Text: DataEye Research Institute
Following the launch of the Alipay Direct Charge Mini Program by miHoYo, more game manufacturers have also started to push direct charge!
Playful, Giant, and Zilong have quietly launched Alipay recharge applets.
Coupled with NetEase, which has been doing Alipay direct charging, a total of more than 500,000 players have used the game Alipay direct charging applet.
More and more large factories have entered the game, what is the situation?
Today, DataEye Research Institute will talk about direct charging (some people say it is "cut payment").
One or two types of games are directly charged on Alipay: self-developed content and nostalgic classic legends
As of January 9th, the medium and heavy games that do direct charging in the Alipay Mini Program are mainly divided into two categories, as shown in the following table:
First: strong self-development/content: miHoYo, NetEase, Zilong
miHoYo's key products such as "Crashing Iron", "Genshin Impact", and "Honkai Impact 3" already support Alipay (Android) direct charging applets, but they can't be searched on Apple;
NetEase has almost launched the "Family Bucket", and 200,000 people have used its mini program;
Zilong Games has launched 7 products, including the old products "Dream Simulation Battle" and "Heaven and Earth Tribulation", and the new products "Ganglan" and "Seventh Epic".
Second: nostalgic classic legends: playful, giants
There are currently legendary products in the game mini program, including "Original Legend", "Bloody Strike", etc.;
Giant Network has a series of "Journey" and "Street Basket" series. DataEye Research Institute believes that the reason may be: from the perspective of player factors, the big R of these two types of games is more concentrated, and the upper limit of krypton gold of a single big R is higher, which is a typical 28 principle: 20% of players contribute 80% of the turnover. Therefore, it is necessary for these two types of games to be directly charged. Don't look at the fact that only a few thousand or 10,000 players have used the Mini Program. Don't forget, game manufacturers often have customer service staff for key customers. If they guide and encourage Big R to recharge in the form of direct charging (such as privately issuing rewards and returning cash), then even if there are thousands of people, it will affect the turnover of 100,000 or millions. From the perspective of manufacturer factors, the manufacturers behind these two types of games are, first of all, large manufacturers or even giants, and the ones launched are all ace products, most of which are "group attacks". It is more necessary to use direct charging to "cut profits". Even if the channel party is found, they also have more capital to gamble - either they don't go, or they will bet heavily on it.
2. miHoYo is only available for Android, NetEase, Play, Giant, and Zilong are all on both ends
As we all know, the channel share is generally 30%-50%, as shown in the following table. Push the direct charge, the biggest impact is the cake of the channel.
channel, there is a high probability that it will go to the game company.
Pushing direct charging faces the risk of damaging the cooperative relationship with channel providers, which may lead to removal of applications, promotion restrictions, and reduced exposure.
Perhaps because of this, as of January 9th, miHoYo's Alipay direct charging channel is still only online on the Android platform. Previously, in August 2023, miHoYo had already launched a miHoYo payment center on Alipay, which supported dual-end and was used by 500,000 people at that time. But after it was subsequently removed from the shelves, it was only on Alipay and Miyou Club Android. This means that Apple has kept the turnover share of miHoYo's three products.
As a comparison, NetEase, Gluttony, Giant, and Zilong's direct charging applets have all landed on both iOS and Android. On the one hand, we can clearly find that driven by miHoYo and NetEase, more and more game manufacturers have begun to do direct charging and cut profits.
As previously judged by the DataEye Research Institute: In 2023, the game content side will point to the "channel tax" and strive to "cut profits", and two major routes have been formed:
1. Push direct recharge (bypass channel recharge): represented by miHoYo and Lilith.
2. Not on traditional Android channels: represented by NetEase's "All-Star Street Ball Party", Zu Long's "In the Name of Shining", and Heartbeat's "Sword of the Lily of the Valley". On the other hand, the fact that Playfulness, Giant, and Zilong have been able to hold on until now seems to be the result of the game.
Android aside, the position is as strong as Apple, if you come to the game, you have to punish severely, these manufacturers except NetEase, who can hold on to the end?
Generally speaking, there are two possible situations in the game between channels and game manufacturers:
First, the channel is tough (especially Apple). IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN TO LAUNCH ANY DIRECT CHARGING CHANNEL FOR THE GAME, OTHERWISE IT WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE APP STORE OR THE CURRENT RATE WILL BE RESTRICTED;
Second, the channel "turns a blind eye". After all, channels and content are interdependent, and "fish are dead and the net is broken", and the contradictions are open, which is not in the interests of both sides. In particular, the channel does not have the upper hand in public opinion on the B-side and C-side.
Now it seems likely that the latter will be the case
- A delicate balance may be emerging!
From the perspective of game manufacturers and Alipay: neither game manufacturers nor Alipay have blatantly promoted and advertised the channel of direct charging, and they are very low-key;
From the perspective of channels: as far as recharge discounts are concerned, the current direct recharge discount is not high, most recharge only gives 5% game rewards, and even most products do not give additional discounts.
However, from the player's point of view, "push direct charging" may reduce the player's recharge experience and willingness, because it requires additional operations to jump out of the app, which reduces the convenience and user experience of the game, thereby affecting the recharge rate. Users are more concerned about whether other recharge channels have discounts, rather than what channel they choose to recharge. (If it is a separate private recharge rebate for big R, you need to consider it separately)
In short, a delicate balance: the content side is not too hard, the channel side is not too tough, and the vast majority of players are not motivated.
3. In 2024, "content is king" is no longer empty talk, but falls on profits
Either way, content is king and channels are compromised, which could be the biggest win for the gaming industry in 2024!
NetEase, greedy play, giant, purple dragon and other double-end push direct charging is a landmark event.
Looking back on 2023, there are not many incremental outlets in the game industry, on the contrary, everyone is working hard to squeeze profits and reduce costs, such as byte adjustment self-development, B station cutting projects and other news emerge in an endless stream.
Although the domestic market is growing (gamma data: the actual sales revenue of China's game market in 2023 will reach 302.964 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.95%), the growth is likely to be the growth of individual heads, such as "Crashing Iron", "Against the Cold", and "Yuanmeng Star", rather than the general rise of all.
Other manufacturers know their own warmth and coldness.
In 2024, the main theme of the game industry has never been clearer: content is king, profit is the ruler!
These eight words may profoundly affect the game industry in 2024.
First of all, the content here is no longer miHoYo, NetEase and other big manufacturers. Manufacturers that have the ability to push direct charging and "wrestle" with channels are good content manufacturers (after all, players vote with their feet), even if they are a legendary manufacturer like greedy play.
Second, profit is a measure and a measure. Content is king, and it is no longer the "slogan", "appeal", and "judgment" that appeared in the media in the past. It's about the profits. Whether it is good content or not, it is not the flow that speaks, but the profit speaks, and the channel speaks to your attitude.
Third, the channel re-examines the gaming industry and finds a new positioning. The channel has gradually fallen into a dilemma: on the one hand, it is inseparable from high-quality games, and it is impossible to break the net, and on the other hand, it cannot be too laissez-faire on pushing direct charging and cutting payments (essentially a kind of channel concession). Channels need to re-examine their positioning and formulate more specific and scientific sharing policies, rather than "one size fits all".
All in all, more and more manufacturers are pushing direct charging, and they are pushing both ends, which is bolder than miHoYo, which is another progress in the whole industry.
It is not an exaggeration to say that it is "witnessing history".
This shows that high-quality content products have gradually had enough confidence and mature ways to avoid "channel tax" and ensure profits. Pushing straight up to the prairie fire is bound to encourage and motivate the content side with strong R&D capabilities!
Hey, the game industry has been suffering for a long time!
It's time to reconstruct the order of the old era!