First, the core viewpoint
1. According to TikTok's ban standards, foreign media are worried that League of Legends and Fortnite may also be banned
Recently, with US President Joe Biden signing the Tiktok "ban if you don't sell" bill, it has attracted widespread attention in the industry. Among them, foreign media gamesindustry said in a report that if TikTok will be banned, products such as "League of Legends" and "Fortnite" with the background of domestic game companies may also be banned.
The speculation stems from the criteria for the presidential ban: the company makes a website or app that allows users to create or share real-time communications such as text, images, videos, voice chats, or other such content, that the site or app has at least 1 million monthly active users for at least two months in the past three months, that the company is located in a foreign adversary country, or that parties located in that country directly or indirectly own 20 percent of the company's shares.
By this standard, Tencent currently owns about 35% of Epic's shares, and Fortnite has more than 45 million monthly active users. It is reported that shortly after the announcement of the above news, an Epic representative said that in the worst-case scenario, Tencent would have to sell 15% of Epic's shares. In addition, Tencent acquired League of Legends developer Riot Games in 2011, which could be even trickier if things don't go well.
2. Youzu Network released its 2023 annual report and 2024Q1 financial report, turning losses into profits and entering a period of full-speed development
On April 28, Youzu Network released its 2023 annual financial report and 2024 first quarter report. According to the report, in 2023, the company will achieve revenue of 1.625 billion yuan, net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies of 91 million yuan, and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies after deducting non-recurring gains and losses of 75 million yuan, both of which will turn losses into profits. In addition, the overseas revenue in 2023 will reach 1.031 billion yuan, accounting for 63.41% of the total revenue, and in the first quarter of 2024, the revenue will reach 335 million yuan, and the net profit after deducting non-recurring gains and losses will be 23.0429 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 292.07%, ushering in an upward performance inflection point.
During the reporting period, Youzu Network continued to deepen the "Global Card+" strategy, effectively strengthened its global distribution capabilities and the quality of products under development through a series of management reforms and efficiency improvement measures, and enhanced the efficiency and profitability of the company's research and operation through AI technology. In terms of new products, a number of self-developed products such as "Scarlet Echoes", "Mountains and Seas Mirror Flowers" - Return, and "New Tomb Robbery Notes" have performed well in the distribution of new regions around the world. In terms of operating products, "Youth of the Three Kingdoms" and "Youth of the Three Kingdoms 2" and other products that have been online for many years returned to the growth track in the second half of the year, "Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming" PC revenue achieved double-digit growth, and the subsidiary BigPoint also saw double growth in revenue and profit for the first time after the acquisition.
In 2024, it plans to promote "Young Journey to the West 2", "My Three-Body Problem: 2277", "Vice Nation", "Codename: A", "Age of Alien Beasts" and a number of mini games in various regions around the world. In the future, Youzu will also strengthen the frequency of new product releases.
3. The sales volume of the Manor Lord exceeded one million in a single day, and the peak of 170,000 online at the same time on Steam created the history of urban construction games
On April 26, the medieval-style city-building game Manor Lords launched the EA version. Within a day of its release, the game sold more than a million copies. Publisher Hooded Horse also posted that the peak number of simultaneous online users of "Manor Lords" on Steam has exceeded 170,000, which is the highest in the history of a city-building game.
From the perspective of gameplay, the game integrates a variety of gameplay systems such as city building, simulation management, and RTS battles, similar to the combination of "Total War" + "Cities: Skylines", with in-depth and detailed city building, large-scale battles with tactical depth, and complex economic and social simulation.
It is worth mentioning that Hooded Horse previously released a video of the company's CEO Tim Bender announcing "Manor Lord" on Station B. While a group of Chinese players were shocked by their fluent Chinese, some players were even more surprised to find that this game developed with Unreal Engine 4 and realistic graphics was actually developed by developer Slavic Magic over a period of seven years.
Overall, although "Manor Lords" is still in the EA stage and does not provide online for the time being, judging from the content of the game itself and market feedback, the game has already shown very strong playability and potential. Some netizens have even speculated that after the construction of Palu, "Manor Lord" is expected to set off a new trend of urban construction in the game circle, and perhaps it will not be long before there will be a head game company to invest.
4. There is no masterpiece on May 1st, and the summer file of "encirclement and suppression" before and after the Tengwang Mikulo tour department
Compared with last year's May Day, there is also miHoYo's "Honkai: Star Dome Railway", and this year's May Day new game market is slightly deserted. However, with the recent announcement of a number of blockbuster games, this summer may be the strongest game summer in recent years.
For example, this week, Tencent Games announced that "Dungeons & Warriors: Origins" (i.e., "DNF Mobile Game") will be officially launched on May 21, and NetEase Games "The Lord of the Rings: Strife" and "Octopath Traveler: Overlord of the Continent" are all announced to be launched on May 16. In addition, miHoYo's "Jeopardy Zero" has been listed on the Apple App Store, and the information shows that it will be officially launched on July 4.
According to the order of launch time, the products that are currently highly concerned by the market are: NetEase Games "Octopath Traveler: Overlord of the Continent" and "Lord of the Rings: Strife" on May 16, Tencent Games "Dungeons and Warriors: Origin" on May 21, "Singing Tide" by Kuro on May 23, Tencent Games "Dawn of the Stars" (expected) on May 24, NetEase Blizzard "World of Warcraft" national server in June, miHoYo "Jeopardy Zero" (expected) on July 4, NetEase Games "Sixteen Voices of Yanyun" on July 26, Game Science on August 20 Black Myth: Wukong.
Judging from the above lineup alone, this year's summer file can be said to be "encircled and suppressed" by head manufacturers/products before and after.
5. A small group confirmed that he was arrested and appeared on Weibo's hot search, and it was rumored that Douyu CEO Chen Shaojie had been released on bail pending trial
On April 22, according to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, the well-known Douyu anchor "Xiao Tuantuan" was confirmed to be arrested. As the news spread on social media platforms, the next day, #一小tuantuanTuan confirmed the arrest# on Weibo's hot search.
According to relevant media reports, a person familiar with the matter revealed that the reason for the arrest of "Xiao Tuantuan" was suspected of large-scale gambling and was related to the Chen Shaojie case. In addition, Chen Shaojie, the founder and CEO of Douyu, has been released on bail pending trial, and some legal sources have estimated that Chen Shaojie's specific sentence may be 5-7 years based on the circumstances of his case.
With the arrest of Chen Shaojie before, a number of head anchors including dog thief, PDD, Da Sima and other head anchors suspended the live broadcast, in addition, during the period, Xu Xu Baobao, Zhang Daxian and other head anchors also jumped from Douyu to settle in Douyin. This has somewhat affected the operations of Betta, which was worth more than $3 billion at the beginning of 2021 and has now evaporated by more than 90%.
2. Tracking of products in the domestic and foreign game markets
- 2.1 The list of games in the domestic market
Chinese mainland market
Chinese mainland market, April 22, 2024 - April 27, 2024 iOS game best-selling list, "Glory of Kings", "Peace Elite" and "Genshin" reached the top.
Recently, with the release of operational content such as the 5th anniversary brawl gameplay of Tencent Games' "Peace Elite", the appearance of the Dune Master series, the special forces of the Dune Lord, and the 5th anniversary theme song "The Flame That Never Goes Out", the game has been active and in-game consumption has been stimulated. Since April 26, Peace Elite has dominated the iOS best-selling chart for 2 consecutive days.
Similarly, on April 24, miHoYo's Genshin Impact 4.6 version "The Two Worlds Are on Fire, the Red Night Will Go Out" was updated, and the new character [Arethino] and the replica character [Linny] appeared. With the support of cyclical operation content, the game topped the best-selling list on the day the new version was launched.
In addition, on April 25, NetEase Games "The Fifth Personality" updated the "Little Nightmare" linkage, "Little Girl" Rare Fashion-Little Six, "Little Girl" Rare Items-Remote Control and other content, which helped the game break into the Top 10 of the best-selling list. On April 24th, "Crystal Nucleus" launched the "Flying Sand Journey" version, with the launch of a new main map "Floating Settlement", a new team battle [Sand Shadow Black Nest] and a series of activities of the Song Ye Festival, and the game once again entered the top 10 of the best-selling list after nearly three months.
Hong Kong market
Hong Kong, China, April 22, 2024 - April 27, 2024 - In the best-selling list of iOS games, the meta-fun game "Last War: Survival", miHoYo's "Genshin Impact", and "Goddess of Victory: NIKKE" published by Tencent Games Level Infinite developed by shift up topped the list.
This week, Zhicheng Interactive Entertainment's card game "Dao Tianlu" broke into the top 10 best-selling iOS games in Hong Kong. The work adopts the integrated gameplay of "simulation management + team RPG", which is similar to the basic form of "Seeking the Dao" published by Sanqi Mutual Entertainment. Last year, the mini-game version of the work achieved good results in the WeChat Xianxia mini-game track.
In addition, NetEase Games' "All-Star Street Ball Party", Perfect World's "Persona: Phantom of the Night", Mutong Technology's "Realm Watcher", XD Network's "Let's Go Muffin", Diandian's Interactive "Frost Apocalypse", Hunting Ground Network's "Spell World", and Boyaa Interactive's "Happy Fight" and other products have also successfully entered the top 10 on the list.
Taiwan market
April 22, 2024 - April 27, 2024 - In the best-selling list of iOS games, the metafun game "Last War: Survival", miHoYo's "Genshin Impact", and Tencent game "Goddess of Victory: NIKKE" topped the list.
In addition, Tencent Games' "Legend Showdown", NetEase Games' "All-Star Street Ball Party", "Peak Speed", XD Network's "Let's Go Muffin", Dewdrop Game "Pandora: Prophet of Destiny", Diandian Interactive's "Frost Apocalypse", Zhicheng Interactive Entertainment's "Dao Tianlu" and other products entered the top 10 on the list.
- 2.2 The list of games in major overseas markets
U.S. market
April 22, 2024 - April 27, 2024 in the iOS market, miHoYo's Genshin Impact, Diandian Interactive's Frost Apocalypse, Yuanqu Entertainment's Last War: Survival, and TOP Games' Civilization Empire entered the top 10 best-selling list.
Japanese market
April 22, 2024 - April 27, 2024 in the best-selling list of iOS games in the Japanese market, miHoYo's "Genshin Impact", "Honkai: Star Dome Railway", Tencent Games "Goddess of Victory: NIKKE", NetEase Games "Wilderness Action", Yuanqu Entertainment "Last War: Survival", Youxing Network's "Sparrow Soul" and "Azure Files", Diandian Interactive "Frost Apocalypse", Music Elements "Idol Dream Festival Music", 4399 "Legend of the Mushroom Brave" and so on entered the Top 10.
Korean market
April 22, 2024 - April 27, 2024 in the Korean market, in the best-selling list of iOS games, Yuanqu Entertainment's "Last War: Survival" has continuously dominated the list. In addition, Tencent Games' "Goddess of Victory: NIKKE", "Genting Game Mobile Game", Diandian Interactive's "Frost Apocalypse", 4399 "Legend of the Mushroom Brave", and miHoYo's "Genshin Impact" entered the top 10 of the list this week.
Indian market
India: April 22, 2024 – April 27, 2024 – PUBG Mobile India continues to lead the best-selling iOS games list. Among the domestic games, miHoYo's Genshin Impact, Diandian's Frost Apocalypse, TOP GAMES' Civilization Empire, and FunPlus' Stormshot: Isle of Adventure entered the top 10 best-selling lists.
3. WeChat mini games
On April 26, in the top 10 list of best-selling mini games on WeChat, "Seeking the Dao" developed by Yanqu Games and published by Sanqi Mutual Entertainment continued to lead.
As the mini game market continues to be hot, the domestic game market pattern, users and manufacturers' R&D ideas seem to be changing in the past two years. Compared with last week's statistics, this week's giant online legendary mini-game "King's Journey" ranked 6th among the best-selling mini-games on WeChat. In September last year, Juhot Network announced three products under development, among which "King's Journey" is an H5 game.
Judging from the overall situation, Sanqi Mutual Entertainment, which received the bonus of the mini game earlier, is still the main force in the mini game market. However, as more and more companies join this battle for volume, there are many Diandian Interactive ("Endless Winter" - "Frost Apocalypse" national service) under the listed company Century Huatong, and the entrepreneurial team Fuzhou Blue Amber ("Fingertip Peerless", simulated operation + SLG) and so on.
Fourth, the buying volume market
According to DataEye data, in the list of domestic game purchases in the past 7 days, mini games are still the protagonists.
Among them, Sanqi Mutual Entertainment's "Seeking the Dao" WeChat mini game continues to be significantly ahead of other products. "Shooting at Zombies" published by Big Dream Longtu has carried out large-scale purchases on both the APP side and the mini game side, and has also achieved excellent results. In addition, two new Douyin mini games have been added to the top 10 of this week's buying list: Honey Badger Workshop "Lying Flat Development" and ByteDance's "Ancient Book Treasure Hunt".
5. Tracking of the approval of the game version number
On April 26, the National Press and Publication Administration released the approval information of domestic online games in April, and a total of 95 games were issued version numbers.
These include Tencent Games "Carbon Island", NetEase Games "Broken Land" (a Chinese-style wasteland-themed open-world PVE shooter "Codename: 56" developed by Beiluo Shimen Studio), Kuaishou Game "Endless Dream Back" (an action meat pigeon game "Codename: Sleepwalking" developed by Hangzhou Studio of the Snap Universe), Zulong "Dragons: Kassel's Gate", Tuyou "Three Kingdoms: Ice Age", "Click Knight", "Castle of Convenience" and so on. In addition, NetEase Games "Diablo Immortal" and Lilith "High Light 84" have added a new application client version.
According to competition statistics, as of April 28, a total of 474 game versions will be issued in 2024. There are 428 domestically produced games and 46 imported games.
In terms of product innovation, on April 25, Tencent Games "Sword and Spirit Nostalgic Suit" was officially open beta, returning to the 2013-2014 "Water Moon Plain" version, and the commercial model adopted the season system. As of April 28th, Tencent and NetEase have both launched 2 new products (excluding products such as nostalgic clothing), and Lilith, Stacked Paper, Eagle Horn, FunPlus, Perfect World, and Station B also have a new work on the market.
For the field of game investment, there is no new news this week.
Sixth, the major event of the week
Domestic industry dynamics:
April 24: Supercell's New Climb
A few days ago, Supercell released a new title "Squad Busters" in overseas markets such as Canada and Singapore, which is a multiplayer online mobile game where players collect characters and team up to fight. The game achieved the No. 1 spot on the iOS free charts in all regions where it was launched, but it didn't perform as well on the best-selling charts as the free charts.
April 24: Fallout Games has nearly 5 million online in a single day
"Fallout" officially announced on the X platform: in one day, a total of nearly 5 million players played all the games of "Fallout". At the same time, Fallout 76 has more than 1 million online players in a single day. IT IS WORTH MENTIONING THAT RECENTLY, THE COMMUNITY MANAGER OF THE Bethesda France studio, "SCOTTY", posted on his personal twitter that the Bethesda France studio may face the situation of being shut down.
April 25: miHoYo's "Battle.net" will be launched soon
miHoYo's official document said that its game PC launcher will be updated in the near future, and players can choose to download and install the "miHoYo Launcher" after the update. At present, miHoYo's four games on PC, "Genshin Impact", "Honkai Impact 3", and "Honkai: Star Dome Railway", including the "Jeopardy Zero" that is being tested, have all enabled miHoYo Launcher.
April 25: The skin-changing mobile game was sentenced to pay 700,000 yuan for plagiarizing the Legend of Blood
According to The Paper, the Shanghai Yangpu District People's Court recently heard a copyright infringement dispute case involving games. It is reported that the case is mainly for the mobile game "A Certain Saying", which is suspected of plagiarizing "Legend of Blood". In the end, the Shanghai Yangpu Court ruled in the first instance that the defendant Company C should compensate the plaintiff for economic losses and reasonable expenses of 700,000 yuan, and the defendants A and D should jointly and severally be liable for 500,000 yuan of the damages, and the three defendants should publish a statement on the homepage of the website to eliminate the impact.
April 26: Blizzard is rumored to be working on a mysterious new game
According to foreign media reports, Blizzard is currently recruiting more than a dozen employees to develop a game that has not yet been announced. It is reported that the project is inspired by games such as Minecraft and Rust, codenamed "Odyssey", and the story is set in a new universe. Previously, in a leaked internal email, Matt Booty, president of Microsoft's game content and studios, had said that the company would "move part of its staff to one of several promising new projects that Blizzard is in the early stages of development."
April 26: Station B Heavy Armor Zhanji was suspended
Station B's two-dimensional action mecha development card game "Heavy Duty Warrior Queen" officially stopped operating at 12 noon on April 26 and closed the server. The game initially started its open beta on July 18, 2019, underwent its last regular maintenance on October 18, 2023, and announced its discontinuation in February of this year.
April 26: Blizzard announces the cancellation of BlizzCon '24
Blizzard Entertainment has announced that it will not host BlizzCon 2024, which will return in the coming years. This means that the carnival next year may also be cancelled. In this regard, some overseas netizens speculated that it was because of the previous layoffs, which led to the shortage of manpower in the operation team. Fortunately, although the carnival has been cancelled, in the coming months, officials will still share the latest progress of their games and event plans in a variety of ways.
April 27: The recruitment and registration for the "World of Warcraft" national server player test is open
The latest news from the official account of NetEase Thunderfire UX User Experience Center, "World of Warcraft" player test recruitment registration is open. According to NetEase's official announcement on April 10, Blizzard games will begin to return one by one this summer. This time, the recruitment for Blizzard's gamer test started with "World of Warcraft", which means that World of Warcraft has a high probability of being the first Blizzard game to officially return to the national server.
Next week (April 29-May 5), the new tour will be tested:
According to statistics, the new games that will be tested/launched next week include Eagle Horn Network's "Boum Boum", Youzu Network's "Young Journey to the West 2", etc.
"Bom Boum" is a buyout multiplayer cooperative platform adventure game developed by Eagle Horn Network that combines "color elimination" and "physical puzzle solving". When the game was released in September last year, it attracted a lot of attention. In January this year, it is reported that the work will be available on PS4, PS5, PC (Steam, Epic) and other platforms. From May 4th to May 5th, a small-scale offline confidential trial will be opened.
"Youth Journey to the West 2" is an IP series card RPG game of Youzu Network, which was developed by Haiyang, the head of the company's Baichuan Studio. The previous work "Young Journey to the West" has achieved good commercialization results, with a cumulative turnover of more than 7 billion yuan. As a new product of the continuous development and expansion of the "Youth" series of IP by Youzu Network, and also the second game launched by the company in 2024, the work has high expectations.