E-sports Working Committee of China Phonological Association: The revenue of the e-sports industry in 2022 will be 144.503 billion yuan

21st Century Business Herald Reporter Zhu Weijing and Cai Shuyue reported from Shenzhen

On February 17, the 2022 China E-sports Industry Annual Conference was held in Shenzhen, hosted by the China Audio-Visual and Digital Publishing Association and the People's Government of Nanshan District of Shenzhen, and organized by the E-sports Working Committee of the China Audio-Visual and Digital Publishing Association and the Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports of Nanshan District, Shenzhen.

Sun Shoushan, Chairman of the China Audio-Visual and Digital Publishing Association, pointed out in his speech at the conference that with the continuous development of the digital economy, the digital content industry, as a new cultural format formed in the digital era, is promoting the development of the mainland's cultural industry and cultural undertakings into the fast lane. Among them, the e-sports industry, as an extremely important category in the game industry, is one of the most representative industries of the digital economy, because of its significant cross-border integration characteristics, it has shown unique advantages in the same frequency resonance with sports, cultural creativity, cultural tourism and many real economic formats, and has great development potential in the field of digital industry and digital content.

At the meeting, Tang Jiajun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Audio-Visual and Digital Publishing Association, Secretary-General of the Game Working Committee and Chairman of the E-sports Working Committee, released the "2022 China E-sports Industry Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report").

According to the report, the revenue of the e-sports industry in 2022 was 144.503 billion yuan, down 14.01% year-on-year, the first decline in five years. E-sports game revenue was 117.802 billion yuan, down 15.96% year-on-year. The "Report" believes that the overall market is sluggish, and the user's ability and willingness to pay are the main reasons.

(Tang Jiajun officially released the "2022 China Esports Industry Report" at the meeting.) Photo courtesy of the organizer. ） 

The number of e-sports users is about 488 million, and third- and fourth-tier cities may be on the radar for development

In recent years, the key links of the e-sports industry chain, such as upstream licensing, content production, and content dissemination, have developed rapidly, and the e-sports ecology has initially taken shape. How to further promote the healthy and orderly development of the upstream, middle and downstream links of the e-sports industry, guide the construction of a high-tech and clustered e-sports ecosystem, and drive the transformation and upgrading of e-sports and derivative industries has become a new direction for the long-term and stable development of the e-sports industry.

According to the "Report", in 2022, the total revenue of e-sports live broadcast, event activities, club operation and other income will be 26.701 billion yuan, down 4.17% year-on-year. Tang Jiajun pointed out that the main reasons for the decline in revenue were the impact of the epidemic, the operation of venues was blocked, offline events were suspended, sponsorship enthusiasm was weakened, and spectators were reduced.

Directly affected by factors such as the decline in international competitions, the decrease in offline events, and the decrease in the number of users, the number of e-sports users in 2022 will be about 488 million, a year-on-year decrease of 0.33%. Male users accounted for 56.40%, and female users accounted for 43.60%. Although there are currently slightly more male users, the forecast shows that female users have a clear upward trend. The age of users is concentrated in 25-34 years old, accounting for 38.10%; 45 years old and above is the least, accounting for only 8.10%.

E-sports users are widely distributed in cities of all levels, among which fourth-tier cities and below have the largest number of users, accounting for 35.90%; third-tier cities accounted for 18.40%; Second-tier cities accounted for 32.10%, and first-tier cities accounted for 13.60%. Tang Jiajun pointed out in his speech, "The data of 2020 statistics show that second-tier cities have the highest proportion of users. Judging from the current data, the e-sports market is sinking year by year, and the third- and fourth-tier cities may usher in the development of the future. ”

Sun Shoushan believes that from the perspective of symbols, e-sports has become a city symbol rich in humanistic spirit and regional characteristics. Under the guidance of the policy of competing to build "e-sports capital" and "famous e-sports city", the urbanization of e-sports events and e-sports clubs has been launched to radiate local infrastructure construction, cultural and creative cultural tourism, catering and shopping, etc., bringing new changes to the local people's lifestyle, consumption mode and spiritual and cultural needs.

"Esports game developers integrate famous attractions, landmarks, etc. into product design to help create a cultural business card for cities. The introduction of e-sports element symbols can bring the focus of young people to the city, the gathering of emerging industries, and the convergence of economy and employment. At the same time, he believes that cities can also provide good industry landing policies and landing space for events and clubs for e-sports, and the mutual influence and driving are becoming more and more obvious.

The "Report" also shows that the types of gameplay of e-sports products in mainland China are relatively rich and diverse. Among them, shooting, multiplayer online tactical competition and sports competition ranked the top three, accounting for 25.70%, 17.10% and 10.00% respectively. Among them, the shooting class is the most numerous type of gameplay.

In 2022, mobile products will account for 50.70%; Client products accounted for 34.80%; 10.10% have both mobile and client versions; Page game products accounted for 4.40%. 

Guangdong, Shanghai and Jiangsu are the regions with the highest concentration of esports companies

The development of the esports industry in 2022 has also been affected by factors such as the epidemic. In 2022, a total of 108 events were held in various places, a decrease from 2021. From the perspective of the form of hosting, due to the epidemic and other factors, 69% of e-sports events adopt online or online + offline combination, and only 31% use pure offline competitions. 

From the distribution of offline events, Shanghai is the city that hosts the most e-sports events, accounting for 22.39% of the country. Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shenzhen all account for more than 5% of e-sports events in the country, becoming important host cities for e-sports events in 2022.

Guangdong, Shanghai and Jiangsu are the regions with the highest concentration of e-sports companies, accounting for 17.31%, 9.72% and 8.42% respectively. The number of e-sports companies in Hainan, Hunan, Beijing, Zhejiang and other regions also accounted for more than 5%.

Regarding the overall operation of the mainland e-sports industry in 2022, Tang Jiajun pointed out that in terms of social responsibility, e-sports-related enterprises have performed well in the protection of minors, standard construction and public welfare activities, and the industry as a whole has shown a healthy and standardized development trend. "The vigorous development of the e-sports industry, especially the industrial development promotion policies formulated and implemented by local governments, has also greatly boosted the confidence of investors and practitioners." He said.

At present, the main business of mainland e-sports enterprises is mostly e-sports game research and development, venue operation and event services, accounting for 23.32%, 23.09% and 22.23% respectively. "The number of businesses engaged in hardware equipment, e-sports education and clubs is relatively small, so the ecological construction of the e-sports industry needs to attract the attention of the industry." He said.

E-sports going overseas is still dominated by tournaments. Tang Jiajun introduced that mainland e-sports going overseas is currently mainly held by overseas e-sports events, including self-developed e-sports games overseas events and hosting overseas e-sports events. "On the one hand, based on self-developed games, develop e-sports events overseas and master the upstream IP of e-sports in overseas regions; On the other hand, the ability of mainland enterprises to host e-sports events overseas has been increasing year by year, which has also become an important embodiment of the globalization of China's e-sports industry. ”

According to the report, overseas e-sports events are currently held, including e-sports games developed by Chinese enterprises, holding events in overseas regions and Chinese event service enterprises hosting e-sports events from overseas. At present, the main overseas e-sports events in the mainland are Mu Pu "MLBB Women's Invitational", NetEase's "2022 Wilderness CHAMPIONSHIP-栄光のcarving", Mihayou "Decisive Battle Tivat", Tencent's "2022 PMPL Southeast Asia Division Spring Final" and Hero Sports VSPO "2022 Dubai Esports Festival".

Looking back at the history of esports sports, it has been 20 years. In 2003, e-sports was established as the 99th sport, the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Sports Industry" listed e-sports as "fitness and leisure projects with consumer fields", and the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Cultural Industry" mentioned "promoting the integrated development of e-sports and the game and entertainment industry". On November 5, 2021, the Hangzhou Asian Organizing Committee announced that eight e-sports events were selected as official competition events of the Asian Games, and the event medals were credited to national medals, and e-sports truly began to develop into a new type of long-term competitive sports.

"From the perspective of carriers, e-sports has become an important carrier to promote cultural dissemination and deepen mutual learning between civilizations. As a new form of culture, the positive value and influence of e-sports have been widely recognized by society. Take the opportunity of e-sports to strengthen international cooperation and further promote China's e-sports to the world. Sun Shoushan put forward an outlook for industrial development.