As the quality of games improves, the size of mobile game packages has also continued to expand in recent years, which has given rise to the boom in game compression, hot updates, and subcontracting businesses. Studies have shown in the early years that game packages are directly proportional to user conversion rates and inversely proportional to download volume. The Play Store also prohibits the uploading of packages above 100M.

Android 12 allows you to play games while downloading them, and you can enjoy them in China as early as 2022.

But banning it alone is not a problem. For the sake of player experience, a recent document pointed out that Google will add an "incremental file system" to Android system 12.0. According to the explanation, the incremental file system "is a specialized Linux virtual file system that can execute programs simultaneously during the process of downloading files through the network and transferring files via USB." In other words, users can run an application or game before downloading it, similar to the "watching and downloading" implemented in online videos.

This also means that when downloading some large-scale games such as "Honor of Kings", players can enter the game faster. With faster Internet speeds, it may even be possible to achieve a "click-to-play" effect close to that of small games, improving Experience improves conversions.

According to the predictions of members of the XDA Developers community, the "incremental file system" is likely to be integrated into the future Android system 12.0. The probability of Android 11 and the current Android 10 being included is smaller.

According to the annual update frequency of the Android system, the earliest implementation of this function will have to wait until 2021. Considering that the domestic Android system is even slower, the final time for domestic developers and players to enjoy this function will probably have to wait until 2022 Years later.

There have been applications on the host side for a long time, and the domestic technology is more mature.

However, the "incremental file system" is actually not uncommon in the game industry, and has already been used in mature applications.

The game is huge, with dozens of gigabytes or hundreds of gigabytes. Console game platforms such as Xbox One and PS4 use similar technology. The working principle is that after the player chooses to download the game, he first downloads the main program framework to ensure that the game can be opened, and the background Then download the remaining data packages that will not be used in the early stage of the game (such as later equipment, maps, etc.).

Mobile games have also adopted a similar function, that is, game sub-packaging. The manufacturer divides and compresses the game package into multiple packages. For a game with more than 1G, players only need to download an installation package of hundreds or even dozens of MB to enter first. game. Mobile game subcontracting is currently divided into two types: static and dynamic. The latter can already achieve "playing and downloading", which can reduce churn and improve advertising conversion.

At present, there is Lebian (Zhuomeng Technology), a low-level technical service provider that focuses on game subcontracting in the domestic market. In 2018, Lebian Vice President Fu Gang revealed to "Interface" that the company achieved 40 million yuan in revenue in 2017 and is expected to exceed 60 million yuan in 2018. iResearch Capital stated that the penetration rate of Lebian’s B-end products among leading customers in the mobile game industry has reached 80%.

If the Android system comes with its own subcontracting, it will inevitably have a certain impact on the domestic subcontracting business market. But for now, the impact may be limited. On the one hand, it will take a long time for Android 12 to be popularized in China; on the other hand, technology has always been a process of continuous development, with the changing needs of players and developers, as well as the changing needs of businesses. The rewards will also allow domestic technical service providers to run faster and further.