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Finally, after 263 days, the domestic game version number resumed issuance.
On the evening of April 11, the State Press and Publication Administration issued the April game version number, and a total of 45 domestic games received the version number.
In the eight months when the version number recovery time is unknown, many game companies are subject to market competition and the cost pressure of the product can not be launched according to the original plan, and continue to face challenges, although some companies choose to go to sea in order not to affect the product process, but the actual effect is also mixed.
With the resumption of the issuance of the version number, in the eyes of the industry, this will further stimulate the vitality of the game market.
45 domestic online games were approved
From July 22, 2021, when the July domestic online game version number of that year was issued, to April 11, 2022, a new batch of domestic game version numbers was issued, more than 260 days later.
A total of 45 domestic games were approved for this round of approval, including "Dream Voyage" by 37 Mutual Entertainment, "Sword Net 3 Origins" by Xishanju, "Party Star" by Heartbeat Network, "Junior Three Kingdoms: Pocket Battle" by Youzu Network, "Box Fission" and "Tower Hunter" by Gigabit subsidiary Thunder Network.
In fact, in 2018, the game industry also experienced several months of version number suspension. As we all know, the game version number is the approval document of the relevant regulatory authorities to agree to the game publishing operation, and the new game version number is not obtained, which means that the game project cannot be run online.
From a set of data, we can see the impact of game version numbers on the development of the game industry.
According to the "2021 China Game Industry Report" released by the Game Working Committee (GPC) of the China Music and Digital Association and the China Game Industry Research Institute, the actual sales revenue of China's game market in 2021 was 296.513 billion yuan, an increase of 17.826 billion yuan over 2020, an increase of 6.4% year-on-year, but the proportion of growth was reduced by nearly 15% from the previous year.
Another set of data is also very intuitive, on July 22, 2021, when the State Press and Publication Administration last issued the version number, the Huaxia CSI Animation Game ETF fell by 10.47% in 5 trading days. In late February 2022, after the news of "no new game version number in 2022" came out, the stock prices of game giants such as Tencent and NetEase fell during this period. Correspondingly, after the release of a new batch of game version numbers on April 11, 2022, affected by this news, Chinese game stocks rose collectively, and as of the close of april 11, local time, Bilibili rose by more than 7%, Huya and NetEase rose by more than 2%.
According to The China Fund News, after the game version number was restored, Huang Yimeng, CEO of Heartbeat Network, said on Twitter, "The domestic version number has finally opened the floodgates, and the tears are running." ”
Challenges intensified during the suspension
Industry insiders said that the recovery of the version number will effectively alleviate the product backlog problem of game companies, and also encourage confidence for the continuous innovation and development of products. However, it should also be noted that the number of releases in July 2021 is 87, and the number of approvals has decreased compared with this, which also requires game companies to choose the best in the planning stage, which is generally to promote the development of the industry in a more favorable direction.
In recent years, the trend of gradually tightening the approval of game version numbers has been recognized by the industry, and since the suspension of game version numbers in July last year, many game companies have inevitably ushered in challenges.
Game industry analyst Zhao Yong said that for some small game companies that need to rely on new products to drive revenue, not only can new products not bring revenue to the company as expected, but also the capital reserves are relatively limited, which is bound to affect the stability of the company, so many companies choose to withdraw from the market.
Statistics show that from July 2021 to February 2022, about 2,000 game-related enterprises were cancelled, of which 3.16% were registered with a registered capital of less than 1 million.
In the days when the version number was discontinued, in addition to the game companies that finally chose to quit, other companies chose different development paths, among which it is indispensable to take the lead in overseas distribution of game products.
According to the "2021 China Game Industry Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"), the game to go to sea has become the main strategy of more and more small and medium-sized game companies, in 2021, the actual sales revenue of China's independently developed games in overseas markets reached 18.013 billion US dollars, an increase of 16.59% year-on-year, and the types of overseas products are more diverse. In the distribution of revenue in key overseas regions of China's independently developed mobile games, the US market ranks first with a proportion of 32.58%, and the revenue from Japan and South Korea accounts for 18.54% and 7.19% respectively.
However, the expansion of the overall scale does not mean that every product can achieve the expected results in overseas markets. Zhao Yong said that the overseas release of games also pays attention to elements such as strategy, timing, and the competitiveness of the product itself, but some games are blindly following the sea, and they are bound to be unable to gain a foothold in the increasingly fierce market competition.
Strict supervision helps the healthy development of the industry
During the period of suspension of the version number, the state carried out a series of regulations on the game industry, the most representative of which is to strictly control the game time of minors.
In August 2021, the Notice on Further Strict Management and Effectively Preventing Minors from Addicting to Online Games (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") issued by the State Press and Publication Administration requires that all online game enterprises can only provide 1 hour of service to minors from 20:00 to 21:00 every day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays, and shall not provide online game services to minors in any form at other times.
Gao Dongxu, founder and chief analyst of China Entertainment Think Tank, also mentioned state supervision, saying bluntly, "The suspension of the issuance of version numbers after July 2021 is an accidental event." At present, the whole industry has actively implemented anti-addiction measures for minors, and has achieved good results, and the open version number is conducive to the healthy development of the industry, and it is also conducive to the supply of game products back on the right track, alleviating the shortage of new products in the market caused by the suspension of the issuance of version numbers in the industry and the problem of internal volume in the industry."
Bida analyst Li Jinqing stressed: "Game companies need to focus on high-quality games and enhance their competitiveness. And because the release of the version number has been suspended for several months, squeezing a large number of games, it will take time to fully release. ”
Source丨Beijing Business Daily (reporter Zheng Rui, Han Xinyuan Wei), China Fund News, Daily Economic News, etc
Image source 丨1tu network and so on
Editor 丨 Zhang Yajing