Image source: @VisualChina
Hedgehog Commune
April 11, 2022 is a memorable day for the gaming industry.
On that day, the State Press and Publication Administration announced the first batch of domestic game version numbers in 2022, and the "version number winter" ushered in a turning point. From July 2021 to April 2022, after more than two hundred days of waiting, big and small game companies finally saw the light of hope.
In terms of data, the total number of version numbers issued in 2022 was 512, with 468 Chinese-made game versions and 44 imported game numbers. Although the total annual number of editions has continued the decreasing trend since 2018, the frequency of edition issuance has gradually become normalized, and the number of single issuances has been stable.
After entering 2023, a batch of edition numbers were announced in January and February, with an interval of only 24 days. So far, the number of domestic game version issuances has been stable at a considerable scale of 80+ for three consecutive months, and the "food cut" doubts that once plagued the entire game circle have finally dissipated.
After the version number was restored, how much morale has the game industry recovered today?
Three times "over the big year"?
The edition number, two simple words, touches the hearts of countless practitioners.
Today, we often call "version number" is the abbreviation of the game publishing operation approval number, which is reviewed and released by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, and is normally issued on a monthly cycle.
In terms of status, the version number is like a business license for a game. With it, the game can be officially launched and operated, and monetize through user payment and other means.
On July 22, 2021, the Press and Publication Administration released the "Domestic Online Game Approval Information in July 2021", and 87 games on the list took the last train. For a long time thereafter, the approval of the version number entered a period of substantial stagnation, with no specific announcement as an explanation, and no guarantee as to when it would resume.
Against the backdrop of panic, round after round of rumors continues to breed. For example, in late February 2022, a rumor that "no edition number will be issued this year" caused the collective decline of game concept stocks, and the stock prices of many companies, including Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, Zhongqingbao, Kunlun Wanwei, Century Huatong, and Gigabit, were affected.
Investors in the stagnation period, source Oriental Wealth Network
Practitioners gritted their teeth and waited for a turnaround, and finally in 2022, there were three "carnival" moments worth recalling, each celebration is closely related to the edition number.
The first "New Year" is, of course, April 11.
At noon that day, several news began to circulate in the industry, and there were big Vs on Weibo tentatively forwarding. As many times in the past, the rumors of the "release number" are always so exciting and hesitant. But this time seems to be a little different, more and more people participate in the discussion, constantly fleshed out details to support this statement, and some even swear the number of editions.
In the end, the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration was updated in the repeated refreshes of countless people, and the "Approval Information for Domestic Online Games in April 2022" was announced in the evening, and 45 games were listed among them, and the dust settled.
As soon as the news came out, the atmosphere of the Chinese Internet can be described as "universal celebration". Relevant terms quickly appeared on the hot search lists of major social platforms, even people outside the game circle were quite happy, and the joy of practitioners was even more overflowing.
Huang Yimeng, CEO of Xindong Network, used "tears and joy" to describe the mood after "opening the gate". AZGames, the producer of "Master Potters", who has attracted much attention for his version number video, sighed dynamically: "The version number has finally been obtained, and the tension is back!" ”
The second booster shot appeared on 13 September.
On the evening of the same day, the State Press and Publication Administration announced the fifth batch of domestic game version numbers after resuming approval, and a total of 73 games successfully passed the review. It is worth noting that this time Tencent and NetEase have made separate gains, ending a certain unease in the industry in one fell swoop.
NetEase's "All-Star Street Ball Party" and Tencent's "Health Defense Battle" won the edition number. You know, at this time, nearly 14 months have passed since NetEase last got the version number, and "Egg Party" has been reviewed 418 days ago. For Tencent, the "Health Defense" version is also the first curve ice break in 16 months, which is of great significance.
In the first few months of the version restart, many head game companies such as Mihayou, Lilith, Xindong Network, and Perfect World have successively obtained version numbers, but Tencent and NetEase have been absent. As the two returned to the list, the secret suspicion was broken, and the development teams under the two giants finally waited for reassurance.
After September, more key projects of Tencent and NetEase ushered in good news. Tencent Tianmei's "Metal Slug: Awakening", "King of Chess", NetEase Lei Huo's "Westward Journey: Return" and "Fantasy Westward Journey: Time and Space" and other games have been approved one after another, and a number of big IP series works have started to warm up.
The last surprise of 2022 comes at the end of the year.
On December 28, the State Press and Publication Administration announced the "Approval Information for Domestic Online Games in December 2022" and "Approval Information for Imported Online Games in 2022", and 84 domestic games and 44 imported games successfully passed the review.
After 548 years, the imported game version has returned with the tail of the end of the year, and a large number of heavyweight products have entered the field of view of players.
A number of games represented by Tencent have been reviewed, holding the overseas popular FPS game "Valorant" in his left hand and the famous MMORPG "Ark of Destiny" in his right hand. The former is expected to further enhance Tencent's dominance in the shooting category, while the latter is a global market tested track leader.
NetEase, the card game "Raid: Legend of Shadows" and the casual game "Fantasy Life" have obtained version numbers, and Ali's Lingxi Interactive Entertainment will also release the wish SLG "Three Kingdoms - Battle Banner Edition" and the MMO "Sword and Knights". The action game "Crimes of the Original Realm" represented by Light Year has also passed the trial smoothly, and many companies such as Dream World, Perfect World, and Xindong Network have ammunition in storage...
After the version number is restored, more and more promising variables are gradually emerging.
Silent outcast
However, not every game company will survive until spring, and not every game will be able to see the light of day.
During the shutdown days, small and medium-sized game companies were undoubtedly the hardest hit. They have small project reserves and are far less resilient to risks than head companies. The waiting itself is not terrible, what is scary is that there is no indefinite wait, and small and medium-sized teams obviously cannot afford the development cost that cannot be seen at a glance.
From July to December 2021, data from the Tianyancha App showed that as many as 14,000 small and medium-sized game companies with a registered capital of less than 10 million were cancelled one after another.
Even if the version number is later restored, these dissolved companies and dead projects will not be brought back to life. As people celebrate the new releases, some of these games have become silent outcasts, unable to applaud.
To this day, we have no way of knowing how many people have put their hearts and sweat behind these projects, and we can only glimpse the helpless turn of the company behind the scenes through local clues.
In April 2022, "Super Combined Duck" was one of the lucky ones who got the first edition number, but unfortunately the official website of its operating unit, Shanghai Tenni Entertainment Network Technology Co., Ltd., can no longer see the shadow of the game. According to the official website, the current Tendo Entertainment Network is "a simple and pure music and comic sharing website".
Another example is "Sword and Magic Dragon", which got the version number in June 2022, and there is neither a sword nor a magic dragon on the official website of the operating unit Wuhan 23 Information Technology Co., Ltd., and some are just "all-bright households" and "bag check-in". Yes, Twenty-Three describes itself as "an information publishing platform that provides convenience for people's lives."
In fact, the official websites of more vetted games and operating units can no longer be opened, and some companies have even been deregistered.
For large factory projects, the version number may be the shareholder wind of "everything is ready only owes the east wind", and there is always no lack of fans who cheer for it. But for the games of small and micro companies, the imaginative names published by the State Press and Publication Administration in black on a white background have become the only conclusive evidence that they existed.
Of course, to be fair, large companies also have difficult scriptures. Under the pessimism that swept the industry at the beginning, no one can escape the pressure alone.
Take Tencent's shooter "Fortnite", for example, despite the reputation and fans of "Fortnite" at home and abroad, the national server had to announce the end of testing and shut down the server in October 2021.
Source: Fortnite official public number
Prior to the announcement, the Fortnite national server had been tested for free for about 3 years. In response to this decision to suspend the server, players generally believe that it is due to Tencent's delay in obtaining the version number of "Fortnite", which has been unable to profit from operations for a long time, which has led to the dismal end of the shutdown of the national server.
Looking at the other side, even a cross-border manufacturer with a strong family base like Baidu has to accept the pressure of the version number and the current situation, dream a big game, and hastily close the stall.
On the eve of the Baidu Create conference at the end of 2021, Baidu employees broke the news on social platforms that Baidu's game department, which belongs to Baidu's mobile ecological business group MEG, was laid off as a whole. According to Sina Technology, almost all of the more than 300 people in the game department were laid off.
In fact, at this time, it was less than half a year since Baidu Games held a high-profile brand conference. It happened to step on the starting point of the version stop, and after the weather was cool, it entered and exited, leaving a chicken feather.
What is even more embarrassing is that the version number was restarted in April 2022, and Baidu's game "Attack on Rabbit" was listed in the first list. Although the version number is there, the team and the project have long been different, making the employees who have been leaving for a long time cry and laugh.
The belated edition number reflects the sighing industry tragicomedy.
The gaming industry has survived the period of version suspension and entered a new normal that is expected to be controllable.
On the one hand, changes are taking place, and some developments are particularly noteworthy.
For example, in the matter of approving changes to information, judging from the announcement of the Press and Publication Administration, a number of online games have been added since September 2022. For example, games such as NetEase's "Endless Lagrange" and Xindong Network's "Youth's Adventure" have added client versions, while games such as NetEase's "Against the Water and Cold" and Tencent's "Rainbow Fall" have added mobile versions.
This means that multi-platform games can now be approved and operated on the basis of the same version number, which is very different from the complicated situation of different versions corresponding to different versions in the past. This slight change should be an optimistic signal that the version approval mechanism has adjusted and adapted to today's booming industry trend of multi-platform games.
On the other hand, after a big reshuffle of the edition number, the two major industry trends have gradually become clear.
First of all, nature is the cliché way to sea.
In the adjustment stage of version shrinkage, in order to ease business pressure and create new growth points, Tencent, Netease, Byte and many other companies have further increased their investment in the global market, and explored a variety of development paths: mergers and acquisitions of famous manufacturers, the establishment of overseas studios, the creation of new distribution brands, the promotion of domestic and foreign IP customization cooperation, and the provision of technical support for overseas IP "end transfer"...
Now it seems that the above ideas have more or less verified the feasibility in practice.
The overseas layout of Chinese game manufacturers has never been as complete as it is today, not only achieving a breakthrough in extending from Southeast Asia to the hinterland of Europe and the United States at the regional level, but also containing the ambition of expanding from the strong field of mobile to the heavy 3A battle field.
Even if the version number restarts, the pressure is reduced to some extent, but the race has become a general trend, and the pace of globalization of local game companies may not slow down in the future.
Secondly, the trend of quality has profoundly transformed the industry.
With the evolution of technology and the improvement of player demand, the competitive environment of the game industry has become more changeable and fierce. As a countermeasure, "cost reduction and efficiency increase" and "quality" have become the two banners of the post-edition winter era.
In December 2022, Tencent held an internal staff meeting online. According to interface news reports, Ma Huateng said at the meeting that the impact of version numbers and policies on IEG is indeed relatively large, and the IEG team is very hard, but there are also many force majeure, "everyone has been holding back for a year, screaming, waiting to rush up."
Ma Huateng believes that in the long run, the version number of the domestic game market is definitely in a tight state, and it will not be as easy as in the past. "So (Tencent Games) must focus on high-quality products and don't waste any opportunity for a version number."
On February 14, the 2022 China Game Industry Annual Conference was held in Huangpu District, Guangzhou. Zhang Yijun, chairman of the Game Working Committee, officially released the "2022 China Game Industry Report" at the event. According to the report, the actual sales revenue of China's game market in 2022 will be 265.884 billion yuan, down 10.33% year-on-year, and the scale of game users will be 664 million, down 0.33% year-on-year.
The report also pointed out that industrial development has entered the era of stock market, and the industry must pay more attention to the improvement of quality and help the industrial ecology to improve. During the industry annual meeting, in the keynote speeches of guests such as Xie Fei, president of Century Huatong, Guan Song, co-founder of Dream World, they all tacitly emphasized the high-quality keywords of "long-term" and "stock", which shows that the industry consensus has been formed.
How to adapt to the cyclical nature of version issuance? How to maximize the value of each edition number? These propositions commonly faced by game practitioners today will eventually return and point to the value of the work itself.