Chapter 89 - Entertainment Industry

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At this point, Future Tech's E3 presentation and release of a new line of hardware and software products had been selling for a month. Besides academia and the IT industry, the leaders in entertainment have been busy integrating the latest tech within their companies.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, a French lead game developer at Ubisoft was refining an Assassin's Creed demo his team programmed using Infinity Unreal Engine.

[This version is almost identical to the Snowdrop Engine iteration of the demo. Let's see how Future Tech's free toolkit performs.] Gauthier thought skeptically.

Gauthier was fortunate to access the new Infinity Workstations the company recently procured as a high-ranking developer at Ubisoft.

He instructed one of his subordinates to run the demo performance benchmark of both versions using varying computer hardware from the current generation consoles to the newest devkits available.

It took a few hours before the preliminary tests concluded, which showcased the optimization features Infinity Unreal Engine provided.

[I see how Future Studios were able to develop an expansive videogame such as Everlife so quickly and flawlessly. We'll have to notify our upper management about this before they conclude the 2014 development roadmap.] So Gauthier thought as he reviewed the shocking benchmark reports.

Another sector of the entertainment industry beloved in Japan and worldwide, Anime, has seen great results with the newly available tools Future Tech had released.

Takahiro Miura, a series director at Ufotable, was working almost twenty-four-seven on the learning grind with his team watching free translated Future Studios video tutorials to improve their skills for an anime project set for 2014.

Like most anime production companies in Japan, most of Ufotable's staff were underpaid and overworked. In addition, illustrators weren't even issued company pen tablets as a standard and had to buy their own.

[This is too good! I can't believe Infinity Unreal Engine is free. My employees won't have to worry about subscription costs for Adobe and AutoDesk anymore, assuming we can learn it soon. I can already imagine how beautiful Unlimited Blade Works will look.] So Takahiro pondered while overseeing the key-framing department.

Fortunately for Takahiro, Vince Dalton instructed FT Investments to purchase businesses that provided products and services related to full-stack development pipelines, such as HitFilm for video editing and Fruity Loops Studio for music production integrated within the Infinity Unreal Engine. At the same time, Blender, an open-source tool, facilitated 3D workflows.

After two years of improving Unreal Engine with Epic Games, Future Tech slowly amassed more, if not as many, media software engineers compared to massive properties like Pixar and DreamWorks, giving Hudson plenty of work.

At an exquisite office in Burbank, executives and directors were discussing the preliminary trial results after a month of testing the Infinity Unreal Engine for their purposes.

An Argentine woman in her early 40s initiated the discussion while holding a PowerPoint clicker.

"Based on our VFX and animation trial results, it's safe to assume it would be a mistake not utilizing Future Tech's state-of-the-art media toolset. You'll see what I mean after you watch the Avengers: Ultron pre-viz Joss Whedon and his team worked on the past week rendered using Disney's new Infinity Supercomputer." Victoria Alonso, the Vice-President of Marvel Studios, said seriously.

Kevin Feige and other executives focused on the thirty-second video of the Sokovia fight scene playing on the widescreen TV.

"Wow! The destruction physics looks amazing!" Kevin blurted out halfway through the clip.

"Are all the 3D meshes in the clip high-poly? I can't find any artifacts on the edges." Trinh asked curiously.

"Infinity-AI-assisted physics can handle more destructive scenes than this, while the Nanite feature allows scenes to contain billions of polygons as a default setting. These are only two of the many useful plugins available on their platform, and it only costs five percent net profits for the commercial-use license fee." Victoria shorty explained.

[I guess the industry forecasters were correct in assuming the video game industry would soon overshadow the film industry.] Victoria thought.

"But is it worth our five percent? Our intellectual properties rake in billions of dollars in revenue, so five percent would be a significant portion. How about the others' opinions?" Kevin said skeptically.

"My brother and I are more familiar with Future Studios after directing the Everlife campaign. I understand that the five percent policy is meant for indie game developers. Marvel Studios could probably negotiate a separate license if it tried." Joseph Russo interjected with his two cents.

"Alright. I'll entrust you both to liaison with Future Studios if we vote in favor of adopting their production ecosystem." Kevin Feige instructed before they deliberated further.

Meanwhile, in the independent scene, freelance video game devs kept busy designing and producing digital assets like clothing and armor for Everlife and War Online, which could be sold on the Infinity Marketplace in exchange for Bitcash from any interested users on the platform.

The community-ran Unreal Engine subreddit buzzed with users sharing ideas and their work as small creators flocked towards the new free resources available to everyone.

Broke music producers who couldn't afford the full version of their favorite DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), Fruity Loops Studio, now had access to all the plugins without paying a cent.

"Hey, check this fire track out! The dude looks funny, but the track is dope!" a user posted on the subreddit.

"He even referenced Vince Dalton in the first verse. Respect!" a Redditor replied.

The link led to a slightly different version of Post Malone's White Iverson music video, recorded using his Infinity Phone and wholly produced on Infinity Unreal Engine.

Like Posty, many other young aspiring artists had the opportunity to advance their careers years earlier, at almost no cost, compared to Vince's previous life.

As a result, social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram experienced an uptick in viral video releases, which bode well for online advertising value.

Vince arrived at the penthouse via CAV after his daily training session at the Fury Gym.

"Aiya, could you please get me a glass of water. I'm so thirsty right now." Vince instructed the obedient android.

[Training is practically my therapy these days.] Vince pondered before downing the glass of water Aiya delivered.

He found his Hypervisor and immediately wore it to start working again like he always did.

Vince started reading digitized reports from dozens of Future Tech divisions and sub-divisions regarding matters ranging from finances to design schematics.

While browsing through his corporate duties, Aiya notified Vince about a high-priority call patched through NetServ via her custom link to his Hypervisor.

"Who's on hold? I'm busy right now." Vince stated plainly through his Hypervisor microphone.

"Marvel Studios. They'd like to schedule a meeting with Future Tech regarding commercial use of the Unreal Engine." Aiya replied.

Vince performed a quick hand gesture which brought up his calendar and reviewed it for a few seconds.

"Perfect. I'll be in Los Angeles this coming Friday to visit SpaceX. Tell Marvel I'll make time while I'm there." Vince instructed before going back to work.

Vince suddenly remembered the week vacation his crew spent on the west coast and the fun times they shared with newfound friends on The Longhorn.

[I've been so busy with NetServ's expansion and stressing over the recent civilian casualties that I forgot to keep in touch with Hailee and the others.] Vince pondered deeply.

He closed his eyes to disconnect from the utterly stimulating experience augmented reality provided and reminisced about the few moments before his life changed and was brought back ten years in the past.

[Achieving a fulfilling life is more than saving mom from her disease, nor contributing to society, but I'm slowly understanding Kid Cudi's pursuit of happiness bit by bit.] he thought for what seemed to be hours.

A few hundred miles away, a pair of young women were shopping for clothes at the famous Rodeo Drive. One had brown hair and wore trendy LA clothing, while the other had pink-dyed hair wrapped around the newest limited collection from Future Couture. They stood out in the crowd due to the presence of another two seriously armed FS operators working as Hailee's security whenever she was in public.

"Wasn't the Future Couture store fantastic? I can't recall any other apparel store that takes measurements and produce custom-fit clothing within the hour. In-house too." Wonder Alice said.

Her companion kept quiet while walking down the boulevard, Alice immediately noticed. So she found an excellent spot to sit down and cheer her friend up.

The two operators moved farther from the pair for privacy while scouting the area, following security protocols.

[Oh, I may have brought up the elephant in the room by showing her around a Future Tech store.] Alice thought.

"I know Vince hadn't kept in touch with you or any of us the past month, but I assume he's a busy person. Either way, you don't deserve the cold shoulder." Alice stated before hugging Hailee.

[An entire month without so much as a message. I wonder if Vince found another young Hollywood actress to seduce.] Hailee pondered while returning Alice's hug.

As she calmed down from her distraught state, her Infinity Phone received a notification.

"I'm sorry that I've been caught up with work and neglected to keep in touch, Hailee. If you can forgive me, I'll make time to NetServ call." was the message she received from Vince, including a selfie of him doing the puppy dog pout.

Hailee burst into laughter all of a sudden, which surprised Alice. 

"What's up with the mood swing, girl?!" Alice asked curiously.

Stats last time checked: 

Future Tech current valuation - $300 billion 

15 million BTC (currently trades at $25,000) 

$16 Billion cash in Future Tech 

105,000+ employees (FT AI, Future Studios, Hive Mind Manufacturing, FT Micro Devices, BitCash, FT VR, Future Tech F1, FT Investments, Future Arms, Future Med, Future Tech Robotics, Future Education, Epic Games, 60% of SpaceX, 10% of Tesla, 10% of Koenigsegg) 

20,000+ operators under Future Security 

Personal Vehicles: Klassen Phantom, Agera R, Agera SFV, Boeing Luxury 787 Dreamliner, The Longhorn 

Five company collaborators (Epic, Koenegisegg, SpaceX, Tesla, Hyundai C&E) 

Dozens of investments under Future Tech Holdings (i..e., Instagram, Twitch)