[CNMO] 2023 is not destined to be ordinary. It's been three years since the pandemic swept the world, and in those three years, it has changed us so much. Perhaps many people have not fully adapted to the life of lockdown under the epidemic, and they will usher in a new round of changes in 2023, hesitation, helplessness, these will not help, only with sufficient preparation, we can reap our wishes, because 2023 will be a year of coexistence of challenges and hopes. Everyone wonders, where will all walks of life go in this year?
In the field of online games, with the cancellation of epidemic control and the gradual return of people to schools and companies, the game industry, which once benefited from the increase in leisure time of the public during the epidemic, will undoubtedly usher in new challenges in the new year. However, for Chinese game companies, today's overseas market is undoubtedly a broader and more suitable place. Before that, many game companies have deployed overseas, and they will also usher in their own "harvest" in 2023.
For the automotive market, at the beginning of 2023, they welcomed a familiar disruptor - Tesla. Not long ago, Tesla officially announced that the price of its main sales models was reduced, reaching a maximum of 30,000 or 40,000 yuan. While consumers have broken through Tesla stores, pressure is also growing in the hearts of peers. At the same time, when new energy is booming, the old car companies are naturally not willing to let the new forces of car manufacturing alone and destroy themselves with the old era, they are quietly making efforts, wanting to teach the fledgling "little guys" a good lesson with their deep heritage. Could it be that in this year, the sky of China's auto market is about to change?
On the other hand, the new changes in the smartphone industry are also exciting. With Redmi and Realme mass-producing and announcing that they will mass-produce models that support charging technology above 200W, when many people have not noticed, the fast charging of smartphones has entered a single-digit era. However, under the limitations of the current Type-C interface, 240W is already the "ceiling" that these manufacturers can touch, but it is impossible to stop the domestic mobile phone manufacturers who have been used to involvement, what is their next action? In addition, the overall downturn of the mobile phone market can not cover up the rising light of folding screen models, in the high-end market, it is quietly seizing the C position, becoming the choice of more consumers.
"Change" and "future" are eternal themes, and the pace of time will not be shifted by human will. This time, CNMO launched a series of topics "Let some people understand 2023" to sort out the future path of all walks of life in 2023, and this article focuses on "After the relaxation of control, the spring of the game industry is coming?" ”。
At present, China has become one of the largest gaming markets in the world, with hundreds of millions of players, and the game industry has provided countless jobs and development opportunities. The development of the game industry determines the fate of countless companies, and will also affect the joys and sorrows of countless players. So in 2023, where will China's gaming industry go?
The challenge has arrived
We all know that the arrival of the epidemic has impacted countless industries, but objectively speaking, although it is not its intention, the epidemic has indeed brought an opportunity for the development of the game industry to some extent. On the one hand, due to the general environment, many adults and students have begun to work and homeschool, and while they work and study through computers, tablets and smartphones, their leisure time has undoubtedly increased greatly compared to when they used to work and study, such as the commuting time saved. This extra time is naturally used by the public to meet their leisure and entertainment needs, thus promoting the development of the game industry.
According to a report by NPD, globally, adults between the ages of 25 and 34 spent an average of 15 hours a week on gaming in 2020. In 2019, this figure is about 13 hours. At the same time, the number of hours played per week for players between the ages of 35 and 44 increased to 16 hours, an increase of 37%; Gamers between the ages of 45 and 54 spend an average of 14 hours a week gaming, a 59% increase year-over-year. Of course, this is global data, and it cannot be used to summarize the situation in China, but it can also be used as a reference. Moreover, in China, because mobile games occupy an absolute market dominance, and mobile games themselves are more convenient to play than PC games and console games, the growth rate of Chinese players' game time is likely to be higher than the global level.
Research data
However, in 2023, due to the gradual relaxation of epidemic prevention and control, people's work and life will gradually return to the state before 2019, and the demand for online office and online learning will be sharply reduced. It is foreseeable that the game industry will inevitably face a decrease in players' online time, and the reduction in game time is bound to affect the amount of money players invest in a game to a certain extent, which is the challenge that game companies need to face in 2023.
Vast overseas market
China has a population of more than 1.4 billion, and many industries have a large market here, as do games. According to the report of China's game industry in the first half of 2022, there are about 666 million game users in the current Chinese market, including about 650 million mobile game users, which is the cornerstone of the current prosperity of China's game industry. However, even with such a large market, Chinese game companies are also expanding their influence overseas while deeply cultivating locally.
"Genshin" can be said to be the hottest domestic game in recent years, and at the same time, it is also an outstanding representative of Chinese games going overseas in recent years. According to data previously released by Sensor Tower, since the official launch of the game Genshin in September 2020, it has achieved cumulative revenue of more than US$4.1 billion (about 28 billion yuan) worldwide, and this data may not include China's Android channels. In addition to the Chinese market, there are more than 23%, about 960 million US dollars from the Japanese market; more than 16%, about 860 million US dollars from the US market; more than 6%, about 250 million US dollars from South Korea, it can be seen that the game "Genshin" not only has a high influence in China, but also has a considerable number of loyal players overseas.
"Genshin"
Moreover, after eight months of suspension of version releases from 2021 to 2022, many domestic game manufacturers also regard overseas markets as the focus of business growth. So, even though China's gaming industry may face pressure to reduce players' online time in 2023, they still have a lot of room for development. Moreover, from a long-term perspective, this situation will undoubtedly be of great benefit to the future development of China's local game industry, and it will also be more conducive to China's cultural export and international influence growth.
A hopeful 2023
Overall, it is foreseeable that in 2023, although the Chinese game industry will face some challenges, the new year is still a year full of opportunities and hope for them, which has experienced decades of ups and downs.
At the end of 2022, "Victory Goddess: Nikki" represented by Tencent was successfully launched overseas. The game surpassed 10 million downloads worldwide in 8 days, and its first-month revenue exceeded $100 million, achieving impressive success. After the launch of this game, Tencent's game business revenue has also undergone certain changes, among which the proportion of revenue in the Chinese market has dropped to less than 77%, while the proportion of revenue in Japan, the United States and South Korea has increased sharply, and Japan has increased from 1.4% to 7.6%. With the fermentation of popularity, this game will undoubtedly become one of the main driving forces for Tencent's overseas business growth in 2023.
At the same time, in China, Tencent may launch a number of new works such as "Honor of Kings: World", "Reverse War" mobile game version, "Dungeons and Warriors" mobile game version in 2023, these games have heavy IP bonuses, under the promotion of fans of the original work and the strong support of Tencent, their performance is quite noteworthy.
"Victory: Nikki"
Although NetEase will terminate its cooperation with Blizzard in the new year, from the official financial report data, this will not have any impact on NetEase's revenue, but may also free up more manpower and resources to invest in the operation of other games or the development of new games. Of course, if Microsoft successfully acquires Activision Blizzard, then the cooperation between NetEase and Blizzard may also usher in a turnaround.
In addition, NetEase's "Against the Water and Cold" mobile game is also in preparation, which was first tested on September 30, 2022, and is expected to be officially launched in 2023. "Against the Water and Cold" has previously gained the love and support of many players on the PC side, and the popularity of its mobile game version should not be low. In addition to "Against the Water and Cold", NetEase's "Eternal Calamity" mobile game may also come out in the new year.
"Against the Water and Cold"
Station B was once dubbed by many people as the nickname of "mobile game tomb tide", but with Station B chairman Chen Rui personally taking over the game business in the second half of 2022 and the relaxation of the game version, Station B will obviously take the game business as one of the key development businesses in 2023. At present, Station B may launch at least four games in 2023, including "Elushir: Star Dawn", "Slude", "Chang'an Million" and so on. Moreover, with the influence and users of site B itself also growing steadily, this allows site B to bring more traffic and attention to these new games. Perhaps in 2023, when "uncle" takes over, "the hat of the mobile game grave tide, station B can be completely taken off."
"Ilushir: Star Dawn"
"Genshin" has been out for more than two years, but we can see that its popularity has no intention of cooling down at all. In the new year, in addition to continuing to receive a lot of money and influence from Genshin, Mihayou is also planning to launch a number of new games. At present, Mihayou has opened the pre-order of the game "Zone Zero" and "Honkai: Star Dome Railway", which may start public beta in 2023.
At the same time, with the closure of the "Hearthstone" national server due to the interruption of the cooperation between NetEase and Blizzard, Mihayou's updated Seven Saints Summoning gameplay for "Genshin" is likely to gain more popularity in the new year, and it may also develop into an independent large-scale card game in the future. In addition, according to the founder, the main plot of the old game "Honkai III" that Mihayou has been online for more than seven years will officially end in version 7.0 in 2023, and as the plot gradually enters the climax, the game's revenue this year will surely create brilliant again.
Write at the end
Whether it is the advent of new games or the end of old games, what we can see is that the vitality of China's game industry will not diminish in 2023, and players are bound to reap more surprises and joys.