Game development begins with destroying Girls' Frontline.

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However, not many people really care about the success or failure of these projects; to put it bluntly, even the boss probably doesn't care.

If the boss of a private company doesn't care about the people, you can imagine what the employees are like.

However, it is precisely because there is no pressure.

In the post-STEAM era, Valve's employees were reportedly slacking off...

Um..

In other words, Valve's employees have a lot of patience when it comes to polishing games.

This patience has allowed Valve to keep up with the pace of updates for older games, even though innovation is difficult, and new games have consistently maintained a high level of quality.

It's rare, but it still doesn't change the lazy atmosphere throughout the company.

Aldridge didn't dislike the atmosphere.

For working people, no one dislikes this kind of atmosphere.

Everyone enjoys this work environment.

of course.

They also understand very well why they have such a working environment.

As long as Steam remains the world's largest PC sales channel, this atmosphere will continue.

Therefore, as the head of STEAM, Aldrich was well-liked within the company.

~~~

As usual, Aldridge arrived at the company at 10 a.m., then went straight to the coffee bar, ordered a coffee, and chatted with others for a while.

Around 11 a.m., I leisurely strolled into my office with a cup of coffee in my hand.

Normally, he would watch some TV dramas when he got to the office, and then it would be time to prepare for lunch.

After lunch, the afternoon is when he starts working.

But today.

But when Aldridge arrived at his office, he found that someone had already arrived there.

"BOSS!?"

Seeing your boss's image refresh in your office while you're at work is definitely not a good thing.

Even if this person is the rumored easy-going Gabe Newell.

But having been with Valve for so long, Aldridge knows very well that Gabe Newell is indeed easy to talk to, provided you don't violate his principles.

So what are his principles?

His principle is that everyone should do the right thing.

So what is the right thing to do?

Um...

The final interpretation right belongs to Gabe Newell (GabeN).

~~~

Gabe Newell wasn't angry that Aldridge didn't arrive at the office until 11 a.m., after all, it wasn't a problem for Valve, as many Valve employees didn't start work until the afternoon.

For Gabe Newell (GabeN), as long as the work is progressing well, he doesn't care about these details.

I saw Aldridge enter the office.

He put down the newspaper he was holding.

"Aldrich, how many years have you been with the company?"

"Hmm...it's been exactly eight years this year."

As Aldrich answered, he found a seat. His boss's immediate question about his length of service made him feel a little uncertain.

Eight years have passed in the blink of an eye. I still remember when you came...

It is undeniable.

Gabe Newell is a legendary figure in the gaming industry.

After working at Microsoft for 13 years, he started his own business and led Valve to create a series of classic titles.

Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Dota 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2.

Each of their works is a top-tier, highly regarded piece in the industry.

But if you pull out Valve's game timeline and look at it carefully...

Since the release of DOTA2 in 13, up to 18.

Valve hasn't released a new game in five whole years.

Valve's production capacity has plummeted for two reasons.

On the one hand, as Steam's revenue increased over the past 13 years, Valve's finances became much easier, and the pressure on the company from top to bottom decreased.

On the other hand, it's because Gabe Newell made a mistake that all men make.

He is getting old.

He was already 56 years old.

While not old, they certainly can no longer be called young.

He has long since stepped away from the front lines and no longer personally guides the game. When discussing matters with his subordinates, he often finds himself involuntarily lost in memories.

“Eight years ago, STEAM was just emerging. To achieve this result, Aldridge, you’ve done a great job.”

Aldridge quickly shook his head.

He is of Italian descent, and his social skills are in no way inferior to those of his countrymen.

"That's all thanks to you, Boss. I just did the right thing."

Gabe Newell (G胖) smiled.

Then the conversation changed.

Do you know about the Spark Platform?

When it came to serious matters, Newell became noticeably more serious.

Aldridge also perked up.

In fact, he didn't know much about the Spark platform; he just glanced at it while reading the news and didn't even click on it to read.

Just now, while he was getting coffee, a subordinate chatted with him about the Spark platform, and the two of them mocked Spark, this nonsensical "challenger."

While chatting, Aldridge was completely indifferent, but now he was inwardly thanking that employee's ancestors eight generations back.

"I know, they held a press conference the night before last. What's wrong, Boss? I don't think they can have any impact on us."

Gabe Newell (GabeN) gave Aldridge's answer a passing grade.

The passing grade was that he paid attention to the Spark platform.

Unfortunately, in Gabe Newell's view, Aldridge failed to grasp the core issue.

“Rich, you’ve done a great job as the operations manager for STEAM, but your views on the Spark platform are a bit worrying to me.”

Gabe Newell (GabeN) opened his mouth.

Aldridge immediately sat up straight, because he knew what Gabe Newell's concerns meant to Valve: it meant that he was already somewhat dissatisfied with you.

If this worry eventually turns into, "I think what you did wasn't quite right..."

Oh well, then you can wait to report to HR.

Therefore, even though Aldrich didn't understand why Gabe Newell (GabeN) valued Spark so much, he had to be on high alert.

After seeing Aldridge sit up straight.

Gabe Newell nodded.

“Yesterday I took some time to carefully read the media analysis and watched Xinghuo’s press conference. Everyone thinks they are just an arrogant challenger, or even a nonsensical clown.”

"But do you know what? My old friend, when I founded STEAM, there were even more people who mocked me."

"But now, you've seen the result."

"Although the Spark platform is just getting started, you can't underestimate it. What this company from the East said makes a lot of sense. I can sense that although the path they are taking is different from ours, it is a path that can be followed."

"I want you to thoroughly understand the Spark platform as soon as possible, and then tell me what the next step should be."

“I’ve always said to do the right thing, but Aldridge, this time, you need to do the right thing even more.”

"No matter what method you use, we will be more powerful than a spark."

"More correct!"

Gabe Newell's voice was gentle, but Aldridge was already covered in sweat.

"Understood, Boss!"

Chapter 399 A Turning Point for EPIC!

North Carolina

Kari City

Eric Nathan is compiling a report.

As the project manager for the EPIC Store.

He learned about the Spark Games platform online last night and has been playing it all night.

As the developer of Unreal Engine.

EPIC first proposed the "Epic All-in" strategy in 17.

The so-called ALL-in strategy means that EPIC will gradually realize the development path from game engine to game platform, and then to game metaverse, based on Unreal Engine.

The metaverse is currently just a gimmick.

However, gaming platforms are something EPIC has always wanted to develop.

However, EPIC remained hesitant until July 2017.

Because there's one problem they haven't figured out.

It's about how to compete with STEAM.

STEAM has reached a transcendent level of popularity, and challenging STEAM is not an easy task.

So why did EPIC ultimately decide to go online and compete with Steam in July 2017?

because.

EPIC has struck gold; Fortnite has been released out of nowhere.

Starting in October 17.

Fortnite has demonstrated overwhelming dominance.

By March of this year, it had achieved a staggering monthly revenue of $300 million.

The estimated revenue for the whole year is as high as $31 billion.

What is this concept?

It's worth noting that League of Legends' total profit for the entire year of 2017 was only $21 billion.

Honor of Kings, hailed as the king of mobile games, only generated $19 billion in revenue for the entire year of 2017.

To make a clearer comparison, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), which was incredibly popular in 2017, ultimately only generated $700 million in revenue. Fortnite, in just the first three months of 2018, had already surpassed PUBG's entire annual revenue.

And this is all without them having entered the world's largest market, which is the domestic market!

Almost no game can surpass its achievements.

Besides the money, EPIC also gained a massive user base through this.

In March alone, Fortnite's global concurrent player count reached 7.5 million!