Game industry report: Mobile game revenue accounted for half of the country in the first half of the year, and user revenue shrank

Data from the "China Game Industry Report" shows that from January to June 2016, the number of game users in China reached 489 million. Specifically, the number of client game users reached 138 million, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%; the number of web game users reached 279 million, a year-on-year decrease of 8.7%; and the number of mobile game users reached 405 million, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%.

According to data from the "China Game Industry Report"(hereinafter referred to as the "Report") released by the Game Working Committee, from January to June 2016, the number of game users in China reached 489 million. Specifically, the number of client game users reached 138 million, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%; the number of web game users reached 279 million, a year-on-year decrease of 8.7%; and the number of mobile game users reached 405 million, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%.

Mobile game revenue has accounted for 47.6% of the industry's total revenue

. The report pointed out that from January to June, the actual revenue of China's game market (including online game market, mobile game market, stand-alone game market, etc.) reached 78.75 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.1%.

In terms of various market segments, the actual sales revenue of the client game market reached 28.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.2%; the actual sales revenue of the web game market reached 10.06 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.1%; the actual sales revenue of the mobile game market in China reached 37.48 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 79.1%. It is worth mentioning that the sales revenue of mobile games has accounted for 47.6% of the revenue of the entire game industry, nearly half of the country.

The report mentioned that in the first half of 2016, the game industry's market sales revenue continued to grow year-on-year, mainly due to the intensification of mobile games since the second half of last year. Mobile games adapted from end-games have good payment habits. The ARPU value of mobile game users is improving rapidly. In addition, cross-border linkages in the game industry are accelerating, and related industries such as film and television, animation, novels, and live broadcasts are rapidly feeding back games, bringing a previously unexplored user base to games.

Games are rapidly joining the pan-entertainment industry, and new games are increasingly dependent on related cultural and creative industries. Among the new products that perform well, products adapted from IP related to the cultural and creative industries account for the majority. Mobile e-sports events have also formed an ecosystem.

The future of VR games is uncertain

. Driven by factors such as technological development, user needs, media reports, and capital, VR games have become a trend. But in fact, VR games are still in the exploratory stage, and unknown factors may affect their market development prospects.

Currently, the VR user base is scattered on different hardware platforms, driving up the cost of VR game developers. At the same time, there are limited types of games suitable for VR. VR devices with better experience are still expensive, and cheaper ones can easily cause dizziness.

However, video games, which attracted more attention last year, were still developing at a slow rate. Affected by multiple factors, the video game market has limited growth. Since console games have missed the golden period of development, the domestic audience is limited, and the payment model is inconsistent with the payment habits of most domestic game users, the development results of the video game market have been mediocre.

Interest in game concept capital has dropped

. As of June 2016, there were 163 listed game companies in China. Among them, A-share listed game companies accounted for 81%, Hong Kong-listed companies accounted for 10.4%, and U.S. -listed companies accounted for 8.6%.

The report said that due to risks such as the cooling of the game concept, reduced capital attention, and failure to fulfill performance gambling commitments, the speed of mergers and acquisitions in the game industry is accelerating, striving to complete transactions before the time window closes, giving rise to high-premium mergers and acquisitions, and increasing the proportion of large-scale financing. Million level financing has become mainstream.

The New Third Board has become an important financing channel for small and medium-sized Mini games companies. As of June 2016, there were 95 game companies listed on the New Third Board, and 72.1% were listed on the New Third Board of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The

report points out that the overall growth of the game industry has stabilized and competition remains fierce.

Specifically, R & D companies have become polarized. R & D companies with successful products have become popular targets in the market, and small and medium-sized R & D companies face challenges to their survival. In the first half of the year, market competition mainly took place in the field of mobile games. The market control pattern of large companies was strengthened and they used resources to occupy the market. Powerful R & D companies became sought after targets. However, market competition will push up market risks and accelerate the pace of integration.

In the field of distribution, excellent issuers frequently emerge, but because they are in the middle of the industrial chain and in fierce competition, profit margins are limited, and telecom operators are facing development bottlenecks. At the product level, affected by factors such as rising costs, the number of products in the China game market has declined, and quality requirements have increased.

In the global game market, China's game industry is relying on lightweight games to compete. In the fields of end games and console games, there is still a gap between China games and overseas games.

End games pick up and page games shrink.

From January to June 2016, client games were in a state of growth, increasing year-on-year, showing signs of recovery. Tencent, Netease, Perfect World, Changyou, Jinshan, etc. still account for the main share of the end-game market. Due to the high threshold, the number of new game companies entering is small, and market competition tends to ease. Although it has recovered in the short term, in the absence of essential innovation, it is unlikely that a strong recovery will occur. It is worth noting that competitive end-games have become a highlight.

The web game market has shrunk. From a product perspective, the number of active products in the market is decreasing, new products that perform stably after being launched are decreasing, and old games have become the main force in the market. At present, web games still cannot get rid of the operating model that relies on traffic. Falling profit margins have prompted many companies to transform and develop mobile games.

Judging from the overall trend of the industry, with the maturity of various game market segments and the low speed of new market development, China's game industry will enter a state of steady growth. From the user level, there will be fewer new users, and the potential for user payment will also enter a bottleneck, making future market growth more difficult.

Editor: yvette