Party games are on the rise, Tencent sees NetEase's cake?
In September, Umeda released the newbie game "Meng Yuanxing", officially announcing Tencent's entry into the hot track of party games. At this point, "Umeda Land", which was frequently searched before, finally revealed its true face. At present, the game has begun to pre-order activities on all platforms, and it is expected that a limited number of deletion tests will begin on September 28.
It is worth noting that on the party game track, Tencent's footsteps can be described as long overdue. Up to now, in addition to Jelly Beard, "Among Us" and "Goose and Duck Kill" popular in overseas markets are self-evident in the domestic market, as well as "Taikong Action", which is released on the Giant Network. Since the game was launched in overseas markets, the cumulative number of users has exceeded 200 million, and the national server platform has broken through on the first day of public beta. Another PC game, Beast, also had decent volume when tested; The official "Paom Paom" released by Eagle Horn has also recently released the PC version and console version... Party games were once hot.
Today, Tencent's high-profile entry has become another blockbuster player in the party game, and whether it is the Umeda transaction, or from the extreme secrecy in the early stage to the loud announcement, it can be seen that Tencent wants to get more of this track. The increasingly popular party game track has reached the moment to grab the top spot.
Potential tracks to take over MOBA?
There are frequent explosions at home and abroad, and many companies have entered the game, largely because of the explosive potential unleashed by party games. Whether in terms of user activity or earning power, the industry has generally regarded party games as a potential track that can make a lot of money after products such as "MOBA".
There are several reasons:
The first is strong social attributes. Judging from the outbreak of party games, among the several games with high popularity in overseas markets, the relatively early should be the "Tai Empty Werewolf Kill" game "Amongsus" launched in 2018. It should be understood that the game was born out of the desktop version of "Werewolf Kill". In other words, party games can be seen as an extension of board games, meeting the social needs of players in the form of online gatherings, and can even be understood as online social scenes.
Based on the fact that many people have fun at parties, the gameplay of party games is gradually increasing. For example, Easter egg parties, in addition to the competitive mode of multiplayer battles, hide-and-seek, killing similar to werewolves, and pumpkin invasion similar to "hide-and-seek", are almost all extensions of social scenes. Party games focus more on the experience of multiplayer play than the excitement of competition.
The second is the catalysis of timing. After the outbreak of the epidemic, a large-scale casual game boom broke out in domestic and foreign markets. In addition to mini-games such as "synthetic watermelon" and "sheep make a sheep", board game aggregation platforms similar to "play" apps have ushered in a large-scale surge in users. In essence, party games and board games provide the same consumption scenarios. In overseas markets, party games such as "Among Us" and "Jelly Guys" are really out of the circle, all after 2020.
Third, the area of the population covered is large. Based on board games and socializing, most party games have the characteristics of "salty for all ages".
On the one hand, there are many ways to play party games, but the operation threshold is low, and most of them do not highlight the purpose of competition; On the other hand, compared to the in-depth portrayal of the characters, most of the characters in the party game have simple lines and follow a playful and cute painting style. Tencent's "Fulfilling Dreams" also continues this creative style. So party games can reach a wider range of age groups, most of which are gradually spread by consumers in younger age groups, such as Easter egg parties and Amongsus.
It is precisely because of the strong social attributes and the radiation of many age groups that the market is more and more optimistic about the explosive potential of party games, especially if there are no new national games in the game field, and party games have become the most likely to run out of the super-large daily life and flowing water emerging track.
NetEase kicks out "one foot at the door"
Of course, as far as the current domestic market is concerned, the outbreak of party games is inseparable from the help of NetEase, and the rapid fermentation of its "Easter egg party" has accelerated the outbreak of domestic party games.
Not long ago, NetEase revealed at the earnings conference that the peak DAU of the egg party has exceeded 30 million, and the MAU has exceeded 100 million. As a result, Easter Egg Party has become the highest game in the history of NetEase. The high activity of users enhances the profitability of the product. Up to now, the monthly peak of "Easter Egg Party" has exceeded 1 billion, making it the highest-grossing mobile game in the global market.
In this process, the reason why the "Easter Egg Party" has become the leader of the track, in addition to NetEase's operational capabilities, is that the "Easter Egg Party" opened UGC to users earlier.
For a long time, in the mobile game market, the evolution of new popular games has been accompanied by the process of enhancing player autonomy, from MOBA mobile games represented by Honor of Kings, to open-world mobile games such as Genshin that became popular later, and now to the Easter egg party.
Especially on simple game products such as Easter egg parties, open UGC.
It is worth noting that NetEase's action even led the overall trend of party games, and almost all later products included UGC.
It is reported that "Meng Yuanxing" is equipped with UGC.
From this point of view, party games have gradually matured in the domestic market. Tencent's entry at this time, whether it is product quality or technical support behind it, makes "Meng Yuanxing" look fierce, and Tencent has become a key variable to stir up this track.
Tencent opens hunting time
For a long time in the past, from the early dungeons and warriors to the later King Glory and Peace Elite, Umeda participated in the incubation of almost every blockbuster game on Tencent. Now, it was Umeda who released the dream star to the outside world, which also gives the game more weight.
In addition to quality control, Tencent's biggest advantage lies in its perfect social chain. Sitting on the two major social platforms of WeChat and QQ, the unparalleled social advantage is an important factor supporting Tencent's rapid sweep on many game tracks, and the strong social attributes of party games have further amplified Tencent's advantages. At the same time, as one of the domestic game giants, Tencent's strong financial strength and multi-channel traffic resources needless to say, "Dream Star" also has a greater explosion.
More importantly, although "Meng Yuanxing" came late, in fact, Tencent has been watching the party game track for a long time.
In 2021, after the Fall Guys explosion, Tonic Games Group, the parent company of its developer Mediatonic, was acquired by Epic Games, of which Tencent was one of the shareholders. In addition, in the process of expanding its investment territory in recent years, Tencent also intends to cover some small and medium-sized manufacturers with R&D strength. Among them, after receiving capital injection from Tencent, Jixing.com incubated a party game "Fried Chicken War"; The recently launched "Beast Party" once topped Steam's global expectations list, and its developer, Sisi Technology, is also one of the companies invested by Tencent.
From this point of view, Star may be a product that Tencent has polished for a long time. You know, this game has already obtained a version number in January this year, and it also appeared in the list of game products to be incubated by Tencent under the name "Codename: Paradise", which shows that Tencent has been brewing for a long time. At the same time, it also reflects Tencent's hope not only to take a piece of the existing market, but also to further expand the overall cake of party games.
And according to Tencent's previous playing style, now the domestic party game market is gradually maturing, which is a good opportunity for Tencent to enter the market. After all, Tencent has also staged many times before the drama of winning the top spot on the popular track with its own advantages, such as the "domination of the world" in the field of MOBA mobile games, and the high-profile rise of the peaceful elite as a latecomer. And now the official appearance of "Fulfilling Dreams" has made the first place in the party game more suspenseful. We'll see.