New Gacha Game Spends Massive on Ads But Can't Even Beat Azur Lane on Revenue Charts? Players Expose the Marketing Money Pit

A new mobile game's revenue chart ranking is actually *lower* than Azur Lane's — while its ad spend is over 10x higher. No, this isn't a copypasta. NGA users recently posted a series of charts comparing user acquisition (UA) spend vs. sales chart rankings for several gacha titles, and the numbers are absolutely brutal. The thread turned into a full-on roast session.

The OP kept it vague with "a certain new game" (某新游), but the charts told the whole story: ads plastered across every channel imaginable, yet the revenue numbers are laughably low. The most savage comparison? Azur Lane — the veteran shipgirl gacha — was running a big skin event, and players were happily swiping for cosmetics. One user bragged about dropping a few hundred yuan on skins. And even with that modest spending, Azur Lane's chart ranking still barely edged out these big-budget newcomers. As the OP put it: "The fact that a new game's sales chart ranking is only slightly above Azur Lane is just peak comedy."

The comments kept piling on with even wilder comparisons. "It can't even beat Steel Frontline (钢岚)? That's actually insane," one user noted — and if you know Steel Frontline, you know it's basically a niche nobody in the gacha world. If a heavily marketed new title can't even clear that bar, where exactly is all that ad money going? Then came the real sticker shock: "Eggy Party (蛋仔派对) spends more than 10x compared to Yuanmeng..." — a cost-to-revenue gap that made everyone's eyes water.

Someone inevitably brought up the classic Meituan vs. Ele.me food delivery war as an analogy: "When Meituan and Ele.me were fighting for market share, food delivery was insanely cheap — they were literally burning cash to subsidize users. Then Ele.me couldn't keep up, Meituan won, and prices went up." The implication was clear: these gacha games locked in a UA spending war are playing the same game — whoever runs out of money first loses.

"Eggy Party is going all-in against Genshin" (元神 is the community's nickname for Genshin Impact), one comment read. "They can't just lie down and let Genshin eat them alive." Others piled on with more candidates: "If the OP is talking about Eggy Party, you're right. If they're talking about Reverse: 1999 (追放), you're also right." Someone even added, "Console games (盒游) fit the bill too." The post had become a mirror that reflected every game with questionable marketing ROI.

The community was split on how to read the situation. The popcorn crowd just laughed: "No worries, just buy more ads next time lol." The finance bros hit back with "Check the ROI — anything above 1.0 means you're still making money." The most optimistic copium dealers were already hyping up the Christmas sales push: "Trust the Christmas offensive. Ever heard of post-holiday bounce?"

But most players weren't buying it. Azur Lane veterans themselves were lukewarm: "Honestly this batch of skins isn't that great, I'm waiting for the second half." Even the old guard's willingness to spend is fading. If a legacy franchise is seeing declining whale engagement, how long can newcomers keep the UA money bonfire going? This marketing war's endgame isn't about who turns profitable first — it's about who runs out of fuel last.