177: Chapter 177 The sky won't collapse, and Xinghuo will still be Xinghuo!

When Jiang Yuan returned to her office, Wen Lan had already placed the preliminary review list for the second phase of Sparklight on her desk.

It was a thick stack, categorized with different colored sticky notes.

Green labels represented indie game projects, yellow labels were for works from small-to-medium teams, and red labels were commercial projects with investor backing.

Each application was attached with a detailed game introduction, team background, and development progress. Qin Gong had even thoughtfully highlighted the highlights and risk points of each project with a fluorescent pen.

Jiang Yuan sat down, picked up the freshly replaced jasmine tea on her desk, and took a blissful sip. Her expression was as calm as water, showing not a hint of tension or worry after provoking a titan like Tencent.

She flipped through the preliminary review list and looked at it carefully.

There were more projects on the list than she had anticipated.

The word-of-mouth effect built after the launch of the first phase of Sparklight, combined with the terrifying record of dave the diver selling 7.8 million copies in five days, had made Spark Games' publishing support plan famous within the global indie game circle.

The number of applications received for this phase alone was three times that of the first, including several works from small teams that had already won awards at overseas indie game exhibitions.

She flipped through the first list from beginning to end, first ticking off several green-labeled projects, then pulling out two red-labeled projects and setting them aside.

She had heard of the investors behind those two projects; they were notorious in the industry for chasing quick money.

They didn't invest in games to make products, but to manipulate data and sell shells. Including such projects in Sparklight would only ruin the entire program's reputation, and Jiang Yuan certainly wouldn't allow such schemes to sneak in.

Jiang Yuan had just put down her pen.

There was a knock on the office door.

"Come in."

As her clear, ice-like, and pleasant voice fell.

Qin Gong pushed the door open and entered, holding a tablet. The relaxed and amazed expression he had earlier was gone, replaced by a serious look of anger and frustration, as if he had just received some news.

With just one look, Jiang Yuan knew that Qin Gong's visit was definitely related to the Tencent representatives who had just left.

Sure enough.

Qin Gong handed over the tablet and said solemnly:

"President Jiang, look at this. Inside information regarding Tencent!"

Jiang Yuan took the tablet. On the screen was an article published less than half an hour ago on a specialized game industry media outlet.

The title was very carefully chosen, using the phrase "according to sources familiar with the matter," but the information revealed in the body of the text seemed anything but vague.

The gist of the article was that Tencent had already greenlit a brand-new sandbox survival game, codenamed "World," jointly developed by three of its studios. The resources invested were said to have reached the highest level for Tencent's self-developed projects.

The game's core gameplay centered on block building and open-world survival, with an art style following a cel-shaded route, targeting the youth and family entertainment markets.

The article also specifically featured a concept image showing a block-style character standing on a pixelated grassland, with rolling block mountains in the distance.

Jiang Yuan read the article from start to finish. On her exquisite, fair, and pretty face, her expression didn't change in the slightest.

Perhaps it was because she had already anticipated this.

Looking at this half-true, half-false news, she even felt a slight urge to laugh.

Qin Gong stood by her side, waiting for her to put down the tablet before speaking with a heavy expression:

"President Jiang, the timing of this article is too coincidental. Tencent's Hou Xiaonan just left our company, and this article was published shortly after. Moreover, the images, the project codename, and the development team configuration—this information couldn't have been cobbled together on the fly!"

Jiang Yuan placed the tablet on the desk, took another sip of the still-steaming flower tea, and said with a calm tone and indifferent expression:

"Of course it wasn't cobbled together. This project was likely greenlit even before TGP decided to rename itself Wegame. Hou Xiaonan came to discuss cooperation today, and Tencent released this article simultaneously. The meaning is already quite clear."

Qin Gong frowned and asked tentatively:

"A carrot in one hand and a stick in the other?"

Nodding slightly, Jiang Yuan leaned back in her chair, looking at the sky outside the window, and said in a crisp voice:

"Hou Xiaonan coming with a three hundred million entry fee to negotiate is the carrot! The media simultaneously releasing news of Tencent's self-developed sandbox game is the stick.

With both things placed in front of you, the meaning is clear: either take the money and cooperate so everyone can grow the cake together decently, or we go our separate ways. But once Tencent's resources are poured in, how long can your moat last? If you won't be decent, I'll help you be decent!"

Qin Gong was silent for a moment. Although he felt very angry and stifled, he also knew that now was clearly not the time to be controlled by emotions. He frowned and asked:

"Then how should we respond?"

Jiang Yuan pushed the tablet back to him and said indifferently:

"No need to respond. At a time like this, any response just gives the other party more heat. They can publish their press releases; we will do our work."

Qin Gong nodded, took the tablet, and turned to leave. He stopped at the door, turned back, and looked at Jiang Yuan as if he had something to say.

Jiang Yuan continued flipping through the list without looking up. Sensing Qin Gong's hesitation, she said crisply:

"If you have something to say, say it!"

Qin Gong weighed his words and asked in a low, serious voice:

"President Jiang, I just want to confirm, are you truly not considering the possibility of cooperating with Tencent at all, or are you waiting for a more suitable opportunity?"

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan looked up. A brilliant smile bloomed on her exquisitely beautiful and bright face.

Although her expression remained calm, her tone carried a hint of gravity. Her pink lips parted as she spoke slowly:

"Qin Gong, do you know what the underlying logic of Tencent's game-making is?"

Qin Gong thought for a moment and said subconsciously:

"Traffic monetization?"

Jiang Yuan put down her pen and said calmly:

"That's the result, not the logic. Tencent's logic is that games are consumables for traffic. They have Koukou, they have VX, they have the largest social network in the country, and the most complete payment system.

In their business model, a game doesn't need to be the best; it only needs to be the one that can convert traffic into revenue the fastest. Therefore, their way of making games is always to look at the market size first, then greenlight the project, then stack resources, and finally use traffic to pump out beautiful data.

From PC games to mobile games, they've used this tactic for over a decade and have rarely failed."

She paused, her voice becoming even more confident and crisp:

"But Minecraft is different! Minecraft wasn't pumped up by traffic; it grew player by player, community by community! Its vitality isn't in the distribution channels, but in the imagination of those modding masters and every player who uses blocks to build the fantasies in their hearts. This kind of thing is very difficult to create using Tencent's logic."

"So... you don't need to worry that Tencent targeting us means doomsday is coming or anything of the sort!

The sky isn't falling. When we wake up, Spark will still be Spark!"