On March 14, it was reported that Shanghai Phantom Information Technology Co., Ltd., the main company of Station B, took a stake in Beijing Roaming Valley Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Game Valley"), while the registered capital of Game Valley increased from 10 million yuan to 11.25 million yuan, an increase of 12.5%.
It is understood that Game Valley was founded in 2004 and is a leading developer in the field of page games in China. From the description of the official website, it can be seen that Game Valley is committed to the research and development of page games and mobile games, based on the game engine independently developed, successively launched dozens of web game products such as "Seven Heroes", "Magic Continent", "Kung Fu Journey to the West", "Arcade Heroes", "All Democratic Public Web", etc., and there are also more than ten mobile game products such as "Sweeping Journey to the West", "Seven Heroes Fighting for Supremacy Mobile Game", "All Democratic Gong" and so on, and the style is mainly based on national style.
The inclusion of Game Valley can be seen as another strengthening of B Station's self-research field.
In the past year, Station B can be described as frequent action.
According to statistics, from 2020 to the present, Station B has acquired or invested in a total of 34 game companies, and since the beginning of 2022, there have been 5 stations holding hands with Station B, such as the proportion of B station's shares in Beijing Dragon Fist Storm Technology Co., Ltd. has increased from 4% to 9.76%; the total 100% of the shares held by the shareholders of Xinyuan Interactive have been pledged to Station B.
In the early years, the game business was the main source of revenue for Station B, accounting for more than 80% of the total revenue. In recent years, the domestic game industry market environment has become extremely complex, first, domestic policies have appropriately slowed down the strides of enterprises; second, the stock competition in the domestic market has also moved towards a white-hot stage; third, the game goes to sea and needs time to explore preferences and avoid risks. Many uncertainties have led to a significant slowdown in the game business of Station B.
Of course, the slowdown of the game business also gives Station B the opportunity to examine itself and reasonably find the corresponding shortcomings to strengthen. For Station B, the game business is nothing more than two aspects, the cost and risk are uncertain of self-research, and through the extraction of shares of intermodal distribution. The self-research aspect has a clear understanding, and the intermodal distribution aspect will encounter the game of short video platforms, so for now, the investment can allow station B to see the cards in its hand and add bricks to the layout of the game field.
In 2021, B station "Kan Gong Riding Crown Sword", "Mobile Battle Ji: Fusion" and "Sword Art Online Black Swordsman: Ace" and several unique products have stable revenue, "Original God" and "Harry Potter: Magic Awakening" have also contributed considerable revenues to it, and it can also be seen from the financial report that B station still holds several products that have obtained game version numbers, and there will also be several products planned to be released in overseas markets. Whether it is product reserves or overseas business layout, Station B is relatively calm.
In addition, the addition of the game business has also given Station B the opportunity to broaden its horizons and gradually strengthen its monetization capabilities in other areas, such as Q4 2021, the contribution of Station B's game business to total revenue has fallen back to the top three, down to 22.4%, ranking behind live broadcast and value-added services and advertising business.
Especially in the field of live broadcasting of e-sports events, Station B won the exclusive live broadcast rights of the League of Legends (LOL) Global Finals in China for 800 million yuan in the early years, achieving huge benefits, and the entry of many events and professional teams has strengthened the moat in this field. Before the start of the 2022 LPL Spring Tournament, Huya successfully obtained the exclusive rights to the LPL for a period of 5 years, and only distributed the copyright to B station and Penguin e-sports, which made B station stand firm in the head echelon. In terms of live broadcasting on the show, Station B also further strengthened its own strength by signing Feng Timo, Xiao Shen'er, Pineapple Saidong and others.
Last year's EDG victory made Station B earn a lot of money
It is worth noting that B Station also has actions in other fields, such as investing in Beijing White Paper Culture Communication Co., Ltd., holding about 15% of the shares, the former is an animation production company founded in 2018, which has participated in many animation productions such as "My Master Brother Has a Pit in His Brain", "100,000 Cold Jokes", "Uncle Ju 5-year-old Painting", which also allows B Station to have more say in the domestic animation field.
As Chen Rui said in the earnings conference call earlier, "In the past, the balance of our energy distribution between user growth and revenue growth was seven or three, that is, user growth accounted for 70%, and revenue growth accounted for 30%. In the planning of this year's work, we will adjust the distribution ratio, we will open five to five, that is, user growth spends 50% of energy, income growth spends 50% of energy. Income growth will become more important this year than in the past. ”
It is foreseeable that 5 companies will not be the end of the "buy, buy, buy" of station B this year, and perhaps the follow-up action will bring more changes to station B.