Chapter 1460 Rock-Solid Vacation!

In just one day, the internet was abuzz with the news.

This was partly because the game *Safe and Civilized Driving* was incredibly popular, having already broken through to a wider audience, so discussions about the new version naturally ran high. It was also due to the active promotion by many car dealers, who deliberately stirred up the hype.

Many players initially didn't think much of it. After all, it was just a game. Updating it with a car model that didn't match reality wasn't a big deal. An explanation here, an apology there; at worst, just turn off the car's autopilot. No big deal.

But as the online discussions grew more numerous and intense, many players began to feel uneasy.

*The development team needs to come out and explain!*

*Did the manufacturer pay you to customize this car? Or did the development team want to add autopilot to the game and just happened to choose this particular Steyr car?*

*Either way, you should clarify. You can't just keep playing dead, right?*

But after everyone got anxious for a long time, they discovered that Shang Yang Games wasn't making a peep.

Then, a rumor spread online: the entire Tenda Group was already on vacation!

Many netizens were shocked. *Wasn't tomorrow Lunar New Year's Eve? Wasn't the Spring Festival holiday supposed to start tomorrow? How could they be on vacation a day early?*

Then, someone corrected them, saying that they had actually gone on vacation on February 7th and that the new version was set to update automatically at a predetermined time.

Hearing this, netizens were speechless.

*Wow, eating melons and getting sour lemons, huh?*

To think that they were still toiling away at work, worrying about whether the train home for Lunar New Year's Eve would be jam-packed, while Tenda had already started their vacation two days early. Not only did they avoid the peak of the Spring Festival travel rush, but they also got two extra days off. How could anyone not be envious?

Since they were on vacation, there was no point in expecting Tenda to come out and clarify.

Because Tenda's vacations were real vacations. Except for a few departments that worked regular hours or shifts during the holidays, all other departments strictly adhered to the vacation regulations. Even if employees wanted to work, they couldn't!

Even if Tenda responded to the issue directly, the earliest they could do so would be after the end of the Spring Festival holiday, which was the 16th.

Many people seemed to understand why the controversy had become so big this time.

Clearly, these manufacturers were striking at the best possible time!

On the one hand, Tenda's new version had indeed provided an opportunity and ammunition for its opponents to attack. On the other hand, many people knew Tenda's personality: long vacations, and absolutely no work even if the sky was falling!

So, even if Tenda clarified the issue after the Spring Festival holiday, these manufacturers could recklessly spread rumors, exaggerate, incite, and attack during the holiday.

During the Spring Festival, most people stayed at home with nothing to do, so online trends would develop faster and gain more traction.

After the Spring Festival holiday, everyone would soon be busy with other things, and the efficiency of online information dissemination would decrease significantly.

Moreover, there was a saying that "it takes only a lip to spread rumors, but legs to refute them." Negative news always spread faster than positive news.

If these car companies launched a barrage of attacks on *Safe and Civilized Driving* during the Spring Festival, even if Tenda issued a clarifying statement as soon as possible after the holiday, it would be useless because the damage to *Safe and Civilized Driving* would already be done, making it difficult to reverse!

This was clearly a "take a shot whether there's a target or not" mentality. Even if Tenda responded promptly and clarified the situation quickly, and the controversy dissipated quickly, the car companies wouldn't lose anything by secretly stirring up trouble!

After this analysis, many of Tenda's die-hard players couldn't sit still any longer.

"This can't go on. The relevant Tenda department heads should just issue an announcement. Is it really necessary to make the no-overtime rule so rigid?"

"Yeah, at least give them more overtime pay. This is an emergency situation. They can't be so slow to react!"

"Hey, is Tenda getting bigger and bigger, and its fighting spirit is getting weaker and weaker? Don't let it be dragged down by its own high welfare in the end. That would be so stupid!"

The netizens watched as the popularity of the topic rose day by day, and they were all anxiously trying to help, wishing they could call CEO Pei and urge him to get his subordinates to issue an announcement.

But being anxious was useless. Tenda still didn't react at all, as if nothing had happened.

The netizens were helpless. Forget it, whatever!

It was inappropriate for the eunuch to be more anxious than the emperor.

...

Meanwhile, at Tianhuo Studio.

Min Jingchao stretched lazily. "Alright, we're completely done! Time to clock out!"

After nearly five months of intense development, *Bullet Marks 2* was finally completed as scheduled. It had also undergone highly confidential, small-scale internal testing and was currently a fairly stable version.

When Tianhuo Studio developed *Bullet Marks* before, they invited many domestic FPS game players to do testing, and this time was no different. To prevent leaks, everyone who participated in the internal testing signed confidentiality agreements in order to prevent the news from leaking as much as possible.

The outside world didn't even know that the game was actually called *Bullet Marks 2*.

The reason why Zhou Muyan was so careful was mainly because of the special nature of *Bullet Marks 2*.

Everyone knew that Tenda, Tianhuo Studio, and Longyu Corporation were jointly developing a new game, and it was CEO Pei's idea, so it naturally had a high degree of attention.

But *Bullet Marks 2* happened to be a gameplay-oriented FPS game, which meant that its mode could be replicated to some extent.

Patents didn't protect game gameplay, so other companies could copy the mode within the bounds of the law.

If the gameplay was revealed too early, other game companies might work overtime to rush to develop it. What if they released it before *Bullet Marks 2*?

Even if it was later than *Bullet Marks 2*, it would still cause a diversion of players.

Therefore, Zhou Muyan wanted to keep it as secret as possible so that when *Bullet Marks 2* was launched, it could seize the market as soon as possible, form a first-mover advantage, and establish a strong enough moat.

After two or three months, when the copycat games came out, *Bullet Marks 2* would have already squeezed every last drop out of this group of players. That would be great.

Of course, all of this was on the premise that *Bullet Marks 2* was a success. If the game didn't catch fire, there would be no copycats and no money to be made.

Now that *Bullet Marks 2* had been handed over to Longyu Corporation, a dedicated operations team would be responsible for promotion and distribution during the Spring Festival. For Min Jingchao and the *Bullet Marks 2* development team, their task had been completed and they could enjoy the entire Spring Festival.

Seeing Min Jingchao looking completely relieved, Sun Xi was obviously a little unaccustomed to the current state.

"Jingchao... are we really completely on vacation? Not caring about anything?"

Min Jingchao nodded. "Yeah, what else do you want to care about?"

Sun Xi asked, "What if something goes wrong with the game? What if there's a serious bug? What if players aren't satisfied with some of the gameplay?"

Min Jingchao asked in confusion, "Haven't we fixed countless bugs and tested it many times with people and AI programs? There shouldn't be any big, serious bugs. As for players being dissatisfied with the gameplay, we can slowly change it after the Spring Festival. There's no need to rush."

"You have to believe that as long as the game is of good quality, a few minor bugs aren't a big problem."

"Even if there is a big problem, can it be solved in the next few days of the Spring Festival holiday? It's better to rest properly."

"Look, before, many people were worried that the project wouldn't be completed on time without working overtime, but what about now? Didn't we still complete it smoothly!"

Sun Xi opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't refute it.

*Damn, it actually sounds very reasonable!*

But this was indeed completely contrary to the way Sun Xi had been thinking for many years.

Logically speaking, the development team should be on standby for at least the first week or two after the game's launch, so that they can fix any bugs or problems as soon as possible.

Moreover, working 996 to catch up during game development had become the default rule in the industry. Not to mention the company, employees would basically follow it on their own.

But under Min Jingchao's strict requirements, the project team didn't work a single day of overtime and still managed to develop the game!

Of course, they did encounter some setbacks at the beginning. Everyone felt that the development progress was obviously lagging behind, and the project team felt that they would have to work overtime. However, Min Jingchao insisted on bearing the pressure, either by hiring people or postponing the deadline. In any case, overtime was absolutely not allowed.

These people had no choice. Seeing the deadline getting closer and closer, they had to desperately catch up.

As a result, the progress slowly caught up again!

Although it was still a little slower than Min Jingchao's initial plan, developing games always involved unexpected problems, and delays and postponements were normal. Moreover, Min Jingchao had also left some lead time when formulating the plan.

Therefore, being able to complete the development before the Spring Festival already showed that the efficiency of the entire team was very high, and many people in the team were even surprised by this efficiency.

Now that Min Jingchao had said that there was no need to worry during the Spring Festival and that all the promotion and distribution work would be handed over to Longyu Corporation... then so be it.

Although everyone was concerned about the situation after *Bullet Marks 2* was launched, after all, it was related to their bonuses, but who wouldn't want to spend the Lunar New Year at home in peace?

Sun Xi nodded, finished the work at hand, and prepared to get off work and go home.

Suddenly, he thought of something.

"By the way, I've seen a lot of controversy about *Safe and Civilized Driving* online recently. Some people say that Tenda is already on vacation? And doesn't plan to clarify? Is that true?"

Sun Xi was very curious.

If they could rest assured about going on vacation because *Bullet Marks 2* hadn't had any problems yet, then what about *Safe and Civilized Driving*, which had already had problems?

Min Jingchao didn't care at all. "Oh? There's no need to worry about that."

Sun Xi asked in confusion, "Why is there no need to worry? Even if CEO Pei is clear-headed and doesn't make mistakes, he can't possibly keep an eye on every department to prevent them from making mistakes, right?"

Min Jingchao smiled. "It's true that Tenda may make mistakes, but it's impossible for them to make mistakes on this kind of issue. Many people say that they've taken bribes from Steyr to advertise for them, but I can say very clearly that it's impossible. Because everyone at Tenda, from CEO Pei to the heads of various departments, to all the employees, could not possibly do this."

"Because no one except CEO Pei can benefit from this matter, and CEO Pei has the final say."

"In my opinion, this is mostly a very ordinary routine. The people at Tenda are used to it. There's no need to care."