Text/Chen Haoxing
In the nineties of the last century, foreign games entered the country, and everyone gathered in front of the "Xiaobawang" game console, holding the game controller, you fought for me, and played lively. This scene was the first memory of the game at that time.
Since then, some game enthusiasts have had the idea of creating their own games and starting game magazines in China.
In 1994, China ushered in its first game journal, Video Game Software. At the same time, Chinese mainland's first domestic game, Condor Commando, also came out in 1994. These pioneers of China's game industry have laid the initial foundation for the start and development of China's game industry.
Nearly 30 years have passed since 1994, and China's game industry will also enter the year of its establishment. China's game industry, which once started ignorantly, has entered a new stage of maturity and stability, and has also sprung up in the international arena and has gained an important place.
Gaming market: There are multiple positives this week
On December 25, the National Press and Publication Administration released the newly approved version numbers of 105 domestic games, and the number of single approvals exceeded 100 for the first time, covering a wider range of game companies.
Tang Jiajun, deputy secretary-general of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association and secretary-general of the Game Working Committee, said in an interview with China News Service that the news that the review of 100 game versions fully reflects the strong support and determination of the competent authorities for the game industry. This is not only an encouragement to the entire industry, but also lays a more solid foundation for the development of the industry.
He believes that the review of 100 games means that large game companies have achieved remarkable results in compliance with regulations, self-discipline and high-quality development. The competent authorities have provided direction and clarified attitudes towards the regulation and development of the game industry. This move will encourage game companies to pay more attention to improving their own quality, better comply with rules and regulations, and promote the game industry to move towards higher quality and more innovation.
On December 25, a number of media reported that Blizzard had negotiated with a number of domestic game manufacturers about the "return of the national server", or it would return to the Chinese market.
In Tang Jiajun's view, regardless of whether Blizzard returns to the Chinese market this time, from the perspective of industrial cooperation and international cultural exchanges, the re-cooperation between Chinese and foreign game companies is undoubtedly in line with the current general trend. "At present, it is a major trend in the development of the game industry for international excellent game masterpieces to enter the Chinese market, which also provides more opportunities for high-quality game products and cultural exchanges for the Chinese market. ”
China News Service is a through train photo by Qin Jing
Domestic games: Emerging internationally
According to the statistics of the Game Working Committee, in the past five years, China's domestic games have entered 91 countries and regions around the world, and game products from 34 countries and regions have also entered the Chinese market.
Many overseas users have a positive perception and positive evaluation of China as a result of their exposure to Chinese games. According to relevant reports, overseas users of domestic games have an overall favorability of China by more than 20% compared with the general public, and 68% of overseas users say that they like Chinese cultural elements in games.
The "2023 Research Report on Chinese Games Going Overseas" points out that at present, the layout of Chinese game companies' "going overseas" business in the surrounding areas has been normalized, and the layout in the North American and European markets has gradually accelerated.
Among the five important mobile game markets, the number of game products in China is on the rise, and more products of Chinese game companies have entered the top list, indicating that overseas mature markets are still the main direction for games to "go global". At the same time, the competitiveness of Chinese game companies overseas is also increasing.
2023 Naraka: Bladepoint World Championship Live Official images of the Naraka: Bladepoint event
On December 8, the 2023 TGA ceremony, known as the Oscars of the game industry, announced a number of annual lists, and Chinese game developer miHoYo's game "Honkai: Star Dome Railway" won the TGA's "Best Mobile Game of the Year 2023". In addition, Genshin Impact developed by miHoYo was also nominated for the Best Ongoing Operation award this year, which is the fourth consecutive year that the game has been nominated for the TGA, after winning the Best Mobile Game and Best Operation Game in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
The "going overseas" of local mobile games has become a major trend in recent years.
According to data, since 2019, the revenue growth rate of China's self-developed games in overseas markets has exceeded that of the domestic market. Therefore, more and more mobile game manufacturers and capital forces continue to operate in China on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are also involved in foreign markets, trying to tap the "second pot of gold" in the game market.
It is not difficult to see that at present, Chinese game companies have been actively deploying to further promote the "going overseas" of games. In particular, through the creation of Chinese-themed high-quality games, it will establish the image and vitality of Chinese culture on the international stage.
International players: I like Chinese culture because of the game
Today, games not only have entertainment attributes, but also spread Chinese culture. Unlike books and news reports, Chinese games, as a dynamic carrier of cultural expression, are showcasing China's history, traditions, culture and innovation to the world.
In recent years, the cultural spread of games has become a major highlight. For example, the popular game "Naraka: Bladepoint" in 2021 not only allowed players around the world to see the beauty and romance of Chinese martial arts culture, but also gave domestic games a new status in the world game circle, and successfully drove Chinese culture to "go to sea" through the content of the game itself. On the 90th day of global release, sales exceeded 6 million copies, reaching a new record for domestic buyout game sales.
On December 13, the "Naraka: Bladepoint World Championship" Sino-Vietnamese player exchange meeting was held in Chengdu. Four young esports players from China and Vietnam exchanged team uniforms during this exchange, and had a friendly and enthusiastic exchange.
Uniq, a player from Team 521 in Vietnam, vividly shared the story of Chinese culture at the exchange meeting: there are many similarities between Vietnam and China in terms of Lunar New Year Xi, Confucian culture and family relationships. At the same time, TV shows such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Journey to the West" are also popular in Vietnam. To the surprise of Chinese players, Chinese-developed games have gradually won the love of a large number of fans in Vietnam.
Liu Mengfei, a teacher, master's tutor and game scholar of the Department of Digital Media of the School of Arts and Media of Beijing Normal University, said in an interview with China News Service that a successful cultural "going overseas" must allow foreign players to take the initiative to tell China's cultural stories, and games, as a dynamic carrier of cultural output, can allow foreign players to spontaneously spread game culture by generating culture and cultivating overseas communities.
Liu Mengfei said that China's game "going overseas" has not only succeeded in spreading Chinese culture, but also played an important role in promoting local economic development. For example, the traditional Chinese culture-themed martial arts game produced by Xishanju Game Studio has been popular in Vietnam because of its compatibility with the local culture, and its partner has become the largest game developer and operator in Vietnam. This cultural and economic win-win situation has injected new impetus into Vietnam's economy, and at the same time, it has also provided strong support for the share and status of Chinese games in the international market.
Game industry: radiating many upstream and downstream industries
As the mainland game industry enters the "year of establishment", this is no longer an isolated industry, nor is it an isolated market. At present, the relationship between the VR/AR industry, the chip industry, artificial intelligence and other industries is closely related to the game industry. At the same time, the impact of the gaming industry has radiated to many upstream and downstream industries.
In the upstream of the game industry, games are closely connected with many fields such as movies and live streaming. Of particular concern are e-sports and game live streaming, which have become two of the most important areas in the upstream industry.
In the downstream of the game industry, games are closely related to hardware equipment manufacturers such as mobile phones, cloud services, artificial intelligence, consoles, and graphics cards. Driven by games, these industries together form a complete chain of the game industry ecosystem.
Seven of the top 10 technology companies by market capitalization in the world are closely related to the gaming industry: Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tencent. It is not difficult to see that the gaming industry is becoming one of the core areas of the layout of tech giants.
Tang Jiajun also believes that with the development of technology, games and technology complement each other and jointly promote each other's progress. In the "testing ground" of technology, games play an important role and become a catalyst for technological development. In addition, the rise of gamification has enabled games to penetrate into many industries such as healthcare, education, and cultural tourism, providing in-depth support for all walks of life.
For example, Tang Jiajun said that the cultural tourism industry uses digital technology such as games to interpret the traditional culture of the city, attract young users with new content, inject the game content favored by the public into the urban tourism scene, create high-quality cultural tourism products through the integration of data and reality, and explore new consumption opportunities.
In addition, the aerospace sector is also involved in the gaming industry.
Cui Xiaochun, vice president of Tencent Games, said in an interview with China News Service that in September this year, China Southern Airlines and Tencent's full-motion flight simulator vision system successfully overcame the artificial modeling problem of traditional vision products by introducing self-developed game engines and game technologies such as AI+PCG+AIGC. The innovative project includes five core technologies, including hyper-realistic simulation, high-performance simulation, intelligent generation of airport models, multi-channel high-precision fusion calibration, and high-performance virtual images. This not only improves the efficiency and effectiveness of flight training, but also pushes Continental's full-motion flight simulator vision system to the international advanced level. Cui Xiaochun said that in the future, he will continue to optimize digital assets and game technology, and is committed to further improving the performance of the visual system in imaging and modeling.
With 2024 approaching, China's game industry is standing at the starting point of a new decade of development, and with the continuous evolution of science and technology, the game industry will usher in a more complex and diversified development pattern. At a new starting point, China's game industry needs to continue to strengthen its innovation capabilities, strengthen international cooperation, cultivate more outstanding talents, and participate in the future competition of the global game industry with higher standards and a broader vision.
Source: The country is a through train
Editor: Qin Jing
Editor-in-charge: Wei Xi