Meanwhile, at Shangyang Games.
Wang Xiaobin was currently in the recreation room, happily sipping his soda while playing “Safe and Civilized Driving.”
How blissful!
Since returning from his suffering journey, this sense of happiness had persisted for several days with no signs of fading.
For some reason, he felt that his spirit had been elevated. Previously, he hadn’t considered coming to work as something joyful or happy, but now he suddenly enjoyed the feeling.
Whether working at the company or playing games, there was a sense of happiness and satisfaction, which was truly quite magical.
Counting on his fingers, there were only three or four days left until the Spring Festival holiday.
This also meant that since December last year, Wang Xiaobin had spent less than three days working at the company. First, there were two months of paid suffering, and after returning, he had barely worked a few days before it was time for another holiday.
A person who wanted to work diligently was constantly troubled by various holidays.
Ah, how annoying!
The key issue was that since his return, the game “Safe and Civilized Driving” had already been completed, leaving him with nothing to do. Besides playing games, he had no other work to do.
This was quite frustrating.
As he was driving in the game, footsteps were heard outside the break room, and Ye Zhizhou walked in with a document.
Wang Xiaobin immediately paused the game, stood up and asked, “Has the cooperation plan with Stepher Motors and Shenhua been finalized?”
Ye Zhizhou nodded: “Yes, it’s been finalized. Very efficiently too.”
Wang Xiaobin wasn’t surprised by this.
Shenhua, Stepher, and Tenda could be described as a powerful alliance, easily creating a win-win-win situation. With Lin Wan’s connections, the negotiation would certainly go smoothly.
He was more concerned about the specific cooperation plan.
Ye Zhizhou casually pulled up a chair next to him and handed the document to Wang Xiaobin.
Wang Xiaobin flipped through it; this was the detailed plan for the three-party cooperation.
“So, this new brand is called Apex? And this mass-production model is called Apex K1?”
Ye Zhizhou nodded: “Yes. The name ‘Apex’ has three layers of meaning.”
“First, from a literal perspective, it conveys an image of aggressive advancement, emphasizing a state of pushing technology to the extreme and displaying brilliance.”
“Second, ‘Ji’ (极) makes people think of electrodes, while ‘Feng’ (锋) reminds people of the Blade Battery that Stepher is about to release.”
“Lastly, ‘Jifeng’ (极锋) is a specialized term in climatology. It refers to a large cold front, a semi-permanent front between polar air masses and tropical air masses, marking the boundary between cold polar airflow and tropical airflow. It’s often accompanied by cyclones, heavy rain, and strong winds. This also suggests that this car will bring a completely new trend to domestic automobile enterprises, representing a collision between tradition and new trends.”
“The car logo is also derived from this concept.”
“As for the model K1, it means that the Apex brand will have three series of cars: the K series for regular family sedans, the L series for extended comfort sedans, and the M series for energetic sports models. This release only features the K series.”
Wang Xiaobin looked at the logo and found that it was formed by two parts: the bottom layer was a cold V-shape, and above the V-shape were two semi-arcs, resembling “)(“, intersecting with the V-shape.
The V represented the cold front and descending cold air currents, while the “)(” represented rising warm air currents.
The meeting of cold and warm air currents—this was Apex.
Wang Xiaobin nodded: “Hmm… I think this name sounds much better than Stepher, it’s memorable, has good meaning, and most importantly, the logo looks quite good and aligns with the futuristic feel of new energy vehicles.”
He flipped through the document a bit more: “Installing the AEEIS system and AEEIS voice packages as options for users to choose? Wow, is this appropriate?”
Ye Zhizhou smiled slightly: “Why wouldn’t it be appropriate? AEEIS has been hugely successful in smart home systems and mobile assistants; its image has deeply resonated with people.”
“Besides, AEEIS is just an optional feature. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to use it.”
Wang Xiaobin thought for a moment: “So if I encounter a reckless driver on the road and I’m at a loss for words to express my frustration, can I let AEEIS handle it?”
Ye Zhizhou was silent for a moment: “Theoretically, we don’t encourage such behavior, but if a car owner insists on using it, our advice is to use it moderately while ensuring personal safety.”
Regarding the car itself, this was Tenda’s only collaborative project.
This was normal, after all, this car model had been jointly developed by Stepher Motors and Shenhua Group for several years. It was about to enter mass production, and many aspects couldn’t be changed anymore. Being able to integrate AEEIS was already quite an achievement.
But this didn’t mean Tenda was just playing a minor role, as there were other collaborative details further on.
“The launch event for this car is scheduled during the Spring Festival? This… isn’t this a bit too intense?” Wang Xiaobin felt uncomfortable with this, as it was very un-Tenda-like.
Ye Zhizhou nodded: “Can’t help it, this was the timing decided by Stepher Motors and Shenhua Group.”
“The Spring Festival holiday is actually a good time, quite conducive to quickly generating buzz.”
“The only problem is that some staff will have to return on the second day of the New Year to prepare for the launch event, but they’ve already arranged compensatory time off for the employees, so it shouldn’t be a big issue.”
“This project has been planned by Stepher Motors and Tenda Group for several years, so naturally they want to choose the best time to launch. As for the employees’ holidays, they’ll just have to make a small sacrifice.”
“But our Shangyang Games won’t be affected. The model of this car should be completed and updated into the game before the New Year.”
Wang Xiaobin realized something: “Wait, so our game gets it first, and then the new car launch event happens a few days later?”
Ye Zhizhou nodded: “That’s right.”
“This…” Wang Xiaobin scratched his head, feeling that something seemed odd.
Even with authorization, surely the new car should be launched first before appearing in the game?
How could a real car have a “game debut”? Was that appropriate?
Ye Zhizhou smiled slightly: “This involves a special promotional strategy.”
“In the game ‘Safe and Civilized Driving,’ we’ll deliberately hide some information. This time, three Stepher cars will be added at once—two older models with the K1 sandwiched between them. And we’ll equip this K1 with self-driving technology.”
“During the launch event, Stepher and Shenhua will officially showcase the Blade Battery and self-driving technology.”
“In short, just wait for the show to begin during the Spring Festival!”
…
…
February 5th, Tuesday.
Pei Qian was in his office, still racking his brains over his graduation thesis.
This year’s Spring Festival was on February 10th, which was this weekend, with only a few days remaining.
Considering that he wouldn’t be able to write a single word of his thesis during the Spring Festival holiday at home, Pei Qian wanted to make an effort in these two days before the holiday to build the framework of his thesis as much as possible.
After pondering for so many days, there should be some progress, right? The sooner he finished his thesis, the sooner he could focus on losing money!
While deep in thought, there was a knock on the office door.
Looking up, he saw it was Yu Fei.
“Hmm? What’s the matter?” Pei Qian asked.
Yu Fei’s expression was somewhat awkward: “Well, Mr. Pei… I wanted to talk about something…”
Pei Qian was immediately on alert: “Hmm? Don’t tell me you want to leave again?”
Yu Fei coughed twice: “Ahem, Mr. Pei, although it might seem like I’m letting down your expectations and nurturing, but… you’ve seen the situation with ‘Ghost General 2.’ I feel that compared to Tenda’s previous games, it hasn’t reached the expected level.”
“This game is currently only popular within the niche circle of fighting game enthusiasts, and in terms of sales and popularity, there’s a significant gap compared to previous Tenda games…”
“I feel that I’m not quite suited for the role of lead designer. Now that the game has been released and the New Year is approaching, and I’ve also managed to write the beginning of my new book intermittently… so…”
Pei Qian was immediately displeased.
You want to leave? How can you leave!
“Ghost General 2” isn’t making money now, which is a good thing!
If it were making huge profits, I might not stop you if you were determined to leave, but under the current circumstances, how could I let you go?
Impossible!
Pei Qian smiled: “Why do you think the situation with ‘Ghost General 2’ isn’t optimistic? I think it has completely met my expectations! Look, being able to satisfy core players means the quality of the game is quite solid.”
“Since the game’s quality isn’t an issue, isn’t it just a matter of time before ordinary players start liking it too?”
“So, with the New Year approaching, what’s the rush? I think you’re just putting too much pressure on yourself and being too strict with your own standards. You’re doing a good job, why do you keep underestimating yourself?”
“In any case, let’s wait and see. Whatever issues there are, we can discuss them after the New Year.”
Yu Fei opened his mouth, his expression conflicted.
He couldn’t understand why Mr. Pei was so determined to keep him.
Previously, when working on “Eternal Cycle,” he was the original author of the novel, so he was familiar with the story, which was why keeping him made sense.
Later, due to the success of “Eternal Cycle,” having him develop “Ghost General 2” was also reasonable.
But the problem was that now “Ghost General 2” had been released, and due to its niche genre, sales weren’t impressive.
He had already proven with his actions that he wasn’t cut out for this, the hard data was there for all to see, and he had repeatedly insisted on leaving. Shouldn’t Mr. Pei’s attitude have softened a bit by now?
However, that wasn’t the case. Mr. Pei, as always, adamantly refused to let Yu Fei leave.
This was absurd!
Seeing Mr. Pei’s firm attitude, Yu Fei had no choice but to compromise once again.
“Alright, Mr. Pei, I’ll hang on a bit longer… but after the New Year, you really must start selecting a new head for the gaming department! I really can’t hold on much longer!”
Pei Qian nodded: “Alright, definitely after the New Year!”