A must-read for H5 game channel operations: current situation, difficulties and future

It has been almost a year since I left a big web game company and joined the H5 game project. During this year, I have been working on basic H5 platform products, product operations , and channel game operations . Occasionally, I have also been responsible for game business. Some people may find it incredible, but there is nothing incredible about it. There are only three people on this project, and I am the main force. I am tired but happy.

I would like to talk about my gains this year and my views on the H5 game market .

H5 game market environment

As a sub-market of the gaming industry, the H5 gaming market is of course affected by the overall environment. Many small H5 game distribution platforms have developed from official accounts . In the early stages, they published articles to promote small games (casual stand-alone) to gain user growth . In order to survive, they made money by promoting online games. However, promoting online games is the same as washing users. The direct consequence of washing users is that the number of users on the official account platform will be -1,000. Everyone knows how high the cost of buying users is in this era. Currently, the conversion cost of a user on the official account platform is 10 yuan+. Therefore, it is basically non-existent to attract new users to the middle and late stages of the platform's development. It all depends on natural volume + previous retention .

After all, their products are not as good as those of big companies, and they cannot retain users based on the experience. However, the earlier developed H5 channels have slowly grown into independent game distribution platforms based on their experience. However, due to the continuous shrinking scale and revenue of their own platforms, coupled with the increased cost of new conversions mentioned earlier, they can only survive by relying on joint operations . However, there is a problem with channel joint operations, which is that user loss and the platform's revenue shrinkage will accelerate.

So in my opinion, game channels should focus on being their own channels, enhancing the experience of their own platforms, and expanding the channels.

1. Do more competitor analysis , not only of products from small companies of the same size, but also analyze the development direction of large companies, because large companies are the leaders of the trend.

2. Segment user needs. Dig deep into the needs of players, whether they like mini-games or online games, and keep them on the platform.

For example, the first point: Why should players come to your platform? It must be that the platform provides the content they need. That is to say, it meets the players' needs of "finding games". The same principle applies to Apple phone users who can only download games from the APP Store. As a joint operator, we cannot be "unique", but first of all we have to satisfy players' need to be able to find games. At least we strive to have what others have, and we try our best to provide what others do not have.

Mini-games have always been an important means of increasing activity. I was previously in charge of mini-games and board games at a large web game company for a period of time, which brought a lot of activity to the platform. Later, I also introduced games to the platform's web games through some monetization methods. For example, you can make mini-game patch (pre-sticker) ads; another is cross- promotion of content. Most people who like mini-games are casual players, so you can cross-promote casual online games, chess and card games, etc. on the mini-game channel. Therefore, platform games should continue to be updated and the foundation should not be abandoned. Another thing is online games. For online games, we need to rely on business to contact and connect to as many S-level products as possible. However, there are few S-level products after all, so when connecting to A-level products, you must do a good job in post-operation: including your own channel distribution strategy, and timely communication and feedback to CP after experiencing the product.

Those of us who make games should all know one thing: there is no perfect game, only games that have been modified. In fact, any product is the same, and it needs constant updating and iteration.

The second point is: Why should players stay on your platform? This is definitely a question of user experience and highlights. Whether it is a tool- type product or a content provider-type product, it should play to its strengths and, on the basis of achieving an average level of overall experience, make its unique aspects more refined and detailed. For example, as a type of mobile game, H5 games generally have sharing functions within the game. Whether it is to claim the rewards you want to win after sharing, or to obtain props and titles, etc., as a channel platform, this basic function of sharing must be implemented. As for the form of the content, it requires more communication between product and operations. In short, there must be some surprises to keep players around, so that the game can be further transformed.

The last point is the issue of game conversion. Some people say that this depends on the internal problems of the game, but this is not the case. Take H5 chess and card games for example, most games have always had high retention and activity, but low revenue. Why is this happening? The reason why no one is charging money is simply that the internal currency circulation is not smooth, or the internal currency circulation is too smooth. For example, in the early stage of the game launch, in order to stimulate players to stay in the game, the operation will distribute a large number of game coins to the players. Or the game planners can exchange points for various gold coins in the internal market of the game. In this way, the retention rate is high, but the desire to recharge is extremely low.

At this time, we, the channel party, must communicate more with CP and adjust the game strategy, otherwise the volume will be wasted. We can suggest activities. Of course, activities are not conducive to the long-term recharge development of the game, but we must quickly solve the fundamental problem. Extraordinary strategies must always be adopted in extraordinary times. In addition to organizing activities, you can also check whether the varieties of products in the internal mall meet the needs of users in your own channel and look at your own user portraits . After all, different ages have different reward points, and this is something that the channel party needs to pay attention to.

In short, those who work in the channel must always monitor changes in game data . I won’t elaborate on what the points are, as everyone who works in the gaming industry knows them well.

Next, let's talk about the H5 channel. Every time I talk about new games with H5 publishers and developers, both sides always complain that there are too few good games on the market. Channels are all looking forward to the emergence of H5 games with diverse gameplay. After all, this is an incremental market. Although phenomenal products cannot be replicated, the strength of game development still affects market demand points. It makes sense that good games are easy to become popular.

How to do competitive product analysis?

The above article analyzes the current H5 game market situation and briefly outlines how to better operate H5 channels. The first step is to do more competitive product analysis, and the second is to segment user needs. To add to the first point, how to do competitor analysis. After all, I come from the product and product operations background. The H5 channel is ultimately a kind of platform product. We should seek common ground while reserving differences.

When it comes to competitive product analysis, whether it is the launch of a new product, the iteration of an existing product, or for real-time monitoring of competitors, competitive product analysis has long become a daily routine for product people. When a new product is launched, the product generally uses a funnel model to screen its own ideas; product iterations include launching new features, taking features offline, and redesigning the product; as for real-time monitoring of competing products, it is probably to complete the leadership’s tasks.

When I first started working at a large web game company and was in charge of platform products, our leaders would ask us to take turns writing competitive product analysis reports every week. Later, when I was working on web game channels, I was mainly involved in commercializing the game platform. At this time, competitive product analysis was commonplace. The commercialization strategy not only relied on data analysis , but also had to be combined with the development of current competitors, such as the ever-popular anti-popup feature, various forms of pop-up layers (slot machines, golden egg smashing, roulette wheels, pinballs, floating layers), search recommendations, lottery sign-ins, corner-torn ads, etc. Sometimes competitors can help you think of strategies that you can’t even think of.

Of course, we encourage products to have their own ideas, but as a platform, we cannot miss the basic functions that competitors have already achieved, otherwise it will cause a lot of loss. Although it is undeniable that the most serious cause of platform user loss is the rebate program offered by other platforms, which our small platform does not have the qualifications to do, fortunately, publishing companies and game CPs now generally stipulate that channel parties cannot offer rebates.

The following will analyze why and how to conduct competitive product analysis from the perspective of the two most important roles of the channel.

1. Channel Game Operators

Generally, channel game operators will experience the new game as soon as they get it. The new game may be taken over by the business department, or it may be a task assigned by the leadership (everyone understands). Some are so bad that they are B-, but there is no way. If the leader says to push it, you still have to push it. However, each game operator has its own game evaluation mechanism, which gives new games evaluation scores and their own levels.

Of course, I am in business + operations, so generally my experience is OK. This game directly formed a team to connect with SKD and prepare to go online. If it is an IP game, of course you also need to work with the CP to understand the user class and user portrait of the previous game. This will help in formulating game promotion strategies when the game is launched and target precise needs.

The following review was taught to me by my web game predecessor. Game reviews are definitely conducted without knowing the data. Generally, a detailed evaluation is conducted from the following aspects of the screenshots:

When "Xura Wushen" was first released, I did a game review for it. Here are some of the review contents:

I have to say, with richer experience in game operation and more games experienced, I can judge whether a game is good or not before reaching level 30. After all, time is limited. If I write a detailed game review for each game I access, the cost would be too high. Personally, I skip the tedious process most of the time, unless the publisher of the game I access has determined to be an A+ or S-level product, I will do a serious analysis. After all, when we encounter a good product, everyone hopes to let it show its abilities.

The reason why I regard the review of a certain game as a kind of competitive analysis is that when analyzing this game, I will think of other games of the same type. For example, when I connect to "Ashura Martial God", I will naturally think of "Martial Arts Supreme". After all, they are both novel IP games, and I will compare the two. Of course, this can also be regarded as me applying my own product ideas to game operations.

Whether it is the introduction of a new game (you must first evaluate it yourself and then look at the game data), or the game has been online for a while, when the channel operation is monitoring competitors, it will generally also understand the data of other channels (if other companies have launched and released games), and will also understand the user groups of other channels, and compare the differences between the same games on different channels. This will provide a data basis for promoting games in the future, and you can see which user groups are missing on your platform. When directing traffic to your own channel, you will have a clear purpose, which is conducive to the long-term development of the platform.

2. Channel Platform Products

Competitive analysis of channel products is the same as for products. Let me first talk about the product forms that exist in the current H5 channels that I know of (if there are other ones, please feel free to comment and add to them).

There are currently five:

1. Official Accounts. The above article briefly mentioned the current development of H5 game distribution through official account channels. In fact, in terms of product form, most of the growing channels have been implemented as independent apps, websites, and mini-programs , and are no longer in the form of a single official account. After all, game platform products are different from information flows and still need to have aggregation and service functions.

2. Mobile APP application;

3. WAP site;

4. PC station, which is generally a large platform for web games. In line with market development, H5 game projects have been derived;

5. Mini program.

The following is a detailed competitive analysis of existing H5 distribution channels.

Students who have followed the official account know that the most important thing about the official account is the bottom menu bar, because players need to get all the information of the platform from the bottom menu bar. Generally, the bottom menu bar fully displays the core functional points of the official account. Currently, the bottom menu bar of H5 channels is mostly divided into three parts: recommended games (popular games), game center (pointing to pages), and services (generally including game community + APP download promotion + cooperation/customer service).

From the perspective of user needs, popular recommendations can help users obtain useful information more efficiently and highlight high-quality content. For a new user of the platform, as a player, he must come to the platform to play games, otherwise no one would follow a public account that might harass me by pushing useless information. Therefore, we allow players to get good games as soon as possible and meet their needs for finding games (but at this time players are passively looking for games, because we recommend content to them, they only need to actively accept it).

At this point, I would also like to say that the functions of recommendations and popularity rankings are similar. Many players go to the game rankings before trying new games. After all, everyone wants to know which games are "hot" and "popular". For platform players, 1. Popular games mean that there are many players entering the game, the game has been operating for a long time, and the game quality is high. At this time, the gaming experience is better, so some platforms will add popularity values ​​to recommended games. 2. In addition, if you don’t even know the hottest games at the moment, how can you say that you understand this thing, and how can you say that you have played H5 games? I attribute it to the mentality of following the crowd, showing off, and curiosity. 3. There are also old users who just browse because they are bored. 4. There are also game practitioners who want to experience competing products.

Therefore, whether the first recommended game is fun or not and whether it satisfies users is also an important factor affecting the platform's retention. It may even have the effect of attracting new users. After all, if it is fun, people will recommend it to their friends.

From my experience, I suggest that the types of recommended games can be diverse. You can choose one game of each type to cater to the tastes of players: stand-alone or online games, fairy tales or legends, casual or miracles, two-dimensional, etc. Both the name and form can be innovative to attract players' attention, trigger clicks, and promote new game conversions.

In addition, from the perspective of the distribution channel, the recommended position is also a new advertising space that can be used to promote the main game or new games; a product position can be reserved for small games and activities to promote activity, or it can be used as an entrance to a questionnaire. The product position can be treated flexibly.

Let’s talk about the second important menu: Game Center. As the name suggests, the game center naturally plays the role of game aggregation. Therefore, most of the existing products are natively transplanted wap sites or APPs of this channel.

The last functional point: service area. From a functional point of view, we hope to solve users' needs as soon as possible, so customer service and cooperation must exist. You can also place the download link of the APP to promote the game box.

Contracts and reconciliation

Recently, due to staff turnover, I completely took over the H5 channel business work and sorted out the contracts and bills that had been piled up for nearly a year (after completing the June cost details, I can start writing properly). After all, the H5 project that I took over last year was an incubation project of the traffic department, not a real game business department, so many processes were not perfect. However, I had not yet taken over the accounting aspect. This week, I sorted out the accounts and re-examined and formulated the platform's reconciliation and contract processes.

Everyone knows that the scary thing about many things is not the quantity, but a series of subsequent problems caused by loopholes in the process and details. Therefore, the workflow must be standardized. For example, during this reconciliation, I found that for some game payments that had already been shared and recorded, the share ratios settled were inconsistent with the contract, which means that too much money was paid to the partners (this has actually always been a business loophole in the game joint operation industry, and many people rely on this to seek personal gain). There was also duplicate accounting due to the same game being connected to two partners (a big taboo in the industry, remember not to accept duplicate games). Here are some tips on reconciliation. You must keep track of the money, otherwise you will be the one who suffers.

Most of the mature H5 channels now accept the game first and then sign the contract after the game is running. In fact, there will be no problems with mature channels. After all, there are dedicated people for reconciliation, contracts, and game access, and the division of labor is clear. For channels that are just starting out, however, there will be big problems. As a verbal term, there is no need to worry that the cooperating CP will breach the contract or change the profit-sharing ratio. After all, this has always been the industry practice. It’s just that there is no clear written proof of the profit-sharing ratio, which will cause trouble for subsequent reconciliation (CP party, channel party).

At the beginning of each month, the channel will calculate the reconciliation statements for each game in the previous month, and send the lists one by one to the students in charge of reconciliation in the CP/publishing company, and at the same time make a cost breakdown for this month and submit it to the financial department for accounting.

It is recommended at this time that you must fill in the content of the docking background when connecting to the game, and the two columns of profit sharing ratio and game company must be filled in carefully. Because there is no contract, this record point is very important (don't be lazy). Or when you reconcile your accounts every month, if you are unsure of your share, you can choose to let the other party issue the bill first and then check the amount yourself.

Now, not only do we have to connect with new games, analyze game data, develop game promotion strategies , and follow up on the functional status of new product launches, but we also have to be chased for payment in real time. But writing something and summarizing myself is really a very pleasant thing. I used to think that I should stick to one thing, but recently I think it would be good for me to do more things, which would make me feel more complete (what do you think, friends? Feel free to leave me your comments).

H5 mini games and online games

When talking about the term "H5 mini games", many people will think of the recently popular "Jump Jump" and "Pirates Are Coming" , but most of those who can make such an association are game and Internet practitioners. In reality, most H5 game players don’t understand what H5 games are . In their minds, the only concept is “play online”, “no download required, just click to play”, “free games”, and “casual games”. This includes the phenomenal games “Surround the Nervous Cats” and “Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains” from the past two years. Although they have good revenue, players don’t understand that they are H5 games.

At that time, I was still on the web game platform and had access to these two games. I encountered obsessed players who opened more than a dozen accounts. After all, web games are mostly based on flex javascript ajax, Unity3D, and Fancy3D, while H5 games are mostly based on the Egret Engine, Laya Engine, and cocos2d-js, which have high requirements for browsers . Players often report that the general PC web game hang-up software will crash.

Actually, speaking of this, I have a bold idea: Currently, for H5, no platform specifically promotes opening multiple accounts with small accounts. After all, since most H5 games are mobile games, it is inconvenient to open multiple accounts with small accounts. However, what I want to say is that everyone knows the impact of the lock screen and the background running of the application on the game. The mobile phone has a lock screen mechanism. After the screen goes black, the game enters the offline mode, which is actually not user-friendly. When the mobile game enters the black screen by mistake, the first demand after unlocking the screen is to enter the game directly. I suggest that you optimize the game and channel APP in view of this point, that is, the issue of background application permissions + lock screen permissions. I have not studied it thoroughly here. When I study it well, I will continue to discuss with you.

Next, let’s talk about players’ perception of H5. The cognitive error is mainly due to the fact that most game publishers, game CPs, and game channels did not instill the concept of “H5 games” in users when they initially promoted the game. Because in their opinion, H5 is a new term, which has a high learning cost for players and may bring negative impacts. Take my personal experience as an example. When I just joined this team last year, I was mainly responsible for channels, but my product colleagues told me that promotional materials and promotional copywriting could not display H5. This led to the creation of this promotional strategy: instilling in players the perception of “play online”, “no downloading required, just click to play”, and “mini games”.

However, this has created some conflicts with the current H5 promotion methods. Many channels will use micro-terminal promotion, and the display effects are game packages and boxes. That is, after downloading the game, it is actually a game box. Although it will enter the H5 game first, there is a more serious problem. It may compete with the mobile game of the same name for volume. There was an incident recently where a gaming CP released an H5 game based on a film and television IP. After half a year, they decided to release the same mobile game. At this time, there was a conflict in the listing resources. Because of the previous expansion and promotion of the game, the R&D and channels adopted the method of micro-terminal promotion of the game. However, the mobile game of the same name needed to be launched online and occupied resources, so all H5 micro-terminals needed to be removed.

Therefore, I suggest that you make a distinction when naming the H5 and applying for a version number, so that resources will not be occupied in future promotion, and there will be no complaints from players about game inconsistencies. Because it is also possible that the players themselves want to download a certain mobile game, but due to promotion reasons, they are forced to download H5. At this time, the user experience is 0, which affects the retention rate of the platform.

So don’t be afraid that users don’t know what H5 is. You still have to call out the name . It is undeniable that games are the most easily known form of entertainment. Including the recently popular blockchain , the bigwigs who support blockchain research and development want blockchain games to flourish quickly. One of the very objective reasons is that games are easy to learn and popularize. After all, it is a bit difficult to get ordinary people to read blockchain books, but some games can indeed drive the rapid growth of this market.

In addition, when large platforms promote H5 games, they also use the names of mini-games, so mini-games are now deeply rooted. I surveyed some players (who are not the target users of my platform) and asked them if they knew about H5 games. They said that H5 has been outdated for a long time. I said, do you know that "Jump Jump" and other games also belong to the category of small games? They all said they didn't know. Therefore, how to link mini-games and H5 games in the future is a problem that all major publishing companies need to solve.

I'd like to throw out a few suggestions:

1. Transformation from H5 platform to mini program platform. Today's H5 game platform is becoming more and more mature, and we should also adapt to the situation and create our own mini-program game platform. Of course, it would be best if you could directly launch your own APP from the mini program and direct the traffic to your own platform. Therefore, I found that for many mobile games, after being invited, you can directly enter the game with a click, even on iOS without using Safari.

2. Advertisements before mini-games and ads built into mini-games. I have mentioned this before, but the specific details still need to be analyzed based on the recommendation algorithm, user tags, and what types of mini-games the players like to play, as well as what kind of games to recommend to them. At the same time, mini-games are more important than stand-alone games. The most important requirement for stand-alone games is a strategy for passing levels, so you can provide them with a task system and get corresponding rewards by completing tasks.

3. Strategy group. The strategy group is mainly aimed at passing small games, and information flow advertising can be used in the middle. At this time, big data analysis is still needed. Simple image advertising cannot be used. You can try text links, floating layers, pop-ups, and continue reading guidance.

That’s all I have to say for now. In short, the H5 channel is also a mobile gaming platform. It needs to have content and characteristics. It cannot be limited to the current form. We must learn to use new technologies and new methods. I will write out more detailed plans later, including channel business model , channel promotion strategy , and channel product operation. I hope to grow together with you.

Author: Game support, authorized to be released by Qinggua Media .

Source: Game support by Tencent Game Academy