Reporter Li Zhe reported from Beijing
With the gradual decline of the demographic dividend of the domestic game market, the purchase volume has become a "compulsory course" for many game companies.
According to the "2022 Domestic Mobile Games to The Sea White Paper", game manufacturers have changed from "short-term rapid arbitrage" to "long-term deep ploughing operation". In the first quarter of 2022, the performance of medium and heavy game purchases increased steadily, and it maintained a stable performance in the number of products launched.
In addition, the financial report data shows that in 2021, including gigabits (603444. SH), Glacier Network (300533. SZ), a number of game companies, have increased their sales expenses due to the increase in buying volume or game promotion costs. In the face of the squeeze of market space and the surge in buying costs, game companies are also gradually optimizing buying expenditures, thereby "reducing costs and increasing efficiency".
"The company will make corresponding adjustments to the purchase promotion according to the characteristics of the product," a game company told the "China Business Daily" reporter, the company will develop corresponding indicators according to each game, and then evaluate according to the revenue status and marketing expenses of each game, so as to adjust the purchase strategy.
Buying costs growing to the norm?
According to the "2021 China Game Industry Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") jointly released by the Game Working Committee (GPC) and the China Game Industry Research Institute, China's game industry showed a steady growth trend in 2021, with the actual sales revenue of 296.513 billion yuan for the whole year, an increase of 6.40% year-on-year. Among them, the actual sales revenue of the mobile game market was 225.538 billion yuan, accounting for 76.06% of the total market; The actual sales revenue of the client game market was 58.800 billion yuan, accounting for 19.83% of the total market; The actual sales revenue of the web game market was 6.030 billion yuan, accounting for 2.03% of the total market. It can be seen that the mobile game market has become the main force of the current mainland game industry.
In addition, after years of growth, the number of mobile game users in mainland China has tended to be stable. According to the report, the scale of mobile game users in China in 2021 will be 666 million, an increase of 0.22% year-on-year. As the demographic dividend of the game industry gradually declines, the scale of users has entered the stage of stock competition.
In the face of such a situation, the competition in the domestic game industry has become more and more intense. In the face of the saturated domestic game market, at a time when new gameplay such as VR and cloud games do not occupy the mainstream position, game companies continue to improve the quality of games, and the operating and publishing costs have also increased.
Industry insiders told reporters, "At present, the purchase cost has become one of the costs that game companies cannot ignore. ”
Gigabit's 2021 annual report shows that the company's sales expenses in 2021 were 1.274 billion yuan, an increase of 325.67% year-on-year. The main reason for the change in sales expenses is that new games such as "A Thought runaway", "Underground Castle 3: Poetry of the Soul", and "Moore Manor" were launched, and more investment was made in marketing programs, operational services and advertising displays; In addition, the company continues to market and promote "Qingdao Mobile Game".
In addition, due to the new games "Underground Castle 3: Poem of the Soul", "World Catapult Story", and "One Thought Runaway (Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Edition)" launched in October 2021, the initial promotion investment is larger, which also directly leads to the deduction of non-net profit of Gigabit in the fourth quarter of 2021.
In fact, the increase in sales expenses caused by the purchase volume has become the norm in the current domestic game industry.
Century Huatong's 2021 annual report shows that it has increased its investment in research and development and product market publicity, with current R&D expenses of 1.966 billion yuan, management expenses of 1.319 billion yuan and sales expenses of 3.472 billion yuan, an increase of 30.24% year-on-year. For the increase in sales expenses, Century Huatong said that it was mainly due to the increase in the initial promotion fee and labor cost of new game products in that year.
In addition, Century Huatong's 2021 financial report shows that its sales expenses reached 1.77 times of research and development expenses. In this regard, industry insiders said: "R & D expenses are often in accordance with the company's budget, its volatility is not large, and sales promotion costs are based on the release of the company's new games, if the company has new games to continue to promote, sales costs will surge." ”
Nowadays, the high purchase cost has dragged down the performance of some game companies.
Glacier Network's 2021 financial report shows that it achieved a total operating income of 507 million yuan in that year, an increase of 31.20% year-on-year, but the operating profit loss was 57.8704 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 160.95%. For the company's net profit loss, Glacier Network said in the financial report that the company increased the advertising of "Expedition 2 Mobile Game" in China, and the advertising of "Facet War" (overseas game name: X-Hero) overseas, and the sales cost increased significantly, but the income of both products did not meet expectations, which became one of the reasons restricting the growth of net profit.
According to the financial report data, the sales expenses of glacier network in 2021 reached 309 million yuan, an increase of 123.64% year-on-year. Selling expenses accounted for 60.9% of total revenue.
Adjust the buying strategy according to the characteristics of the product
Industry insiders told reporters, "Previously, some Internet companies obtained traffic through game products, and then converted traffic into revenue through other products." ”
However, in the current domestic game market user scale into the stock competition stage, buy volume promotion or how to obtain high-quality users through low prices is becoming a problem that game companies need to face.
In this context, game companies differentiate between buying volumes.
"The company will make corresponding adjustments to the purchase volume promotion according to the characteristics of the product, and some products belong to the buy volume game, then the purchase volume will have a direct impact on the revenue in the product cycle." A person from a game company told reporters, "The company will also make corresponding adjustments according to the actual revenue situation." Such data monitoring is often more meticulous. For example, the company will develop corresponding indicators based on each game, and then evaluate each game's revenue status and marketing expenses, and then make corresponding adjustments. ”
Gigabit's 2021 financial report shows that during the reporting period, the company's simulated leisure new tour "Moore Manor" was launched in June 2021, awakening IP users through content delivery, brand promotion, community operation and other means, forming a better user self-dissemination and circle-breaking effect, adding more than 30 million new users in the first month; In addition, "A Thought of Escape" continues to expand the user base through buying and other methods, continuously launching creative materials in combination with rapid iteration of game content in the purchase volume, and significantly improving the user reach rate and conversion rate through the innovation of marketing methods, so as to achieve product synergy and product efficiency.
In addition, Perfect World mentioned in the 2021 financial report that in December 2021, the company's self-developed and spontaneous multiplayer open world mobile game "Magic Tower" is different from the marketing method of attracting traffic with effect advertising, and adopts a new content marketing method rooted in game content and co-creating and growing with players, attracting players with the quality of the game itself.
At the same time, in response to the current demand for game companies to buy, companies such as Today's Headlines and Tencent have released one-stop advertising platforms.
In this regard, the above-mentioned game company said that the company will also choose whether to buy by proxy or through the company's own communication channels according to the advantages of different types of games and specific delivery channels.
In fact, when the continent becomes a game power, the cultivation of high-quality games has become the only way from game power to game power.
The person in charge of the Publishing Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department mentioned in an interview with the media that the Publishing Bureau will guide the publishing unit to get close to the audience of readers such as minors, launch a number of high-quality online games with distinct main themes and positive energy, and mentioned that the implementation of the plan, including the "Positive Energy Leadership Plan for Online Games", was emphasized.
Internet commentator Ding Daoshi told reporters that in recent years, Tencent, NetEase and other domestic leading game companies have reduced their dependence on the game business, and from the perspective of the domestic policy environment, it is not the development of the simple game sector that is encouraged. In the current period, industries related to the real economy are the key directions to encourage, and such a general direction does have an impact on the growth momentum of the domestic game field.
In addition, the overseas layout of the mainland game industry shoulders the important task of cultural going to sea, as the "window" of China's foreign cultural exchanges, games have become an important way for the exchange and dissemination of China's excellent traditional culture with the advantages of natural landing and direct access to the hearts of the people. In the face of overseas markets, investment in content and R&D is also crucial.
Ding Daoshi said, "Games are an important way to spread culture, the mainland has a long history and culture, has a large number of backgrounds and scenes can be applied in the field of games, so that the world can better understand China, and in the process of moving from a game power to a game power, the core is still the game product itself." ”