Wuthering Waves' All-Female Promo Grid Exposed: Character Name Allegedly Tied to Kuro Games' Former Company Name — Players Cry 'Internal Favoritism Confirmed'

One all-female promotional image blew the lid off a hidden detail — or rather, a personal touch — that developer Kuro Games may have been sitting on for who knows how long.

The story is straightforward. Wuthering Waves recently released a 9-grid promotional image showcasing all-female characters from the game. However, eagle-eyed players quickly spotted something fishy: the grid literally featured two copies of the same character (Jianxin/鉴心) to fill the slots, while the game actually has male characters who were completely left out. This move prompted players on the Path to Nowhere (无期迷途) Tieba forum to start a thread questioning the gacha pool lineup.

Then it got even wilder. Players in the replies pointed out that the female character named "Jianxin" (鉴心) allegedly shares its name with Kuro Games' former company name. In other words, the devs supposedly embedded their own old corporate identity into a character. The same reply also noted that the male character "Jiyan" (忌炎) has a similar connection. If true, this goes way beyond a simple Easter egg — it looks more like the devs sneaking personal sentiment into the game's DNA, essentially naming characters after themselves.

The NGA gossip board (瓜版) erupted instantly. The top-voted comment "They're back — Kuro has returned to its loyal gossip board" nailed it perfectly: Kuro Games has always been a frequent flyer on NGA's drama section, and they just delivered another classic moment. Another user noted "The drama emperor is back, though this scoop is two days old — why'd it take so long to get posted here?" — pointing out this tea had been brewing on other communities for days before landing on NGA.

The debate over the name "Jianxin" (鉴心) clearly split the community. Some players went straight for the throat: "Looks like Jiyan really IS the internal favorite — Jiyan mains eating good today." The "Jiyan's Wife" reference (鸡眼夫人) is a community meme about the male character being excessively favored by the devs. Another commenter confirmed the meme's origin story, noting that the Hand Discussion board (手综) had already been making similar jokes.

But some players tried to pump the brakes. One user shared a screenshot of "Qishi" (七实), a benchwarmer character from Kuro's previous game Punishing: Gray Raven (战双), who also has a company-name connection, asking "Are the girlies being a bit too sensitive here?" Others echoed this: "Kuro's company is literally called Qishi too, so what's the big deal?" — arguing that linking character names to company names is a stretch. Still, one fence-sitter admitted "I checked the Wuthering Waves forum and they say Qishi is also a former name — okay, fair enough then."

Comment #12 went straight for the jugular aimed at Kuro Games CEO Songlun Li (李松伦): "So Songlun Li finally has the money to make his dream Jiyan a priority pick — must've been ecstatic when he signed off on it." The implication is that Jiyan is essentially the boss's pet project. As for the question "Why are there two Jianxins in the grid — not enough characters?" — the devastating reply came: "The answer is they'd rather pad it with duplicates than put a single male character in." One sentence, the whole all-female marketing strategy exposed.

As of now, Kuro Games has not issued any official response. But the fact that a single promo image could trigger this many layers of discussion — from the all-female marketing strategy, to character naming as corporate Easter eggs, to allegations of internal favoritism — is truly peak gacha community culture.