Source: Gelong Hui

At the beginning of the new year, the game industry ushered in the "blow-up gift" at the beginning of the year-the first edition numbers came in 2023!

Yesterday (January 17) evening, the official website of the State Press and publication Administration announced the approval information of domestic online games in January 2023. In this examination and approval, a total of 88 domestic online games successfully obtained the version number.

Affected by the news, A-share game concept stocks rose sharply today. As of press time, Giant Network and Dinglong Culture rose by more than 7%, Kaiying Network by more than 5%, Panax notoginseng mutual entertainment by more than 4%, Tom Cat, Culture Investment Holdings, Zhongqingbao, Palm fun Technology, Perfect World and so on.

Hong Kong shares of mobile games also rose collectively, with NetEase, Inc-S up more than 6%, Youlai Interactive and Flying Fish Technology up more than 3%, Heart Company, Middle-hand Games, Dream World, Tencent and so on.

Among them, NetEase, Inc-S opened high today, and its share price reached a new high on September 13, 2022. Looking back at this round, NetEase, Inc has risen more than 56 per cent since its low last October.

On the news side, on the one hand, the release of the first batch of version numbers this year, NetEase, Inc, as one of the head game manufacturers, was impressively listed; on the other hand, the recent "breakup" with Activision Blizzard attracted additional attention.

The game version number "Deluxe lineup"

Judging from the list announced this time, the products of many listed companies, such as Tencent, NetEase, Inc, Gibbit, Sanqi Mutual Entertainment, Kaiying Network, North Latitude Communications, Jinke Culture, Glacier Network, Zhejiang number Culture and so on.

Among them, Tencent won three game version numbers of "Dawn Awakening: vitality", "White Night Aurora Mobile Limited" and "Star of Yuan Meng". NetEase, Inc, perfect, Mihayou, Gibbit, Glacier Network, Kaiying Network, Zulong, Xinxin and other companies won a version number.

It is worth mentioning that since last year, the release of game version numbers has gradually become normal, and the number of approvals is also gradually expanding. From April 22 to January 23, the Press and publication Administration issued 45, 60, 67, 69, 73, 70, 84 and 88 edition numbers respectively.

Reviewing the release history of version numbers, the number of game version numbers in China was 9368 in 2017 and reduced to 2105 in 2018. Since then, the number of game versions has decreased year by year, to 755 in 2021.

Then, after nearly eight months of suspension, the release of the version was resumed in April 2022. In 2022, a total of 468 domestic game version numbers were issued, which was the fewest year, with the total number decreased by 32% and 46% respectively compared with 2021 and 2020.

Also affected by this, the game industry in 2022 is also quite "depressed".

The actual sales revenue of China's game market in 2022 is 265.884 billion yuan, down 30.629 billion yuan, or 10.33 percent, from the same period last year, and the number of game users is 664 million, according to the game work committee of the China Audio and Digital Association, which recently released data on China's game industry in 2022.

The actual sales income of independent R & D games in the domestic market is 222.377 billion yuan, and the actual sales income of independent R & D games in overseas markets is 17.346 billion US dollars; the actual sales income of China Mobile Limited's game market is 193.058 billion yuan, and that of China's client game market is 61.373 billion yuan. The actual sales revenue of China's web game market is 5.28 billion yuan.

Industry repair is in sight?

With the normalization of the release of version numbers, looking forward to the future, a number of institutions have said that the game industry is expected to gradually recover in 2023.

CITIC expects that the future version number restrictions and policy repression factors will no longer be the core contradictions of the game industry.

The key point lies in the core competitiveness of products, content quality, cultural elements and so on. at the same time, the stable release of game version numbers will bring a strong catalyst for the future performance growth of game companies. After the game version number tends to be normalized and the value of the game industry is recognized by the society, with regard to the policy orientation of the game industry, CITIC said that adhering to the strategy of high-quality content to games and reducing game addiction, strengthening the protection of minors and encouraging to go out to sea will be the long-term development path of the game industry in the future. The policy environment has stabilized, and under the background of performance growth driven by mainlines such as game consumption repair, broad space to go to sea, virtual and real combined with digital base, CITIC believes that the game industry will gradually usher in the opportunity of plate repair in the future.

Soochow Securities believes that policy expectations have gradually improved, plate valuation is expected to continue to repair. Various manufacturers have rich reserves of key products, and more products have reached the stages of version number application and paid testing, and continue to pay attention to the progress of key new version numbers and the rhythm of launch, waiting for the arrival of a new round of product cycle in the industry, leading to the resumption and growth of the market scale.

Edit / Corrine