The industry has entered the second half
In the face of recognized market opportunities, how can small and medium-sized teams participate in gold panning?
At the 2024 Giant Engine Douyin IAA Mini Game Ecological Conference held today (April 23), Douyin announced that the Douyin Mini Game DAU has reached 10 million levels, with more than 100 million monthly active users. While these figures reflect the huge potential of the market, they also mean that more manufacturers will participate in this mini-game gold rush.
Considering that in the two main directions of IAA and IAP, IAA mini games, which can further expand the cake, have become the focus of the two major platforms of Douyin and WeChat this year. How to better serve small and medium-sized teams and how to allow more manufacturers to seamlessly access the IAA track has become the highlight of the whole conference.
With a sword of 85 billion, Douyin continues to increase the size of the mini game
I believe that many people recognize that the development momentum of Douyin mini games is very strong. In addition to the subjective feelings brought by the Douyin platform, the relevant data of the mini game can give some corroboration. In the past year, the DAU of Douyin Mini Games has increased by 150% year-on-year, the game time per user has also increased by 54.3%, and the average investment life cycle of Mini Games has reached about 43 days. At the same time, the monthly active users of Douyin Mini Games have also exceeded the 100 million mark recently.
For such achievements, Ding Chengliang, director of business analysis of Giant Engine Volkswagen, believes that there are five clear advantages behind it. That is, the natural adaptation of short videos to game scenes, the continuous improvement of Douyin's own game ecology, the continuous iteration of Douyin's Mini Game product capabilities, better user experience and advertising penetration, and Douyin's firm determination to invest in Mini Games.
Since the birth of the short video platform, it has been the best and best channel for players to learn about games. In terms of players, understanding the behavior of participating in the game, short video platforms are the preferred channel without exception.
From the perspective of user composition, game users are already one of the important components of Douyin's user ecology. The number of users who watch live game broadcasts and short game videos on Douyin continues to climb, and has exceeded 300 million so far. In addition, the age composition of Douyin Mini Games has also shifted upwards as a whole, with the main growth age range being between 24 and 40 years old, and users over 50 years old. The entire game ecosystem has shown remarkable vitality.
In terms of platform product capabilities, Douyin provides a foundation for the rapid growth of IAA mini games through sidebars, search bars, IM embedding, etc. For example, the homepage sidebar function launched last year is a first-level function for all kinds of Mini Programs, and it is also the most powerful user entrance for Mini Games. So far, the number of users who are accustomed to entering the Mini Game from the sidebar has increased by 88% month-on-month. After new users go through the guidance in the game and then start the game for the second time through the sidebar, the retention rate can reach more than 30%.
Like Douyin search, it is because more and more users are beginning to transfer their search actions to Douyin. Douyin keenly found that this phenomenon also benefits mini games. Related search terms continued to climb, and the number of searches for Mini Games increased by 53% quarter-on-quarter.
In addition, to the author's surprise, the penetration of mini games in the Douyin IM function has also exceeded 20%. In this regard, Yu Qing, who is responsible for the operation of the Douyin mini game manufacturer, said that the user portraits of Douyin IM highly active users and mini games are highly matched. There are many games that have passed IM fission, bringing a plural proportion of new users.
It is worth mentioning that these capabilities will continue to be upgraded in the future. The sidebar will add text and bubble guidance, and make welfare relations for individual games to strengthen users' conversion willingness and penetration. Regarding Douyin search, the search results will be optimized for Jingsouand and Pansui, so as to strengthen conversion efficiency and expose more relevant recommendations. As for the combination of IM and mini games, Douyin's goal is to match suitable mini games for each chat scene.
With the support of this series of capabilities, it is foreseeable that Douyin Mini Games will continue to maintain a rapid growth trend. Driven by Douyin mini games, the entire mini game market will also usher in a wave of outbreaks. In this regard, Ding Chengliang said that the entire mini game track is expected to reach a scale of 600-65 billion this year and 800-85 billion in 2025. At the same time, Douyin will account for 1/3 of the market share in the market, and with the advantages of the Douyin ecosystem's strong traffic base, multiple distribution scenarios and customized algorithm capabilities, it will contribute to the main increase in the growth of track scale.
Tower defense and simulated operation will be the next breaking point
In an environment where the industry market and platform ecology are thriving, how to find the most popular type of popular mini games has become the most concerned topic for new and old manufacturers.
Previously, Jinghe pointed out in the article "Industry Reshuffle, Who is the Next Outlet for Mini Games" that the product types of IAA mini games are not as solidified as IAP mini games. Puzzle-solving, hyper-casual, elimination and other traditional advantageous categories, their turnover scale is still growing rapidly. In addition, there are innovative products such as asymmetric confrontation, simulated management, and auto-chess that can successfully break through.
It should be pointed out that the success of these new categories out of the circle is even more surprising to manufacturers. Mini-games like tower defense and simulation management, whose user base and revenue have doubled in the past few quarters, have occupied a place in Douyin that should not be underestimated.
Taking simulated business gameplay as an example, this genre has set up a relatively clear growth line for players. Therefore, its duration and monetization will be stronger than that of puzzle solving, but the data depth is still relatively limited. Therefore, Yu Qing suggested that manufacturers can try to make some small gameplay related to the game itself to pull player stickiness. Vertical categories such as tower defense, meat pigeon, or other verticals are more based on gameplay to make breakthroughs, which can strengthen the game design related to strategic hedging, strategic tower defense, and strategic occupation.
In addition, based on the evolution of categories, the specific gameplay under each type is also being iteratively updated. For example, the puzzle game with the largest market share, which is commonly known as the brain hole game, has evolved from a simple and direct vision to find fault in the early days to a more interactive gameplay.
Since the levels of the brain hole game are game content in themselves, Yu Qing suggested that developers can develop in the direction of more immersive content. For example, according to some popular video directions on Douyin, to make further breakthroughs. While players get a deeper experience in the game, it also drives the growth of game time and monetization.
It should be pointed out that due to the short development cycle of IAA Mini Games, the cost of trial and error is low. Stimulated by seeing more and more small teams making money, the author believes that more manufacturers and products will enter the platform ecosystem. In fact, the number of new manufacturers on Douyin so far this year has far exceeded that of the same period last year. There are even many teams that come from across borders and have no previous experience in game development.
For these new gold diggers, how can they survive and develop in the competition? In this regard, Yu Qing believes that the choice of game theme is the key to achieving twice the result with half the effort. Vendors should prioritize the audience for their games, and then build their games based on what those users like.
For IAA mini games, a project can be a matter of life and death
In fact, the case where the theme determines the hit reflects the importance of project approval for IAA mini games. Lu Zhentang, CEO of Yig Technology, said bluntly that the direction of the project determines 90% of the success factors of the project.
To put it simply, an IAA Mini Game is mainly composed of three aspects: gameplay, theme, and values. Among them, the first thing to determine is generally the gameplay and theme. As we all know, the heavier the gameplay, the more vertical the game users, and the corresponding purchase cost will be higher. The lighter the subject matter, the more general it will be for users, but the price will be lower. How should manufacturers arrange and combine?
One pole of permutation and combination is a light gameplay and a light theme. Obviously, this combination is aimed at pan-users, and it is also the largest space on the market at present, so it will be more convenient for you to test the game to adjust the value. Lu Zhentang believes that this is the most suitable direction for manufacturers who have just entered the field of IAA. However, it should also be pointed out that a lower barrier to entry also means greater competition, which requires manufacturers to invest a lot of time and effort to optimize their products.
The other pole of the combination is the theme of heavy gameplay. Is there a chance for such a pairing? The answer is yes, but it is very unsuitable for novice manufacturers. Because the heavy gameplay emphasizes the theme, it means that the cost of buying volume is extremely high. Even just testing gameplay and user data can put a lot of cost pressure.
As for the two permutations in the middle, it is more suitable for manufacturers with certain R&D experience to look for opportunities in it. For example, the theme of light gameplay and heavy play has a large market opportunity. Like the previously popular "Super Venom", it is a combination of ultra-casual parkour gameplay and Marvel hero themes. From the perspective of gameplay, the game is oriented to pan-users, and at the same time, the image of Venom allows it to screen out some male users, making the monetization value of the game higher. The actual effect is that it can win the bidding advantage in the category and have a greater chance of running out.
On the other hand, the idea of heavy gameplay and light themes is somewhat similar to the lightweight transformation of the previous IAP mini games. Stand out by reducing the cost of buying volume through lighter themes. The typical representative should be the "Lying Flat Development" of the tower defense gameplay.
It can be said that the manufacturers who can clarify their ideas in the process of project approval have outperformed most of the competing teams. Brave Technology, which created "Save This Pig" last year, is also a representative. Wang Honglong, CEO of the company, said that in addition to the collocation of the theme and gameplay, the product should also pay attention to the user characteristics of the Douyin platform.
In Wang Honglong's view, Douyin has a very wide user base, and recording a better life is their core demand, and he judges that life-related games will be more concerned. Therefore, after selecting the motorcycle gameplay through competitive analysis, Yongxiang Technology chose a cute animal style.
At the same time, one of the more important links in the process is to communicate with the influencers to find a more suitable direction for video communication. Take "Save This Pig" as an example, the original animal selection was not only pigs, but also sheep, cows, dogs and other animals. After communication and data analysis, it was finally found that the image of the pig was the best runner.
In the author's opinion, the experience of these pioneers can help new entrants to avoid detours. The still expanding ecological scale of Douyin mini games provides everyone with the opportunity to overtake in corners and defeat the strong with the weak.