Chapter 442: The Awards Ceremony
On the night of the awards ceremony.
All the designers knew that lectures and exchange meetings were just for show. The real heavyweight event was the evening's awards ceremony.
Those lectures were all just filler to save face, while the evening's awards ceremony represented the achievements and honors the designers had earned that year.
The designers filed in one after another. By the time Chen Mo and his group entered, there were already many people present.
This year's awards ceremony seemed more grand than in previous years. Although the venue was the same, the decorations were more lavish, and there were dedicated cameras filming the entire event from start to finish.
Moreover, several video streaming websites had begun broadcasting it live simultaneously.
This year marked the first live broadcast of the awards ceremony. In previous years, the technical conditions had been perfectly fine for a live stream; the reason it hadn't been done was simply that the Game Committee leaders didn't want to arrange it. This ceremony was primarily an internal affair for designers and the Game Committee, with little relevance to players.
However, this year, the Game Committee leaders probably wanted to expand the ceremony's influence and allow more players to participate. So, for the first time, they arranged a live broadcast so players could watch.
Even though a live broadcast was arranged, it wasn't done with much fanfare. They simply opened live streams on a few streaming platforms and video websites, and the viewership wasn't particularly high.
Still, even so, there were hundreds of thousands of viewers watching.
In the bullet comments, many viewers were discussing.
"Why hasn't it started yet?"
"Hurry up, hurry up, reveal the awards!"
"'Glorious Tang Dynasty' for Game of the Year, no doubt about it!"
"Will 'League of Legends' be there?"
"Can we see Chen Mo? Where is Chen Mo?"
"Are those sitting in the front rows S-class designers? Who are they? It's too far away to see clearly..."
The awards ceremony hadn't officially begun yet, so the screen was still showing the designers entering. Most of these viewers were players who were already quite interested in the game industry, with a preference for VR and single-player games. A small portion were just curious newcomers.
Chen Mo entered with Zhang Xiaokong and the others, and the staff diligently guided them to their seats.
What surprised Chen Mo was that this year, his seat wasn't with Zhang Xiaokong and Qiu Hengyang. Instead, he was seated in a very front-row position.
Looking around, he didn't recognize a single person, which made Chen Mo feel extremely awkward.
Zhang Xiaokong remarked, "See? Your status in the eyes of the Game Committee leaders has changed. You're no longer sitting with us like before. Go on, have a good time with the designers from Dizhao and Chanyi."
Chen Mo: "..."
The seats were all pre-arranged. Except for the leaders in the very front row, the seats were basically arranged by designer rank, from front to back. The first two rows were mostly S-class designers, followed by A-class, B-class, and so on.
Of course, even among designers of the same rank, there were distinctions. Some A-class designers already had several representative works and would naturally sit closer to the front.
As for Chen Mo, he was placed in a rather sensitive position—in the first two rows, but on the far edge.
This was because, strictly speaking, Chen Mo was still A+ class, not S-class. However, the S-class designers didn't fill up the two rows; there were two or three empty seats, so Chen Mo was squeezed in.
Clearly, in the eyes of some Game Committee leaders, Chen Mo was now essentially just one step away from S-class.
Chen Mo basically knew all the other S-class designers by sight, but he had never spoken or interacted with them. Most of these designers were affiliated with Dizhao Interactive Entertainment or Chanyi Interactive Entertainment, and Chen Mo didn't have a good relationship with either company.
There were also a few independent designers, but those types were even more solitary, keeping their heads down and making games, rarely showing their faces, so there was even less chance to interact.
Seeing Chen Mo approach, most of the S-class designers maintained a polite distance.
The reasons for this were complex. On one hand, there was the "scholars despise each other" mentality—as S-class designers, they all had a certain pride. On the other hand, there was the friction between companies. Thunderbolt Interactive was now at odds with both Dizhao and Chanyi, especially since Lin Zhaoxu and Liu Yuanfeng had privately been driven to slam their desks in anger by Chen Mo more than once. It wouldn't be good for these designers, as employees, to get too close to Chen Mo.
As for why these S-class designers, who were all incredibly accomplished, would choose to join Dizhao or Chanyi, that was another matter entirely.
Making games was a high-reward but also high-risk endeavor. These large VR games often cost tens of millions or even hundreds of millions to develop. If they succeeded, great; but if they failed? Most S-class designers couldn't bear that kind of risk.
The biggest advantage of joining a big company like Dizhao or Chanyi was risk mitigation. The company handled the R&D funding and marketing. If the game lost money, it didn't matter—the company took the loss. If it made money, although the company took a large cut, the designer still earned a considerable amount.
All things considered, joining a big company effectively avoided risk, allowing these designers to create without any worries about the future.
Everyone had their own specialty. Most designers were only good at designing games; they knew nothing about company operations, marketing, or promotion. So, these big companies were attractive to S-class designers.
Chen Mo, however, was a complete anomaly. A designer who started from scratch, developed games, built his own distribution channels, and acted as his own boss was extremely rare, making him an outlier.
Just as Chen Mo sat down, the designer next to him turned around.
"Chen Mo? I've heard a lot about you."
Chen Mo looked and recognized him. It was Ran He, the S-class designer from Chanyi Interactive Entertainment, the creator of "Firestorm Assault."
Ran He was considered a veteran S-class designer in the country, specializing in FPS games, and had a certain reputation in the industry.
Chen Mo quickly replied, "I don't deserve that. You are the senior here."
Ran He smiled. "Senior? I just started in the industry a few years earlier. Now that 'Overwatch' is out, your momentum is strong. If nothing unexpected happens this year, the Game of the Year award should go to your 'Overwatch,' and you'll step into the S-class ranks."
The two chatted for a bit.
As an FPS game designer, Ran He had obviously studied 'Overwatch' extensively and was well aware of its innovations for the FPS genre, which was why he held it in such high regard.
As for himself, he had just finished updating a major version of 'Firestorm Assault' this year and was still preparing his next game, so he had no work to submit for the awards.
S-class designers like him had long passed the stage of focusing on quantity. Producing one game every two or three years was already considered good.
Designers like Ran He and Qin Xiao, who created high-quality games, were even more like this. They generally didn't start new projects frequently. They prioritized operating their existing projects well and only considered starting a new one when the old project's lifespan was nearly over.
Unlike Chen Mo, who churned out several games a year, as if they cost nothing.