NetEase Leihuo Issues Non-Apology for Hated 莲花楼 Crossover — Players Roast It as 'Sorry Not Sorry, We'll Do It Again'

NetEase's Leihuo studio finally apologized for the 逆水寒 (Justice Online) × 莲花楼 (Lotus Tower) crossover collaboration — but players say the apology is more infuriating than the collab itself.

On March 30th, Leihuo published an official open letter addressing the raging controversy. They framed the collab as 'a gaming experience partnership' that 'doesn't involve publicly advocating for any literary work,' and promised to 'more carefully consider future collaboration approaches.' Sounds reasonable on paper — except the tone of the entire statement reeked of condescension.

The community wasn't buying it for a second. A top-voted NGA comment perfectly captured the mood: 'TL;DR: We'll do it again, you tasteless plebs.' The Chinese internet slang '省流' (literally 'save bandwidth') is used when someone distills a long statement into its brutally honest core message — and this one nailed it.

The statement specifically addressed the drama surrounding 叶问舟 (Ye Wenzhou, a key NPC character), claiming the team's creative work 'shouldn't be negated by inappropriate comments and attacks,' and begging players not to direct personal attacks at team members. But players read this as blame-shifting: 'We did nothing wrong; you just don't have good taste.'

One player deconstructed the statement's logic with surgical precision: 'They went ahead with it. Problem? If you don't like the collab, get out of our 莲花楼 mobile game.' Others pointed out that the writing had the energy of a corporate PR template — one commenter said it felt like it 'wouldn't pass a plagiarism check,' suggesting it was a canned response rather than genuine contrition.

What truly enraged players was the in-game experience. NPCs in the collab content reportedly mock players directly with lines like 'If you don't know the Xiangyi Tai Sword, what business do you have roaming the jianghu?' — essentially telling players who haven't watched the 莲花楼 TV drama to get lost. One furious player recounted: 'I'd never even heard of 莲花楼 before this collab. I glanced at the voting poll and didn't even remember this thing existed. Then this NPC line pops up. So my wallet and I both have our own lives — we're leaving this garbage jianghu behind.'

In the apology letter, Leihuo tried to justify the collab by citing classic wuxia literature — referencing unrequited love from Jin Yong novels. But players immediately caught them citing only Jin Yong (金庸) works while their game 逆水寒 is actually based on Wen Rui'an's (温瑞安) 'Four Great Constables' series. 'Why are all your examples from Jin Yong when your own game is Wen Rui'an's IP?' one player pointed out. Getting your own franchise's cultural background wrong while trying to sell 'wuxia nostalgia' is beyond embarrassing.

Even more damning, some players claimed the apology letter's phrasing and logic closely mirrored a previously exposed plagiarized essay — earning it the roast of 'has the energy of a plagiarism check.' One commenter quipped: 'This is literally pouring oil on the fire. Upper management probably saw the revenue tanking and forced an apology, but the person writing it was clearly seething and couldn't resist throwing in some passive-aggressive shade.'

As for why Leihuo chose this specific moment to apologize? Players had a blunt answer: because the revenue collapsed. Data screenshots shared on NGA show that the new season's peak revenue was lower than the previous season's end-of-season 'Lucky Egg' event, after which numbers continued to plummet.

The letter claimed they 'received a lot of criticism, opinions, and suggestions from players' — but in reality, the 'suggestions' were nothing but wall-to-wall rage. One player summed it up: 'They already crammed it down our throats and now they think a quick apology and a laugh will make it all go away.'

The backlash was just as fierce on Weibo (Chinese Twitter). Screenshots from the Weibo comment section showed an equally furious reception.

Perhaps the funniest fallout was the cross-contamination to Leihuo's other products. One player complained: 'Stop calling me about the 莲花楼 mobile game, I already uninstalled everything.' Another went even further with dark humor: 'Stop calling me two days in a row about the 莲花楼 mobile game — I'm a 逆水寒 player, but 逆水寒 has already shut down lol.' The main game hasn't actually closed, but players are already using gallows humor to express their disillusionment.

From a collab poll nobody cared about, to NPCs openly insulting players, to an apology letter that got roasted harder than the original controversy — the 逆水寒 × 莲花楼 saga is a textbook case of operational disaster. The apology letter, rather than extinguishing the fire, was essentially pouring gasoline on it. 'We'll do it again?' players responded. 'Then we won't be here next time.'