Re: Life - Business & Technology

Chapter 14 - Arena Mode And Localization

Vince helped his mom buy groceries like they usually do every week and ran into Ms. Miller around the produce aisle.

[She looks a bit too distraught for a person choosing vegetables. She hasn't been teaching at school for a week now. I don't want to intrude by maybe I can help with whatever is bothering her.] Vince thought.

Vince told his mother he would talk with his homeroom teacher an aisle over and walked towards Ms. Miller. 

They shared greetings, and Vince asked why she hadn't been teaching recently.

"You seem like a nice kid, and you know a bit about my son. I mentioned him to you a month or two ago. Unfortunately, his dad took him a week ago, and I haven't seen him since. I'll be filing for divorce to try and get my son back, but I'm afraid his father has too many connections for that to happen. I'm sorry for burdening you with my personal issues; I haven't talked to anyone about this yet and wanted to get it off my chest." Ms. Miller said apologetically.

"Thank you for sharing, and you don't have to be sorry. Here is the contact info for the law firm that I keep on retainer. They should be able to help you get your son back." Vince stated warmly.

[It's the least I can do. I've been so lucky since getting sent back ten years in the past. So I might as well help people who have treated me well during both my lives.] Vince thought.

Ms. Miller took the business card from Vince and asked, "This law firm looks expensive. I probably can't afford them."

"Give them your information, and they'll handle it from there. I'll foot the bill. I'm sure the other students would like to get our brilliant math teacher back." Vince declared.

Ms. Miller responded with gratefulness, and she looked much happier than before. They bade farewells, and he finished buying groceries with Leah.

Vince trained with Tom for a few hours at his family gym near Downtown Austin. 

"Hey, Tom. Have you checked out our new game called War Online?" Vince asked.

"Yes, I did. But I prefer Wingin' Chicken cause the combat gameplay is too complicated for me. I can also beat people in competitions and spars anyway, so it's not that appealing." Tom replied.

[True. It does sound more fun to beat people in competitions rather than randoms. I share the same sentiment as a fan of sports and e-sports.

Now that I think about it, War Online turned out to have a relatively tight combat system. The players' main characters fighting other main characters should probably make for compelling gameplay.

I remember League of Legends and DotA 2 were hugely popular around this time in history. I'll explore the potential of War Online after getting home.] Vince thought.

Vince focused on transactional revenue using cash shops, payment processing, and designing the game with his crew setting aside other entertainment types. 

Game development was never his forte, but he and his team created War Online using personal resources he never had, like liquid capital.

Collaborating with other companies did also help a ton. It took a lot of his time, but he was now free to delve into more subjects.

War Online is available around the world but only in the English language. This situation wasn't a problem with Wingin' Chicken, but War Online is more complex with skills, traits, and questing, which required translations.

Plenty of foreigners still play the game but with the help of good-hearted gamers translating for them in the local chat. 

Vince decided to fix this localization issue first before expanding on the game.

Wingin' Chicken's ad revenue for that month was only $10 million from all platforms except the App Store. Future Tech paid $5 million to Google for the negotiated platform fee, leaving Vince with around $3 million after fees and taxes.

The accounting firm kept a portion of the money for tax season arriving in a few months, reducing Vince's available liquid capital further. 

His employees, including Bitcoin Market people and the student part-timers, could update their contracts after the lawsuits concluded.

They would be paid $1 million annually and reviewed for a raise every year. Additionally, the contract stated that all of the revenue from Wingin' Chicken, War online, and Bitcash was controlled by Vince and his legal guardian, including the significant number of BTC, already accumulated.

All the innovations gained from future insight were all provided by Vince. But, unfortunately, this dilemma left him no choice, and he had to control his employees as such even though it pained him.

[My friends shouldn't mind. They understand how much I've helped in their recent growth. They would be paid a total of $2 million this year. Not bad for part-time work compared to minimum wage,] Vince thought. 

He checked his satoshi wallet, found it had grown since the last time he checked, now at 12 million BTC.

[I would never want to sell any Bitcoin unless I had to, but I need some cash to spend on the localization and new arena mode we've been conceptualizing. Investing in another company will not be an option anytime soon. I already sold a ton of Bitcoin to acquire Dollar and his company.] Vince thought.

Vince decided to add a traditional currency option for the cash shop items in both games to get more non-Bitcoin revenue other than from advertisements.

He tasked the Bitcoin Market division to update BitCash with these thoughts in mind. This decision will reduce Future Tech's overall Bitcoin revenue but would still slowly gain more from the daily activity of BitCash users.

Dollar replied with a confirmation and asked Vince for funding to expand their networking and service systems. Vince replied with approval for $10 million in funding for the project.

Lewis-Jacobs provided Future Technologies with two dedicated junior partners at the law firm to handle tasks like releasing funds to his employees.

Marcia Kemp told him that his company was one of the firms' largest clients in billable hours and fees and was happy to serve his interests. However, the funding left him with only $8 million liquidity, and he still had to pay for localization and development contracts.

Vince sent another request to David Henderson, one of the junior partners, to find some options for both of those new projects and negotiate a fair deal.

David replied a few minutes later. Any new additions to the game will have to wait until suitable contractors are available.

[I may have to start recruiting people to the company directly instead of paying for help all the time.] he thought. 

As usual, Vince enjoyed the rest of his time, spending time with his friends and training with Tom during off times.

One night, he noticed a creaking noise from outside the house as he was heading to bed. The window suddenly opened and a masked person mantled into his room like a professional thief.

The masked man took out a knife and approached Vince slowly.

[Oh my god! Someone's trying to kill me!] he thought while his heart was racing.

EDITED