Since 2013, the scale of China's mobile game market has grown by leaps and bounds, jumping from 11.2 billion yuan to 51.4 billion yuan, and many game manufacturers have followed the pace of the market and transformed the research and development and operation of mobile games. At present, the competitive landscape of the industry has been very different from the era of end tourism. In 2015, snail digital sprung up and ranked among the top three iOS game revenues in China, becoming a major highlight.
In this round of transformation wave, Snail Digital proposed the layout plan and tested the waters very early, but it was not until the second half of 2014 that it officially launched the first ARPG mobile game "Taiji Panda", which hit the pulse of the market and became a late bloomer.
Up to now, snail digital's main products have a total of 5 models, which are not dominant in quantity, but with the experience of research and development, operation and overseas distribution accumulated in the end game era, each product has achieved good results in the market. Since entering 2016, the situation of Tencent and NetEase has continued, and whether Snail Digital can maintain its existing market position in the future has become one of the hot topics discussed by gamers.
Practice the boutique strategy, the product wins with quality
As a veteran R&D Internet company, Snail Digital has always maintained a carefully crafted and serious attitude towards products, even if it enters the era of mobile games, under the industry's pursuit of IP gold absorption effect and "fast money" thinking, this persistence still exists.
Known for its "phenomenon" and "global distribution", Taiji Panda has won wide recognition from players and the market, and has entered the top 10 of the best-seller list in 52 countries and regions around the world. In fact, as far as a mobile game work is concerned, its research and development time is more than 3 years, and no less than 6 versions have been adjusted from the establishment of the project to the final molding, which is impossible for many mobile game research and development teams at present, and it is such a product that has laid a solid foundation for the transformation of snail digital from end to mobile game.
After the comprehensive development of this year in 2015, the number of snail digital main mobile games reached 5, of which "Taiji Panda 2" was only launched at the end of last year. It is precisely because of the market performance of these five products that in December 2015, the company entered the top three iOS game revenues in China for the first time, second only to Tencent and NetEase, two major game giants, and this ranking was also continued in January 2016.
Obviously, the snail number, which is not dominant in the number of games, relies on the quality of each of its products to win the recognition of users and the market. In the view of many people in the industry, the mobile game products launched by Snail Digital can generally achieve better market response and maintain a high "success rate", relying on the excellent quality level of the product itself.
Self-developed mobile games have a long life cycle and continuous optimization of agent products
The unremitting pursuit of product quality has made snail digital products generally achieve good market response, and more importantly, such carefully crafted products have longer-term vitality, thereby maintaining sustained profitability.
It is reported that "Taiji Panda" not only topped the iOS best-seller list for a long time after it was launched, but also maintained the top 30 of the best-selling list on the first anniversary of the public beta, which is not easy in the era of "fast consumption" of mobile games. In addition, among the current staple products of Snail Digital, the self-owned powerful IP "Nine Yin" and the national war mobile game "Tianzi" are stable within the top 20 of the best-seller list, and have repeatedly advanced to the top ten; "Taiji Panda 2" entered the top 20 of the best-seller list one week after its launch.
Industry insiders believe that many of the above products were officially tested in the fourth quarter of 2015, and are heavy mobile games with a very long life cycle, and the future snail digital game revenue or will be maintained at a high level for a long time, and the competitive landscape of the domestic mobile game market is also expected to continue.
The pursuit of product quality is not only reflected in self-developed products, but also meticulous in the snail number of agent products. At the beginning of 2015, Snail Digital announced the agency plan of a number of Korean mobile games, including "Rampage Adventure King", "Castle of hearts", "Sakura Three Kingdoms", etc., and until the end of last year, these products have not yet been publicly tested, a very important reason is the company's strict control of product quality.
It is understood that on the basis of the original Korean version, "Rampage Adventure King" retains the two core features of the classic side-scroll mode and arcade computer control, while hundreds of optimizations and improvements have been carried out in other aspects, in order to ensure that the game features gameplay while maximizing the needs of domestic core players.
After repeated and meticulous optimization and adjustment, a variety of agent mobile games are expected to be officially introduced to the market this year, and Snail Digital will achieve a product layout of "self-research + agent" double-line combat, which has become another reason for the industry to be optimistic about the company.
Actively expand overseas markets, three-dimensional layout of products
Overseas markets in the snail digital product strategy has always occupied an important position, the company from the first end game "Voyage Century", has been accumulating experience in this area, to the era of mobile games, the success of "Taiji Panda" to open a window for its participation in the global game market competition.
According to public information, "Taiji Panda" has landed in nearly 150 countries and regions since it went abroad, of which 52 regional markets have entered the top ten best-selling markets, becoming a truly global mobile game. At the beginning of 2016, the mobile game also entered the top 5 of the best-seller list in the Russian market, making a good start in the new year.
It is understood that the overseas distribution plan of Snail Digital will continue to advance this year, including "Jiuyin", "Taiji Panda 2" and other products will be successively introduced to overseas markets. Among them, "Nine Yin" landed in South Korea in January, ranked second in the total mobile game download ranking, and received many recommendations from Google Play, showing good market recognition.
It is undeniable that the overseas market is an important battlefield in the field of snail digital mobile games, and in addition to the all-round layout of mobile game products, snail digital has not completely abandoned the research and development, operation and development of living room entertainment products in the transformation of mobile game research and development.
Up to now, Snail Digital's classic terminal game product "Nine Yin True Classics" still maintains a stable update and operation; After the completion of the PC first test of "Jiuyang Shengong", which focuses on kung fu MOBA, it will face the market with a more novel gameplay; In terms of family entertainment, a number of products, including "Jiuyang Shengong", "Jiuyin Zhenjing", and "Taiji Panda", have gradually achieved adaptation on platforms such as PS4, Xbox, and Obox.
Another source pointed out that Snail Digital is still quietly laying out products in the VR field. From terminal games, mobile games, to home entertainment console games, and then to VR games, the three-dimensional product layout is gradually taking shape, while meeting the game needs of different players, Snail Digital is also preparing for future market competition.