In recent years, domestic game manufacturers have gone abroad in a big way, and various actions from China, such as the layout of new global/regional products, overseas investment and mergers and acquisitions of Chinese enterprises, and cooperation with overseas enterprises, have been frequent. In the face of more and more successful trial cases, can we find the latest opportunities suitable for ourselves? Every weekend, we will take stock of the key points of the week for you.
Voices in the industry
-- 30% of the market share of developed countries and 50% of the market share of underdeveloped countries in the West are areas where the mainstream store payment system has not yet been fully deployed, and both contain huge business opportunities.
On December 8, Chen Jingbo, Senior Vice President and Head of Greater China of Xsolla, delivered a speech at the main venue of the FBEC2023 Future Business Ecological Link Conference and the 8th Golden Gyro Award Ceremony" hosted by Gyro Technology.
-- Strengthening the attack on AI technology is to strengthen the global competitiveness of China's game industry and seize the future of the game industry.
On December 15, Wang Yi, senior vice president of NetEase, delivered a speech at the 2023 China Game Industry Annual Conference, Wang Yi believes that the combination of AI and games has been able to penetrate into front of and behind the scenes, and in the future, NetEase Games will also adhere to scientific and technological innovation as the primary productive force of games, and constantly promote the transformation and implementation of new technologies in the industry.
——We believe that for small and medium-sized enterprises, differentiation is a key point to help small and medium-sized enterprises run out, because it is very difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises to break through in some large tracks.
On December 15, Yang Wuyue, general manager and chief investment officer of Kaiying Network Investment and IP Center, gave a keynote speech on "Boutique and Differentiation Strategy of Game Investment" at the 2023 China Game Industry Annual Conference.
Industry news
[1] At the annual China Game Industry Annual Conference on December 15, the 2023 "China Game Industry Report" was released, which showed that the actual sales revenue of the domestic game market in 2023 will be 302.964 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.95%, breaking through the 300 billion yuan mark for the first time. The number of game users reached 668 million, a year-on-year increase of 0.61%, a record high.
The actual sales revenue of China's mobile games accounted for 74.88%, and the actual sales revenue of China's mobile game market reached 226.86 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 17.51%. This year, the mini game track is particularly eye-catching. The actual revenue of the domestic mini game market was 20 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 300%.
[2] On December 15, Tang Jiajun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association and Secretary-General of the Game Working Committee, delivered a speech at the event and released the "2023 China Game Overseas Research Report". According to the report, in 2023, the scale of the global game market will pick up, and the global game market size will be about RMB 1,177.379 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6%. The global mobile game market size was approximately RMB606.267 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.98%. In 2023, the actual sales revenue of China's self-developed games in overseas markets will be 16.366 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 5.65%, and there will be another decline after 2022, which also means that games going overseas is no longer a blue ocean market.
[3] Epic v. Google won its first victory in three years, with a nine-member jury voting in favor of Epic Games, confirming Google's illegal monopoly on Android app billing and distribution. The verdict also said Google had engaged in anti-competitive behavior, such as seeking secret revenue-sharing agreements and preventing large developers from forming their own competing stores. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney celebrated on social media that "the ridiculous 30% commission is coming to an end."
[4] On December 12, the Entertainment Software Association, the organizing committee of E3, announced that the E3 Game Show will be permanently suspended. "E3 has been held for more than 20 years, and every year is bigger than usual, but now it's time to say goodbye," the official said. Thanks for those memories. ”
[5] Sensor Tower updated the ranking of China's mobile game products in overseas markets in November in terms of revenue and downloads, Genshin Impact regained the championship, and Ark Tomorrow's overseas revenue soared by 227%.
[6] On December 12, the developers of "On the Eve of the Catastrophe" officially announced its closure, and the game has stopped selling on Steam. It is understood that "The Day Before" once beat well-known IP sequels such as "Hades 2" and "Hollow Knight: Song of Silk", occupying the top spot in Steam's wishes, and was also called the "Pie-of-the Year" by players because of continuous ticket jumps (from 2021 all the way to December this year). After the release, players found that this "big cake", which had been spread by the production team countless times and priced at 136 yuan, was an out-and-out commercial fraud, and the quality of the game was extremely poor.
[7] On December 8, the winners of all the 2023 TGA awards were announced, and "Honkai: Star Railway" won the TGA Best Mobile Game after winning the Google and Apple Game of the Year awards. With three major awards on its side, "Honkai: Star Dome Railway" ushered in a highlight moment in this year's mobile game market. In terms of Game of the Year, it was won by "Baldur's Gate 3", and the favorite "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" had no choice but to accompany it.
[8] On December 12, data.ai released the "2023 SLG Game Market Insights" report, which analyzes the global SLG mobile game development trend and various data this year. According to the data, in 2023, the number of downloads of global SLG mobile games surged by 23.5% to 700 million, but consumer spending showed a downward trend, and the annual user expenditure fell to 8.1 billion yuan, which is back to the level before 2021.
[9] On December 15, 19 game manufacturers, including NetEase, CMGE, iDreamSky, Yishi and Leniu Games, participated in the HarmonyOS Native Game Cooperation Ceremony. Since the announcement of the HarmonyOS Ecosystem Game Pioneer Program at this year's Huawei Developer Conference, a total of more than 60 game partners such as NetEase, Happy Elements, Sanqi, Alibaba, Perfect World, and Youka Network have joined the cooperation of the HarmonyOS ecosystem, and more than 50 games such as "A Chinese Ghost Story", "Happy Match" and "Three Kingdoms" have completed the development of HarmonyOS native applications.
[10] On December 8, the FBEC2023 and the 8th Golden Gyro Award Ceremony came to a successful conclusion on December 8. According to the data, a total of 310 enterprises, individuals and projects participated in the 8th Golden Gyro Award in the evaluation stage, and the cumulative total number of votes exceeded 37W+.
Product Observations
[1] On December 15th, Tencent's genuine family party game "Yuan Dream Star" was officially launched, and after its launch, it quickly topped the iOS free list, and the best-selling list also soared, reaching the second place on the best-selling list, with a very bright performance.
[2] NetEase's new tactical competitive game "Blood Strike" rushed to the second place on the Google Play pre-order list and the fifth place in the Apple Store. Blood Strike launched in Southeast Asia on October 28, after a soft launch in Latin America. In terms of the store list, the game has entered the top five free lists in Malaysia, Thailand, Mexico and other markets, and in the list of mobile games released by SensorTower in November, the game is ranked 10th on the download list, and the number of overseas downloads in November increased by 90% month-on-month.
[3] On December 8, the FPS game "The Finals" created by Nexon was launched on Steam, becoming one of the most popular games on Steam recently, with a peak of more than 240,000 online users and an average of 140,000 online users per day.