The game industry has developed to today, and through decades of efforts, it has become a huge industry with a global market value of trillions. It's even bigger than the film industry for hundreds of years.
In 2021, the revenue of the global game market reached US$175.8 billion, equivalent to more than RMB1.2 trillion; The movie market in the same period was only $71.9 billion, and even if you include online video revenue, it was only $93.2 billion. Only half of the revenue of the gaming industry.
Such a huge market has naturally given birth to many top game IPs.
The top IPs in the film market, such as the Avatar series, Marvel series, Star Wars series, Transformers series, etc., have billions or even tens of billions of dollars in revenue, and tens of billions of dollars in IP value. What about the top IPs in the gaming industry?
Below, we will list some of the top IPs in the game industry to see the revenue and value of these game IPs.
Thirteenth: Fairy Sword Series
Representative products: The Legend of Sword and Fairy series of single-player games, and the Legend of Sword and Fairy series of mobile games
The peak annual turnover of series products: 1 billion
IP value: 10 billion
If you ask the Chinese players in the 80~90s, which IP is you most familiar with, then among the ten people, there can be 7~8 who answered the legend of Sword and Fairy.
This single-player game, created by Taiwan's Daewoo Company in 1995, first appeared, and conquered most Chinese players with its plot, graphics and music with Chinese fairy tale elements.
The Legend of Sword and Fairy 1st generation is known as the originator of Chinese fairy games, and is called the golden generation of works such as Warcraft 2, The Legend of the Three Kingdoms, and the Age of Navigation 2.
After that, the Legend of Sword and Fairy launched follow-up sequels in a row, and until 2021, the latest series of Sword and Fairy 7 was launched.
However, it is a pity that in the era of single-player versions, in the early days, due to the problems of pirates, the sales of each genuine copy were only 20~400,000 copies, and when piracy is basically extinct, the influence of Sword and Fairy is not as good as before. Approximately 750,000 copies were sold one year after the release of the seventh generation. According to the average selling price of about 150 yuan, the total sales revenue is only about 100 million.
The real value of this IP is actually reflected in the adaptation of mobile games.
In particular, the fairy sword mobile game produced by Tencent, although the gameplay screen has been criticized, but the annual turnover at its peak has reached 1 billion levels. It is a real success for monetizing this IP.
In general, although the influence of this IP is limited to domestic and a small number of Chinese-speaking influence circles, and the inaction of Daewoo in the later period has also caused a certain impact on many shoddy situations of this IP, but in any case, the legend of Sword and Fairy is also a banner of domestic self-created IP.
As long as there are excellent sequels in the future, this IP still has a brand value of at least tens of billions.
Twelfth place: Jin Yong martial arts series
Representative products: Dragon Babu, Xiaoao Jianghu, Condor Trilogy
The peak annual turnover of series products: 10 billion
Total IP value: 50 billion
If Xianjian is the first IP in the domestic game field, then the martial arts works of Mr. Jin Yong are the first IP of the martial arts category.
Dragon Babu, Smiling Rivers and Lakes, Condor Trilogy, Luding Ji... These names are familiar to every Chinese.
And the games adapted from these works are naturally more popular.
Taking the Dragon Babu produced by Changyou as an example, the total turnover of Duanyou Dragon Babu in the 15 years since its launch exceeded 40 billion, with an average annual turnover of more than 3 billion, and the mobile game also won a total turnover of 10 billion in about 5 years, with an average annual turnover of more than 2 billion.
This game IP alone can win the peak of 5 billion annual flow. Coupled with other Xiaoao, Condor Shooting, Divine Condor, Sky Slaying Dragon, etc., the peak annual income of the Jin Yong martial arts series can reach at least 10 billion yuan.
The IP value of the entire Jin Yong martial arts series exceeds 50 billion. No wonder some people say that whoever wins the game license of the Jin Yong martial arts series is equivalent to embracing a mountain of gold.
Eleventh place: Legendary series
Representative products: Blood Legend, Legend World, Legend 3
The peak annual turnover of series products: 20 billion
IP value: 100 billion
If your understanding of the legend is only the first generation of Chinese Korean Tours that attacked Shabak 20 years ago, then your understanding is obviously a little too shallow.
Not to mention that Shanda has become the leader of China's online game industry because of a legendary project, not to mention many derivatives of the legend now, and has supported many listed companies such as Kaiying and Blue Moon.
The scale of the legendary private server alone has reached the level of tens of billions of annual turnover every year.
After all, for players over the age of 30, Legend is the first online game that many of them have come into contact with, and it is also the online game with the strongest PK degree and the most fierce confrontation until today.
Therefore, although the user base of the legendary series of games is gradually shrinking, the remaining users are getting higher and higher with age. It is common to spend thousands of dollars to play a legendary page game.
And this IP is also getting higher and higher. Just the legendary licensing fee for genuine external licensing, Shanda can receive hundreds of millions every year.
So you say that the IP value of legendary IP can be hundreds of billions, I must believe it.
10th place: Blizzard series
Representative products: World of Warcraft, Diablo
The peak annual turnover of series products: 20 billion
IP value: 150 billion
If the previous IPs are all domestic game IPs with great influence, then Blizzard's IP is an IP that has an impact all over the world.
If nothing else, Blizzard's top World of Warcraft has a global revenue of $800 million in 2015, equivalent to about 5 billion yuan. And this is not the peak level of World of Warcraft.
Coupled with others such as the Diablo series, Hearthstone series, Overwatch series, etc., it has also brought Blizzard a lot of income.
Even if Blizzard's scenery is no longer in recent years, there is a separation scandal with NetEase. But throughout 2022, the revenue of Blizzard series products will still reach tens of billions.
The value of Blizzard's IP is reflected in Microsoft's acquisition. Microsoft's $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, even if only one-third of it is reflected in the value of Blizzard's IP, exceeds $20 billion.
The value of Blizzard is evident.
9th place: Dungeons & Warriors
Representative products: Dungeons & Warriors
The peak annual turnover of series products: 20 billion
IP value: 150 billion
In the 2021 financial report of the Korean company NEXON, the revenue of a product was written.
South Korea's PC annual revenue was 2.077 billion yuan, an overall increase of 21%, looking at the first quarter alone, compared with an increase of 13%;
The revenue of the first quarter of the national service was 1.5 billion yuan, and the actual first-quarter revenue of the national service was 3.75 billion yuan according to the share, which was an overall decrease of 26% compared with the previous year;
The revenue of the national service in a quarter was nearly 4 billion, down nearly 30% from before.
In other words, the annual revenue of this game national server peak can even reach 20 billion levels. Not counting the income of other countries and regions.
This game is Dungeons & Warriors (DNF), a game product that defeated the legend and allowed Tencent to replace Shanda to the top of the game company.
How influential is this game? There is a slogan to verify - dungeons 8 million warriors.
If you were to ask if there were really 8 million people playing, the answer was yes, and more.
WHEN THE GAME WAS AT ITS HOTTEST, TENCENT EVEN CONSIDERED USING $13.3 BILLION TO BUY NEXON, THE GAME'S PARENT COMPANY. This amount alone was nearly 100 billion yuan, but the other party actually failed to close the deal in the end. It can be seen that it is not an exaggeration to value the IP of DNF at 150 billion yuan.
8th place: Westward Journey series
Representative product: Dream Westward Journey
The peak annual turnover of series products: 22 billion
IP value: 160 billion
If DNF saved the company and brought it to the top, then Fantasy Westward Journey is the backbone of NetEase - it was, it is, and it will be.
The highest annual revenue of Fantasy Westward Journey can reach billions of RMB, while the highest annual revenue of Fantasy Westward Journey Mobile can reach RMB 17 billion;
If you count the Westward Journey series, which is also very profitable, the entire Westward Journey IP can contribute a peak annual revenue of more than 22 billion yuan in NetEase's game product line.
It should be known that NetEase's annual game revenue is 70 billion, and nearly 40% of it is contributed by Westward Journey. Then this IP is naturally the core and most important one for NetEase.
As a result, NetEase's market value of nearly 60 billion US dollars, equivalent to about 400 billion yuan, at least more than 40% belongs to the IP of Westward Journey.
I don't know how Wu Chengen, the author of Journey to the West, would feel if he knew that his book was worth more than 160 billion today.
Seventh place: Three Kingdoms series
Representative products: Three Kingdoms Strategic Edition, Three Kingdoms Fantasy Continent, Shaosan Series
The peak annual turnover of series products: 25 billion
IP value: 200 billion
If Xian Jian is the first contemporary fairy IP, the Jin Yong series is the first martial arts IP, and Westward Journey is the most prominent IP of a single game, then Three Kingdoms is the loudest and highest revenue of all IP in China.
Three Kingdoms is not like Journey to the West, only highlighting one game company; On the contrary, regardless of large, medium and small game manufacturers, they have made a lot of money with the theme of the Three Kingdoms.
For example, Ali's Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, with the Three Kingdoms Strategy Edition and the Three Kingdoms Fantasy Continent, can win tens of billions of market turnover in one year;
Another example is the Shaosan series under Youzu Company, which also has an annual income of billions of yuan.
As for what other rates of the land no hama, Three Kingdoms 2017, Three Kingdoms Killing, etc., they are all works with an annual income of more than one billion.
Although it is not like the fantasy westward journey, there is a huge product. But with so many Three Kingdoms games combined, the total market plate is also a little larger than that of Journey to the West.
Sixth place: PUBG series
Representative product: PUBG
The peak annual turnover of series products: 25 billion
IP value: 250 billion
If Dungeons and Warriors are the driving forces that put Tencent on the top game company in China, then PUBG and Honor of Kings are the two magic weapons that make Tencent the world's top three game companies.
Among them, the PUBG mobile game version, called Peace Elite, is currently the top three in the annual revenue of all mobile game products in the world. In 2021, the game's global revenue was $2.6 billion, equivalent to 15 billion yuan.
The PUBG version also had tens of billions of yuan in revenue at its peak. Plus a variety of other products. The peak total flow can already exceed the sum of the Three Kingdoms series.
With this game, developer Krafton's market value has exceeded 35 billion US dollars, equivalent to nearly 250 billion yuan.
A game that allows a company's market capitalization to reach this level. The value of this game IP will naturally only be higher and not lower.
Fifth place: Glory of Kings
Representative product: Glory of Kings
The peak annual turnover of series products: 28 billion
IP value: 280 billion
In 2023, King Glory's domestic monthly revenue has exceeded 250 million US dollars, equivalent to more than 1.8 billion yuan. If you consider the Android version and some other overseas versions and overseas derivatives, the monthly revenue of this game can already exceed 2 billion.
There should be no problem in saying that Honor of Kings is currently the single mobile game with the strongest revenue power in the world. Tencent officially relied on this product and the aforementioned peaceful elite, allowing itself to directly surpass opponents such as NetEase, and open a whole gap with all other domestic game development companies.
After all, this MOBA-type product, although the income of a single user is not high, but it cannot stand up to more than 300 million people playing it in China.
Fourth place: Call of Duty series
Representative product: Call of Duty series
The peak annual turnover of series products: 30 billion
IP value: 300 billion
In 2021, the annual turnover of Call of Duty's mobile games exceeded 1 billion US dollars, equivalent to nearly 7 billion yuan.
And this is only a relatively small part of the revenue under this IP, the bulk of Call of Duty, or in the console game field.
In 2022, Call of Duty 19: Modern Warfare 2 became the annual sales champion in North America upon its release, with sales exceeding $1 billion in the first 10 days. The total sales have exceeded 50 million units so far. Sales exceeded $3 billion.
Coupled with the continuous sale of previous works, the entire Call of Duty series is to Microsoft what Fantasy Westward Journey is to NetEase.
It's just that Fantasy Westward Journey is only in China, while Call of Duty is a global domain.
Third place: Super Mario series
Representative product: Super Mario
The peak annual turnover of series products: 40 billion
IP value: 350 billion
For this Italian mustachioed plumber, there must be very few people in the whole world who do not know him at present, right?
As the signature IP of the world's largest game company, Mario basically single-handedly supported the entire game industry of that year.
The launch of each generation of Mario sequels can get tens of millions or even tens of millions of sales and more than one billion dollars in sales. The first generation of Mario has sold 300 million copies today, equivalent to more than $20 billion in revenue.
In an authoritative IP value list, Mario has surpassed the Marvel Universe, Harry Potter and Spider-Man with a value of nearly $50 billion.
Second place: GTA series
Representative product: GTA5
The peak annual turnover of series products: 50 billion
IP value: 500 billion
Now everyone knows that Honor of Kings is the revenue king in the mobile game industry. So if you zoom in to all game genres, who's the best seller?
The answer is the GTA series and another mystery series, and if you look at the single product, then in front of GTA5, the glory of the king is nothing.
Since its launch, the game has sold more than 180 million copies, with sales of more than 20 billion US dollars, equivalent to about 140 billion yuan.
The pure software sales of all GTA series works have exceeded 400 million copies, and the sales have exceeded 40 billion US dollars, equivalent to about 280 billion yuan.
Imagine if you have such a thing in your hands, as long as you do it, each generation of sales is at least tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, and sales are billions of dollars or even tens of billions of dollars. How much do you think this IP should be worth?
Isn't it too much to give a big few hundred or even hundreds of billions of dollars?
First place: Pokémon series
Representative product: Pokémon GO
The peak annual turnover of series products: 150 billion
IP value: 800 billion
Finally, we talked about the world's first game IP, Pokémon.
If Mario is the cornerstone of making Nintendo the world's No. 1 game company, then Pokémon is the throne that keeps Nintendo on top of the world.
Zhu Zi, the latest Pokémon game released in mid-November last year, sold 18.2 million sets worldwide in just over one month, which is 123.7 billion yen (equivalent to 6.5 billion yuan, 900 million US dollars) at a unit price of 6,800 yen.
And this sales figure, in the eyes of Pokémon, is just average.
Compared with the predecessors Sword and Shield and Red and Green, Zhu Zi is still just a younger brother.
And, in addition to the game itself, derivatives of Pokémon sell more, whether it is toys, licenses or movies, and the income of this part is even several times more than that of Pokémon games.
From the IP value assessment of authoritative institutions, we can see it. Pokémon's game revenue in 2022 reached 27.1 billion US dollars, equivalent to more than 100 billion yuan; Derivatives sales revenue reached nearly $100 billion.
So the conclusion that the value of the Pokémon IP has reached $120 billion, and even underestimated the value of this IP.
It is precisely with the huge value of Pokémon that Nintendo firmly occupies the first place in the game industry, suppressing Tencent, Microsoft, Blizzard, Sony and other major manufacturers.
Epilogue:
Speaking of which, we have finished introducing some of the top IP situations and actual values in the game industry.
Of course, there is an estimated element in the value of many IPs, but from the performance and influence of the product itself, they can indeed be worth this price. And the revenue of these games is supported by billions of gamers around the world.
So, among the above IPs, which ones have you really played?
Welcome to like and leave a message in the comment area, say which ones you have played, and which game IPs are your favorites!