Seeing the caller's name, Gu Sheng raised an eyebrow slightly.

Then he made a shushing gesture, answered the call, and turned on speakerphone,

"Hello, Chairman Jiang."

Gu Sheng greeted with a relaxed tone, completely different from the seriousness during the meeting just now.

From the other end, Jiang Yingcai's voice immediately came through:

"Ah, President Gu, am I disturbing you?"

"Not at all, not at all, hehe,"

Gu Sheng chuckled:

"What instructions does Chairman Jiang have?"

Jiang Yingcai knew Gu Sheng was joking and laughed heartily, then paused before saying:

"But I do have something I want to discuss with you today."

Here it comes.

Hearing this, Gu Sheng perked up, and all the Golden Wind executives present straightened their postures, focusing intently.

Everyone knew what it meant for the CDEA to call suddenly at this moment.

Indeed, Vice President Moriya's information was indeed well-informed; even though he had left Komera long ago, he could still obtain information about Illusion Engine's price adjustments.

But as the only semi-official leading organization in all of Huaguo, the CDEA naturally wouldn't find it difficult to grasp similar information.

Jiang Yingcai usually didn't bother them without reason.

A classic case of not visiting the temple without a purpose.

And now, coinciding with this timing, Jiang Yingcai was calling.

What he wanted to say was self-evident.

Gu Sheng nodded: "Please go ahead, Chairman Jiang."

"Hmm... where should I start..."

After a thoughtful hum, Jiang Yingcai pondered for a moment and spoke slowly:

"It's like this, President Gu. I don't know if you've heard any rumors recently about price adjustments from the American Illusion Engine company."

"Well, I've heard some rumors,"

Gu Sheng answered somewhat ambiguously, wanting to hear more about what Jiang Yingcai knew:

"But they're not very accurate. Chairman Jiang, you know me—I'm generally not very interested in such hearsay... so... is it really happening?"

"Hehehe, hmm—"

Hearing this, Jiang Yingcai let out a bitter laugh over the phone:

"President Gu, this time the news really isn't like those exaggerated rumors from before. Based on what we've learned, this time Illusion's price adjustment policy is practically set in stone..."

As he spoke.

Jiang Yingcai explained everything he knew about the situation to Gu Sheng in detail.

It was basically identical to the information Moriya had obtained.

Meaning this price adjustment was already decided by Illusion and they were determined to push it through.

Illusion was determined to strangle not just their Golden Wind, but the entire Huaguo gaming industry.

"...And the impact doesn't stop there,"

Jiang Yingcai continued:

"You should know that this time Illusion's differential treatment targets 'all enterprises registered in Huaguo',"

"You might not be fully aware, but over recent years, with Huaguo gaming companies led by your Golden Wind gaining prominence internationally, our market environment has been improving steadily,"

"Not only have our domestic enterprises like Yiyou, Nuyan, Tianlang, etc., been advancing triumphantly internationally,"

"The market development and policy support have also attracted interest from many foreign investors. Countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and even Qatar from West Asia have been participating or preparing to participate in our development to some extent,"

"However,"

"With this news now circulating, many interested investment groups have chosen to adopt a wait-and-see approach,"

"It's not just the gaming industry; even some related high-tech industries are worried about being affected and have temporarily slowed their registration and investment steps,"

"The higher-ups are now... quite concerned about this situation,"

"And as the flagship enterprise, your Golden Wind's position and importance—I don't need to elaborate, right?"

Hearing this!

Gu Sheng slowly took a deep breath.

Jiang Yingcai's words clearly addressed something he hadn't considered earlier.

Indeed.

Today's Golden Wind was no longer the small workshop with "just over a dozen people and a handful of resources" from before.

As a company that had been featured four times in China Daily and officially praised as a "representative of emerging national enterprises," they now bore not only their own profits and losses but also social responsibilities.

This was inevitable.

As they say, rights and obligations go hand in hand.

Since they enjoyed the rights befitting a flagship leader, they naturally should fulfill their corresponding obligations.

Although it might sound absurd that a company with less than ten billion in scale could become the industry's flagship leader—even somewhat unbelievable.

But that was the reality.

Otherwise!

Why would CloudPower Vivendi, backing Illusion, choose to impose sanctions not earlier or later, but right after Golden Wind launched their first next-gen FPS milestone, Call of Duty, targeting them and even the entire Huaguo gaming industry with differential treatment sanctions?

Clearly.

This was aimed directly at their Golden Wind!

This not only meant CloudPower coveted their priceless IPs!

It also meant that capital organizations centered around Vivendi would not allow Huaguo to rise in this rapidly developing industry.

Huaguo's gaming market was enormous, but now this market, which should have been theirs to exploit freely, was deviating from its "intended position."

This could be seen not just in game sales, but even in motion-sensing pod market share—

Three years ago, when Golden Wind was founded, the combined market share of motion-sensing pods from the two comprehensive gaming giants, CloudPower and Komera, in Huaguo was 52%.

As of now, three and a half years after Golden Wind's establishment, the domestic market share of the two domestic motion-sensing pods from Yiyou and XunTeng had reached an astonishing 68%!

In less than four short years, the two international giants had suffered consecutive defeats, their market shares shrinking repeatedly.

From initially holding an undisputed half of the market to now barely matching Yiyou and XunTeng's combined share in a three-way split.

Such continuous decline and contraction were absolutely unacceptable to them.

As for games.

Don't even mention it.

Uekoe Kagemasa didn't want to talk about it, and Konik didn't either.

And tracing back the cause.

Everything, everything was inextricably linked to Golden Wind.

The Huaguo industry must be suppressed, Golden Wind must die.

This was the fundamental purpose behind Illusion's current price adjustment strategy.

At this point, Jiang Yingcai said:

"And as Huaguo's flagship leader..."

...

"...This position rightfully belongs to you two, please sit, Chairman Shen."

"...Exactly, President Gu, everyone here today is among friends, no need to stand on ceremony, please sit."

The next day!

Regarding this matter, the CDEA took the lead in organizing a non-public meeting.

Participants included not only heavyweight manufacturers like Yiyou and XunTeng.

Medium-sized manufacturers like Jiahua Games, Meiying Technology, Qunfeng Technology, Jifeng Studio, etc., also sent their leading representatives.

The head of the large conference table naturally belonged to the current CDEA Chairman Jiang Yingcai and Vice Chairman Zheng Yingzi.

And opposite the main seats, Gu Sheng and Shen Miaomiao were being "escorted" to their seats by Yan Sheng and Chen Guangde.

Logically, these were the leading manufacturer representative seats. In the past, these positions would unquestionably belong to Yiyou and XunTeng, the two largest comprehensive gaming companies in Huaguo.

But now.

As soon as they arrived at the venue, Chen Guangde and Yan Sheng, as if having coordinated beforehand, brought Gu Sheng and Shen Miaomiao to the head seats.

Making the Gu couple look like they were being forced into leadership roles.

"Ah—"

Gu Sheng was firmly pressed into his seat by Chen Guangde. Exchanging a look with Little Nezha beside him, he shook his head with a bitter smile:

"Having me sit in this position, President Chen, President Yan, you're really putting me in a difficult spot..."

"This is called 'with great power comes great responsibility',"

Yan Sheng laughed heartily:

"Chairman Shen, President Gu, this matter is no small issue; even the higher-ups are paying close attention. Neither Old Chen nor I are suitable for this position."

"Right, right,"

Chen Guangde also nodded repeatedly:

"Now that our Huaguo brothers can be self-reliant domestically and stand firm internationally, where does this confidence come from, what do we rely on—everyone knows very well. President Gu and Chairman Shen, please don't decline any further. Let's focus on solving the problem."

With the two major manufacturers speaking like this, medium-sized manufacturers like Meiying Technology and Jifeng Studio nearby also chimed in support:

"Yes, President Gu, right now everyone feels uncertain and needs a central pillar."

"Exactly, this time Illusion is going too far, clearly targeting us. President Gu, you need to come up with a plan."

"President Chen is right, we're all here to solve problems. Don't worry about this position, Chairman Shen, you can sit firmly."

"Indeed, you can sit firmly, sit firmly..."

...

Amid the chorus of voices!

Gu Sheng and Shen Miaomiao exchanged a look and had no choice but to nod in silent acceptance, settling into the manufacturer leader seats.

Then, shortly after, as Jiang Yingcai and Zheng Yingzi, the two association heads, took their positions, the meeting commenced.

Since today's meeting wasn't a formal public conference, Jiang Yingcai didn't give lengthy opening remarks but got straight to the point, first explaining the current situation.

"...Without a doubt,"

Jiang Yingcai said:

"The current situation, in the leaders' words, is 'the fire is singeing our eyebrows'."

Hearing this, all the manufacturer representatives shrank their necks slightly.

Everyone had an idea of what level Jiang Yingcai meant by "leaders."

And for top leaders to use phrases like "the fire is singeing our eyebrows" sufficiently demonstrated how seriously the higher-ups viewed this situation.

"Therefore, the most urgent priority now is to break the deadlock, overcome the blockade, and forge a new path of independent research and development for Huaguo in the shortest time possible. This not only concerns the survival of our own emerging industry but also presents the best opportunity to showcase Huaguo's speed to potential investors,"

As he spoke, Jiang Yingcai lifted his gaze from his meeting notes and looked at the manufacturer representatives present:

"So now I'd like to know, among the manufacturers present here, which ones possess self-developed engine technology?"

As soon as these words were spoken.

The representatives looked at each other.

Finally, only Chen Guangde raised his hand:

"We have one..."

As the only enterprise with a self-developed engine in the entire room.

Logically, Chen Guangde should be immensely proud at this moment.

But in fact, his face showed not pride but rather some embarrassment.

Because their engine...

Hadn't been updated for ages.

Yes.

Fireline Shuttle, developed by Tianlang Studio, used the self-developed Micro-Light Engine by the XunTeng team.

But!

This engine had been around for almost ten years, essentially XunTeng's "legacy engine."

Moreover, since players kept buying Fireline Shuttle even without engine updates, for convenience during the subsequent motion-sensing pod porting process, the engine was also ported to the motion-sensing pod end to save costs and allow direct copying.

As for plans to update the engine, they kept being postponed until eventually no one even mentioned engine updates anymore.

And this!

Was actually the only self-developed engine currently available among the many Huaguo game manufacturers.

"Hmm......"

Hearing this, Jiang Yingcai nodded, waved at Chen Guangde, and turned his gaze to Gu Sheng, who was frowning in deep thought:

"President Gu, do you have any thoughts?"

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by lotustale.com