Less than two weeks after the recovery of the game version number, the 3D action mobile game "Eyes of Deep Space" independently developed and released by Yongshi Network opened its public beta, which made a lot of waves in the quiet two-dimensional action game track. As one of the developers of "Blue Sea Route", whether the new works launched by Yongshi Network this time can surpass the strong competitors such as "Crash 3" and "Battle Double Pamish" and get rid of the past revenue dependence on a single product has become a hot topic in the industry.
■ New Express reporter Liang Ruxin
Three people fight on the same screen to increase the upper limit of character operation
On the two-dimensional action game track, there is no shortage of challengers. On April 22, "Eye of Deep Space" opened its public beta and ranked top 10 in the iOS best-seller list in the first week of launch, becoming one of the few two-dimensional products that have achieved this record in the past three years. As of press time, the number of downloads of the game on TapTap, B station and other platforms has exceeded one million. The reputation of the new players is also very good. The TapTap score shows that with more than 80,000 reviews, the total score is 8.3.
In terms of plot setting, the game is based on the theme of "light science fiction + digital civilization", which is similar to the same type of products on the market: players will play the role of administrator in the virtual digital world, fight monsters derived from the data source layer, and then defend peace. It has been jokingly called "antivirus software teaming up to sweep drugs on the street" or "the story of programmers fixing BUGs".
What is more different is that it is the official main selling point - three people fighting on the same screen. Generally speaking, because the player can only control one character, this type of game is generally through role switching, relay and other ways to carry out team combat. However, in the new game, after the player determines the squad leader, in addition to the characters controlled by themselves, the other two characters are actually controlled by the AI and launch a linkage attack in the course of the battle.
There is also a trigger setting for the combo skill between the player and the AI: there is a "bond" between different characters, and after meeting certain conditions, the characters will join forces to launch the "combo mystery". In layman's terms, the character's skill killing power will be multiplied. Some players said that the core gameplay of the game is closer to the traditional JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game), and the various settings of the mechanism have increased the upper limit of the operation of different characters to a certain extent.
The dependence of a single product is obvious, and the new work acts as a "life-saving straw"
Many players' cognition of Yongshi Network comes from the "Blue Sea Route" developed in cooperation with The Wild Tweet Network. The latter is one of the first batch of two-dimensional mobile games that successfully went to the Japanese market, and was once described by the player group as "the ceiling of domestic two-dimensional games". Before the launch of the new work, Yongshi Network basically relied on the product to "barely survive".
According to the latest financial report data, Yongshi Network's annual revenue in 2021 was RMB119 million, an increase of 19.41% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to the mother was 49.03 million yuan, down 18.90% year-on-year; and the non-net profit attributable to the mother was 40.47 million yuan, down 19.14% year-on-year. Among them, "Blue Sea Route" is still the main part of revenue, accounting for 99.97% of the total revenue.
In fact, Yongshi Network has launched the casual game platform "Recent Play" and the placement game "Cat Hang Up", but neither has set off too many splashes. Thanks to Blue Sea Route (launched in May 2017), the young company, which was only six years old at the time, successfully joined the gaming industry's billion-dollar club in 2020. In the face of a single product problem, Yongshi Network gradually increased its R&D investment expenses in 2017-2021: from 8.98 million yuan to 53.42 million yuan, an increase of 54.19% year-on-year in 2021, and the cost of R&D investment has exceeded the company's net profit in the current year.
In the eyes of the outside world, "Eye of Deep Space" is an attempt by Yongshi Network to get rid of its dependence on the revenue of a single product and seek the development of multiple categories. Under the steady and steady purchase strategy, the new work with high hopes handed over a flowing report card of 98.15 million yuan in the first week of public testing. According to Qimai statistics, as of May 9, the game's estimated revenue has exceeded $7 million. However, some analysts pointed out that compared with the similar competitor "Battle Double Pamish", the initial gold absorption ability of the work is not outstanding, and the overall income performance can be described as decent, which needs to be followed up.
3D is gradually becoming a trend, broadening the imagination space of two-dimensional categories
"Two-dimensional" generally refers to a two-dimensional flat world composed of animation, comics, games, and novels. Once upon a time, the two-dimensional economy, which was still very niche, was on the road to vigorous development with the blessing of the upgrading of domestic consumption business models. According to a survey report by iResearch in 2020, the current scale of domestic pan-quadratic users is 420 million, and it is expected that pan-quadratic users will reach 500 million in 2023.
In the game industry, manufacturers increasing the number of two-dimensional tracks is obviously one of the future development trends. According to relevant public data, the current scale of domestic two-dimensional game users is 116 million, and the actual sales revenue of the two-dimensional mobile game market in 2021 is 28.425 billion yuan, an increase of 27.43% year-on-year. Among them, a total of 62 two-dimensional games have an annual turnover of more than 10 million yuan, with a total turnover of 37.1 billion yuan, an increase of 27.9% year-on-year. In terms of user portraits, 45.75% were users under the age of 19 and 22.88% were users aged 20-24. As a two-dimensional ARPG (action role-playing game) mobile game, the main user group of "Deep Space Eye" is about 20-29 years old, and most of the male players. From the perspective of user tastes and aesthetic needs, the new work is undoubtedly the right direction to target the opportunity.
It is worth mentioning that many manufacturers in the industry who mainly focus on the two-dimensional track have "bet" on 3D in recent years in an effort to enhance their competitive advantage. According to rough statistics, including "Eye of Deep Space", there are currently a number of new products that have been labeled with similar labels, including "Crash: Star Dome Railway", "Maiden Frontline 2: Pursuit", "Backlight Infiltration", "Anchor Point" and so on. Under this competitive pressure, 3D character modeling, large-cost production, ultra-large-scale exploration maps and many other elements have increasingly become the standard of secondary categories.
Correspondingly, the application of 3D technology also broadens the imagination space for the product's gameplay experience. Among the new products mentioned above, there are also "enhanced versions" of common 2D gameplay such as wargame strategy and turn-based system. Driven by this trend, the two-dimensional category of exquisite vertical painting style and diversified gameplay may usher in a broader space for development.