Rise To Stardom - Chapter 149

Chapter 149: IP Acquisition
It had been more than a week since Kyle had become SpawnPoint Studio’s CEO and just as he had planned, he had effectively began restructuring the Studio’s working conditions.

At the same time as all that had happened, the month of July had come to an end and now, it was the first week of August.

9am to 5pm was off the table, replaced by 10am to 2pm.

In fact, if it wouldn’t hinder the efficiency of what was necessary and needed to be done, some of the employees, could as well work remotely.

However, with the addition of a clause in the recently restructured bill which stated – “An employee who maintains consistent attendance by reporting to work daily (excluding weekends) for a full calendar month, will be eligible for one week of leave in the following month. This leave can be accumulated and carried forward, up to a maximum of four weeks (one month) after four consecutive months of consistent attendance.” – every employee at the studio found absolutely no reason to want to work remotely.

A two-month break, especially with the added clause – “All expenses during said leave, will be fully paid off by the company.” – now that was just the cherry on top to an already sweet deal for the usually overworked and underpaid game devs.

That aside, necessary equipment was purchased and a few renovations to the studio’s building was also made to section certain areas for new employees and more work efficiency; case-in-point, a cafeteria where all the meals were absolutely free and prepared by seasoned, professional, expert chefs.

And as if that hadn’t been enough, there was an exponential increase in their salaries, one that was well-worth their expert skills.

In fact, all of the employees, Carlos and Dahlia especially, had their mouths opened wide agape when they received their salaries for the new month of August.

To a certain extent, they’d all felt like it was slightly too much…

Enough that they even contacted Kyle himself to have him dock some of it and put it to better use.

To that, Kyle had Oliver whom had been handling most of the restructuring of the bill, explain to them that the new pay, was the actual salary they were all supposed to be receiving based on their positions.

However, since the industry had conditioned them to a lesser pay from the onset despite how demanding their profession could be, most of them, still couldn’t wrap their head around their newer, high-paying salaries.

As for their CEO, he simply told them they’d get used to it in due time.

But for the workers, their young boss, literally felt like an angel in human skin… an angel in human skin they most certainly, didn’t want to disappoint even with their current, measly number of 40.

As a result, despite the fact that they all now only worked five hours a day as opposed to the previous nine hours, their efficiency had borderline quadrupled.

The atmosphere at SpawnPoint Studio had become so positive and productive, it could challenge most bigger gaming studios in terms of productivity and they’d still come out on top, swingin’.

Still, as the development of the [Tech Wiz] videogame swimmingly moved along, Kyle himself had been just as productive.

Although the young man had expected Oliver to give him the earful of his life for suddenly taking on more work without proper planning as it could be physically and mentally detrimental to him, his agent, surprisingly, had been casual about the whole thing and was very supportive.

That said, Oliver spared no efforts to having Kyle take proper downtimes, even if that meant he’d coldly glare at him like a bloodhound on the hunt.

Within the span of those days though, Kyle had finally, gotten about to learning how to read sheet music… all for the sake of the soundtrack of the videogame.

Considering how problematic the darn thing had been for him to understand in his past life, the fact that he grasped all of its intricacies within a week and a few days, courtesy of his Level 13 composing skills, had been quite the fun experience for him.

He’d also made quite a bit of progress on the main theme that players would be treated to as they traversed through the map of the game’s small yet vibrantly artistic recreation of New York, Manhattan.

The theme was heroic, inspiring, and yet, somewhat explosive as Kyle aimed to have players, feel excited as they jumped from building to building, grappled up skyscrapers, wing-suited through the air and jet-boosted themselves across the map.

It was a bit of handful to get right as the balance needed to be perfect but the young star, simply took his time, experimenting with his many ideas as the days went by.

As all this was happening, Kyle’s fame too, only kept increasing each and every day as the 10th season of [The Curator], maintained high viewership counts, even though it hadn’t exceeded the new record rating of 35.5 million viewers since the fifth episode.

Every blessed day, there was always some sort of theory crafting about how Kiera’s bootstrap paradox came to be, multiple edits upon edits of The 10th Curator and even of Kyle himself making their rounds on TicToc and ViewTube, hype around his new song and the music video which had been officially released and a whole lot among so many others really.

Yet, as all these happened, Kyle, in between composing the soundtrack, was already gearing himself up for his performances at the mini-tours which would be happening a few days from now.

He had even started learning a certain trick due to a conversation he and Carl had over the phone regarding the mini-tour.

That said, as of today, the young man was out of the house, off to do something pretty important regarding [Tech Wiz] as a whole.

Considering Oliver had made something clear to him after doing a personal investigation regarding why exactly all of SpawnPoint’s Studio’s spots had been cancelled at Game’s Con, Kyle instantly had something else creep into his mind.

Something he very well knew would be in he and his studio’s best interests to sort out before it got to a stage where it would end up becoming messy and complicated to sort out.

Parking his vehicle right before the comic-book publishing company that had the rights to [Tech Wiz] as a whole, Kyle, with his glasses and face-mask disguise, stepped into the building.

The Creative Rights and Intellectual Property to the fictional character, Tech Wiz.

Kyle was dead-set on buying it all out.

Sure it would cost him quite a hefty sum of money, especially since he had recently invested about $10 million into SpawnPoint Studios for the videogame’s production budget alongside all the changes in bills and renovations but, honestly, considering how unremarkably less-renowned Tech Wiz was as a character, the young man was certain he probably wouldn’t spend past $2 million to acquire it.

And lo and behold, after negotiations upon negotiations for a few more days, one that Oliver was also heavily involved in alongside him, Kyle had ended up buying out the IP for a sum of $1.5 million.

…

…

…

“So, apparently, Griffin, was the one who paid for SpawnPoint’s Studio’s spots at the convention from his own pockets.” Kyle explained to his Studio Head as they sat in the mini-lobby of the studio.

As for the rest of the employees, they were hard at work as they moved about in the background whilst working on the game.

“And then, he used it to curry favor with GameSoft’s Studios by giving up all the spots to them so he could be a pretty big investor in their upcoming game, A Pirate’s Odyssey.” Kyle concluded with a gesture of his hand.

“I have to admit, that was a pretty smart move from him.” Oliver slightly nodded in acknowledgement, Kyle sharing his sentiments as he nodded too.

What Griffin had done, basically ensured that even after he sold out the studio to Kyle, he still had a little bit of control, if only for a limited period of time, over what the studio could do at Game’s Con.

“That bastard. Probably did it knowing fully well he wouldn’t be breaking any legalities…” Carlos cursed at their former CEO with a deep frown and an audible mutter.

“Well, what’s done is done. He no longer has any stakes in the studio so it’s good he ended up relinquishing the spots to a bigger studio…” Oliver casually stated and Kyle added;

“Yeah. Could’ve become quite the hassle if we had ended up going to Game’s Con using those spots.”

“And speaking of hassle…” Kyle smiled as he continued.

“All the Creative Rights to the Intellectual Property of Tech Wiz, now belongs to yours truly.” He pointed to himself with a proud grin.

No sooner had he said that, Dahlia and a few other employees whom had simply been walking past to head to the cafeteria, whipped their heads to the side, looks of shock on their features.

Considering they had to meet with the publishing company that held the rights to it previously several times before they even got the permission to begin working on the game, their CEO’s move had now given them full creative freedom over the IP without any issues.

“Money does make the world go round…” Dahlia quietly muttered, earning a slight chuckle from Kyle who simply got up from the couch, ready to take his leave alongside his agent.

Having picked up her words with his now heightened sense of hearing due to [Peak Conditioning], the young CEO replied;

“Maybe it does…”

To that, Dahlia’s surprised gaze, seemed to be asking Kyle how he heard what she had said.

“That said, even though you guys now have as much creative freedom on the IP as you want, for the love of all things good, please, stay away from the political propagandas and what nots.” Kyle declared instead, his tone of choice serious and his voice, purposely heightened to grab everyone’s attention on the floor.

“Everyone’s free to have their ideals and beliefs really, but, in a joint work that will be shown to our target audience, the gamers, it’s important that you zip it and just focus on crafting a compelling, fun, action-adventure narrative and experience.” Kyle continued, with a finger raised up.

“Remember, romanticism, is what gives fictional works of arts their appeal and, at their core, these works of art, are inherently, made to delve into a form of satisfaction that could never pan out in the real world.” his voice softened as he added a few more words.

“So let’s give the gamers their sense of satisfaction and their money’s worth, hmm?” the young CEO concluded as he waved them all goodbye with a warm smile.

No sooner had he said his mind, he and Oliver made their way down the floor, taking the staircase this time instead of the elevator.

As for the employees, once again, they all were enthralled by Kyle.

Not as a celebrity.

Not as their CEO.

Hell, not even because he was obviously well-spoken for his age.

Rather, they were enthralled by the passion in his eyes when he spoke.

One that reminded them once again that the young chap, was pretty much a gamer at heart, just like they were.

And because of that, once again, they all became even more motivated by his words and felt the need to polish the [Tech Wiz] videogame to absolute perfection.