Game Creator in a New World

"I really can't find it. I didn't see anything under Nexusplay Company, and I can't find Gol D. Roger on the internet at all."

"The name One Piece sounds epic, but I have no idea what kind of game John is going to make. Let's stay optimistic—I trust the quality of John's games!"

"I'm just hoping it won't take too long to release. But if John rushes it, the quality might drop… I'm torn!"

"Haha, I'm done doubting. My face is still sore from my last mistake."

Nexusplay Company was the entity Grace had registered for John. In fact, John probably wasn't even aware that the company belonged to him. The fans' speculations were pretty wild, to say the least.

Some players managed to find Nexusplay Company due to the Minecraft release. John was always the laid-back type, but his company, under Grace's leadership, was extremely competent. She had not only gathered the Edge Horizon team for him, but also handpicked almost everyone at Nexusplay Company, including the people who worked on Minecraft.

In fact, the crafting materials and other details for Minecraft were all published under Nexusplay Company's name, though few people initially noticed.

Now, with One Piece trending online, John had stepped back into the shadows. He knew this buzz was temporary, and he needed to quickly finish the pirate game before interest fizzled out. In John's past life, countless promising games lost their players due to delays or cancellations.

"Boss! Boss! Boss! This is serious!" Ten days later, John was hard at work, diligently developing characters for the pirate game, when Bell messaged him urgently.

"What now? Is your pigeon dead, or did the sheep come back to life?"

"Haha, no, the sheep is still dead, but the real issue is… Boss, someone copied your game!"

"Huh? Plagiarism?" John was startled, but also somewhat amused. "It took this long for someone to copy me?"

To be honest, John was expecting copycats. In his past life, once a game genre got popular, knockoffs would flood the market in no time. John was genuinely surprised that, after releasing three successful games, no one had followed suit yet.

Finally, it had happened.

He couldn't help but feel a bit excited. "Which game did they copy?"

"Well… the one that hasn't come out yet."

"??? You mean Identity V? Is there a leak?"

John's first thought was that something had gone wrong with Identity V, and he quickly ran through the names of the Edge Horizon team members, wondering if there was a mole.

"No, no! It's not Identity V! It's One Piece!"

Bella's message conveyed her frustration. John could almost imagine her pouting as she typed. He snapped out of his confusion but was still baffled.

"Wait, One Piece? How did they copy a game I haven't even finished?"

John's mind flashed back to his earlier concerns. He had worried that someone might rip off his idea before he could get it out there. Now, that fear had become reality.

"Send me the link."

A moment later, Bella forwarded it to him. John clicked on the title of the game and stared at the name, speechless.

"One Piece World? What is this?"

Worse, the game was priced at 50 dragon coins, and over 400,000 players had already downloaded it.

They made over 20 million from this knockoff?

John's face darkened. He could accept imitation to a degree, but this blatant cash grab felt like an attack on his hard work. It might even damage the real One Piece game's potential success.

He skimmed the reviews for the copycat game. Half of them were positive, but almost all the praise was focused on the concept of pirates. There was hardly any mention of the gameplay, which was apparently subpar.

"Boss, what should we do? Should we have a lawyer send them a letter?"

"Is there any actual evidence?" John asked, reviewing the game more thoroughly. It seemed they had merely copied the idea of pirates. The game's title was One Piece World, but the content was just a treasure-hunting game with a nautical map.

They had probably been inspired by the comics John had posted, thinking One Piece was all about treasure hunting. The game's core loop involved spending real money to buy boats and set sail, with paywalls that stretched from hundreds to thousands of dragon coins.

John was furious.

"Ugh! This is infuriating!" His face was stern. The worst part wasn't just the plagiarism—it was knowing that these people were profiting off his concept while he was still working on the real thing.

He messaged Bella: "Send them a lawyer's letter! Get a law firm involved and file a complaint!"

John knew the chances of winning a case were slim. Game themes like this were hard to protect, but he couldn't just sit idly by.

"Keep an eye on this developer. If they so much as drop litter in the street, I want them hit with a legal notice!"

"Roger that, boss!" Bella responded quickly, before adding, "One more thing, boss. The Minecraft mods collection contest just ended. What about the mystery prize?"

"Already? I completely forgot!" John slapped his forehead. He'd been so wrapped up in designing One Piece that the Minecraft contest had slipped his mind.

"Did you win?"

"Hehe, the boss promised, and there's an extra reward too!"

"Uh… let me owe you for now. I need to finish One Piece first."

"Boss! Are you seriously flaking on me?"

"Relax, I'll make sure to reward you properly. I can't do without you."

A/N: Thanks for reading, and donate some stones for extra chapters.

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