| Another high ground to be preempted. |
Text/Andrew
Domestic mobile games have burned the war to a new field.
Some time ago, Sensor Tower announced the top 30 Chinese mobile game overseas revenue in January, which showed that as of the end of January, the cumulative overseas revenue of "Puzzles & Survival" had exceeded 1 billion US dollars, ranking second on the list, second only to "Genshin". In the newly released February overseas revenue ranking in recent days, "Puzzles & Survival" also maintained the same position.
"Puzzles & Survival" was originally launched in overseas markets in 2020, and began to gradually develop in 2021, entering the top of the iOS best-selling list in many developed regions such as the United States, and the cumulative turnover of the game exceeded 2.5 billion yuan in early 2022.
"Puzzles & Survival" is an earlier successful case of match-3+X in overseas markets in recent years, and looking at the product list of publisher 37 Interactive Entertainment, we can find that they have released several new match-3+X products in recent months.
Not only that, looking at it, many large overseas manufacturers such as Shellwood, Diandian, FunPlus, IGG are also increasing this category in recent months, some such as Sanqi continue to invest after a success, and some have only been put on the shelves for testing within a few months to a year.
Unknowingly, another type has become a strategic place for domestic manufacturers to go overseas.
01
"New strategic reserves" opened up by many large manufacturers
Let's take a brief look at some of the representative new products.
"Puzzles & Survival" is 37's first match-3+X product to be built in overseas markets, and since then they have released more than one similar game, which seems to be an attempt to summarize the experience of the former and reproduce it. Some new products even have inheritance in naming, such as "Puzzles & Conquest", which is still the direction of match-3 + SLG, but the early process has been lengthened a little, like some stand-alone match-3 + RPG in the past.
In recent months, they've launched a new product called Puzzles & Chaos: Frozen Castle.
"Puzzles & Chaos: Frozen Castle" is also a match-3 + SLG, a fusion product that uses match-3 operation as the core combat of RPG.
Different from the zombie theme of "Puzzles & Survival", the game chooses a typical Western-style fantasy and magical world view, and the drawing of character cards is more inclined to the European and American cartoons with a wider audience.
Compared with the previous two games, the recent "Puzzles & Chaos: Frozen Castle" has improved in terms of image quality, and more bird's-eye shots and immersive camera movements have been added to the story cutscenes to enhance expression.
In terms of gameplay, "Puzzles & Chaos: Frozen Castle" also has detailed upgrades compared to the previous two products, such as in-game 3D modeling of the combat part, and more accurate determination of the concept of "attack position".
Another recent new product "Emily's Resort: Match 3" of Sanqi chooses a clearly light segment, the game is the direction of match-3 + home improvement/dress-up, and the same graphic expression is closer to the current stage of the market, but there are not too many subversive differences in gameplay.
FunPlus' "Call of Anita" is not much different from "Puzzles & Survival" and "Puzzles & Conquest" at first glance, but the game uses match-3 + RPG as the core gameplay, and there is no SLG gameplay element of big world and big map.
The game is the same European and American cartoon + magic fantasy theme, the combat method is also similar, the level also involves the concept of attribute restraint and class differentiation, all of which are to eliminate operations to cause damage to enemy units, while accumulating energy to release heroic skills.
Call of Anita has invested more resources in packaging the story.
For example, the game has added more cutscenes, special effects and some QTE interactions, etc., to further strengthen the expression, the main plot also has a full dubbing, match-3 + SLG plot display space is often limited, from the early experience, this can indeed improve some sense of substitution for the adventure theme.
Another FunPlus product, Superstar Maker, is as obvious as the title, using the theme of European and American cartoon talent shows, and the product combines dress-up/dress-up elements while eliminating the operation - players have to help newcomers in the fashion industry carve out a career path. The game has a relatively rich custom image space from basic face pinching and makeup to various clothing and decorations.
"Match Noir" is a match-3 + AVG, the game is set in the detective/detective theme, through match-3 levels to unlock various clues, and gradually advance the story.
"Puzzles & Girls", released by Shellwood in the second half of last year, is a match-3 + RPG focusing on two-dimensional art style, with a background of ship/weapon anthropomorphic themes that are more common in previous years, and at the same time adding the operation of hang-up automatic combat to the gameplay.
Also choosing the two-dimensional art style is IGG's "Alchemists' Garden", the game integrates more gameplay elements, and the X in match-3 + X In addition to the RPG combat system, there are also some simulation management and SLG content.
In the game, in addition to collecting characters and fighting step-by-step, players also have to run their own estate, and it also involves interactive content that cooperates and competes with other players. This is also a relatively rare product that integrates so many elements in the current match-3+X category.
In addition, Diandian has recently launched a match-3+X game called "Disco Match", which is similar to the mainstream similar gameplay, but the background setting of Disco and match-3 operation have been deeply bound, which makes the elimination effects in the level look very suitable for the theme.
02 Why is match-3 + X also starting to pile up?
The above match-3+X are products tested or officially launched by some major overseas manufacturers in the past few months. According to the time of its appearance, it is very new, and there is a bit of a sense of déjà vu of being listed.
Of course, this is not actually an emerging boom, we summarized the batch of domestic match-3 products that went overseas in our article two years ago.
However, on closer examination, the current dynamics are indeed different from the scene at that time.
The batch of match-3 products that successfully went overseas two years ago is more like the form in the process of traditional match-3 moving towards match-3 + X. At this stage, the vast majority of match-3 products that go overseas have chosen the direction of match-3 + X to differentiate, and what's more, some "stacked buff" products have integrated 3 or more category plays.
Specific to the product, the intuitive evolution of external performance can naturally be seen by everyone, and newly launched products will have this kind of latecomer advantage on the screen.
At the same time, recent new products have a larger range of materials in terms of painting style and background theme diversity. On the one hand, compared with the previous more realistic shape, the cartoon/two-dimensional painting style that is closer to the present in the new product has increased significantly; With the new visual effects technology, the level feedback such as the explosive elimination of the film brought by the operation will also be more dazzling.
On the other hand, the game's narrative technique has also evolved somewhat, and the protagonist played by the player may have a variety of life history, rather than the cookie-cutter "a girl came to/inherited a big estate" such as the early match-3 + simulation business stereotype.
This is actually related to the fact that the tone of the category began to accommodate more heavy elements. In terms of gameplay distribution, in addition to the early match-3 + dress-up/home improvement/operation, more medium and heavy match-3 + RPG, match-3 + SLG and other products are also coming. For the investment in art expression, narrative substitution, etc., it is bound that these latecomers will consider increasing the weight.
At the same time, from the perspective of attracting users, the competitiveness of traditional match-3 is gradually declining.
According to Om Tandon, an analyst who has long observed the category, the traditional match-3 is already at the bottom of the "elimination user funnel". If manufacturers want to go up to undertake a wider audience, they must cultivate from "decoration players" and "dress-up players". That's Tandon's assertion two years ago.
Now, more products have expanded from this route, deriving more gameplay combinations.
Two years ago, we discussed "The spring of domestic match-3 going to sea is coming?" At that time, there were generally only a relatively small number of manufacturers such as McGi Taiwen, Sanqi, and IGG, in the direction of matching 3 + X layout. Looking at now, in recent years, there have been at least ten large manufacturers that have tried to test and distribute.
Inadvertently, another category of war ignited.
Game Grape Recruitment Content Editor,
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