In my previous post about the mass removal of Apps by Apple, I made it very clear
In 2018, there has been no approval of the version number, although the players may not feel the change, but this matter has been affecting the hearts of all game practitioners. Within the industry, as the source of products flowing to players, the channel (app store) has been impacted by the earthquake, after all, the first to start the rectification is also from the restrictions on the channel without the number of games.
Therefore, today we want to talk about how the channel’s life has been in the past six months without approval of the version number.
First, start with a regulation in May 2016
Channels may not live without plate number of the game, the rules at the earliest to 2016 years, was in response to administration of radio, film and television issued “regulations on the management of the game publishing service”, the major channels (app store) at the request of departments, is reported to the relevant work of all online games for inventory, a lack of relevant plate number do offline processing.
As a result, app stores began to “clean up” games without license numbers and urged manufacturers to complete compliance procedures as soon as possible to avoid enforcement.
In January 2017, including App Bao, OPPO, Vivo, Huawei, 360 Mobile Assistant, Baidu Mobile Assistant, Coolpad and other major app stores began to issue “ultimatum”, through the announcement called for mobile game manufacturers who did not get the copyright number to obtain and submit the copyright number as soon as possible. In order to ensure that their mobile games can be normally logged into channels and carry out subsequent promotion and marketing work, and their attitude is very firm.
After more than a year of regulation, there have been very few online channels of new games are no version number, channel in the face of publishers to submit products, will check version number, record number and other relevant information, strictly implement. No matter the product is suction IP, or from the hands of large factories, or the data is very beautiful, in front of the channel at this stage, there is no plate number are floating clouds.
Second, the number of online new games plummeted, channel list began to solidify
Since the end of March this year, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has suspended game approval, and so far no new product has received a license number. Policy on the wind to product as the backbone of the channel, can be said to be a heavy blow.
Without fresh blood injection, the channel is tantamount to “out of food”. Except for a small number of products that got the license number before the approval of the license number was suspended, the channels for launching other new products were blocked, reflecting the sharp drop in the number of new games launched in the channel.
In addition, the lack of impact of new products, app Treasure, OPPO, Vivo and other core alliance channel list is gradually solidified. According to the monthly mobile games report released by the official app store, from march to August, a small number of new products broke out in the TOP10 popular online games downloaded, including timeless era, collapse 3 and The Three Kingdoms of youth. In addition, the TOP10 products of monthly popular online game revenue are more obvious, “eternal era”, “ask”, “collapse 3”, “time hunter”, “young three kingdoms” and other products that have been operating for several years are regular customers.
There’s no denying that channels like app stores have always been more centralised, with only so many good places to feature, and the amount of product exposure that can only be determined by channels. But now the new product access is suddenly interrupted, the channel seems to lose the right to speak.
Third, lack of new product stimulation, channel download market has been impacted
On the one hand, traditional channels are facing the change of users, and it is difficult to retain more users under the operation mode of previous channels. They are more proactive and more discernible. So since the first half of this year content channel gradually, the competitive pressure of traditional channel flow increased a lot, most of the flow declined.
On the other hand, the sudden suspension of the release of the license number aggravated the crisis, and the lack of roles of new products made the overall downloads of the channel begin to decline. According to the 2017 annual report released by Xiaomi’s App Store earlier this year, each user installed an average of 49 apps in the past year and opened and used 15 apps a day. In other words, there is a demand for 3-4 new games per month, and a six-month moratorium on titles is both solidifying the charts and potentially draining users.
This is also reflected in the trend of monthly active users in various channels. According to data released by third parties, between March and August this year, App MAU dropped from 278 million to 269 million, while 360 assistant and Baidu Assistant both declined, with only a brief increase in July and August during the summer vacation.
What about the hardcore alliance, which has the advantage of mobile hardware? Huawei’s App Market, OPPO’s app Store, Xiaomi’s app Store and Vivo’s app Store all saw month-on-month increases in the number of monthly active users, but the increases were all very small compared to monthly handset shipments. OPPO, for example, has sold 38.13 million mobile phones in the first half of this year. Compared with such a scale, its app store currently has about 2 million MONTHLY active users. The new increment is not optimistic.
4. Under high pressure of income KPI, resources are skewed
Another strong impact on the channel is revenue. Over the past six months, many new games have not been released due to lack of license numbers, resulting in a sharp drop in the number of new games in the market. From a channel perspective, with the same revenue pressure, the decline in new games means they need to make more money per game than before.
As a result, it is not hard to see channels devoting significant resources to a small number of profitable games. The phenomenon of betting on blockbuster products, big IP products, big titles is becoming more and more obvious, and there is a further consideration of the life cycle of games. “There’s no betting right now, there’s not a lot of base, and it’s not sustainable.” A front-line channel business said.
The increasing resource skews and extreme selection criteria are making app stores more homogeneous. With the same new games, similar charts, and similar designs, the core competitiveness of channels is being eroded.
Five, half a year of internal troubles and external invasions — how to save channels?
“Now I’m not going to go to the [x] channel.”
This is the real idea of more and more publishers. In the past, the channel was the thigh, and if you want to have a quantity around the help of the channel, but this year, some small and medium-sized channels are no longer the necessary option for publishers, and even some big channels are gradually “abandoned”.
On the one hand, affected by the changes of mobile Internet traffic, the channel’s control over products and players is declining, and many new traffic and user acquisition methods are rising. TapTap, Buy quantity, Douyin, marketing, etc., are gradually stepping onto the historical stage, impacting the traditional app store channels. On the other hand, the policy of the game is affecting the whole game market, and the channel, as the party with the highest profit in the past, is naturally the biggest impact.
Of course, we’re seeing some channels trying to break new ground, support indie games, community content, etc. As the most profitable category in the channel, games bring more revenue to the channel every year than other categories. Therefore, in the current uncertain situation of the game industry, it is probably the best way to save themselves first.