Re: Life - Business & Technology

Chapter 61 - Catching Up

At the penthouse office, Vince and Kyle discussed Future Studio's next steps after Everlife.

"I'll have to draft an outline for a new game project for Future Studios to work on after Everlife's release. Do you have any suggestions in mind?" Kyle asked before sipping a cold beverage Aiya recently served.

"Now that we'll be selling the Hypervisor commercially, I recommended developing virtual experiences using the newest version of Unreal Engine. We created Everlife to be compatible with current-generation devices, but AR and VR would be the obvious next step with our new games." Vince replied.

"True. We have more tools in our arsenal now. Traditional video games are fun, but an entirely virtual experience is in a different league—too bad the FDA hasn't approved Dr. Sera's deep-dive system yet." Kyle stated.

"Don't worry. The current version of Unreal Engine is fully compatible with the deep-dive system, so you can still start creating an outline for the new game in the meantime." Vince replied.

"While you're here, let me call the others for their E3 presentation assignments. We haven't been in the same room in quite a while." Vince added.

"Aiya, please call Jessica, Rick, and Sarah to my office for a meeting. Kyle and I will be playing a bit of Everlife while waiting. No rush." Vince instructed over a private comlink channel.

"Understood," Aiya replied.

The blonde twins arrived at Vince's office after thirty minutes, during which both he and Kyle were 'testing' their new game.

"Hey, I see you guys are playing the latest and greatest of Future Studios. Did Everlife meet your expectations?" Rick asked while finding a comfortable sofa to sit on.

"The photorealistic aesthetic and graphical fidelity are far better than our previous work in War Online. People will go crazy after playing Everlife. How's work been going?" Vince asked.

"We've been focusing on the Hypervisor's Augmented Reality mode and the cyberspace module. It's so trippy trying to visualize data traffic in 3D. Kind of like that movie, Tron." Sarah interjected.

"When do you guys think the graphical user interface for both the AR and VR functionality in the Hypervisor be ready for sale?" Kyle asked curiously.

"The Infinity Operating System GUI is in the refining phase and should take a month at most until market readiness. OS versions for PCs, Mobile devices, and the new smart devices took half of the development time the past year, but most of our efforts were collaborating with Future Education on the Hypervisor. We're still running into scaling issues in VR, but Mr. Sweeney notified us regarding the new Unreal Engine features that should be a quick fix." Rick explained.

A young Korean-American girl arrived at the penthouse office mid-conversation, while Aiya served drinks and snacks for the group of youngins.

"Jessica, good to see you. We're just discussing the current state of the Infinity OS. Do you have any input regarding that?" Vince asked.

"Patel, Morgan, and my sub-division have put our blood, sweat, and tears designing and developing the Infinity API and OS. Neither CUDA nor OpenCL is half as effective as our Infinity Cores. Our Infinity Architecture crushes the competition in single-threaded, multi-threaded, and 3D/Ray-Tracing computational workloads. Though you wouldn't know much about our project since you barely showed your face during production, Vince." Jessica stated.

"Come on, Jessica. I know enough about the new Infinity ecosystem. You know I've been busy with Azuma ironing out NetServ's current business and expansion plans." Vince replied.

"I'm just joking with you, Vince. You've been through a lot this year, and the company has flourished because of it." Jessica stated honestly.

"We've all accomplished so much these past two years, and I'm lucky to have my friends in Future Tech. Kyle will present Everlife during our E3 presentation, and I'll have Jessica join Morgan for the Infinity section. Rick and Sarah are responsible for the Hypervisor demonstration. I want the world to know who started Future Tech on such a momentous occasion." Vince explained sincerely.

"Of course, we'll save some of the spotlights for Patel and other executive directors," Vince added.

"Thank you, Vince. Future Tech changed our entire lives, and I pride myself on our work. We're lucky to have so many intelligent and caring colleagues to mentor us in our chosen paths. I wouldn't trade my time here for a Harvard graduation certificate." Jessica replied.

"Same here. Creating basic game menus and assets for Wingin' Chicken was fun at the time, and I wouldn't have imagined designing an entire virtual user interface for cutting-edge technology. Working for you was the best decision in my life." Sarah interjected.

"And we get to play War Online anytime we want. People don't dare to give us any shit about it, though we're only 15 years old, so it's understandable." Rick stated jokingly.

"I appreciate how much effort you guys have exerted in the past two years, but we have more than 100,000 employees now—work at your own pace, especially you, Kyle. So I'll have you appoint an executive director for Future Studios because the responsibility is too much of a burden for you right now." Vince instructed.

"C'mon, man. Why are you demoting me?" Kyle asked.

"I'm not, Kyle. War Online and Everlife are great products, but you shouldn't lead Future Studios by yourself." Vince explained.

"Alright, I'll appoint someone, but it has to be Mr. Sweeney. He's been a great mentor to me for two years now, even if we haven't met in person yet." Kyle replied.

"That would be a great idea if he were a Future Tech employee, which he isn't." Vince retorted.

"Future Tech still has a bit of liquidity until Q3 of 2013. The Epic engineers deserve a payday, and I know you can buy Epic Games right now." Kyle stated.

"It's not that easy, Kyle. Would Tim even sell his company to me if I asked? I'm not sure if that's the case." Vince explained.

"Give me a number, and I'll ask Mr. Sweeney for you." Kyle declared.

"$10 billion is the highest I'll pay for Epic Games. If you manage to sway Tim, talk to David for the contract." Vince said.

"You don't give Future Tech enough credit, Vince. We're advancing and innovating in so many industries, and everyone wants to find out what's next. Tesla stock alone doubled in value since you bought half of SpaceX." Jessica added.

"Yeah, but we've also attracted bad actors trying to compromise our success. For example, have you guys heard of the Data Access Node incident that happened off the coast of Taiwan?" Vince asked.

"We saw it on the news, but the reporters said nothing too awful happened," Sarah replied.

"Two of their hackers almost penetrated the Future Tech telecom system, which would have destroyed this company. We got lucky, but it won't be the first time enemies try to take what we've built." Vince explained.

"Most people only know of the regular data breaches the two confessed about, but I know classified information regarding their organization. The CIA and Interpol are investigating a group called Anarchy. They haven't found anything yet, which makes sense, considering Anarchy is a hacker organization. I just wanted to warn you guys." Vince added.

"Sounds super sketchy, Vince. Do you think they'll attack Future Tech anytime soon?" Kyle asked curiously.

"I honestly have no idea. It's best to trust Price and Anthony regarding our security. There's a reason why I've invested so much money on physical and cyber security projects." Vince stated.

"Don't be such a downer, Vince. Price will notify us if anything wrong happens. Let's talk about E3 and the upcoming press conference. Isn't it surreal to present our products at E3 when we could only watch the show online two years ago?" Jessica said.

"Yeah, It was incredible watching Bethesda's Skyrim trailer in 2011 and Watch Dogs from Ubisoft in 2012 looked so good!" Rick stated.

[Unfortunately, Watch Dogs won't look as pretty as the trailer.] Vince pondered.

"Our show will be much more exciting this year. We'll even have Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Lawrence, and Dwayne Johnson for the Everlife convention." Vince stated.

"They performed voice acting and motion capture at the LA Future Studios branch for the single-player story. I only met them via video conference, but I'll be looking forward to meeting the Rock in person." Kyle explained.

"We'll meet Katniss Everdeen?!" Jessica and Sarah asked in unison.

"Don't forget Tony Stark! The Avengers was the best movie last year." Rick stated.

"The E3 convention meeting is part of their contract. So don't forget to take some pictures as a souvenir." Vince said.

"It's been fun catching up with guys. Let's take the rest of the day off and have some more fun. We deserve it." Vince added.

"Hell yeah! Chicken wings or sushi?" Jessica asked.

"I vote spicy chicken wings!" Kyle announced.

[My friends never changed.] Vince pondered happily.

Stats last time checked:

Future Tech current valuation - $300 billion

15 million BTC (currently trades at $1,000)

$30 Billion cash in Future Tech

105,000+ employees (FT AI, Future Studios, Hive Mind Manufacturing, FT Micro Devices, BitCash, FT VR, Future Tech F1, FT Investments, Future Arms, Future Med, Future Tech Robotics, Future Education, SpaceX)

20,000+ operators under Future Security

Personal Vehicles: Klassen Phantom, Agera R, Agera SFV, Boeing Luxury 787 Dreamliner

Five company collaborators (Epic, Koenegisegg, SpaceX, Tesla, Hyundai C&E)

Dozens of investments under Future Tech Holdings (i..e., Instagram)