The second dimension "invades" ChinaJoy and sings "youthism"

As one of the most influential events in the field of digital interactive entertainment in the world, ChinaJoy has a deep connection with the Chinese game industry. The 14th ChinaJoy exhibition came to an end on July 31. If you have participated in previous ChinaJoy exhibitions, you will definitely feel that this year's exhibition is so different: under extremely strict dress code, showgirls are no longer the protagonists on the scene.

Without the noisy showgirls, ChinaJoy returns to the game itself, but it is not just the game itself. Now as a pan-entertainment industry, the extension of the game has also extended to more fields. Leaving aside the most prominent games, showgirls and peripherals in previous exhibitions, the reporter of "Daily Economic News" noticed that one of the most distinctive marks of this ChinaJoy is that the two-dimensional culture is coming. The transformation of game companies is being put on the agenda. The two-dimensional and IP with strong cultural symbols have been labeled as "pan-entertainment industry" and have begun to be included in the strategic planning of some game companies, and mobile e-sports has also been valued by more and more game companies.

ChinaJoy has been held for the 14th time this year and has become a grand event for the Chinese game industry and game enthusiasts. However, this year's ChinaJoy is a little different. At the scene, you can find countless animation-related exhibitions - games, comics, home dance, etc. Countless practitioners exclaimed - the era of the second dimension has arrived.

The so-called two-dimensional world, which is opposite to the real world, is a name for the fictional world in animation, comics, games and other works. From an industry perspective, the broad definition of the two-dimensional world refers to the development, production, publication, broadcasting, performance and sales of animation products such as animation books, newspapers, films, television, audio-visual products, stage plays and new animation varieties based on modern information communication technology, as well as the production and operation of derivative products such as clothing, toys, and electronic games related to animation characters.

Times are changing, and users are getting younger and younger. How to cater to this part of users and discover their value is becoming more and more important. However, Zhang Feng, vice president of bilibili (hereinafter referred to as B station), pointed out at the ACG Industry Summit that the three characteristics of ACG users are that they are extremely picky and extremely tolerant, have a love that is almost like faith, and have another world in their hearts. But he also emphasized that games with anime IPs are not equal to ACG games, and games with anime style are not equal to ACG games.

Second dimension group: new market begins to take shape

The second dimension has been a popular internet buzzword in recent years. Many people born in the 1990s and 2000s are keen on the second dimension world. It is with the power of the second dimension that well-known animations have also entered the mobile game market.

It is worth noting that this year's ChinaJoy exhibition saw the B station booth for the first time. According to the reporter of Daily Economic News, more than half of B station's core user group are born after 1995 or even 2000. This time, B station is the exclusive domestic game agent for the two popular IPs "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" and "Fate/Grand Order". The booth was crowded with people, which shows the popularity of the two-dimensional world.

"We judge a game more from the perspective of tone rather than revenue." Zhang Feng said at the Two-Dimensional Industry Summit that the circle characteristics of two-dimensional games are also very obvious on Bilibili. 1% of users create content, 9% of users are responsible for dissemination, and the final 90% of users consume and enjoy this content. This is the circle characteristic of the entire two-dimensional game players.

When talking about the future of two-dimensional games, Zhang Feng believes that big IP, big team, big production, long-cycle products and creative vertical products will be successful in the future market; with the increase in the number of two-dimensional games and the diversification of types, users' tastes and selection criteria will also improve accordingly, becoming more "picky"; A (animation), C (comics), and N (novels) users will further transform into G (game) users, and ultimately the two-dimensional game industry will achieve rapid growth.

Another company, Kongzhong, is a frequent visitor to ChinaJoy, and has always been focusing on the distinctive military style. Unexpectedly, Kongzhong has also started to consider the two-dimensional world. The new version 9.0 of its next-generation cute naval battle mobile game "Iron Girls" also participated in this exhibition, adding two-dimensional elements to Kongzhong's military theme.

"We have to follow the user base and cannot ignore the fact that today's users are getting younger." Zhang Yingnan, executive vice president of Kongzhong, told the Daily Economic News reporter that the two-dimensional world represents a group, and it cannot be avoided that today's Chinese children are growing up with the two-dimensional culture. As this group of people gradually step onto the social stage, the two-dimensional world may no longer be a niche culture in the future.

Of course, the marketing of ACG products is very different from traditional product marketing. Zhang Yingnan has a deep understanding of this: in the past, games often used spokespersons and the entire development team to talk about the gameplay of the game. However, ACG users may not buy into this. It can be said that this group of ACG users is very peculiar. Once you capture his (her) heart, his (her) loyalty or support for you is definitely beyond your imagination.

However, Zhang Yingnan also pointed out to reporters that although the two-dimensional group will definitely expand in the future, the current popularity still feels a bit excessive.

Second dimension practice: new concept of mobile e-sports is hot

Interestingly, the flourishing "mobile e-sports" game events have injected new highlights and vitality into this year's ChinaJoy, and the main participants and viewers of e-sports are the two-dimensional users.

At the Giant Interactive booth, the "Tatan Cup" elite challenge of "Battle of Balls" is one of the most representative mobile e-sports events at ChinaJoy.

Nowadays, with the policy level elevating e-sports to the level of a sports event, the professionalization of e-sports has become a general trend, and the market potential is gradually revealed. According to a report by CITIC Consulting, in 2015, the scale of my country's mobile game market reached 42.92 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.1%, and the number of users was about 600 million. At present, the scale of domestic mobile game users has exceeded that of PC games and web games. Among the mobile game user groups, more than half of the players are willing to participate in mobile e-sports competitions, and about 40% of the players are very interested in watching such events.

On the first day of ChinaJoy, Hero Sports, a subsidiary of Hero Entertainment, announced that it had completed a financing of 640 million yuan, with Minutes Innovation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Focus Media , leading the investment with 300 million yuan. It is reported that Hero Sports is a mobile e-sports event operator that has hosted the largest mobile e-sports event in Asia, with 400 million registered users.

Focus Media Chairman Jiang Nanchun ( Weibo ) said in an interview with the Daily Economic News on the evening of July 28 that the reason for investing in Hero Sports is that he is very optimistic about the e-sports market. "In the youth market, e-sports has surpassed football and basketball to become the number one sport. The young people of the future will grow up with e-sports."

Tencent, the industry's largest player, has also seen users' growing demand for information, videos, e-sports and communities, and has strengthened the construction of its official website, media, e-sports and community ecosystems, and has attempted a professional layout in the field of mobile e-sports.

Hou Miao, deputy general manager of Tencent Interactive Entertainment's marketing department, introduced that Tencent will make a breakthrough attempt in the professionalization of mobile e-sports. It will learn the true concept of the competitive system around competitive phenomenal products such as Honor of Kings and create professional mobile e-sports.

Hou Miao said that authoritative data reports show that in 2015, the revenue of mobile game e-sports reached 5.97 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 32.6%. In the first quarter of 2016, the revenue of mobile game e-sports reached 4.1 billion yuan, accounting for one-third of the revenue of the e-sports market. In terms of user volume, in 2015, the number of mobile e-sports users reached 197 million, nearly one-quarter of the game users, and the growth rate exceeded 50%. The hot industry has also attracted the attention of capital. In the past year, there have been 26 mergers and acquisitions cases in the field of mobile e-sports, with investment and financing amounting to more than 2 billion yuan.

It is understood that in the TGA Mobile Game Grand Prix that ended last month, the VOD playback volume of "Honor of Kings" alone reached 10.16 million, and the PV of the TGA Mobile Grand Prix overall event special page reached more than 45 million.

According to the CITIC Consulting report, major manufacturers represented by Tencent and Hero Entertainment have been developing mobile e-sports games and events, and more than 50 mobile e-sports games have been released on the market. In terms of the number of games, Tencent occupies a dominant position, accounting for 22%; in terms of game types, MOBA (multiplayer online tactical competitive games) and STG (shooting) games occupy half of the market.

Similar to the path of the rise of the PC e-sports industry, as giants accelerate their layout in mobile e-sports, various parts of the mobile e-sports industry, such as official competitions, professional leagues, professional teams, and mobile game live broadcasts, have flourished. China has initially built a relatively complete mobile e-sports industry chain, and the subsequent profit space is relatively optimistic.

Second dimension strategy: IP development strategy with games as the core

At the ChinaJoy Summit Forum, Shanda Games CEO Xie Fei made clear to the outside world the company's IP development strategy with games as the core. In her speech, she said that the entire industry will inevitably evolve from IP trading to IP development.

Xie Fei believes that the layout of the entire industry chain will not be the mainstream form of the market, and the pan-entertainment industry will present two major trends: cross-border cooperation and global integration. As for the specific promotion of the pan-entertainment strategy, Xie Fei believes that: first, the spirit of openness and sharing is needed. Pan-entertainment is an ecosystem of cross-border and cross-national communication and integration; second, it is clear that IP development is the core, and the system capabilities from copyright protection, copyright planning, market research, image promotion to finished product production are refined. This will be the core competitiveness of the pan-entertainment era; finally and most importantly, it is to focus on one's own IP and enhance the ability to cultivate IP.

Snail Digital, another manufacturer that has participated in ChinaJoy for the 14th consecutive year, showed an "evolved" attitude on the first day of the exhibition, appearing at ChinaJoy with the App Store exclusive launch ceremony of "Lineage 2: Blood Alliance" and other terminal and mobile game works.

Also on the first day, the domestic dark horse game publisher Xindong Group announced to the outside world that it would join hands with China's leading comprehensive copyright service provider Changyuan Guoxun to launch more than 100 high-quality IPs, a 100 million yuan IP special support fund, and establish a 20,000 square meter IP incubation park, in order to create the most comprehensive and complete IP and mobile game ecosystem.

It is understood that "Ghost Blows Out the Light 3D", a product of Xindong Group, has been making great strides since its launch. Official data shows that the entire platform has more than 3 million users since its launch, with a turnover of more than 80 million yuan. It has ranked second on Apple's IOS best-selling list and achieved an excellent result of 500,000 new users on the first day of the Android version's launch.

Chen Yunlu, Chairman and CEO of Xindong Group, said, "IP products are the direction of development in the second half of the year, from the original introduction of IP to the future incubation of IP." The company first announced five heavyweight IPs and will carry out all-round cooperation with IPs such as "Jiuzhou·Piaomiaolu", "Dragon Clan", "Jiuzhou·Huangji", "Xunquan", and "Tianwai".

As Zhang Liangwei, deputy director of Soochow Securities and chief analyst of media and Internet, pointed out, through the matrix approach, the development of the entire industry chain can be realized, and games will become an important link in IP monetization. "Innovation, IP, and matrix are the future way out and direction of the mobile game industry in the era of pan-entertainment."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.