The game version number is restarted and issued The string of compliance still needs to be tightened

On April 11, the State Press and Publication Administration officially announced the approval information of domestic online games in April 2022, and a total of 45 games were approved. It is worth noting that the game versions released this year are the first batch of game versions released this year, and the first batch of game versions released since July 2021, and the two releases have been 263 days apart. Affected by this, the stock price of the game company was generally red on the 12th. However, some heads of copyright institutions have begun to wake up and believe that compliance governance in the game industry still needs to be strengthened. "If the previous 'chaos' continues, the version number is likely to be discontinued again." At the same time, some analysts pointed out that the overseas market environment of games has undergone tremendous changes, and whether or not to change the way of thinking is the biggest challenge faced by game companies when they go to sea, "it is necessary to understand that the game is no longer an additional income but a 'life-saving straw', to be globalized, from the beginning of product development based on the real overseas market."

The version number resumed issuance, and the market reaction was obvious

On April 11, the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration disclosed that 45 games had obtained new version numbers. It involves many listed companies, including Gigabit's "Tower Hunter", 37 Mutual Entertainment's "Dream Voyage", Youzu Network's "Junior Three Kingdoms: Pocket Battle", Heartbeat Company's "Party Star", Kingsoft's "Sword Net 3: Origins", Dream Creation World's "Beware of Fire Candles", Friendship Time "Zero Ruins" and so on.

After learning the news that the game version number was resumed, Huang Yimeng, CEO of Heartbeat Network, said on the social platform, "The domestic version number has finally opened the floodgates, and the tears are running." What is more interesting is the answer to the question "On April 11, 2022, after 8 months, the game version number was officially re-issued, what are the positive significance?" When asked, Huang Yimeng posted a picture of a plate of dumplings with the text: "Dumplings wrapped tonight."

Overnight U.S. stocks were the first to react. On the same day, the individual stocks in the Chinese stock game sector rose sharply. Bilibili once rose more than 13%, NetEase and Huya rose more than 8%, and Douyu once rose more than 5%.

On the 12th, in the A-share market, Glacier Network, Zhongke Cloud Network, Dasheng Culture and Youzu Network directly won the first board, Tianzhou Culture rose by more than 10%, and Zhongqingbao, Shengtian Network, Giant Network and other stocks rose sharply to varying degrees. In terms of Hong Kong stocks, Bilibili rose 12.79%, China Mobile Games rose 7.48%, Tencent rose 3.62%, and NetEase rose 4.21%.

Century Huatong told Nandu reporters yesterday that the resumption of the release of game versions suspended for 8 months is a positive signal for the entire industry. "The company has two products in the 2022 Strategic Reserve's Boutique Game. The original plan was to go to sea first and land in overseas markets. The reason for this planning is that we don't know when the version number will be available again. Now that the authorities have resumed approval, the process of launching these two games in China is bound to be greatly advanced, and it is even possible to achieve global simultaneous release. ”

"The reopening of the version number is like a heart-strengthening agent for the industry", the relevant person in charge of 37 Mutual Entertainment told reporters yesterday that now that the game version number is reissued, 37 Mutual Entertainment will still practice the layout of high-quality, diversified and global.

Now the version number review is "the best of the best"

It is worth noting that although the game version number is restarted, the scale of distribution is further narrowing.

A total of 45 online games received version numbers in April 2022, compared to 87 in July 2021. If the "year" is used as a time unit for statistics, 755 game version numbers were issued in 2021, down from 1570 in 2019 and 1405 in 2020, and far lower than the 2055 issued in the first three months of 2018. Previously, in 2017, the number of games issued by the mainland game version number was 9368 games.

"This also fully shows that the current version number review is 'the best of the best', the game threshold is constantly improving, only games with excellent quality can obtain the version number through screening", some insiders have analyzed that although the number of version numbers has decreased, it has also prompted game companies to pay more attention to the research and development of "boutique games".

"Part of the reason for the strict issuance of game version numbers is that the previous version number issuance is relatively loose, there are many version numbers on the market, and the phenomenon of non-compliance is serious," said Zhu Junchao, a lawyer at Yihua Law Firm in Cambridge, Jiangsu Province, and the head of the game law team of Nuocheng, saying that the review of the new version number is stricter than before, and to a certain extent, this problem can be alleviated from the source. At the same time, the amount of distribution of version numbers has been reduced, the pressure of follow-up review work has been reduced a lot, and if there is a large gap between declaration and actual situation, it is easier to find and deal with, and people who cause disorder will naturally not dare to re-offend.

"The version number is likely to be discontinued again"

"Last year, our copyright supervision service platform monitored a total of more than 23,000 online game products published nationwide since 2010, and found that game products 'violated' endlessly," said Tang Liang, general manager of Dentsu Copyright Service (Guangzhou) Co., Ltd. In the process of industry governance, game product violations have improved, but there are still violations including "imperfect anti-addiction system", "the difference between the declared version and the actual operating version is too large", "the declared version is completely inconsistent with the actual operating version" and other violations.

At present, Articles 6 and 7 of the Notice on the Administration of Mobile Game Publishing Services stipulate that for game products that have been published and operated by version numbers, if the content of the version is significantly changed, or when the game publishing service unit, game name or main operating agency changes, the necessary approval procedures shall be performed.

In fact, as early as 2018, after the suspension of the version number, Nandu reporters have investigated and found that there are many "intermediaries" selling game version numbers, the landlord game "Vest Bag" can sell for 300,000, and the "Legendary" game "Vest Bag" is as high as 500,000. In the second half of 2021, the price of related game versions has soared again. Taking xianxia games as an example, the price of the permanently authorized xianxia version number is between 500,000 and 700,000 yuan, and the "legendary" game is the "sky-high price" of millions.

"Industry governance is a long-term, meticulous work, not after the version number is re-allowed to be issued, it will be smooth sailing", Tang Liang believes that if the previous "chaos" continues, or even intensifies, the version number is likely to be stopped again.

Tang Liang said that "compliance" should run through the entire life cycle of online games, including publication review, business compliance, and compliance during and after the event. He believes that on the issue of compliance during and after the event, it is also necessary to pay attention to whether the content update of the subsequent iteration version of the game, the copyright transaction and derivatives of the game product, the means of market publicity and player recruitment, and the platform payment transaction of the game operation are compliant.

Zhu Junchao believes that game companies should concentrate on tapping the potential of games and abandon the idea of making quick money with skinned, low-quality games. He said that the "Detailed Rules for The Scoring of Game Review" issued by the Publishing Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department specifically mentioned two situations of non-publication, namely, there were obvious problems in the concept orientation and the explicit "pickpocketing" behavior in the design. Game enterprises should focus on improving the "concept orientation" of games, disseminating and promoting positive attitudes in games, and not publicizing bad ideas such as gambling and violence. At the same time, strengthen the spirit of "originality", independently develop and produce games with their own characteristics, and do not copy or imitate too much.

point of view

Game going to sea into the industry "life-saving straw"

Anxin Securities Research Report pointed out that compared with the two game version suspensions in 2018 and 2021, the game industry was forced to become a boutique and go to sea. The regulatory level affirms the cultural value of high-quality games and encourages games to go to sea. During the period when the version number was discontinued, going to sea became the standard self-help action for domestic small and medium-sized game manufacturers, and the overall revenue scale of domestic games increased rapidly.

In July last year, the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China released the "Notice on the List of Key Enterprises and Key Projects for National Cultural Export in 2021-2022", showing that 369 enterprises and 122 projects were selected in one year, of which 58 game companies were selected into the list of key national cultural export enterprises. 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 2.563 billion US dollars over 2020, an increase of 16.59% year-on-year.

According to incomplete statistics, Tencent, NetEase, Cmomega and other game companies have set a target of 50% of the total revenue of the game in the overseas market, and many game manufacturers such as 37 Interactive Entertainment and Heartbeat Network will also take the game to the sea as a new growth point and launch corresponding overseas products.

Not only are domestic giants beginning to grab the overseas game market, but more small and medium-sized game studios regard the game going to sea as the key to "survival".

Chen Yu (anonymous), a staff member of the game startup, revealed to Nandu reporters that if you want to survive, you must either "buy the version number" or "go to sea". However, due to the huge cost of buying version numbers, and many version numbers have been listed on the channel, it is impossible to get more exposure from the channel, and at the same time, it also faces the risk of breaking the law, often more than worth the loss. Therefore, the game to go to sea has become the "optimal solution" for them to survive.

"Before the first round of games went to sea, domestic games mainly carried out dimensionality reduction in areas where the game industry was underdeveloped," said zhang Shule, an independent analyst, while the suspension of the 2018 version number accelerated the process of game companies going to sea to test the waters, and then emerged a number of domestic game works with strong influence and market share. During the suspension of the second edition, the success of works such as "Original God" also made the current game more active.

However, Zhang Shule also said that the window period dividend of the game going to sea has been thin, and the developed regions of games such as Europe, the United States and Japan are also showing the mobile game trend of console games and handheld games, and the mobile game leading edge accumulated by domestic games in the past will no longer be obvious.

At the same time, the market environment for the boom in going to sea caused by the suspension of the two game versions is also undergoing tremendous changes. "The biggest difference is that the globalization project is established, from the beginning of product research and development based on the real overseas market", game analyst Liao Xuhua said, now the game can not be tested and polished like before in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and other Chinese familiar markets, and then make additional income, the above market competition has been very fierce.

Liao Xuhua said that whether the way of thinking can be changed is the biggest challenge faced by game companies going to sea, and it is necessary to understand that game going to sea is no longer an additional income but a "life-saving straw", such as network technology, localization, compliance, etc. are technical problems, and there are corresponding solutions. However, there is no solution to the project thinking, and it needs to test the core ability of the team and the decision-making level of the management.

Written by: Nandu reporter Chen Peijun