Text: DataEye Research Institute.Since last year, many domestic top mini game products have moved to overseas markets.
month, with the outstanding performance of the overseas version of "Adventure Wars" "The Legend of the Mushroom Brave" and the overseas version of "The King's Finger" "Gandalf Wake Up", the first trend of going to sea in 2024 has emerged:
Mini-games go to sea.
1. Mini games have become a new force in the sea, and the incomplete statistics of the DataEye Research Institute in South China have highlighted the overseas nuggets of domestic head games, all of which have good market performance and a high success rate.
From the perspective of manufacturers, in addition to Haoteng (crazy games), they are mainly South China game manufacturers represented by Guangzhou and Shenzhen;
From the perspective of market performance, China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets, especially Taiwan, China, performed prominently, followed by South Korea, the United States and other T1 markets. Among them, according to the DataEye Research Institute, the revenue of "The Legend of the Mushroom Brave" in the first month of in-app purchase + advertising exceeded 100 million, and it may become the mini game with the highest income overseas.
The little demon asked" The trend of double-end estimated in-app purchase revenue (after deducting channel shares) in the overseas market, ** dot data.
The Legend of the Mushroom Brave "China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and South Korea Double-end Estimated In-app Purchase Revenue (After deducting Channel Share) Trend, ** Dotted Data.
Gandalf Wake Up" Trend of Double-end Estimated In-app Purchase Revenue (After deducting Channel Share) in the overseas market, ** Dotted data.
From the perspective of pace and rhythm, most products are first on the domestic mini game side, then on the domestic APP, then on the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan markets, and finally on other overseas markets. Gradually ran out of the path of [Mini Game APP to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other overseas markets].
From the perspective of marketing acquisition, most of them are mainly based on buying volume, supplemented by effect-oriented talent marketing. The buying creativity mainly highlights three points: 1. Don't use **, easy to decompress, and give a sense of coolness, 2. "Leverage IP" to build a sense of familiarity, 3. Funny, outrageous and magical, highlighting the fun.
The Legend of the Mushroom Brave" purchase material creativity,**ADX overseas version,More overseas purchase data,**Re: Overseas, try to view for free.
The overseas version of ADX has been greatly upgraded, and the number of overseas games obtained every month exceeds 40,000, making it the first echelon in the industry.
The unique performance of mini games has become a "new force" for games to go overseas.
2. Domestic mini games become a "training ground" before going to sea (1) A new rhythm is formed: going to sea after the first mini game.
In the past few years, most games were mini-games that were first launched on domestic or overseas apps. Initial mini-games are rare.
This is mainly because in the mainland market, the game project was established 1 year, 2 years ago or even earlier, and the version number or APP side will be ready in 2023, so it will be launched first, and then the layout of small games, such as: Yi World "This City Has Good Fields", Jiangyu "Pocket Soldiers";
In the overseas market, first go to the overseas app, get the domestic version number After getting ready, return to China and then launch mini games, such as "Little Ant Country" and Haibi's "Snake Endless Battle".
It can be seen that the first on the APP side is caused by the "inertia" of the industry due to factors such as product cycle and market layout, which varies from company to company.
In 2023, this "inertia" will gradually disappear.
According to the "2022 WeChat Mini Game Growth" jointly released by Tencent Advertising and Dataeye, the number of WeChat Mini Game developers exceeded 100,000 as early as 2019.
According to the 2023 WeChat Mini Game Developer Conference, as of June 16, the number of WeChat Mini Game MAUs in 2023 exceeded 400 million, and the number of game developers exceeded 300,000.
Due to the continuous increase in the number of Mini Game developers after 2019, more and more products are launching Mini Games. Typical examples include Lingxi Mutual Entertainment "Spring and Autumn Xuanqi", Yishi "Commercial City", Thunder "Brave and Equipment", and Huanyu Kyushu "Chicken Fleet Attack". Considering that there will be as many as 300,000 mini game developers in 2023, it is expected that there will be more products for the first mini game in 2024.
A marketing person in charge of a top-level game manufacturer in Guangzhou told us that the first mini game will cost less to obtain the volume first, which is more secure for the project team.
2) Mini games have become "training grounds", and the difficulty in going to sea is the immature platform ecology.
The person in charge of the market said: The first difficulty for mini games to go overseas is not a cultural problem, but that the overseas market does not have such a strong and mature WeChat ecology as in China, nor does it have a mature mini game platform and low-cost acquisition environment. To go to sea, you must compete with other apps.
DataEye Research Institute believes that the domestic mini game ecology is accompanied by a series of advantages:
1. WeChat mini game, user entrance habit has been formed.
2. Don't use **, click to play, and the conversion link is short.
3. Low-cost cross-terminal (Douyin, B station, etc.) marketing can be obtained.
4. The package body supports more than 1G, and supports the mini game to become high-quality.
5. The R&D cycle is short, as low as 3-6 months, which can be run in small steps at low cost and quickly verified.
6. WeChat Mini Games are connected to the WeChat game circle, and each Mini Game has a "small community".
7. Douyin mini games have the advantage of multiple acquisition (especially effect-based talents).
These advantages make the mini-game a "training ground" before going to sea.
At present, the pattern of mini games is gradually stabilizing, and the products that can still run out and be cast on the mini game side are most likely to be differentiated and high-quality products that can break through the circle and highlight the coolness.
This means that product integration and innovation, differentiation and quality are still fundamental. It is the starting point of the path of [Mini Game APP to go overseas, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other overseas markets].
If it is said that in the first two years, the mini game was still fighting for marketing and buying volume, then in the past two years, it has been possible to break through by fighting products, integrating innovation, fighting differentiated theme painting styles, and fighting for the understanding of mixed change.
The mini game industry returns to product innovation.
3. It's time to correct the name of games in South China (1) Overseas revenue fell again, but the proportion of casual games grew against the trend.
Looking back on 2023, due to the overall contraction of overseas markets, the normalization of domestic game versions, and the trend of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, reducing fat and increasing muscle, the revenue of Chinese games going overseas has declined, and the pace of going overseas has slowed down.
Figure 1: 2023 Actual sales revenue of China's self-developed mobile games in overseas markets, **Game Working Committee, Gamma Data (CNG).
Gamma data shows that in 2023, the actual sales revenue of China's self-developed games in overseas markets will reach 163$6.6 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 565%, declining for the second year in a row.
Figure 2: Proportion of revenue of the top 100 types of revenue in overseas markets of China's self-developed mobile games in 2022, **Game Working Committee, Gamma Data (CNG).
Figure 3: 2023 Proportion of China's top 100 types of revenue in overseas markets of self-developed mobile games, **Game Working Committee, Gamma Data (CNG).
However, in terms of the proportion of overseas income, in 2023 (Figure 3), the leisure category will account for 511%, becoming the fourth largest category in addition to strategy, RPG, and shooting, accounting for an increase of 332 percentage points, which is the category with the largest increase in proportion in 2023. This shows that overseas, the demand of a large number of players for lightly decompressed games is still not met. As we all know in the industry, overseas casual players have a greater potential to tap their ability to pay (which is why the side game routine can be popular).
In the mainland market, although the revenue has increased (gamma data: the actual sales revenue of the Chinese game market in 2023 will reach 30296.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 1395%), but the industry concentration has been further improved - the growth is likely to be the head and individual growth, such as "Crashing Iron", "Against the Cold", and "Yuanmeng Star", rather than the general rise of the whole. Waist and tail manufacturers, still facing fierce competition, are likely to be affected by the siphon effect of the head.
In such a situation, small games and light games have ushered in new opportunities for going overseas.
2) The "market jump" mode of the South China mini game runs through.
After the "training ground" of the mini game, the new force of the mini game represented by the manufacturer in South China has gradually run out of the mature path of [mini game app going to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other overseas markets].
According to the pace of this "market jump", it is expected that a number of popular models will continue to be born.
Among them, DataEye Research Institute predicts that the revenue of "The Legend of the Mushroom Brave" will exceed 100 million yuan in the first month of in-app purchase + advertising, and it may become the highest-grossing mini-game in the world. In 2024, this can be regarded as a landmark event.
This also brings more imagination to the capital market and entrepreneurs: that is, the upper limit of a mini game is no longer "small", and the vast overseas market can be hundreds of millions.
In 2024, the boom of mini games and medium and light games going overseas is expected to start!
In order to. Three. 7. South China game manufacturers represented by Yishi, Greedy Play, 4399, and Big Dream Longtu are becoming the backbone of this new wave of mini games going overseas!
3) The unique distribution model of South China Mini Games has taken shape.
This round of mini-game overseas craze is different from the previous big factories going overseas, which DataEye Research Institute calls the mini-game mode.
Manufacturers such as Tencent, NetEase, miHoYo, Lilith, and Eagle Horn go overseas, and DataEye Research Institute calls it a heavy mode.
The differences between the two are as follows:
1. In terms of project operation, the heavy model is a typical heavy asset, emphasizing localization, and willing to invest more abundant resources overseas; The mini-game mode is a typical asset-light, focusing on the coolness of the product itself, emphasizing the underlying human nature, but often does not have too many resources for comprehensive localization. After all, even if the small game project goes overseas, the profit is relatively thinner.
2. In terms of products, heavy mode projects often focus on traditional mainstream tracks (SLG, RPG, shooting, etc.), with high investment, high quality, high potential energy, and product strength "reaching the top in one step"; The realization is mainly based on domestic purchases, and ARPU is valued and LTV is expected to be extended. The mini-game mode project is often a medium and light product, and the product power is "small steps and fast running", and the innovative and integrated gameplay; Monetization is mainly based on hybrid monetization, focusing on acquisition cost, retention rate, and DAU.
3. In terms of experience, the heavy mode creates a sense of quality, exquisiteness, shock, and 3A for players, and builds an all-round audio-visual experience; The mini-game mode takes a different path, mainly focusing on easy decompression, leisure and entertainment, and lively and interesting experiences.
4. In terms of acquisition, the heavy mode emphasizes all-round and localized content marketing, and it is saturated, diversified, and high-exalted; The mini-game mode mainly revolves around performance advertising and influencer marketing, and often has a lot of "unique skills".
In recent months, mini games have also begun to do brand linkage and invite spokespersons, moving towards "integration of quality and efficiency". For example, Zhang Weijian's endorsement of Yishi's "Commercial City" (including the mainland mini game version, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan version). Heavy Mode Mini Game Mode The two modes are based on the product item, not the manufacturer. Therefore, it can coexist in a company, such as Sanqi Mutual Entertainment, Yishi, and 4399. They have many products, different products, different resources, positioning, business models, and different ways to go overseas.
The mini-game mode of the South China game is also very different from the much-criticized old game and new skin mode in the past.
The biggest difference is: The mini-game mode requires the integration and innovation of game products, and the theme of differentiation and painting style.
1. Integration and innovation, embodied in: placing open boxes, slime like, tower defense, mowing grass, meat pigeon like, and cards. and other popular small gameplay elements, such as "Adventure Operation" is slime + case opening + RPG development, and "Commercial City" is simulation management + arcade placement + case opening + cards.
2. The differentiated theme painting style is more obvious: the ugly and cute demon in "Seeking the Way", the stick graffiti in "The King's Finger", and the mushroom man in "Adventure Wars".
The mini-game mode provides a lower threshold, clearer, more feasible, and more high-quality way to go to sea. It is expected that some manufacturers will jump out of the quagmire of the old game and new skin mode and get rid of the label of "only doing traffic".
In the mini-game mode, manufacturers do not need to learn from the in-depth and comprehensive localization of large manufacturers, but have their own unique, focused, and more focused playing style - starting from the "acute angle" that leverages human nature.
As shown in the figure: DataEye Research Institute believes that an overseas market and unique cultural concept are formed by the mutual influence of four major parts, and the four factors are not a parallel relationship, but a relationship that continues to deepen and progress.
Localization, not the human aspect. This is because human nature is common in most markets! If it's human enough, localization doesn't need to be too in-depth and comprehensive. (Of course, basic translation, model adaptation and other operations are still required) see: Overseas localization, most people are wrong!
Even at the height of cultural output, the new round of mini games going overseas proves that the creative effect advertising can be linked with comedy entertainment, talent live broadcast, etc., to show more diverse, more interesting, and more contemporary Chinese entertainment aesthetics and whimsical ideas.
Cultural output should not only be sunny and snowy, ancient national style, quiet and elegant, but also young vitality, novel creativity, and popular trends.
Fourth, the game goes to sea again, and the "fast" lane dataeye research institute observes, looking at the domestic mobile games going overseas in the past 10 years, there are mainly three factors, three capabilities, and three roads: 1 fast, 2 deep, 3 wide.
1. Fast: market positioning and entry speed, identify the target market, and seize the first-mover advantage in time, such as funplus, Mutong, etc.;
2 Deep: Carry out in-depth product adaptation and in-depth operation for specific target markets, such as NetEase's deep cultivation in Japan;
3 Guang: Relying on overseas distribution capabilities to empower self-developed ** products, often popular models are replicable, typical such as.
Three. 7. Tencent, Diandian.
A specific manufacturer can have two or even three. At present, the successful manufacturers who go overseas are often not weak in the three capabilities, but they will be biased towards one or two core capabilities.
For example, the success of NetEase's series of games in Japan is essentially two deep: the success of products and operations in specific markets, and the core competency is products. However, NetEase's earlier 3 Guangzhou: distribution ability and explosive replication ability in Europe and the United States are actually weak, which directly leads to its overseas dependence on the Japanese market before 2021.
For another example, the initial success of Mutong Technology's "MLBB" is 1 fast: the success of market positioning and entry speed, the first-mover advantage and the advantage of a small package, resulting in a direct competition for the overseas version of "Glory of Kings" and missing a good opportunity in the Southeast Asian market;
For another example, the success of Sanqi's "Puzzles &Survival" is, on the one hand, 1 fast: market positioning and entry speed factors, and on the other hand, 3 wide: distribution ability and explosive replication factors. As for 2 deep: products, Sanqi has no self-developed advantages, and it makes up for it through ** products ("Puzzles & Survival" and "Song of Cloud City" are all **).
Why do you think it is difficult to do overseas in the past two years, in addition to the overseas market itself, you can also look at it from these three points:
1. Fast: The first-mover advantage is almost gone, and all segments of the foreign market have basically been seized;
2 deep: product adaptation and in-depth operation in specific markets are very difficult roads, which need to be deeply cultivated like NetEase;
3 Guang: The distribution ability and the replication of explosive models are only in the hands of a few manufacturers such as Tencent, Sanqi, and Funplus, and the best choice for other manufacturers is most likely to cooperate, such as "Tower of Fantasy" going overseas and Tencent publishing.
Mini games often integrate innovative gameplay, unique theme painting style, and unique hybrid mode, and Chinese manufacturers have a first-mover advantage to "break through quickly and win by surprise".
The most typical of the first two years is "Bullet Squad", and the past two years are a batch of mini-games. This batch of small games Light games go to sea, and the success rate is extremely high, which is the result of "rapid breakthrough and surprise victory".