Guangzhou e-sports: "out of the circle" and "out of the sea"
The effect of improving the industrial chain and the considerable profit on the promotion of cultural output should not be underestimated
From a cultural symbol exclusive to young people, it has evolved into a focus that can arouse the attention of the whole people, and e-sports is constantly "out of the circle".
On November 5th, 8 e-sports events including League of Legends and Glory of Kings were included in the official events of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, marking the recognition of Chinese e-sports events in Asia; November 7th, in the League of Legends S11 In the global finals, the EDG team from China won the championship, attracting countless young people's all-night carnival, and various methods of celebration blasted social platforms. Many authoritative media including CCTV also congratulated the e-sports champion.
Behind the intense e-sports competitions, it reflects the rapid development of China's e-sports industry in recent years-China's e-sports games are not only popular in the domestic market, "e-sports going to sea" has also become a new form of foreign trade and cultural communication.
It is understood that Guangzhou has now built a relatively complete e-sports industry chain.
Lin Yunfan, president of the Guangzhou E-sports Industry Association, told reporters that in the future, Guangzhou will build a game research and development highland in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a live-streaming capital of e-sports in China and a world-famous e-sports city.
Xiong Shuo, a professor of game science at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, told reporters that China’s games currently have a higher share in the overseas market. Compared with the domestic market, many domestic game companies have long aimed their sights on the global market. Just out of the game.
Text and picture/Guangzhou Daily All-Media Reporters Wu Wei and Cheng Yilun
"Fundamentals" of the industry:
Strong profitability and complete industrial chain
Lin Yunfan told reporters that there are currently 43 e-sports companies registered by the Association.
These companies cover event operations, education and training, clubs, game development, software and information technology services.
In 2020, Guangdong’s e-sports industry revenue will reach 119.76 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.5%. In 2020, the Guangdong e-sports game market will exceed 113.1 billion yuan; Tencent, NetEase and many other leading enterprises in the research and development of home appliance competition games.
Speaking of Guangzhou, Lin Yunfan said that Guangzhou's e-sports industry chain has been basically completed, which is also a solid foundation for Guangzhou to build a game research and development highland in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China's e-sports live broadcast capital, and a world-famous e-sports city.
The upstream of the e-sports industry is game manufacturers.
Lin Yunfan introduced that Guangzhou currently has a number of well-known domestic game manufacturers such as NetEase Games, Sanqi Mutual Entertainment, and Duoyi Networks, as well as leading domestic e-sports voice tool development companies such as Quwan Networks. There are "Fifth Personality", "Fantasy Westward Journey", etc. A variety of well-known domestic self-developed e-sports games.
The revenue and profits of Guangzhou game manufacturers are very impressive.
The relevant person in charge of Sanqi Mutual Entertainment told reporters that the company achieved operating income of 12.111 billion yuan in the first three quarters of this year, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 1.721 billion yuan. In the third quarter, net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 867 million yuan. Revenue increased by 7.27% year-on-year, gross profit margin reached 84.82%, and net profit margin reached 14.07%.
The third quarter report disclosed by NetEase shows that NetEase's online game services achieved a net income of 15.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%. The gross profit margin of online game services in the third quarter of 2021 was 64.5%.
The person in charge of Sanqi Mutual Entertainment believes that Guangzhou’s game industry is well-known throughout the country. Guangzhou already has industrial advantages in the industry chain of game development, operation, and live broadcast. E-sports is an important link in the entire industry chain. Therefore, Guangzhou is in this field. There is also strong competitiveness.
The midstream of the e-sports industry is e-sports.
Lin Yunfan introduced that currently the two local professional leagues of "Fifth Personality" and "Fantasy Westward Journey" have landed in Guangzhou. Among the top domestic e-sports teams, the Guangzhou TTG Kings of Glory has settled in Guangzhou, which also makes Guangzhou the No. Four home cities for e-sports.
According to the "2021 China E-sports Sports Industry Development Report" released by Tencent, China's e-sports revenue in 2020 has exceeded 2.3 billion yuan, making it the world's largest market. In 2021, the number of domestic e-sports users will exceed 425 million.
The downstream of the e-sports industry is e-sports live broadcast. Lin Yunfan introduced that in this area, Guangzhou has a number of leading e-sports live broadcast companies such as Huya and CC Live, and the development momentum is also very fast.
The financial report for the third quarter of 2021 shows that Huya's total revenue was 2.976 billion yuan, an increase of 5.7% year-on-year, and its net profit was 524 million yuan, an increase of 107.1% year-on-year.
The relevant person in charge of Huya told reporters that the e-sports live broadcast industry is one of the first to land and verify the latest technologies such as 5G, AI, VR, AR, and ultra-high-definition.
"Technology-driven" is the company's philosophy. In recent years, the company has continued to make efforts in real-time content creation and live broadcast interactive technology. User viewing experience.
Take the live broadcast of e-sports events as an example. On the one hand, the company has continuously improved the user's watching experience through live screen technology upgrades; on the other hand, it has tapped a variety of AI technology methods to package and process events to enrich the content supply.
The person in charge also said: “Guangzhou has the positive factors required for the development of the e-sports industry, such as an excellent e-sports game R&D team, a head live broadcast platform, various investment operations and e-sports professionals, a large consumer group and a consumer environment, etc. Factors, I believe that with the promotion of the Hangzhou Asian Games next year, the e-sports industry will usher in an upsurge in the development of the e-sports industry."
The game "Go to Sea"
Some companies account for more than a quarter of their overseas income
The reporter found in the investigation that with the completion of the industrial chain construction, going abroad and sailing to the sea are becoming the development direction of more and more Guangzhou e-sports enterprises.
At the Canton Fair that just passed in October, digital trade exports became the focus of heated discussions among many experts. Wang Yiming, vice chairman of the International Economic Exchange Center and former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told reporters: It is the onlineization of service trade, including digital games, animation, music, film and television, etc. The export of virtual products such as digital games requires vigorous advocacy and support when the epidemic is still uncertain."
The reporter's investigation found that Guangzhou game companies have already made arrangements for "going out to sea".
According to the relevant person in charge of Sanqi Mutual Entertainment, in terms of helping culture go overseas, the company has explored a set of digitally empowered cultural communication experience, starting with game themes, gameplay content, promotion materials, etc., and empowering and revitalizing China through digital forms Traditional culture stimulates global users' interest in experiencing, feeling and even exploring Chinese traditional culture from products.
In the first half of this year, the company's overseas business revenue was 2.045 billion yuan, accounting for 27.12% of the revenue; the total number of new registered users exceeded 30 million, and the highest monthly active user exceeded 40 million.
Xiong Shuo, a game lecturer and master tutor at the School of Journalism and Information Communication of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, told reporters that a small number of phenomenal game works such as "Original God" have appeared in China.
It is reported that in overseas markets, the transcript of "Original God" is not bad: in terms of product sales, it went on sale on September 28 last year, and a month later, it has garnered US$245 million worldwide as a multi-platform game. , "The Original God" has set a new record for the highest monthly revenue of mobile games in the world with a monthly revenue of only US$341 million on the mobile terminal; in terms of quality, it has twice been listed on the "Game Industry Oscar" TGA Best Game Nominate.
"As the e-sports industry develops and grows, it also assumes greater responsibilities. As a member of the emerging industry closest to the youth group, and as a bridge connecting overseas and communicating with the world, e-sports has the obligation to guide and Carry forward more benign and positive aspects, and also export China's cultural power to the world." Lin Yunfan said.
E-sports culture communication
"In the future, we need to insist on high-quality research and development"
With 8 e-sports events including League of Legends and Glory of Kings being included in the official events of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, the cultural communication function brought by the game's "going out to sea" cannot be underestimated.
Xiong Shuo believes that my country still has a long way to go to promote the cultural communication function of e-sports.
"The quality of the game is the most important. At present, domestic games can get good profits by operating and recharging. However, many games only have elements of national style and cannot reach the level of cultural dissemination."
"This is similar to a movie. A domestic film gains word-of-mouth revenue and it gains a high box office. Therefore, from an artistic point of view, the overall quality of Chinese games needs to be improved." The high-quality development of the digital content industry in China is the general trend. Especially in the future world competition, games can play a more role in enhancing the country’s soft power, and its significance and energy may exceed our imagination. Therefore, the game industry should be more important. Face up to one's own role in spreading culture."
At present, in addition to Chinese companies producing national style games, many overseas teams are also making related products, especially the "Three Kingdoms" series of games, which have even become the flagship product of a Japanese game company.
Xiong Shuo said: "If you want to let the culture go out through the game, you must first improve the quality of the game. The relevant departments can appropriately optimize the game version number approval and content approval, encourage game companies to go overseas, and guide the game content from'capital flow is king. 'Turning to'Culture and art is king'; on the other hand, game designers should not only be limited to part of the history, but should be fully expanded. In particular, they should pay attention to the spread of modern Chinese stories, and change the game theme from a single ancient, martial arts, etc. Expansion to show a comprehensive image of China; in addition, users also need to improve their humanities and game literacy, so as to optimize the basic soil of the game industry. Only in this way, the game industry can match the international first-class level and carry out a stable cultural output. "
The relevant person in charge of Sanqi Mutual Entertainment also said: “For the game industry, high-quality R&D is still a work that needs to be adhered to in the future. As a highly creative industry, games should continue to increase technological R&D and application innovation through high-quality products. Research and development to enhance market competitiveness. Guangzhou’s game industry is well-known throughout the country. In recent years, competition in the game inventory market has become increasingly fierce, and the proportion of research and development of boutique games needs to be higher and higher."
Multi-modal guidance
Let young people participate in e-sports
The reporter's investigation found that, in order to guide young people to participate in e-sports, many e-sports companies have also adopted a series of anti-addiction measures.
The relevant person in charge of Huya said that the platform guides young people to participate in or watch e-sports competitions healthily and happily, and creates a good network environment for young people. For example, the "product curfew" function is launched, which cannot be used every day from 22:00 to 6:00 the next day. ; Restricted functions. After turning on the "Youth Anti-addiction Mode", interactive operations such as recharging rewards, purchase exchanges, and barrage comments cannot be performed.
The person in charge of Sanqi Mutual Entertainment told reporters: Judging from the company's user data statistics in the most recent year (as of September this year), domestic minors (under 18) accounted for less than five out of ten thousand recharges.
"As one of the first game companies in the industry to launch a real-name system and anti-addiction system, the company has fully integrated into the national-level real-name authentication system, and all its self-operated online games have also launched an upgraded version of the'game real-name registration and anti-addiction system for minors. System', the implementation of'limited play','limited charge' and'curfew' for minor user accounts."
Lin Yunfan said that e-sports games are a very popular medium. What we learn from watching e-sports is not only the operation, but also the Olympic spirit of unity, friendship and fair competition in e-sports.
For example, the documentary "E-Sports in China" jointly filmed by CCTV and Tencent E-sports, and the 2021 LPL annual documentary of "League of Legends" jointly created by Tencent Sports and Bilibili, all of which showed e-sports to teenagers. The focus is on unity, competition, persistence, sweat and tears.
Digital "talk" e-sports
Eight e-sports events, including League of Legends and Glory of Kings, have been included in the official events of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
In 2020, China's e-sports revenue has exceeded 2.3 billion yuan, making it the world's largest market. In 2021, the number of domestic e-sports users will exceed 425 million.
In 2020, Guangdong's e-sports industry revenue will reach 119.76 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.5%. In 2020, the Guangdong e-sports game market will exceed 113.1 billion yuan.
Guangzhou currently has well-known domestic game manufacturers such as Netease Games, Sanqi Mutual Entertainment, and Duoyi.com, and has developed many well-known domestic self-developed e-sports games such as "Fifth Personality" and "Fantasy Westward Journey".
The e-sports industry chain in Guangzhou is becoming more and more complete. More and more e-sports companies in Guangzhou are actively "going out to sea". In the first half of this year, overseas revenues accounted for more than 1/4 of total revenue.