How long can a single mobile game with a monthly income of 92.8 million US dollars game go to the sea "absorption of gold"?
During the outbreak of the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client on May 16 (Zhao Jiaran), many "house dwellers" chose to use games to spend their free time, and this transformation has also become an opportunity for domestic games to export overseas.
Recently, a number of companies engaged in the gaming business have announced their first quarter financial results, and some of them have performed well in the overseas gaming business. The report shows that in the first quarter of this year, the overseas revenue of China's self-developed games reached US $ 3.781 billion, an increase of more than 30% from the previous month. According to industry analysis, the overseas business of games may continue to maintain a high growth rate in the second quarter, but the fierce competition in overseas markets will also bring risks to corporate performance.
Photographed by the new latitude and longitude Zhao Jiaran
Game overseas "fishing for gold"
The Sino-Singapore Jingwei client card found that some of the leading companies' revenue in the game business in the first quarter of this year ushered in growth, and the contribution of game revenue overseas is more obvious.
Recently, Tencent's first-quarter 2020 performance report showed that Tencent's revenue in the first quarter was 108.05 billion yuan, and the value-added service business, including the game business, grew 27% year-on-year to 62.429 billion yuan in the first quarter. Among them, online game revenue increased by 31% to 37.298 billion yuan, the financial report said that the increase mainly reflects the increase in the domestic smartphone game revenue contribution and the contribution of overseas games.
"PUBG Mobile" US official website screenshot
According to data from Sensor Tower, a mobile application data analysis company, in January of this year, Tencent's game "PUBG Mobile" received nearly US $ 83 million in overseas revenue, an increase of 35.6% from the previous month and an increase of 79.8% from the same period last year, and reached a new high in April at 92.8 million US dollars. As of March 15, 2020, "PUBG Mobile" had more than 515 million downloads overseas.
Another gaming leader, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, had revenue of 4.343 billion yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 33.76% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies surged 60.4% year-on-year to 729 million yuan. According to the company's 2019 annual report, its overseas business revenue accounted for 8% of total revenue, at 1.049 billion yuan. In 2020, the company plans to release more than 20 games in overseas markets. It will continue to lay out the Japanese and Korean markets and expand the European and American markets. According to the global revenue ranking of Chinese mobile game publishers published by Sensor Tower in March 2020, March 7 Interactive Entertainment's monthly revenue increased by 33% year-on-year, ranking among the top 10.
The global gaming boom has also been regarded as a "life-saving straw" by some companies. According to media reports, Dalian Tianshen Entertainment Co., Ltd. plans to quickly develop and publish online game earning products overseas, and based on this product, establish a game earning matrix and build its own traffic business platform.
The announcement shows that Tenjin Entertainment's revenue in 2019 was 1.335 billion yuan, a decrease of 48.63% over the previous year. The net loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies reached 1.198 billion yuan, and it has been in a state of loss for two consecutive years. Since May 6, the company's stock has been implemented "delisting risk warning", the stock abbreviation changed from "Tianjin Entertainment" to "* ST Tianyu". Prior to this, the company's main business, in addition to game competition business, also included mobile application distribution, advertising, film and television entertainment, etc.
Going out to sea is not the "ace" of game manufacturers
In recent years, many game manufacturers have tried to deploy overseas business. With the increase of incoming players, overseas games are also facing increasingly fierce competition.
Take Zulong Entertainment's IPO in Hong Kong this year as an example. Its revenue in 2019 and 2018 is not as good as that in 2017. The average monthly active users dropped from 4.293 million to 3.442 million in 2019, a decrease of 19.77%. At the same time, Zulong Entertainment's overseas business revenue accounted for 17.8%, 22.0% and 32.2% from 2017 to 2019, respectively, and the proportion of revenue from the mainland declined accordingly year by year. Zulong Entertainment said, "We may not be able to maintain and expand our game player base or maintain player participation through our games."
The game company IGG tried to enter Russia, Germany and other markets in 2008, relying heavily on overseas markets. According to App Annie, a mobile application analysis platform, the company is ranked fifth in the "Top 30 List of Chinese Mobile Game Manufacturers in 2019". However, in 2019, the company's total revenue and net profit both fell by more than 10% year-on-year, and the game "Kingdom Times", which is the mainstay of revenue, generated a total of about 539 million US dollars, with revenue accounting for 80.7%, a decrease of 10% year-on-year.
The financial report shows that in 2019, IGG's revenue in Asia was US $ 287 million, down 17% year-on-year, North America's revenue was US $ 175 million, down 12% year-on-year, and Europe's revenue was US $ 168 million, down 1.4% year-on-year.
According to the "Investigation Report on the Game Industry during the Epidemic Prevention and Control Period" released by Gamma Data, during the period from January to March 2020, there were 10 domestic enterprises whose turnover increased by more than 50% year-on-year. Among the top 30 overseas companies that have reported overseas turnover income, 60% of them have achieved year-on-year increase in revenue, while 27% of enterprises have experienced a decrease in turnover income compared with last year.
Industry views point out that the overseas game market has formed a differentiation between mature and immature markets. As the market competition intensifies, the performance of games going overseas may be affected to some extent. The entry of head game companies may also squeeze the waist and tail companies. Living space.
Industry: The second quarter is expected to continue to grow, and the domestic operating capacity can be copied
According to the "China Game Industry Report for the First Quarter of 2020" written by the China Game Industry Research Institute and Beijing Zhongyu Think Tank Consulting Co., Ltd., in the first quarter of 2020, the actual sales revenue of China's independent game development overseas market reached US $ 3.781 billion. The chain increased by 31.19%, achieving rapid growth.
Among them, in the distribution of income in key overseas regions, the United States has the highest revenue share, reaching 29.80%, Japan ’s revenue share is 23.38%, South Korea ’s 14.40%, and the three regions account for 67.58%.
The actual sales revenue of China's independent research and development game overseas market. Source: China Game Industry Research Institute, Beijing Zhongyu Think Tank Consulting Co., Ltd.
Under the catalysis of the home economy, game manufacturers have received a wave of dividends, and the next trend in the overseas game market is more interesting.
Guosen Securities said in the research report that from the perspective of R & D capabilities, market dividends bring employees dividends, the enhancement of domestic manufacturers' diversification capabilities and "overseas IP + Made in China" all help overseas expansion. In terms of operational capabilities, overseas channels are simpler than domestic channels, and the long-term operational capabilities and buying experience of domestic manufacturers can be copied. In terms of channel capabilities, the rise of TikTok in Europe, America and other regions has brought new overseas channel dividends. The improvement of the above three capabilities has helped the "group-style charge" of domestic game manufacturers.
Western Securities analysis said that the global game pipeline increased rapidly in the first quarter, and it is expected that it will continue to maintain a high growth rate in the second quarter. In terms of segmentation, Chinese game companies have a relatively low share of mature markets such as Japan, South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, but have higher growth rates; in emerging markets such as India, Russia, Brazil, and Indonesia, Chinese mobile game publishers The share is already in a leading position. In addition, casual games belong to the headline category in many overseas markets, but they are currently not the main source of revenue for China Mobile's games, and they have the potential to further explore market opportunities in the future.
Liu Chungang, secretary general of the Beijing Animation Game Industry Association, said that in the current period of epidemic prevention and control entering a normal period, the housing economy is gradually expanding, which also provides opportunities for the game to "go overseas." At the same time, the game industry has also undertaken corresponding social responsibilities. Liu Chungang believes that games can also be used as a platform to bring culture to the world and promote overseas, and this requires the joint participation of governments and enterprises. (Sino-Singapore Jingwei APP)
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