*"Esports Girl"* is down to just 2 screenings left, and is still gritting its teeth to save itself.

When I came across this news on the subway, my first reaction was a sense of melancholy.

Since its release on March 12, Electronic Sports Girls has never really taken off at the box office. By the second week, things had gotten even tougher. The most heartbreaking part is that the number of theaters showing it dropped from an initial 35 to just 2. That kind of decline feels like clicking into a new game, not even finishing the homepage, and already finding the server nearly empty.

But it hasn’t simply given up. The creative team is still out there promoting the film and doing thank-you appearances, all while getting by with very limited manpower. Even now, they are still traveling around as a three-person team. On March 21, producer Liao Wanhong, director Veronica Bassetto, along with key creators including the cinematographer, action director, composer, and VFX team, also attended a post-screening sharing session, continuing to urge audiences to support newcomers and independent productions by going to the cinema.

This really struck a chord with me. Because Electronic Sports Girls itself is a work made against the odds. It was a winning project in the “First Feature Film Initiative (Tertiary Group)” funded by the CCIDA Film Development Fund, and it took a new team four years to complete. The entire film had a budget of 5 million, yet packed in more than 900 CG shots. That may not be much for a big production, but for a newcomer team, it’s like trying to make a New Year’s Eve feast on a light-meal budget.

Its subject matter is not just a casual attempt to ride a trend either. Drawing from Hong Kong’s esports culture in recent years, the film uses the story of several young women chasing their dreams to talk about being denied, falling down, and getting back up again. This setup is actually quite suitable for casual viewers, because it’s not just about winning or losing competitions—it feels more like a story about ordinary people pushing forward under pressure. The director also said that the state of “being denied, falling down, and standing up again” in the film is very similar to what they are going through now in the face of its box office struggles.

There’s another point too: the film was previously selected for the “Bright Future” section of the 55th Rotterdam International Film Festival. That at least shows it was noticed by an international festival for its creative expression. Singer Siufung also mentioned that the film captured a rare sense of sci-fi. I find that comment quite noteworthy. Because a lot of film and TV content related to esports these days tends to be noisy, overloaded, and aggressively hype-driven; if a work can bring out even a bit of a sci-fi texture, the viewing experience may feel fresher and more memorable.

Still, being selected for a film festival does not mean the market will necessarily embrace it. Producer Liao Wanhong was actually very frank about this: it is not the kind of market project that can be precisely calculated and accurately positioned. Put plainly, it may have auteur expression and the passion of newcomers, but that does not necessarily make it an easy fit for the theatrical market. For ordinary viewers on their commute just looking for something relaxing, ticket-buying decisions are often more influenced by “familiar faces” and “word-of-mouth trends,” so new directors and new teams are naturally at a disadvantage.

If you ask me whether it’s worth supporting, my suggestion is simple: if it’s still screening nearby, and you’re interested in Hong Kong local productions, female coming-of-age stories, or esports-themed films, then it’s worth considering catching a showing. It may not be the kind of mainstream popcorn crowd-pleaser, but its appeal lies in the drive of a newcomer team and the sincerity of trying to push visual expression with a small budget. If all you want is a very polished, very lively commercial film, then you may find its pacing not quite “stress-relieving” enough.

I personally feel that the situation of films like this is actually a lot like many niche mobile games. If they fail to grab major traffic at launch, they can easily get pushed into a corner. But whether they will be remembered often depends on whether there are still people willing to keep updating and keep speaking out.

Electronic Sports Girls is now down to just 2 theaters. The market is cold—that’s true. But the creators are still out there running around—that’s true too. For a newcomer’s work, this refusal to go offline is, in a way, more moving than a lot of beautiful slogans.