Loathe at First Sight - Suzanne Park Page 0,97

down to my fingertips and toes.

I had control again. What a wonderful feeling.

Chapter Twenty-Six

My phone rang at 6:15 A.M. a day before launch. All I heard were high-pitched squeals, which at first I thought was a fax machine transmission. But it turned out to be my friend Nick, shrieking with glee.

“Melody! Are you up? Wake up! Remember how I submitted your game trailer to all the advertising award festivals? Well, it won Grand Prize at the Indie Webbies for video CGI! And not just any grand prize. It was the Grand fucking Prix! We got the highest honor! How amazing is that?”

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “Oh wow. Congratulations, Nick! But it’s not ‘we’ we’re talking about, it’s YOU. YOU won this and you deserve this so much. I am so excited and proud of you.”

I could feel him beaming through the phone. “There’s more. The Ultimate Apocalypse trailer’s been picked up by a few industry news outlets, so your game trailer is going to be featured in both Adweek and Ad Age. And the UK and other European countries and regions are also picking up this news. A video game for women, with stripper heroes? The press is already all over that shit!” More press for him meant more press for me. Good deal!

Like a guardian angel, Nick sent miracle news a day before my game launch. Newsletter subscriptions for the game nearly doubled overnight, thanks to this buzz outside of the gaming news world.

Joe our PR guy called me that morning, too, on my way into work. “We’ve gotten so many urgent merchandising inquiries from toy and apparel companies, and new wellness, skincare, and fitness product placement requests. Hurry up and get to the office!”

That afternoon, women’s interest magazines reached out to ask for copies of the game, company press releases, and high-resolution game images so they could publish online game reviews around the holidays. I’d just finished putting together press kit mailers to send out to editors, but this influx of requests made marketing so easy because these publications and websites sought me out, and not the other way around.

In our last afternoon team meeting before the big day, all of us looked like the apocalyptic zombies we’d designed in the game, but we were in good spirits. Ultimate Apocalypse would be in the hands of people outside of the Seventeen Studios walls!

In an unexpected company announcement, Ian revealed that Asher’s Girls of War game would have a soft launch on the same day of Ultimate Apocalypse’s release. “Our goal is to maximize our PR opportunity for Seventeen Studios by launching two of our amazing games on the same day. This is rarely seen in the game industry, and we expect exponential press coverage because of this two-for-one surprise release.”

I passed Asher’s office on my way to mail a few press kits. His shaggy hair, full beard, and untucked lumberjack shirt that pulled too tight on the buttons made me feel a little better about my own unkempt appearance.

“Hey,” I said, shifting the leaning tower of padded envelopes in my arms. “How’re you doing?”

He looked up and a smile spread across his face. “Oh good, I thought you were the finance guy, hounding me for budget numbers. Isn’t he annoying?”

“I wouldn’t know, I had no game budget,” I said drily.

“Oh, right, I’m an asshole. I forgot . . . sorry.”

“Just stopping by to say hi, wish you luck on your game launch, and to thank you for talking to HR about Ian.”

“I have my own apology for you, too.” He dipped his head down, so low that his overgrown beard merged with his chest hair. “I’m sorry I didn’t think you could produce a video game. More proof that I’m an asshole.” An apologetic asshole was way better than just a plain ol’ regular asshole.

“Ash-hole apology accepted.” I put the envelopes down and extended my hand.

He reached out to shake it and then hesitated. “Before we call a truce, are you sure you don’t wanna talk smack tomorrow when our games launch? We’ll get real-time download numbers so we can see which game, you know, wins.”

I lowered my hand. “Fine then. Tomorrow we’ll see whether my male stripper and female warrior game can outdo your big-boobed war-ravaged women one.”

His eyes sparkled as he laughed. “Deal!”

“I need to get to the mailroom before the last pickup. See ya.” I padded out of his office.

While tasked with putting postage labels on my mail, I thought through

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