Author 丨 Cai Shuyue, intern Zhai Huiru
Editor 丨 Wu Liyang
Image Source 丨 People's Vision
Since the State Press and Publication Administration published the list of the latest batch of online game approval information on July 22, 2021, no news about the version number has been updated, which means that no new online game version number has been issued for 7 months.
In this context, the 21st Century Business Herald reporter combed through all the version numbers issued from 2017 to 2021 (Note: Although the online game version number first appeared in 2016, but since 2017, the game "declaration category" has appeared in the list of online game approval information, so it has been officially counted since 2017) and found that compared with today, when the total number of versions is strictly controlled, the number of reviewed games in 2017 is as high as more than 9,000, of which the three types of games led by board games occupy most of the wall. In total, more than 6,000 related games were reviewed in 2017.
But the situation took a sharp turn for the worse in 2018. Since the first suspension of the issuance of the version number in 2018, various supporting regulatory policies on online games have also been gradually issued, and the three types of games no longer occupy the majority of the approval of the online game version number.
A number of experts and industry insiders said in interviews that the development cost and difficulty of review of these three types of games are low, so in 2017, a situation of high number of submissions and reviews was formed. However, due to the existence of shooting luck in the three types of games in the chess and card and fishing games, it is very easy to get involved in gambling in practice, so after being strongly supervised, these two types of games disappeared from the list of subsequent version numbers.
"Three types of games" grow savagely
In 2017, the size of the mainland game market increased significantly. According to the 2017 "China Game Industry Report" released by Gamma Data, the total market size of Chinese games in 2017 has reached 203.61 billion yuan, an increase of 23.0% year-on-year, which is 4 times the total box office of mainland movies in the same year.
According to the official data released by the State Press and Publication Administration, a total of 9633 game versions were issued in 2017, including 9177 domestic online game versions and 456 imported online game version numbers.
In addition, in the list of online game approval information released in 2017, for the first time, the game carrier was divided into its declaration categories. The application categories of approved games are divided into three categories, namely mobile, web, and client games, of which mobile game version numbers accounted for nearly 90% of the total in 2017, and there is a sub-declaration category "Mobile-Casual Puzzle".
According to relevant regulations, before a game company officially publishes an online game work, it must submit an Application Form for Publishing Domestic Computer Online Game Works or an Application Form for Publishing Domestic Mobile Game Works. The second item in the "Application Form for Publishing Domestic Mobile Game Publication" (hereinafter referred to as the "Application Form") provided on the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration requires the game company to fill in the basic information of the domestic mobile game applied for.
(Pictured: The second item in the application form for publishing domestic mobile game publications, "Basic Information of Domestic Mobile Game Works" Source: The official website of the State Press and Publication Administration)
The "game application approval category" in the "Application Form" is divided into two categories, and the manufacturer needs to clarify whether the approval category of the game to be applied for publication belongs to the third or fourth article of the Notice on the Administration of Mobile Game Publishing Services. These two are also the sources of the common "three types of games" and "four types of games" that are now common.
The three types of games refer to the application approval categories of mobile games such as elimination, parkour, flight, chess and card, puzzle solving, sports, music and dance listed in Article 3 of the Notice on the Administration of Mobile Game Publishing Services (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), and also correspond to the declaration category of "mobile-leisure puzzle" in the list of online game approval information mentioned above. Games with more complex game systems and more cultivation elements are classified as "four types of games".
However, after combing through the 21 reporters, it was found that among the more than 9,000 online game editions issued in 2017, the "three types of games" alone accounted for more than 6,000 models. In addition, under the subdivision of "chess and cards" in the three types of games, there are more than 2,000 mahjong games alone, and the same game company can apply for a large number of board game version numbers at the same time, such as Beijing Paper Frog Technology Co., Ltd. only obtained 22 mahjong game version numbers in August 2017, which is unimaginable today when the total number of domestic online game versions is strictly controlled - in the latest batch of reviewed game lists released in July 2021, only 87 games successfully obtained version numbers.
(Photo: Official website of the State Press and Publication Administration)
The entry barriers and audits are low
Why is there a large number of board game numbers issued at the same time in 2017?
Sun Lei, a partner at Beijing Yuanhe Law Firm and an expert in game law, pointed out in an interview with the 21st Century Business Herald that this phenomenon was not uncommon in the approval of games at that time. "Because different regions also have different mahjong games, in order to promote the localization of board games, mahjong games played in different regions will be allowed to apply for version numbers separately."
He further pointed out that after the introduction of the "lobby mode" of board games, it supports the game to set up a variety of different regional gameplay, so as to apply for only one version number at a time, avoiding the situation that one company obtains a large number of chess and card version numbers at the same time.
In addition to board games, the number of elimination, fishing, and parkour games in the three types of games reviewed in 2017 was also large. However, looking back at the description of the three types of games in the "Notice", "it does not involve political, military, ethnic, religious and other themes, and there is no storyline or simple plot of casual puzzle domestic mobile games", the formation of these situations is also reasonable.
The simple game system and story content mean that the development of the three types of games is not difficult, thus lowering the barrier to entry for game companies. An interviewee who had work experience in the board game project team revealed to 21 reporters that three types of games such as chess and card, fishing, and match-3 were the easiest to succeed in the market environment at that time, and at the same time the lowest cost. "[These games] have simple art resources and strong source code, which was done by game companies across the country in 2017."
In addition, the difficulty of reviewing game content was also one of the key factors in determining the speed of game review at that time. "The difficulty of reviewing the three types of games is much lower than that of the four types of games." Sun Lei told reporters, "The world view and text volume in the four types of games are much more complicated than those in the three types of games, which directly increases the review work of each process." ”
In the review process for the publication of online game works listed on the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration, the review of content is divided into two links: "formal review" and "substantive review". In the "formal review" link, after the general department of the Digital Publishing Department receives the application materials for the game work, the relevant examiners finally decide whether to accept the publication of the work after preliminary review, while in the "substantive review" link, the relevant experts, handling personnel and the person in charge of the Network Publishing Supervision Department conduct the content review again.
A staff member told reporters that in the process of reviewing a game, there are generally only 1 to 2 staff members who review the content at each link. "The time to review a three-category game is much shorter than reviewing an MMO (massively multiplayer online game), so the approval of the version number of the three types of games will also be much faster."
At the same time, he also pointed out that when reviewing the four types of games with a large volume, it is not only necessary to pay attention to the dialogue and world view background of the characters in the game, but also to review the details of "cigarette butts on the ground and posters on the wall", which is a large workload and high difficulty, and the review time is further extended.
On the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration, a flow chart of online game approval is provided for reference. 21 reporters after consulting relevant experts, the other side said that the current overall process is still in accordance with the steps on the flow chart, but in 2020, a new link to determine the "age-appropriate prompt" has been added, that is, the game company needs to clarify the range in which the game's age-appropriate prompt falls while applying for the version number.
(Picture: Approval Process for Online Game Works Published by the State Press and Publication Administration Source: Official website of the State Press and Publication Administration)
After the "cold winter", the supervision became stricter
2017 seems to be the last three-category game review "big year", since 2018, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse.
The "edition winter" that hit the game industry officially began in March of this year. In March 2018, the former State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued the Notice on Important Matters Concerning the Examination and Approval of Game Declarations, which pointed out that due to institutional reform, the original seal has been stopped in use, and the new seal has not yet been used, and the approval of online games will be suspended.
The original text of the notice also stated the situation of the three types of games and four types of games at that time: the acceptance and approval of games within the scope of Article 3 will be suspended; the notice of acceptance that is not within the scope of Article 3 cannot be printed, the approval of the game cannot be printed, and the game account cannot be issued.
But until March 2018, the three types of games still accounted for a large number of reviewed places. According to the statistics of 21 reporters, the three types of games reviewed from January to March 2018 were more than 1,300, still accounting for 70% of the total number of games reviewed in three months.
In December of the same year when the approval of the online game version number was resumed, the total number of games reviewed in that month decreased significantly, and only 162 domestic online games were reviewed, which was nearly four times lower than that of December 2017. Intriguingly, in the December 2018 domestic online game approval list, there are no three types of games.
During and after the suspension of approval of the 2018 version number and after the resumption, various game content supervision measures were also issued intensively.
The first to be affected are the board games and fishing games that have previously received a large number of version numbers. In April 2018, a number of media reported that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China made important reminders on the upcoming "board and card online game management" policy, requiring all platforms to immediately stop downloading Texas games and completely terminate the operation of Texas games before June 1. In addition, 21 reporters combed and found that it was also since April of the same year that fishing games have not appeared in the online game review list.
Zhu Junchao, the founder of the Nuocheng Game Law and a game lawyer, told 21 reporters that because chess and card and fishing games mainly use shooting luck games, it is very easy to be made into gambling games in practice, so it has been closely paid attention to by regulatory authorities and public security organs.
In addition to the strong supervision of individual game categories, the total number of version numbers is also facing further strict control. In August 2018, the Ministry of Education, together with the National Health Commission and eight other departments, formulated the Implementation Plan for the Comprehensive Prevention and Control of Myopia in Children and Adolescents. Among them, the State Press and Publication Administration will implement the regulation of the total number of online games and control the number of new online games operated online. In April 2019, the State Administration of Press and Publications organized local publishing authorities to hold a special meeting on national game management work, proposing to control the number of version number products, and palace fighting, official fighting, and chess and card games will no longer be accepted.
Under multiple supervision, the three types of games no longer occupy the majority of the version number review. According to the statistics of 21 reporters, the number of three types of games reviewed in 2019 was 257, accounting for 17% of the total number of reviews in that year; in 2020, it was 563, accounting for 40% of the total number of reviews; and the number of reviews from January to July 2021 was 253, accounting for 33% of the total number of reviews.
Homogenization forces fine products
In addition to the tightening of regulatory policies, another direct result of the "blossoming everywhere" of the three types of games is the saturation of the market and the intensification of homogenization.
Sun Lei pointed out that the number of three types of games that have been reviewed is not as good as before, in addition to policy and regulatory factors, on the other hand, the reason is that the number of game companies delivering this type of game is also decreasing. "Because before 2018, game companies were delivering a large number of three types of games, resulting in too many games of the same type on the market, and the willingness of users to pay was also reduced." In this context, the yield of the three types of games is not as impressive as before. He analyzed.
In addition, Sun Lei also told reporters that in the current situation of increasing homogenization of three types of games, many game companies will tend to develop "compound gameplay" games, such as placing plus cards, placing plus RPGs (role playing), eliminating two-in-one or even three-in-one games such as adding two-in-one or even three-in-one.
It is not difficult to see from the phenomenon that the three types of games have continuously added their own game content in recent years that "boutique" is the only way for the three types of games to seek a breakthrough under the aggravation of market homogenization.
Reviewing the previous relevant notices, the requirements for improving the quality of games on the policy side are also gradually clarifying. In February 2019, Beijing announced that it would issue the Game Content Review Process Specification. The "Specification" pointed out that in order to improve the transparency and standardization of the review process, game content-oriented assessment measures will be launched, the quality of game content and social benefits will be taken as the priority conditions for game review, and a database of key game topics will be established.
In April of the same year, the National Conference on Game Management held by the State Press and Publication Administration pointed out that after the re-launch of game approval work, the approval of new game version numbers should be inclined to high-quality games.
At present, the relevant departments have raised the threshold for the review and access of game works in the process of submitting for review. In March 2021, the Central Propaganda Department issued an internal document, the Detailed Rules for the Scoring of Game Review, pointing out that since April 1 of the same year, the game has been submitted for review on a trial basis with a new scoring review system, and game works will be scored from five aspects: "concept orientation", "original design", "production quality", "cultural connotation" and "development degree". Low-scoring games will be knocked back and will not be able to enter the version approval queue process.
This issue is edited by Feng Zhanpeng Intern Lin Xiying