Chapter 345 Coincidence?

March 29th, Thursday.

Three days had passed since the announcement of *Fantasy Battle Remastered*.

Pei Qian made a special trip to Tenda Games today to check on the development progress of the *Mission and Choice* project.

The reason he hadn't gone on the same day as the *Fantasy Battle Remastered* announcement, but deliberately waited three days, was mainly to cool things down a bit, so as not to give the *Mission and Choice* project team the impression that "Boss Pei is in a hurry."

Pei Qian knew very well that his attitude would seriously affect the entire Tenda Games department's work ethic and state of mind.

If Pei Qian had gone to see *Mission and Choice* on the day the *Fantasy Battle Remastered* news broke, Hu Xianbin and the others would definitely feel that Boss Pei had high expectations for the game, didn't trust them, and felt a strong sense of crisis, causing them to put in 120% effort to finish the project.

But Pei Qian deliberately waited three days to go, showing a "couldn't care less" attitude, so Hu Xianbin and the others naturally wouldn't feel such a strong sense of crisis.

Therefore, Pei Qian's visit this time was mainly to reassure Hu Xianbin and the others, making them underestimate *Fantasy Battle Remastered*, thus paving the way for *Mission and Choice*'s defeat!

Pei Qian strolled into the Tenda Games department and saw everyone working diligently and attentively.

Hu Xianbin, the project's lead designer, frowned, his entire being enveloped in an atmosphere of anxiety.

Just then, he saw Boss Pei walking in through the front door, and a light suddenly shone in his dim eyes.

It was like withered seedlings meeting sweet rain, or a terminally ill patient meeting a miraculous doctor!

He immediately stood up and said, "Boss Pei!"

His voice was filled with indescribable joy.

Boss Pei had arrived, bringing hope; Boss Pei had arrived, saving *Mission and Choice*!

Hu Xianbin had learned about the *Fantasy Battle Remastered* news as soon as the promotional video was released.

After watching the video and the netizens' comments, Hu Xianbin almost became depressed, nearly spitting out a mouthful of blood on the spot.

How could he be so unlucky!

Hu Xianbin was considered a relatively "long-lived" chief planner in Tenda Group. He took over as acting chief planner when Li Yada was forced to travel and was responsible for the development of the GoG mobile game. After that, he was fully responsible for the development of *Struggle* and *Mission and Choice*.

To outsiders, he should definitely have the title of "golden producer."

But Hu Xianbin knew his own limitations very well.

The GoG mobile game was a port of the PC game, and it was successful mainly because the PC game had a good start. The success of *Struggle* was entirely due to Boss Pei; he was just an executor, and although he was the lead designer, he was no different from an executive planner. As for *Mission and Choice*, it was finalized under Boss Pei's guidance, with the combined efforts of Huang Sibao, Lü Mingliang, Li Yada, Bao Xu, and other former lead designers and core personnel.

He had worked on three big projects, each of which was amazing, but he wasn't in charge of any of them himself, and he didn't even get the credit!

In this situation, Hu Xianbin was already under a lot of pressure. After all, *Mission and Choice* had invested a huge amount of money and bore the heavy responsibility of "continuing the Tenda Games myth" and "washing away the shame of domestic games."

If it failed, how would Hu Xianbin face his hometown folks?

As the game neared release, Hu Xianbin frantically adjusted his mentality and had almost calmed down, but he never expected that *Fantasy Battle Remastered* would suddenly appear out of nowhere!

So, all his previous worries came back with a vengeance.

For the past three days, Hu Xianbin had been in a very anxious state, always subconsciously opening the promotional video for *Fantasy Battle Remastered* and watching it over and over again.

The more he watched, the more guilty he felt!

He was worried that *Mission and Choice* would be a complete failure and wanted to do something, but no matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn't come up with any good changes, so he became even more anxious.

He wanted to call Boss Pei for instructions, but he was worried that Boss Pei might be busy with other things and that it wouldn't be good for him, the lead designer, to rely on Boss Pei for everything, so he hesitated for a long time, and the call never went through.

Now that he saw Boss Pei, Hu Xianbin was overjoyed, as if he had finally been granted a second life!

Pei Qian said with great concern, "Hmm? You don't look too good."

"Have you been too tired and overworked lately?"

"I'll give you a week off. Go back and get some rest, and come back to work after you've recharged."

Hu Xianbin was shocked. A vacation?

The situation was already critical. *Mission and Choice* was about to be crushed by *Fantasy Battle Remastered* next month when it was released, and he couldn't wait to work overtime every day. How could he be in the mood for a vacation?

He quickly said, "Boss Pei, I don't want a vacation, I want to work overtime!"

Pei Qian's face darkened. "Overtime? Why would you think so negatively?"

Hu Xianbin said, "Boss Pei, haven't you seen the promotional video for *Fantasy Battle Remastered* yet?"

"Our game is going to be released in a month, there's no time!"

"Boss Pei, please give the order! Tell us how *Mission and Choice* should be changed, and approve unlimited overtime for us next month. I will definitely be able to fix the game before it's released!"

Hu Xianbin spoke with great enthusiasm, giving off the feeling of a hero who would never return once he left.

Pei Qian almost laughed out loud. Good, you little rascal, I knew you hadn't completely gotten rid of your bad habit of working overtime!

Employees like this should be sent home for a period of reflection, but Pei Qian thought about it and realized that the more anxious Hu Xianbin was, the faster *Mission and Choice* would fail. This was a good thing, so he forgave him and didn't dwell on Hu Xianbin's desire to work overtime.

Pei Qian casually pulled an office chair from the side, sat down comfortably, leaned back, and crossed his legs contentedly.

"I've already seen the video."

"Overtime is absolutely impossible."

"There's nothing to change about the game. It's perfect as it is now."

"As for you saying that there's a month until our game is released, that's not entirely accurate. Your information is outdated."

"I just got the news that the release date for *Fantasy Battle Remastered* has been set for the 14th of next month, a Saturday."

"Therefore, the release date of our *Mission and Choice* game and the movie's release date will also be moved up by half a month, to the 14th of next month!"

"You can discuss the game's release time with the official platforms. I've already asked Flying Huang Workshop to have Lin Chang help arrange the movie's release date change, and there are no problems."

Looking at Boss Pei sitting across from him, leisurely crossing his legs and with an extremely calm expression, Hu Xianbin was completely stunned.

He almost wondered if he had misheard.

Instead of postponing the release to avoid *Fantasy Battle Remastered*'s peak, they were deliberately moving it forward to clash with it on the same day?!

"Boss Pei, what's the point? There's no need for this!"

"The game is one thing, but why is the movie being released two weeks earlier too?"

"Isn't the May Day Golden Week a good time? What's the point of changing it to April 14th?"

Hu Xianbin felt that his worldview was about to be overturned.

Looking at the dumbfounded Hu Xianbin, Pei Qian couldn't help but feel smug.

Good, it seemed like this move was the right one again!

Originally, the release date of *Mission and Choice* and the movie's release date were both set for May 1st. This was because Zhu Xiaoce thought that May Day was Golden Week, one of the best times of the year, and the number of moviegoers would be huge.

The *Mission and Choice* movie had a huge investment and Lu Zhi Yao was also joining the cast, so from any perspective, it shouldn't be afraid of other movies. Dominating the May Day Golden Week was a sure thing.

The game and movie were closely related, so of course they had to be released on the same day.

Pei Qian had always been very dissatisfied with this movie release date, for the same reason: if it was released during such a popular period as May Day, what if the movie became a hit?

But he had been struggling to find a particularly good excuse to change the release date.

Now, an excuse had come to his door.

Pei Qian cleared his throat. "Don't people say that *Fantasy Battle* is a timeless classic in the history of RTS games?"

"The original game was released too early, and our company was unlucky and didn't catch it. Now that there's a remastered version coming out, and our *Mission and Choice* happens to be an RTS game as well, of course we have to face it head-on!"

"Postponing the release date or changing the release date because you're afraid of affecting sales? That's what cowards do!"

"Besides, what's wrong with *Mission and Choice*? We should be full of confidence!"

"Since what we're doing is 'washing away the shame of domestic games', and we want to show the style of domestic games to all domestic players and even the entire gaming world, we must not be timid!"

"A few days earlier or later, if the quality is really bad, we'll still be criticized and scolded, it won't change anything in essence."

"On the contrary, deliberately setting the release date on the same day can show a spirit of courage. Even if we lose, it's still commendable and not shameful!"

Hu Xianbin: "..."

Pei Qian's confident and impassioned speech made Hu Xianbin dizzy.

For some reason, his original timid mentality was completely gone, replaced by an indescribable calmness.

Boss Pei was right!

If the goal of this game was just to make a little money, then avoiding *Fantasy Battle Remastered* would be perfectly fine, reasonable and justified.

But *Mission and Choice* had invested so much money, it was a make-or-break situation. Its goal was not just to make a little money, but also to wash away the shame of domestic games and show a new look of domestic games to all players.

If they backed down, wouldn't they have already lost in terms of momentum?

But Hu Xianbin thought again and said, "Boss Pei, I understand the game's release date, but the movie's release date..."