"Congratulations congratulations on the New Year!"
After 263 days, the news that the game version number was finally resumed quickly detonated the game circle. Affected by this, the individual stocks in the game sector rose sharply on the 12th.
1
The restlessness of the version number opening the floodgates
On the evening of April 11, the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration announced the "Approval Information for Domestic Online Games in April 2022". A total of 45 games were awarded, including 40 mobile games, 4 PC games and 1 Switch game.
The release of the version number is mainly based on the light games of small and medium-sized companies, and does not include game industry giants such as Tencent, NetEase, and ByteDance. However, the list also includes products from well-known game manufacturers, such as Lilith's "Life Party", Baidu's "Attack on Rabbit", 37 Interactive Entertainment's "Dream Voyage", Heartbeat Network's "Party Star" and Youzu Network's "Three Kingdoms: Pocket Battle".
This is the dawn that China's game industry has finally waited for in the past August, and the game industry is full of joy. It is reported that due to the "Xiti" version number, the official Weibo of "Sword Network 3 Origins" distributed a 10,000 yuan red envelope lottery. Huang Yimeng, chairman of The Heartbeat Network, also sighed in the circle of friends: "Finally there is a version number, and I cry with joy." For the employees under these game projects, getting the version number means "keeping the job bowl."
Screenshots of the chat reprinted by the media show that the two-dimensional project disbanded by a game manufacturer is ready to recall the employees who were previously laid off due to obtaining the version number. In this regard, Forbes China asked insiders of the game manufacturer, and the other party responded that the news was rumored, "It is not the two-dimensional project that got the version number." Even if the project is restarted, new recruits will be OK, and as for the recall, it is basically impossible. ”
02
The flames lasted for August, and confidence reached ten thousand gold
Affected by the good news, the gaming sector has been boosted today.
As of the close, Tencent Holdings (00700.HK) rose more than 3%, NetEase Hong Kong (09999.HK) closed up more than 4%, Bilibili Hong Kong (09626.HK) rose more than 12%, and Youzu Network (002174.SZ) rose by 10.05%.
The release of the game version number has dropped for 4 consecutive years since 2018, the release date of the new game version number is unclear, coupled with the impact of the previous "strictest in history" new regulations on the prevention of addiction in minors' games, the market sentiment is more pessimistic, and the valuation of the game sector continues to decline.
In late February, a message that "no new game version numbers will be issued in 2022" once triggered panic in the market, and even hit the stock prices of head game companies such as Tencent and NetEase, while Tencent officials then urgently refuted rumors. Although relevant people from the State Press and Publication Administration also debunked the rumors of "suspension of the issuance of the version number" and said that they were still receiving applications, the industry and the market have not seen any signs of release of the version number for a long time.
Now, with the reissuance of the version, the performance and sector valuations of major game manufacturers will be repaired. The latest view of CITIC Securities believes that the restart of the version number has affirmed the rectification effect of the game industry in the past 8 months, and with the resumption of the issuance of the game version number, the game industry as a whole is expected to pick up. Shanghai Securities also pointed out that after the game version number is reopened, the certainty and predictability of the game product launch schedule have been enhanced. In addition, after experiencing more than 8 months of suspension of the version number, the game industry has been significantly cleared, and the competitive advantage of leading game companies has been highlighted.
"After 8 months, the re-issuance of the version number gives the market confidence, which is a positive signal, so that everyone believes that the version number will still be issued." Some insiders told Forbes China that "confidence is more important than gold." ”
03
The silver thread behind the dark clouds
Since the "suspension" of the game version on July 22, 2021, the game industry has entered a cold winter, and many game manufacturers have reported losses and internal optimization. According to the 2021 performance forecast disclosed by 30 A-share game companies in Wind data, 6 of them showed their first losses, 9 continued to lose, and 4 pre-reduced. Star Entertainment (300043. SZ) released the 2021 annual performance forecast shows that the company's net profit pre-loss of 495 million yuan to 706 million yuan, one of the reasons for the loss is that the company's important game products failed to obtain the version number as originally planned, and the game launch time was delayed and there was uncertainty.
Industry insiders said: "In the days of version reduction and suspension of issuance, the survival chances of medium and small factories have been greatly reduced. They can't get the version number, it is difficult to take the domestic route, the situation of going to sea is not good, and they are facing huge challenges. According to data, there are more than 370,000 enterprises in China whose names or business scope include "games", and from July 2021 to February this year, about 2,000 game-related enterprises have been cancelled, of which 3.16% are registered with a registered capital of less than 1 million.
Under the dark clouds, domestic game manufacturers have accelerated into the "era of great navigation". "Going to sea" has become the standard self-help action of domestic game manufacturers. Through the active layout of overseas sales of domestic mobile online games, the overall overseas revenue scale of China's domestic games has increased rapidly. According to the Sensor Tower store intelligence platform, in March 2022, in the global App Store and Google Play revenue rankings, a total of 38 Chinese game manufacturers were shortlisted in the top 100, with a total investment of more than 2.22 billion US dollars, accounting for nearly 40.2% of the total revenue of the world's top 100 mobile game publishers.
The version crisis has also intensified the already fierce competition between the leading manufacturers. Head manufacturers continue to concentrate on large projects, and the trend of high-quality and creative innovation of games is becoming more and more obvious, which makes the quality of China's domestic games continue to rise, and gain more and more shares of going overseas. According to the "2021 China Game Industry Report", the actual sales revenue of China's self-developed games in overseas markets in 2021 reached 18.013 billion US dollars, an increase of 16.59% year-on-year. The average increase in china's game share has increased steadily for five consecutive years, and Companies such as Tencent, NetEase, Mihayou, and Lilith have become the leading game manufacturers in China.
At present, China's domestic supervision is gradually normalized, the trend of game quality is becoming increasingly prominent, the situation of game products going to sea is gratifying, and the concept of meta-universe has also brought new imagination space to the game industry, in this environment, the restart of the version number has further injected new vitality into the game market. ■
Forbes China exclusive manuscript, without permission, please do not reprint
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