Reporter Li Zhe reports from Beijing.
As the game goes to sea and gradually enters the deep water area, the "Matthew effect" of the strong and the weak is always weak seems to be emerging.
Mobvista told China Business News that on the whole, the overseas market is gradually becoming more concentrated, and the competitive advantages of leading companies are more obvious. This may be due to the advantages of the leading company in terms of capital, technology and brand, as well as its deep cultivation and accumulation in overseas markets. With the further expansion of the share of leading companies in overseas markets, small and medium-sized game companies are facing greater challenges, and it is more difficult to "survive" than before.
According to the "2023 Annual Report on Chinese Games Going Overseas" released by the Game Working Committee of the China Audio and Digital Association and Gamma Data, although the global game market has recovered slightly, in 2023, the actual sales revenue of China's self-developed games in overseas markets will be 163US$6.6 billion, down 565%, which is the second decline after 2022, and the decline has widened.
Go to sea to get gold
In recent years, going overseas has become one of the directions for domestic game companies to work together.
On February 29, NetEase announced its 2023 financial report, and NetEase CEO Ding Lei mentioned at the ** meeting that we have studios in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom and other countries, which is inevitable for NetEase's overseas development. In 2022, Ding Lei once proposed that in the future, he hopes that NetEase's share in overseas markets can reach 40%-50%.
In addition, on January 29, Tencent CEO Ma Huateng said at the company's annual meeting that playing games overseas is Tencent's greatest hope for internationalization.
According to the "2023 Annual Inventory of Chinese Mobile Games Going Overseas" released by Sensor Tower, miHoYo's overseas revenue increased by 14% in 2023 and ranked first, and Tencent's mobile game overseas revenue increased by 13% and ranked second.
Mobvista told reporters that the slogan of going overseas has been shouted for many years, and the market is constantly changing, involving all aspects of categories. Taking mini games as an example, they have continued to develop in the past two years and have developed in a blowout in China. According to Reyun Data Analysis, a subsidiary of Mobvista, from the second quarter of 2023, the number of WeChat mini games has surpassed that of mobile game apps, and the overall amount of materials has more than tripled compared with 2022. Among them, IAP+IAA (hybrid monetization model) has attracted special attention, and explosive products have emerged in an endless stream. This category is in a state of "small lotus only showing sharp corners" overseas.
As more and more game companies look overseas, the contribution of overseas market growth is becoming more and more prominent.
According to Guotai Junan's statistics, as of February 1, 2024, 21 of the 27 companies in the A-share game industry have released 2023 annual performance forecasts, and most of them have improved their earnings. Among them, Shenzhou Taiyue's disclosure performance express report shows that the total operating income in 2023 will be 596.5 billion yuan, an increase of 24 over the same period last year11%;Operating profit 105.3 billion yuan, an increase of 69 over the same period last year09%。Shenzhou Taiyue said that the company's main products such as "Age of Origins" and "War and Order" have firmly ranked among the top in the overseas revenue ranking of Chinese game manufacturers, and the company's game business accounts for nearly ninety percent of the overseas revenue.
Competition intensifies
Although going overseas has provided new performance growth points for some game companies, on the whole, the competition in overseas markets is becoming increasingly fierce.
On February 26, the "January 2024 Monthly Report on China's Game Industry" released by Gamma Data showed that in January, the actual sales revenue of China's self-developed games in overseas markets decreased by 324%。
In fact, since 2022, the revenue of China's games going overseas has begun to decline. According to the "2023 Annual Report on China's Games Going Overseas", although the global game market has recovered slightly, in 2023, the actual sales revenue of China's self-developed games in overseas markets will be 163US$6.6 billion, down 565%, which is the second decline after 2022, and the decline has widened.
Century Huatong told reporters that in recent years, as various countries and regions have begun to pay attention to the development of the game industry, foreign countries have increased their support for the local game industry, and the supervision of imported products has become more and more stringent, including access conditions, privacy protection, payment compliance, etc. At the same time, as the number of players in mature markets is close to saturation, the cost of buying volume is increasing, and the market has begun to concentrate on high-quality products. In addition, while the dimension of Chinese games going overseas is broadening, the entry threshold for emerging markets is becoming higher and higher.
According to the "2023 Global Mobile Game Market Enterprise Competitiveness Report" released by Gamma Data, China, the United States, Japan, and South Korea are still the top four mobile game markets in the world, accounting for 77% of the global mobile game market size9%。In order to increase its own increment, emerging markets such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and South America have become an important direction for the development of global enterprises.
According to dataIn the 2023 list of China's top 30 game manufacturers and applications by overseas revenue released by AI, nearly half of them performed well in the SLG (strategy game) track. Among them, Diandian Interactive's "Whiteout Survival" has become the biggest dark horse in this category in 2023, contributing more than 50% of the total revenue share of publishers.
Despite the fierce competition overseas, the overseas revenue of leading game companies is still growing. In the above dataIn the top 30 list released by AI, a total of 27 mobile game publishers will successfully exceed $100 million in overseas revenue in 2023, among which miHoYo surpassed Tencent and topped the overseas revenue list for the first time.
In this regard, Mobvista told reporters that on the whole, the overseas market is gradually becoming more concentrated, and the competitive advantage of leading companies is more obvious. This may be due to the advantages of the leading company in terms of capital, technology and brand, as well as its deep cultivation and accumulation in overseas markets. With the further expansion of the share of leading companies in overseas markets and the greater challenges faced by small and medium-sized game companies, it is more difficult to "survive" than before.
How to solve the problem
Although competition in overseas markets continues to intensify, domestic game companies have not stopped going overseas.
Industry insiders said that with the increase in overseas areas, Chinese manufacturers need to adapt to the characteristic policies and relevant laws of more different markets. Most Chinese game companies are still in the early stage of global operation, and the management of reserves is insufficient, and what cannot be done or not done well needs to be further explored. For example, the European and North American markets have strict laws and policies on the protection of personal information, and it is necessary to strictly abide by local laws and regulations and be cautious about risks in different markets.
In fact, continuous innovation and rapid iteration are powerful tools for the continuous development of domestic mobile games. A person from a game company said that with the intensification of the trend of mobile games in the game market, the domestic game market has accumulated such as rapid iteration, many mobile game business models, rich experience in paid design, and a huge R&D team and personnel reserves. The advantages in these areas will gradually become apparent.
The reporter noticed that party games will develop rapidly in 2023, among which "Egg Boy Party" will be a success. Talking about applying domestic experience to overseas markets, Ding Lei said: "The fun of games is the same all over the world, so the innovation success we have achieved in China can also be applied overseas. ”
Century Huatong said that although there are many game products in China going overseas, the current change speed of head products is slow and lacks the support of explosive new products, which requires manufacturers to improve their gameplay innovation capabilities. In the past two years, the integration of gameplay has become a major trend in game innovation, especially the combination of SLG games and other hardcore game genres.
Century Huatong gave reporters an example, the company's Diandian Interactive with the gameplay design of simulation management + RPG + SLG, coupled with the theme of ice and snow survival, successfully turned "Whiteout Survival" into a popular product. Although the gameplay framework of "Whiteout Survival" is still a cok-like SLG game, through the story packaging and the "survival pressure" naturally formed under the theme of ice and snow apocalypse, the player experience is very smooth and clear in the "wasteland" stage, no longer just pursuing numerical improvement, and can greatly retain more "simulation management" enthusiasts.
According to the special research on the media industry released by the League of Nations, the main driving force for Chinese games to go overseas in the future comes from three aspects, one is the "mobile" process of the overseas game market: domestic mobile games account for nearly 75% of the game market, while global mobile games account for only 45% of the game market, and there is still a lot of room for penetration. The second is to increase the penetration rate in subdivided categories: In the future, domestic game companies are expected to expand their circle of competence in addition to traditional advantageous categories such as SLG and MMO, and increase the penetration rate in categories such as leisure, gaming, and even longer-term sports competitions. Third, the penetration rate in long-tail countries and regions has increased, and in addition to the top markets such as the United States and Japan, the market share of domestic games in long-tail countries and regions is still expected to increase.
In addition, industry insiders say that in addition to the quality of the game itself, effective marketing and promotion activities are crucial to the success of the game in overseas markets.
When talking about how small and medium-sized game companies can better "go global", Mobvista suggested that they can avoid the competition of leading companies and achieve differentiated competition by finding market segments and specific user groups. At the same time, more informed choices need to be made based on the team's genes.