The game market is becoming more popular
"Three Kingdoms" in the console markets of "Yu Sanjia" Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft; game manufacturers are highly polarized
Where to go on eleven?
Some nerds and nerds may really play games at home.
In 2020, the outbreak of otaku culture makes the game a "necessity" for players.
Behind this is that game makers are making money.
Tencent’s Q2 financial report data showed that its online game business revenue was 38.288 billion yuan, an increase of 40% year-on-year; NetEase’s Q2 financial report showed that its online game service revenue was 13.8 billion yuan, an increase of 20.9% year-on-year.
In addition to the two giants of Tencent and NetEase, game manufacturers including Sanqi Mutual Entertainment and Perfect World also experienced an explosion in revenue in the first half of 2020.
Not only game makers, but console game makers such as Sony and Nintendo are also profitable.
Nintendo relied on "Fitness Ring Adventure" and "Animal Crossing Friends" to drive the sales of consoles, and Sony's PS4 consoles were once sold out by players.
"The increasing popularity of the domestic game market will inevitably allow game manufacturers and game console manufacturers to place heavy bets on it." Game industry observer Ma Jing said, "Although mobile games now occupy the absolute mainstream, mobile games and terminal games are likely to appear in the future. , The scene where the console game segment market grabs players."
"Yu Sanjia" game console market competition
In the early morning of September 17, Sony held an online press conference to officially announce the launch date and price of its new generation of game console PS5, and released a number of first games.
The player Xiao Fei (pseudonym) said after watching the press conference that day, "somewhat moved."
Affected by the "home culture", more and more players are gradually returning to the game console market.
"Before, because of work, there was very little time to play game consoles." Xiao Fei told the Beijing News reporter that although he bought a PS4 as early as a year ago, he has been "ashamed" at home.
After the Spring Festival, more and more friends began to regain console games.
The epidemic has caused heavy losses in traditional industries such as offline entertainment, tourism, and catering, while the gaming industry has become one of the few affected areas. Game consoles also use this trend to re-engage the market.
A number of sellers selling game consoles told reporters that during the epidemic, there was indeed a wave of purchases, and both consoles and game discs were snapped up by players.
"Game consoles such as Switch and PS4 were sold out. Nearly 100 consoles were sold within a week." A seller said, "Although sales are now down, they have also increased significantly compared to before the epidemic." At that time, Nintendo included Nintendo. , Microsoft, Sony and other game console manufacturers have faced product out-of-sale conditions.
The reporter learned that although mobile games currently occupy most of the game market, players who are increasingly pursuing the essence of games are beginning to get bored with the quality of mobile games and gradually return to the console game field.
"Relative to the problems of uneven mobile game quality and constant demand for krypton gold, console games are more attractive to players in terms of image quality and playability," said Lao An, a host game player for many years.
The rebound in sales has allowed traditional game console manufacturers to see a larger market.
In September 2020, Microsoft announced the price of its Xbox Series X game console, which will be officially launched in November 2020.
Old rival Sony soon announced at its press conference that the PlayStation 5 will be released globally in November 2020.
"The two most mainstream game consoles are now online at the same time. In addition to the'great and grievances' accumulated over the years, there is also a trend to value gamers returning to the console game market, hoping to seize the opportunity." Game industry observer Ma Jing told reporter.
According to overseas media reports, within 24 hours after Sony opened the PS5 pre-sale, the inventory of multiple platforms including Wal-Mart and Best Buy was sold out.
Microsoft Xbox Series X opened pre-sales through multiple channels in North America, Japan and other places, and the inventory was sold out in just a few hours.
The continuous efforts of old rivals made Nintendo, which is also known as one of the "three royals" in the game console field, unable to sit still.
It is reported that Nintendo is preparing to launch a new Switch console to catch up with this wave of game console iterations and participate in this next-generation game console battle.
"King of Glory" is still the most attracting gold, dynamic and fitness are becoming a boom
"I don't plan to go out on National Day, and have fun with friends for a few days." Mobile game player Lin Bin (pseudonym) plans to stay at home for Golden Week.
According to the statistics of Qimai, in the first half of 2020, the top three in the iOS list of game APP gold attracting ability are still "Glory of the King", "Peace Elite" and "Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition".
In the Top10 list, only one new game "Sword and Crusade" entered the top ten, and the replacement of new and old head game products was relatively slow.
In the Top100 list, only 9 new games were launched in the first half of this year.
This year, it is impossible to ignore that console games have gained unprecedented popularity in recent years.
If you haven't heard of Dongsen and fitness ring, then you are really OUT.
This can also be seen from the unaudited results of the first quarter of fiscal 2021 (ie, the second quarter of 2020) announced by Nintendo in August.
Nintendo delivered the best quarterly report in history: net profit increased by more than 5 times.
Affected by the epidemic, Nintendo’s game consoles and game software sales have reached new highs.
In hardware sales, Switch Lite is the main growth driver. The sales of traditional home game console Switch is 3.05 million units, an increase of 43.5% year-on-year.
The best-selling of "Animal Crossing Friends" is the main growth driver of Nintendo's game software revenue in the second quarter.
In addition, the production capacity of "Fitness Ring Adventure" has been unable to keep up with the growth in demand since its release, especially during the period from March to May due to product shortages and sales decline.
According to the reporter's understanding, Switch games such as "Fitness Ring Adventure" and "Animal Crossing Friends", which have been popular in the game market since the beginning of the year, are still loved by players.
Dividends are concentrated on top players and game makers
The influence of "home culture" has made the polarization of the Chinese game market in 2020 more obvious.
"The game market in 2020 is really happy for a few players and a few worry." On September 25, game industry Wang Ke (pseudonym) said, "Big manufacturers earn more revenue, and small R&D teams are due to lack of version numbers and funds. The problem, the speed of dissolution has accelerated."
According to the China Game Industry Report from January to June 2020 issued by the Game Publishing Committee of the China Audiovisual and Digital Publishing Association, in the first half of 2020, the actual sales revenue of the Chinese game market reached 139.493 billion yuan, an increase of 22.34% year-on-year. Game revenue reached 104.673 billion yuan, contributing 75.04% of the game market revenue.
But the situation of the strong Hengqiang has not changed.
Tencent’s Q2 financial report data showed that its online game business revenue was 38.288 billion yuan, an increase of 40% year-on-year; NetEase’s Q2 financial report showed that its online game service revenue was 13.8 billion yuan, an increase of 20.9% year-on-year.
According to statistics, Tencent, NetEase, Sanqi Mutual Entertainment, Century Huatong and Perfect World, the top five in revenue in the first half of the year, accounted for 84% of the market.
"This means that the game market dividend is basically divided by the top five giants." Ma Jing, an industry observer, told reporters, "The waist and tail game companies are facing an extremely harsh situation."
According to data from the game industry media, game companies with revenues of less than 1 billion have seen more and more year-on-year declines in both revenue and net profit.
Among 59 listed companies, 30 companies have revenues of less than 500 million yuan, and 6 companies have revenues of less than 100 million yuan.
Many game practitioners once told the Beijing News that the reason for the decline in revenue came from the issue of version number.
In the context of total volume control, many products could not be advanced as planned, and eventually had to re-establish development plans.
What makes Wang Ke and other small and medium game practitioners anxious is that large companies can maintain a stable flow by relying on old games; but the long version number review has caused small and medium R&D teams to face the situation of unprofitable products, and may even be called off at any time.
On August 1, 2020, the Apple Store removed nearly 30,000 apps in China, of which 26,608 game products. These game apps were mostly removed because they did not have a version number.
"The uncertainty of the market has always been a cloud over the heads of small and medium-sized manufacturers." Wang Ke said that he once joined a peer WeChat group, which is mostly small and medium game developers, and now there are fewer and fewer people in the group. After inquiring, many people chose to leave because they could not make a profit.
In fact, the game industry does continue to heat up at an annual rate, and it is also attracting more and more large companies to enter the market.
Alibaba's Lingxi Interactive Entertainment's game "Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition" has reached the top three in the iOS rankings in the first half of 2020.
In March 2020, the sports competitive mobile game "Hot Blood Street Basket" released by ByteDance's Chao Xi Guangnian was launched, and once stood second on the APP Store free list.
"The entry of new giants will inevitably make the game market grow stronger. But the market dividend will always move closer to the big players." Ma Jing believes, "For small and medium game developers, the future path will either join the big players or leave. "
Beijing News reporter Qin Che