Video Game Tycoon in Tokyo-Chapter 945: I Must Apply for One

Now, watching Battle.net flourish, Myron Case could only feel powerless.

He had already pushed his development teams to create better games. Lately, he had even ventured into AI development, hoping to find the next breakthrough there.

As for defeating Gamestar? He'd given up on that dream. It was simply impossible now.

But the Battle.net model—that was something he could learn from.

He had his own operating system and could attract developers by offering a lower revenue share, or even buyout-style licenses to bring quality titles into his ecosystem.

If developers still weren't convinced, he could offer free assistance from his team to help with porting their games, asking only for a distribution license in return. The developers would get free promotion, and maybe even a tidy profit—why wouldn't they agree to that?

Back on stage, Belrade's presentation of Battle.net's impressive metrics had stirred up major hype among players.

He then moved on to announce Battle.net's next major roadmap for the coming years.

The first major initiative: a remastering project for older games.

These remasters would be powered by the latest Unreal Engine technology and incorporate AI-assisted upscaling and enhancement.

On one hand, it was a test of how effective AI could be in remastering games. On the other, it was about making older games more appealing to newer players.

At the very least, it would help younger gamers realize that "old" doesn't mean "outdated."

And that led directly into the next major project reveal.

After announcing Battle.net's roadmap, Belrade stepped off the stage amid a wave of cheers.

Just from his announcements alone, players felt hopeful for the future.

It felt like they were shareholders, listening to Gamestar Electronic Entertainment reveal its strategic direction.

And it all sounded incredibly promising.

Next on stage were several core developers from the Unreal Engine team.

By now, Unreal Engine had reached version 4.0, and after a few years of iteration, it had matured greatly.

No matter what kind of game a developer wanted to make, Unreal Engine could handle it.

All it took was some basic programming knowledge.

As a result, countless developers and modders had adopted Unreal Engine.

The Unreal Engine team proudly announced that they now had tens of millions of developers, all of whom had saved significant time using their tools.

Without Unreal Engine, game development and CG production would be at least 30% less efficient—a figure based on real research, not just guesswork.

Some studios still used traditional development approaches, such as C or other low-level languages.

While this gave more control over bugs and conflicts, it lacked modular convenience.

Some companies, like a team from Surrey Electronics, had begun developing their own engines.

While these custom engines could be tailored to match the team's style, the moment the game design expanded in scope, they'd have to rework massive portions of the codebase—a difficult road.

By comparison, Unreal Engine stood out as uniquely powerful, maintaining its monopoly-like dominance for the foreseeable future.

Of course, the Unreal team wasn't just here to flaunt stats.

They came to reveal a bold new initiative.

Since Gamestar was already deeply collaborating with an AI research lab, Unreal Engine had joined in as well, hoping to simplify game and CG development using new AI tools.

They had already identified clear goals, and even produced early results.

All developers—whether in the audience or watching online—were invited to apply on a designated site.

If approved, they would gain access to a free trial of Unreal Engine 5.0.

During this trial, developers could publish games or CG content for free. Unreal would take zero revenue share—developers would keep 100% of the profits.

As soon as this was announced, developers' eyes lit up like lasers.

For players, this might not have sounded earth-shattering. They just wanted to know if better games would result.

But for developers? It was like a jolt of adrenaline.

"Free to use, and licensing fees waived? I have to apply!"

Many were already planning to rush out a demo built on Unreal Engine 5 in time to capitalize on this opportunity.

Even developers under major companies like Surrey Electronics felt stirred by the announcement.

Free use? This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

Ueto Hayakawa, sitting in the audience, heard the announcement and felt a headache coming on.

"Gamestar just keeps pulling these unexpected moves..."

A brand-new engine, free to use for a while, regardless of company size? How could any other engine compete with that?

He knew of several major companies besides his own that were also developing their own engines—nobody wanted to be dependent on Unreal forever.

But now, Hayakawa could already see what was coming.

The other companies would likely be sighing in defeat while muttering:

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"Okay, fine... this is actually amazing."