NetEase game "Painted Traveler in Time and Space" shouted Tencent's "Glory of the King" accused it of plagiarism of the war of words, a few days ago even on Weibo hot search. NetEase's other game "Against the Cold Water" official Bo also expressed solidarity: it is recommended to set up an "anti-goose office". Behind the plagiarism dispute is the performance strength of Tencent first and NetEase second in the domestic game industry. "Consumer Titanium" pays attention to the question "Why is the quality of NetEase games generally high, but the gap between it and Tencent is getting bigger and bigger?" "The question has been watched millions of times in terms of knowledge. In the eyes of netizens, NetEase lacks Tencent's traffic capital, and it re-develops kryptonite while re-monetizing kryptonite, but it may also affect the game experience. In addition to the two strong battles with Tencent, the game battlefield is changing, whether it is a waist company that has just got the game version number, or a rookie Mihayou, which makes the "second chair" of NetEase Games not easy to sit.
Want to set up a "goose resistance office"?
On April 21, the official blog of "Painted Traveler in Time and Space" proposed that tencent king glory released to the B station video "Hero Adjustment Intelligence 丨 Mengtian Gameplay Quality Upgrade, Houyi, Garo, Sun Ce Enhancement" on April 14, the cover of the material he used on June 27, 2021, and posted a comparison chart. "The last time your new product used other people's materials, you said it was a supplier's problem, and this time it is also well." The questioning of "Painted Traveler in Time and Space" believes that Tencent's game has been copied many times.
Another game under NetEase, "Against the Cold Water", also commented on the official blog to support it, suggesting the establishment of an "anti-goose office".
On the same day, the "Glory of the King" supplier sent a weibo response at full speed: it has noticed the network discussion of the page design, and is urgently investigating the actual situation of the design creation, and will make a complete explanation as soon as possible. On April 22, full-speed network issued a notice refusing to admit plagiarism. "After verification, when our art designers carry out design creation, there is no act of copying third-party materials, and the creative ideas and inspiration are derived from and refer to the promotional materials that have been released by King Glory."
It is reported that the situation that NetEase games have just been on "Glory of kings" is not the first time. In June 2021, "Glory of the King" Yao - Met the divine deer skin exclusive personality action "Deer Spirit Dance" was accused of copying the "Yin and Yang Division" "Goldfish Ji" dance. In this regard, the operation team of King Glory issued a statement to apologize.
The plagiarism dispute between NetEase and Tencent's games has also caused a wave of heated discussion among netizens. Some netizens believe: "It is difficult to say whether it is plagiarized or not, but with the fame of the two games, "Painters in Time and Space" has borrowed a wave of heat. "Don't expect NetEase to have a follow-up response, from Ping An Kyo to Reverse Water Cold to Paint Traveler, but it is just to use the player as a gun." Some netizens did not buy the response to "Glory of kings": "Claiming that each material is their own, the result is spelled out to be someone else's thing." "Does the 2022 campaign make sense to make a promotional image with the style of the 2020 skin?"
According to public information, "The Painter in Time and Space" is a plot love mobile game with a world view based on the concept of "parallel universe" developed by NetEase, and the game was publicly tested on October 23, 2020. Hangzhou Full Speed Network Technology Co., Ltd., the supplier of "Glory of kings" in the incident, was established on December 19, 2005 with a registered capital of 20 million yuan, and the official website of Full Speed Network shows that "Full Speed has a sound game design team to provide perennial design services for Tencent Games, including Dungeons and Warriors, Paradise 2, Sword Spirit, QQ Flying Car..."
Better than Tencent but making less money?
Coinciding with the earnings season, the comparison of the performance strength of NetEase Games and Tencent Games behind the plagiarism dispute has also attracted much attention.
According to Tencent's 2021 annual report, game revenue in the local market increased by 6% to 128.8 billion yuan, and international game market revenue increased by 31% to 45.5 billion yuan. Tencent said that the local game market was driven by games such as "Glory of Kings", "Call of Duty" mobile games and "Tianya Mingyue Knife" mobile games, and was partially offset by the decrease in revenue of "DnF" and "Peace Elite".
It is worth mentioning that for Tencent, games are no longer the pillar of revenue. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Tencent achieved 2B business financial technology and enterprise service revenue of 47.958 billion yuan, accounting for 33%, exceeding 30% of the game business for the first time, becoming Tencent's largest source of revenue.
For NetEase, the game business is still absolutely dominant. Performance data shows that in 2021, net revenue of NetEase online game services increased by 15% year-on-year to 62.807 billion yuan, accounting for 71.69% of net income. NetEase said that the year-on-year increase in gross profit of online game services was mainly due to the revenue contribution of newly launched games, such as the "Oracle" mobile game, "Eternal Destruction", "Harry Potter: Magic Awakening" and the increase in revenue of some existing games, such as the "Fantasy Journey to the West" series and "Light Encounter".
In the fourth quarter of 2021, the gross profit margin of NetEase's online gaming services was 64.1%, compared with 64.5% in the previous quarter and 63.1% in the same period of 2020. Compared with the business of other sectors of NetEase, the gross profit margin of online games is high and stable. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Youdao's gross profit margin was 50.7%, the gross profit margin of innovation and other businesses was 26.8%, and the gross profit margin of Cloud Music was only 4.1%.
For NetEase, mobile games are still the most important source of income. In 2021, net revenue from mobile games accounted for 70.4% of NetEase's net revenue from online game services.
"Consumer Titanium" pays attention to the question "Why is the quality of NetEase games generally high, but the gap between it and Tencent is getting bigger and bigger?" The question was watched millions of times, and 1500 people participated in the answer and tens of thousands of people discussed.
Miuke, a netizen who knows it, said: "NetEase's game is not charged with money is equivalent to a stand-alone experience card, and then uninstalled after a plot." Events, new characters, and player circles all have nothing to do with you. Another Zhihu answer that has been praised 2673 times shows: "NetEase games always give people a stunning feeling at the beginning, but they do not invest any emotions and means to retain users." Tencent has maintained its reputation with high quality and high degree of reduction and the high playability of the three phases. On the other hand, NetEase has left users with the impression of being a tiger. ”
Another argument lies in the "difference in market position" between the two: "NetEase has no channels, Tencent is strong in WeChat, even if it does not produce new content, it can rely on a vote of cash cows plus QQ, WeChat volume and large traffic entrance to sit in the mountains and empty." But NetEase is not good, there is no exclusive channel diversion, most of the games do not have stable exposure, and even have the problem of rushing to publicize the same company. ”
How long does the second-in-command sit?
On April 11, on the list of "release list" after more than 8 months of the game version, the "boss" Tencent game and the "second" NetEase game did not receive any grain.
"The absence of Tencent and NetEase's version number may be a factor in the order of applications. Another view is that Tencent and NetEase should have hoarded a lot of version number resources before, and they do not have to seize this window period. Teng Hua, general manager of Gamma Data, pointed out. "Consumption Titanium" tried to understand the version number and other situations from NetEase Games, but did not receive a reply before the draft.
Yu Wen, a screenwriter of a game company, said: "On the one hand, the head manufacturers have made a huge contribution to the existing head game revenue, on the other hand, they have reserved a large number of version numbers during the period of normal issuance of version numbers. This time there is no Tencent, NetEase, does not mean that there will never be, they get the version number is only a matter of time. Yu Wen pointed out: "The 45 game version numbers are concentrated in the middle waist game companies, which is also an accelerated process of reshuffling for the entire industry, which can promote the companies to change their business ideas." ”
Before there are Tencent games, after there are many waist enterprises competing, NetEase games "second chair" position is not easy to sit.
There are industry reports that the profitability of Mihayou may have caught up with NetEase. According to the data of "Shanghai Top 100 Enterprises", the operating income of Mihayou in 2020 was 10.128 billion yuan; and according to Shangguan News, the net profit of Mihayou increased by 4.77 billion yuan in 2020, an increase of 474.51%, and it can be inferred that its net profit in 2019 was 998 million yuan, and its net profit in 2020 was 5.768 billion yuan, with a net profit margin of 56.95%. Assuming that the net profit margin of Mihayou remains unchanged and the proportion of the global mobile terminal of "Original God" in the overall revenue remains unchanged, it is estimated that Mihayou's operating income in 2021 is 32.854 billion yuan and net profit is 18.540 billion yuan, which has surpassed NetEase.
On the issue of NetEase Games accusing Tencent of plagiarism, a number of NetEase's games have also been questioned about "borrowing" play.
Public information shows that when "PUBG" was hot, NetEase followed up with the release of "Wilderness Action" and "Terminator 2: Trial Day", which was sued by the producer Blue Hole, who listed 25 infringements of NetEase Games in the indictment, involving highly consistent promotional slogans, character designs, game styles, game prop designs and game slogans.