The aftermath of “stopping issuing game version numbers” has not been eliminated.
On the 21st, a user of snowball platform announced that “Tencent will be hammered”. Subsequently, it triggered market panic. Hong Kong stock game stocks weakened on the 21st. As of the close, Tencent holdings fell 5.23%, with a quotation of HK $445.40, and the market value evaporated by more than HK $200 billion within the day.
That afternoon, a news that “the game company will not issue a new version number in 2022” caused an uproar.
Although the above news was refuted by many parties, A-Shares still failed to escape this disaster.
On the 22nd, the three major A-share indexes fell collectively, and game stocks still made a sharp correction. Wuhu 37 Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Group Co.Ltd(002555) limit, down nearly 16% in the past two days. 300602 {,} 30005418} etc.
On the same day, a number of listed game companies tried to boost investor confidence.
Wuhu 37 Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Group Co.Ltd(002555) released the performance forecast. It is estimated that the net profit attributable to shareholders of Listed Companies in 2021 will be 2.8 billion yuan – 2.85 billion yuan, and the net profit after deducting non recurring profits and losses will be 2.55 billion yuan – 2.6 billion yuan.
Kunlun Tech Co.Ltd(300418) on the investor interaction platform, first of all, the company has not received the notice from relevant departments. Please refer to the notice issued by the official channel of the State Press and Publication Administration for the distribution of China’s game version numbers. Secondly, according to the semi annual report of 2021, nearly 70% of the company’s revenue comes from overseas markets, and the proportion increases year by year; The game business accounts for a relatively small proportion of the company’s overall revenue, and only a small part of the revenue contribution comes from the Chinese market. The company’s game business is mainly carried out in overseas markets, and the revenue and profit are minimally affected by relevant policy changes. According to Kunlun Tech Co.Ltd(300418) , the profit in 2021 is expected to be 1.71 billion yuan to 2.22 billion yuan, with a year-on-year decrease of 66.08% to 55.97%.
Shanghai Yaoji Technology Co.Ltd(002605) said on the investor interaction platform that the company’s core category game version number reserve is sufficient, and its business remains normal and stable. In 2021, Shanghai Yaoji Technology Co.Ltd(002605) is expected to make a profit of 540-604 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 51% – 45%,
Wuxi Boton Technology Co.Ltd(300031) said on the interactive platform that more than 98% of the company’s game business revenue comes from abroad, and the domestic revenue accounts for no more than 2%.
For the “version number storm” suspected of oolong, Damo research reported that the shares of Tencent and Netease fell 5% and 4% respectively in response to the report on the stricter supervision of game content and the suspension of game version numbers this year. After the Hong Kong stock market closed, the State Press and Publication Administration said it was still accepting applications, and the game Working Committee of the national audio and digital association also denied the report. Damo doesn’t think that the mainland has added new game regulations on February 21 or since the beginning of the year, pointing out that stricter content supervision and juvenile protection are not new news.
According to the first financial news, insiders said that the current channel for applying for version number has been smooth, but it has not been issued for the time being. In addition, the previous CPPCC meeting has made a qualitative analysis of the game industry and will not be completely shut down, but it needs to be standardized and developed. The key work will be game addiction prevention, juvenile protection, content compliance, correct value orientation and so on.
However, it is worth noting that up to now, the approval list of the latest batch of domestic online game version numbers of the State Press and publication administration is still fixed on July 22, 2021, and no new batch of version numbers have been published for seven months.
According to the 2021 China game industry report released by GPC and China Game Industry Research Institute, the actual sales revenue of China’s game market in 2021 was 296.513 billion yuan, an increase of 17.826 billion yuan over 2020, a year-on-year increase of 6.40% and a year-on-year decrease of nearly 15%.
The doubts about the version number remain to be solved. The growth of performance has slowed down. At the same time, there is pressure for layoffs in the restless game industry.
It is reported that Netease, Lilith, IgG and other well-known game companies have cut their own research projects or laid off staff. According to Red Star News, the insiders of the above three companies confirmed that they “cut off the two-dimensional game project” Eden revelation “. The project team has transferred employees”, “stop the loss of the project in time” and “the departments in Shanghai and Fuzhou have laid off some people, and the projects going to sea have not been affected.”
At the beginning of this year, Zhang Jianchun, Vice Minister of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, mentioned in his speech at the 2022 National Publishing (copyright) work conference (the original text was published in China Publishing & Media Holdings Co.Ltd(601949) , issue 3, 2022) that the suspension of the distribution of edition numbers will cause the temporary stagnation of new games in China, but the existing huge game inventory and games with long life cycle will not be affected, and the market pattern will not change. At the same time, Chinese game manufacturers will sink down to tap the potential of high-quality games and have more investment in the sea of games. On the contrary, it will catalyze the growth of domestic games and eliminate some skin changing and low-quality games and manufacturers in China.
