Image source: Oriental IC
Small eyes, round head, and astro boy-like body - this is the basic character design in the acquaintance social app gel. In the game, players can freely "pinch their faces", match clothes, and create a personalized style 3D avatar for themselves.
Compared with the animated character image settings modeled in 3D in many mobile games, the character design chosen by Gel is more like a "tide play". Maybe someone thinks that the metaverse taste displayed by the Gel App is very "positive", so the gel is on fire! On February 11, the Gel App, which had been on the shelves for only 3 weeks, surpassed WeChat and topped the AppStore China free list.
People are not popular, and with the soaring popularity, the gel App has also caused trouble. A message that "the Gel App uses the user's WeChat, QQ number and other private information" fermented on the social platform. Subsequently, the official micro of the Gel App identified the above message as a "rumor" and chose to call the police. On February 13, gel officially released an open letter saying that in recent days, it has been "continuous and organized attacks", and the App will take it off the shelves, suspend new user registration, and improve the problems of stuttering and delay in the software.
Does gel work? In the Comments section of Weibo, many gel users agree with the existence of problems such as App Caton, but there is no lack of "fun" calls.
Over the past few months, domestic meta-universe Apps have been born, and apps such as "Xi'an" and "Rainbow Universe" have different forms, but they have all caught up with this wave of enthusiasm. According to enterprise investigation data, from the end of November 2021 to the middle of February this year, in the past three months, the number of new software copyrights related to the "meta-universe" reached 300.
Under the turbulence of the capital market, the brief appearance of the gel in the public eye is a signal of the competition of the meta-universe App. This "war situation" may not be a simple "survival of the fittest".
01
Metaverse universe App "Melee"
In the competition between Internet giants, game companies and other metaverse players, different "origins" of metaverse Apps also hide different product logic.
Baidu's "Xilang" and Tianxiaxiu's "Rainbow Universe" were launched almost at the same time in November last year, which can be called the forerunners in this wave of craze. Coincidentally, the reputation of the two has also suffered a tragic waterloo. Currently, the national App store ratings of The Greek and Rainbow Universes are 2.3 and 2.6 points, respectively.
"Xi'aan" is more like a "meta-universe" tool in Baidu's hands, and activities such as "Feng Tang Art Exhibition" and "Baidu AI Developer Conference" held in the App reflect their own sense of the future. The Tianxia Show, on the other hand, ushered in several stock price spikes by operating the meta-universe concept, and attracted players to "enter the pit" through "hunger marketing" similar to real estate. Rather than really making a useful and fun metaverse online community, the apps of the two are more inclined to cater to the metaverse concept itself.
ByteDance is more cautious in the face of this boom. Launched at the end of January this year, "Party Island" is a social app developed by Beijing Zhiqu Unlimited Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of ByteDance. In the official introduction, this "Dongsen Painting Style" party island is a "real-time online activity community" that supports Douyin account and mobile phone number login. A relevant person in charge of Douyin once told the media that the party island has nothing to do with the meta-universe and is more "activity".
The development company of the meta-universe social app "Cub ZEPETO" is "Everice Information Technology Co., Ltd.", which has launched the popular camera app "B612 Camera". Launched in May last year, ZEPETO has an advantage in time and volume compared to the apps that came later, and the gameplay is similar to Roblox, the world's largest multiplayer online creation game. It currently has 190,000 ratings on the iOS store, with a rating of 4.6, which is a "dark horse" compared to other apps. Apparently, "Cub ZEPETO" did not shy away from the connection between itself and the metaverse, writing in the latest version of the introduction: "Now go to the Cub Meta universe!" ”
In addition, some smaller apps such as "Slow Planet", "Sweet Cheese Schwech", "Star Doll" and so on also have different characteristics. "Sweet Cheese Sweech" is often linked to some real scenes, while the social networking of "Slow Planet" creates another sense of reality through the automatic switching of real-time voice functions in the game, and "Star Doll" is based on dress-up play.
The recently launched "Super QQ Show" is also regarded by netizens as a heavyweight player. After netizens ridiculed many meta-universe social Apps "is not the QQ show", the authentic QQ show finally came down and made a 3D version of the QQ show. Compared with other software, this software does not depart from QQ, but as a built-in function, enjoy QQ's huge user base.
The fiery atmosphere has gradually spread. According to enterprise investigation data, in 2022 alone, 163 "meta-universe" software have been registered and approved, with an amazing growth rate. In the first nine months of 2021, there were only 11 "metaverse" software.
In the competition of major apps, a key point seems to lie in "young people".
02
Young people "have the final say"
In the view of Internet practitioner Shi Hao, whether it is a "big factory" or a "dark horse", the design of such apps is destined to please a group of young people. After being a few friends Amway, Shi Hao downloaded the Gel App and tried it, agreeing with his friends' "cool" evaluation, but he was not cold about the comparison between Gel and WeChat.
"Gel is a bit like the 'WeChat status' of an all-round upgrade." In Shi Hao's eyes, this software captures a more interesting point - the sense of interaction between reality and virtual space, "it can make an all-round display of its real life state, without having to take the initiative to send a circle of friends."
With a concise UI interface and stylized design to retain good feelings, Shi Hao told the "IT Times" reporter: "These features are very attractive to young people, and most of my around me are also used after 95." The same is true for this app. After talking to several people in "Cub ZEPETO", it was found that most of the users were very young.
For example, in the game "social space" Hangang Park, parks, subway stations and other scenes simulate real-life scenes, many players come and go, and a player dressed in Gothic style "Masco" is also waiting for the subway. She told reporters that she is 17 years old, has been playing this game for a long time, and has many friends playing in real life.
At present, the main way of revenue of "Cub ZEPETO" is still in-game purchases, and 6 yuan can buy 14 "diamonds" in exchange for the desired goods. Another player told the IT Times reporter: "The outfits you want in the game have to be bought for money." Lately, I often don't have anything to do in the game, and after the enthusiasm, I don't want to play much, and I occasionally come back to see it. ”
Young people like to try new things, but the enthusiasm of this group is also easily transferred. In the face of an unstable audience, meta-universe Apps can still only follow the "old routine" of online games, most of the gameplay is not novel, and the content filling is not rich.
A clear gulf seems to run between the "metaverse" and the "meta-universe App", and the player "Kirisame" told reporters that the winter vacation will soon pass, and may not always be online after that.
03
The "semi-finished product" of the metacosm
What kind of metaverse can really change the way people live? Roblox has defined the metaverse in 8 characteristics in the prospectus: identity, friends, low latency, immersion, diversity, anywhere, economy, and civilization.
Image source: Roblox
At the current stage, the metaverse App can only do elements such as "friends" and "immersion", compared with the "second life" of the metaverse that people really need, even the mature app is only a "semi-finished product".
In the face of the battle situation of the crowd, the competition of the meta-universe App is naturally not along a given route, "map social", "voice social", "virtual social", "anonymous social" and other social play is intertwined, although it is the new bottle of the "meta-universe", but still contains the old wine of "social track dispute".
An investor who pays attention to the social field told the IT Times reporter that user stickiness is one of the most important data for social apps, and the current social apps lack real key "pain points", which cannot achieve the metaverse that people really expect and bring subversion of the track.
According to Nintendo's 2021 annual report, "Assemble It! By the end of last year, the overall sales of "Animal Mori Yukai" in Japan reached 10.07 million, becoming the first game in Japan to exceed 10 million sales. During the 2020 epidemic, many college students around the world will participate in the "Let's Assemble! The influence of this game is evident in the graduation ceremony for graduates in Animal Forest Friends.
This game, which has never actively approached the "metaverse" publicity, may really represent people's expectations of "second life" in some ways: it can replace people's real lives at some point, but still bring good. From this point of view, the competition of metaverseal Apps is still a "scuffle", doomed to have no "evolutionary" figure.
Reporter/Cui Zhipeng
Editor/Wang Xin Kicked Sister
Typography/Ji Jiaying
Image/ AppStore Gel App Cub ZEPETO Roblox Nintendo Oriental IC
Source/IT Times public account vittimes