1. Core viewpoints:
1. YOOZOO Three Kingdoms-themed mobile games join the battlefield, SLG categories are differentiated, and competition intensifies
According to data from Youzi.com, Youzu.com’s latest strategy card masterpiece “Young Three Kingdoms: Zero” will be officially launched next Thursday (November 12). The game currently ranks fifth on the reservation gang, with nearly 100,000 reservations and a rating of 8.7. For this game, market attention continues to rise, not only because of the considerable popularity of the "Three Kingdoms theme" in recent years, but also because of the exploitable value of YOOZOO's own "Young Three Kingdoms IP".
The previous "Young Three Kingdoms" and "Young Three Kingdoms 2" were the mainstays of Youzu's financial reports, but in recent years, the revenue capacity of this IP product matrix has been declining. According to Youzu’s Q3 financial report, profit in the first three quarters of 2020 was 560 million yuan, a decrease of 20.56% from the same period last year. Jinghe believes that the performance of "Young Three Kingdoms: Zero" launched in the fourth quarter may be directly related to the performance of YOOZOO's Q4 and even annual financial reports.
However, judging from the current competitive situation of "Three Kingdoms SLG" in the domestic mobile game market, it is not easy for "Young Three Kingdoms: Zero", which is also in the strategy category, to win a place. Tencent's "Under the Great Dream" continues to invest in purchases and is currently ranked ninth on the iOS strategy list; NetEase's "Land of the Land" has been on the iOS bestseller list for five years since its launch, with DAU and revenue reaching new highs, and the player ecosystem is stable; Alibaba's "Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition" and "Three Kingdoms Fantasy Continent" are frequent visitors on the purchase list. Although their rankings have fluctuated recently, they are still among the top 20 bestsellers. Not only that, "Three Kingdoms: Unparalleled Power", which is exclusively represented by Kuaishou, will also land in the domestic market at the end of this year.
2. The monthly active users of WeChat mini-games are nearly 244 million, and the growth rate has dropped 32.1% year-on-year. We need to find the next "jump" game.
According to the WeChat Mini Program Ecological Insight Report, as of September 2020, the monthly active scale of WeChat Mini Games has reached 244 million, with a growth rate down 32.1% year-on-year. Jinghe believes that WeChat mini-games urgently need a "jump-and-jump" game to re-ignite players' enthusiasm in order to maintain the stability of the user base.
At present, WeChat mini games have moved away from the period of rapid growth and entered a period of maturity and stability. At this stage, optimization of refined operations is important. The official also urgently needs the next "jump" to activate players' enthusiasm.
On November 7, 2018, the WeChat Mini Game Creative Encouragement Plan was officially released. On November 10, the "Small Game Developer Academy" will go online to celebrate the "Second Anniversary of the Creative Encouragement Program". The content of this activity includes face-to-face communication between players, high score cheats for creative exploration, commercialization of creative exploration, etc. The creative mini-game "Orange Cat Detective Agency" chief designer, the "Eradication Virus" game team and other star creative teams will be present to reveal the development process, commercialization experience and other experiences of creative mini-games.
3. Kuaishou went to Hong Kong to submit a prospectus for IPO, and the first short video brother is about to be born
On the evening of November 5, Kuaishou officially submitted an IPO prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. If this IPO is successful, it is expected to become the “first short video stock”. According to the prospectus, Kuaishou’s revenue from 2017 to 2019 was 8.3 billion yuan, 20.3 billion yuan and 39.1 billion yuan respectively. In the six months ended June 30 this year, revenue was 25.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48%. .
The prospectus disclosed Kuaishou’s revenue structure. At present, it is still a company that relies heavily on live broadcasting. As a content product, Kuaishou could have developed advertising as one of its main sources of revenue. However, Kuaishou's deliberate weakening of media attributes and its brand tone that favors users in lower-tier markets have affected actual advertising revenue. In the first half of this year, advertising accounted for only 32% of Kuaishou’s overall revenue, while Douyin’s advertising revenue is said to have exceeded 90%. Compared with advertising, e-commerce is most likely to become Kuaishou’s next fertile revenue source.
4. Activision Blizzard announced that all its IPs will be mobile games, which may completely change the international mobile game market situation.
According to foreign media reports on November 2, at the recent financial report meeting, the president of Activision Blizzard stated that it will eventually turn all its IP into mobile games. Although PC and consoles are still the main platforms of Activision Blizzard, the natural attributes of krypton gold determine that mobile games are even more cash cows. It is emphasized that mobile game transplantation is a meaningful investment and is very, very important to the company. In fact, the "Call of Duty" mobile game launched a year ago has been downloaded more than 300 million times. It started final testing in the domestic market last month and invited Jay Chou to be its spokesperson.
In addition, the "Diablo Immortal" mobile game developed by Blizzard and NetEase for more than two years is about to be tested, and "Crash Bandicoot: Full Throttle" will be launched next year. As for other IPs, "Overwatch", "World of Warcraft", "StarCraft", "Sparrow", "Tony Hawk Skateboard", etc., all have considerable commercial value. If all mobile games are successful, they will surely create a brand that can change the market. The "Blizzard Mobile Game Matrix" of the situation.
5. The first batch of game version numbers were issued in November, and the products of 8 A-share companies received version numbers.
On November 5, the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration showed that the first batch of domestic game version numbers for November had been issued, with a total of 78 games.
Among them, a total of 8 A-share listed companies (or their affiliated companies) have obtained licenses for their game products, including Sanqi Interactive Entertainment’s “Eternal Saint Ruins”, Glacier Network’s “Dawn Attack”, Dianhun Network’s “Yuan Neng Out of Control”, Kaiying Network's "Legend of Blue Moon 2", Phoenix Media's "Time Spirit Hunting", Zhejiang Digital Culture's "Dream Tycoon", Anhui New Media's "Sword Soul", Jinke Culture's "Bullet". "Adventure Commune" by Hong Kong-listed Xindong Company also received a version number.
2. Tracking product status in domestic and foreign game markets
Mainland China market
In the domestic market, from November 2 to November 7, 2020, in the IOS game best-selling list, the top spot is still undoubtedly won by "Honor of Kings". As a game that has been online for five years, "Honor of Kings" still has considerable dominance in the domestic mobile game market. At the fifth anniversary commemoration event "Kings of Co-Creation·Glory Ceremony" held last weekend, the official announced that its daily active users exceeded 100 million, indicating strong development potential.
NetEase's "Westward Journey" performed strongly this week, beating two blockbuster products "Peace Elite" and "Tianya Mingyue Dao", and won the second place on the list for two days. According to Jinghe, "Westward Journey" has launched a week-long "Gift Pack Value Purchase" event since November 5, with limited in-app purchase gift packs available four times a day. This may be the reason for its rapid rise in rankings. reason.
The living space of "Peace Elite" continues to deteriorate. Since last week, the second position on the list has been no longer guaranteed. This week, it failed to enter the top two of the list. It was even squeezed out of the top five yesterday. "Tianya Mingyue Dao" still maintains strong competitiveness. Although the ranking dropped for some time due to the influence of "Westward Journey", it still ranked second on the list for three days.
Alibaba's "Double Three Kingdoms", now only "Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition" is struggling to support, and it only entered the Top 5 ranks for one day.
In addition to the above-mentioned products, this week also includes Eagle Point Network's "Arknights", Lilith's "Awakening of Kingdoms", MiHoYo's "Genshin Impact", Bilibili's "FGO", and Gigabit Celadon Digital's "The Strongest Snail" Enter the list.
Hong Kong market
In the best-selling list of IOS games from November 2 to November 7, 2020 in the Hong Kong market, Junmeng Games’ new product "Ragnarok: The Birth of a New Generation" still maintains strong competitiveness and continues to dominate the list this week. Only one day was pushed out by "Paradise M".
It is worth mentioning that Lilith's "The Awakening of Nations" performed well in the Hong Kong market this week, ranking among the Top 5 for four consecutive days.
Taiwan market
In the best-selling list of IOS games from November 2 to November 7, 2020 in the Taiwan market, Junmeng Games' new products "Ragnarok: The Birth of a New Generation" and Kunlun Wanwei's "Three Kingdoms" successfully dominated the best-selling list for the entire week of the top two.
As analyzed by Jinghe last week, gambling, chess and card categories performed very well in the Taiwan market. This week, "Star City" ranked third on the list for four days, once again confirming the unique category preference of the Taiwan market.
US market
In the U.S. IOS game best-selling list from November 2 to November 7, 2020, only two products from domestic manufacturers, Tencent’s “PUBG” and “Name Summon Mobile”, were on the list. Both "Genshin Impact" and "State of" that were listed last week fell off the list.
Japanese market
In the best-selling list of IOS games in Japan from November 2 to November 7, 2020, the products of NetEase, MiHoYo, Youta Network, Youai Interactive Entertainment and other manufacturers entered the Top 10 ranks.
Among them, NetEase's "Knives Out" showed unprecedented competitiveness. It was in the top 10 of the list for a whole week, and it was ranked in the top 5 for 5 days. In the Japanese market where two-dimensional, card and other categories are popular, "Knives Out" can achieve such results. Perhaps its marketing model and activities have certain reference value.
Korean market
In the Korean IOS game best-selling list from November 2 to November 7, 2020, Lilith, MiHoYo, and DeNA all have games on the list. Among them, "The Awakening of Nations" performed best, rising to the second place on the list.
indian market
In the Indian IOS game best-selling list from November 2 to November 7, 2020, mobile games from Tencent, Longchuang Yuedong, TOP GAMES and other manufacturers entered the Top 10 list.
Since "PUBG" withdrew from the Indian market, the best-selling list situation has been in a state of "divided power". This week the strategy category "Clash of Clans", the FPS category "Free Fire" and "Call of Duty: Mobile" all topped the list. "Civilized Empire" under TOP GAMES performed well this week, reaching the Top 5 ranks many times, ranking highest at second place.
3. Volume buying market
From the perspective of the overall market, the main battlefield for buying volume from November 2 to November 7 is still the leading SLG mobile game.
Hot Cloud data shows that during the period, Lilith's "Awakening of Nations", Alibaba Interactive Entertainment's "Three Kingdoms Fantasy Continent", "Three Kingdoms: Strategic Edition", and Tencent Games' "Under the Great Plan" were all on the list.
As analyzed by Jinghe last week, the SLG category will not continue to invest in high purchases due to its long-term buying demand characteristics, but will follow a certain cycle. This week, Alibaba's "Three Kingdoms·Strategy Edition" and "Three Kingdoms Fantasy Continent" rose rapidly in the purchase rankings, taking the second and fourth places on the list, and the number of creative groups launched also ranked among the top.
The casual game "Fall in Love with Match Match" is worthy of attention. Since Jinghe started counting the weekly purchase list (7.19), this match-3 game owned by Modu Interactive Entertainment has almost never fallen off the purchase list. According to Jinghe’s understanding, “Love Xiaoxiaoxiang” has some built-in online earning framework, and you can accumulate cash withdrawals by watching advertisements and playing games.
4. Tracking of game version number approval status
As of November 8, the State Press and Publication Administration has issued a total of 1,139 game licenses, including 1,084 domestic game licenses and 55 imported game licenses.
Specifically for each month, the game version numbers issued from January to October 2020 are: 100, 106, 129 (imported 27), 110, 109, 55, 112, 85 (imported 28), 188, 67, 78.
On November 5, the official website of the State Administration of Press and Publication showed that the first batch of domestic game licenses were released in November, with a total of 78 games, including "Eternal Saint Ruins" by Sanqi Interactive Entertainment, "Dawn Attack" by Glacier Network, and TV series "Yuan Neng Out of Control" by Soul Network, "Legend of Blue Moon 2" by Kaiying Network, "Time Spirit Hunt" by Phoenix Media, "Dream Tycoon" by Zhejiang Digital Culture, "Sword Soul" by Wanxin Media, Jinke Culture's "Bullet Raiders" and so on.
Compared with only 67 games released in the whole month of October, the first batch of version numbers in November undoubtedly gave major game manufacturers a reassurance. According to Tencent’s official news, this batch includes “Sand Gate”, “Angry Warriors” and “Eileen Psalms” produced by Tencent’s publishing company Hangzhou Zifu Network Technology Co., Ltd., and its partner Chengdu Yingzhong Jiuzhou Network Technology Co., Ltd. "Eternal Spirit Sealing Technique".
5. Major events of the week
Industry News:
November 2: "Peace Elite" officially announced Yang Chaoyue, Wang Yibo, Hua Chenyu, Dilraba Dilraba, etc. as spokespersons for Peace Elite. It is worth mentioning that this is the first time that the mobile game "Peace Elite" has found a celebrity as its spokesperson.
November 2: According to foreign media reports, at a recent financial report meeting, the president of Activision Blizzard stated that it will eventually turn all its IP into mobile games.
November 3: Guangzhou Nast Information Technology Co., Ltd., an affiliate of Nast Games, changed its shareholders and added Guangxi Tencent Venture Capital Co., Ltd. It is understood that the company is a mobile game developer and is committed to creating content-oriented works targeting market segments and focusing on hard-core players. Its representative works include "Shiro no Monogatari", "Turbo Boy", and "Corgi Run" wait.
November 4: An official announcement was issued, stating that the company's server had been accessed by a third party without authorization, and no evidence that user data and information had been stolen has been found. It is reported that unlike previous large-scale attacks by hackers, this time the hacking operation targeting internal servers was aimed at internal data.
November 5: The official website of the State Press and Publication Administration released the first batch of approved domestic games in November. A total of 78 games passed the review this time. Mobile games that have passed the review include Youka Network’s “Werewolf Showdown”, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment’s “Eternal Sacred Ruins”, Thunder Games’ “Icefield Guardians”, etc.
November 6: Tower report shows that Tencent's "Tianya Mingyue Dao" mobile game has an estimated revenue of nearly 50 million US dollars in the first week after it was launched on October 16. It ranked among the top three best-selling mobile games in China in October. Driven by this game, Tencent’s mobile game revenue increased by 14% month-on-month in October.
November 8: Foreign media confirmed that the available capacity of PS5 will be just over 650GB and equipped with a custom 825GB solid-state drive, but not all of the capacity can be used to install games. According to current news, PS5 will be released on November 12.
E-sports news:
November 2: The first e-sports Shanghai National Championship kicked off, and the online registration channel opened simultaneously. This is an important e-sports event held in the "e-sports city" Shanghai after the 2020 League of Legends Global Finals. , is also a cultural and sports event for all people to participate in.
November 7: The QQ Speed Mobile Game S League Autumn Finals came to an end, and the QG team defeated RNG.M to win the championship. During the game, there were occasional rematches due to occasional bugs.
November 8: The Northeast Region Finals of the "Honor of Kings" national competition kicked off in Laobei City. This Tencent E-sports Games Shenyang event is the first time TGA has been held in a northern city, and it is also a high-level e-sports event hosted by Shenyang.
Next week (11.9-11.15) major manufacturers will open beta games
According to statistics from Youzi.com, popular manufacturers that will launch and test products next week include NetEase Games, Zhaoxiguangnian, Xishanju, Aurora Project, Youzu.com, and Yedao Games.
Xishanju's "Jianwang 3 Fingertip Game" is the latest product matrix expansion of "Jianwang IP". Currently, the number of official reservations has reached 2.28 million, ranking 21st on the reservation list. According to current intelligence, this game is different from the usual "auto chess" games, adding a lot of innovative gameplay and PVE modes, which has greatly improved its monetization capabilities.
Youzu.com’s “Young Three Kingdoms: Zero” is also the latest in the IP product matrix. Youzu.com's "Young Three Kingdoms" and "Young Three Kingdoms 2" have always been important pillars of its revenue. However, due to various problems, its performance in recent years has not been optimistic. "Young Three Kingdoms: Zero" may be responsible for the future of Youzu. .
Generally speaking, the products of major manufacturers will explode on Thursday next week, and we will know which one is better and worse.
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