Girls' Frontline 2 Misses Top 20 Bestseller Chart, But Producer Pops Champagne on Stream Claiming Revenue 'Exceeded Expectations' — Players Roast: 'This Might Be Your All-Time Peak'

A game that never even cracked the Top 20 bestseller charts — and its producer pops champagne on a livestream to celebrate. Only Yu Zhong (羽中), the head of Sunborn Network, could pull off a move this tone-deaf. A livestream screenshot went viral across the community, sparking a collective roast session among Girls' Frontline 2 players.

It all started when players dug up a clip from streamer 'Wang Xiongmao' (王熊猫, Panda Wang)'s livestream. In the video, Yu Zhong appeared visibly pleased with the game's first-month revenue, claiming it had 'exceeded expectations' and popping champagne in celebration. This immediately set the NGA forums ablaze — because in the eyes of most players, GFL2's performance was anything but impressive.

Let's look at the numbers: the game never once entered the Top 20 on the bestseller charts after launch. Third-party analyst 'Erguan Guancha' (二次元观察, a well-known gacha revenue tracker) projected that 150M RMB was needed to break even, 200M to turn a profit, and 250M to genuinely 'exceed expectations.' Word on the street is that GFL2's first-month revenue hovered around 50M RMB — a 'small target' (半个小目标) in community slang — which leaves a massive gap to the profitability line.

The cost picture makes this even grimmer. Players uncovered a 2023 interview with 'Shouyou Naxieshi' (手游那些事, a mobile gaming media outlet) where Yu Zhong explicitly stated that GFL2's development costs had already exceeded 100M RMB, with a team of 200 people. That's not even counting the massive user acquisition (买量, mǎiliàng) ad spend that the community keeps bringing up. Comments in the thread directly questioned: 'Can this revenue even cover the ad costs? That's a big question mark.' One user even added: 'If you count the money squeezed from beta testers during internal testing, it might be close — but still not enough.'

So where does this 'exceeded expectations' claim actually come from? One commenter provided an interesting angle — allegedly, a well-known community figure called 'Shengdian Qishi' (圣殿骑士, 'Temple Knight,' a prominent NGA insider) and the streamer revealed during the stream that the banner revenue wasn't high because beta testers from the fourth test (四测) had already dumped too much money through refundable top-ups. Adding all that pre-launch spending together made Yu Zhong 'very satisfied.' This explanation sparked even bigger controversy: if the bulk of revenue came from beta refund credits, then this isn't genuine post-launch performance at all — it's borrowed revenue that's already burned through early supporters' trust and wallets.

One player did a full information audit: multiple Tieba 'uncle party' sources (舅舅党, jiùjiudǎng — insider leakers) all said revenue was poor; Bilibili gaming creator 'Yuefei Dashu' (月飞大叔, Uncle Yuefei) explicitly stated in a post that the numbers fell below the project team's own expectations; and Erguan Guancha's analysis didn't support the 'exceeded expectations' narrative either. The commenter ended with a warning: 'Beware of officially-sanctioned leaks designed to muddy the waters' (警惕奉旨爆料，扰乱视听) — implying the celebratory livestream could be a deliberate PR spin by Sunborn.

The community's fury went far beyond just the numbers. One commenter went nuclear: 'They're satisfied with THIS level of revenue after all that investment? The producer's IQ really matches the output. Does he honestly think every future event will pull even this much?' Another fired a devastating comparison: 'Can GFL2 even beat its own spinoff, Cloud Atlas (云图), in first-month revenue? Don't lie to yourself, bro — lying to us is one thing.' The most savage take: 'This "launch expectation" is honestly hilarious — it might become the peak revenue GFL2 ever sees for the rest of its lifespan.'

Here's the elephant in the room that multiple commenters flagged: Tencent. Sunborn Network has Tencent as a major investor. If the first-month numbers make the producer 'satisfied,' you can bet the investor's reaction is the polar opposite. One commenter even cracked a wild joke: 'If this startup fails, Yu Zhong will have to admit defeat and go back to inheriting his family's $500 billion multinational corporation' — hinting that Yu Zhong comes from extreme wealth, making this whole game venture feel more like a rich kid's passion project than a serious business.

Zoom out, and GFL2's situation is a perfect storm: quality controversies (one player called the launch 'serving players a pile of you-know-what with zero intent to fix it'), revenue far below projections, alleged official narrative manipulation, and the looming pressure from their Tencent investor. Meanwhile, the original poster's dripping sarcasm — 'Players, the good days are still ahead!' — might just be the most accurate epitaph for this entire champagne-popping farce.