The common mission of current game manufacturers is to put social benefits in the priority position of game development, and to continuously promote the steady improvement of positive social value in addition to providing entertainment.
The author | Xiaoman
Edit | wilderness
WeChat public number: slightly larger reference (ID: hyzibenlun)
In the book "The Man Who Played", the Dutch historian Johann Hejzinha proposed that games are human nature, and that "the cultural history of mankind is a history of human games."
John Heizinha re-examined the history of human society from the perspective of game theory, and also made the concept of games and entertainment regain great significance in contemporary times.
What is the essence of the game?
A chase.
And at the end of this chase is a cultural construct itself.
In today's market environment, when more and more game manufacturers begin to pay attention to cultural integration, the multi-dimensional and rich meaning of games is fully released.
In the fourth quarter of 2021 financial report released by NetEase Games, its idea of following the path of excavating traditional culture and reshaping the world view of the game has become more and more obvious.
Looking back at NetEase Games' report card over the past year:
The number of online users of "Forever Doom" has reached a new high, and the Content of Bruce Lee Linkage has been well received by players around the world; "Harry Potter: Magical Awakening" has repeatedly entered the top of China's iOS download list and best-seller list, and will go overseas this year...
A clear fact has emerged that NetEase games are rapidly completing their evolution, and they are constantly expanding to overseas margins with culture as an important core.
Ding Lei, CEO and director of NetEase, said:
"NetEase's flagship games continue to remain stable, and a series of new games such as Forever Destroyed and Harry Potter: Magical Awakening not only further enrich the product matrix, but also demonstrate NetEase's strength in developing world-class game works."
01 From the outlet to the port
In 2021, the vast majority of new works released by NetEase Games are self-developed products.
Whether it is the quality and category of the game, or the number of downloads and the praise rate, it has achieved quite excellent results.
Today's NetEase, in addition to stabilizing the advantages of the MMORPG field, has continuously achieved new breakthroughs in RPG, SLG and other diversified fields.
At the beginning of the year, the mobile game version of the popular Oracle's IP was launched on the whole platform.
The "Celestial Oracle" mobile game inherits the brilliant concept of the "seamless big world" of the terminal game version, and the excellent details make the entire game world more three-dimensional and rich.
More importantly, the classic gameplay of the end game has not only been retained, but also "100+ story lines, 300+ picture book collection, 500+ small gameplay" has created a more free and grand mobile fantasy world for players.
After the launch of the "Celestial Oracle" mobile game, it quickly went out of the circle due to the fine and realistic face pinching system, and became the opening year of NetEase's 2021 MMORPG.
Looking back at the entire 2021, the most dazzling and outstanding works of NetEase Games are "Harry Potter: Magical Awakening" launched on September 9.
As soon as "Harry Potter: Magical Awakening" was launched, it quickly circled fans with the British retro picture book style and the novel card battle mode, triggering a new round of "magic boom" in the player crowd.
New elements such as the Dance Party, Quidditch, and forbidden forest are eye-catching, and the rich social interaction and PVP mode also effectively improve the retention rate of players. Updated monthly with fresh gameplay, costumes, and cards, Harry Potter: Magic Awakening has been in the top three of China's iOS best-selling games charts for many times in subsequent operations.
In addition to "Harry Potter", NetEase's other martial arts game "Forever Doomed" was directly affirmed by Xinhua Net after its launch.
As a multiplayer competitive game, "Forever Doom" received rave reviews after it opened its global public beta in August, maintaining an 80% praise rate on Steam for a long time. This game with a strong oriental style has also become a new trend for young people around the world.
On the 90th day of global release, "Forever Doom" announced that sales exceeded 6 million, which also set a new record for the sales of domestic buyout games.
In addition, NetEase also launched the first self-developed racing game "Ace Racing" in 2021, the space-themed SLG game "Endless Lagrange" and so on, which further strengthened the diversified layout of NetEase games.
It is worth noting that the pace of NetEase's globalization is accelerating in 2021.
A series of original games independently developed by NetEase, from "Wilderness Action" and "The Fifth Personality", to "After Tomorrow" and "The Coast of the Land", have received excellent responses in overseas markets.
Operation Wilderness has become a national game in Japan. In October 2021, the 5th anniversary of "Wilderness Action" began, and related topics rushed to the first place in Twitter hot search, and the game ranked third in the iOS free list that day.
The number of registered users of "After Tomorrow" exceeded 200 million, and it quickly topped the download and revenue lists of many countries and regions after its launch.
In the list of the top 52 global publishers in 2021 released by App Annie, NetEase ranked second.
Earlier, Hu Zhipeng, vice president of NetEase, said in an interview with foreign media: "We are looking for overseas game developer partners, hoping to publish games through direct investment or cooperation, and 50% of the company's game revenue will come from overseas markets in the future." ”
Hu Zhipeng also specifically mentioned that NetEase will also venture into new areas such as consoles and cloud games.
02 A cultural hole card
According to the "2021 China Game Industry Report", the actual sales revenue of China's game market in 2021 was 296.513 billion yuan, an increase of 6.4% year-on-year; the scale of Chinese game users reached 666 million, an increase of 0.22% year-on-year.
While the domestic game industry continues to prosper, whether it is social supervision or government supervision, it has given game manufacturers more social responsibility expectations.
Putting social benefits in the priority position of game development, in addition to providing entertainment, and constantly promoting the steady improvement of positive social values, will be the common mission of current game manufacturers.
From inheriting and developing traditional Chinese culture to paying attention to the healthy physical and mental growth of minors, in fact, NetEase Games has been continuously investing in social responsibility.
On October 25, 2021, the sixth season of "Dream Academy" - Aviation Special was officially launched online. This is also NetEase's "Fantasy Journey to the West" mobile game, especially with the Science Communication Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to jointly create a key project.
In addition, the computer version of "Fantasy Journey to the West" also joined hands with Cai Weiyi, the inheritor of the guqin and lacquer intangible cultural heritage, to create a dream-exclusive intangible cultural heritage guqin, and to create a set of blue and white porcelain linkage works that integrate classical and trendy blue and white porcelain, through such intangible cultural heritage activities, the game attracted more young people to join the team of guarding intangible cultural heritage skills.
Similarly, the "Journey to the West 2" series of games also continues to cultivate the content of the national style, and in this season, the "National Style Endowment" plan is launched in conjunction with the palace culture, and the traditional culture is "revitalized" through a variety of innovative forms inside and outside the game, so that players can understand the court culture from a new perspective.
After the annual event "Yong Wu Fighting Sword Conference" held by "Forever Doom", the game set a new high in the number of people online, especially the Bruce Lee linkage content was widely praised at home and abroad, helping China's kung fu boom to go overseas.
"Coast of the Land" continues to deepen the creation of the "Ancient War Gameplay Universe", and the "Total War" version launched in the new quarter brings players a more comprehensive and realistic ancient war experience.
In addition to building high-quality cultural power, NetEase Games has also taken a number of measures to raise the social responsibility of protecting young people to a new height.
In the past winter vacation, the "NetEase Parent Care Platform" specially optimized the overall interface, added the function of scanning code binding and customized game duration and consumption limits, so that parents can see the game situation of the bound account at a glance.
In view of the abnormal consumption of minors and other issues, during the Spring Festival holiday, NetEase Games has also maintained the smooth flow of feedback and processing channels for minor recharge refunds.
At present, the NetEase Parent Care Platform has helped more than 100,000 parents solve problems, reached a collaborative supervision and governance of enterprises and parents, and comprehensively implemented the care for the healthy growth of adolescents.
03 NetEase Games Tomorrow
According to the latest disclosure of the NetEase Investor Exchange, the 2022 NetEase New Tour Launch Plan includes:
"Diablo: Immortal", jointly developed with Activision Blizzard, "Harry Potter: Magical Awakening" in Japan, Europe and the United States, the upcoming "Celestial Oracle" mobile game in the Japanese market, and the self-developed mobile game "Hidden World", which integrates Chinese style and science fiction elements, etc.
"Diablo: Immortal" will meet with the majority of players as soon as the first half of the year, and the game will restore the popular fighting style and immersive exploration function, which is highly expected to become a New Year's hit.
In the latest test completed in January this year, players have given high praise, and in China alone, more than 10 million players have pre-registered for the game.
The biggest feature of "The Hidden World" is that it combines the modern city of science fiction style and traditional Chinese cultural elements to create a game world with a distinct art style.
As NetEase's first BUG mobile game, the highly anticipated "Hidden World" will bring players the most amazing game experience from CG, plot, combat, characters and other aspects.
Excellent self-research strength, mature global layout and positive value construction of the game have made the industry full of confidence in NetEase Games at this time.
Looking back at NetEase Games' 2021, under the strategy of "seeking progress in stability", from classic end games to new mobile games, NetEase has handed over a fairly excellent report card.
"Harry Potter: Magical Awakening" swept the domestic game market last year, but in fact, the domestic "Ha fans" accounted for only 5% of the world. "Harry Potter: Magical Awakening", which is about to land in overseas markets, will create a huge market volume that is unimaginable.
The "Forever Doom" directly makes up for the shortcomings of mainstream e-sports projects, and will bring strong support for NetEase's layout of the global e-sports market and the deep ploughing of the e-sports industry.
At the same time, relying on the original vitality of cultural excavation, it also makes the vision of NetEase Games broader.
From guofeng product research and development to traditional culture linkage, and then to Chinese culture going to sea, NetEase Games is continuing to deepen the positive integration of games and culture, and actively practicing corporate social responsibility.
There is no doubt that 2022, which belongs to NetEase Games, is still worth looking forward to.