Major Companies

[AN, This chapter hurt SOO bad to translate]

That night, in the newly created 'Silent Hill' forum, a member posted.

"I'm too scared to play this game myself. I can only watch streamers clear it. Can anyone tell me which streamer has managed to finish 'Silent Hill PT'?"

Soon the replies came flooding in.

"No one! All the streamers are chickens, nobody's beaten it yet!"

"I watched NeasJ. He entered the second loop, got scared by a girl peeking through the door crack, and ended up in the hospital with high blood pressure!"

"I saw Saya, She died in the third loop, got attacked in the face by a ghost woman and had to quit mid stream."

"KayKay was even worse, she hadn't even encountered anything scary before she rage quit because of the creepy atmosphere in the hallway."

"BigRaga didn't even survive the first loop. Total disaster."

One thing was clear. 'Silent Hill PT' had streamers completely overwhelmed.

Among the chaos, one name stood out, Natalie. Of all the big name streamers, she lasted the longest. She made it into the bathroom of the third loop, an area most streamers didn't even dare enter.

Absolutely wild.

This left players who enjoy watching others play, feeling hopeless. This was just a demo of Silent Hill, could no one beat it?

---BREAK---

But it wasn't just gamers who were obsessed.

The viral release of 'Silent Hill PT' sent shockwaves through the gaming industry.

At NetPack Factory in Seattle, five executives and nine department heads were urgently examining the game files. Since it was released on Steam, it was easy for them to access to the game files.

In under 24 hours, 'Silent Hill PT' had already surpassed 20 million downloads. Even for a free to play game, the number was staggering.

The company director himself strapped on a VR suit to try it out firsthand.

Five minutes in, he bailed. Completely terrified.

But while the game scared the life out of him, what truly shocked him was the hyper realistic graphics.

In over 20 years in the industry, he'd never seen visual quality like this. It felt like a major technological leap forward.

That night, he called an emergency meeting. NetPack's content team was tasked with dissecting the game experience and understanding what made it tick. Their mission, identify and learn from its strengths.

But what happened next was pure chaos.

Screams echoed through the office.

"AHHHHHH!"

"Why are we being forced to play this nightmare?!"

"I need my anxiety meds! NOW!"

"I quit! I'm done!"

Meanwhile, the engineering team ran into an even bigger nightmare. They couldn't make sense of the game files at all.

All they found was unreadable code, nothing they'd ever seen before.

Their conclusion? 'Silent Hill PT' must have been built on a completely new game engine, one never before used in the industry.

The director was stunned.

"No wonder the visuals are on another level. This isn't just a new game, it's a whole new game engine."

He immediately ordered the team to try and reverse engineer it.

But even NetPack's top developers, some earning six figures a month, were stumped. Not only could they not replicate the engine, they couldn't even find the starting point.

The conclusion was obvious.

'Silent Hill PT' wasn't made by a small indie company. It had to come from a tech giant.

According to NetPack's internal logs, the game was released by a studio named New World.

"Could it be Blizzard, NetEase, or Valve?" a developer asked.

"Impossible. Those companies use OUR engine tech. They haven't made anything remotely like this. And if they had, they would be bragging all over the internet."

He knew those companies well, there was no way they made this.

After thinking, he ventured a bold guess.

"My money's on Microsoft. They're the only ones capable of something this revolutionary. Maybe they're quietly launching a metaverse project, using a decoy company as a soft launch test to stay under the radar."

It made too much sense. The realism of 'Silent Hill PT' was unlike anything else. It blurred the line between virtual reality and real life, ignoring there was no pain, it felt real.

Even the studio's name, New World, hinted at something bigger.

"If this is Microsoft," the director said with a grin, "then they're about to reshape the gaming industry, and we need to partner with them, fast."

He gave a new directive.

"Reach out to Valve through our contacts. Ask them if they can contact New World for us, show sincerity, and express our willingness to collaborate."

If NetPack could strike a deal, they too could ride the wave of the coming metaverse revolution.

Meanwhile, other game giants weren't sitting idle. Ubisoft, Konami, Sony, all of them were desperately trying to crack the 'Silent Hill PT' code. And just like NetPack, none of them succeeded.

Devlopment teams screamed during playthroughs. One company even had the police show up, employees were howling so loudly that neighbors thought something was wrong.

Eventually, these companies turned to Valve.

"Can you share New World's contact info?"

But Valve wasn't stupid. They politely refused, citing confidentiality.

"As per steams rules. We will not be handing out anyones contact information not publically available."

The major companies seeing as what they were doing was not working, they tried another stratergy, throw money at it.

"Track down New World Studio immediately. Dig up all the details. If possible, buy them outright!"

That was the NetPack's directors command. No shame. Just business.

"Once we own them, we'll make them build what we want. VR version of Crossfire, loaded with weapon skins and paid content. Hundreds of skins, all with collector editions. Minimum price? $39 dollars each. We'll make billions easily!"

He was practically drooling. Why waste such incredible graphics on a horror game, and with no monetization?

"I'll show them how to really make money."

Other companies had the same idea.

Even tech firms like Apple, Tesla, and others with no gaming background smelled opportunity. This visual tech could be used far beyond games.

In short, every major tech giant was scrambling to find a way into New World Studio.

And while no one had their contact information, they did know one person who might be connected to the studio.

Streamer Natalie.

1054 Words.