In a long corridor, several men and women could be seen seated on a long chair provided to them. In front of them, a long glass table was placed. On the table, several files, magazines, and a glass of water were kept for the persons sitting across it. But none of the people seemed interested in even looking at the glass of water or the files and magazines placed on it.
They were all silently seated there with a file of their own in their hands. Suddenly, the door in front of the table opened, and a middle-aged man came out of it with a look of sadness. He then gave a last look to the others present there and walked out. Then a lady came out of the same door, looked at the notebook in her hands, and said,
"Mr. Karan Khurana, your turn, please come inside."
A young man of age 24, having black hair and light brown skin, wearing a suit and tie, nodded and then stood up with the file. He then proceeded to go inside the room. "Please, this time, let it be successful," he prayed to God in his mind and started walking.
As he entered the room, he saw seven figures sitting behind a fancy table. They were all wearing branded suits and were looking at him with interest. The room looked very posh, which unknowingly gave him pressure as he belonged to a middle-class family. This kind of environment just made him nervous, but he didn't let his emotions ruin this meeting.
He then took a small relaxing breath and sat on the seat provided to him, which was in front of these people. As he sat down, one of the men on the leftmost seat said,
"Please introduce yourself."
Karna nodded and said,
"Good morning, sirs and madams. My name is Karna Khurana, the owner of Maya Gaming Studio, and today I am here to seek investments from you gentlemen and women for the latest project of my studio… a brand-new MMORPG game known as The Radiant Warriors."
As he said that, all the people nodded and then started looking at the file provided by the staff to them. A lady sitting in the center asked,
"So, how much money do you require?"
"Madam, we have currently invested 30 lakhs (36,000 dollars) in it to build it as new as possible. We have developed a completely new style of gameplay where the player will not have an auto-skill use and auto-play option and will have to complete the quests on their own. Also, we have improved the graphics so much that every scene will feel as real as possible. We have also included a wide range of characters and options for players to choose from. The best part is they all have different quests for each species. So, we require 30 lakh more to complete the game."
He then switched on the TV placed beside him, and a trailer of the game The Radiant Warriors started playing.
The trailer started with a beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers, then shifted to a huge tree that was almost as big as Burj Khalifa or even taller than that. It was as thick as four trucks kept together. Suddenly, a hand that was double the size of the tree emerged from the ground and started moving towards the tree to damage it. But then, out of nowhere, a beautiful elven lady struck the hand with a huge magic blast. Seeing no effect on the hand, she tried to attack once more. This time, another being came to help her: a majestic dragon that breathed a stream of fire on the hand. But again, it was of no use; it didn't even burn the hand.
One by one, different species came: a dwarf, a giant who came with a large hammer in his hands, and orcs. Each attacked the hand but couldn't stop its trajectory. Then, out of nowhere, a huge, colorful beam of light attacked the hand. This time, a hole appeared in the hand, and it backed away. All the other races looked in the direction of the beam and found various other beings of different species such as humans, beasts, elves, orcs, and many more. They each had different flags and symbols, but they were all led by a single man who smiled after seeing them.
"Let's work together." As he said that, a roar occurred, and now other hands emerged from the ground. Then, with one last push from both hands, the head of the monster emerged from the ground. The monster looked at the group of people and roared in anger. The people also roared their respective battle cries and started running toward the monster for the clash. Then the screen blacked out, and a title in golden letters appeared, which said, "The Radiant Warriors."
Two minutes later, the trailer ended. Then a voice came from the rightmost seat.
"The trailer looks good," the man said.
Karna thanked him. The man nodded and then looked at the file.
"The current game size is 445GB, and there is still pending work of 200GB more, so overall it's a PC game. Did you develop its mobile version, or can it even be developed for the mobile version?"
Even though Karna knew where this was going, he still couldn't avoid it as he needed funds, and they were the investors. It was their money, so they needed to know where they were investing. He then nodded and said,
"No, sir. It will degrade the quality of the game, so we can't develop it for the mobile version."
The man nodded and then closed the file. He looked at Karna and said,
"I am sorry, I can't invest in your game as the current mobile gaming industry has far surpassed the PC ones, so I can't see much profit here. If in the future you develop the same, then you can have some deal, but for now, it's a no from me."
Karna felt sadness as he knew that the current mobile gaming industry had far surpassed the PC gaming industry, especially after the emergence of the new gaming phone by the Holo-caster company, which could run a game of at most 500GB with very smooth and clean graphics. Even if you played for days, it wouldn't heat.
So the question of why he didn't develop the game for mobile arose. He and his studio could develop that, but the problem was that the Holo-caster company charged an exorbitant price for letting other games be played on their phones. For example, if a game developer developed games for 100 rupees or dollars, then the Holo-caster company would straightaway charge 60% of the price and also take 2-5% of the profits, which was ridiculous.
But no one could do anything as they were the only ones who had developed the device and enjoyed a monopoly in the market. Small studios like his couldn't afford that kind of price. Also, he couldn't make simple games for other mobiles as they were less profitable and had no customers. So the only option left for him was to try the PC industry. He knew it had become less popular in today's age, where you could simply play with a touch on a phone anywhere at any time. Who would want to waste their time on a PC, sitting in one corner of their room?
He gave a dry smile and thanked the person. Next, a lady said,
"Mr. Karna, you said you want 30 lakh more to complete it, so how much are you sure this game of yours can make in the market? What is the profit margin?"
"Madam, my studio is expecting to get at least a 30% profit margin because even though there are many games like this in the market, we provide a wide range of quests for every player. Also, the graphics of our game are top-notch when compared to other PC games," Karna said with confidence.
But a sentence from the man sitting next to the lady crushed all of his hopes.
"It seems you and your team have not researched the market well, Mr. Karna. The top PC brands like Chili, Hetra, and Vados make only 10% profit on their games. What gives you so much confidence that your game will earn more than those top brands?" the man said.
Another lady chipped in,
"Mr. Karna, if your game were unique, then we could imagine that margin, but this idea has already been used by those brands, so it's nothing unique. Please take my advice closely and stop making games for the PC industry. It's a dying industry, and you will only become a victim if you don't know when to pull off. For this, my answer is no."
"Just like she said, a no for me too."
And just like that, six out of seven had said no. Karna felt like crying, but he held his emotions. There was still a chance, as the center lady had still not given her answer, and she was looking at his file.
This was the last chance for his studio. If he was unable to secure this deal, then all other small investors would pull out their money from his studio, and he would have to close it. This was his last hope.