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text/some things about mobile games ayumi nishizawa‍‍

what brings people together is a shared concept.

(night view of keyun road)

this does not mean that there is a lack of hits in the guangzhou gaming scene. on the contrary, with so many products and dense gatherings, people will invariably try to find a word to summarize the common features of the region. keyun road is obviously a good choice. this early internet software incubation park has now become an important place for the game industry in guangzhou and even china. the various parks and buildings along the way are home to thousands of game companies, large and small, and hundreds of thousands of industry talents.

from keyun road to pazhou cbd, the elite ecosystem where talents gather has laid a solid foundation for the development of guangzhou's gaming industry. in 2023, the actual sales revenue of guangzhou's game market will reach 105.8 billion yuan, accounting for 35% of the national game industry revenue. many companies are deeply involved in segmented tracks and creating diversified business matrices, which have injected strong impetus into the prosperity and development of guangzhou's game industry.

netease was the first to sow the seeds of games in guangzhou, the fertile soil of the internet industry, in 2001. now it has grown into a leading comprehensive industry player. with "fifth personality》《nishuihan"continuing to lead the way with long-term high-quality products, netease's revenue from games and related value-added services in q2 2024 exceeded 20 billion yuan, of which mobile game revenue increased by 16.1% year-on-year. against the background of the overall decline of china's q2 mobile game market, netease achieved a rise against the trend .

times have changed, and the land of guangzhou has indeed given birth to countless internet sensations, but the protagonists who write the history of the regional industry are, after all, generations of gamers. keyun road itself is just an ordinary urban road. what gives practical significance to the "keyun road spirit" are countless practitioners working late at night.

(pazhou cbd at night)

however, based on people's subjective impressions, many people still label keyun road, or simply guangzhou circle, as "traditional", "low-key", "down-to-earth", etc., for fear of being confused with those thousands of miles away. the tonality of the shanghai circle that exudes a "youthful" atmosphere is mixed up.

indeed, the guangzhou area, which is home to large-volume manufacturers such as sanqi and tanwan, was once regarded as an old generation trapped by the "volume-buyers". at a time when the sentiment of "pages changing hands" is gradually fading, and the effect of buying volume is gradually declining, it is reasonable to be criticized. but looking at the current situation, more and more cutting-edge forces are emerging in the guangzhou circle, and some of these new products are powerful enough to become the mainstay of these new and old manufacturers in the future.

the most obvious change is that today’s guangzhou circle is committed to the output of high-quality content-based products. "back to the future: 1999" developed by deep blue interactive has achieved good response in the market. it can be called the only new second game in 2023 and has strong stamina. the recent wave of new versions has returned to the best-selling position. eight.

in addition, "singing tide" released simultaneously by clow games around the world has also achieved good results, reaching the fourth best-selling level. it is popular around the world, especially in south korea and japan. by the way, cullow and deep blue, two representative companies of content-based products, work in the same block.(hero, lingxi, and panax notoginseng are also in that area), maybe the employees all order late night snacks from the same restaurant. relationships like shaking hands with neighbors can be found everywhere in guangzhou.

as a former representative of guangzhou's "volume-buying faction", 4399 has also begun to explore overseas technology early, and has achieved gratifying results: its product "legend of the mushroom brave" has revenue of more than 100 million u.s. dollars in japan and south korea, winning the first half of 2024. japan and south korea rank first and second in mobile game revenue growth, making them the new global newcomers of the year.‍

the guangzhou circle has never lacked stability and versatile players, and lingxi interactive entertainment is an excellent example. relying on continuous and bold gameplay innovation, "three kingdoms: strategy edition" has been unrivaled in the slg category for five years, constantly refreshing players' experience every season; at a time when competition for women in gaming is fierce, "ru yuan" is online soon it reached the top five best-sellers, which shows the wide range of categories that lingxi is involved in; and the soc product "soul mask", which has sold more than 400,000 on the pc, was published by qooland games, which is also an overseas publishing brand of lingxi... ..

the transformation of the old factory and the innovation of the new factory are breaking people's perception of the guangzhou gaming circle every moment. ding lei once said: "in my mind, guangdong is a real hot land. 15 years ago, i was a college student who was just starting out in society. i lived in an urban village in guangzhou and started from scratch. guangdong tolerated and accepted me. , give me a chance.”

this is indeed true. gaming is an industry that is least bound by tradition, and guangzhou, a hot land, is just the place to hold the passionate hearts of gamers.

but in terms of personnel mobility, games are the most unstable in the industry. with the changes in aigc technology, on the one hand, companies have to lay off employees to reduce cost pressures, and on the other hand, talents face the dual problems of unemployment and career change, and the entire ecosystem is often involved in an anxiety cycle.

when an employee of a game company in guangzhou complained to me about his layoff experience, his tone was more helpless than angry: "the company had given us enough subsidies to survive the cold winter. it was around 12 noon that day. , i was working overtime to catch up on the progress of the project, and the wave of layoffs came as silently as the hr who suddenly appeared next to my work station. i am almost 30 years old. i haven’t thought clearly about where i will go or what i want to do next, but i will probably still play games. bar."

the accumulation of products and brands can indeed support the guangzhou circle in 2024, but in the end it will not be able to reduce the impact of the dark side of the industry. what is your impression of the guangzhou gaming community? no matter where you are from, feel free to share your experiences in the comments section.