Players are leaving because the fun of the game is fading; they feel they've lost their goals and motivation in the game, so they give up. Expecting to keep them just with a few pretty pictures or a couple of good-looking models is simply too naive.

As for writing backstories for the mechas, that's even more pointless—completely useless.

Of course, Jason Foster probably knows this too, but knowing doesn't mean he has a solution. With limited resources, all he can do is make a few new mechas and hope for the best.

Soon, the airbus arrived at the stop.

William Carter arrived at the project team and found it completely empty. It was only after ten minutes that two artists showed up, late, and there wasn't a single person from the programming or design teams.

Obviously, they worked overtime too late yesterday and couldn't get up this morning.

William Carter didn't mind, since his work didn't require cooperation with these people anyway.

Since no one was around, William Carter took out his drawing tablet from his bag and started sketching.

As for the new version plan, William Carter already had a rough idea in his mind, but he wasn't in a hurry to put it into action.

Right now, William Carter was drawing a scene concept art, but it was still in the line art stage, so not much could be seen.

"Eh? Are you new to the design team? You can draw?" a voice said.

William Carter looked up and saw a short, round-faced girl holding a water cup, looking at him in surprise.

She was not quite 1.6 meters tall, but because her face was small and her body proportions were good, she didn't look short at all—instead, she had a delicate, petite vibe.

William Carter knew this girl; she was a modeler in the art team. They saw each other all the time but had never spoken.

Judging by her expression, she must have seen William Carter drawing while getting water and, curious, came over to say hi.

William Carter nodded, "My name is William Carter, I'm a new intern in the design team."

"Hi, I'm Anna Collins, a modeler in the art team." Anna Collins looked at William Carter's skillful technique in surprise. "You're really skilled—are you a professional?"

William Carter nodded, "Graduated from Ming'an University, majoring in fine arts."

"Eh? I also majored in fine arts at Ming'an University! Did you join through campus recruitment this year? Then I'm your senior!" Anna Collins was even more surprised.

William Carter smiled, "Hello, senior."

Anna Collins was a bit puzzled, "Since you're a fine arts major, why didn't you become a concept artist?"

"Well, I'm more interested in design," William Carter said.

Anna Collins felt a bit regretful, "That's a bit of a pity. With your skills, you'd definitely be a great concept artist. But if you like design, then that's that. Anyway, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me. We'll probably be working together a lot in the future."

William Carter nodded, "Okay."

Although, overall, modelers have a slightly lower status in the art team compared to concept artists, someone like Anna Collins is definitely not simple.

Concept artists are responsible for drawing, turning the concept drafts from the design team into art—it's a creative process. Modelers, on the other hand, turn the concept art into models, just needing to faithfully reproduce the concept art.

So, relatively speaking, concept artists need a higher level of artistic skill, but it's not absolute. Some people can both draw and model, and they're highly valued in the art team.

Since Anna Collins also majored in fine arts at Ming'an University, her skills in concept art must be quite solid too.

After drawing for more than two hours, William Carter saw Brian Clark arrive, so he put away his drawing tablet to avoid having it catch Brian Clark's attention.

Brian Clark looked sleep-deprived, with dark circles under his eyes. He probably worked overtime until three or four in the morning yesterday, and now, at eleven, he's back—he only got five or six hours of sleep.

Brian Clark didn't even look at William Carter; instead, he opened his computer and nervously checked the new version's data.

The update was complete, the servers were up, and players should be logging in to claim their new version update rewards.

As the world architect, Brian Clark had the relevant permissions to see players' top-ups, spending records, activity, and so on. Although the server had only just opened, he could already get a sense of things from the players' reactions.

Simply put, if the new mecha doesn't sell much on the first day it's released, there definitely won't be many buyers on the second day either.

The more Brian Clark looked at the data, the more discouraged he felt. After staring at it for over half an hour, he simply closed the page.

This data is just depressing!

But Brian Clark wasn't at the point of despair yet. He could still comfort himself by thinking the players hadn't woken up yet, or they were at work, or they'd only have time to play at noon...

Not long after, Eric Turner arrived too.

The first thing Eric Turner did after turning on his computer was also to check the data, and after he finished, his expression was just as grim as Brian Clark's.

By noon, the others had arrived one after another.

The atmosphere in the programming and art teams was pretty good, because for them, having just finished a new version meant they could finally relax a bit.