How many Ultramans are there today? Some say 68, others say 74, but I'm not curious about how many there are, because Ultraman in childhood has and only Tiga
Just as the sun pierces through the night, the dawn creeps across the horizon. When I think of Tiga, my head will pop up with the melody of "Miracle Reappearance". As a post-90s generation who grew up watching Tiga's figure in childhood, Ultraman Tiga has always been a symbol of divine justice in his heart. Stand up", as if the immersive feeling is still unforgettable, and the shining Tiga is also the light of the hearts of children all over the world. Now the Tiga that makes us believe in the light is gone
In their place are dozens of Ultraman "pickpockets" created by capital, whose only goal is to empty the pockets of the flowers of the motherland.
Before: "As long as you believe in the light, anyone will be Ultraman".
Now: "As long as you believe in the light, you will be able to pocket the light".To get back to the point, at the end of January this year, Zhejiang Card Game Culture Communication*** referred to as "Card Game" has officially submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, intending to be listed on the main board.
The founder of the company, Li Qibin, founded the Beatles Group in 2001, the main business is the domestic animation toy industry, and then many subsidiaries have been established in many places across the country, one of the many subsidiaries "Card Game" was born in 2011, and then began to contact the card business, but in the early days of the establishment of the card game, there was almost no sound, the turning point occurred in 2018, after the card game took the IP authorization from the domestic ** business Shanghai "Xinchuanghua" company of "Ultraman Tiga", One series after another, "Ultraman Cards" were produced.
So far, 274 trading card series and 28 stationery series have been launched. Moreover, the target audience of Ultraman cards is not only elementary school students, but also some specific adult consumer groups. In 2022, in the ranking of China's top five pan-entertainment product companies in terms of total merchandise transactions, card games ranked second. According to the description in the card game prospectus, the first is Lego, which was established in 1932, the third is Disney, which was established in 1923, the fourth is Bubble Mart, which was established in 2010, and the fifth is Bandai Namco, which was founded in 2005. In the domestic trading card subdivision industry, card games are 710% of the market share ranks first, and more than ninety percent of the revenue contribution comes from "Ultraman IP".
From 2021 to the first three quarters of 2023, the gross profit margins of card-intensive cards were: 9% and 712%；Revenues were 21700 million yuan, 39300 million yuan, 167.5 billion yuan, accounting for the total revenue of the same period. 8%, the abnormally high gross profit margin and growth trend are comparable to the "money printing machine".
Change "vanishing".
What does the three-year revenue of card games rely on for nearly 10 billion? Of course, it is to hollow out the New Year's money and pocket money of elementary school students
Why can a small card drive a primary school student into madness?
Then it is inseparable from the card game deliberately emphasizing the attributes of "philately", "blind box" and "social" (inducing consumption), so as to stimulate players' purchases. Ultraman cards have now become a kind of "social currency" for elementary school students. Whichever child can have an SSR-level Ultraman card, then his "status" in the class will rise sharply, and he will gain the envy of his classmates. Conversely, if there are no high-level Ultraman cards, then his position in the class will be marginalized, prompting him to ask his parents for money to buy more Ultraman cards.
Before, some Xianyu users hung out a "Ultraman Deluxe One Bullet SSR003 Extreme 9."5", the price is as high as 5555 yuan. And introduced: "The super ceiling of a luxury mile, if there is a limit 9 in a set of SSR."5 is completely able to raise the height of your entire SSR, and only one machine cannot be missed."
Last year, there was a "Ultraman Ob Wisdom and Courage Form Card", which was auctioned for a sky-high price of 100999 yuan.
The year before last, the head of the family was on the hot search for "spending 2 million and still not collecting Ultraman cards for his children", and two million won the "reputation" of netizen card kings
Why are some cards so expensive? Speaking of the "philately" attribute of card games, there are always a few cards in each set of cards that are particularly difficult to draw, resulting in their scarcity. Due to the random matching of cards of different rarities in the card packs purchased by players, the random experience of "opening blind boxes" stimulates players' desire to buy, and it is difficult for adults to control, let alone young students.
Card game worries1.Card games that rely too much on the popularity of a single business "Ultraman IP" have questionable performance sustainability.
Unlike the trendy toy company Bubble Mart, most of its revenue comes from its own or exclusive IP, and most of the IP of card games is obtained by licensing, although card games are currently trying to incubate their own original IP "Card Game Three Kingdoms", but at present, there is little success, and whether it can conquer the market in the future is still a question mark.
According to its prospectus, the validity period of the exclusive authorized IP of Ultraman Card Game is until 2029, and after the expiration of the licensing agreement, it is necessary to sign an agreement with the copyright owner again. In the future, if the IP license cannot be renewed, how can card games that rely on "Ultraman cards" for ninety percent of their revenue deal with themselves? 2.Regulatory scrutiny hangs like a sword.
In June 2023, the "Guidelines for the Code of Conduct for Blind Box Business (Trial)" was officially released, which also reflects that the regulators have begun to strengthen their scrutiny of blind box business activities, and may become more comprehensive and strict in the future.
Relying on primary school students to collect cards to collect cards for three years with a revenue of 10 billion card games, if it is really successfully listed, think about it will be exciting, so stay tuned!