Our reporter Li Haoyue

  If you want to talk about the hottest cartoon in 2022, the animation "Cyberpunk: Edge Walker" adapted from the game "Cyberpunk 2077" must be on the list.

  On November 29, Polish game manufacturer CD Projekt announced its financial report for the third quarter of 2022. The company’s sales in the third quarter were PLN 245 million (about 390 million yuan), a year-on-year increase of 70%; net income was PLN 98.704 million. Zloty (about 160 million yuan), a year-on-year surge of 504%.

CD Projekt stated that this is the company’s record third-quarter financial report in history, mainly due to the launch of the animation “Cyberpunk: Edge Walker”, which made “Cyberpunk 2077” explode again and the number of players surged.

  Zhong Kai (pseudonym), who is responsible for the IP business of a well-known domestic game company, told the Securities Daily reporter that there are not uncommon cases of game IP adaptation animations, and the world's top game companies are expanding related content.

Nowadays, more and more companies realize the benefits of animation to enhance the commercial value of game IP, and actively invest in it.

  High-quality animation awakens the game IP again

  CD Projekt is a listed game company in Poland, and is famous all over the world for the "Witcher" series of games.

In December 2020, the 8-year-old "Cyberpunk 2077" game was officially launched, and the company's market value reached its historical peak before the game was released.

In December 2020, the market value of CD Projekt once exceeded PLN 40 billion (approximately RMB 64 billion), and it was considered the most valuable game manufacturer in Europe at that time.

  However, after experiencing the game, players found that there were many flaws in the finished game of "Cyberpunk 2077", which caused CD Projekt to fall into the question of "exhausted talent" after the game was released, and its market value shrank severely.

In July 2022, the market value of CD Projekt once fell below PLN 10 billion (approximately RMB 14.25 billion).

  Fortunately, the animation "Cyberpunk: Edge Walker" adapted from "Cyberpunk 2077" will be launched in September 2022, thus saving "Cyberpunk 2077".

After the animation was broadcast, "Cyberpunk 2077" reached 1 million active players for four consecutive days, and sales exceeded 20 million copies.

  It is reported that "Cyberpunk: Edgewalker" has entered the top 10 of Netflix (Netflix) in 19 countries and regions, which has had an important impact on the sales of the game itself.

In the future, the company will launch more game-adapted film and television works.

  It is not uncommon for game IPs to rely on animation to achieve word-of-mouth counterattacks.

  In November 2021, the animation "League of Legends: Battle of Two Cities" broadcast on the Tencent video platform won multiple awards around the world. Tencent 100% holding.

  It should be noted that "League of Legends" has been online for more than 10 years and is facing the crisis of losing players.

According to statistics from the data website lolalytics, since the launch of "League of Legends: Battle of Two Cities", the appearance rate of main characters has increased significantly in all segments.

  A "League of Legends" player introduced to the "Securities Daily" reporter that there are hundreds of characters in the game. According to the game settings such as the ranking system and the rune system, the combat power of different characters is different. The characters with relatively strong combat power, The player usage rate is higher and the appearance rate is also high.

The two heroines of the animation "Battle of Two Cities" are unpopular characters in the game, and players generally seldom use them before the broadcast.

For example, Jinx, one of the heroines, only appeared in 7% of the games before the animation started, but after the broadcast, the appearance rate exceeded 17%.

  Zhong Kai said that animation and games are two carriers of work expression. Creators can use a variety of forms to interpret the same story setting from different aspects, presenting the wonderful things that the original work failed to show, making the game IP content is more vivid.

"From a commercial point of view, animation and games have many conversion possibilities in the industry and business chain, and it is easy to achieve a complementary win-win result. Including "League of Legends: Battle of Two Cities" and "Cyberpunk: Edge Walker" Well-made animation works not only won the recognition of many players, but also attracted many peripheral audiences who are not familiar with the game, expanding the influence of the game.”

  The ACG industry chain is further opened up

  In recent years, domestic game companies have plunged into the tide of game animation.

  Tencent Games and NetEase Games have produced animated shorts for their popular mobile games Honor of Kings and Onmyoji, respectively.

  Among the "Shanghai Four Little Dragons", three companies are trying to animate games.

In 2020, the animation version of the game "Love and the Producer" under Diezhi officially launched. The company recently revealed that the animation studio under Diezhi is creating and developing animated films based on its own game IP; the game "Tomorrow's Ark" under Eagle Point Network "The animation works will be launched in 2022, and the company has also established an animation studio; Mihayou announced in September 2022 that its game "Yuanshin" will co-produce the animation of "Yuanshin" with the world-renowned animation company UFO.

  "In the game industry, whether it is console, PC, or mobile games, it is often necessary to produce all kinds of wonderful CG animations. These animations play a role in promoting the game, and the production team can also use these short films to construct the world view of the game, supplement Character character. In addition, game animation has its unique value: on the one hand, it is not only an important direction of IP development, but also conducive to the improvement of the value of game IP, and has a positive effect on the long-term operation of the game. After all, the game as a carrier always has a certain Limitations, animation is a different direction that everyone is actively exploring outside of the game; on the other hand, high-quality animation can also increase the chance of game dissemination and 'breaking the circle'." The relevant person in charge of Stacked Paper told the "Securities Daily" reporter .

  The popular IP naturally provides a great help to the sales of derivatives.

  A fan of game peripheral products who did not want to be named told the "Securities Daily" reporter, "Now the income of game manufacturers not only depends on games, but game peripheral derivatives are also an important source of income. Limited peripherals are hard to grab, and many people have to go to second-hand platforms to buy them at high prices. Before a certain game anniversary, I spent more than 1,000 yuan on character peripheral derivatives, and there are many players who spend tens of thousands of yuan in the player group.”

  On November 2, Zhang Keshuai, general manager of Bilibili’s e-commerce business department, mentioned at the CTE China Toy Fair that the ACG (animation, comics, games) peripheral derivatives industry mentioned that in recent years, the overall scale of the ACG industry Continued expansion, the overall market size is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan in 2024, and the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the next three years is expected to reach 28%.

Reflected in the ACG content and consumption areas.

In 2021, the total market size of domestic hard/soft peripheral derivatives will reach 36.6 billion yuan, accounting for 74% of the total sales of content derivatives.

  Zhang Keshuai also said that Generation Z mobile Internet users are the main consumers in the ACG market.

The size of this group is close to 328 million people, and it is estimated that by 2023, they will contribute 66% of the online entertainment market consumption.

  The financial report shows that Bilibili is a well-known ACG community in China, and the sales of ACG derivatives have also added a lot to the company's performance.

  In 2021, Bilibili's e-commerce and other business revenue will be 2.8 billion yuan, an increase of 88% year-on-year, and the proportion of revenue will expand to 15%.

According to the financial report for the third quarter of 2022, Bilibili e-commerce and other business revenues reached 765 million yuan.

  Zhong Kai said that in recent years, content creation upstream companies have formed a complete industrial chain around IP and completed the re-creation and dissemination of IP.

The future trend is that various manufacturers in the game industry will gradually build a relatively complete industrial structure.

Developers use rich peripheral content creation to expand the attractiveness and influence of the game.

And use this to build an all-round product ecosystem to create a long-life cycle "boutique game".

  "Game animation is a refined long-term operation. There are works such as "Tomorrow's Ark: Prelude to Dawn" that focus on the main storyline, as well as works that incorporate a large number of player cultures such as "Heroes of Heroes and Bravery". These different forms, the actual Above all, new carriers are used to improve and satisfy the different experiences of players.” Zhong Kai further said, “Similarly, with the expansion of the entertainment trendy industry, fields such as figures and peripheral derivatives are becoming more and more popular in the entertainment industry. attention. Copyright owners/copyright owners are paying more and more attention to the opening and commercialization of the downstream industrial chain." (Securities Daily)