"Bao, I haven't been here for a long time, what have you been busy with lately?" There have been a lot of new events recently, when is it time to play Wow? ”
One day in March, Li Yan suddenly received a message from a script killing store customer service on WeChat, and in the next few days, the customer service sent some spelling information. This surprised Li Yan, after all, when the script was the hottest in 2021, players often had to make an appointment a week in advance to play the prime time time.
From the rapid expansion of the market darling to the transfer of the store, in less than 3 years, the script killing seems to be difficult to hear a new story. According to Qixinbao data, the total number of script-based killing & room escape-related enterprises, including self-employed people, increased from 1931 in 2019 to 3025 in 2022. But on the other hand, the number of enterprise cancellations has also gradually increased. Capital has also begun to calm down, and from 2019 to 2022, the amount of investment and financing in related fields has shown a downward trend.
On April 1, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the first national-wide code for the management of script killing and escape rooms, and solicited public comments. At present, with the fierce competition in the industry, frequent chaos, and stricter supervision, what will be relied on to retain young people after the script killing that once "blowout" outbreaks?
Invested in six figures to open a store, and transferred after half a year
Script killing shop ushered in a wave of "transfer"
"There are many people who come to consult, but there are not many, because there are many transfer stores now." Zhang Xi, who hung up the store transfer information, said in an interview with the "Daily Economic News" reporter.
In 2021, the daily spelling information in the various script killing player groups is still overwhelmed; by 2022, the player groups that appear in the player base have become "store transfer" messages.
Script kill shop transfer information Image source: WeChat screenshot
Zhang Xi, who has been opening a script killing shop for half a year, initially entered the industry because she liked it, and in order to open this store, she invested six figures in cost.
But in the end, under the pressure of vicious competition, increasingly serious price wars, repeated epidemics, and difficulties in recruiting people, Zhang Xi still decided to transfer the store, even if the monthly turnover is about 10,000 to 20,000, it can still maintain the upper middle level, even if the money invested has not yet returned.
In her opinion, there are not many good scripts, but the stores that want to do well cannot compete with the stores that fight the price war. "The industry threshold is too low, there are many stores around me who just want to make quick money, the industry is very messy, people don't want to open anymore."
Although he was not one of the earliest gold diggers, in the midst of the wave, Zhang Xi was still the first to feel the changes in the industry. In her observation, after the rise of the industry in the first two years, participants flocked to the scene, but this year, more and more scripts were closed or transferred around.
Qixinbao data shows that in 2019, the total number of script killing & room escape-related companies, including self-employed people, was 1931, and by 2022, this number will increase to 3025. It is worth noting that of the more than 3,000 enterprises, nearly 2,000 are self-employed.
At the same time, behind the rapid growth of the number of enterprises, the number of cancellations has also gradually increased. In 2019, the number of deregistered enterprises was 140, and by 2021, it has increased to 245, and in just over 3 months in 2022, more than 60 enterprises have been deregistered. Among the deregistered enterprises, the vast majority are self-employed.
"This change is actually within expectations, the script killing shop is mainly concentrated in the offline, and most of them are in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, which are repeatedly affected by the epidemic, and the pressure can be imagined." An analyst who studies the script killing industry told every reporter.
Zhang Xi is also clear that to continue to do, the most important thing is capital investment, if you invest more, the effect will definitely be better, "but it is indeed relatively young, not so much savings." For self-employed individuals, it is not easy to get investment in the fierce competition.
The total amount of financing plummeted from more than 8 billion yuan to 200 million yuan
Capital tends to be calm, and the industry has entered a period of accelerated standardization
As one of the favorite entertainment methods of young people nowadays, the "blowout" outbreak of script killing has also once stood on the cusp of capital.
In the past year, enterprises in the film and television, games, cultural tourism and other industries have poured in, and Mango TV, Tencent, and iQiyi have also comprehensively laid out the script killing track in an attempt to seize young people. In 2021, iQiyi launched three script killing variety shows; among about 60 products released at the Tencent Game Conference, the "social new favorite" script killing also occupied a place.
Qixinbao data shows that in 2019, there were 131 investments in script killing & escape room related enterprises, with a total investment amount of nearly 2 billion yuan; by 2020 and 2021, the number of investments increased to 164 and 177 respectively, with a total investment of 3.357 billion yuan and 2.252 billion yuan, respectively. In the first three months of this year, the number of investments was only 33, and the total investment was 574 million yuan.
Judging from the above investment changes, although the overall growth trend is still showing, since 2021, the growth rate has slowed down significantly. After a year of popularity, the script killing industry is moving towards calm, and capital's attitude towards it has also changed.
In the area of financing, the changes are even more pronounced. In 2019, the script killing & escape room related enterprises completed a total of 34 financings, with a total financing of 8.666 billion yuan, and in 2021, although the number of financing increased to 47, the total financing fell sharply, only 236 million yuan.
"After a year of explosion, the industry is now calm, and capital is not so hot. I don't think it's a question of patterns, it's about whether the people who open stores really understand the nature of the industry. Blindly investing without understanding the industry, any industry will have problems. The above analyst said.
According to the "2021 China Script Killing Industry User Research and Benchmarking Enterprise Case Analysis Report" released by Ai Media Consulting Research Institute, the scale of China's script killing market in 2019 exceeded 10 billion yuan, an increase of 68.0% year-on-year, and it is expected that the scale of the script killing market will reach 23.89 billion yuan in 2022.
In the face of many chaos and controversies, the script killing industry is bidding farewell to the era of barbaric growth and gradually entering the era of regulatory norms. Previously, Shanghai, Liaoning and other places have introduced relevant local management policies for "script killing".
On April 1, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the first national-wide code for the management of script killing and escape rooms, and solicited public comments. The "norms" clearly require that age-appropriate reminders be set up for script scripts, and must not provide script entertainment business activities to minors outside of national statutory holidays, rest days, and winter and summer vacations.
Image source: Screenshot of the web page
In the view of the above analysts, the industry demand is definitely there, and it has not yet reached the ceiling stage, but with the tightening of industry supervision, the future industry will enter a more standardized stage of acceleration.
(In this article, the interviewees Li Yan and Zhang Xi are pseudonyms)
Reporter | Wen Menghua
Edited | Duan Lian, Dong Xingsheng, Du Bo
Proofreader | Sun Zhicheng
| the original article of the daily economic news nbdnews |
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