347 Supreme Ascension (1/2)
Long Jian excused himself and left their private dining room. He headed to the men's washroom to relieve himself. While doing his business, he heard a group of college students talking to each other.
”Man, I'm exhausted. I played this new game for the past two nights. It's called 'Supreme Ascension'. Do you know it?”
”Of course I know it! I'm actually one of the first people who bought a subscription when it officially launched last week. I discovered it at a gaming convention about a month ago. They let people play the sample. Before I realized it, I spent my entire time at the convention just playing the game. The story line is different depending on which class you choose. I think that's very cool. The graphics are just freaking awesome. And the world-building? Don't get me started. It's so detailed and so on-point that I think it's going to be the next big thing in the gaming world. I was so disappointed when they told me that it wasn't available yet during that time. That's why I've been waiting for its official release and immediately bought the subscription. And I'm telling you, it's so worth it.”
”Ah, damn. I'm only playing the free version. Maybe I'll buy the subscription, too. The pricing is reasonable, as well. It won't bankrupt us poor college students.”
Another slightly older man in his mid-twenties piped in. ”Sorry to interrupt. I just overheard your conversation. Are you talking about the MMORPG 'Supreme Ascension'?”
”Yeah, man. You play it, too?”
”Yes! Actually my older brother was one of the beta testers of the game.”
”What?! For real?! That's cool as f*ck, man!”
The newcomer looked pleased at their reaction. ”Yeah. Apparently, it's made by a completely new gaming company called Planet Monkey. It also seems that the game developers are total newbies. Kinda unbelievable, right? With that kind of quality, you'll think that the game was created by one of the big companies with numerous other games under their belt. But no, this is apparently their first game.”
”Wow. I didn't know that. That's insane. They must be loaded to be able to create such a high quality game and even build a company.”
”Nah. My brother said that the CEO is only in his mid-twenties—that's around my age—and the CFO is in his late twenties. They aren't rich at all. Both were office workers living paycheck to paycheck before they decided to quit and build their own gaming company.”
”Huh? Where did they get all of their funding then?”
”I heard that the President-Owner of the company is the one who's super rich. My brother has never seen the owner, but he heard from the employees that the owner is apparently a beautiful young woman. They say that she's very generous. Whatever they ask, she provides. That's why they have the best environment to create the game compared to other indie developers and maybe even some of the big gaming companies.”
”Beautiful young woman? Come on! That's pure bullsh*t. The owner is probably a rich, young master who has more money than he could spend, plays video games all day, and has never had a girlfriend before.”
They all laughed.