Eight months after the online game edition was suspended, the game market finally ushered in exciting good news.
According to the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration , a new batch of domestic online game titles were officially issued on the evening of April 11, including 45 games, including thunder interactive box fission, Youzu’s Three Kingdoms: Pocket war, and Shenzhen Zqgame Co.Ltd(300052) casting craftsman
In the eight months when the recovery time of the version number is unknown, the game company has experienced multiple storms, such as halving the project, layoffs and cost reduction, and the bottom of the share price. During this period, there are also many market rumors that the online game version number may be resumed, but they all regret to fail in the end.
In an interview with the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, many experts said that the resumption of online game version numbers will be good for the whole Internet industry, but the competition for version numbers after the resumption of approval will also be more intense.
On the other hand, the long-awaited secondary market was also driven by the news. As of the closing of Hong Kong stocks on April 11, the share prices of many game concept stocks rose. Among them, the cardiac network rose 1.50%. After the opening of U.S. stocks, the pre market growth of China concept game stocks continued to expand, with BiliBili, Netease and Huya all up more than 7% and Betta up more than 1%
after an interval of 8 months, the version number was re issued
On the afternoon of April 11, many insiders in the game industry confirmed to the 21st Century Business Herald that the distribution of game version numbers had been restarted recently before tonight’s official news was released. One of the sources close to the official told reporters that some provincial edition offices have received the notice of edition number, which will be publicized on the official website of the State Press and publication administration as soon as tonight.
At 8:00 on the 11th, the official website of the State Press and Publication Administration officially announced the approval information of the first batch of domestic online games in 2022. The publicity information shows that this round involves 45 approved games, including thunder interactive “box fission”, Youzu’s “chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: Pocket war”, ” Shenzhen Zqgame Co.Ltd(300052) ” castor “, etc.
For the news of the resumption of the release of online game version numbers, many game company employees could not hide their joy in an interview with 21 reporters.
The person in charge of heart network told 21 reporters that the company has confirmed that its game “party star” has obtained the version number. “In the first half of last year, Party star has entered the approval process. Before the release of the version number was stopped in July last year, the game has fed back several rounds of opinions. Therefore, the company has expectations that party star can obtain the version number once the version number is restored.” He said.
As for the issue of version number in April, the person in charge said that due to the complicated rumors of version number recovery before, the heart did not bet on the issue of version number in April. Since this year, the company’s business direction has also carried out strategic and business planning according to the expectation of version number recovery in the industry. Therefore, for the edition number of “party star”, the company’s China business is expected to improve marginally this year.
“I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.” A senior employee of a medium-sized game company in Shanghai sighed, “although there are no games of our company in the list, we finally see hope.”
It is worth mentioning that since the introduction of the new anti addiction regulations for online games on August 30, 2021, the official website of the State Press and publication administration has not published any official news related to the version number in eight months
In this time full of all kinds of true and false rumors, the game company, as a direct stakeholder, has been impacted by all sides, and its mood has been repeatedly provoked by all kinds of news about the release of edition numbers.
The middle-level leader of a game company told reporters that he could not apply for the new version number, which means that the projects under development could not be launched in time. The direct result of this dilemma is layoffs some people in the industry told reporters that many project teams were forced to dissolve because they could not get the version number, and some of them even invested more than 100 million. “Without the version number, the company is forced to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and can’t support these employees in vain.” He said.
In addition, an employee of a head game manufacturer recently disclosed to 21 reporters that after cutting off some employees of the project team, some positions within the company have locked headcount (staffing and positions), and there is no plan to recruit new employees in the short term.
AI media consulting CEO Zhang Yi in an interview with reporters, said that the existence of certain chaos in online games is indeed an indisputable fact in the industry in the past period, from the perspective of economics there is also the existence of the industry bubble. At present, after a period of adjustment, it is conducive to the return of the whole industry to the normal state of compliance development.
benefits are backed by more intense version number “battle”
In an interview with 21 reporters, many experts said that the resumption of the distribution of online game version numbers is undoubtedly an excellent “booster” for the game industry.
Zhu Junchao, founder of nuocheng game law and game lawyer, pointed out in an interview with 21 reporters that the resumption of the distribution of the version number means that the new game has the opportunity to be officially launched and operated. “The re establishment of the track will be directly beneficial to the game companies developing any type of game.” He pointed out.
Zhang Yi said that in the past period of time, due to the suspension of the distribution of edition numbers, most game enterprises have taken on a lot of business pressure. The news of this distribution of edition numbers will not only release a positive signal to the game industry, but also to the whole Internet economic market, and will play a very positive role in boosting the confidence of the primary market, the secondary market and the whole industry
He further pointed out that games, as an important industry of digital entertainment, through the combination of technology and culture, also help to alleviate the anxiety of the audience and bring spiritual relaxation, and its benefits for consumers can be expected.
However, the resumption of distribution of edition numbers does not mean that game enterprises can rest assured. Sun Lei, a partner of Beijing Yuanhe law firm and game law expert, analyzed to the 21st reporter that the more direct benefit is “capital confidence”, such as directly affecting the stock price. For the industry, having a version number is certainly much better than not, but it may not have an immediate impact: “just like eating, it won’t get better soon.”
In addition, the release of version numbers is resumed after an interval of eight months, and the backlog of audit volume is inevitable. Insiders once disclosed to 21 reporters that although the version number approval list had not been published in the previous few months, the approval process had not been suspended. Combined with the background of the total amount control of the previous version number distribution, this also means that game companies will face a more intense version number “battle”. So, how should game companies deal with this situation?
Zhang Yi believes that after the release and restoration of the version number, it will certainly be managed in an orderly manner under certain rules, and the industry still needs to make good expectations that the version number is a scarce resource; On the other hand, the most important thing in the application of version number is the compliance of content, which brings enlightenment to game enterprises that they should be more cautious at the content level in the design and production of products, so as to ensure the health of content and the awe of the market.
Zhu Junchao pointed out that after the release of the version number is resumed, the game company should ensure the compliance of its game content, actively communicate with the publishing house and regulatory authorities in the development process, and timely adjust the games that do not meet the audit requirements at the same time, we should also understand each link of the approval to avoid the omission of a certain link, which will lead to the game being played back and modified, so we need to go through the process again.
“It takes a lot of time and energy to call back, modify and re audit each time. Game companies should repeatedly check the game content before submitting it for audit to reduce unnecessary waste of time.” He said.
