Chapter 901: Sensitive Controversies

Inside Nebula Games' office, Chen Xu was reviewing follow-up reports. Regarding the game Crime City, Chen Xu wasn't planning for it to be merely a pure single-player game.

The game from his previous life was able to span the PS3, PS4, and even PS5 eras, still possessing strong vitality, and its multiplayer mode was a very important reason for this.

Collecting various vehicles, developing one's own character, and engaging in all sorts of online orbital cannon free-for-alls – these were all the joys of multiplayer mode.

Of course, for this aspect, Nebula Games had already developed it, but it was still in a testing phase, mainly needing extensive content testing.

Especially concerning data, in the game from his previous life, pay-to-win items like Shark Cards were sold, leading to significant limitations on resource generation and other restrictions within the game.

For instance, it heavily emphasized matchmaking, and during matchmaking, it was very easy for a pig teammate to ruin the entire team.

Yet, many quests and interesting gameplay modes that could bring huge profits specifically required multiple players.

Secondly, there were various mini-games like racing and extreme competitions; basically, players would only play them at the very beginning, and later on, nobody bothered with them.

The main reason was the need to control players' resource acquisition sources, making it more convenient to sell Shark Cards.

But for Chen Xu, Nebula Games didn't need to bother with any irrelevant things in this regard.

Without these issues, from a level design perspective, it could offer players a much better experience.

Temporarily setting aside the multiplayer mode data, Chen Xu stretched, then shook his head as he looked at a message that had just come through in the work group chat.

After Crime City launched, the relevant game communities, including both media and players, were filled with praise.

However, besides the praise, quite a few unfriendly and discordant voices also emerged.

Because Crime City itself deals with a relatively sensitive theme, there have been numerous voices globally calling for its boycott.

These included various organizations; some feminist figures overseas stated that the game featured excessive violence against women. For example, in the game, players could pick up call girls at night in their cars.

After the transaction was complete, players could even choose to kill these women and take their money back.

In addition, animal protection organizations stated that there were many animals in the game, and players could even indiscriminately kill various animals, which was clearly animal abuse.

Furthermore, some traditional print media news outlets were also criticizing Crime City, stating that the game contained a large number of violent elements. They even claimed that the perpetrator of a certain shooting incident had Crime City installed in his VR gaming pod at home before committing the crime, and had played it the day before.

Many people even called for the game to be banned or delisted.

There were many, many similar situations, leaving many players feeling somewhat bewildered.

It was as if Crime City had suddenly become some kind of public scourge overnight.

“It's not a big deal. We've encountered this before; it's just that this time, someone couldn't sit still.”

Facing the concerns of Qin Yi, Yang Xin, and others, Chen Xu showed no panic.

Chen Xu was not surprised by this situation. In fact, it wasn't just Crime City; many games under Nebula Games had encountered similar circumstances.

Back when Elden Ring was released, so-called animal organizations also protested, claiming players could indiscriminately kill animals.

Even earlier, when Payday launched, many so-called organizations also raised protests.

It was just that their impact was nowhere near as significant as Crime City's.

After all, the popularity of those games wasn't as widespread as Crime City's, and more crucially, as a flagship title for the new generation VR gaming pod, Crime City's expressive power was simply too strong.

Persona and Fate Seeker, while excellent, didn't make people restless due to their limited themes and gameplay styles.

However, a game structured like Crime City could genuinely establish a significant advantage for a gaming platform.

Moreover, this so-called public opinion, in Chen Xu's view, was much friendlier than in his previous life.

It's important to remember that the gaming industry in his previous life had never lacked controversy since its very inception.

In the mid-70s of his previous life, pixelated electronic games like 'Death Race' directly became critical headlines in mainstream newspapers. As for calls to view video games as a public scourge, many players in his previous life would think of domestic situations, such as the game console ban, or the well-known "blood is green" policy – which were all essentially copied from foreign practices.

States like Texas, Illinois, Georgia, and others had even banned arcade games, while Southeast Asian countries like Singapore directly enforced closures and issued video game bans.

Games like Mortal Kombat and Sega's Night Trap further fueled this phenomenon.

From political circles to the education sector, and even departments like public health, all had participated in heavily criticize/condemn video games.

The situation in this Parallel World was considerably better.

Furthermore, the Hot Coffee Incident, which plunged that game into a public opinion crisis and almost led to the company's bankruptcy, could only be described as self-inflicted.

Hiding the relevant content code instead of deleting it, which resulted in an adult-rated game that should have been 18+ receiving a 14+ rating, was the most crucial error.

The so-called violence and pornographic/sexual content were merely pretexts; the real issue was that it involved charges of false advertising and similar crimes.

But Chen Xu had never done such things; Crime City had always been an adult-rated game from beginning to end.

So, looking at the current online controversies, Chen Xu wasn't worried at all; in fact, he even felt a little like laughing.

These controversies were clearly just a blatant attempt to ride on the game's popularity for attention.

The original intentions of these organizations, at their inception, might indeed have been as they claimed.

But now, more often than not, these associations were not much different from companies, having long become tools serving political ideologies and capital.

Apart from other things, these organizations definitely needed money to carry out various promotions and to survive and operate.

So how did they get money?

By relying on donations, or lawsuits, and of course, the so-called public relations fees that couldn't be openly discussed.

“For matters of capital, we'll resolve them with capital. When it comes to lawyers, our Nebula Games has never been afraid of anyone,” Chen Xu said with a smile.

Currently, the main focus of public opinion was still overseas. After all, Crime City had launched as a flagship title for their own VR gaming pod, and its performance was quite striking, making it an ace for conquering territories.

Nebula Games didn't even need to handle it; the Game Department was monitoring it closely the whole time.

As for the overseas situation? Nebula Games' legal department wasn't to be trifled with. Coupled with Nebula Games' connections to major law firms worldwide, Chen Xu believed the probability of anyone harming Nebula Games was virtually nonexistent.

In the entertainment industry of his previous life, there was a meme about the strongest legal departments on Earth being Disney and Nintendo.

But now, Chen Xu felt that his Nebula Games could almost achieve such a title.

(End of Chapter) <>