that even the new generation of players might have never heard of.

After all, game design concepts and technical standards continuously improve. Claiming that older games were more classic or superior usually referred only to their setting, story, or gameplay framework.

Rarely would players judge them from broader perspectives or technical details like graphics, because those aspects were improvements brought about by technological advancements and accumulated industry experience—later games were naturally bound to surpass their predecessors.

But now, The Witcher: Wild Hunt, a game targeted at all players and media, had actually received near-universal perfect scores?

Alex, who had previously believed Wasteland 1978 had a 99% chance of winning Game of the Year, suddenly recalled an Eastern anecdote he once heard: "If Zhou Yu exists, why must there be Zhuge Liang?"

If this year had already allowed him to create Wasteland 1978, why must Nebula Games also release The Witcher: Wild Hunt?

While sighing with emotion, Alex also turned on the Huanyu VR headset in his office, contributing to The Witcher: Wild Hunt's sales, determined to find out exactly what made this game so exceptional—and whether his loss was truly justified.

..................

While FOW and Alex felt depressed, Chen Xu at Nebula Games was also feeling somewhat down.

The main reason was that players' criticism had once again turned toward him.

In The Witcher: Wild Hunt, the biggest feature was its morally ambiguous Trolley Problem-style choices.

There were no perfect solutions—only regrets.

Take the Bloody Baron's story, for example. From a character standpoint, the Bloody Baron's family wasn't particularly likable. Ranked from worst to least worst, it would probably be: daughter > Anna > the Baron.

Yet in the game, the Baron was ultimately a victim. Moreover, after the Baron left, when the sergeant took over Crow's Perch, the poor villagers suffered even more, with incidents like women being forcibly taken.

This suggested that life for the common people was actually better when the Baron was still in charge.

This made many players inclined to let the Baron survive—at least offering a glimmer of hope.

However, this ending came at the cost of innocent war orphans' lives. Such a dilemma left many players deeply conflicted.

Not to mention the series of side quests that followed, and the final, unavoidable choice between Triss and Yennefer.

Although the game didn't deliver many emotional blows—Vesemir the elder's sacrifice being the only major one—and although the old Skellige chieftain, Crach an Croite, who helped Geralt of Rivia, was brutally cut down by Eredin in a tragic end, he had little screen time and appeared late in the game, so most players barely remembered him.

Additionally, most other important supporting characters could avoid tragic fates through proper quest choices. Yet these no-win dilemmas still prompted many players to voice their protests against Chen Xu on the official Weibo account.

However, one thing brought Chen Xu slight comfort: alongside the protests, many others had stepped forward to defend him.

It didn't matter what the ratio was—just the fact that some people supported him was enough!

Yet as the protests continued, some players' focus began to shift. They noticed that Chen Xu's games seemed to be gradually veering into grim territory.

"Stop protesting Mr. Chen! Do you think the Warrior of Love is just playing around with us? What worries me more is that Mr. Chen's game style is getting increasingly grim!"

"Damn it! Now that you mention it, it really does seem that way!"

"Now that I think about it, it's true! Resident Evil, Bloodborne, and in between, Hades—with all its bizarre monsters. And now in The Witcher: Wild Hunt, we've got Daywraiths, Niegui, water ghosts—everything's showing up!"

"Don't even get me started! Now I'm actually a bit scared. In Chen Xu's earlier games, some enemies were at least somewhat beatable, but now it's all demons and monsters!"

Online discussions exploded among players. But unexpectedly, Chen Xu actually gave them a response.

(End of Chapter)<>