GTROAE Chapter 96: International Reviews

Chapter 96: International Reviews

By the end of the workday, album sales had stalled at the two-million mark, with one copy selling every ten or so minutes.

If they wanted more sales, marketing would have to push it forward. Cynthia had already asked Merry to prepare a full promotional plan before the album launched. Later, since the publisher switched to Earth Music, everything was handed over to Aunt Lisa.

Coincidentally, that night Aunt Lisa invited William and Cynthia over for dinner, with Tiffany also coming. It would be a good time to ask about the album’s future plans.

Normally, Cynthia disliked driving at night and had often asked William to take the wheel. But today she was strangely quiet, her mood still glowing as it had been all day.

“I posted on Moments today,” Cynthia said suddenly.

“Yeah?”

William only had a few friends on his app and usually didn’t bother checking Moments.

“All my friends liked it.”

“Then I’ll go like it too.” William understood what she meant right away.

But when he opened Cynthia’s Moments, he realized she probably wasn’t waiting for his like at all—she just wanted to show off.

The post itself wasn’t much, just a photo of her standing in front of the Porsche when they picked it up. What really stood out were the replies underneath.

The replies themselves weren’t a big deal, but there were a lot of them—probably close to a hundred. It made William seriously wonder if that’s all she did at work today.

He rolled his eyes at Cynthia, but still quietly finished liking all the posts before putting his phone away.

Zach sat in the back watching the two of them, as if he was reminded of what it felt like when he was in love.

At Aunt Lisa’s place.

Tiffany had arrived earlier than William and the others, which was understandable. It took at least forty minutes to drive back from the new venue to the city, and that’s only if there was no traffic. But since they got off work during rush hour, they were stuck for at least another twenty minutes.

Dinner was already on the table. When they heard the door open, the three people inside stood up to greet them. Jenny was the first to throw herself into William’s arms, completely ignoring her own dad standing right next to her.

“Brother William!”

“Good girl.” William let Jenny bury her face against his leg and greeted the others: “Aunt Lisa, Miss Tang.”

“Welcome.” Aunt Lisa took the gift Cynthia brought.

They were all familiar with each other, so no introductions were needed.

Aunt Lisa raised her glass and said, “Come on, let’s toast to William’s album selling like crazy! Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

Jenny held up her juice like she was part of it.

Even Zach, who rarely drank, joined in—and William couldn’t escape either.

After a few rounds, the adults were still chatting at the table, while Jenny rubbed her eyes, looking sleepy.

A slightly tipsy Zach stopped Aunt Lisa and said he would take Jenny to bed himself. Maybe he felt a little emotional tonight and wanted to work on bonding with his daughter.

“My uncle wants you to come over for dinner this weekend.” Tiffany, clearly drunk, grabbed William’s hand and wouldn’t let go.

Cynthia, calm as ever, said lightly, “That might not work. The boss is taking me to a very important banquet.”

“Banquet?” Tiffany frowned, her serious face still looking cute.

“Yeah.” Cynthia said slowly, “Our game Happy Mahjong did really well overseas, so the Mahjong Association set up an event and invited us.”

“Happy… Mahjong?” Tiffany stared blankly, clearly drunk.

William couldn’t help but laugh at the sight—he never expected someone who usually looked like such a cool big sister to have such an adorable side.

“I’ll help her to a room.”

There was no way she could take care of herself like this. She might as well stay at Aunt Lisa’s place for the night.

Aunt Lisa nodded. “That’s fine.”

William had just laid Tiffany on the bed when she immediately fell into a deep sleep without any extra fuss. Impressive, really.

He pulled the blanket over her and walked out to find Cynthia helping Aunt Lisa clean up. It was about time to head home.

Too lazy to call a driver, Cynthia left her keys so Zach could bring the car to the company tomorrow.

Once they got into the taxi, they hadn’t gone far when Cynthia, looking worried, said, “Boss, can I ask you for a favor?”

William was stunned. He had never seen Cynthia like this. In his mind, she was always the independent, tough-as-nails type.

“Go ahead.”

“When we go to Southport, can you come home with me?”

William was surprised. “Go home with you?”

“Yeah. My parents have been worried about me ever since I moved to Riverdale, so I want you to come with me. It’ll help put them at ease.”

“Oh, that’s no problem. Why even ask?”

“Heh.” Cynthia gave an awkward smile, like she still had more to say but didn’t.

Around ten that night, after hours of review, the overseas feedback was finally available for internal viewing. Ordinary people wouldn’t see it until all the checks were done to make sure there was no foreign cultural content before posting online.

What they saw was the preliminary version, something you couldn’t access without the right connections.

As they read, they saw that overseas reviews for Happy Mahjong were extremely positive. People were amazed that Earth Games had pushed the gaming industry to a new level. Even abroad, the market was sluggish. Cultural restrictions had taken away many forms of entertainment, limiting people to a few options and giving them only limited information.

The government officials controlling the cultural scene didn’t want any new, uncontrollable entertainment spreading around. Luckily, Earth Games focused on promoting local culture and didn’t cross any lines, or the industry would still be under harsh suppression. That also meant many challenges were ahead. Through this, William came to understand just how scary cultural isolation could be.

It was hard to imagine how Blue Star’s civilization had ended up like this. From what he’d heard, things were pretty normal twenty or thirty years ago, but then it got worse and worse.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the history, because history can’t be changed. The only thing you can change is the future.

“What day is it today…” Cynthia muttered while scrolling through overseas reviews of Happy Mahjong. At the same time, she saw a new piece of news.

William leaned over and glanced at the message on her phone.

Pig Factory announced that they were entering the gaming industry, and their first title was called Crossword Life.

Just from the name, you could guess the general idea of the gameplay, but once you opened the game, it turned out to be different from what you imagined.

The first part of the name, “Crossword,” showed the core mechanic of the game, while “Life” hinted at a new and unique twist on the life-simulation genre.

Instead of choosing fixed storylines that decide how the main character’s life unfolds, players fill in different sentences or words to change the direction of the story. It might sound similar to past games, but once you play it, you’ll see it offers far more options. It’s not limited to themes like “modern,” “fantasy,” or “cultivation”—it covers almost everything.

Silent for a long time, then stunning the world.

Pig Factory’s game can easily be called the most successful evolution of the “life simulation” genre. On top of that, by using their huge user base from their music app, the game’s music selection is amazing. The soundtrack changes with the story at every moment, and every song adds a strong sense of immersion.

Looking back at Life Restart Simulator, William wished he could nail that game to the company’s wall of shame.

This must be what people call the pain of being a pioneer.