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[[File:Reverse Collapse devteam logo.png|right|200px|thumb|[[Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery]] development team logo from the game's splash screens.]]
[[File:Reverse Collapse devteam logo.png|right|200px|thumb|[[Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery]] development team logo from the game's splash screens.]]
[[File:Hecate Team logo.png|right|200px|thumb|Hecate Team logo from [[Project NET]]'s trailers.]]
[[File:Hecate Team logo.png|right|200px|thumb|Hecate Team logo from [[Project NET]]'s trailers.]]
'''Sunborn'''<ref  group=Note>Sunborn is registered on Steam as “Sunborn Games Technology Co., Ltd.” In [[Girls' Frontline]], it is stylized as “SUNBORN Network Technology Co., Ltd.”</ref> (散爆) is a Shanghai-based game developer directed by Huang Chong (黄翀),<ref name=Seventy /><ref>[https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1y/k1y944hzno Mid-Summer Concert address] (13:14)</ref><ref name=GSTAR>[https://gstar.or.kr/eng/conference/conf_speaker_view.do?gsk_idx=303 G-STAR 2024, Speaker Profile]</ref> better known under the pen name Yuzhong (羽中), formed around the development team called '''Mica Team'''<ref group=Note>Various official renditions have been used for the name “Mica Team”:
'''Sunborn'''<ref  group=Note>Sunborn is registered on Steam as “Sunborn Games Technology Co., Ltd.” In [[Girls' Frontline]], it is stylized as “SUNBORN Network Technology Co., Ltd.”</ref> (散爆) is a Shanghai-based game developer directed by Huang Chong (黄翀, born 1989),<ref name=Seventy /><ref>[https://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1y/k1y944hzno Mid-Summer Concert address] (13:14)</ref><ref name=GSTAR>[https://gstar.or.kr/eng/conference/conf_speaker_view.do?gsk_idx=303 G-STAR 2024, Speaker Profile]</ref><ref name=Jiaxing>Jiaxing Culture article on [https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1774533482567550603 Baidu], [https://www.toutiao.com/article/7268246344538554914 Toutiao]</ref> better known under the pen name Yuzhong (羽中), formed around the development team called '''Mica Team'''<ref group=Note>Various official renditions have been used for the name “Mica Team”:
*“MICA工作室” in some of Yuzhong's 2008 [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VP-f4vpS4wDd_4NQyVpln_J-ZyXMhzBy0BNSf2ClUMQ/edit Sina Blog posts].
*“MICA工作室” in some of Yuzhong's 2008 [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VP-f4vpS4wDd_4NQyVpln_J-ZyXMhzBy0BNSf2ClUMQ/edit Sina Blog posts].
*“MICA team” in the credits of [[Girl of the Bakehouse]].
*“MICA team” in the credits of [[Girl of the Bakehouse]].
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==History==
==History==
===Before Girls' Frontline===
===Before Girls' Frontline===
Mica Team was formed in 2008 by 19-years old animation college freshman Yuzhong, as a doujin circle to produce the visual novel [[Girl of the Bakehouse]] which was released in 2009. The circle comprised three people, and Yuzhong dropped out in his second year, preferring to gain experience working on real projects.<ref name=4G2018>[https://www.4gamer.net/games/405/G040593/20180622068/ 4gamer 2018 interview]</ref><ref>[http://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_51b31af10100ceia.html?type=-1 Sina - 10000达成~~大庆贺！羽中的超长篇~！] ([https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VP-f4vpS4wDd_4NQyVpln_J-ZyXMhzBy0BNSf2ClUMQ/edit Archive])</ref>
Mica Team was formed in 2008 by 19-years old animation college freshman Yuzhong, as a doujin circle to produce the visual novel [[Girl of the Bakehouse]] which was released in 2009. The circle comprised three people, and Yuzhong dropped out in his second year, preferring to gain experience working on real projects.<ref name=4G2018>[https://www.4gamer.net/games/405/G040593/20180622068/ 4gamer 2018 interview]</ref><ref>[http://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_51b31af10100ceia.html?type=-1 Sina - 10000达成~~大庆贺！羽中的超长篇~！] ([https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VP-f4vpS4wDd_4NQyVpln_J-ZyXMhzBy0BNSf2ClUMQ/edit Archive])</ref> Yuzhong had only joined college at the insistence of his father, who reportedly supported his creative endeavors nonetheless by renting the studio used by the early Mica Team and driving him between Shanghai and the family home in Jiaxing.<ref name=Jiaxing />


While working on more Bakehouse projects, the group also published doujin artbooks: a K-On!/Haruhi Suzumiya crossover, ''Touhou Modern Warfare'', a book dedicated to Touhou's Suwako Moriya and the [[Guns&Girls]] series.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VP-f4vpS4wDd_4NQyVpln_J-ZyXMhzBy0BNSf2ClUMQ/edit# Archive of Yuzhong's Sina blog]</ref>
While working on more Bakehouse projects, the group also published doujin artbooks: a K-On!/Haruhi Suzumiya crossover, ''Touhou Modern Warfare'', a book dedicated to Touhou's Suwako Moriya and the [[Guns&Girls]] series.<ref>[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VP-f4vpS4wDd_4NQyVpln_J-ZyXMhzBy0BNSf2ClUMQ/edit# Archive of Yuzhong's Sina blog]</ref>
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Neural Cloud received a first closed beta test in October 2020, then a second closed beta called “Singularity Test” in December 2020.
Neural Cloud received a first closed beta test in October 2020, then a second closed beta called “Singularity Test” in December 2020.


On 21 April 2021, Tencent gained a 20% stake in Sunborn. According to Yuzhong, the deal involved a 9-figures investment from Tencent and Sunborn would still publish its own games in Mainland China. At the time the studio had more than 450 employees, with about 200 working on Girls' Frontline 2.<ref>[http://www.nadianshi.com/2021/09/303822 Nadianshi interview], [https://gamepress.gg/girlsfrontline/9-16-YZ-interview Translation]</ref> Yuzhong reportedly retained ownership of Sunborn at 70%.<ref name=Seventy>[https://www.youxituoluo.com/527223.html Youxituoluo]</ref> Girls' Frontline 2 received its first closed beta test in July 2021 (CBT-1) and a second (CBT-2) in October 2021. Neural Cloud was released in Mainland China in September 2021.
On 21 April 2021, Tencent gained a 20% stake in Sunborn. According to Yuzhong, the deal involved a 9-figures investment from Tencent and Sunborn would still publish its own games in Mainland China. At the time the studio had more than 450 employees, with about 200 working on Girls' Frontline 2.<ref>[http://www.nadianshi.com/2021/09/303822 Nadianshi interview], [https://gamepress.gg/girlsfrontline/9-16-YZ-interview Translation]</ref><ref>Nadianshi report on [https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20210422A0F7PK00 QQ]</ref><ref name=Jiaxing /> Yuzhong reportedly retained ownership of Sunborn at 70%<ref name=Seventy>[https://www.youxituoluo.com/527223.html Youxituoluo]</ref> and sent an internal letter reassuring that the studio would remain independent.<ref>娱乐闪登场 report at [https://www.163.com/dy/article/G8BGF3JV05377ISA.html NetEase], [https://www.sohu.com/a/462535566_120873309 Sohu]</ref> Girls' Frontline 2 received its first closed beta test in July 2021 (CBT-1) and a second (CBT-2) in October 2021. Neural Cloud was released in Mainland China in September 2021.


Development ceased on Glitch Land in early 2022 but progress on Girls' Frontline 2 and Reverse Collapse was shown during Girls' Frontline 6th Anniversary livestream on 14 May 2022. After a Global beta in October 2022, Neural Cloud released in other regions in November 2022.
Development ceased on Glitch Land in early 2022 but progress on Girls' Frontline 2 and Reverse Collapse was shown during Girls' Frontline 6th Anniversary livestream on 14 May 2022. After a Global beta in October 2022, Neural Cloud released in other regions in November 2022.


On 20 May 2022, a recruitment post on Sunborn's HR WeChat group announced positions related to a project called “Project Panda” (代号Panda). Cross-referencing with LinkedIn profiles of Sunborn members pointed to a game within the ''Wandering Earth'' IP.<ref>[http://www.cungun.com/gl/10670.html Cungun report]</ref> Sunborn's involvement in the ''Wandering Earth Mobile'' strategy game was announced on 22 January 2023. Mica Team is not included in the announcement.<ref>[https://shouyou.gamersky.com/news/202301/1559551.shtml Announcement at Gamersky]</ref><ref>[https://twe.starrydome.com.cn/ Official website]</ref><ref>[https://m.weibo.cn/u/7811003257 Official Weibo]</ref> In an August 2023 interview, Yuzhong stated the studio had grown to over 700 employees and teased a yet-unannounced project.<ref>[https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/drkEkepPcVJs96CkwbJW6g Weixin - 专访散爆羽中：希望《少前2》能成为二游的又一座高峰]</ref> Sunborn was one of the speakers of the 9th Inven Games Convention in Seongnam on 13 October 2023, where Yuzhong held a conference on “conveying emotional value through games” and teased the character [[Klukai]].<ref>[https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/18585/sights-from-the-9th-igc-a-celebration-of-communication-collaboration-and-growth Inven Global - Sights from the 9th IGC: A Celebration of Communication, Collaboration, and Growth]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20240427071220/https://igc.inven.co.kr/ IGC]</ref> Yuzhong held the same conference at G-STAR 2024 in Seoul on 15 November 2024, where Leva was teased.<ref name=GSTAR /><ref>[https://bbs.nga.cn/read.php?tid=42453101 NGA Thread]</ref>
On 20 May 2022, a recruitment post on Sunborn's HR WeChat group announced positions related to a project called “Project Panda” (代号Panda). Cross-referencing with LinkedIn profiles of Sunborn members pointed to a game within the ''Wandering Earth'' IP.<ref>[http://www.cungun.com/gl/10670.html Cungun report]</ref> Sunborn's involvement in the ''Wandering Earth Mobile'' strategy game was announced on 22 January 2023. Mica Team is not included in the announcement.<ref>[https://shouyou.gamersky.com/news/202301/1559551.shtml Announcement at Gamersky]</ref><ref>[https://twe.starrydome.com.cn/ Official website]</ref><ref>[https://m.weibo.cn/u/7811003257 Official Weibo]</ref> In an August 2023 interview, Yuzhong stated the studio had grown to over 700 employees and teased a yet-unannounced project.<ref>[https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/drkEkepPcVJs96CkwbJW6g Weixin - 专访散爆羽中：希望《少前2》能成为二游的又一座高峰]</ref> Sunborn was one of the speakers of the 9th Inven Games Convention in Seongnam on 13 October 2023, where Yuzhong held a conference on “conveying emotional value through games” and teased the character [[Klukai]].<ref>[https://www.invenglobal.com/articles/18585/sights-from-the-9th-igc-a-celebration-of-communication-collaboration-and-growth Inven Global - Sights from the 9th IGC: A Celebration of Communication, Collaboration, and Growth]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20240427071220/https://igc.inven.co.kr/ IGC]</ref> Yuzhong held the same conference at G-STAR 2024 in Seoul on 15 November 2024, where Leva was teased.<ref name=GSTAR /><ref>[https://bbs.nga.cn/read.php?tid=42453101 NGA Thread]</ref>


On 15 December 2024, Sunborn registered the trademark 少女前线: 回响视界.
[[Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium]] launched in December 2023, and in a similar manner to the first game, met significant issues.<ref name=Chuapp2>[https://www.chuapp.com/?c=Article&a=index&id=290096 Chuapp]</ref> On 31 October 2024, Sunborn announced that the CN server of Girls' Frontline would close<ref>Weibo [https://weibo.com/5611537367/OE3OblM41], [https://weibo.com/5611537367/OE3ObBa50]</ref> due to legal issues with launch partner Digital Sky. Chuapp reported that between 50 and 100 people worked on the game at that time.<ref name=Chuapp3>[https://www.chuapp.com/article/290285.html Chuapp]</ref> On 15 December 2024, Sunborn registered the trademark 少女前线: 回响视界.


<gallery>
<gallery>
File 2021 Sunborn Office 1.jpg|Sunborn office in late 2021.
File 2021 Sunborn Office 2.jpg
File:Sunborn at Inven 2023.jpg|Yuzhong presenting [[Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium]] at IGC 2023.
File:Sunborn at Inven 2023.jpg|Yuzhong presenting [[Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium]] at IGC 2023.
</gallery>
</gallery>
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==Sunborn and the fan community==
==Sunborn and the fan community==
*Due to the quite long lifetime of [[Girls' Frontline]] despite less impressive commercial performances compared to well-known gacha games, Sunborn has acquired the reputation of a studio that doesn't close its live-service games. The fact stands in defiance of CN players regularly calling Sunborn games “pills” (药丸, 丸, or simply 💊, a wordplay on 完, “to end”) or calling “YMFM” (originally 云母飞妈, an insult to the mothers of Mica Team's devs, later reinterpreted to be less offensive) when the games face issues. As of 2025, the only Sunborn live game to have reached end-of-service has been the Mainland Chinese server of [[Girls' Frontline]], which ran without interruption from May 2016 to December 2024 and closed due to legal constraints.
*Due to the quite long lifetime of [[Girls' Frontline]] despite less impressive commercial performances compared to well-known gacha games, Sunborn has acquired the reputation of a studio that doesn't close its live-service games. The fact stands in defiance of CN players regularly calling Sunborn games “pills” (药丸, 丸, or simply 💊, a wordplay on 完, “to end”) or calling “YMFM” (originally 云母飞妈, an insult to the mothers of Mica Team's devs, later reinterpreted to be less offensive) when the games face issues. As of 2025, the only Sunborn live game to have reached end-of-service has been the Mainland Chinese server of [[Girls' Frontline]], which ran without interruption from May 2016 to December 2024 and closed due to legal constraints.
**Sunborn considered making [[GFL2 Weapon Accessories|weapon accessories]] in the form of medicine pills in the second game as a reference.<ref name=Chuapp2 />
*Yuzhong (also nicknamed 帝国の董事长, from a [https://www.bilibili.com/opus/414782579670145034 July 2020 interview] in Griffin Daily, and “King Chong” in English) is often the focal point of community in-jokes. The sole Doll of his own design, {{doll name|6P62|AR|3}}, is considered his “daughter”. One of her costumes makes reference to a rumor, evolved into a joke, that appeared after the 2019 annual company meeting, claiming that Yuzhong bought a Ferrari car while leaving Sunborn employees without bonus pay. The [https://gf.txwy.tw/archives/9863.html preview version] of the damaged art contained one more reference that was not kept in the in-game version, containing a photograph of Yuzhong on a sickbed, cropped from [https://m.weibo.cn/status/IoR8cdLMz a 2020 photograph shared on Weibo] after he [https://m.weibo.cn/status/Ip1hr87Sq suffered from food poisoning] at the time of the Girls' Frontline 4th Anniversary festival.
*Yuzhong (also nicknamed 帝国の董事长, from a [https://www.bilibili.com/opus/414782579670145034 July 2020 interview] in Griffin Daily, and “King Chong” in English) is often the focal point of community in-jokes. The sole Doll of his own design, {{doll name|6P62|AR|3}}, is considered his “daughter”. One of her costumes makes reference to a rumor, evolved into a joke, that appeared after the 2019 annual company meeting, claiming that Yuzhong bought a Ferrari car while leaving Sunborn employees without bonus pay. The [https://gf.txwy.tw/archives/9863.html preview version] of the damaged art contained one more reference that was not kept in the in-game version, containing a photograph of Yuzhong on a sickbed, cropped from [https://m.weibo.cn/status/IoR8cdLMz a 2020 photograph shared on Weibo] after he [https://m.weibo.cn/status/Ip1hr87Sq suffered from food poisoning] at the time of the Girls' Frontline 4th Anniversary festival.
*In the controversy-hungry Chinese video gaming community, Sunborn as been the subject of a number of so-called “dramas” fueled by social medias such as the NGA forums and Weibo microblog. The most high-profile occurrences involved slander by former employees/contractors [[Artist:水乌龟|Suisai]] and BSL白龙, and misrepresentation of a partial datamined version of the story of [[Amidst Wings of Gray|Exotic Cadence]]. [[IOP Wiki:Guideline#What IOP Wiki is not|These topics are not expanded upon on IOP Wiki.]]
*In the controversy-hungry Chinese video gaming community, Sunborn as been the subject of a number of so-called “dramas” fueled by social medias such as the NGA forums and Weibo microblog. The most high-profile occurrences involved slander by former employees/contractors [[Artist:水乌龟|Suisai]] and BSL白龙, and misrepresentation of a partial datamined version of the story of [[Amidst Wings of Gray|Exotic Cadence]].<ref name=Chuapp2 /><ref name=Chuapp3 /> [[IOP Wiki:Guideline#What IOP Wiki is not|These topics are not expanded upon on IOP Wiki.]]
*Sunborn games release first for Mainland China before releasing in other regions, which has some consequences:
*Sunborn games release first for Mainland China before releasing in other regions, which has some consequences:
**The order in which content is released on these servers doesn't always match the order used on the original CN server. This was particularly noticeable in [[Project Neural Cloud]] and [[Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium]]. The Global community explains these changes by claiming that Sunborn decides release orders based on dartboard throws.
**The order in which content is released on these servers doesn't always match the order used on the original CN server. This was particularly noticeable in [[Project Neural Cloud]] and [[Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium]]. The Global community explains these changes by claiming that Sunborn decides release orders based on dartboard throws.

Latest revision as of 19:17, 14 March 2025

Logo for Sunborn Network.
The Mica Team logo introduced in Codename: Bakery Girl. There are many small variations around this design.
Alternate Mica Team logo briefly used in 2018.
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery development team logo from the game's splash screens.
Hecate Team logo from Project NET's trailers.

Sunborn[Note 1] (散爆) is a Shanghai-based game developer directed by Huang Chong (黄翀, born 1989),[1][2][3][4] better known under the pen name Yuzhong (羽中), formed around the development team called Mica Team[Note 2] (云母组).

Subsidiaries[edit]

“Mica Team” is not an independently registered entity, but Sunborn's internal development team.

History[edit]

Before Girls' Frontline[edit]

Mica Team was formed in 2008 by 19-years old animation college freshman Yuzhong, as a doujin circle to produce the visual novel Girl of the Bakehouse which was released in 2009. The circle comprised three people, and Yuzhong dropped out in his second year, preferring to gain experience working on real projects.[5][6] Yuzhong had only joined college at the insistence of his father, who reportedly supported his creative endeavors nonetheless by renting the studio used by the early Mica Team and driving him between Shanghai and the family home in Jiaxing.[4]

While working on more Bakehouse projects, the group also published doujin artbooks: a K-On!/Haruhi Suzumiya crossover, Touhou Modern Warfare, a book dedicated to Touhou's Suwako Moriya and the Guns&Girls series.[7]

The Bakehouse projects eventually led to a partnership with studio GameMaster to develop the strategy game Codename: Bakery Girl, released in 2013.[8]

Girls' Frontline[edit]

On 25 October 2015, Mica Team incorporated under the name LBX (used in the earliest marketing only[9][10]), quickly changed to Sunborn, and announced their mobile game Girls' Frontline. After three beta tests and development troubles, Sunborn launched the game in Mainland China in 2016, in Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea in 2017, and in a global English version and in Japan in 2018.[11]

The company was short on cash as it started: employees worked in a rented apartment with folding tables for work desks, and meals were cooked rather than ordered in to save money.[12] There were only 4 employees at the start of the development, but the team had grown to 35 when the game launched in China, then to 117 in 2018[5] and over 300 in 2020.[13] A Sunborn Japan branch was opened in March 2018 to manage the game in this key market, starting at 20 employees.[14] In March 2020, as the contract ended with Digital Sky, which was Girls' Frontline operator in Mainland China, Sunborn announced that the game's operations were transferred to Darkwinter Software Co., Ltd. (上海暗冬网络科技有限公司), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sunborn.[15] Darkwinter is listed as Sunborn games distributor in the English-speaking app stores.

  • LBX and Mica Team logos used in 2015.
    LBX and Mica Team logos used in 2015.
  • Colored logos from the original website.
    Colored logos from the original website.
  • Yuzhong (羽中, right) with Dax Production casting director Shinji Sakai (笠井信児, left) in September 2016.
    Yuzhong (羽中, right) with Dax Production casting director Shinji Sakai (笠井信児, left) in September 2016.

Expansion[edit]

The commercial success of Girls' Frontline enabled Sunborn to announce a remake of Codename: Bakery Girl in 2019 titled Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery, and three Girls' Frontline-related games were announced in 2020: Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium, Project Neural Cloud and Girls' Frontline: Glitch Land.[16] Sunborn's strategy at the time was reportedly to remain in its niche market and rely on internal evaluations rather than compete with high-budget games reactive to market trends,[17] based on the idea that the studio's DNA lied in the “2D + Strategy” niche.[18] Development updates were shared with some regularity through the Beilan Island Shelter Broadcast livestreams, hosted by Yuzhong, Smoke (Executive Producer for Girls' Frontline 2) and Kamie (Executive Producer for Project Neural Cloud) talking through Live2D avatars (very cursed). Girls' Frontline 2 and Reverse Collapse were delayed with no release date due to the Covid pandemic.

Neural Cloud received a first closed beta test in October 2020, then a second closed beta called “Singularity Test” in December 2020.

On 21 April 2021, Tencent gained a 20% stake in Sunborn. According to Yuzhong, the deal involved a 9-figures investment from Tencent and Sunborn would still publish its own games in Mainland China. At the time the studio had more than 450 employees, with about 200 working on Girls' Frontline 2.[19][20][4] Yuzhong reportedly retained ownership of Sunborn at 70%[1] and sent an internal letter reassuring that the studio would remain independent.[21] Girls' Frontline 2 received its first closed beta test in July 2021 (CBT-1) and a second (CBT-2) in October 2021. Neural Cloud was released in Mainland China in September 2021.

Development ceased on Glitch Land in early 2022 but progress on Girls' Frontline 2 and Reverse Collapse was shown during Girls' Frontline 6th Anniversary livestream on 14 May 2022. After a Global beta in October 2022, Neural Cloud released in other regions in November 2022.

On 20 May 2022, a recruitment post on Sunborn's HR WeChat group announced positions related to a project called “Project Panda” (代号Panda). Cross-referencing with LinkedIn profiles of Sunborn members pointed to a game within the Wandering Earth IP.[22] Sunborn's involvement in the Wandering Earth Mobile strategy game was announced on 22 January 2023. Mica Team is not included in the announcement.[23][24][25] In an August 2023 interview, Yuzhong stated the studio had grown to over 700 employees and teased a yet-unannounced project.[26] Sunborn was one of the speakers of the 9th Inven Games Convention in Seongnam on 13 October 2023, where Yuzhong held a conference on “conveying emotional value through games” and teased the character Klukai.[27][28] Yuzhong held the same conference at G-STAR 2024 in Seoul on 15 November 2024, where Leva was teased.[3][29]

Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium launched in December 2023, and in a similar manner to the first game, met significant issues.[30] On 31 October 2024, Sunborn announced that the CN server of Girls' Frontline would close[31] due to legal issues with launch partner Digital Sky. Chuapp reported that between 50 and 100 people worked on the game at that time.[32] On 15 December 2024, Sunborn registered the trademark 少女前线: 回响视界.

Sunborn and the fan community[edit]

  • Due to the quite long lifetime of Girls' Frontline despite less impressive commercial performances compared to well-known gacha games, Sunborn has acquired the reputation of a studio that doesn't close its live-service games. The fact stands in defiance of CN players regularly calling Sunborn games “pills” (药丸, 丸, or simply 💊, a wordplay on 完, “to end”) or calling “YMFM” (originally 云母飞妈, an insult to the mothers of Mica Team's devs, later reinterpreted to be less offensive) when the games face issues. As of 2025, the only Sunborn live game to have reached end-of-service has been the Mainland Chinese server of Girls' Frontline, which ran without interruption from May 2016 to December 2024 and closed due to legal constraints.
    • Sunborn considered making weapon accessories in the form of medicine pills in the second game as a reference.[30]
  • Yuzhong (also nicknamed 帝国の董事长, from a July 2020 interview in Griffin Daily, and “King Chong” in English) is often the focal point of community in-jokes. The sole Doll of his own design, AR 6P626P626P62, is considered his “daughter”. One of her costumes makes reference to a rumor, evolved into a joke, that appeared after the 2019 annual company meeting, claiming that Yuzhong bought a Ferrari car while leaving Sunborn employees without bonus pay. The preview version of the damaged art contained one more reference that was not kept in the in-game version, containing a photograph of Yuzhong on a sickbed, cropped from a 2020 photograph shared on Weibo after he suffered from food poisoning at the time of the Girls' Frontline 4th Anniversary festival.
  • In the controversy-hungry Chinese video gaming community, Sunborn as been the subject of a number of so-called “dramas” fueled by social medias such as the NGA forums and Weibo microblog. The most high-profile occurrences involved slander by former employees/contractors Suisai and BSL白龙, and misrepresentation of a partial datamined version of the story of Exotic Cadence.[30][32] These topics are not expanded upon on IOP Wiki.
  • Sunborn games release first for Mainland China before releasing in other regions, which has some consequences:
    • The order in which content is released on these servers doesn't always match the order used on the original CN server. This was particularly noticeable in Project Neural Cloud and Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium. The Global community explains these changes by claiming that Sunborn decides release orders based on dartboard throws.
    • For Girls' Frontline in particular, Global players often rely on guides made by CN and KR players to complete event missions. Confusion over the application of these strategies has led to the saying that “EN can't read”.
  • Other topics influenced by the fan community such as nicknames can be found in the trivia sections of AR M4A1M4A1M4A1, AR FNCFNCFNC, HG Five-seveNFive-seveNFive-seveN, HG M950AM950AM950A, SMG TMPTMPTMP and RF M14M14M14.

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ Sunborn is registered on Steam as “Sunborn Games Technology Co., Ltd.” In Girls' Frontline, it is stylized as “SUNBORN Network Technology Co., Ltd.”
  2. ↑ Various official renditions have been used for the name “Mica Team”:

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Youxituoluo
  2. ↑ Mid-Summer Concert address (13:14)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 G-STAR 2024, Speaker Profile
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jiaxing Culture article on Baidu, Toutiao
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 4gamer 2018 interview
  6. ↑ Sina - 10000达成~~大庆贺！羽中的超长篇~！ (Archive)
  7. ↑ Archive of Yuzhong's Sina blog
  8. ↑ News article about the launch of Codename: Bakery Girl
  9. ↑ Weibo posts [1], [2]
  10. ↑ Array's Breach of Contract public announcement
  11. ↑ Translated Chuapp article about Girls' Frontline development history
  12. ↑ The Art of Girls' Frontline Vol.2, p.400
  13. ↑ 2020 Zhihu interview
  14. ↑ 2018 4gamer interview - Sunborn Japan
  15. ↑ Weibo
  16. ↑ 2020 announcements website
  17. ↑ 2020 Gamedaily interview on Zhihu & Gameres
  18. ↑ 2021 GameTHK interview
  19. ↑ Nadianshi interview, Translation
  20. ↑ Nadianshi report on QQ
  21. ↑ 娱乐闪登场 report at NetEase, Sohu
  22. ↑ Cungun report
  23. ↑ Announcement at Gamersky
  24. ↑ Official website
  25. ↑ Official Weibo
  26. ↑ Weixin - 专访散爆羽中：希望《少前2》能成为二游的又一座高峰
  27. ↑ Inven Global - Sights from the 9th IGC: A Celebration of Communication, Collaboration, and Growth
  28. ↑ IGC
  29. ↑ NGA Thread
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Chuapp
  31. ↑ Weibo [3], [4]
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Chuapp
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