This June, at least nearly 20 new games are set to launch. The three drawing the most attention are Lineage 2: Covenant, an MMO published by Tencent and developed by South Korea's NCSOFT; NetEase's life-simulation title Starry Days with Friends; and Beneath the Night.

Among these three, the one generating the most discussion among players and the industry is not either of the two major-publisher titles, but Beneath the Night, a new revenge-themed female-oriented game from Sleepless Night Studio under Bai'ao Games (Guangzhou Tianti).

01

After Nearly a Year and a Half of Quiet, the Female-Oriented Segment Gets Another Hot Title

Beneath the Night Generates US$910,000 in iOS Revenue in Four Days of Open Beta

The title entered open beta on June 5. It is the first female-oriented game to enter open beta this year, and even the only heavily content-driven new female-oriented title to launch in nearly a year and a half. After the burst of new releases in 2024, such as Love and Deepspace, Beyond the World, and Ru Yuan, the market entered another quiet period. It is also the earliest product to launch among all the major female-oriented titles first revealed around the same period this year.

It is understood that before the official open beta, the game had already surpassed 10 million pre-registrations, showing how high player expectations were. It opened pre-downloads two days early, on June 3, and topped the iOS free-games chart on the same day, holding that position for six consecutive days. On the third day of open beta, it reached a peak of No. 25 on the iOS games grossing chart. At present, it ranks No. 6 on the iOS free-games chart and No. 40 on the grossing chart.

Beneath the Night's performance on China's iOS free and grossing games charts since pre-downloads opened

Looking specifically at the title's iOS market data, downloads peaked at 210,000 on the first day of pre-downloads, fell to 171,000 the next day, and were about 153,000 on the open-beta launch day. They have continued to decline at roughly that pace since then, with current daily downloads at around 61,000.

Beneath the Night's iOS download trend since pre-downloads opened

In terms of revenue, the game earned US$190,000 on the first day of open beta, equivalent to about RMB 1.29 million. Revenue then grew slowly, but daily revenue began to decline from the fourth day, reaching around US$216,000, equivalent to about RMB 1.47 million.

Beneath the Night's iOS revenue trend since pre-downloads opened

As of now, June 8, Beneath the Night has been in open beta for four days. Its cumulative iOS downloads are about 825,000, total revenue is estimated at US$909,000, equivalent to about RMB 6.2 million, and RPD, or revenue per download, is US$1.10, equivalent to about RMB 7.47.

02

Refusing to Be an Otome Game, It Differentiates Through Positioning and Content

Early Buzz Is Strong, But the Data Is Still Some Distance From a Breakout Hit

The game's high open-beta popularity is, of course, directly related to user-acquisition spending. According to reports by Guangdada, the title released 5,000 sets of paid-user-acquisition creatives over the past 90 days, with most video materials being character-PV mashups and the content roughly split between men and setting. More importantly, however, the game's own positioning, theme, and gameplay are differentiated.

Public information shows that Beneath the Night registered its software copyright in September 2024, obtained its game license in January 2025, and made its first public reveal in April 2025, when its external project name was Code: Peng Peng. In mid-May of the same year, it launched the 'Loaded' test, an Android limited-slot, account-wiping, non-monetized test. During this period, related creator-submission campaigns also gradually began. In early July it participated in the TapTap Game Conference; in mid-November it was officially renamed; in early December it launched a one-week 'Recoil Control' test, an Android account-wiping, non-monetized test; and in late December it participated in Hangzhou CP32pre.

In early March 2026, the game began its third test, the 'Misfire Test,' a limited, account-wiping monetized test supporting cross-platform interoperability across Android, iOS, and PC. During this period, the game's creative-submission activities on platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin were also in full swing. In mid-May, the game confirmed its open-beta date. From then until launch day, it carried out more intensive promotion, including a release-date PV, a pre-open-beta preview livestream, the release of the theme song Endless Nightfall performed by Faouzia and the game's original soundtrack, and collaborations with JUST.FOTO, iFlytek Input Method Tuku, QQ Music, and Kugou for merchandise and customization campaigns.

Looking back at Beneath the Night from first reveal to open beta, the overall time span was not long, yet it quickly sparked discussion among players, with attention and popularity rising steadily. It even became one of the most-watched new female-oriented games of 2026. This is related to its positioning, which takes a different path while also fitting changes in the times.

At first glance, the title looks very much like an otome game. But in industry-media interviews and preview livestreams, the official team made clear that Beneath the Night is not an otome work, but a female-oriented product centered on ML relationships, or Master Love, meaning that every character's emotional orientation points toward the protagonist. 'It does not compress all emotional experiences into romance. Family affection, friendship, and more complex bonds between people are also incorporated as important parts of the narrative.'

Under this positioning, the game chooses a Sicilian mafia theme. Players take on the role of the sole heir to the Cecilia family, once a prominent top Nightwalker family in the Kingdom of Milan. Due to various conspiracies, the family is brutally destroyed; the player survives by faking death, and years later begins her path of revenge and power struggle.

In the process, the heroine is not a passive damsel waiting to be rescued, but the 'BOSS' at the center of the story's storm. Around her are six romanceable male characters: Wild Wolf, a wild and unruly yet loyal guard; Red Glove, a top lawyer who hates boredom and loves thrills; General, the fearsome leader of a mercenary corps; Ghost, who appears obedient but is in fact ruthless; Tyrant, the violent and pragmatic ruler of the lower district; and 'Someone,' a mysterious figure of unknown origin who is reserved and gentle. They all have their own dark pasts. Beyond romance, the heroine also has her own goals and behavioral logic.

In terms of gameplay, Beneath the Night is built on a content-driven card-RPG framework, deeply integrating a side-scrolling squad-based real-time combat system, with each team able to field four active characters plus two support characters; a family-management system, in which players rebuild and operate strongholds such as casinos and wineries and expand their influence through negotiation and resource exchange; character progression; and emotional interaction systems. Unlike the sweet-romance narratives of traditional female-oriented games, it emphasizes power games, strategic decisions, and a female-centered sense of control.

Overall, Beneath the Night has accurately identified the needs of a new generation of female players in its positioning and product packaging, allowing it to quickly accumulate substantial attention. Combined with user-acquisition spending and promotion for open beta, its popularity erupted in a concentrated burst. However, judging from specific short-term market data, the game has not reached breakout-hit status, and there are even faint signs of declining revenue.

As for current player feedback, the combat system has drawn many negative comments, such as character combat art differing too much from the card illustrations and breaking immersion, stiff control feedback, and a lack of strategic depth. There are also many complaints about progression resources creating bottlenecks. In addition, although the game surveyed both heroine-focused players and self-insert players during testing, and clearly answered in the preview livestream that 'the player is the heroine,' some players in the community still believe that the heroine's distinct characterization affects self-insertion.

It should be noted that although Beneath the Night has not fully broken out at present, twists and long-term operations have always been characteristics of female-oriented games. Therefore, if adjustments are made in time, its future remains worth watching, and the title has indeed brought different thinking to the female-oriented segment.

03

The Female-Oriented Game Market Is Highly Competitive but Clearly Growing

Casual Fusion and Vertical Innovation Are the Two Major Directions Ahead

Finally, returning to the category level, according to the 2025 Female-Oriented Game Research Report jointly released late last year by the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association and the Game Publishing Committee, China's female-oriented game market had already reached RMB 8 billion in 2024, up 124.1% year on year, a growth rate far above the industry average.

In addition, the 56th Statistical Report on China's Internet Development shows that as of June 2025, women accounted for 48.0% of online-game users, up 3.1 percentage points from the end of 2024, indicating a clear upward trend.

These data all show that female players' participation and influence in the game market are becoming increasingly evident. The directly related female-oriented game segment is also racing ahead amid fierce competition, with standards for graphics, gameplay, and narrative continuing to rise.

Like most subcategories, female-oriented games are currently a segment where new titles keep appearing but breakout hits are hard to produce, and the advantage of leading products remains extremely obvious.

Looking at new female-oriented games in 2025 as compiled by Game Gyro, none of the titles launched last year were major productions. Their overall visibility was relatively low, and in gameplay experience they mostly remained within traditional frameworks such as dress-up and simulation management. Developers more often tried to integrate female-oriented elements into mini-games and casual directions in search of breakthroughs. The best-performing title among them was My Garden World, whose monthly revenue is still growing and reached about US$10.4 million in May, equivalent to about RMB 70.5 million, excluding domestic Android data.

Information in the image compiled by Game Gyro

Global monthly revenue trend of My Garden World since launch, excluding domestic Android data

Although this kind of lightweight fusion is one of the important future directions, broadly defined as female-oriented, Papergames is also hiring for casual-project roles and specifically notes in some job requirements that experience with female-oriented games, merge-2 mechanics, dress-up, and simulation management is preferred. However, similar to the anime-style game segment, core player groups and the industry are also looking forward to new titles with a higher concentration of female-oriented content and stronger vertical focus, namely romance products centered on female players.

Image source: Jinghe

It is worth noting that this year appears to be a big year for major female-oriented products. In addition to Beneath the Night discussed in this article, at the end of January Happy Elements released a PV and gameplay footage for its 3D idol game V Project, stating that it would not focus on romantic relationships and would instead center on an ensemble story about idol development. In late April, Zulong's VVANNA division first revealed its multiplatform UE5 'high-immersion fantasy urban romance interactive game,' Code: The God Says Nothing, and released both a PV and gameplay demo. Its global pre-registrations have now exceeded 2.1 million;

In addition, various independent female-oriented games and AI-driven female-oriented products are also waiting in the wings. For example, EVE, which launched in April, centers its core selling point on AI-driven companionship and emotional interaction; other announced pipeline products include Lianlian Zhongxu, Code Sol, Code: Floating Light, and Code: Cloud.

EVE

Overall, female-oriented games are developing and expanding along two paths at the same time: casual fusion and more vertical, innovative differentiation. This is the inevitable evolution of a maturing segment.