Chinese wuxia MMOs' official Weibo accounts usually limit themselves to the occasional passive-aggressive jab. But this time, the NetEase and Tencent camps went full nuclear on social media — a slugfest that raged from 4 PM all the way to midnight, even trending on Weibo. Grab your popcorn and let's walk through this timeline.
It all started innocently enough. On March 11, Jianwang 3 (Swords of Legends 3, a Tencent-published wuxia MMO) posted announcing they'd removed equipment repair fees — a welcome QoL improvement for players.
But at around 4 PM, NetEase's upcoming wuxia MMO She Diao (射雕, based on Legend of the Condor Heroes) official account decided to quote-retweet Jianwang 3's post with a drippingly sarcastic tone. While they didn't name names, the shade was unmistakable. The fuse was lit.
By 7 PM, Jianwang 3's lead producer personally entered the ring, calling out NetEase games for being professional clout-chasers (蹭, or "leeching off others' popularity"). According to the original post, this exchange rocketed straight to Weibo's trending topics. The cold war between wuxia MMOs had officially gone hot.
At 8 PM, another NetEase Guangzhou title — Yi Meng Jiang Hu (一梦江湖, also known as A Dream of Jianghu) — joined the fray, backing up She Diao while simultaneously releasing a brand-new in-game accessory apparently designed to mock Jianwang 3's producer. Players were stunned at how fast the item was cranked out — suggesting this was premeditated, not improvised.
Around 9 PM, She Diao sidestepped the direct confrontation entirely and pivoted to posting about a "price war" — seemingly trying to steer the narrative toward industry pricing standards instead.
Some important context here: earlier, Tian Dao Mobile (天涯明月刀手游, Tencent's mobile wuxia MMO) had already accused Ni Shui Han PC (逆水寒端游, NetEase's flagship wuxia MMO) of copying one of their outfit designs. They even ran a Weibo giveaway for that exact outfit as a power move. A commenter later revealed that Ni Shui Han eventually gave away the outfit for free in-game too — earning it the mocking nickname "蹭蹭" (the copycat).
Then came the dramatic reversal. At 22:05, Tian Dao Mobile entered the war — but instead of backing NetEase, they sided firmly with Jianwang 3.
At 22:07, Jianwang 3 dropped what might be the most legendary social media move in Chinese MMO history: they announced a crossover collab with Tian Dao, branding it "刀剑合璧，扫清猪邪" — literally "Swords Unite, Slay the Pig Evil." The post read: "When you walk the righteous path, allies come to you; when you don't, they flee. Swords unite, slay the pig evil! A gaming-shaking collab is coming! Thanks to @TianYaMingYueDao Mobile for the generous authorization — piggies, stop leeching!" The term "猪猪" (piggies) is a direct jab at NetEase, whose name (网易) sounds like "pig farm" (猪场) in Chinese gaming slang due to their pig-like logo.
Tian Dao Mobile responded within minutes at 22:12, officially confirming the collab.
At 22:18, Jianwang 3's producer amplified the collab with a repost and full endorsement.
At 22:20, NetEase's Tian Xia 3 (天下3) attempted to counter by backing She Diao and Yi Meng Jiang Hu — but the result was pure comedy gold. Their own comment section was flooded by their own players roasting them. An absolute "friendly fire" moment.
By 22:51, Tian Dao PC (天涯明月刀端游) also officially entered the fray, announcing a three-way collab with Tian Dao Mobile and Jianwang 3. The Tencent wuxia alliance was now fully formed.
At 0:46 AM, Tian Dao Mobile reposted the collab announcement. By 0:48 AM, Jianwang 3 pinned the collab post to the top of their feed. The battle lines were drawn.
Conspicuously absent from the entire fight: Ni Shui Han (逆水寒), both its PC and mobile versions. The original post clarifies that She Diao and Yi Meng Jiang Hu belong to NetEase's Guangzhou Interactive Entertainment division, while Ni Shui Han is under NetEase Hangzhou's Leihuo studio — meaning even within NetEase, the camps aren't unified. One commenter put it bluntly: "The prodigal son (逆子, a pun on 逆水寒) only has eyes for Miss Wang. Let the piggies' MMOs handle the clout-chasing." Another added: "Jennifer (珍妮, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Ni Shui Han's devotion to a character called Miss Wang) is true to her queen — everything else is irrelevant."
As for the original issue — the repair fee removal — a longtime Jianwang 3 veteran in the comments exposed the real backstory: the cancellation wasn't some goodwill gesture from the devs. It was a forced concession after the studio gutted players' gold income to push their official RMT gold system, sparking a massive community backlash. The player fumed: "I've played Jianchun (a Jianwang 3 class) for years, and only recently learned that spamming seven skills costs 1 gold in repairs alone — that's insane." They also noted that Jianwang 3's cash shop prices are absurd: "Everything's approaching gacha game levels except they don't even have a gacha — just straight-up charging hundreds of RMB for junk."
One commenter who scrolled through Weibo offered the perfect summary: "A bunch of lunatics. Is this really the mental state and marketing strategy of PC MMO developers these days? Aren't they embarrassed?" Another pointed to a deeper trend: "After NetEase's World Beyond (世界之外) succeeded with this clout-chasing playbook, the marketing teams have completely lost their inhibitions." For ordinary players, though, there's a silver lining to hope for — as one commenter joked: "If this whole mess somehow gets all NetEase games to remove repair fees, us Fantasy Westward Journey and Da Hua Xi You players will get on our knees and thank them."
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