Chapter 27 Company Profit_1

"Chairman, the court ruled on the lawsuit today."

"What was the result?" Cao Ge asked without raising his head from the documents in his hands as he sat behind his desk.

"Just as we predicted earlier, Penguin lost; we won. The court ruled it was a coincidence," a middle-aged man, about forty, standing in front of the desk, spoke to Cao Ge, who was sitting in his chair.

"Hmm, it's as expected. Alright, now that the case is over, let's shift our focus back in. We need to concentrate on planning the gameplay of QQ Speed. The gameplay, props, and vehicles need to be updated timely to enhance the players' stickiness."

"Don't worry, Chairman, QQ Speed is our company's first project, and I am personally overseeing its continued operation," the middle-aged man said, patting his chest.

"Good, Yang, I trust you with this," Cao Ge closed the project proposal in his hands and then looked up at Yang Xiaofeng in front of him.

"By the way, about this project, I've looked at it, and it's not bad. We can try to get it off the ground. However, there are some detailed issues, such as the depiction of the world background. Have Li Mingwu and his team meet again to thoroughly work on it. It would be best to create a complete and self-consistent story timeline," Cao Ge said as he threw the project proposal onto the desk.

Old Yang glanced at the game planning document newly submitted to the project department in front of Cao Ge and then nodded, "Okay, I'll have them revise it when I get back."

"Hmm," Cao Ge nodded.

Having said that, Cao Ge took a sip of water from the cup on his desk, and then leaned back in his office chair.

After a pause, looking at Yang Xiaofeng who was still in the office, Cao Ge asked, "Old Yang, is there anything else?"

"No, nothing else."

"If there's nothing else, why are you still hanging around here?" Cao Ge placed his cup back on the desk and then looked at the company's general manager with a puzzled expression.

"I was wondering if there's anything else you need me to do, Chairman?"

"There's nothing on my end, you can go," Cao Ge said briskly.

"Chairman, then I'll get back to work," the middle-aged man said with a smile.

"Go ahead," Cao Ge replied.

Watching through the glass door as Yang Xiaofeng walked away, Cao Ge sighed slightly; having money really did win respect from others in all aspects.

Of course, Cao Ge was talking about normal interactions.

As for those abnormal ones, casually insulting others and being insulted in return is considered normal.

It's been two months since Penguin took Galaxy Science and Technology to court.

Penguin's influence is substantial. In light of the clear-cut facts, they were still able to drag out the time until now, attempting to suffocate Galaxy Science and Technology with delays.

Unfortunately for Penguin, Galaxy Science and Technology is an internet company, and since it's just starting up without any debts, the only expenses are the salaries of the staff, the costs for the office space, and the game servers' rental fees. With just these minor details, Penguin's tactic would have worked if their opponent was a small start-up, which might have indeed collapsed. But this move was ineffective against Cao Ge; he had a significant cash flow, so a financial drain was out of the question.

Through this incident, Cao Ge completely understood the game of capital. In China, to create products you have to copy. Whichever is profitable gets copied. Everyone copies, and if you don't, you can't survive.

Therefore, Cao Ge decided that since the copying had already started, it should be taken to the end. Continue to take advantage of Penguin and copy their future big game launches too, after all, Penguin also copied from others.

The money earned is still earning, and having it would mean contributing to human civilization; otherwise, it simply falls into the capitalists' pockets.

They at Galaxy Science and Technology have already started planning the next game, with the theme decided upon—a gunfight game. He couldn't copy CrossFire because it was a foreign game and Penguin already had the agency rights.

So he decided to copy Penguin's other gunfight game—Crisis Action. When this game was released, it was a hit for many years, and it helped Penguin fill their coffers.

............

Cao Ge stood up from his seat and walked to the large floor-to-ceiling window at the side of the office, looking thoughtfully at the city's buildings outside.

During these two months, although he was wholly devoted to the company's construction, it didn't mean he was oblivious to information from the outside world.

First, forty days ago, there was an explosion on a cruise ship in the Panama Canal. Though the news reported it as a terrorist-controlled incident, Cao Ge, who knew the inside story, understood it was the government's exterminating strike against ETO.

Even though the operations center hadn't contacted him in these two months, he could clearly feel that since the Guzheng operation, communications among the world's nations had suddenly become more frequent.

The frequency of United Nations meetings was continually increasing, and countries, whether in politics, economy, or military aspects, began to slowly show a cooperative stance.

To the uninformed, it may seem as though world conditions were gradually stabilizing, since regional conflicts disappeared and the previous global hotspots fell silent.

In people's eyes, it was an unexplained ceasefire.

But Cao Ge knew that this was the world governments preparing to make the existence of the Trisolarans public.

The United Nations Security Council was about to become the Planetary Defense Council, and the United Nations would completely alter its awkward stance in international conflicts; it was going to be a comprehensive agency with certain administrative capabilities.

Essentially, the United Earth Government was about to be established, and Earth was soon to become a federal system akin to the United States.

Governments would still hold the power to govern their nations, but in dealing with the Trisolarans, the United Nations would become the highest administrative body. It would be used to integrate and coordinate the resource allocation of all nations.

The world was about to enter a crisis era; the global landscape was on the brink of change, and the economic system was poised for a radical transformation.

The market economy would be comprehensively suppressed, and humanity would once again enter an era of planned economy.

What Cao Ge was doing now was to seize the last moments to make as much as possible because it wouldn't be long before such earnings became impossible.

As war economy sets in, he didn't know about others, but he was sure the gaming industry would be a disaster zone.

The state would no longer allow resources to flow extensively into the gaming industry.

Capitalizing on these last few months to make a quick profit, he would also need to choose a new direction for development.

There are three months left until next year, and according to current trends, he guessed that the government would probably announce the situation with the Trisolarans next year.

To be on the safe side, let's say six months. If he could amass a fortune of ten billion in this half-year period, then his efforts wouldn't have been in vain.

Given the popularity of QQ Speed and Crisis Action in the original timeline, making three billion in six months didn't seem too much to ask.