In February, Tencent issued the announcement of the “origin of my game”, which is announced by the Tencent. “The Tencent agency and my origin” agency agreement is about to expire. After friendly negotiation with the developers, Tencent will officially stop the operation of my origin in Chinese mainland on April 25, 2022.
The next day after the announcement, another Tencent game, yunshang Yuyi, also issued an announcement, announcing that the operation of the game would be officially stopped from April 28, which extended the list of game products suspended in China this year.
several famous games stopped
Statistics show that “my origin” is a sandbox evolution MMO (large multiplayer online) mobile game developed by Perfect World Co.Ltd(002624) and represented by Tencent. The game started the public beta without deleting files in November 2019, and announced its shutdown in February this year. It has only been in operation for more than two years.
In the announcement, Tencent said that the reason for the outage was the expiration of the agency agreement with the developer and provided compensation activities for game players.
On the day after the announcement of the suspension of my origin, another high-profile game of Tencent, yunshang Yuyi, announced that the game recharge and new user registration would be stopped and would be suspended in April. The reason for its outage is also that the agency agreement with game developers is about to expire.
“Cloud clothes and feather clothes” is a 3D love changing mobile game, developed by Xishanju and distributed by Tencent. It was launched in June 2018. In the bulletin board on the official website of cloud clothes and feather clothes, the latest outage announcement follows the non deletion test announcement issued in June 2018.
The reporter of securities times · e company found that since this year, more than 10 well-known games have been suspended, involving Tencent, Netease, Jinshan world tour, station B and other companies.
For example, on February 21, the 2D round mobile game “Final Fantasy: Revelation of courage” represented by Jinshan Shiyou announced that it would stop recharging and new user registration on March 1 and officially stop operation on April 29. The game was launched in March 2019 without deleting files for public beta.
Netease’s mobile game “Magic Book Apocalypse” previously announced that due to the adjustment of the operation strategy of the game developer, it plans to terminate the operation of the game on February 14, 2022. From the launch to the end of operation, the game only survived for about one year.
Station B’s game “Alice in mecha” announced in February this year that due to various reasons, after friendly negotiation with the copyright owner, it has decided to stop operation from 11:00 on April 21 this year. The game was launched on April 22, 2021 and stopped for only one year.
industry insiders: problems of the game itself
Large game manufacturers generally operate a large number of game products at the same time. In the industry, the shutdown of game products is not uncommon, and the shutdown of games tends to accelerate with the change of market and the intensification of industry competition.
According to statistics, in 2021 alone, the total number of game products suspended by head game manufacturers was dozens. Among them, Tencent alone has many well-known products shut down, such as QQ hall, rhythm master, fortress night, Dragon Valley mobile tour and so on.
In addition to the “Fortress night” in the testing stage, which stopped testing due to factors such as version number, the closures of other games were mostly due to market performance.
Insiders told the reporter of securities times · e company that on the one hand, some game products are not recognized by the market after they are launched, the data performance is poor, or they start to perform well, but the subsequent significant decline may be eliminated; On the other hand, the game itself has a certain life cycle. After operating for a period of time, the company needs to invest in new products, and the old products will be eliminated.
\u3000\u3000 “Generally, manufacturers will continue to extend the life cycle of game products through improvement, upgrading and iteration, but the effects of various measures are different. As the attraction of the game to players decreases, players may still lose a lot. Generally, if the operating income of a game cannot offset the cost, manufacturers may choose to stop the operation of the game. Big manufacturers are not sure whether to continue There will be higher requirements for continued operation. ” These people said.
There are still many problems for the players of the game, such as Yu Yunyi, who have stopped playing the game.
“Before yunshang feather coat, the target was the miracle warmth of the paper folding game. This game was popular for some time, but later it didn’t work. If it can’t operate, it can only be shut down, which is normal.” Li Lei said.
It is worth mentioning that the sudden shutdown of game products in big factories has also brought a great impact to players. In particular, some games with a certain scale of players have been suspended, which has aroused the dissatisfaction of old players.
Recently, the suspension of two games, yunshang Yuyi and my origin, has triggered complaints from players. Some players said that they recharge more in the game, and they did not issue any notice or discuss with players before the game was stopped. Even shortly before the game was stopped, they launched relevant activities in the game, which was difficult for them to accept.
“It’s OK for small and medium-sized manufacturers. Big manufacturers don’t refund fees. They just give gift bags to other games and import users to other games. The reason for stopping service itself is that the income can’t cover the cost. Big manufacturers can’t keep the server on because a few players ask to keep virtual items and data in the game.” Li Lei said.
extending the life cycle becomes a universal choice
For game manufacturers, the continuous introduction of high-quality games is the key to maintaining their competitiveness.
However, in recent years, the competition in China’s mobile game market has been intensified, and the capital and technical barriers have been continuously improved. In addition, the version number policy has been continuously tightened, the “trial and error” opportunities of game manufacturers have been reduced, and the investment and risk of product R & d have been greater.
For this reason, at present, in addition to increasing investment in new product development, major game manufacturers have also generally strengthened the operation and renewal of stock products to tap the potential of stock products.
For example, Wuhu 37 Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Group Co.Ltd(002555) indicates that players’ demand for games is rigid, and the life cycle of stock games will be lengthened to a certain extent. When new products continue to appear in the market, due to the impact of the game life cycle, players may choose new games to try; However, when there are few new products on the market, players will continue to choose high-quality games that have been online to try, rather than no longer playing games. From this level, it will make the life cycle of the original products that have been online longer than the normal life cycle.
Wuhu 37 Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Group Co.Ltd(002555) said that the company will increase the proportion of long-term products. At present, the proportion of products in the long-term life-cycle category of the company is much higher than that in previous years. The life cycle of stock products has been greatly extended compared with that in the past. The company will continue to strengthen its operation capacity and prolong the life cycle of products as much as possible in the future.
Yoozoo Interactive Co.Ltd(002174) said that the company adheres to the idea of long-term operation of the original game, pays attention to the interaction with players, actively listens to the voices from players, continuously optimizes products and updates game versions according to player feedback, so as to further prolong the life cycle of the game.
Public data show that the average life cycle of mobile game products is only 6 to 12 months, but the life cycle of high-quality products is significantly longer.
The most significant one is “glory of the king”, which has been in operation for more than 6 years since its release in 2015. At present, its water flow is still at a high level. According to the monitoring data of Qimai, the download volume of “glory of the king” continues to rank among the top three game products.
