This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 146 - 119: Match-Fixing Rumors

The game expo has closed.

But Chen Ba didn’t return to Jiangning; instead, he transferred from Neon to Los Angeles.

There are two reasons.

First, the studio’s renovation isn’t finished yet, and returning now would make it difficult to work properly.

Second, the first overseas match of the GAL League is about to begin, and as the league chairman, it’s only right for him to show up and express his stance.

"...Good evening to the audience at the venue and in front of the screens! Welcome to watch the first match of the Star Emperor Golden Era League at the Los Angeles Station. I am Void, providing commentary in Chinese for this match."

"Hello everyone, this is Wushi!"

"Wow! Everyone must be able to hear the deafening cheers in the venue. The live audience is incredibly enthusiastic!"

"Indeed, the Staples Center should be packed today; everyone is anticipating the upcoming face-off between strong teams!"

"That’s right! A special thanks to Huazi, NVIDIA, Intel, Microsoft, Sang, Herman Miller...for their tremendous support for this match!"

"Also, let everyone know that the Star Emperor officially authorized Logitech mouse is now available at Xianyu Digital. Interested players can scan the QR code at the bottom of the screen for more details..."

After finishing a long list of sponsors, akin to reading off a menu, Void and Wushi on the commentary desk moved on to introduce today’s special guest commentator—GameBugs!

"Welcome Ba!"

"Welcome welcome, Ba should have come over from Neon, right?"

"Yes!"

This was Chen Ba’s first time experiencing game commentary, and he was a bit tongue-tied. Upon hearing the question, he nodded and replied, "I flew over right after the game expo closed."

"Everyone knows that Ba is our GAL Alliance chairman, holding lots of inside information. Could you share some rumors about transfers during the transfer period with us?"

"Transfer period?!"

Fiddling with his earphones, Chen Ba was puzzled upon hearing this and said, "The transfer period isn’t for a few months, so where do these rumors come from?"

"But there are online rumors that Intel Team’s Xu Xiaofei is about to join AMD, and they’ve even signed an intention contract."

"That’s absolutely false!"

Chen Ba debunked the rumor, saying, "For such off-field news, I suggest everyone view it rationally and focus more on the players’ performances in the arena. If there are any personnel changes during the transfer period, we’ll inform everyone immediately."

The transfer period hasn’t happened yet; how could Xu Xiaofei transfer? Did they really think he made the rules for nothing?

Let’s just say the rumor is absurd.

Chen Ba emphasized the importance of rules and the penalties for violating them, thus officially refuting the rumor.

Wushi and Void also noticed that Ba didn’t want to dwell on this topic, so they shifted the conversation to the entry of the two gaming console giants, Sony and Microsoft.

"Exactly!"

"The GAL Alliance has already approved the formation of these two teams, and they will also be registering to participate in the New York Station competition."

Upon hearing this, Wushi and Void immediately asked a widely curious question for the audience: "So Ba, how do you think these two console companies will perform in GAL?"

"It’s hard to say."

Although Chen Ba didn’t have high hopes for their performance, he couldn’t publicly declare any team underperforming.

He was aware that his words and actions could greatly impact these teams, so some thoughts are best kept to oneself rather than aired publicly.

Let’s focus on today’s match.

After winning consecutive championships at Zhonghai Station and Peng City Station, NVIDIA’s popularity soared, with almost everyone expecting them to continue winning until they claimed the annual championship.

This time at Los Angeles Station, the opening match was a familiar showdown between A card and N card.

The commentators needed to make predictions.

Void and Wushi didn’t hesitate to support NVIDIA to take the lead, while only Chen Ba sided with AMD.

"AMD has its strengths, and they recently signed a controller player last month, whose trial performance was reportedly impressive..."

The transfer rules restricted player transfers, but club signings of free agents and new players weren’t under the same control.

So Chen Ba was aware of AMD discovering a controller prodigy, and he even knew more inside info than the average person.

This controller prodigy was genuinely talented, making easy work out of ranking games with his best character.

Of course, he wasn’t as strong as Xu Xiaofei.

But at the moment, this controller player from Lucia seemed to be the second-best in the GAL League, second only to Xu Xiaofei.

So Chen Ba was optimistic about AMD’s revenge.

And indeed, that was the case...

NVIDIA’s two consecutive championships were due to their hardware advantage, catching other teams off guard.

When AMD also started to showcase lab techniques, narrowing the hardware gap and introducing a controller prodigy, NVIDIA faltered.

"For NVIDIA to aim for the annual championship, they must quickly address their weaknesses, primarily by signing strong professional players."

What kind of lousy players are those?

The issues that commentators and spectators could see shouldn’t be unnoticed by NVIDIA.

But they had no choice; entering late, all the promising talents were signed by other teams, and they could only pick a few appealing players from high-ranking newcomers to fill their team.

If they could dominate with hardware advantages, that wouldn’t be a problem; but if the hardware differences aren’t significant, encountering a tough competitor like AMD would inevitably lead to failure.

"Do they have coaches and analysts now?"

After watching two matches from the commentary desk, Chen Ba was surprised to find out that AMD had already formed professional coaching and analysis teams and started maneuvering during the BP stage.