On February 12, 2023, the China Music Association held the 2022 China Game Industry Annual Conference in Guangzhou and released relevant reports.
According to the report, in 2022, the total revenue of China's game market will be 265.884 billion yuan, down 10.33% year-on-year, it is worth mentioning that since 2014, the game market has been growing, and 2022 is the only decline in the past 8 years, and the revenue has fallen to the level of 2020.
The global epidemic and economic environment have not only the Chinese market, but also the global game market has declined to a certain extent. Especially the Japanese mobile game market, the size of the Japanese mobile game market reached 14.7 billion US dollars in 2022, basically returning to the level of 2019, and the mobile game champion was won by "Horse Racing Girl".
"Horse Racing Girl" was launched on February 24, 2021, and its revenue reached US$130 million in the first month of its launch, surpassing Genshin at the time of US$122 million, and topped the overseas mobile game revenue list. The annual revenue reached 1 billion US dollars, you know, the total revenue of the Japanese mobile game market is only 18.45 billion US dollars. Although it fell to $700 million in 2022, it is still the champion of mobile game revenue in Japan.
Why is the Japanese two-dimensional game market so enthusiastic about horse racing games? So much so that the popularity of this game remains high.
Traditional culture
The culture of horse racing originated in England, the first horse racing appeared in 1174 in London, England, in the 13th century, set off a horse racing fever, until now, horse racing is the second largest sport in British sports after football.
At the end of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1860, horse racing was introduced to Japan, which caused quite a stir at the time. Although it developed late, it did not affect the development trend of horse racing in Japan at all.
After the construction of the first racecourse in Yokohama in 1866, the sport became uncontrollable in Japan, and by now Japan has more than 20 large racecourses with a capacity of 100,000 people, holding more than 15,000 races a year, and the average prize money for horse racing in Japan is also the highest in the world.
For example, the anime "Detective Conan" is not an exaggeration to say that it is a masterpiece of Japanese anime, and Maori Kogoro in it often pays attention to the news of horse racing. Only with national popularity can there be a market, and only with a market can there be interests.
The national popularity of horse racing in Japan is similar to that of mahjong in the mainland, adults basically know a little, people who can't play mahjong or children have also seen mahjong every New Year's holiday, and know that mahjong has the same three kinds of cards.
The biggest reason why "Horse Racing Girl" has become popular in the Japanese market is because of the content of this game, which combines a variety of popular themes of Japanese pop culture.
Fashion trends
In addition to horse racing, there is another popular trend that is in line with local Japanese culture that is incorporated into the game, and that is idol culture.
Thanks to the development of television and the Internet in modern society, idol culture has gradually developed and expanded in Japan, driving the development of Japan's entertainment industry and economy. For example, the Japanese idol group AKB48, which many people are familiar with, has sold more than 60 million records since its debut in 05, and was once hailed by Wall Street as "the motivator of the Japanese economy".
In addition to the competitiveness of Japanese horse racing, star making is also a very important part, just like the idols who have not debuted in the entertainment industry, the official will create different stories for horses in various races to enhance popularity and commercial value.
The competition is very cruel, all the flowers and applause belong to the champion, no one cares who is in second place, let alone anyone can remember their name.
But the opposite is true in the Japanese horse racing market, such as Chun Ulala, which started racing in 1998 and by the last race, it had participated in a total of 113 races without winning a single one.
According to normal logic, this horse must be retired, but Japan has made it an inspirational horse, repeatedly defeated, never admit defeat spirit has also won countless fans, 33 newspapers, more than 120 reporters reported its 100 consecutive defeats, it has also become a national idol, and even appeared its T-shirts and various peripherals.
In the game "Horse Racing Girl", the mobile game draws cards to allow players to experience the cheerfulness and excitement of card drawing, and the role of players is the trainer who trains their running skills, and the producer who makes an acting plan for them.
Then let the horse lady who has devoted her heart and soul to run on the field, and after achieving good results, she can change into a kawaii costume, because after each race is decided, the top three horse girls will perform on stage.
After all, in the real world, people cannot talk directly with the horses in the race, and can only guess their thoughts through their behavior, such as being lazy when training, triumphant when winning the race, etc., and in the game, these behaviors will be expressed through their own horse ladies.
Compared to other horse racing games, "Horse Racing Girl" does this very well, which is one of the keys to its success.
Japanese baseball player Shoda Tanaka is addicted to this game, and in addition to his work on social platforms, he exchanges horse breeding tips with netizens.
Shohei Taguchi, who used to be a broadcaster of sports events at TV Tokyo, was not satisfied with the game's own game broadcast, and personally went out to explain the passion of his horse girl's game.
In addition to data and income, the popularity of "Horse Racing Girl" has also affected the horses who have raced in real life.
In Japan, nearly 7,000 new horses appear every year, and 5,000 old racehorses retire. In addition to the brilliant results of these retired racehorses, the championship-winning horses will be left to breed, and the high maintenance and food costs have caused most of the other horses to be slaughtered, even if they have also run desperately for humans.
After the explosion of "Horse Racing Girl", the number of applicants from the Japan Retired Horse Racing Association has increased significantly, and the donations received have increased much more than before, and some people will contact the racecourse to independently undertake the breeding of retired horses.
At last
It is not difficult to make a popular circle into a blockbuster, the difficult thing is how to make the under-mainstream culture into the mainstream, and achieving progress from 0 to 1 is the most difficult, which not only tests the understanding of the culture, but also needs to understand the player's ideas enough.
In addition to the accumulation of horse racing culture, "Horse Racing Girl" also has its own pop culture innovation, combining the two, and it is natural to explode out of the circle.