Wen | Comprehensive Securities Times, Daily Economic News, China Business Daily News
The gaming industry has good news.
On April 11, the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration announced the approval list of domestic online games in April 2022, and a total of 45 games received version numbers. This is since July 22, 2021, after nearly 9 months, the approval of the game version number has once again "opened the floodgates".
Affected by this news, on April 12, the day-trip network intraday limit, Tianzhou culture intraday increase of more than 10%. At one point, the intraday gain of China Youth Treasure exceeded 12%, and since then the increase has narrowed.
45 games were approved, and Tencent and NetEase products were not on the list
According to the information on the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration, a total of 45 games have been approved this time, including 5 client games, 39 mobile games, and 1 Switch game console product.
The companies that have been approved for the game involve a number of listed companies. From the perspective of specific products, "Dream Voyage" operated by 37 Interactive Entertainment, "Tower Hunter" operated by Gigabit, "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms of the Youth: Pocket Battle" operated by Youzu Network, "Legend of dragon teng" and "The Way Forward" operated by Kaiying Network are listed. Hong Kong listed companies such as Dreamland and Heartbeat Company also have products on the list.
Most of the other approved game companies are small and medium-sized game manufacturers, such as "Sand town time" of Chongqing Pasia Technology Co., Ltd., "Pottery Master" of Shanghai Lingyin Culture Communication Co., Ltd., "Cute Cat Defense Battle" of Shenzhen Cat Star Interactive Technology Co., Ltd., and "Honorary Strike Worker" of Shenzhen Liangwu Game Technology Co., Ltd.
In addition, Baidu's "Attack on Rabbit" also passed the approval, but with Baidu's cut of the game business, the game was taken over by the publisher Honor Star. Honor Starry Sky mentioned on the app store page that "Attack on Rabbit" was originally scheduled to be launched at the end of 2021, but it was planned to change due to manufacturer reasons.
However, judging from the 45 games released this time, the traditional game manufacturers Tencent and NetEase, as well as the rising upstart Mihayou, do not appear in the list, and there is no obvious e-sports direction or potential project.
The game version number is equivalent to the "pass" of the online operation of the game product, and in the game industry, the issue of version number issuance has always attracted much attention.
The news that many games have regained their version numbers this time can be described as a gratifying and heavy news for the game industry.
On April 11, the news that many games have been circulated in the game circle has regained the version number, and after the version number is restored to the confirmation of the message, the game circle immediately "swipes the screen".
On the evening of the 11th, Huang Yimeng, chairman of The Heartbeat Network, sighed in the circle of friends: "Finally there is a version number, and I cry with joy." And attached a copy of its own product online game publication number issuance form.
▲Image source: Huang Yimeng circle of friends mobile phone screenshot
A number of game industry practitioners said that major game companies currently have products applying for version numbers. Now that the version number is restored, game companies can accelerate the launch of new products, and the lack of new games in the market will gradually ease.
However, according to rough statistics on the number of previous editions issued, compared with the number of monthly editions issued in the year before August 2021 (from January to July 2021, the number of monthly editions issued exceeded 80 on average, of which two batches of editions were issued in March, a total of 166), in the case of assuming that the batch of editions issued in April this year was only this time, only 45 editions were issued after the restart of the release of the edition number, which was significantly reduced; and if it is assumed that there are two batches, And if the number of releases this month or the next batch remains at 45 or more, the number of game products that may be approved this month will be more than the average number of approved products in the 7 months before the restart.
A brokerage analyst told the "China Business Daily" reporter that the re-issuance of the version number, which is obviously good news compared to the situation that has not been issued for more than 8 months before, but if the number of future version numbers issued is counted over the years, compared with the previous number of issuances during the period of non-suspension of issuance, it is a bearish.
Strict supervision helps the healthy development of the industry
On July 22, 2021, the State Press and Publication Administration announced the list of 87 games that received version numbers on July 2021, and since then, until April 11 this year, no new version approval information has been announced.
On August 30, 2021, the State Press and Publication Administration issued the Notice on Further Strict Management and Effectively Preventing Minors from Addicting to Online Games, stipulating that "all online gaming enterprises may only provide 1-hour online game services to minors from 20:00 to 21:00 every day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays".
The relevant report of CITIC Construction Investment Securities has analyzed that compared with the tightening of industry supervision in 2018, the issuance of game version numbers will be suspended again in 2021, which is more similar to the follow-up of supporting policies. At present, the policy content also focuses on the control of minors' games (anti-addiction and control).
However, Gao Dongxu, founder and chief analyst of China Entertainment Think Tank, believes that "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 to get back on track, alleviating the lack of supply 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. ”
Teng Hua, general manager of Gamma Data, believed in an interview that some new problems may continue to appear in the process of industry development, and whether the game version number is suspended or resumed, the purpose is to promote the healthy development of the game industry and give enterprises a clearer development direction.
He also said that in the months when the version number was suspended, some companies did not rush to launch the product with the version number, because many companies were still adjusting their product strategies and innovating gameplay to prepare for better market performance. This just shows that although the version number is very important, only the version number does not work regardless of the content, gameplay, and innovation.
Bida analyst Li Jinqing believes: "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. ”
In addition, during the suspension of the issuance of domestic version numbers, many game companies have further increased their "going to sea". According to the "Notice on the List of Key National Cultural Export Enterprises and Key Projects in 2021-2022" issued by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, 369 enterprises and 122 projects were selected within one year, of which 58 game companies were selected into the list of national cultural export key enterprises.