Leon stared at the screen after uploading the final build of Tactica: Iron Resolution. The distribution system confirmed the game was now live across several digital storefronts under the UmbraDawn Technologies publisher label. There were no press releases. No ads. Just one obscure game on the internet, priced modestly at $4.99.
Now came the spark.
He opened a livestream browser and filtered by popularity. As expected, Kai Cenat was streaming to over 130,000 viewers. On screen, Kai was laughing wildly alongside iShowSpeed, who flailed beside him mid-game, yelling incoherent trash talk while the chat scrolled at lightning speed.
"Yo, Speed, you see this guy just shot me through the f—wall?!" Kai shouted, then burst into hysterics as Speed screamed into his mic.
Leon smirked. This was the moment.
He switched accounts to one of his clean burner identities and sent a donation:
$300 Donation from: Underdawn777
"Yo Kai, found this insane $5 game that no one is talking about. It's called Tactica: Iron Resolution. Real AI, crazy detail. Might be something you and Speed should roast live lmao."
The screen flashed.
"$300 DONATION?!" Kai leaned in. "Wait, hold up. What is this? Tactica: Iron Resolution? A five dollar game? Who this guy think he is tryna plug his bootleg Modern Warfare in MY stream, bro?"
"Five dollars?" Speed echoed. "He said 'real AI'? Bro, that sounds like cap!"
Kai cracked up. "Yo, I'm buying it right now just to roast this man's game, bro. If it's trash, I'm flaming this dude live."
Within minutes, Kai had downloaded it.
"Let's see this," he muttered, eyes locked on the screen. "If it crashes my PC, I'm banning you, Underdawn."
Leon refreshed the backend server. The downloads ticked upward. Dozens. Then hundreds. He watched the flood begin.
Back on stream, the game opened with a moody cinematic—a war-torn urban zone, two squads moving tactically through tight alleyways, gunfire erupting as NPCs made unscripted decisions.
"Wait, wait, hold on," Kai said, suddenly serious. "Did you see that dude just move to cover by himself?"
Speed squinted. "Yo, this guy was flanking! He flanked us! Is this game reading our strats?"
"Nah, there's no way, bro. This... This might actually be heat."
Kai leaned back, hand over mouth. "Chat... this game kinda cold."
Leon closed the stream. He didn't need to watch the explosion. He'd set the fire.
SYSTEM: Public Perception Surge Detected. Organic Spread Active.
SP GAIN: +312 (Live Demonstration Response — High Engagement)
It had begun.
The real test wasn't the code.
It was the culture.