Source | What's new in the game
Author | Night Wind
More than three months have passed, and the grand occasion of the "decisive battle at the top of the national B" is still vivid. On January 18th, Papergames' important project "Love and Deep Space" and NetEase's "Beyond the World" were launched at the same time, and several leading female games such as "Love of Light and Night" and "Painted Traveler in Time and Space" also took out various activities of all sizes to defend. This is probably the liveliest day for women on the track.
While joining in the fun, the new knowledge of the game faintly feels that this track with huge potential seems to be about to change.
Now that the dust has settled, new games have withstood the first round of the market, and old games have basically returned to a steady frequency of activity updates. It's also time for us to take a fresh look at the track – who's the boss now? How many companies have already squeezed in? What's going on in the field of overseas and mini games? How much room is there for the market to grow?
Game News has compiled the current data of women-oriented new games that have been launched since 2022, as well as some head games (or former head games), in order to show the trends of this track as comprehensively and intuitively as possible. At the time of the change of landscape, it is also an opportunity for us to learn more about the market.
At the moment, the tail games are being withdrawn one after another, and the trend of "new kings" has emerged. Although the competition has reached a new level, we can still see that the potential of this market is much more than that.
Note: Many two-dimensional games such as "Ark of Tomorrow", "Infinite Lost", and "Mountains and Seas Mirror Flowers" are actually very popular with female players, but they do not belong to the strict female classification and are not included in the statistics in this article.
Two new products have eaten sixty percent of the market
In the past two years, we have always felt that more female users are gradually pouring into the game market, and their ability to pay is becoming more and more apparent. At the same time, there are indeed a lot of new tours in the market, and they have seen the opportunities in this emerging market and tried to get a place. But there are still only a few head products that have really gained a firm foothold.
Game News has sorted out the current situation of female-oriented games launched in 2022 and beyond, using data such as the ranking of the iOS best-selling list and the estimated turnover of iOS channels as a reference. Considering that it takes a certain amount of time for new tours to precipitate, only the data of March is selected for this statistics. Some games may have a certain impact on the turnover if they do not launch important events in March, so the ranking is only for reference.
It can be seen that the new games "Love and Deep Space" and "Beyond the World", which were launched at the same time on January 18, are significantly ahead, and the turnover of the iOS channel alone has reached about 100 million, and the ranking trend of the two games is relatively stable.
The second echelon followed by Zu Long's "In the Name of Shining" and Friendship Times's "Floating Memories Linglong", the former ranking is relatively stable, and the latter shows a clear downward trend.
In addition, although there is no shortage of works from major manufacturers such as Tencent, NetEase, and Bilibili, the situation is not good, and they are basically outside the top 200 on the best-selling list, and the revenue figures are not optimistic. There are even four games (greyed out in the table) that have been discontinued, with the longest on the shelves being a year and a half and the shortest being only three months.
As a result, although there are a lot of new tours and large factories are piling up, there are probably only "three and a half" new tours that have really run out in the past two years. The advantage is still concentrated in a small number of head products.
These new head products shined, and also affected the market pattern of the entire women's track. The dominance of some of the established top products has been challenged as a result, but it's worth noting that their already established user base hasn't been affected much.
If you zoom in on the existing head and mid-waist products on the market, you can find that the products within the statistical range created about 346 million turnover in the iOS channel in March, and "Love and Deep Space" and "Beyond the World" accounted for about 65% of the total. On the other hand, "In the Name of Shining" in the dress-up track has also greatly surpassed the "Nuan Nuan" IP. The pattern of women in the market "Big Four B + Nuan" may have changed.
But that doesn't mean that new games steal users of old games. Taking "Love of Light and Night", "Book of Undetermined Events" and two "Nuan Nuan" IP games as examples, judging from the ranking of the best-selling list, the ranking of old games has not declined significantly before and after the launch of new games.
If you look closely, even the ranking of the two old games in the romance game has increased slightly, which may have increased the density or quality of activities for defense, which stimulated users to pay to a certain extent. In recent months, players have often complained that the event schedule has become denser.
From the perspective of user activity, the three new games of "Love and Deep Space", "Beyond the World" and "In the Name of Shining" also have obvious advantages, but the gap is not as big as in terms of income. According to the statistics of female-oriented games ranked within 350 MAU (monthly active users) and DAU (average daily active users) in the game category, we can see that the data of the three new games is clearly ahead, and the gap between the "Four Great B" ("Love of Light and Night", "Book of Undetermined Events", "Love and the Producer", and "Painted Traveler in Time and Space") has also quietly widened.
A blank indicates that the ranking is not in the top 350
Despite this, the new game does not seem to have a very significant impact on the old game in terms of user activity. Still using the two new and two old four games mentioned above as a comparison, we can see that the MAU changes of the old games are basically within the normal fluctuation range. The bonus period of the two new games has passed, showing a trend of rapid cooling, but the current MAU is still higher than that of other female-oriented games.
Taken together, the three new games have almost "landed" to the top of the track, rather than taking away a large number of users from other games. This means that there may be more users pouring women into this plate, and the market still has the potential to expand. Perhaps it is the "newer" technology and market insight they have shown, which allows them to explore a broader market space than the established products.
As far as "Love and Deep Space" is concerned, the detailed and realistic 3D modeling effect is its biggest expansion factor, and there are quite a few players who "look at their faces and enter the pit". Some players have never been exposed to similar games before and are unfamiliar with basic features such as sweeping. So much so that in the version update on April 26, that is, more than three months after its launch, the game even deliberately added a guide to remind players of the purpose of the sweep function.
And "Beyond the World" is characterized by an authentic "infinite stream" online text plot, which not only has a large amount of text, but also minimizes the threshold for gameplay, allowing the game to move closer to the direction of "playable online text". It can be speculated that it will have additional appeal to the online audience. On social platforms, it is very common for players who say that they "have not played Game B" to be attracted by the plot, and they often ask for help because they do not understand the game mechanics.
"In the Name of Shining" takes "technical power" as the game's features: it uses the UE4 engine and invests more in clothing modeling and texture performance, presenting high-precision, high-fidelity visual effects. Similar to "Love and Deep Space", this allows more potential dress-up game audiences to "look at their faces and fall into the pit". At the end of March, the game announced that it had entered the "2.0 era", saying that "no comparison of 3A, no comparison of 3A, if you want to do it, you will do real 3A", and it may have to be further improved and upgraded in terms of technology.
With the continuous change of user preferences and the continuous advancement of manufacturers' technology, it is normal for new games to continue to surpass the old head products, and it is also a manifestation of the healthy development and iteration of this segment of the market. But like every other crowded market, it's becoming increasingly polarized or don't win. If you want to gain a firm foothold, you must at least have a good enough and special enough "hard work".
Overseas is still dominated by medium and light gameplay
When it comes to markets outside the mainland, the situation is completely different. Overseas players, led by Europe and the United States, tend to prefer mild-to-medium and fragmented mobile games, and the same is true for female-oriented games. Match-3/synthesis plus medium and light female-oriented games with simulated business elements occupy an absolute dominant position in the overseas market.
Note: The red line is the cut-off line for the top 300 domestic games in terms of revenue in markets outside the mainland. For games that are not launched in the mainland market, the statistical scope only includes female-oriented games within the top 300; At the same time, female-oriented games that are launched in the domestic and foreign markets may not be included in this ranking range, but they are still all included in the table as a reference.
It can be seen that McGee's Taylor has been online for three years and the synthesis + simulation management game "McGee's Overhaul" is still at the top of the track, and occupies the top three together with two similar games of Microfun. Microfun's other two similar games ranked 7th and 9th respectively, demonstrating the dominance of this category overseas. By strengthening the content orientation of the plot in the casual gameplay game, Microfun can also be said to have successfully opened up this market.
Of the 14 games that rank within the top 300 in terms of revenue, 8 games can be seen to have been developed specifically for the preferences of overseas markets, and the art is mostly in the European and American Disney style or polygon style. In terms of gameplay, most of them are based on simulation management, and the overall is relatively casual, among which only one "Time Princess: Book Wandering" is based on dress-up gameplay.
"Time Princess: Book Wandering"
On the other hand, Le Element's idol development game "Idol Dream Festival 2" is the only one that has opened up the Japanese market. With a two-dimensional campus youth plot, exquisite three-shaded two-MV performances, and a large number of song performances by well-known voice actors, the game has been within the top 40 of the iOS best-selling list in the Japanese market for four years since its launch, and can often break into the TOP10 or even TOP5. The game is actually relatively tepid in both mainland China and other markets, with the Japanese market alone accounting for 94.4% of the game's total revenue. This makes it a great reference for the preferences of female gamers in Japan.
"Idol Phantom Festival 2"
As for the camp that takes the mainland market as its main camp and "exports" by the way, the overall performance is not as good as that of games specifically designed for markets outside the mainland.
Among them, the dress-up gameplay is better than the love gameplay as a whole. "Floating as an Empress" has blossomed in many markets in Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, although it is not a hit, but it can maintain a relatively stable middle-waist income, accumulating a lot. 45% of "Miracle Nuan" comes from the U.S. market. Although the new game "In the Name of Shining" was unexpectedly suspended in the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets, it has gained a lot in the European, American and Japanese markets.
The new games "Love and Deep Space" and "Codename Kite" are among the few romance games with good results, perhaps thanks to the outstanding visual effects - the former is realistic 3D modeling, and the latter is Live2D with an "eye-rolling" screen.
《代号鸢》
In particular, "Love and Deep Space" showed a good momentum. About 37% of the game's revenue comes from markets outside the mainland, of which Japan, the United States, and Taiwan account for 39.2%, 21.3%, and 11.5% respectively, in addition to South Korea, the rest of Europe and the United States, and Southeast Asia.
"Codename Kite" is a bit surprising. The background of this game's alternate story is based on the Three Kingdoms period, and the visual style is also obviously in the national style, but 47.3% of the revenue comes from the US market, and the total revenue from the three markets of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan only accounts for about 19.6%. The next source of income is Japan, Australia, and Canada – Japan is culturally similar to ours, and Australia and Canada seem to be countries with a large number of Chinese diaspora.
In contrast, the old head products in the mainland market, led by the "Big Four B", have very limited influence outside the mainland. Women are naturally subjective and have a preference for games, which means that for products made for the mainland market to sail to markets outside the mainland, cultural and aesthetic barriers will bring greater resistance to games than other categories.
The mini-game landscape is similar to overseas
The Mini Game market is also casual and fragmented, and the pattern is very similar to that of markets outside the mainland. Due to the limitation of the size of the Mini Program package, games that rely on technical power such as "Love and Deep Space" and "In the Name of Shining" cannot be used. It's a battleground for low-cost casual women's gaming. Game News has sorted out the small games that have entered the WeChat mini game best-selling list and the popularity list TOP100 in the past month, and it can be seen that their types are very concentrated.
There are two main types of gameplay in these mini-games, which are costume change and simulated management.
In the dress-up mini-games, Friendship Time and Fire Feather Information are the two main forces. Both of these companies' mini-games were transferred from the APP version, which can be regarded as an attempt to break new ground.
In particular, the two games of Fire Feather Information have a large gap in the results of the APP. Launched in July 2021, "Prosperity of the Age" achieved acceptable results, reaching as high as 75 on the iOS best-selling list, and only gradually slipped below the top 200 two years later. "Phoenix Scheming", which was launched in December last year, made an attempt to introduce synthetic gameplay into the national style court dress-up game, but the results were not satisfactory and never entered the TOP200 of the iOS best-selling list. However, they can all find a place in the mini-game platform, which may mean that there is still a lot of room for women in the mini-game platform to tap into the market.
"Phoenix Scheming"
As for simulation management games, except for a national style "Secret Garden HD", most of them are already relatively mature synthesis + simulation management integration gameplay. Among them, there are several "export to domestic sales", from Lemon Microfun, Diandian Interactive and other large overseas enterprises. "Gossip Harbor (Romantic Restaurant)", which has been a big hit overseas, still shows strong earning power on the mini game platform.
However, most of these small games of synthesis + simulated business gameplay also follow the European and American painting style of head products, although these head products were originally developed for overseas users. If they are made more in line with the preferences of mainland users, can the potential of female users of mini game platforms be further explored?
As mentioned earlier, "Phoenix Scheming" has already paid dividends by trying to integrate with the base of a dress-up game. The "Four Seasons Together" launched by the veteran small game manufacturer Lanfei Interactive Entertainment is also a synthesis + simulation management game with a more domestic painting style. This game was launched at the beginning of this year, and the APP side has not entered the TOP200 iOS best-selling list, but it has accumulated a good popularity on the mini game side.
"The Four Seasons"
At the beginning of this year, WeChat Mini Game Platform publicly stated that the ratio of users to men and women was 60% and 40%. And less than one-tenth of the top 100 women-oriented games have entered the best-selling list and the popularity list. What is certain is that there is still great potential for women in the market of mini game platforms.
In addition, the game news also pays attention to a platform "Yi Dimension". This is an interactive novel reading platform launched by NetEase, which includes a large number of interactive female-oriented novels, and also introduces the popular otome games "The Evening Bell of the Flower of Piousness" and "Amnesia" produced by the Japanese female-oriented game brand Otomate. From player feedback, it can be seen that the interactive gameplay of some novels involves custom development, strategy management, etc., which is very close to the form of casual games.
Since this audience is receptive to this highly interactive form of fiction, it is likely that they can also become potential players in female-oriented games. Considering the absorption of online literature lovers by "Beyond the World", perhaps "Yi Zhiyuan" is also a valuable user accumulation under NetEase.
The sharing of an e-dimension user in the e-dimension community
epilogue
The last table of this article is a female-oriented game that has been suspended in the past two years, indefinitely stopped activity updates, and been cut in addition to the new games that have been counted earlier. In addition, although Perfect World's "Dream Set of Cygnus" is no longer available for download, it is actually still in operation, so it is not included in the table. There are new games running out, and there are games that have withdrawn for various reasons, which seems to be the normal "metabolism" of the market. Making games has always been a matter of life, and women's games are no exception.
Women have different demands for games from most players and even two-dimensional users. If you can understand their demands more deeply, they can also bring amazing feedback. Whether it is in the mainland market, which has just undergone a major reshuffle, or in the market outside the mainland and the mini game platform where user preferences are more unique, this point is constantly being verified by the market.
The current female-oriented track may be a bit like the two-dimensional track around 2020. Old games each have a loyal audience, and the eye-catching new games are rising at the right time, repeatedly hitting the top of the list, making people have to pay attention to the potential of this track. Maybe in a year or two, we'll see a new group of women popping up in the game - at least the potential of "Infinite Warmth" is already on the way.
Note: The revenue and user activity data in this article are from third-party data agencies such as SensorTower and QuestMobile, and are estimates and for reference only.