As the last day of 2021 draws to a close, the number of new game versions released by the State Press and Publication Administration (hereinafter referred to as the Edition Administration) throughout the year is also fixed on the number of 755. In other words, since the Release Department released the July reviewed game version number on July 22, the release of the version number has been suspended for more than five months.
Affected by this, the total number of game versions this year has dropped significantly compared with the past two years. According to GameLook's statistics, compared with the 1405 game version numbers issued in 2020, the total number of version numbers this year has decreased by 46.26%, almost "waist chopping", and the total number of version numbers has decreased for four consecutive years since 2018.
It should be pointed out that at present, the process of submitting new games for review and application for version numbers has not been suspended, but the issuance of version numbers has been suspended. After a series of new regulations on the supervision of the game industry have been implemented, after entering 2022, domestic game companies still need to be patient and wait for the release of a new batch of version numbers.
This year, the 755 approved edition numbers decreased by 46.2% year-on-year, and the total amount of regulation entered the "deep water area"
According to GameLook statistics, from January to July this year, except for the number of editions issued in March, the number of domestic game numbers issued each month remained at about 85, while imported games only carried out the only release of the annual version number in June, with a distribution volume of 76.
The 2021 approval volume by each platform is as follows:
Mobile games: A total of 712 mobile games received version numbers in 2021, down 45.2% from 1299 last year. There are 658 chinese mobile games in China, accounting for 92.3%; 55 imported mobile games, accounting for 7.7%. It is worth noting that the total proportion of mobile game numbers has reached a new high, reaching 93%, and the position of mobile games as the main battlefield of domestic game manufacturers has become more and more stable.
PC client games: A total of 33 PC client games received version numbers in 2021, down 57.1% from 77 last year. Among them, 22 domestic terminal games, accounting for 66.7%; 11 imported terminal games, accounting for 33.3%.
Browser games: In 2021, a total of 3 browser games received version numbers, down 50% compared to last year's 6. All approved page games are domestic games. Lenovo has previously laid off large-scale layoffs of star manufacturers in a certain era of page games in the south, and the overall decline of browser games has become an indisputable fact.
Console games: A total of 17 console games received version numbers in 2021, down 43.3% from 30 last year. Among them, 5 domestic console games, accounting for 29.4%; 12 imported console games, accounting for 70.5%.
Revoked version number games: Only 1 game was revoked this year, which is a mobile game.
Game approval changes: Only 1 game was approved this year, and the reason was to change the content of the client version and add a mobile version.
The sharp decline in the total amount confirms the fact that the regulation of the version number has entered the "deep water area". Since 2018, the total number of game version approvals has decreased for four consecutive years, but compared with the 10.5% decline caused by comprehensive factors such as the epidemic last year, the nearly 50% decline this year reflects the more obvious regulatory signals of the policy.
In fact, as early as August 2018, the Ministry of Education, the National Health Commission and other eight ministries and commissions jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Myopia in Children and Adolescents", and wrote "controlling the number of new online game online operation products" into it, and the policy of "total number regulation" also began to emerge.
With the implementation of a series of laws, regulations and regulatory policies such as the newly revised Law on the Protection of Minors and the Notice on Further Strict Management and Effectively Preventing Minors from Indulging in Online Games, the game approval standards are becoming more and more meticulous and strict, and the supervision is also being further strengthened.
What does 755 version numbers mean?
According to today's "Securities Daily" report, subject to the suspension of the issuance of game version numbers, many small and medium-sized game manufacturers have laid off employees or even shut down. According to the data of Tianyancha APP, there are currently more than 300,000 game-related enterprises in China with a registered capital of less than 10 million yuan. Since July 2021, 14,000 game-related companies have been deregistered within five months of the suspension of version numbers. In contrast, the number of write-offs for the whole of last year was only 18,000.
GameLook needs to point out that the half-year cancellation of 18,000 does not reflect the impact of the tightening of version numbers on the game industry. In the actual operation process, due to the company's shareholding system transformation, option pool design, team personnel distribution, tax optimization and other reasons, many game companies will register various subsidiaries, grandchildren, shell companies, which leads to the number of enterprises is much larger than the actual number of game companies. In contrast, the total number of 755 version numbers issued can better reflect the total number of active domestic game companies at present.
Comparing the number of companies in some major game markets such as Europe, the United States and South Korea, and the number of new games per year, it is easier for us to understand the meaning behind this number.
According to data released by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the agency has rated more than 30,000 games in 2020. It should be noted that participating in the rating and the listing are two different concepts, and many games do not release immediately after receiving the rating, and even many products are released after three or five years. However, the 30,000 games sent for review throughout the year also reflect to a certain extent that the annual supply of new games in the North American game market is very large.
Another data for reference comes from Steam, the most dominant PC gaming platform. According to SteamSpy data, a total of 10,661 new games will be released on Steam in 2021, and the annual new games will exceed the 10,000 mark for the first time.
The "2021 Korean Game White Paper" released by the Korea Cultural Industry Promotion Agency mentioned that by the end of 2020, there were 1,046 game developers and publishers in South Korea, with about 44,310 practitioners, an increase of 12.5% year-on-year.
Distribution of game industry practitioners in South Korea in 2020
From this point of view, in 2021, China will issue 755 game version numbers, according to a game development team to develop a game in two years, assuming that the total number of version numbers issued next year is still maintained at about 750, then the total number of version numbers every two years can only support 1500 game development teams. A large-scale game company often has multiple teams developing multiple projects at the same time, according to a company with 3 game teams to calculate, such a version number distribution can only support the operation of 500 game companies, that is, half of the current number of game manufacturers in South Korea.
In addition to going to sea, high-quality products are worth mentioning on the agenda
Obviously, the current scale of China's game industry will not only accommodate 500 game companies. Therefore, in the face of the total number of version regulation policies, many game manufacturers are actively seeking to adjust their business strategies, and many companies directly take "going to sea" as a preference.
However, it is worth noting that as "going to sea" has become the choice of more and more manufacturers, including SLG and many other European and American players' preferred product tracks have increasingly shown the situation of "infighting" of Chinese manufacturers, and competition and "inner volume" in overseas markets have also become the norm. For small and medium-sized game manufacturers, the lack of overseas operating experience, language and cultural barriers, insufficient buying capacity and other problems make "going to sea" not a suitable solution.
In GameLook's view, whether it is the fierce competition in overseas markets or the tightening of the version number policy in China, it is forcing game companies to work hard in "high-quality" and "long-term". Under the background of the limited total number of version number issuance and strict management of illegal arbitrage and transaction number, products with short life cycles are undoubtedly difficult to maintain the long-term development of their R&D team and company. And even if such products are placed in overseas markets, it is still difficult to survive in the fierce market competition.
In the report of "Securities Daily", there are also a number of game industry practitioners who said that the main reason for the frequent layoffs and operational difficulties of small and medium-sized game manufacturers in the past two months is that they rely too much on old products and seriously lack high-quality games. Therefore, compared with going to sea, in the ever-changing domestic and foreign market environment, high-quality products should become the development model of game companies. If you want to pass the double test of market competition and policy supervision, you can only be painstaking and lonely, and you must not be lucky.
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GameLook Daily Game Industry Report
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