Zhuolong Game's Boss Allegedly Got Rich Selling Pirated Discs — Reigniting the Gujian vs Xianjian Fan War

A game company that fans have crowned as 'the savior of Chinese single-player games' — and its boss allegedly made his fortune selling pirated game discs? If true, the irony is off the charts.

It all started when a user posted a gossip request on NGA forum: with Bajink (Zhuolong's mobile game) about to launch its open beta, if Zhuolong's boss really got rich selling pirated PC games back in the day, then he must have shoveled a spadeful of dirt onto the grave of China's single-player market, right? How can fans dare claim Zhuolong 'revived' single-player gaming?

Commenters were quick to deliver what they called 'receipts': Meng Xianming, the boss of Wangyuan Shengtang (网元盛唐), allegedly built his empire selling pirated game discs. Zhuolong (烛龙) was later acquired as a subsidiary of his company. In other words, Zhuolong wasn't founded by some idealistic indie dreamer — it was bought up by a pirate disc merchant.

To understand the weight of this claim, you need to know Zhuolong's origin story. Zhuolong traces its roots back to Shanghai Softstar (上海软星) — the studio behind Xianjian Qixia Zhuan III and IV (better known as Chinese Paladin). Old-school players point out that Shanghai Softstar was essentially killed by piracy. After the studio dissolved, some staff were absorbed by Beijing Softstar, while key figure Gong Changjun (工长君) left Softstar entirely and took former Shanghai Softstar devs to start fresh — which became Zhuolong.

So the full picture becomes supremely ironic: a team born from a studio destroyed by piracy ended up being acquired by a boss who made his fortune selling pirated discs — and then fans have the audacity to call the company a 'reviver of Chinese single-player games.' No wonder netizens are calling it peak comedy.

Not everyone was piling on, though. Some defended Meng Xianming: without his money, would Gujian (古剑, 'Ancient Sword') 1, 2, and 3 ever have existed? The studio needed funding. Others argued that pirated discs were everywhere in the 2000s — it's not worth getting morally outraged over — and even brought up CD Projekt Red, which also started out selling pirated discs (dubbed the 'Polish Sutra Pavilion' in Chinese gaming circles) before becoming the beloved studio behind The Witcher.

But the pushback was equally fierce: without Meng's piracy business tanking the legitimate market, wouldn't Gujian have arrived even sooner? Saying he shoveled dirt onto the single-player market's grave is fair game, isn't it?

The real entertainment, however, was how the thread derailed spectacularly. Gujian fans and Xianjian (仙剑, Chinese Paladin) fans immediately declared war in the comments. One veteran sighed: 'Here we go again — the Beijing Softstar vs Shanghai Softstar vs Zhuolong origin war. They'll keep fighting even after all three companies are dead and buried.' The backstory: Gujian was originally called the 'spiritual successor' of Xianjian, with the first Gujian game even containing Easter eggs referencing Xianjian. But fans of both franchises have been locked in a bitter 'who is the true Xianjian sequel' feud ever since Xianjian 5 launched, with grievances running deep.

As for the actual topic — Meng's pirated disc business? Nobody cares anymore. As one commenter put it: 'Isn't that just what certain game fans always do? They never mention how their boss got his start, and they never talk about how viciously they trashed Xianjian 5 back in the day.' Another user pleaded in vain: 'Can you Gujian and Xianjian fans please stop fighting? We're supposed to be talking about the boss!'

All in all, Meng Xianming's pirated disc origins are somewhat known lore in Chinese gaming circles, but every time the story resurfaces, it ignites fresh debate. As for how much it actually damages Zhuolong and the Gujian series' reputation — that's in the eye of the beholder. After all, the story of that era in Chinese gaming is far more complicated than most people realize.