The outstanding performance of Shanghai's gaming circle goes without saying.
At the beginning, companies in the Shanghai game circle were more likely to rely on one or several niche products to get out of the circle, and also let the market see some neglected tracks and player groups.
At that time, "start-up team" was probably the most appropriate umbrella term. But with the investment of time, these former studios have also grown into large companies, and they have also changed from waiting for investment to investors.
Taking this opportunity, the mobile game has sorted out the investment territory of Mihayou, Lilith, Eagle Point Network (hereinafter referred to as Eagle Point) and PaperGami Network (hereinafter referred to as Paper).
In terms of the number of investments, Mihayou has invested a total of 38, covering a wide range, from the upstream and downstream industries of games to future brain-computer interfaces, and even rockets, nuclear fusion energy technologies. In contrast, Lilith, Eagle Point and Papergames have invested more in the pan-cultural entertainment sector, investing in 28, 15 and 9 companies respectively.
While the number is relatively small, the scope of coverage has also shrunk in mobile game research and development, animation production and other aspects. Among them, cloud gaming, player community and animation production companies have become their common choice, which shows that after starting with content, building IP and gradually expanding is their basic development idea.
01
Miha tour
Gaming goes hand in hand with technology
I want it now and in the future
"Tech House Saves the World" is perhaps the best summary of Mihayou's investment situation.
In terms of technology, Mihayou has boldly invested in such as Zero Only Thinking and Ruijin Hospital Encephalopathy Center, whose research direction is artificial intelligence and emotional brain computer. Artificial intelligence, robot research and development they have not fallen behind. In addition to electronic technology, companies such as Borredi that specialize in biotechnology have also won the favor of Mihayou. Computer hardware such as semiconductors and chips are also among them.
Of course, there are also investment projects that have caused heated discussions, such as the commercial fusion energy technology company "Energy Singularity", and the space transportation launch vehicle developer "Eastern Space", which are also among the investment targets of Mihayou.
In fact, this part of the investment is more about the layout of the future, which may be to realize the current seemingly ethereal meta-universe, or it may be to make the declaration of "technology house saves the world" more confident. But whatever the purpose, one thing is certain, and that is that although Mihayou is currently making games, they are not willing to be just a game company.
However, at present, Mihayou is still a game company, and of course they also have investment projects around the layout of the game business, but they are relatively cautious.
Around its own game IP layout, Mihayou has repeatedly invested in Weiling Era, and this manufacturer is the responsible party of "Cloud Genshin". Unity also received investment from Mihayou. The Xindong Network that launched the TapTap game community also received investment from Mihayou, after all, it was the key Android channel chosen at the beginning of the launch of "Genshin", of course, the potential of this platform to accumulate players is also the reason why Mihayou values this company.
Of course, some rookie game manufacturers that seem to have potential have also received goodwill from Mihayou, such as Shanghai Magic Sword, which developed the dark meat pigeon mobile game "Blade of the Magic Abyss", Mysterious House, which launched "Mountain and River Travel", and Shanghai Apegie, which developed women's "The Last Label", and more or less received investment from Mihayou. In addition to the core purpose of chasing interests, I believe that these small studios from scratch have also given Mihayou some touch, perhaps which is why they were invested.
In addition to the development of the game itself, Mihayou is also involved in the related fields of subsidiary games. From the toy company responsible for the design of game IP figures, to the three-dimensional animation production team, and even cultural and creative products, offline stores and purchase channels have Mihayou's layout. Commercial drafts, "Mi Painter" on the doujin platform, and "Qixiang Tianwai" who is responsible for game dubbing all have Mihayou's handwriting. Game self-media, social platforms, etc., there are also Mihayou figures.
Therefore, it can be found that in the field of games, Mihayou is responsible for producing high-quality content, and through investment to open up upstream and downstream relationships, from player communities, peripheral output, offline retail, animation production and other processes, basically achieve a closed loop. This actually shows that Mihayou has thought enough in the field of long-term operation of games, or content IP.
In addition to the game field, through the layout of the technology field, Mihayou is also actively exploring the possibility of restoring the game world. I believe that in the future, they will be able to create a virtual world that players will want to live in.
02
Lilith
Always focus on the gaming business
Tight grip on SLG and card tracks
While the two representative games "Awakening of Nations" and "Sword and Crusade" are rushing in the field of SLG and card placement, Lilith has not stopped her investment layout, and they have invested a total of 28 times in the pan-cultural entertainment field.
In general, their layout does not jump out of their positioning as a game company, and they have always taken manufacturers in the game field as their investment objects. From cloud gaming, down to customer service software research and development, from the game community TapTap to content platforms such as Zhihu, they have their figures.
But the edge business is a minority after all, Lilith focuses more on the field of mobile games, and SLG and cards are the direction they always pay attention to. Le Gou, the developer of "Awakening of Nations", and Jingjia Network, the developer of "Sword and Expedition", are among Lilith's investments. In addition to the two main products, Zhuohang Network, which places the track, Usar in the SLG field, and Fat Pudding, which focuses on the research and development of independent games, are all in Lilith's investment layout.
In addition to the main products and specific tracks, Lilith also threw an olive branch to some small and medium-sized studios with bright products, such as Black Sail Games, Thousand Episodes Network, etc.
On the other hand, Lilith is also very optimistic about companies with large-scale game publishing experience, as early as 2014, they launched an investment in Gaia Network, the operator of "Dota Legend" Hanbok, although the specific amount was not disclosed, but it was also at the level of tens of millions. Of course, the heart of launching the domestic mobile game community TapTap is also among Lilith's investments. Therefore, Lilith has basically realized the full line of investment from game research and development, game distribution to game operation.
Of course, in addition to the domestic layout, Lilith has not fallen behind in the competition for the global market, in April 2022, Lilith and Kakao Games, Bitkraft Ventures and other manufacturers jointly launched an investment in Playable Worlds, a cloud sandbox game research and development company in the United States, it is reported that the investment amount exceeds 25 million US dollars.
In addition to the layout of the domestic and overseas game markets, Lilith has also made some layouts for the upstream and downstream industries of games, including cloud gaming, customer service software, game communities, game self-media, etc., and even game entrepreneurship service platforms. As a result, Lilith formed an investment territory with the game business as the core and gradually expanding outward.
03
Eagle Point
The quadratic element is still the core
A small number but a meticulous investment layout
In the field of pan-cultural entertainment, Eagle Point has launched a total of 15 investments, of which mobile game R&D manufacturers are the main investment targets, and companies such as toy manufacturing and animation production on the IP link are also among their investment targets. Although the number of investments is relatively limited, the manufacturers invested by Eagle Point have good products and have a good reputation among the player community.
In the field of mobile games, "Back to the Future: 1999" with its unique "rain" setting and time and space travel and occult elements is in their investment category, of course, this product has indeed attracted more than one company like Eagle Point with its novel theme. In addition, small famous manufacturers such as the Star Line Network that developed the "Mist Realm Sequence" and the Xinguang Liumei who made the "High-Energy Hand-made Group" are also in their investment scope.
As a company that is proficient in overseas distribution, especially with in-depth knowledge of local users in Japan, Ustar Network has also received investment from Eagle Point, and "Ark of Tomorrow" has also achieved quite good results in the Japanese market, and a number of two-dimensional mobile games have achieved good performance overseas under the release of Uxing. It is believed that as long as Eagle Point continues to launch two-dimensional content, Yosing will become their guarantee for opening up the Japanese market.
In terms of single-player games, Mirror Heart Technology has also received investment from Eagle Point. The name alone gives the impression of the company relatively low-key, but the mention of Gamera Games must be more familiar, in addition to the "Dyson Ball Project", many domestic boutique single-player games will choose to cooperate with them, and the games they release also have a good reputation and sales.
And Eagle Point's layout for single-player game distribution may also be related to their own product reserves, after the explosive two-dimensional product "Ark of Tomorrow", Eagle Horn once released a buyout multi-platform game "From Stardust". In addition to loyal users, coupled with publishers with guaranteed quality reputation, I hope that this new product that has not been launched can achieve good results in the future.
In addition, in terms of animation production, Eagle Point has invested in two manufacturers, namely Two Point Ten, which produces anime content for games, and Wu Cube, which is currently responsible for CG animation for Ark of Tomorrow. The latter's main direction of attack is three-dimensional animation, and its works such as "Reflection" and "Young Jinyiwei" have a high degree of recognition and dissemination among the audience of national comics.
Of course, it is not uncommon for two-dimensional game companies to invest in animation production companies, in fact, it is also a preparation for the development and expansion of game IP. In addition, Eagle Point has also invested in self-media cores in the game field, but its shareholding ratio is not very high, less than 2%, which can be regarded as an attempt to pull in relationships with players from the community level.
04
Paper-stacking
From female to two-dimensional to more general groups
The investment territory is gradually expanding
In contrast, Paperpaper's investment moves are more cautious, and it can be said that the process of expanding from the keyword "women to" and constantly enriching the process.
In the field of entertainment, Paperwork has launched a total of 9 investments, which is not superior in quantity compared to Mihayou, Lilith and Eagle Point, and is more cautious overall. The company that has successfully brought the "female-oriented" category to players and the market, while adopting a prudent investment strategy, they also invest according to the company's growth trajectory to achieve the process of continuous expansion from "female-oriented".
On the one hand, in order to consolidate the development of mobile game IP, Paperwork has invested in companies such as Zaiyi Xinghui and Skytower Network, the former is responsible for the derivation of cultural products, the latter has launched the "Miracle Warmth" series of comics, and is developing an RTT mobile game called "Backlight Sneak In", which is also an attempt to expand the user group.
Of course, the attempts to expand are not only "Backlight Sneak In", Moon Yin who developed the secondary mobile game "Ring of Fire", Wooden Wolf Technology that launched "Gossip Detective", and Starline Network, which developed "Mist Realm Sequence", are also in their investment territory. While enriching the product layout through investment, Paperwork itself also has many unconventional research projects, such as "A Hundred Faces and Thousands of Phases", "Infinite Warmth" and so on.
While consolidating the IP and expanding outward, Paperwork has not neglected to increase the weight of its own good track. For example, the Moon Ring Network, which researched "Welcome to Dreamland", also received their investment, although the game was not launched and the frequency of testing was not high, but it has a good reputation among female players.
However, in addition to games, Paperwork has also launched investments in brokerage companies in the film and television dramas and entertainment industry, perhaps considering that there is a certain degree of overlap between users and female gamers in the field, or it may be out of the consideration of opening up IP links, in short, such investments are not common in game companies.
In general, although the number of investments in Paperwork is not much, most of the investment projects have good performance, and their investment strategy is relatively stable, more in line with the pace of the company's own development, considering that the industry is in a recovery stage, and Paperwork also shows some ideas that want to change, perhaps when the company grows to a certain stage, we can see more of their investment moves.
It can be found that this part of the manufacturers in the Shanghai circle is relatively rational when investing, and can basically consider the company's development strategy with the target object of investment, and games and pan-cultural entertainment are the main direction of their investment.
Companies that started with quadratic elements have some similarities in investment and business layout, such as companies that launch potential quadratic products and receive overtures from multiple companies at the same time. But Lilith's focus is more on the two dominant tracks of SLG and cards, which is naturally an option.
At the point of recovery of the game industry, it is also a safe treatment to lay out the areas that you are more familiar with, and blindly entering other tracks and radical expansion may not be a good choice. I also hope that more game companies will appear in the future, not only in the second dimension, but also not only in the Shanghai game circle.