The new games that have been in public beta recently include Lilith's "Medal of War" and "Awakening of Ten Thousand Dragons", 37 Interactive Entertainment's "Bright Sword", Youzuo's "War and Eternity", and Lingxi Interactive Entertainment's new game "Three Kingdoms: War Chess Edition". From modern warfare to Western fantasy, from real-time strategy to sandbox chess, SLG (strategy) mobile games have finally exploded after a year since the short-lived appearance of Tencent's "Return to the Empire".
In recent years, Chinese game manufacturers have introduced new products in SLG and gradually become the dominant player in the overseas SLG mobile game track. In 2022, China's SLG mobile game products will account for 53% of the overseas market. This time, the four major manufacturers are working together, and they have been fighting each other since the release of the version number. So who can break out of the encirclement and lead the new gameplay trend?
■New Express reporter Chen Xuedong
Each of the four new games has its own merits
Regardless of the cooperation method between the two parties or the name of the traditional Chinese version of the game, "Awakening of Ten Thousand Dragons" seems to be developing towards a sequel to "Awakening of Nations". However, compared to the latter's standardized 4X SLG gameplay, the game quickly stands out with its better graphics, MMO and RTS elements. It can be said that "Awakening of Ten Thousand Dragons" inherits the excellent gameplay framework of "Awakening of Nations" and continues to make fuss about depth. For example, melee and long-range units can be distinguished, and more free sky units can be added. At the same time, a treasure system can be added to bring different abilities such as invisibility, flashing, and teleportation. It brings combat freedom to a new level, quite close to RTS.
"Frost Apocalypse" is Diandian Interactive's first self-developed hit. This is also another new frozen doomsday-themed product launched by this company this year after "Ice Age". Compared with "Ice Age", which emphasizes simulated management, although this game also has a series of construction and upgrade gameplay, the management content has become more intensive. Players expand and obtain better resources by exploring the large map, which strengthens the RPG , combat and SLG content.
"Bullet Shooting: The Mystery of Treasure Island" owned by "SLG Boss" FunPlus is like the content of the novel "Treasure Island". The game combines elements of "pirates, adventure, and treasure hunting", and the gameplay covers standard 4X elements: Explore, develop, manage and conquer. As adventurers, players need to continuously build on the island, defeat sea monsters and ghosts, and expand their territory.
"Reappearance of Dawn" is a doomsday survival-themed SLG mobile game owned by IGG. This officially self-positioned "war strategy game with real-time strategy elements" deeply integrates "real-time" and "strategy" with the doomsday theme. The interactive content in the exploration part is very rich. In addition to the common collection, digging, and pedaling, it also includes puzzle-solving elements. For example, you need to collect clues first and then open the corresponding mechanism. The combat is closer to a tower defense game, and each character has a skill that requires points to activate.
Get 15% of market revenue with 2% of downloads
According to statistics, in 2022, SLG mobile games used 2% of overseas market downloads to achieve 15% of market revenue. According to the "China Game Industry Report 2022", among the top 100 games in China's independently developed overseas market revenue, strategy games accounted for 38.76% of the giants in overseas market revenue, ranking second among role-playing games among the nearly three times.
Although the SLG game audience is small, user payment levels are much higher than the industry average. Chinese SLG games occupy the vast majority of the leading market and have created many novel gameplays and themes. However, the popularity of overseas markets has not returned to China.
From the perspective of the global SLG game market, April 2021 is the peak revenue of strategy games. The top 100 SLG games generated global revenue of 7 billion yuan in the two major app stores of Apple and Google that month. Among them, there are 6 SLG mobile game products with monthly revenue exceeding 200 million yuan, and there are even 4 big players with monthly revenue exceeding 500 million yuan, namely "Awakening of Kingdoms", "Lords Mobile", "State of Survival" and "Three Kingdoms·Strategy Edition" 》.
The SLG category has always been the focus of competition among major manufacturers. However, except for "Little Ant", which was developed by ants, and "Endless Lagrange", which focuses on interstellar warfare, there have been no blockbuster products in the past two years. .
Let’s review these two games. “Endless Lagrange” focuses on the stars and the sea. The game follows the SLG logic of exploration-expansion-development-annihilation. Due to the long limited cycle of operation instructions, whether to initiate war and plunder or cooperate Development not only tests players' decision-making and planning abilities, but also brings a more three-dimensional combat experience.
"Little Ant Kingdom" is a imaginative game that moves the game from the human battlefield to the animal kingdom. In the game, players play the role of the ant leader, leading the ant troops to fight against natural enemies such as cancer crabs and spiders, and create unique The biggest highlight of the unique Ant Kingdom is that it restores all the details of the ant nest, allowing players to experience first-hand how to survive as an ant.
Nowadays, from "The Seven Heroes" to "The Shore of the Earth", from "Clash of Kings" to "The Awakening of Kingdoms", domestic SLG games have ushered in a strong explosion on the SLG track in recent years, with various types Background themes are gushing out, and countless innovative gameplay methods are overwhelming.
In the future, the X+SLG model will break through the shackles of homogeneity
In 2022, domestic games will accelerate their overseas expansion, with SLG being an important deployment. A total of 52 SLG games have been launched or tested by 24 game companies including Tencent, FunPlus and 37 Interactive Entertainment. Another trend this year is the transformation of SLG mobile game APP into a WeChat mini-program game form, and a large number of purchases. Most of the mini-games are vertical screen + stand-alone + casual gameplay, which are in line with today's fast-paced life, and have strong stand-alone attributes and have little to do with the content of the main game.
Outstanding revenue performance and large market capacity are major features of the SLG category, which has inspired high-intensity participation of Chinese manufacturers who have gone overseas to prospect for gold. In the past two years, many domestic game companies have gathered together to launch SLG game projects and tested a large number of new products overseas. Some companies can even come up with several projects in a row. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 700 SLG game products operating online around the world.
However, what is worrying is that since 2021, SLG games, like many major game types, have suffered a wave of revenue decline. Under the influence of the market environment and leading products entering a mature stage, the TOP100 SLG in April 2023 The total monthly revenue of mobile games dropped to 4.7 billion yuan, and the category revenue scale fell by 30% compared with the revenue peak in April 2021.
With SLG games becoming increasingly saturated, the SLG game market, which has been declining for two years, is in urgent need of new games. Team RPG, which has emerged in recent years, has begun to become the second choice for overseas manufacturers to "avoid the edge". But for leading companies that are already on the SLG game track and have advantages, how to regain growth through the release of new games has become an important question.
Some people in the game industry said that if SLG games want to break through the shackles of homogeneity, the future development direction of this category may be the X+SLG model, which weakens the gameplay of SLG and uses simulated management, dress-up, RPG, and cards to supplement combat. For external experiences, use SLG to undertake a deeper social and competitive experience. On the other hand, there are innovations in the combat itself, such as freer actions, RTS combat, shortened season time, etc., which are generally in the direction of competitive games.