On the afternoon of December 2, at the 2023 T-Edge Global Innovation Conference, Tang Jiajun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, delivered a speech.
On December 1-3, 2023, the 2023 T-Edge Global Innovation Conference and Edge Awards Innovation Selection was held in Beijing 751D·Park Conduction Space. With the theme of "New Horizons, New Links", this year's conference invited nearly 100 international innovation leaders from different countries and fields to share guests, and set up more than 40 on-site discussions, reviewing the insights and developments of the past year and looking forward to the future innovation trends and new economic patterns from the dimensions of a new round of global AI revolution, industrial chain reshaping, a new wave of enterprise re-globalization, industrial innovation and upgrading, and new investment trends under globalization.
On the afternoon of December 2, Tang Jiajun, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association and Secretary-General of the Game Working Committee, delivered a speech to the 2023 T-Edge Conference.
The globalization of games has been a hot topic in the game industry in the past two years. Tang Jiajun believes that there are three main reasons for the success of Chinese games going overseas: the emergence of mobile games has brought new opportunities for Chinese games to go overseasThe accumulation of industry provides a solid foundation for the globalization of gamesThe purpose and original intention of the game to go overseas has been implemented in cultural exchanges.
Tang Jiajun mentioned that in the era of web games, the Chinese game industry and overseas game companies are competing in a misaligned position. By 2015, the output value of China's mobile games exceeded that of terminal games for the first time, and in 2016, the output value exceeded 100 billion yuan. The popularity of smartphones has brought great opportunities for Chinese games to go overseas.
The accumulation of the industry is also an important reason for the success of Chinese games in going global. The Tangjia Military Waterfall is used as a case to explain the relationship between the accumulation of industries and the explosion of games going overseas. He believes that the size of China's game industry has grown from 24700 million yuan has been increased to about 300 billion yuan, the number of game projects in operation has reached one million, and achievements have also been made in talent training. The accumulation of these industries has provided potential energy for the explosion of games going overseas.
Finally, Tang Jiajun also said that the game of going to sea should become a carrier of cultural exchange. Tang Jiajun mentioned a statistic in his speech that in the process of Chinese games going overseas globally, only 1% of this player actually noticed Chinese culture and discussed it. However, gamers who have played Chinese games have more than 20% of their perception and favorability of China compared to the general public overseas. Therefore, there is still a lot of room for Chinese games in the field of cultural export.
Good afternoon, everyone. The winter in Beijing is still a bit cold, but I am very happy to see all the guests, friends, and business representatives, wearing relatively thin clothes, still very enthusiastic and passionate about the industry. On behalf of the Music and Digital Association and the Game Working Committee, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the guests.
Today, I would like to share with you some thoughts on the global expansion of games. First of all, as you know, the globalization of games has been a particularly interesting topic in the past two years. China is now building a pattern of domestic and foreign dual circulation, which actually puts forward a new requirement for global cultural exchanges.
For the field of cultural going overseas, everyone has found an interesting phenomenon, that is, games have been the most successful in going overseas over the years. So why was the game so successful?I have three thoughts right now.
The first is that the development of mobile games provides a new opportunity for Chinese games to go overseas. We can say that in the early 90s, there was a germ of going overseas in the Chinese game industry. At that time, Chinese game manufacturers were already exploring the way games went overseas.
At that time, it was still the time of PC, and we saw that many games were already thinking globally at that time. For example, the target software's "Three Kingdoms", NetEase's "Journey to the West", including Perfect World's "Perfect World" and so on. These games have achieved certain results in the process of going overseas around the world. But we found a phenomenon, most of them stay in Southeast Asia and our Chinese culture has a deep roots.
For example, Xishanju's "Swordsman Romance Online Version", when they went to sea, they occupied more than 70% of the local share in Vietnam. But in the European and American markets, our games didn't have much of an impact. So when does it start to have an impact?Around 2010, the emergence of web games brought a new development to our Chinese games. So at that time, we saw that there were a number of browser games that had their outstanding performance overseas. We see works like "The Divine Comedy" and "The League of Goddesses" and so on. At that time, a number of overseas enterprises began to emerge in China, such as Sanqi Mutual Entertainment and Kunlun Wanwei and so on.
The reason why web games can go overseas and have a little bit of development in Europe and the United States is because at that time, in the era of terminal games, our technology was lacking, our hardware was backward, and our experience in going overseas was insufficient. Then web games actually provide an opportunity for misplaced competition.
Then when the real game went overseas to show its characteristics, it was probably around 2015. At that time we had two stats. 2015 was the year when mobile games and smartphones appeared, and mobile games began to have an opportunity to make a difference. Therefore, in 2015, the output value and revenue of mobile games surpassed that of terminal games for the first time. In 2016, the output value of mobile games exceeded 100 billion. The emergence, development and popularization of smartphones has brought a very big opportunity for our games to go overseas, especially in the field of mobile games.
The second idea is that the accumulation of our industry provides a solid foundation for the globalization of Chinese games. This is actually a concept of potential energy. How to understand potential energy?We can imagine a waterfall. When you go to travel, you have seen many waterfalls, including Niguara, Huangguoshu Waterfall and so on. What is the concept of a waterfall?Rushing from high to low, it has its drop. In this case, I would find that the greater the amount of water and the stronger the potential energy, the more spectacular the waterfall will be.
How should this example be understood in the game?The potential energy of the game is reflected in the accumulation of the industry. First of all, we all know a statistic, what was the size of the game industry 20 years ago?24.700 million RMB. So how much now?Nearly 300 billion yuan. Second, the number of Chinese game products is very rich. We're probably running games in the millions. We provide a robust trial-and-error environment throughout the game production process. Thirdly, we have a lot of experience in the whole operation. Through the accumulation of these years, we have made a lot of achievements in talent training. The accumulation of these industries has brought a strong potential energy for the game to go overseas.
The third idea is what is the ultimate purpose and original intention of our game going overseas?I think in the end, it will be about cultural exchange. Because in the beginning, many companies went to sea for?It is to occupy more overseas markets. In fact, there is a concept of internationalization, and globalization is a concept of cooperation and exchange.
In this context, we have seen more and more game companies build our products on the level of cultural exchange over the years. Because only in this way can Chinese games be more vibrant and go further.
Cultural exchange is an important issue for game companies to consider. We can see that many cases over the years have been a manifestation of this. The Japanese-themed "The Spirit of Tsushima" is actually a tribute to Shakespeare's "King of Lille".
We saw Japan's "Wolf", which taught many people around the world to write the word "death". We also saw that there is a game in China called "Dyson Sphere Project", which teaches a lot of foreigners to learn Chinese and so on.
At this time, we can't say who exported whom. We can understand that when excellent cultures stir and collide with each other, there will inevitably be an excellent work to carry it, which is an inevitable development trend.
Finally, let's take a look at China's traditional culture, which we generally use as long-standing and profound. So how can it be broad and profound?To use a Chinese idiom, it is "the great end of the Tao is easy to understand". Chinese culture is easy to see, and our cultural colors are included in every gesture.
Food has food culture, wine has wine culture, architecture has architectural culture, and clothing has clothing culture. Therefore, from this point of view, China has great potential in the field of cultural export.
We have a statistic that in the process of Chinese games going overseas globally, only 1% of this player actually noticed Chinese culture and discussed it. This means that we still have a lot of room for growth in the field of cultural export.
But there is another statistic that shows that overseas gamers who have played Chinese games have increased their awareness and favorability of China by more than 20% compared to the general public.
Globalization is a necessary trend for our future development, so thank you for your continued attention and support to the game going overseas, thank you.