On April 14, netease SLG mobile game "The Lord of the Rings: Rise to War" (hereinafter referred to as "The Lord of the Rings" (hereinafter referred to as "The Lord of the Rings") landed in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan at the same time. As of press time, the game ranked first in The Korean iOS Free List, the Japanese Free List No. 2, the Hong Kong Free List no. 1, and the Taiwan Free List No. 2.
GameLook previously reported that as early as last September, the game has been launched simultaneously in Europe, the Americas, Oceania and Southeast Asia, with a stable monthly turnover of about 50 million yuan, ranking among the top 20 global SLG revenues. Now with the game fully released in the Asian market, this number will obviously grow significantly.
It is worth mentioning that the day before, NetEase's Oriental Fantasy MMO mobile game "Celestial Oracle", officially released in Japan by the Purple Dragon Game Agency, ranked 1st in the iOS free list and 11th in the best-seller list. Soon, The Lord of the Rings followed, with the two games successfully meeting in Japan and occupying the top two of the local iOS free list.
Obviously, its two blockbuster products were launched in Japan almost at the same time, marking the official launch of NetEase Games in 2022 and taking the lead in overseas markets.
Middle-earth epics also fascinate Japanese players
First of all, in the face of the reduction problem that core fans are most concerned about, "The Lord of the Rings" is naturally set in the "Third Age of Middle-earth", strictly based on J.R.R. Tolkien's original novel, and Peter Jackson's three films of the same name, completely reproducing the magnificent Epic of Middle-earth.
Whether it is architecture, characters or background, they are all in line with the style of the movie of the same name, even the technology tree has become an upgrade around the ring, and the cutscene progress bar has adopted Middle-earth characters. At the gameplay level, the game uses the market-tested SLG gameplay of "The Shores of the Land", ensuring a sufficient strategic experience.
High-quality CG animation, sub-era game graphics and battlefield details, mature gameplay mechanics... From this point of view, "The Lord of the Rings" has almost reached the same game quality as PC and console games, which is also an intuitive portrayal of the current situation of SLG's crazy inner volume.
In GameLook's view, the choice of "The Lord of the Rings" to land in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and the Japanese and Korean markets at the same time is not small. In addition to preparing three different language packs at the same time, the corresponding creative production, delivery and offline promotion links also need to be carried out simultaneously, which is quite a test of the manufacturer's overseas distribution ability.
Taking the Japanese market as an example, since April 11, the official has pulled up posters in the crowded scenes such as Shinjuku subway stations to warm up the game in advance. Online, the game invites popular Japanese actor Ryohei Otani to play the role of aragon in "The Lord of the Rings", shooting and advertising with the concept of "total war of knowledge" to further build players' perception of the game.
However, as a world-renowned European and American IP, The Lord of the Rings is still unable to achieve a high degree of localization like the original game. For example, after "State of Survival" landed in South Korea, the game scene was changed to a Korean street, and a new female character full of Korean style was introduced, which was recognized by local players in a down-to-earth manner.
Fortunately, relying on the strong influence of the original trilogy and six movies, even in the asian region with huge cultural differences, this super IP still attracts many players.
Soon after it went online, some fans of the original game said: "If you like The Lord of the Rings and have a certain understanding of this type of game, I think it is still worth it." As a fan who loves Lord of the Rings, this is a very precious game, and I look forward to the operation of the game. ”
At the same time, some players also believed: "The character 3D model is very powerful, the strategy is also very good, after several attacks and occupations, there is an hour or so of rest, it is really a sense of fighting." In contrast, at present, for product optimization, server and other issues, the game has also been complained about by some players. However, with the further polishing of the product and the gradual liberalization of the purchase volume, "The Lord of the Rings" will surely gain more favor from Japanese players.
Outside of the second dimension, Japan has become the main battlefield of SLG
Just like the outside world's impression of Japan's "two-dimensional power", it is usually recognized that two-dimensional products are the main force of the Japanese mobile game market. At the same time, the popularity of products such as "Horse Racing Lady", "ヘブンバーンズレッド", and "FGO", as well as the sea star "Original God" and "Ark of Tomorrow" and other products, seem to be constantly confirming this statement.
But in fact, in addition to two-dimensional games, Japan is also the world's most important SLG game market, which is more counterintuitive.
For example, 37 Interactive Entertainment's "Dark Horse" puzzles & Survival, the game creatively combined match-three with survival SLG, once ranked among the top 10 of the overseas best-seller list, and also won two awards of the 2021 GameLook Awards Best Strategy Game of the Year and the Domestic Game of the Year. What is even more surprising is that this European and American-looking game accounts for 56% of Japanese revenue and nearly 200 million local monthly turnover.
Another old face, Lingxi Interactive Entertainment's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms • Strategic Edition", has been landing in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and the Japanese and South Korean markets since last year. Up to now, the monthly turnover of the game in Japan is about 100 million yuan, and it is still ranked in the top 20 of the Japanese iOS best-seller list.
Mafia City, a youta network launched in Japan early, accounted for 43% of Its Japanese revenue and 80 million yuan per month. In addition, popular SLG games such as Funplus's "State of Survival", Jiangyu Interactive's synthetic SLG "Top War", and Lilith's "Awakening of All Nations" have basically exceeded 30 million monthly flows in Japan.
At the same time, the revenue of Japanese game companies' own products is not low. For example, the SLG mobile game "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Hegemony" launched by Glorious Tkumo has also reached 60 million monthly flows.
TOP-level products basically reach tens of millions of monthly revenues - SLG's popularity in Japan is such a high degree of popularity, which has refreshed the recognition of peers. Further, the successful SLG games in Japan cover a variety of themes such as European and American survival, multi-civilization, and extreme taoism, and the genre is more concentrated in fusion strategy games, IP and global products.
Obviously, the Japanese mobile game market is not only a surprise strategy game player, but also the preferences of local SLG players are closer to the tastes of the global market. Then for domestic manufacturers, in addition to two-dimensional games, the future strategic category can also become an important direction for breaking through Japan.
Holding three trump cards in hand, NetEase 2022 accelerates globalization
Recently, the game version number that opened the floodgates after 8 months has undoubtedly given a shot in the domestic game circle. In the first batch of "lucky winners" this year, there is no Figure of Tencent and NetEase that the outside world is most concerned about. However, before the NetEase RTS mobile game "Roar of War" has been high-profile officially announced that it will be publicly tested on May 26, becoming its first game in China to confirm the schedule.
Of course, NetEase's high-quality new travel reserves are still quite a lot, and with one of the ace products, "The Lord of the Rings" being launched first in the Japanese, Korean, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets, it is tantamount to completely sounding the clarion call for NetEase's all-round attack in 2022.
Indeed, Ding Lei also revealed at the recent Q4 conference call that NetEase's other two ace games will also be launched overseas this year. Among them, "Diablo: Immortal" will be released in the first half of this year, and "Harry Potter: Magical Awakening" is scheduled to launch an overseas version in the middle of this year.
Intuitively, the two highly anticipated new products have global IP, and the expectation value of overseas players is needless to say, the latter has been verified in advance in the domestic mobile game market, with great potential. However, the ownership of the overseas distribution rights of Diablo: Immortal and Harry Potter: Magical Awakening is not yet known, the former may be distributed by Blizzard, and the latter is under the responsibility of Warner. Referring to the precedent of "The Lord of the Rings" being distributed by NetEase worldwide, the two products may also be handed over to the developer NetEase.
Regardless of the outcome, the outside world can already clearly feel that NetEase's center of gravity is striding toward overseas. In the impression, Hu Zhipeng, vice president of NetEase in 2021, has told the media that NetEase hopes that 50% of its future game revenue will come from overseas. In recent years, the company has indeed accelerated its overseas layout.
In addition to the above three heavy products of global IP, NetEase also has a large number of new games being tested overseas, such as the soullike new game "Codename: Candle", the tactical competition "Rules of Survival 2.0", etc., and are all products for the global market. Not only is it a heavy game, NetEase also released the overseas version of "Dokific" of "Easy Dimension" in March this year, further seizing the overseas interactive story track.
As Ding Lei said on the Q4 conference call: "In the future, in addition to China, overseas will also be our focus." From the perspective of the market, both domestic and foreign are very important, and foreign countries will be our focus... I hope that in two or three years, we will have great success in developing overseas markets. ”
In GameLook's view, NetEase, which accelerates globalization in 2022, is obviously steadily advancing towards the "small" goal it has set.
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GameLook Daily Game Industry Report
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