Pei Qian fell silent.

It sounded quite reasonable!

Since Chi Xing Studio had already gained fame in the VR field, continuing to cultivate the VR domain by following the operational standards established in “Animal Island,” changing the game content, and developing a new VR game was indeed a rather safe decision.

After completing the game, with Chi Xing Studio and Tenda’s reputation, the possibility of making money was high.

Seeing Mr. Pei fall silent, Cai Jiadong felt somewhat disappointed.

Evidently, his idea was too simplistic and far from the standard answer in Mr. Pei’s mind.

Lin Wan continued: “Old Cai’s choice is indeed the most reasonable under normal thinking.”

“However, I feel this choice also carries certain risks.”

“I chatted with Old Song, the VR glasses product manager, and he said Doubt VR glasses have already incorporated all currently available VR headset technology, making it a comprehensive masterpiece. Pessimistically speaking, VR headset products might not undergo significant changes in the next two to three years.”

“I’m concerned that once VR headset product development stagnates, the VR industry will certainly cool down rapidly. By then, the games we invest heavily in developing might struggle to recoup costs due to insufficient market size.”

“So, my idea is not to put all our eggs in one basket.”

“We could alternate between conventional games and VR games, or develop dual versions from the beginning of the project.”

“This way, even if the VR industry shrinks dramatically in the future, Chi Xing Studio can continue making traditional games and still thrive.”

Pei Qian continued his silence.

That sounded… quite reasonable too!

Lin Wan’s plan was more solid and secure.

Following her approach, Chi Xing Studio could both benefit from VR gaming while leveraging their previous experience and advantages in developing traditional games, mitigating risks and steadily earning money.

Damn it, it seemed like they would profit regardless of which option they chose…

However, Lin Wan did provide useful information—the VR industry lacked technological reserves and would likely stagnate or even shrink in the future.

This completely matched the VR industry’s state in Pei Qian’s memory.

Due to technological limitations, the VR boom would only last for a very short period before cooling down dramatically. The “VR gaming era” many people anticipated would end before it even began.

Therefore, neither of their proposals could be used—he needed a plan that would lose money severely.

Continue investing huge sums in developing VR games, but not ones with high chances of success!

As Cai Jiadong suggested, developing a AAA-scale FPS game was absolutely out of the question—the success probability was too high.

Pei Qian summarized that “Animal Island’s” success was mainly because the idea wasn’t outlandish enough.

Previously, when he decided on the “Animal Island” project, it was mainly during a meeting where, after rejecting realistic FPS and cinematic game directions, they somehow settled on the cartoon style, casual game direction.

Then, through various combinations and many people’s imagination, “Animal Island” was born.

Looking back at “Animal Island” now, Pei Qian realized it was clearly too practical.

How could he have allowed Chi Xing Studio to develop such a sensible game?

No wonder the failure was so devastating.

Therefore, Pei Qian believed the VR game hadn’t failed mainly because he had been lazy and hadn’t come up with a sufficiently outlandish idea.

This time, proposing an especially absurd VR game idea with massive investment, combined with the future cooling trend of the VR industry, would surely lose money!

With this thought, Pei Qian cleared his throat and said: “Both of your ideas are quite valid.”

“However…”

“They clearly still don’t align with my previous definition of ‘Chi Xing’.”

“Think about it, what did we say before deciding to make VR games?”

Lin Wan and Cai Jiadong looked at each other.

Cai Jiadong said: “I remember. At that time, everyone was talking about making mobile games, and you, Mr. Pei, said that ‘Chi Xing’ meant boldly hypothesizing and carefully verifying, having a long-term vision when establishing goals. Although we must take one step at a time, only focusing on what’s at our feet without foresight would still lead us astray.”

“And also, only by daring to break through can we make progress—none of the previous projects succeeded because of ‘playing it safe’.”

“Could it be… Mr. Pei, you think my current idea is still too cautious?”

Pei Qian nodded—the class representative had summarized well, a promising talent.

Cai Jiadong appeared thoughtful.

“Indeed…”

“When Chi Xing Studio was just starting, VR games hadn’t appeared yet, and making a game like ‘Animal Island’ was already considered a relatively risky move.”

“But now that Doubt VR glasses have succeeded, methodically making another conventional VR game wouldn’t count as taking a risk anymore.”

Lin Wan thought for a moment, then said: “So, Mr. Pei, you mean we should continue increasing investment in VR games while making a very novel game that no one has created before?”

Pei Qian nodded with satisfaction: “Exactly, that’s what I mean!”

“Don’t fear failure—if you fear failure, you’ll never achieve true success.”

The implication was: if you keep resting on your laurels and making money, how can I withstand it?

They definitely needed to take more risks and experience more failures to squander this considerable fortune.

Lin Wan and Cai Jiadong both nodded, with expressions of sudden realization on their faces.

Indeed, Mr. Pei’s way of looking at problems remained so unique and incisive!

But what new idea did Mr. Pei have this time?

Pei Qian cleared his throat and said: “This time, my idea is to make a game with a realistic theme.”

“The game will be set in Jingzhou, with a realistic art style, detailed modeling, real motion capture—the investment must be enormous!”

“And the character’s profession in the game… is a rather annoying and boring profession in reality.”

Putting the most annoying profession from reality into a game, letting players identify with this profession—shouldn’t that disgust players enough to leave?

And with a realistic theme, it sounded boring just thinking about it.

As for what this profession might be…

There were many options; Pei Qian hadn’t fully decided.

He looked at Lin Wan and Cai Jiadong, clearly relying on their imagination at this point.

Lin Wan and Cai Jiadong looked at each other, neither immediately guessing what profession Mr. Pei wanted to suggest.

After a moment of silence, Cai Jiadong tentatively said: “Uh… real estate agent?”

Pei Qian immediately slapped the table: “Exactly, that’s it!”

Real estate agents in reality were definitely quite an annoying profession.

Of course, this wasn’t about how most real estate agents were as people, but rather the nature of the work and the nature of most real estate agencies made this job difficult.

If they had other options, many people wouldn’t choose this line of work.

Making this into a game—even thinking about it casually felt extremely tedious and would surely drive players away.

The basic gameplay would essentially involve constantly showing houses to customers and selling properties, merely clicking dialogue options on the screen—gameplay completely lacking in depth.

Such a boring game using detailed modeling and real motion capture would be quite wasteful.

The game would also contain a large amount of useless dialogue and text, all with real voice acting—another expense that burned money without purpose.

With such an absurd game, it should be impossible to make money, right?

Actually, Pei Qian hadn’t initially decided exactly what kind of professional simulator to make, but hearing Cai Jiadong’s suggestion, he suddenly felt a real estate agent simulator was quite suitable.

This was it!

Pei Qian stood up, preparing to leave.

Before leaving, he added: “Of course, this is just my somewhat immature little idea. If you feel it’s unsuitable, you can do something else.”

“Also, you need thorough preparation before project development—starting next month at the earliest.”

Nominally, Tenda Group and Chi Xing Studio were only in an investment relationship; Pei Qian couldn’t “order” Chi Xing Studio to develop a specific game.

But Pei Qian believed Lin Wan and the others would definitely follow through.

…

After Mr. Pei left, Lin Wan and Cai Jiadong transitioned from one kind of confusion to another.

Mr. Pei had indeed pointed them in a direction, but it sounded somewhat impractical.

Cai Jiadong said: “Director Lin, according to Mr. Pei…”

“A game featuring real estate agents could only be a ‘Real Estate Agent Simulator’…”

“But what’s worth simulating about that?”

“The work of real estate agents is extremely monotonous—every day is basically showing properties to clients, posting online, finding listings, and so on.”

“Many people are reluctant to do this job in reality, let alone play it as a game?”

Lin Wan’s expression was solemn as she fell into deep thought.

“If Mr. Pei says it can be done, then there must be enough gameplay elements to support it.”

“Games should be based on reality but transcend reality.”

“We could design it like this: The protagonist starts as a novice real estate agent who rents an apartment, and their job is to show properties to customers, introduce houses, and earn commissions. But as the game progresses, they can open their own company and build their own brand.”

“In the early stages, the protagonist primarily shows houses. Different clients have different preferences—whether to honestly disclose a property’s flaws or deceive customers will have corresponding consequences.”

“Once the protagonist is promoted to store manager, they gain a certain autonomy to modify house layouts and renovate older properties to attract more customers and profit from rental price differences.”

“Later, after establishing their brand, the protagonist can customize furniture with manufacturers and perform deep renovations according to their preferred style. They can also save money to buy their own house, where they can rest and engage in some simple entertainment.”

“Calculating it this way, the game’s gameplay is quite rich. It can be both a real estate agent simulator, evaluating property flaws and communicating with customers to close deals, and a renovation simulator, planning room arrangements and decorative styles with system-provided scores.”

“We could even collaborate with Sloth Apartments and qualified furniture manufacturers for in-game tie-ins.”

“In VR perspective, players can clearly see a house’s structure and layout, which would also be helpful for people who need to buy or rent houses in reality.”