The news of "World of Warcraft" swept through the entire game industry like a storm.

Everyone was surprised that Jester leaked the news in a very ordinary interview, because such a major news should be to choose a cautious date and then announce it, and by the way, invite some media to hype the news.

However, some people think about it, in fact, this is also Jester's style, and Jester's new game was originally highly anticipated, and it didn't need much publicity at all, at least not at the beginning, and the later publicity must be done, just like the future GTA series, which is famous enough, but their GTA5 still has to come up with close to $100 million in publicity costs.

Many people wonder if it's worth it.

The realistic answer is, it's worth it.

There's a more formal interview afterwards, a press conference to be exact, and after the carnival, Jester answers some topics of interest to the outside world, of course, there's the feeling they're hyping during this time, there's Super Balotelli Galaxy, there's Jester just announced his next game, World of Warcraft, and of course, there are some other questions.

For example, a point that many people are concerned about.

That is, since Sega has made an announcement without concealment, their next-generation console is about to be released, and the game "Shenmue" specially developed for next-generation consoles has also entered the final sprint stage, doesn't Mars Entertainment have the slightest response test? Isn't there a new super-sized sandbox game in the works?

No one believed that.

So, take this opportunity to ask Jester.

Faced with this expected question, Jester was not surprised, he smiled and glanced at the reporter he just asked, and then looked around at the scene, and found that the vast majority of people were very interested in this question.

So, he cleared his throat first.

Then he said, "How do you say that?" Sandbox games, especially a super-sized sandbox game like this, is a very large project, probably the biggest project in the industry so far, and when I started working on the groundbreaking title of Heroes, it took a lot of trying, so the number of people needed was very large. ”

"It's a lot easier now, after all, the team doesn't need to be like explorers to try and explore, but it's still a big team, as far as I know. Hiroshi Suzuki's Shenmue has a development team of 150 people, and a game of this size may take three months just to start the project. ”

"And I have my new plan, which has been running for two years, from the time Super Balotelli Galaxy started to develop, World of Warcraft started the initial design, and my next game will take up a lot of my time, and it will also be the largest game in the history of PC gaming, and I can even assert that for a long time. There probably won't be a PC game project as big as this game. ”

When Jester said this, everyone present showed a look of surprise.

"Is it a PC exclusive?"

Someone asked, and Jester nodded without hesitation: "Yes, this game is a PC exclusive." I said at GDC a few years ago that Super Balotelli Galaxy would be my last console game. ”

Hearing Jester talk about the time he said at GDC a few years ago, many reporters also recalled.

Originally, many people thought that after so many years, Jester had regained his passion and motivation for game development. It doesn't seem to be so.

It seems that Jester has already had his own plan, and now that things are going according to his plan, he still hasn't changed what he said at GDC. In other words, this legendary developer in the game industry will most likely officially retire after "World of Warcraft", and everyone present was also a little moved when he thought of this.

"Yes, my plans remain the same, and World of Warcraft will basically be my last game." Jester once again admitted it.

After that, he continued where he had been interrupted.

"So, if you really want to do such a big project and a large-scale sandbox game within the company, it must be considered for a long time, and I don't think you have received any news about this, right?" When Jester said this, many people also laughed, indeed, reporters in the industry like them will definitely have many acquaintances in Mars Entertainment.

Although it is unlikely that some particularly confidential things will be revealed, it is impossible to hide things that are not going on with a big project.

And now these reporters also know that at present, except for the game "World of Warcraft" that Jester is about to start, which may be a very large-scale project, there is indeed no project that can be compared with "Shenmue" in the headquarters of Mars Entertainment.

Even those well-known studios that are not at the headquarters.

As for whether all Mars Entertainment studios don't have it, it's hard to say, because there are still a lot of studios under Mars Entertainment, and it is impossible to cover everything, but such a big project, even if it is handed over to the studio, then it will definitely be handed over to some well-known development teams, not to those obscure development teams.

Coupled with Mars Entertainment's shark policy for its development team.

Only the best ones can survive, so those who are generally not famous are likely to disappear after a while, and in this case, they are not able to take on such a big project.

While the reporters were concluding their speculations, Jester said: "We really don't have a huge project like Shenmue, at least for now, but I can tell you that we do have an experimental sandbox game in development, and this game is not large, at least not bigger than the Shenmue depicted by Yuzu Suzuki." ”

"Of course, there are some interesting connections between the game and Shenmue. For example, the setting of this game is also modern, but Shenmue, according to Mr. Suzuki, is set in Japan, Hong Kong, and Z in the 80s, and our game is actually set in a certain city in the United States...... I can even tell you that this city is Apple City, which is New York. ”

Jester's answer can be said to have taken everyone by surprise, even the other Mars Entertainment executive sitting next to him.

Because he didn't know about the game.

"It's not a game that's being developed at headquarters, it's being developed by one of our studios."

Jester smiled and continued to explain, and then someone immediately asked, "Can you leak it then?" What exactly is this game? ”

This question made Jester hesitate for a moment, but after thinking about it for a while, Jester nodded: "I can say that this game may be about crime or gangsters - it can only be said that this was the case in the original development plan, and you also know that we respect all the rights of developers to develop the game, and I will not interfere with their ideas, so what will happen to this game." It's still hard to judge. ”

"Can you tell us a little bit more about the game?"

Faced with this question, Jester shook his head: "This is not the project I am responsible for, although I am constantly paying attention, but more information. I don't think there's anything to comment on, but I can assure you that the game will be great because I talked to their producers. They've made great games before, and they're very talented. Very hard...... They have all the ingredients necessary to succeed. ”

Jester was sure.

This suddenly made the reporters present feel a little strange, because according to Jester's statement, it is certainly not an obscure studio or game company that is now in charge of the development of this game.

It must have been famous before.

But those studios under Mars Entertainment are famous, and they have basically inquired before, and they have not heard of such a plan.

Unless......

Yes, the brains of these reporters are also turning quickly, unless it is a newly acquired game company in the last year or so, this game company may have made more famous games before, but after being acquired by Mars Entertainment, it has been developing new games, so it has not been taken seriously yet.

However, in their memory, there does not seem to be any company that has been acquired recently, even if the time is pushed back to more than two years, the several famous studios that have been acquired, except for those who have been disbanded for their own reasons, do not seem to have any rumors, they are working on any particularly major large-scale projects, which makes many people suddenly fall into deep thought.

In this case, there is only one possibility.

Many people think of another possibility, which is that Mars Entertainment didn't just buy game studios in the United States, in fact, they acquired them all over the world.

Although there are many in the United States, there are also many in Japan and Europe.

So, is the studio that Jester is talking about developing a new sandbox game in Europe or Japan?

In summary, Jester said, the background of this theme is the United States, so since it is not from the United States, it is very likely that it means that it is a European studio, and it should not be Japanese, because this style of game is obviously not good at Japanese companies, and in terms of PC game development, the Japanese are not as good as European.

Thinking of this, then basically all the mysteries are solved.

Immediately I think of the game company that Jester bought a little more than a year ago, which was previously headquartered in Northern Ireland, but the game company has moved to the United States after being acquired by Jester, as if the location is New York.

"Rock Star!"

Soon, someone came up with the name of this studio, which is an extremely unfamiliar name to them, because there is no game developed as a studio with this name, but it is also what Jester said, indeed, the predecessor of this game company, is indeed somewhat famous, and their GTA series is also well-known in the American market.

Moreover, this game is also a gangster and crime game.

However, there is a problem that the reputation of this game series is not very good, because the content of the game is too violent, so it is often criticized by the mainstream game media.

When Jester bought this company and changed its name, they still felt that this game media was preparing to make this game company change its ways, and would not make such games again, but I didn't expect that combined with a general game type of the game that Jester said just now, it turned out to be what this game company that has changed its name to Rock Star is good at.

"Could it be that this game you're talking about is the one you're going to use to compete with Sega's Shenmue?"

A reporter immediately asked, after thinking about all this.

"Nope."

Jester denied this in the first place.

"First of all, I want to emphasize that there is never any competition between games and games, because players don't play a game, and we never develop games to compete with our opponents, but this game is really fun, and we should develop it for players to play, which is a crucial point, so I don't understand what you mean, what is called this game we are to compete with Shenmue."

When Jester said this, the reporter was suddenly a little speechless.

Soon, though, he reorganized the language: "I mean, the same sandbox game, the same modern setting, and even more likely to be released around the same time......"

But before he could finish, Jester interrupted him.

"I think this gentleman, you have some assumptions, we just saw the project and thought it was great, you can try it, it's that simple, you can think of this game as we will use this game to snipe Mr. Suzuki Yu's "Shenmue", with all due respect, you can't help but underestimate Mr. Suzuki Yu, right?"

Hearing Jester say this, many people also nodded.

You said that this game was developed by Jester, and it's almost the same as sniping "Shenmue", but it's just a small company that hasn't yet become famous, what does he rely on to snipe Suzuki Yu, a god who can be compared to Shigeru Miyamoto in the game world? (To be continued.) )