MICA Team/SUNBORN Network Technology

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**Sunborn Network Technology** (formerly **LBX Network Technology**) is the legal representative video game company front of **MICA Team** - a Chinese independent video game developer. Both companies were founded by Yuzhong and owned by him, with him being the president of both. Due to Sunborn's status as a private, limited company, the only outside coroporation with investments into it is Tencent, which acquired a 20% shares of Sunborn through a tactical investment in 2021. Yuzhong owns 70% equity, directly in shares and indirectly through his self-founded private equity firms, which he uses to reinvest his CEO salary. The other 10% is owned by numerous other employees of Sunborn.

While many see Sunborn as a legal shell for MICA Team, they are officially still stated to be two separate entities, and often appear side by side during conferences and conventions.

## MICA Team

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### Image caption

1. Logo
2. Alternative logo appeared during GFL 2rd anniversary livestream
3. Alternative logo used on Digital Sky GFL website from 2016 to 2019
4. Alternative logo appeared on starting screen around 2016-2017
5. 2013 logo
6. 2008 logo

## Information

### Industry

* Video game development (2009-present)
* Doujinshi (2008-2014)

### Founder(s)

* Yuzhong
* Unclear other Co-founders

### Headquarter(s)

* Shanghai, China
* JiaXing, China (formerly)(?)

## History

### The Doujin circle era (2008-2014)

On Yuzhong's Sina blog (before it was privated), the start of MICA Team can be tracked back to a 2007 post, when Yuzhong talked about developing a Visual Novel. On April 13, 2008, Yuzhong started to showcase some WIPs of this VN while also talking about working with *the team* and other things in his daily life, the VN's name was later revealed to be Epiphyllum and he stated that the script of it was originally a school project. The name **MICA Team** finally surfaced a week later in the Epiphyllum announcement post.

    Around this time, Yuzhong also got to know many other people in the ACG doujinshi scene, one of them is Viva Team. Both parties later became each other long-time friends as Viva Team (later became Vanguard Sound) continues to be the main and only music composer for MICA Team to this day. Epiphyllum later changed direction and renamed into Girl of the Bakehouse, it became the debut product of MICA Team. 400 copies of the VN were made for ComiCon 4 and ComiCup 4 in 2009, Yuzhong stated that the sale number was satisfactory but no exact number was given. During ComiCup4, someone motivated him to make a strategy (SLG) game. He tried it at first with ATLNA but no success. in 2010, MICA Team decided to develop the sequel of Girl of the Bakehouse, aimed it to be a SLG game; alongside that, they were also making the remastered version of the first Bakehouse. Truth be told, this is much more like a remake since they were not only aiming for better CG but also additional story paths and features with hint of active gameplay. The development of both titles was cancelled in early 2012 and the whole franchise was rebooted with Codename: Bakery Girl SLG game, assets and concept done for both Bakehouse 2 and the HD remastered were reused for it. The release marked a step in game development of MICA Team. During that time, MICA Team also done other doujin works, most noticeable is the Guns&Girls series, an artbooks series of small firearms moe anthropomorphism. Almost every doujin works are directed by Yuzhong and have his works on them.

### Transition (2015)

During the development and release of Codename: Bakery Girl, MICA Team got to know StudioGM (aka GameMaster), another Chinese doujin game team lead by Yaomeng, Codename Bakery Girl was published by them. Both parties had quite a good relationship during this time. In 2014, StudioGM became Yostar while they also have another separated studio under their bell with the exact same name of StudioGM. When the development of Girls' Frontline started, MICA Team and Yostar made a deal, MICA Team will be the developer of the game and Yostar will be the publisher, Yostar then set up another company named Array Network to tasked with the publishing work. LBX Network Technology was found during this time but later changed its name to Sunborn due to tax regulations.

### Sunborn era (2015-present)

After the successful first closed beta test of Girls' Frontline, Sunborn and Array Network signed a contract with Array Network invested 1 million RMB into the company and obtained the right to publish Girls' Frontline while they will be the one who responsible for technical and server stability. After the mix-bag second closed beta test with connection problems and the disastrous third closed beta test, saw the server downed for more than a week, tension began to raise between both parties. After the third closed beta test, Array Network reluctance to handover player data to Sunborn which caused a lot of problems with player transactions and Sunborn was heavily criticized by the playerbase. Allegedly, Sunborn secretly made a deal with Digital Sky as the suggest of Xinfa, an investment company, behind the scenes. Digital Sky then became the publisher of Girls' Frontline. This angered Yostar, who saw it as a betrayal, and in the act of retaliation, they refused to surrender the trademark of Girls' Frontline in Japan and Array Network ceased to function as a company. This caused Girls' Frontline to be unable to launch the Japan server for almost 2 years, Sunborn then established Sunborn Japan to directly handle the Japan market. Sunborn moved to a new office in 2018. On March 27, 2020, Sunborn announced that the contract between Sunborn and Digital Sky was about to be expired and the publishing right will be transfered to Darkwinter Software, a Sunborn's subsidiary that was found back in 2017. The transformation was done a month later. In mid 2021, Tencent invested into the company. In 2022, Sunborn opened another office due to the number of employees after couple of recruitment rounds.

## List of projects and products

### 2008

**Epiphyllum**

> *Main article*: Epiphyllum
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Epiphyllum is a visual novel and the first project that MICA Team worked on. Based on the script that Yuzhong wrote for a school project. The story takes place on an island between two continents, it connects with the mainland only by a bridge. The island is effected by a war that occurred many years ago and it's swept by a plague. Access to the island is closed by the government, people of the island are declared to be mobsters and all cities on there are blockaded by heavily armed troops. The project later changed direction and became Girl of the Bakehouse.

### 2009

**Girl of the Bakehouse**

> *Main article*: Girl of the Bakehouse
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Girl of the Bakehouse is a kinetic visual novel made by MICA Team, the debut product of the team. Its story follows Mendo, a war correspondent of Antarctic Union Armed Forces in European theater during the war between Antarctic Union and The Alliance. He meets Jefuty (Girl of the Bakehouse), a girl who works and lives in a bakehouse that Mendo stays with to recover from an illness while his unit occupies the town.

**ATLNA (cancelled)**

The experimental SLG that Yuzhong got inspired by someone during CP4, which he later admitted that this project was much more difficult than expected.

### 2010

**Girl of the Bakehouse 2 (cancelled)**

> *Main article*: Girl of the Bakehouse 2
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The planned strategy game acts as the sequel of Girl of the Bakehouse, aimed to be release in 2011-2012 but ultimately got cancelled in early 2012. The story was planned to continue follow Mendo as he tried to join the air force of Antarctic Union (Girl of the Bakehouse) but unsuccessful and he remains as a war correspondent. One day, Mendo's transport craft was shot down during a routine patrol, while trying to link up with friendly force, he unexpectedly meet Jefuty again.

**Moriya no Shoujo**

**守矢の少女** or **Moriya no Shoujo** (lit. *Maidens of Moriya*) is a 28 page Touhou Project fan artbook done by Yuzhong and an artist named Elysion with a person name 猫斯拉 和真 as guest. It centers around Moriya Shrine's residents, Sanae Kochiya, Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Moriya.

Higher resolution without title, retrieved from Yuzhong's pixiv**Touhou Project: Modern Warfare**

A dōjinshi with characters from Touhou Project using modern warfare equipment (it just happens to have the "Modern Warfare" in its name, no evidence suggest it's a crossover with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series), done by Yuzhong again. Not much information about this book.

Stickers that came with the artbook**Suzumiya Haruhi no Chousen**

A 48 A4-sized page K-ON x Haruhi Suzumiya doujin, done by an artist name 柏晓 with MICA Team helped out with printing and publishing.

### 2011

**Girl of the Bakehouse Remastered HD (cancelled)**

> *Main article*: Girl of the Bakehouse Remastered HD
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The planned remastered version of Girl of the Bakehouse, aimed to be release in 2011-2012 as the same time with Girl of the Bakehouse 2 but ultimately got cancelled in early 2012. The version planned to have not only better CGs but also more gameplay interactions and stories.

**Guns & Girls Vol 1: U.S.S.R/Russia**

A 28 page artbook of moe anthropomorphism of Soviet/Russian small arms, all characters are done by Yuzhong. Firearms in the book are Mosin-Nagant, AK-47, AKM, AK-74, AN-94, PPSh-41, Makarov, SVD, APS, NSV, RPG-7; it also features AKS-74U but with no dedicated profile.

Girl of the Bakehouse 2 teaster**Other**

AK-47 and AKM preview showcase, retrieved from Yuzhong's pixivAK-74 preview showcase, retrieved from Yuzhong's pixivAPS preview showcase, retrieved from Yuzhong's weiboSVD profile previewAK-74 profile previewAnnouncement postOne of the paper bags that came with when buying the books, featuring Mosin-NagantOne of the paper bags that came with when buying the books, featuring RPG-7PosterRPG-7 artwork retrieved from Yuzhong's weiboFree talk section dated in 2011 from reprint version

Hey everyone, this is Yuzhong~ Thank you everyone for purchasing this doujin~ I’ve always wanted to draw weapons focused doujinshi like this. I didn’t have time in the past, but this time I bit my lip and burned the midnight oil to finally finish all the illustrations. What a sense of accomplishment!~
At first, I wanted to draw every single famous gun in the world. It's a good thing that Hannibal Sensei [*No suitable word here, but meaning great respect*] gave me a reality check, preventing me from crashing right into a spiral of delay announcements (How are you going to finish drawing so many!) So in order to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, I’ve selected some communist weapons to test the waters. If It sells well, I will draw weapons of the American Empire in my next (idiotic) issue~ Make sure to buy them, everyone~
I would like to thank my old partner Hannibal Sensei once again for supporting me with source materials and drawing references, and I would also like to thank 孙渣(sunzha) Sensei for his advice regarding layouts, as well as 茶壶(chahu) for their extraordinary effort in raising a sturdy sense of self confidence in me. By the way, the promo booklet for my in-production game Bakery Girl 2 is also included with the purchase of this book, so be sure to follow our development, everyone!~

Hello everyone, this is Hannibal~ First, let me thank everyone for taking this doujinshi into their hands. I roll on the floor to thank you.
And thank you Yuzhong Sensei for being willing to draw for this doujin~ And of course the final product looked really great! Good work, Yuzhong Sensei~ I have always seen Soviet weapons as sturdy and robust, so I wondered, what would result when you combine this study and robustness with the softness and beauty of young girls? Well, this publication came from these thoughts, you know~
I would like to thank Yuzhong Sensei Again~ It was such a pleasure working together!
Chirpchirpchirpchirpchirp~ Sigh, lets work hard for Bakery Girl 2 ~ I(Masculine) will keep filling up the lore of the world~ Those of you who have taken this publication into your hands, please continue to follow us for updates!
July 13, 2010

**Guns & Girls Vol 2: U.S.A**

The second volume of Guns & Girls. It features M1918A2 BAR, M1A1 Thompson, M1 Garand, M1919A4 Browning Machine Gun, M1911, M60, M61 Vulcan, M4 Carbine, M16, Mk14 EBR, M9, FN Scar, M82A1. The book also has S&W Model 29 and AA-12 but no dedicated character profiles.

**Other**

BAR preview showcase retrieved from Yuzhong's pixivposter preview showcase retrieved from Yuzhong's weiboM82A1 profile previewMk14 EBR profile previewM61 Vulcan profile previewAnnouncement postOne of the paper bags that came with when buying the books, featuring M9One of the paper bags that came with when buying the books, featuring M1A1 ThompsonPosterOne of the stickers that came with the book, retrieved from Yuzhong's weiboPVC A4 that was given for free when buying both the vol 1 and 2

After our doujin on the Russians, we bring you the American Empire this time. It’s such a delight drawing them.
When I started doing the American guns, I realized that there were so many famous guns, and it was really hard to choose which ones to draw. I hoped to draw lots of different weapons, but in reality I drew and drew and hit over the page limit before I realized it, and had to abandon some of the lesser known guns. I would say that It’s a bit of a pity. However, I did spend double the time drawing this issue compared to last time, and the increased time allowed me to enjoy the drawing process much more, which is a real delight.
During the process of creating and drawing the girls, I did feel a difference between the Americans and the Soviets in terms of their attitude towards firearms. Both Soviets and Americans have and had amazing talents to design their firearms, but the Soviets put more focus on the practicality and power of their guns, while the Americans put in much in their effort for modularity and standardization of their firearm parts. The differences in design philosophy is reflected in their firearms visually, embellishing them with unique traits: Soviet firearms are adorned with elegant curves, while American firearms are furnished with refreshing straight lines. I never researched the two sides of firearms this deeply before, so acquiring the new knowledge felt pretty good as well.
While creating this book, I listened to Guilty Crown’s Anata Ni Okuru Ai No Uta 127 times. I didn’t get tired of the song no matter how much I listened to it. Somehow, repeating the same song over and over again had put my mind in a calm mood. When this doujin reaches everyone’s hands, I believe that the song’s CD would have reached my hands. I’m really looking forward to it. On another note, a large number of new readers gave me tips while I was creating this issue of the doujin, while the care and concern my friends showed me, gave me a ton of motivation to finish this issue. So, I would like to thank everyone for their support. Alright, it’s time for me to shut up since I’ve rambled on for so long already. I would really hope that you guys will keep supporting my creations in the future.
10 November 2011

### 2012

**Guns & Girls Vol 3: Germany**

The third volume of Guns & Girls, featuring firearms origin from Germany. Firearms that appear in the book are MP40, MP44/Stg44, MG-42, FG42, UMP45, USP, G36C, HK416, MP5 (originally MP9), XM8 and WA2000. Luger, G11 and Panzerfaust also appears but no character profiles.

**Other**

announcement post on Yuzhong's pixivAnnouncement post, with MP5 as MP9Comic Fantasia 2012Promotion page includes tester of the 4th vol, alongside with 2 Girl of the bakehouse projects
**Valkyria Chronicles fan artbook**

A Valkyria Chronicles fan artbook done by Evan揚 and published by MICA Team.

### 2013

**Codename: Bakery Girl**

> *Main article*: Codename: Bakery Girl
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The reboot of Bakery Girl series and also the first proper game that helped MICA gained a foothold in video game development. Mendo made a comeback, this time as a soldier of Tactical Air Shock Army of Antarctic Union during the First Antarctic War. While Mendo's team was on the move, they were ambushed by Union of Rossartrism Nations Coalitionforce, Mendo was knock out but then recused by Jefuty. The game laid the groundwork for future installments of the series.

### 2014

**Guns & Girls vol 4: People's republic of China**

The fourth and final release of Guns & Girls series, featuring firearms come from China, done by Yuzhong again. Firearms that can be confirmed to be in are a Chinese copy of Mauser C96, JS 9 aka CS/LS2 or QCW-05, QBZ-95B-1, QBZ-03, Type 79.

Announcement post
### 2016

**Girls' Frontline**

> *Main article*: Girls' Frontline
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Sunborn first step into the mobage market and their first milestone that put them on the spot outside of China. The game takes place 30 years before Codename: Bakery Girl, player takes the role of a commander in a Private Military Company named Griffin & Kryuger, tasked with commanding Tactical dolls, a type of advanced androids armed with various small firearms. Battle against numerous enemies that threat the stability of Eastern Europe region.

### 2017

**The Art of Girls' Frontline Vol. 1**

> *Main article*: The Art of Girls' Frontline Vol. 1
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The first artbook of Girls' Frontline, has a total of 240 pages, details the content and designs of the game up until Operation Cube alongside with interviews of some of the artists and staffs.

### 2018

**Girls' Frontline: Song of humanoid**

> *Main article*: Girl's Frontline: Song of humanoid
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The manhua adaptation of Girls' Frontline done by Ling. Gentiane acts as The Commander alongside with several other commanders.

**Dolls' Frontline Dengeki Comic Anthology**

> *Main article*: Dolls' Frontline Anthology series
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An anthology series of Girls' Frontline published by Dengeki Bunko. It has total of 3 volumes.

### 2019

**The Art of Girls' Frontline Vol. 2**

> *Main article*: The Art of Girls' Frontline Vol. 2
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The second artbook of Girls' Frontline, has a total of 406 pages, details the content and designs of the game up until Singularity. It come with two editions, the Standard and Deluxe. The differences are the DVD release of the orchestra concerts, the second volume of Girls' Frontline Original Soundtrack and the packaging.

**Girls' Frontline: Healing Chapter**

> *Main article*: Girls' Frontline: Healing Chapter
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A chibi short-format parodic mini-anime series produced by Big Firebird studio, main cast of this series are the AR Team and 404 Squad.

**Girls' Frontline: Madness Chapter**

> *Main article*: Girls' Frontline: Madness Chapter
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Another chibi short-format parodic mini-anime series produced by Big Firebird studio, casts of this series are other t-dolls with 404 Squad made an appear.

**Dolls' Frontline Comic Anthology**

> *Main article*: Dolls' Frontline Anthology series
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A different anthology series of Girls' Frontline published by DNA Media. It has 5 volumes total.

### 2020

**Girls' Frontline ECHOES**

> *Main article*: Girls' Frontline ECHOES
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An album consists of 11 tracks sang by voice actresses of M4 SOPMOD II, ST AR-15, MDR, HK416, G11, AK-12, AN-94, Type 100, SPAS-12, Five-seveN, UMP40 and UMP45. It's sold in standard and limited editions, with and without Blu-Ray karaoke videos.

**Girls' Frontline: Glitch Land (cancelled)**

> *Main article*: Girls' Frontline: Glitch Land
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Originally a fangame, which was greenlighted by MICA Team and AKI, the producer of the game, was recruited by them. The project was announced during the 4th anniversary livestream. The main protagonist is HK416, timeline of the game is unclear. The story is HK416's helicopter crashes in abandoned city, some people including M870 and Thunder are still there, Sangvis Ferri units are also there too. HK416's group then set off to find the answer about the mystery city. The project was shelved due to publication regulations and its main developer left Sunborn in early 2022.

### 2021

**Neural Cloud**

> *Main article*: Neural Cloud (game)
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A spin-off of the Girls' Frontline/Bakery Girl series, takes place in the middle of Girls' Frontline in 2063. The Commander transformed their consciousness to an offsite backup of Project Neural Cloud to investigate the incident happened in the past and the disappear of project director. The player (or gather, The Commander) acts as The Professor this time.

**Dolls' Frontline (anime)**

> *Main article*: Dolls' Frontline (anime)
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The adaptation of first 6 chapters of Girls' Frontline, based on Girls' Frontline: Song of humanoid, animated by Asahi Production and produced by Warner Bros. Japan.

### 2023

**Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium**

> *Main article*: Girls' Frontline 2: Exilium
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The Sequel of Girls' Frontline, a 3D turn-based tactics game similar to XCOM. The story takes place 10 years after the event of Girls' Frontline with The Commander left Griffin & Kryuger and live as a bounty hunter in Yellow Zone. The story revolves around dealing with the fallout of the evets in Girls' Frontline.

### In development

**Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery**

> *Main article*: Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery
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The remake of Codename: Bakery Girl, complete with new graphic, CGs, sound effects, music, gameplay mechanics and the story being rewritten to both connect with other games in the franchise and expand beyond the original scope.

**The Wandering Earth**

On January 22, 2023, the mobile game adaptation of The Wandering Earth was officially announced, with the help of Liu Cixin, the original writer.

## References

1. ↑ https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/drkEkepPcVJs96CkwbJW6g
2. ↑ https://www.youxituoluo.com/527223.html
3. ↑ https://weibo.com/p/1001603976919883368606?mark\_id=followtopweibo
4. ↑ https://weibo.com/5611537367/IAzlr1U8B?from=page\_1006065611537367\_profile&wvr=6&mod=weibotime&ssl\_rnd=1667797439.5376&type=comment#\_rnd1667797444157
5. ↑ https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?\_\_biz=MzkxNDI3NTkzNw==&mid=2247486446&idx=1&sn=a11892f9299c624974e11b4862ebf28a&source=41#wechat\_redirect
6. https://doujin.bgm.tv/club/micateam

7. Archive of Yuzhong's sina blog posts

8. Chinese wikipedia entry

9. Sunborn's shares

10. http://www.chuapp.com/2016/05/13/243971.html