9369, 2003, 1570, 1316, 755, these 5 numbers that are very ordinary in the eyes of ordinary people, but they have a unique meaning in the hearts of domestic gamers. This is the circulation number of domestic game versions from 2017 to 2021, behind which is the domestic game market from carnival to rationality.
In July 2021, the State Press and Publication Administration announced the approval information of the last issue of domestic online games of the month, followed by a more than 260-day version number suspension period.
The explanation of the suspension of the version number in the regulatory layer is that the number of products is actively controlled, and the idea of quick success and short-term profit can be calmed down to do a good job. Because in the outbreak period of domestic mobile games in 2016-2017, a large number of crude and random skinning products appeared, which seriously disrupted the normal order of the game market.
Coupled with the increasing domestic call to strengthen the anti-addiction of minors' games, the regulatory level has made up its mind to let the domestic game market enter the reshuffle stage from top to bottom by stopping the release of the version number.
On June 1 last year, the revised Law on the Protection of Minors was implemented, stipulating in the form of legislation that real-name authentication is a necessary prerequisite for minors to enter the game, and then industries such as off-campus education and training were regulated and rectified; On August 30 of that year, the State Press and Publication Administration issued the Notice on Further Strict Management and Effectively Preventing Minors from Addicting to Online Games, which upgraded the restrictions on the time and duration of minors' games. The suspension of the version number has become a "supporting measure" officially implemented in the middle of these two time nodes.
At this time, the reopening of the game version number means to a certain extent that the current domestic game industry has actively implemented anti-addiction measures for minors, and has achieved good results, and the orderly opening version number will become an important promoter for the healthy development of the industry.
But after 8 months of suspension of the release of the version, the game market is still the scene of the vigorous development of all things in that year? I'm afraid it's hard to put into words.
The version number was suspended and the cards were reshuffled
The reason why the suspension of the version number can drive the reshuffle of the game market from top to bottom is that it can choke the lifeblood of the game company, without the version number, it cannot open a kryptonite channel in the game, the game company cannot make money, and it cannot become a tool for some game speculators to make a profit.
But this method is more like a "two-way foil" for dimensionality reduction, and game companies will be affected by it, whether they are good or not. As a result, the suspension of game versions since August last year has brought no less impact to the game industry than in 2018. Game companies, including Lilith and Perfect World (002624.SZ), have either cut some projects, adjusted relevant personnel, or directly laid off employees, or even shut down small and medium-sized game companies.
The result is obvious.
According to the statistics of the "2021 Mobile Internet Industry White Paper", by the end of 2021, the number of online game apps in domestic app stores reached 687,000, a decrease of 20.8% over the same period last year.
Among the 25 companies in the A-share online game sector that have disclosed their 2021 annual reports or performance forecasts, 11 companies have lost money in 2021, and the net profit of 10 companies has declined compared with the same period last year.
In addition, data show that since July 22, 2021, there have been more than 55,000 new game-related enterprises in the mainland, and the number of newly registered enterprises has maintained steady growth; However, from the perspective of the proportion of game-related enterprises canceled, since July 22, 2021, about 2,000 game-related enterprises have been cancelled, of which 3.16% are registered with a registered capital of less than 1 million.
It can be seen that the negative impact of the suspension of the version number has not been spared in the game industry.
But the purpose of regulation is not to "kill with a stick", but to guide high-quality games to compete in the wider market. Therefore, while stopping the issuance of version numbers, the policy side is also emphasizing cultural self-confidence and encouraging excellent cultural content to go to sea, and the game is not restricted by the version number.
In fact, in the period when the version number was discontinued, going to sea has become the choice of most domestic game companies, especially for smaller high-quality game companies, the domestic game market concentration is too high, large manufacturer games account for about 80% of the market share, and it is inevitable to go overseas to find incremental markets. As a result, the result of this round of reshuffling in the game industry has formed the "great navigation era" of today's domestic games.
Domestic game "Age of Discovery"
After the crazy internal roll of 2016-2017, the domestic game manufacturers that stood out have accumulated huge profits and rich experience in "dealing with" players, which is the biggest killer of domestic games.
Due to the rapid progress of the domestic game market entering the stock slaughter, under the trend of game quality, China's game research and development capabilities have been continuously improved.
After years of development, the R&D strength of Chinese game manufacturers has been continuously improved, and China's mobile game industry has entered the era of high-quality products. Head game manufacturers continue to increase investment in research and development, statistics, 2019/2020 market value Top 10 game companies R & D expenses growth rate of 34% / 36% respectively, higher than the head game company revenue growth rate; On a single product, complex gameplay such as open world and high art modeling level also correspond to higher research and development costs, and Cai Haoyu, president of Mihayou, mentioned in his speech that the research and development cost of "Original God" reached 100 million US dollars.
In terms of talent reserves, each head company has established a large-scale R & D team, which is not inferior to the overseas manufacturers Activision Blizzard, EA, Take-Two, and even tencent (00700) and NetEase The number of R & D personnel is significantly higher than that of overseas head manufacturers.
In addition, the continuous demand for high-quality game talents from major game companies is also driving the continuous improvement of salary and treatment in the game industry; According to gamma statistics, the salary for game art/program talent recruitment in 2020 will rise by 30% in two years. In addition, Tencent, NetEase and other manufacturers continue to absorb senior R & D personnel from overseas manufacturers such as Automatic Vision Blizzard and Ubisoft to further increase their experience in technology and project management.
"Well-equipped" domestic game manufacturers are facing a global market with a wider space and lower penetration.
From the perspective of market space, according to Statista data, the global mobile game market revenue size in 2021 is 90.7 billion US dollars; In the same period, the revenue scale of China's mobile games was only 225.538 billion yuan. In contrast, the overseas game market space is twice that of the domestic game market.
At the same time, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the penetration rate and payment of overseas mobile games. In terms of penetration rate, as of March 2021, compared with the Chinese market, the penetration rate of mobile game players in the Main European and American markets such as the United States/Germany/United Kingdom is only about 40-50%.
In this context, the domestic game going to sea has formed a "dimensionality reduction blow" to the foreign game market to a certain extent.
In 2021, the Top 100 Google Play Store game lists in various countries show that the number of Chinese games in the free list accounts for about 5% to 20%, of which the number of Chinese games in the UK market accounts for the lowest proportion, about 5%; South Korea is the highest, about 20%. In the best-seller list, the number of Chinese games accounts for about 20% to 50%, of which the number of Chinese games in the US and Indian markets accounts for the lowest proportion, about 22%. The Indonesian market has the highest proportion of Chinese games, reaching 44%.
According to the results of the U.S. game iOS & Google Play Store list from January to December 2021, Tencent's PUBG MOBILE and Mihayou's Original God ranked first in the free list and best-seller list respectively.
Take Mihayou's Protoshin, for example, which has been a global success since its launch at the end of September 2020. According to Sensor Tower data, the total revenue of "Original God" in the global App Store and Google Play (excluding third-party Android channels) has reached $2 billion in one year, second only to Tencent's "Glory of Kings" and "PUBG Mobile"; At the same time, "Original God" has also been recognized by overseas gamers in overseas markets, and the revenue contribution of China/Japan/US market has reached 28.6%/23.7%/21.0% respectively.
Since the second half of 2021, "Original God" has ranked 9th/15/11/11th in important overseas markets such as the United States/Ukin/Japan/South Korea, and "Original God" still has a rich volume of content that has not yet been released (the plot of 7 countries is currently only online in 3 countries), and it is expected to maintain strong IP vitality in the future.
In this context, domestic high-quality game manufacturers have gradually formed a model of joint efforts in the domestic and overseas markets. For example, the "Party Star", which won the version number, was launched in Japan as early as February 17 this year, and reached the top of the Japanese iOS free game list for 12 days, and the top of the free action game list for 23 days, and can still maintain the top five in the Japanese iOS free game list.
It can be seen that compared with the situation of active internal rolling in the domestic game industry before the release of the version number, the domestic high-quality game manufacturers after entering the overseas market are gradually forming a business development structure of "domestic + overseas" market on two legs, and the orderly opening of the version number will also further enhance the market penetration of high-quality games, further improve the profits of competitive game companies, and promote the overall industry environment to develop well.