Mobile game entrepreneurs worry about approval time: everything is cold in half a year

On June 31, 31 mobile games were launched; in July, a total of 39 mobile games were launched in the four days from July 1 to July 4, of which only two games were launched on July 4.

This is what the reporter found when conducting relevant searches on the APP Store: Since July 1, the number of new mobile game launches has begun to decline sharply. The reason is that on July 1, the relevant provisions of the "Notice on the Management of Mobile Game Publishing Services" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television began to be implemented: From July 1, mobile games that have not been approved by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television shall not be published and operated online; upgraded works and new expansion packs of mobile games that have been approved for publication will be regarded as new works and need to be re-examined.

After the new regulations are implemented, what impact will they have on the mobile gaming industry?

The wild growth of mobile games will no longer exist

When studying why China's Internet is at the forefront of entrepreneurship and innovation, many people believe that the most important reason is the low policy threshold, which gives entrepreneurs a lot of space. This is even more true in online game entrepreneurship.

Relatively speaking, game startups have considerable profits, and the development threshold is getting lower and lower as the market heats up. However, China lags far behind in the standardization of game copyrights and other aspects. In 2012, the year when mobile games exploded, a large number of copycat and plagiarized products appeared, so that a large number of industry practitioners "grew wildly" during this cycle.

According to statistics, in 2015, the revenue of China's game market reached 140.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 20%, of which the mobile game market revenue reached 51.4 billion yuan, an increase of 87%. In just one year, the mobile game market has gone through a journey that traditional PC games would take five years or even longer to go through.

"With the introduction of the new policy, the wild growth of the mobile game industry may no longer exist," developer Wang Chao (pseudonym) told NetEase Technology after the new policy was introduced. He was one of the first entrepreneurs to make money in mobile games, and currently he still maintains a small team approach. In his opinion, a small team has a fast pace and can capture the market's focus in a short period of time. "The life cycle of mobile games is short. I don't expect the product to last for several years like big companies, with continuous updates and continuous operations."

According to him, the team has developed dozens of games since its establishment, but there are no famous works. Most of them are just works that follow the trend. "There are many teams that make quick money and hot money," he said.

However, the new policy's strict review and online review mechanism will block a large number of small and medium-sized developers from launching new products. In the early morning of July 1, a developer tested and found that "when submitting games for approval on the APP Store, it is necessary to enter the version number and approval time, and the submission cannot be made without them."

NetEase Technology found through Application Radar that games were still launched from July 1st, when the new policy was promulgated, to July 4th, but the number declined sharply. Only 2 games were launched on July 4th, and a total of 39 games were launched within 4 days. Before the new policy, 31 games were launched on June 30th alone.

NetEase Technology randomly selected several games that were launched after the new policy, and found that there was no prompt about complying with the new policy regulations when they were opened for viewing. "Before the game starts and after the "Healthy Gaming Advice", a special page is set up to indicate the game copyright owner, publishing service unit, approval number, publication number and other information approved by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television."

In this regard, NetEase Technology asked several developers whether Apple's official review is synchronized with the review of relevant departments. Developer Li Xiong (pseudonym) said that because Apple's official review also has a certain cycle, it is not ruled out that approval has been obtained from relevant departments within this cycle, but the relevant information is not reflected because the launch is imminent.

The developer said that PC games have also faced strict review in the past, and a large number of games were rejected at the beginning of the review. However, as manufacturers figure out the "tricks" of the review, the number of games going online will recover.

However, the experience of PC games only applies to "big game companies", and small and medium-sized developers are currently like "ants on a hot pot".

Many developers told NetEase Technology that since there are policies from above, there will naturally be countermeasures from below. An optimist who did not want to be named told NetEase Technology, "Look, before the new policy is released, some agencies have become active through various channels."

With the introduction of the developer, the reporter searched for relevant agency information on Taobao. The agents clearly marked the prices of the Internet Culture Business License, ICP (Value-added Telecommunications Business License), software copyright, and game version number. It is roughly estimated that the total cost of the three certificates plus the approval of the General Administration is between 50,000 and 70,000 yuan.

However, for game developers, it is not difficult to make considerable profits with a cost of 50,000 to 70,000 yuan. But the relatively lengthy process and the basic requirements for various qualifications are a huge entrepreneurial gap for small and medium-sized developers.

The application period for a game license takes 3-5 months. To apply for a game license, you must also provide: a copy of the copyright certificate, a copy of the business license, a copy of the ICP certificate, a publishing authorization, a letter of commitment, and a publishing contract. In addition, if a small or medium-sized team does not have any of the above certificates, the application period for the license will be extended, and changes in the middle will be even more distant.

"It's too complicated, and more importantly, the cycle is too long," said Xiao Zu (pseudonym), a pessimistic developer. A six-month cycle may mean a mobile game has missed the heat, and by the time it is reviewed and released, it will be an "expired product" for the market.

The next six months are too much time for any small or medium-sized team to afford. Currently, the channels and resources of the entire mobile game market tend to be "oligopolistic", with several large-scale game manufacturers occupying the advantages of resources and access. Small and medium-sized teams not only have to face changes in the competitive environment, but also the impact of policies. Under the double pressure, many teams seem at a loss.

Compared to the plight of small and medium-sized developers, large companies may not worry about related issues. PC game companies are generally large in size, with sufficient corporate funds and personnel resources, and the game development cycle is long. The funds and time consumed by the process approval can be digested within the entire game life cycle.

However, there is still a lot of room for regulation of the entire industry. According to information disclosed by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television on domestic online games and imported online games, from 2009 to June 30, 2016, a total of 4,128 games were approved, of which 946 were mobile games. According to the "2015 China Game Industry Report" released by the Game Working Committee, only 370 games were approved by the General Administration in 2015. The number of mobile games in the market in 2015 announced by relevant channels reached 25,000, which means that nearly 96% of mobile games were not approved.

According to data from App Annie, as of the introduction of the new regulations, among the TOP50 best-selling games, 27 out of 49 games had not yet been approved, which is more than half, and some of them are popular mobile games, such as "Honor of Kings", which are in the top 5 of the best-selling list, have not been approved.

This phenomenon of "naked streaking" may no longer exist after October 1 this year. According to the "Notice", there are also relevant regulations for games that have already been launched, that is, before October 1 this year, they must go to the local provincial publishing administrative department to complete the relevant approval procedures. October 1 this year is the final deadline for the entire market.

After the great waves wash away the sand, the "naked swimmers" will be eliminated by the market because they do not comply with the regulations.

Note: At the request of the interviewees, Wang Chao, Li Xiong, and Xiao Zu are all pseudonyms.

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.