21st century business herald reporter Cai Shuyue reports from Shanghai.
In the last month of 2023, dramatic events in the game industry continued this week.
The most concerned dynamic is ByteDance’s announcement of a big retreat from the game industry. On November 27th, ByteDance officially announced that its game business will shrink in a large scale, and all the projects that have not been launched will be shut down except a few innovative projects and related technical projects.
This week, the news that Blizzard may return to the national service also attracted the attention of the industry. On the afternoon of November 30th, Tencent’s Rubik’s Cube Studio was suspected to broadcast live the related content of Activision Blizzard’s World of Warcraft in bilibili. A person familiar with the matter told the media that Blizzard was currently negotiating with many game makers including Netease and Tencent about the return of the national costume, but Tencent officials later denied the rumor.
In terms of industry, this week, SensorTower announced the top 10 downloads of global popular mobile games in October. The top 10 downloads of global popular mobile games in that month were Real Car Driving: Race City 3D, Roblox, Garena Free Fire, Subway Surfers and so on. In addition, the best list of Google Play 2023 was officially announced this week. Miha Tour "Collapse: Star Railway" won the best game in 2023 and the best story award of the year.
SensorTower announced the TOP10 downloads of global popular mobile games in October.
According to the latest data released by Sensor Tower, in October 2023, the top 10 most popular mobile games in the world were Real Car Driving: Race City 3D, Roblox, Garena Free Fire, Subway Surfers and so on. Among them, Real Car Driving: Race City 3D topped the list with more than 19 million downloads, of which India contributed 26.4%. In addition, Roblox ranked second with nearly 18 million downloads, of which Brazil contributed 12.8%.
Google Play announced the best list in 2023, and the best game of the year was Collapse: Star Dome Railway.
On November 30th, the best list of Google Play 2023 was officially announced. Mihayou’s "Collapse: Star Dome Railway" won the best game in 2023 and the best plot award of the year. In addition, the best application of Google Play in 2023 is an educational App《Imprint: Learn Visually. In addition, Google also highlighted the best applications, games and books in various categories. At the same time, in order to reflect the mainstream trend, this list also introduced new award categories, including the best AI application of the year.
ByteDance officially announced the divestiture of game business
On November 27th, ByteDance officially announced that its game business will shrink in a large scale. For games that have been launched and performed well, they will seek divestiture under the condition of ensuring operation; For projects that have not yet been launched, except for a few innovative projects and related technical projects, they will all be shut down.
On November 26th, someone familiar with the matter broke the news on the Internet platform, saying that there would be a round of layoffs in ByteDance’s game business, and "the person in charge of each project under study was notified on Sunday that the project was dissolved, and a formal notice was issued on Monday". In addition, among the online game projects, even Crystal Nucleus and Planet: Restart, which have good data, only give the project team three months to talk about suitable buyers.
In this regard, the relevant person in charge told the 21st century business herald reporter that there will indeed be business direction and organizational adjustment, and more attention will be paid to the exploration of some innovative games and related technologies. But at the same time, it will also do a good job in the continuous operation of the products that have been launched, and fully protect the rights and interests of players.
Nancai comments:As one of the Internet giants, in addition to direct capital investment, Byte’s development of game business is more critical based on its own traffic investment in short video and other fields. Although the outside world can’t accurately estimate the actual value of this investment, the decision to divest the game business also shows that it is not cost-effective after internal accounting. Even if we talk about content ecology and empowerment, the distance between the Internet and games is actually no closer than that to new energy vehicles.
Yuan Jing, CEO of Mu Tong, responded to the rumors of sale: the company continues to operate independently and the national service is advancing normally.
On the evening of November 27th, in response to the recent news that Byte Group adjusted its game business and Mu Tong was sold, Yuan Jing, CEO of Mu Tong, publicly responded internally, saying that Mu Tong would continue to operate independently and would deeply cultivate the game industry for a long time. After the release of the internal response, he also said in a circle of friends, "I shouldn’t have said anything at this time, but I sincerely want to say that after such a long time, I like to be strict and like my friends."
Blizzard is negotiating with Tencent and Netease about the return of national clothes? Tencent’s response: The rumor is inaccurate.
On the afternoon of November 30th, Tencent’s Rubik’s Cube Studio was suspected to broadcast live the related content of Activision Blizzard’s World of Warcraft in bilibili. This move triggered a discussion in the market. A person familiar with the matter told the media that Blizzard has been negotiating the return of the national service with many game manufacturers including Netease and Tencent, but the specific partners and return time have not yet been determined. In this regard, tencent games responded to the 21st century business herald reporter, clarifying that the live broadcast was only a test, and it has now ended. Another person close to Tencent said that Rubik’s Cube is a self-developed studio under Tencent and will not represent external products. The rumors are inaccurate.
Nancai comments:After Microsoft officially acquired Activision Blizzard, some people think that although Blizzard has never found a home in China, after the acquisition is completed, Microsoft will ask Activision Blizzard to return to the China game market, and it is not impossible to resume cooperation with Netease or seek other partners.
On December 15th, the first phase of "Yuan Meng Xing" was planned to invest 1.4 billion yuan for the game ecological construction.
On the afternoon of December 2nd, Tencent Tianmei Studio Group held a press conference, announcing that the party game "Yuan Meng Xing" was officially finalized, and the public beta began on December 15th. Among them, "Yuan Meng Xing" announced that the first phase of the incentive plan was also officially exposed. It is understood that the first phase plans to invest 1.4 billion yuan for special development such as the construction of the national e-sports competition system, the incentive of content ecological creators, and the incentive of UGC map creators, while the long-term investment is not capped.
Bilibili released the Q3 quarterly financial report, and the daily users of the platform exceeded 100 million.
On the evening of November 29, 2023, the financial report released by bilibili showed that in the third quarter, the company’s revenue was 5.8 billion yuan, which was basically the same as that of the same period last year; The net loss was 1.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 22%. In the same period, the number of daily users in bilibili exceeded 100 million. "We have run through a positive cycle from user scale growth to business growth." On November 29th, bilibili Chairman and CEO Rui Chen said. In the same period, the average daily video broadcast volume of the platform was 4.7 billion, up 26% year-on-year, and the average monthly interactive number was 17 billion, up 18% year-on-year. The average daily usage time of users is 100 minutes, a record high.
Steam11 November software and hardware survey: NVIDIA RTX 3060 topped the list.
According to the software and hardware survey report released by Steam in November, the RTX 3060, the mid-range graphics card of Steam platform, continues to rank first, but the chain has declined. The market share in that month was 4.89%. At the same time, the market share of GTX 1650 rebounded to 4.61%. In terms of operating system, Windows 10 64-bit continued to take the lead, with a share of 53.53% in the current month, a decrease of 12.05% compared with the previous month. However, the share of 64-bit Windows 11 also increased, reaching 42.04%, an increase of 11.51%. In addition, the market share of Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 8.1 64-bit was low, which was 0.69% and 0.16% respectively in that month, down by 0.38% and 0.03% respectively. The number of players using Windows 7 operating system has also dropped significantly, accounting for only 0.06%, but it has increased compared with last month.
The second round of voting for TGA Player Voice began, and ten games were shortlisted.
On December 1st, the second round of voting for The Game Awards 2023 Voice of Players has been officially launched. A total of ten games were shortlisted for the second round, including two domestic games, The Original God and Collapse: Star Dome Railway.
JDG officially announced that Knight was "disconnected"
On December 3rd, the official official of JDG JD.COM E-sports Club announced that Knight players had left the team. "After friendly negotiation between the players and the club, under the premise of fully respecting the players’ personal wishes, Zhuo Ding (ID:knight), a single player in JDG JD.COM E-sports Club, is officially disconnected from the connection." JDG said. According to the manager of BLG, Elk, On and other players, Knight’s next stop may be BLG.
Produced by: Digital Entertainment Research Group of Nancai Compliance Science and Technology Research Institute
Author: Cai Shuyue
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