CC player Mike won the NBPL Spring Tournament single-row championship. Photo courtesy of interviewee
Photo of CC player Spider on the NBPL field. Photo courtesy of interviewee
Following the Hangzhou Asian Games, the Singapore Olympic E-sports Week, the Russian Future Games, Southeast Asia E-sports Games and other good news about e-sports have injected a shot in the arm into the declining popularity and questioning of the e-sports industry.
As the e-sports industry recovers, the game live streaming platform, one of the important builders of the e-sports industry's ecology, has also begun to explore the innovative combination of game live streaming platform and e-sports industry on the basis of traditional models such as copyright event purchase and self-made content columns. Among them, the linkage between NetEase CC Live and the "Eternal Calamity" event has created a set of platform operation methodology that fits the development trend of popularization, entertainment and professionalism of e-sports through the guidance of the atmosphere of the event, the cultivation of professional players, the setting of hot topics, and the integration of strong resources.
Is 2023 an opportunity or a winter?
2023 is destined to be an extraordinary year for the esports industry. On the one hand, e-sports entered Asia, and e-sports projects "turned positive" from performance projects to formal projects, and the development of e-sports ushered in a milestone; But on the other hand, the esports industry was also experiencing pain last year.
According to the "2022 China E-sports Industry Report", the revenue of China's e-sports industry in 2022 will be 144.503 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 14.01%; The number of e-sports users was about 488 million, down 0.33% year-on-year, and the actual sales revenue and user scale of the e-sports game market decreased simultaneously.
"The development of any industry is a spiral, there are brilliant and tortuous, development is not achieved overnight," for the development status of the e-sports industry, some senior e-sports practitioners believe that in 2022, only 30% of e-sports events will adopt the form of pure offline competitions, a large number of offline viewing demand and brand sponsorship demand must be released urgently, as long as the recovery of the e-sports industry is on track, the e-sports industry is likely to bottom out.
Now, in the post-epidemic era that has just ended the epidemic, judging from the situation that "one ticket is difficult to find" after the start of major e-sports events, e-sports events are gradually opening up the difficult situation on the demand side, and their attractiveness to brand sponsors has gradually ushered in repair.
Since the post-epidemic era, the popularity of the e-sports industry has remained unchanged, which can be seen from the endless emergence of offline programs such as animation, e-sports, and concerts after the epidemic, the high number of tickets, and the continuous sales of derivatives. In addition, from the level of the government's guidance for the industry, it can be seen that after the epidemic, whether it is the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, and even many cities in the north and inland are still popular for e-sports, clubs and events of various e-sports projects have been settled continuously, which will usher in the post-epidemic boom this year.
According to the "2022 China E-sports Industry Research Report" jointly released by iResearch and Huati E-sports, since 2022, the support for the e-sports industry has continued to increase across the country, including supporting the landing of major e-sports events, the construction of e-sports venues, the cultivation of e-sports talents and more support for e-sports derivative formats.
Game live streaming platforms are still one of the "cornerstones" of the esports ecosystem
Standing at the crossroads of history, although the e-sports industry has gradually come out of the trough affected by the general environment, it is also necessary to think about how to take advantage of the east wind to further enrich the ecology and planning of the e-sports industry.
As a digital bridge between e-sports events and audiences, game live streaming platforms play a particularly important role in the construction and expansion of e-sports ecology, and are difficult to replace by popular platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou. Among them, the logic of popular platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou in developing e-sports game live broadcast is mainly to attract new ones, push streaming channels are scattered, and the content is mainly entertainment in nature, which is difficult to provide high-quality e-sports content and form a benign competitive atmosphere.
However, at the same time, on the basis of the traditional model of copyright event purchase and self-made content column, how to find an innovative combination with the e-sports industry ecology has also become the core competitiveness of the game live broadcast platform.
In this regard, NetEase CC Live accurately plays its role as a link, taking player attributes as the entry point, creating a good e-sports atmosphere for e-sports events, and also providing important soil for professional players to grow and experience.
Take the CC Live Forever Robbery Zone as an example, although the Forever Robbery event itself is unique and full of highlights. However, CC Live will still integrate strong resources to empower the live broadcast of e-sports events.
In the creation of event peripheral columns, CC Live has produced peripheral programs such as "Nian Nag Fang" and "Eat Spicy Food" around key event cycles, and enhance players' attention to e-sports events and platforms through anchor/commentary on current event analysis, player interviews, competition circle gossip and other content.
During the event, expand the spread of e-sports events through the linkage of stars and anchors. Before the animation unit of the 11th Beijing International Film Festival, Wei Daxun led star players to help the "Koi Cup" event of Eternal Calamity; Later, Little Spider, Mike, and GG teams cooperated with brands such as Haichao Music Festival and Parker, appearing in Shanghai subway advertisements, outdoor screens in multi-city business districts and music festivals that gathered young hipsters.
In the "gap" of the official event, CC Live also maintains the popularity of the special area by creating "Great God Water Friends Tournament" and "Matchless Ring Match" and other Eternal Disaster Civil Events, but also effectively connects the urgent needs of popularization and professionalism of e-sports events, and the "top gods" and "passers-by kings" who stand out are no longer limited to the game live broadcast platform, but can obtain tickets to the professional arena with their own efforts.
"The game live streaming platform has important market, platform and career empowerment significance for the development of the esports industry." Relevant experts said that in addition to game manufacturers, the game live broadcast platform is the second platform directly facing the C-end, facing billions of global users; At the same time, the game live broadcast platform serves as an important platform for e-sports athletes to conduct professional e-sports commentary, e-sports planning, e-sports business and brand promotion, effectively empowering participants' career development paths. In addition, the game live broadcast platform also provides a good experimental place for the offline e-sports and online events of online game products, providing space for trial and error development of game products.
How will live gaming help esports?
The important role of game live streaming platform for the e-sports industry is not only reflected in the response to its popular and entertainment development trend, but also in the empowerment of e-sports professionalism and standardization. Among them, creating a good ecological atmosphere for e-sports events is also one of the core requirements for the popularization of e-sports events. This also prompts the game live broadcast platform to directly address the core competitive needs of users and provide them with tailor-made tournament functions and channel support.
In this regard, CC Live introduces the function of "self-built events" for players and streamers, and both parties can initiate matches at any time to meet the competitive needs of gamers; In the competition of the event, CC live broadcast guides players to pay attention to and discuss e-sports events through game linkage and observation and quizzes, fully mobilizes the enthusiasm of the anchor, players and audiences, so that the communication between the three parties is no longer separated and linear, and a good e-sports public opinion atmosphere is cultivated and formed; After the game, the introduction of the video playback function also provides players with a balanced and orderly event atmosphere foundation, creating a fair atmosphere for civilian players.
At the same time, CC Live has also explored a unique methodology for the cultivation of professional players and anchors. To sum up, it is 12 words: "inclusion and encouragement", "escort" and "personality cultivation". CC Live takes an understanding and inclusive attitude as the basic principle of communication with anchors, giving enough space, time and players to grow together. While paying attention to the development of the anchor players themselves, it will also clear the obstacles to their development. Resource support will also be given according to the label characteristics of the anchor players themselves. Without affecting the training of players, the influence of professional players is gradually increased.
The above methodology is embodied in the growth process of "Little Spider", the first player to win the NBPL championship and reach a Grand Slam in the Everlasting Cup and the CC live broadcast platform. Although the little spider is invincible in the arena, when he first started the live broadcast, he will still show his timidity with his restrained personality. CC Live shows a strong degree of tolerance to solve his worries, starting from helping him establish his awareness of the live broadcast track, gradually creating topics for him, customizing activities, arranging anchor guidance interactions, etc., and helping the player anchor grow with professional handling.
In the NBPL Spring Finals, which just ended last week, Mike, who won the league championship, is a typical case of "personality development". Recently, Mike was ridiculed by fans for making memes because his cheeks are somewhat similar to "bee puppy". Combined with Mike's lively personality and likes to "live", CC Live customized the personal image doll of "Bee Puppy in Uniform" for Mike, and launched activities such as entertainment water friend competitions and face pinching creation competitions, supplemented by #Mike Bee Puppies# topic publicity to strengthen the anchor label. In a short period of time, Mike became the most prominent anchor in the circle of Eternal Calamity.
The platform atmosphere of CC Live allows users of CC Live to feel the charm of live streaming of e-sports events, not only the pleasure of winning and losing, but also the resonant memory and sense of belonging to common growth brought by the changing events and emotions brought by the ups and downs of emotions with the players during the competition. In the future, CC Live will strengthen the combination and deep binding with the full matrix of the game, and provide medium and long-term incubation and industry chain services for more events where the game is about to land. It is hoped that the practitioners and industry ecological workers in the e-sports field who come out of CC live broadcast can become excellent practitioners and leaders serving the development of the e-sports industry, and look forward to their growth into future leaders in the industry.
Written by: Nandu Bay Finance Agency reporter Chen Peijun