On September 21, it was reported that at the TGDC2019 Tencent Game Developers Conference,TencentVice President Yao Xiaoguang delivered a keynote speech. In his speech, he explained the value of games and why we need to make domestically developed games.

In 2011, digital gaming was defined as an “art form” by the American Arts Foundation. Yao Xiaoguang believes that games are valuable. The Chinese game industry is developing rapidly. Gaming is becoming the mainstream culture of young people. The market size has also reached over 35 billion US dollars from the earliest very small scale, and this figure is still changing rapidly.

According to data shared by Yao Xiaoguang, the average online time for game users is about 48 minutes, and the payment penetration rate is about 6.5%. Users don't spend a lot of time playing games, and only a small percentage of people spend money playing games. Generally speaking, gaming is one of the healthiest forms of entertainment in life.

At the same time, Yao Xiaoguang also mentioned that games are not the same as other fields; they are global competition with no threshold. Overseas games once dominated the domestic game market until the gradual rise of domestic games. Domestic games accounted for about 8% in 2002, reached 40% in 2008, and now accounts for nearly 70%. This is the result of the joint efforts of all practitioners.

Yao Xiaoguang said that more and more games in China are entering top game clubs, which can be compared to blockbusters from overseas, and domestic games have also begun to be exported overseas. The most talked about in the past two years is the internationalization of overseas trips. Overseas revenue is also constantly rising, and I believe it will grow bigger in the next two years.

The following is a transcript of Yao Xiaoguang's speech:

Back many years ago, when I was in my second year of junior high school, I wanted a computer. In those days, I told my parents that I needed a computer, so my dad asked the teacher if they could buy a computer for their child. The teacher said they definitely can't buy it because it would affect learning. He asked his colleagues and other parents around him, and they all said they would definitely not buy it. This would affect learning, and even say that you would affect a child's whole life. Much like today's children are challenged by parents to play with their phones. After more than two years of fighting, I finally convinced my parents. When I bought a computer at the time, I promised them that I would study, but I would still use it to play games. At the time, I was exposed to a game called DIABLO “Diablo.” At the time, when Windows was very unstable, it was very easy to have a blue screen after opening Word and a few tools. In this era, games like “Diablo” came out, and I really felt that game software was very advanced compared to other things.

The year I played “Diablo” was my 17th birthday, and the last big boss wasn't knocked out. After the kids celebrated their birthday together, we left two of them. The three of us surrounded the computer. One was responsible for using 1234 to add blood, I was responsible for getting around the mouse, and the other classmate was the ticket back to the city. The three of them finally killed that big boss through countless transfers and efforts. We were very excited to run outside to lie on the grass and watch the sky. At that time, I made up my mind to work in the gaming industry. I also wrote this thought in my diary when I got back, but I'm really afraid to think about it now: because at the time, there was no game industry in China at all.

I also have a feeling why games like “Diablo” were all about medieval European themes at the time. The good games we played were all Western culture, and I dreamed of it when I was a teenager: Will games representing Chinese culture appear in the future one day, so we have worked hard for many years. You can see that there are so many Chinese heroes in “Wang Zhe Rongyao,” which shows that we are still working hard.

I think back then, when I was in college, I used Visual Basic and DirectX development tools from that time to write a demo imitating “Diablo.” I found my first job with this DEMO. Since then, I've been in the business for so many years until now, so it's a bit of a small thought. Today I'll share with you two minor questions.

Why are games valuable? Why do we need to make domestic self-developed games?

1. Why are games valuable?

Everyone has been making games for so many years, so what is a game? The industry has lots of high-level explanations. I met the head of the administration at an event before. When he asked me the first question “What is a game,” I wasn't satisfied with all the textbook-style answers. I think his summary was great. I'd like to share it with everyone: “Games are the first step for all mammals, especially primates, to learn to survive. Games challenge and overcome obstacles in a simulated environment; reasonable and moderate games can develop intelligence, exercise thinking and reaction ability, train skills, and develop a sense of rules; large-scale online games can also cultivate a sense of strategy and tactics and team spirit; everything is too late, everything is the same”.

This statement is very objective and sophisticated. At the time, I said that the summary was particularly good. Can we use this publicity? The head of the competent department said that you are welcome to use this vigorous publicity. Therefore, if the industry uses this method to summarize games, it is also possible to eliminate many misunderstandings. More and more people are aware of the value of games. Earlier, I heard Professor Yinan from the National Defense University Strategy School share that he played a flight simulation game that gave him a lot of feelings: he could fly fighter jets into the air in the virtual world and attack ground unit tanks. He felt that he had this kind of vision in the air, so air supremacy is very important. He suggested developing fewer heavy tanks that can't withstand air strikes, and that better air supremacy weapons and more small tanks should be developed. This is the value that games can bring.

The Chinese game industry is developing rapidly, and the number of users is growing very fast. Gaming has now become the mainstream culture of young people. The market size has also reached over 35 billion US dollars from the earliest very small scale, and this figure is still changing rapidly.

In 2011, digital games were defined by the American Art Foundation as an “art form”, using games as the “ninth art” after “the eight major arts” such as “literature, painting, dance, music, sculpture, drama, architecture, and film,” so in terms of creative significance, games can include all previous art forms, and can integrate all art. Games also bring “interactivity” and sociability other than these arts. It is a relatively more advanced form of art.

The influence of games on the world also has a wider scope for imagination. The development period of the game industry is a fraction of the film industry. The film industry is one hundred thirty to forty years old, and the history of games is also three to forty years, so it is a very new field that is still developing.

Looking back at history, we find that when television first appeared, it also attracted widespread discussion and attention from society. In 1985, Neil Bozeman, a famous media culture scholar, wrote a book called “Entertainment to Death.” At the time, the cover of the book depicted four people watching TV, and they all lost their minds on watching TV. Therefore, the idea at the time was that TV, as an emerging product, would destroy a generation. The whole book was about this. Entertainment products would attract attention, and how could television hurt the eyes. It turns out that television has not destroyed a generation, but has become a very meaningful tool for society.

We looked at data from various sources and found that the average online time of game users was about 48 minutes, and the paid penetration rate was about 6.5%. Users don't spend a lot of time playing games, and only a small percentage of people spend money playing games. Generally speaking, gaming is one of the healthiest forms of entertainment in life.

2. Why should we make domestic self-developed games?

Everyone thought, “Tencent's self-developed games are great, number one in the industry, have lots of blockbusters, and are highly paid, but our real situation is like this: when we first started building from 0, the first product we operated wasn't that successful. We worked tirelessly. We spent many years exploring in the fog, only launched a large-scale MMORPG in 2010, and only started slowly in 2016-2018. For a long time, Tencent's self-developed games were suspected of being hanged.

Gaming is not like any other field; it is a global competition with no barriers.

The pricing for overseas games is basically the same as the pricing for domestic games. Back then, the 60 yuan monthly subscription for “World of Warcraft” was the cheapest game on the planet. Overseas products once dominated the domestic game market until the gradual rise of domestic games. Domestic games accounted for about 8% in 2002, reached 40% in 2008, and now accounts for nearly 70%. This is due to the efforts of all practitioners.

More and more Chinese games have begun to enter top game clubs, which can be compared to blockbusters from overseas, and domestic games have also begun to be exported overseas. What I've talked about the most in the past two years is going overseas to internationalize. Overseas revenue is also constantly rising, and I believe it will grow bigger in the next two years.

Looking back at the 20-year history of domestic games, from 1997 to 2017, the famous game “Blood Lion” claimed to be the first domestically produced game at the time was very emotional. It was China's own C&C, and the “Red Alert” of Chinese culture, but it didn't achieve this quality at the time. Everyone described it as “bad quality,” but I think this was at least a good start. Over the years, we went from being of poor quality to being very poor to being able to do it. “Blood Lion” was released before it was finished, so it was denied by players. Later, we were able to play online games, couldn't go offline, and could reverse plug-ins. We became catchers along the way, and we have to work hard to continue to surpass them in the future.

As a leading company, Tencent continues to do meaningful things. We are leading three games to the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. The contestants gave up their high income as e-sports players in China and were completely locked up and trained for a long time. On behalf of China, they won “AOV,” or “Wang Zhe Rongyao,” the first e-sports gold medal in the history of the Asian Games in the overseas edition of “Wang Zhe Rongyao.” I felt a lot of emotion at this time. In the past, when we were young, we watched at home watching the Chinese women's volleyball team win gold medals, Chinese table tennis win gold medals, and many traditional sports games in China win gold medals. Today, young people can watch games and e-sports win gold medals on TV. This is the progress of the times.

Everyone loves learning so much, I hope everyone works hard together! If the Chinese game industry doesn't make much progress in the next few decades, then it's likely that our generation will only play imported games when they are old. The answer to what games can be played on the market in the future lies with everyone.

I've always used this phrase on my personal website to encourage myself, and I also gave it to everyone: “If there were real magicians in this world, could they be more mysterious than us using computers to manipulate words, sounds, images, and mathematical expressions”. Computer science, quantum physics, and chaotic physics are as mysterious as previous theology.

People come to this industry because they are interested, hoping that interest becomes a mission, because interest always dissipates. Many people have been in the business for many years. Will people ask themselves at night if it's enough, if it's OK, I came to this industry because of my interest, if that interest has dissipated, and what should you stick with when you find out that your interests aren't there. Successful content often requires you to persist in this field. If your interests are gone, then please play games carefully, maintain your enthusiasm, and make our interests our mission.

Thank you all.