① Game companies still maintain confidence in their own development and operation. Today, the State Administration of Press and Publication announced the December domestic online game version, and 105 games were approved; ② Many game leaders such as 37 Entertainment, Giant Network, and Kaiying Network have boosted confidence by increasing shareholder holdings and company repurchases.
Financial News Agency, December 25 (Reporter Lin Jian) On December 25, a number of listed game companies announced holdings increases and repurchases. They have both made progress and disclosed plans for the first time, including Giant Network, 37 Entertainment, Perfect World, Aofei Entertainment, Gigabit, Electronic Soul Network, and Chinese media.
Among them, the chairman of 37 Mutual Entertainment proposed that all share repurchases be cancelled. According to the March 7th Mutual Entertainment announcement, Chairman Li Weiwei proposed that the company buy back 100 million yuan to 200 million yuan of shares. All of the shares repurchased this time will be cancelled and the registered capital reduced. Among them, as of November of this year, 37 Mutual has spent 300 million yuan to complete the previous share repurchase plan, and has repurchased a total of 1,5395 million shares of the company's shares through centralized bidding transactions, accounting for 0.57% of the total share capital.
Furthermore, Giant.com announced that Chairman Shi Yuzhu proposed that the company use its own capital to repurchase 100 million yuan to 200 million yuan of shares. The price of the repurchased shares should not exceed 150% of the average price of the company's stock trading in the first 30 trading days before the board of directors passed the share repurchase resolution.
Kaiying Network also recently completed an increase in holdings. The holdings increase plan disclosed by Chairman Jin Feng on October 27, 2023 has been completed, and continues to disclose plans to increase holdings by no less than 20 million yuan, with a total increase of not less than RMB 100 million. On the afternoon of December 25, Perfect World announced that the actual controller and chairman of the company proposed to repurchase shares for 100 million yuan to 200 million yuan. The shares purchased this time are intended to be used for equity incentives or employee stock ownership plans.
Li Weiwei mentioned that based on long-term optimism about the high-quality development of the Chinese game industry and high recognition of the company's value, in order to protect the interests of all shareholders of the company, enhance investor confidence, and stabilize and enhance the company's value, it is proposed that the company buy back some of the company's shares through centralized bidding transactions, and that all of the repurchased shares be cancelled to reduce the registered capital.
As can be seen, the above company announcements all mention that this is because the company chairman or actual controller decided to increase holdings and repurchase based on his confidence in the industry and the company's future development prospects and reasonable judgment on the company's stock value, while at the same time enhancing investor confidence and effectively safeguarding the interests of small and medium-sized investors and the stability of the capital market. According to people in the industry, at this point in time, combined with the increase in holdings and repurchases in recent months, game companies' confidence in the development prospects of the industry has been further demonstrated.
In December, the number of domestic game versions approved at one time exceeded 100 for the first time, reaching a new high
The increase in holdings and buybacks of listed companies also reflects the company's fundamentals and steady operation. Under the premise of standardized management, Giant Network achieved high growth in the company's performance in 2023. Revenue for the first three quarters reached 2.27 billion yuan, an increase of 44%, and net profit of 1.08 billion yuan, an increase of 40% over the previous year, mainly driven by the core product “Original Journey”. The product was officially tested on March 24, topped the iOS free list and the top 20 best sellers on the first day, with more than 1 million new users, and a cumulative turnover of over 1 billion dollars. The company fully embraced AI trends in 2023 and achieved breakthrough progress in AI industrial production and gameplay innovation. Active exploration of measures to prevent minors from becoming addicted to the Internet has also achieved some results.
Interviewed market participants believe that games, as a new type of cultural carrier, can stimulate people's exploration and interest in culture, and have great potential in popularizing knowledge, science, integration, and empowerment. Game companies can give full play to the dynamic effects of games and gamification methods to promote the positive effects of “culture +”, so that games can exert greater positive social value.
Also worth noting is that in December, for the first time, the number of domestic game versions approved at one time exceeded 100, reaching a new high, providing a positive signal for the current development of the game industry. On December 25, the State Press and Publication Administration announced the version numbers of domestic online games for December, and 105 games were approved. So far, the total number of domestic online game versions announced by the State Administration of Press and Publication in 2023 has reached 977, compared to 468 in 2022, an increase of 108.76% over the previous year. According to statistics, since the domestic game version was restarted in 2022, the number of versions has been steadily rising, and the main number approved each time has stabilized at 80-90. A total of 98 imported versions were distributed throughout 2023, which is already higher than the level of 2020-2022.
With the steady issuance of versions, steady growth has given the vast number of game companies a “reassurance pill.” Yuan Weijia, a senior Internet media analyst at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities, believes that the general direction in which the game industry has entered normalized supervision has not changed since 2022, and that the scientific, innovative value and cultural value of games have received more and more attention.
The release of this edition covers a wide range of game companies. Among them, “Legend of Wang Zhe 2” operated by Hangzhou Shengjue Network Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Kaiying Network, and “Three Kingdoms: Return to the Heart of the World” published by Shanghai Yingkai Network Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Kaiying Network, successfully obtained a version number. A total of 13 game products from Kaiying Network received versions during the year, of which 4 were released in December alone.
The reporter also noticed that since this year, Shengtian Network has also received 4 games, namely “Jutsu Walker” (3D Oriental Fantasy card strategy mobile game), “Chaoling Kingdom: Origins” (blind box adventure card mobile game), “Star Wings” (a 3D real-time battle action game with a focus on multiplayer), and “Zero Domain Fantasy” (a new national style card game). Furthermore, a live-action game developed by the company that simulates romance has been listed on the Steam Store and will be launched on December 29.
Shengtian Network told the reporter that in the context of game version distribution returning to normalization, the company will work with excellent domestic game colleagues to provide higher quality game content and regulate game operations in a more orderly manner to jointly promote the healthy development of the online game industry. Kaiying Network said that the stability of the version policy over the past three years has gradually increased, and the game market has clearly rebounded.
According to the “2023 China Game Industry Report”, the actual sales revenue of the Chinese game market in 2023 was 302,964 billion yuan, an increase of 37.080 billion yuan, an increase of 13.95% over the previous year, breaking the 300 billion mark for the first time. In 2023, the number of game users in China was 668 million, an increase of 0.61% over the previous year, a record high. In 2023, the actual sales revenue of China's mobile game market was 226.860 billion yuan, an increase of 33.802 billion yuan, an increase of 17.51% over the previous year, setting a new record.
Along with the “normalization+vigour” approval of the version, the refinement of games will become the mainstream trend in the high-quality development of enterprises, and the company will also seek more performance in self-development, innovation and market exploration. As can be seen, with the accelerated development of global digitalization, games, as an important industry for Chinese culture to “go global”, are taking on the heavy responsibility of going cultural overseas.
Game companies combine games and gamification methods to promote the positive effects of “culture +”, so that games exert greater positive social value, and let society see the unique advantages of the game industry in fulfilling social responsibilities and realizing value. According to information, 37 Mutual Entertainment has launched a series of knowledge-rich science feature games around the “Culture +” theme. Among them, “Star Life Park” has actually registered more than 160,000 users.