Author | Oracle
Source | Game Research Agency
Many teams have fallen on the eve of the release of the version number, hoping that all the developers will make the game with their hearts until the day they meet the player.
In 2018, the game version was discontinued, which lasted for a total of 265 days.
In July 2021, the version number was frozen again, and today 263 days have passed, and the game industry has finally waited for a new batch of version numbers.
The winter was a little shorter than the last time.
For this version of the cold winter, although the game industry is under great pressure, people's mentality has changed slightly from the last time.
On the one hand, everyone has experienced the same situation once and is mentally prepared. On the other hand, we see the lessons learned from the education industry.
Last year, a paper of official documents, the entire education and training industry disappeared in situ, the Internet everyone endangered themselves, and at the same time, the game industry that was always beaten on weekdays was still existing, which showed its own irreplaceable value.
This contrast is not a nonsense. Today's game approval information has just been announced, Station B (BILI.US), NetEase (NTES.US), Tencent (00700. HK's stock rose sharply, driving the recovery of the entire Chinese stock market, although the list of reviewed games did not have the products of these companies. Correspondingly, education stocks fell sharply at the opening, and New Oriental fell by nearly 10%.
In the past 263 days, game practitioners generally believe that the version number will be issued sooner or later, and the question is only whether they can survive to that day.
The waiting process is hard.
On August 3 last year, domestic gamers ushered in an unforgettable impact. On that day, people woke up and found that the article "Spiritual Opium has grown into hundreds of billions of industries" was screened in the circle of friends. For a time, feelings of shame, anger and despair pervaded the entire industry.
But things soon turned around, the original text of "spiritual opium" was deleted, and there was no follow-up fermentation. Practitioners reflect on whether they are overreacting, after all, the game industry is still developing rapidly after many rectifications, and some people are relieved to say: "In addition to not issuing version numbers, there are not many ways to short the game industry." "At this time, everyone did not know that it would be 8 months before the next release number.
By the end of August, the State Press and Publication Administration issued a notice "Notice on Further Strict Management to Effectively Prevent Minors from Addicting to Online Games", which was later called "the strictest anti-addiction in history", one of which was widely known:
All online game enterprises can only provide 1-hour online game services to minors from 20:00 to 21:00 every day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and statutory holidays, and may not provide online game services to minors in any form at other times.
Game companies have cooperated.
At the 2021 China Game Industry Annual Conference, the official affirmed the performance of manufacturers in quickly implementing relevant regulations:
"Since the release of the new anti-addiction regulations and self-discipline conventions, they have been widely recognized by all sectors of society, and have also been positively responded to and seriously implemented by many game companies." Through the joint efforts of all parties, some new progress has been made in the protection of minors, and many new atmospheres have emerged. ”
Joint public security, face authentication, AI recognition, parent-child programs, cracking down on sales numbers, game manufacturers have done everything they can.
The version number is only a matter of time.
There has been much debate in the industry since last November, symbolizing the gamer's eagerness. Among them, the version was issued in April, which was the most widely circulated.
There are some simple explanations for this point in time, such as when the Olympic Games and the two sessions are over, then the version number should also be put on the agenda. The date was quickly debunked by the authorities.
Then, in April, the distribution of the version number was resumed.
There is also a small episode on this point, during the lockdown of the epidemic in Shanghai. Some people said that "if you want to be economically good and want to dynamically clear zero, you can give the game an opening number." This sentence was widely circulated because it poked people's laughter, and the result was a proverb, and the version number came in less than a week.
But pragmatically speaking, the "home economy" represented by games can indeed provide some boost to the economy in this year's treacherous epidemic environment.
According to the statistics of the data agency Sensor Tower, in March 2022, Chinese mobile game publishers ranked in the global App Store and Google Play revenue rankings, and a total of 38 Chinese manufacturers were shortlisted in the global mobile game publisher revenue list TOP100, with a total revenue of more than 2.22 billion US dollars, accounting for nearly 40.2% of the global TOP100 mobile game publisher revenue.
This achievement was achieved almost exclusively by old games and overseas operations after the discontinuation of the version number. If the version number is liberalized, the vitality of the domestic game market will rise, and it will obviously create more economic value.
So, after nearly 9 months, what games are the first lucky people to get the version number?
Unfortunately, there are not many "masterpieces" in this batch, and most of the versions that get the version number are unheard of lightweight games. It is reported that the first two batches of version numbers were mainly light games - this may be a way to balance the industry.
In the first batch of reviewed games, it is worth mentioning that the games are the end game "Sandstone Town Time", "Sword Net 3 Origins", "Come to the Bowl", "Mirror of Shimmer", NS game "Caster", and the mobile platform "Party Star" and "Life Party" - the latter two are Heartwarming and Lilith, respectively, from the name of the game can also see how gentle this batch of reviewed games is.
Among them, "Party Star" as a big brawl Like game, in Japan iOS free game list for 12 days, the next time to accept a more stringent market test in China.
In any case, the version number has finally begun to be issued, even those game developers who have not yet obtained the version number this time, their faces are full of joy, the work has hope, and the game circle is no less than the New Year today.
But the version number is still too long, the industry began to circulate some paragraphs: the development team of a well-known manufacturer just cut the entire project because it could not get the version number, and the back foot of the project got the version number - after I found a friend to confirm, this is most likely a rumor.
But it reflects people's sad and happy today, just like today's "Attack on Rabbit" that just got the version number, its development and operation are Baidu, and Baidu broke the news that "the game business is suspected of being cut all" at the beginning of the year, even with the version number, the fate of the product is still a mystery.
More teams have fallen on the eve of the release of the version number. I hope that all developers can stick to the day they meet the players.