Ex-Girls' Frontline Dev Fires Shots at GFL2's Flop, Gets Roasted for Living in a Glass House

Bai Long, a former Girls' Frontline developer who later worked on Mist Sequence, recently posted on Weibo seemingly taking shots at Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium's underwhelming market performance, sparking heated debate on NGA.

In his post, Bai Long lamented that the number of successful gacha games this year can be counted on one hand — widely interpreted as a dig at GFL2's flop. However, the comment section didn't rally behind him. Instead, users dug up his own dirty laundry. Allegedly, Bai Long walked off with compressed files (possibly design docs or source code) when leaving Mist Sequence, and was reportedly kicked from the team before the game even launched.

Players were quick to point out that both sides are equally cooked. One popular comment roasted: 'Death charge — refers to Mist Sequence. Didn't even get a chance to charge — refers to Bai Long himself. 50 million investment — refers to Honkai: Star Rail. 200 million — refers to GFL2. Backup plan — refers to Genshin Impact. Brother Long's talking game is still on point though.'

Some users took a more measured take, suggesting Bai Long's comments read more like 'the fox weeps for the hare' — fellow feeling for others in a struggling industry — rather than pure shade. He noted that projects with 50M budgets and mega-projects costing 300-400M are mostly struggling to break even, advising gacha devs to pivot to other sectors while they still can.

The irony is thick: Bai Long himself got laid off from Mist Sequence, which also flopped. Users quipped: 'When pigs fly — Bai Long doesn't even take the chance to trash Yu Zhong and instead plays the rational neutral observer. Kind of like if Bi Zhifei stopped making movies and became a film critic.' Others noted his edge seems dulled compared to his earlier days.

The whole saga is a microcosm of the current gacha game market downturn. Flagship titles are underperforming, mid-tier projects are dropping like flies, and industry insiders are openly doomsaying. Meanwhile, the community grabs popcorn and watches the circus unfold.