With the global business layout, trying to spread Chinese culture, in recent years, the wave of games going to sea has become higher and higher. In order to further observe the effectiveness and challenges of the game going to sea, and explore its market discourse power and cultural added value, Nandu Big Data Research Institute has launched a series of reports on "Expedition: Domestic Game Overseas Observation" from now on, focusing on data, cases and feedback, in order to help the game industry ride the wind and waves. In the fourth phase, we combed and dismantled 40 popular domestic mobile games in the first half of the year, and let's see the overseas "gold-sucking" secrets of head products.
Game companies continue to deploy overseas, and the wave of games going to sea is getting higher and higher.
After reviewing the pattern of overseas manufacturers in the first half of the year and the main overseas markets such as the United States and Japan (click to view), Nandu Big Data Research Institute combed and dismantled the specific situation of 40 popular overseas mobile games in the first half of the year, and let's see what types of games are more "popular" overseas, what "gold absorption" of head products, and what new trips to the sea are worth noting.
In the first half of the year, 40 popular "gold-sucking" games went to sea
It is divided into 23 Chinese publishers
In Sensor Tower's monthly Chinese mobile game overseas revenue ranking for the first half of 2022, a total of 40 games have ranked among the top 30 of the monthly list, and they belong to 23 Chinese publishers (including joint distribution). It can be seen that because the head publishers have accumulated a lot of experience in overseas operations, they generally have a number of excellent overseas games. Among them, NetEase has a total of "Wilderness Action", "The Fifth Personality", "After Tomorrow", "Diablo: Immortal" 4 games have been listed, the highest of all publishers. Tencent, FunPlus, Lilith, IM30 and other 6 publishers have 3 games on the list; 6 publishers, including MihaYou, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, and Shell Wood Games, each have 2 games on the list.
It was observed that among the 23 Chinese game publishers who were the most successful in the first half of the year, some publishers had a relatively single head out of the sea category, such as shooting games to support Tencent's going to sea, Fun Plus, IM30 (Dragon Creation Yuedong), Shell Wood Games, Youta Games, etc. are concentrated on the SLG track.
There are also companies that adopt a diversified product strategy and perform well, such as NetEase's 4 mobile games on the list involving shooting, role playing (RPG) and asymmetric confrontation competition and other 3 types; The two games on the list are match-3 + SLG and adventure-themed MMORPG types.
SLG and RPG revenue remain strong
The card category of new games is outstanding
According to the report, in the first half of this year, the top 100 games in China's self-developed mobile game overseas market revenue were strategy (including SLG) (35.81%), role playing (16.38%) and shooting (11.33%), accounting for a total of 63.52%.
From the perspective of game types, what is the specific situation of the 40 most "gold-absorbing" mobile games in the first half of the year?
SLG games are still stable and strong, with a total of 16 SLG games on the monthly overseas revenue list. In addition to the traditional old SLG with solid roots such as "Age of Muskets" and "King of Avalon", SLG with the theme of doomsday and zombie crisis has been favored by players in recent years, and is one of the power tracks for Chinese manufacturers to travel to the sea, FunPlus's "State of Survival", 37 Interactive Entertainment's "Puzzles & Survival", Shell Wood Games' "Age of Origins", Dragon Creation Joy's "Watching the Dawn" and so on. Among them, "Age of Origins" rose steadily in the monthly revenue list in the first half of the year, rising from 15th in January to 10th in June, and overseas revenue hit a new high in 3 years since listing in May. On the other hand, the new SLGs, which cut into the same category but are constantly differentiated, have gradually opened up a diversified situation, such as "Awakening of Nations" with a multi-civilization background, "Mafia City" with gangster themes, and "Little Ant Country" with ant themes. It is worth mentioning that the performance of domestic strategy games in the US market in the first half of this year is very prominent, according to Sensor Tower, in the top 20 games in the United States revenue, a total of 13 seats.
As the category with the strongest gold absorption ability in the Japanese market, role-playing (RPG) games are also very eye-catching, with a total of 7 models that have ranked among the top 30 overseas revenue monthly lists in the first half of the year, and Mihayou's "Original God" is one of the best, except for May, all of which are the top of the domestic mobile game revenue list. 37 Interactive Entertainment's MMORPG "Song of the City on the Clouds" also maintained excellent market performance in Japan and South Korea, with Data from May showing that the South Korean market accounted for 47.9% of its overseas revenue and the Japanese market accounted for 31.7%.
Shooters such as PUBG MOBILE, Call of Duty Mobile, and Wilderness Action are relatively stable. Among them, Tencent's "PUBG MOBILE" ranked 2nd in the revenue list in the first four months of the first half of the year, rising to 1st in May, and ranking 4th in June. Activision Blizzard & Tencent's Call of Duty Mobile Game ranks fluctuate between 5th and 7th places. NetEase's "Wilderness Action" performed slightly less satisfactorily, ranking 8th in January and falling to 18th place in June.
It is worth mentioning that Lilith's "Dislyte" and Lingxi Interactive Entertainment's "Three Kingdoms FantasyLand" and other card new games have outstanding performances. In early April, Lingxi Interactive Entertainment launched the Japanese version of the Three Kingdoms theme "Three Kingdoms FantasyLand", with the Well-known Three Kingdoms theme setting and exquisite light two-dimensional art style of Japanese players, the game's revenue in the Japanese market has grown steadily, ranking 29th in the revenue list for the first time in June, and ranking 8th in the revenue growth list and download growth list in the Japanese market in the first half of the year, becoming another mobile game under Lingxi Interactive Entertainment that has successfully entered the Japanese market after "Three Kingdoms Chronicles Strategy Edition".
Head games turn to long-term operations
The product pattern is relatively stable
In the first half of 2022, as the head of domestic mobile games to the sea gradually shifted to long-term operation, the pattern of popular "gold-absorbing" game products was relatively stable, and overseas revenue mainly relied on version content updates, event celebrations, and game benefits to drive growth. For example, with the arrival of the second anniversary celebration of the Japanese service version, the overseas revenue of Eagle Horn Network's "Ark of Tomorrow" surged by 171.6% month-on-month in January.
Combing found that among the top 5 domestic mobile game products with overseas revenue in the first half of the year, the most "young" "Original God" was launched globally in September 2020 and has been operating for nearly two years; The most senior PUBG MOBILE celebrated its fourth anniversary overseas launch in March this year.
According to Twitter Gaming, since winning the top spot last year, "Original God" is still the most discussed game on Twitter in the first half of 2022, and the popularity is still the same. The game's "gold-sucking" ability is even more impressive. According to Sensor Tower, Harashin's global consumer spending on Google Play and the App Store exceeds $3 billion, accounting for about 70% of overseas revenue, with major overseas markets being Japan, the United States and South Korea. It is worth noting that this data does not include the revenue of PC and domestic Android channels, which means that the actual revenue of "Original God" will be higher.
It is understood that "Original God" launches a version update every 6 weeks, opens up new maps, plots or activities, and launches a new character card pool, which has led to a significant increase in revenue. For example, with the arrival of the 2.4 version of the Spring Festival event "Flying Color Engraving Year", overseas revenue increased by 51% month-on-month in January; In May, due to the postponement of the version update due to the epidemic in Shanghai, the game fell to No. 5 in the overseas revenue list; With the postponed 2.7 update, in June, the revenue of "Original God" ushered in a round of peak, and overseas revenue increased by 85% month-on-month, returning to the top of the list of mobile games for sea.
On the other hand, as the most popular shooting mobile game overseas, PUBG MOBILE still topped the list of domestic mobile game downloads in the first half of this year, showing a wide range of audiences and long-term stability. According to Sensor Tower, the game's total overseas revenue has exceeded $3.5 billion, with the two largest overseas markets being the United States and Turkey.
After more than 4 years on the line, how to maintain long-term operation? PUBG MOBILE producer Rick Li once said in an interview that continuing to create content that meets the value needs of players can make the game successful, have a longer life cycle, and treat each update carefully to be more rewarding. He said, "We want PUBG MOBILE to be industry-leading in quality and gameplay innovation, and that throughout its operational cycle after launch, it will continue to surprise players and give them content that exceeds expectations to continue to encourage them to explore in the game." ”
A number of new games are entering the game strongly
Airborne income, download list
It is worth mentioning that in the first half of this year, there have been many bright new trips to the sea.
For example, in May, Lilith launched Dislyte overseas. With a novel urban mythological theme, a cool 3D cyberpunk art style and rhythmic music elements, and the integration of core card play, the mobile game reached the top of the iOS download list of many countries and regions such as the United States and China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao on the first day of its launch, and airborne 18th in the overseas revenue list in May, ranking first in the revenue growth list, overseas revenue is estimated to be close to 20 million US dollars, of which the US market revenue accounted for more than 53%.
On May 17, the "Apex Legends Mobile" international service jointly developed by EA and Tencent was officially launched, and the next day it won the first place in the iOS free list in 72 countries, ranked 32nd in the overseas revenue list in June, and became the most downloaded Chinese game in Japan and the second most downloaded game in the United States in the first half of the year.
In June, the flagship mobile game "Diablo: Immortal", jointly produced by NetEase and Activision Blizzard, was launched overseas and quickly topped the free list of 112 countries and regions around the world, including major markets such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea, with an estimated turnover of more than 350 million yuan.
In addition, games such as "Song of the City on the Clouds" by 37 Interactive Entertainment, "Three Kingdoms Chronicles Fantasy Land" by Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, Oriental Fantasy MMORPG mobile game "Heavenly Oracle" released by Purple Dragon Games, and "The Strongest Snail" under Celadon Games were launched in the first half of the year, all of which performed well.
But it remains to be seen whether these strong entries and airborne overseas revenue charts can withstand the long-term test of the market.
Producer: Nandu Big Data Research Institute
Research Center for Ecological Governance of Online Content
Written by: Researcher Tang Jingyi Luo Yun
Design: He Xin
Source: Sensor Tower