Mythic Quest

Counter-Strike, Hyper Scape, Call of Duty.

What do these mega-franchises have in common?

-Battle royale. -No.

Absolutely not.

What's wrong with battle royale?

Nothing. It's a last-man-standing survival mode

that everyone's doing a version of these days.

They're doing it because it's the cheapest way to get the youngest players possible.

-It's a fad. It will not work in our game. -Then make it work.

It's a big, fat whale carcass just sitting on a beach.

We should be gorging on it like the other seagulls.

Well, I'm not a seagull.

-Not yet, you're not. -Not yet? What is that supposed to mean?

I'm just gonna turn into a bird?

Can we please focus on the expansion?

We have the stage-gate meeting with Montreal next week.

-Where are we with Titan's Rift? -We're jammin'.

We're good.

Okay, good.

'Cause earlier you guys were disagreeing on what direction to go in, so…

Yes, yes. But we figured that out,

and we've been working really well together.

Yeah, we're doing both our ideas.

So we split the expansion down the middle, and now Ian has his half and I have mine.

That's not working together. That's working separate.

Either way, it fixed everything, because we haven't fought in weeks.

Oh, no. This is bad.

I've seen this pattern before.

It's the calm before the divorce.

Oh, God.

Jesus Christ, David. We are not your parents.

I was talking about my own divorce.

Although, both apply, actually.

David, you've got nothing to worry about. We're stronger than we've ever been.

That is the third time a woman has said that to me in my life, I'll have you know.

First was my mom, then my ex, and now it's Poppy Li.

Good Lord, man. Get a grip.

The stage-gate meeting is going to be fine. Promise.

-After you. -Thank you, Ian.

Of course.

Something bad is gonna happen.

Yeah.

Morning.

-Morning. -Morning.

Everything seems copacetic on the old home front, huh?

We're gonna need to take…

-Yeah. Looks that way. -Yep.

Yep, yep, yep.

A lot of downtime till the stage-gate meeting.

Lot o' downtime.

Ignore him. He's trying to draw us into discussing a personal issue.

Started dating again. Well, joined the apps.

Yeah. Lotta apps. Lot o' apps.

Old Dirty Dave dropped his line off the back of the boat.

Yeah, time to sit back and wait for some nibbles.

Oh, my God, David, you're not dating. You're trawling for a death partner.

Sorry. I couldn't help it.

It's okay.

You took the bait. Probably the only woman who will.

Hello, Kristin.

Smoker.

Well, I guess I could start smoking.

He's gonna get eaten alive.

Not necessarily.

It's a question of marketing. See, David's a loot box.

As a commodity in the sexual marketplace,

he should present himself like a loot box.

Offer a tempting exterior--

To hide the fact there's probably just garbage inside.

As soon as the woman realizes she's been duped,

cognitive dissonance will kick in, and she'll convince herself she wants it,

-even though she knows she doesn't. -Right.

Hey! I am not filled with garbage.

C.W.?

Decline.

Uh-oh.

What is this? What is happening?

-Hey, Poppy. -Hey.

What's goin' on?

It was getting a little crowded in there with my new team.

So we're just gonna work out of my old office for a little bit.

-You're separating? -What?

No, we're still working together, just from separate offices. It's easier.

To have two places, right. This is bad.

David! Stop being so dramatic. This is temporary, okay?

I'm gonna move back in as soon as I'm done working on Hera.

Yeah, right, that's what she said.

C.W. is calling me. Decline.

Wait, what is Hera?

Ian and I came up with code names for our separate halves of the expansion.

His is Zeus, mine is Hera. It's just simpler.

To have different names.

Right. Right. I'm feeling very triggered right now.

Who is it? If it's C.W., decline it.

-No, it's J. Alfred Prufrock? -J. Alfred.

No, no, don't--

My deception worked.

Forgive this cloak-and-dagger routine, but I must speak with someone.

My very life is at stake.

Hey, how's your life at stake? Did you get the virus?

Worse. A parasite is threatening my literary life.

My publisher is trying to rob me of my characters.

My stories. My life's work.

The little bloodsucker sent me this letter. Here, I'll screen share it.

Breach of contract?

They're claiming ownership over C.W.'s intellectual property.

All because I haven't delivered the final installment

of my seminal Anaren trilogy.

Damn it! I won't let them write the conclusion for me.

You know what? I'm gonna help.

Thank you, Brad.

Sorry, not you. I'm gonna get David a date.

The man is an unsellable loot box. Much more challenging.

You take the C.W. thing. It's a good test.

What? No, I'm not ready to--

You're gonna be fine. Just remember, in a negotiation,

what you think is your greatest strength can actually be your greatest weakness.

This is

exactly what I asked for.

Yep.

Which is a problem. Where are we with time?

On time and under budget.

Under budget?

Wow. That is a problem.

Why is that a problem?

I've never been on time and under budget. It's not a good sign.

Do you not like the work?

I love the work, Phil. The work is perfect.

But don't you see how that's a problem?

You're agreeing with everything I say, and then you're giving in to all my demands.

You want me to fight with you?

Yeah, but I don't want you to plan for it.

It has to happen organically, like it does with Poppy.

The high pressure and the friction,

that's what turns coal into diamonds.

-How much friction would you like? -You're fucking useless!

I'm sorry, man. You're fine, I guess, as an art director or whatever,

but I need someone that challenges me.

And let's be honest, if we went at it,

I'd turn you into a pretzel both physically and intellectually.

You're the boss.

Buddy. You gotta stop now because I'm losing respect for you.

No. No.

Not one person in this room bought that.

Okay. Why don't you go ahead and take a knee?

Get up. Holy shit, man.

Hey, Ian, your mom is on the phone for you.

My mom?

Hello?

-Battle royale. -Fuck off, Brad.

-Stop thinking about it. -I can't.

I'm sorry. You're really good at game design, and I'm an idiot,

and I just totally screwed up Grouchy Goat for you.

No, you didn't. You screwed it up for us.

I'm still gonna make it happen. Just gotta find another way.

We don't wanna be sittin' on this couch forever, right?

Yeah. Totally.

We both got big dreams.

Huge, and…

I just know another opportunity is gonna come along for you, Dana.

And when it does, I--

Hey, tester. I got a job for you.

-Her? -Me?

Sorry. Yeah, you're the hostile, shrill one, right?

Okay. Dismissing women based on the perceived tone of their voice is--

Great. Yeah, you're the one. Let's go.

Come on.

See you, I guess.

Can it bypass verification?

Okay, so, if the other indication servers could--

bypass verification…

Can we get some more chairs?

Shut up, Glasses! I'm thinking!

I am so sorry. I did not mean to yell at you, Glasses.

-Anthony. -Anthony. Anthony.

I'm not mad at you guys. You--

You are brilliant.

I just-- I'm a little bit stressed about the stage-gate meeting

because I don't have anything to show Montreal,

and how am I supposed to explain all of this to them

in a way they'll understand?

You wanna disrupt the MQ server client architecture with a cloud-based solution

that can simultaneously handle persistent environmental changes across all instances

and manage the biggest concurrent player load ever conceived.

-Yes! -Which is impossible.

No!

It's not impossible. It just hasn't been done before

because I haven't figured out a way to do it yet.

God, why is there always one downer in every group? Am I right?

I hired you to build me up.

You hired us to build Hera.

Yeah, that too. Look.

Ian had this way of stroking my ego and bolstering my confidence

to the point where I felt like I could overcome anything.

But you can't overcome the laws of physics.

You can't, dick!

See, and now you've made me yell again.

-Hey. -What do you want?

Sorry to bother you,

but I think you're a genius.