For 42 yuan, you can have 6 beauties vying to fall in love with you. Such a fantasy was captured by the domestic interactive game "It's Over!" I'm surrounded by beautiful women! 》Achieved. Since its launch, the game has not only sold over one million copies, but has even taken off various concept stocks. How did this game become popular? How long can interactive skit games continue to be popular?
"With 37 yuan, you can't even invite someone of the opposite sex to watch a movie. With 37 yuan, you're not even qualified to be a licker... I only know that 37 yuan made me have a dream that I never dared to have in my life."
"Xiao Lu asked me how much I loved her? I said, about 300 grams. Xiao Lu said it was so cliche. She knew that 300 grams represented the weight of the heart. But she didn't know that I was just a sewer rat, and 300 grams was my entire weight."
This is the real-person interactive game "Done!" I'm surrounded by beautiful women! ” (hereinafter referred to as “Perfect! Beautiful!”) is the tip of the iceberg among the 18,000 user reviews.
The protagonist played by the player in the game is an ordinary working man who is even burdened with debts, but he is unconditionally loved by 6 beauties with different personalities, and each of them is vying to fall in love with him. The absurd and magical plot also made this game once known as a "science fiction masterpiece" for men in the gaming industry.
However, the slightly outrageous plot did not prevent the game from becoming popular. After it was launched on October 18, "Finish!" beautiful! 》continuously topped the Steam best-selling list in China, with a peak online player count of more than 60,000, and a favorable rating of 95%. "over! beautiful! "The craze even swept the capital market, "taking flight" related concept stocks.
"over! beautiful! How did "How did it become a sensation in the game and short drama industries and successfully break out of the industry?" Is male emotional consumption a blue ocean market yet to be developed? Will interactive skit games be the next trend?
Are A-shares also surrounded by “games and short plays”?
"Spent 42 yuan and one afternoon, and fell in love 6 times." A netizen said on the social platform, "It's over!" beautiful! 》It’s so simple and crude.
"Finish!" was first released on the game platform Steam. beautiful! 》, using a paid buyout system, the official version is priced at 42 yuan, with a 10% discount in the first week for only 37.8 yuan. This male-oriented love game is not excellent in terms of gameplay and production, but the "immersive" love feeling created by the six girlfriends facing the camera in the game has made many players willing to spend their money.
Orient Securities pointed out in a research report that according to Steamspy, "End!" beautiful! "The number of sales is about 500,000 to 1 million copies. Moreover, the game was fissioned through Douyin, and the top keyword plays exceeded 1 billion. "over! beautiful! 》Related entries have also appeared on Weibo hot searches again and again.
Qichacha shows that "End!" beautiful! INTINY, the producer and producer of ", is affiliated to Guangzhou Xiaoyou Content Interactive Entertainment Co., Ltd. and was established in 2022. No one expected that the interactive games produced by this company, which had just been established for a year, would not only successfully break out of the industry, but also affect the secondary market. Tianwei Video had 8 consecutive boards, Longyun shares had 5 consecutive boards, and related film and television stocks such as Chinese Online, Gravity Media, and Yinsai Group soared.
On November 6, "HippoJoy Hippo Game" announced that it had reached an in-depth strategic cooperation with INTINY. On that day, Zitian Technology, the company behind Hippo Games, hit its daily limit, with its stock price hitting a new high in more than four months.
On November 12, Tianwei Video, which has been trading at the daily limit, also issued an announcement about serious abnormal fluctuations in stock trading. Tianwei Video has a stake in China Radio and Television Media Co., Ltd. China Radio and Television Media has cooperated with Beijing Diazhong Technology Co., Ltd. (Dianzhong Technology) since the beginning of 2023. The Hippo Theater, which specializes in "network-wide short plays, free to watch", was developed by Diazhong Technology.
The movie "Hot Search" starring Zhong Chenyao, one of the female protagonists of the game and magazine editor Zheng Ziyan, is scheduled to be released on December 1. The producer behind it, Baina Qiancheng, has experienced a short-term increase of more than 50%.
On November 2, Baina Qiancheng mentioned in the "Announcement on Abnormal Stock Trading Fluctuations" that "live-action film and television interactive games have received widespread attention from investors."
Baina Qiancheng said: "The long-form real-life interactive full-video film and television game "Hidden True Detective" jointly produced by the company and Dayu Kuaiyou and exclusively distributed by bilibili Games is currently in the internal testing and approval stages. As of the date of this announcement, the version number has not been obtained, and the specific launch time has not yet been determined."
"over! beautiful! 》Why can you get out of the circle?
"The creation of the drama is the difference between serious literature and pulp novels. The shooting is the difference between online shooting and Douyin direct shooting. In terms of gameplay, they have no gameplay, only branching options, and H5 can do it. But they have already made a lot of money, and we haven't even paid back." The producer of a similar category of interactive games said to "Leopard Transformation".
How can such a short interactive game, which is not considered a game in the eyes of industry practitioners and even players, be able to handle countless otakus who have "played it" and successfully "break the circle" and become a dark horse in the game industry this year?
First of all, the plot of the game is mindless but over the top. The six "Cyber Girlfriends" in the game are unconditionally centered on the male protagonist, interpreting the narrative route of the two-dimensional love game with three-dimensional real people, and then giving players a more immersive love experience through the first-person perspective.
It can be clearly seen from the Steam game review area that most of the positive reviews come from the emotional value this game provides players, which satisfies players' emotional needs that cannot be realized in reality.
Industry observer Li Ming told "Leopard Change" that if the market demand for a track is very large, it is impossible that no one will do it. From a consumption point of view, men's emotional demand in the entire market is not very large, so "End!" beautiful! 》 does not capture the emotions of most male players, but pays attention to the needs of a very small group of people. It is equivalent to knowing a very segmented track, with huge benefits behind it.
From the data point of view, according to statistics from the giant engine, in the number of secondary-themed male channel dramas in 2023, God of War themes accounted for 51.16%, Counterattack accounted for 15.12%, and Shenhao accounted for 11.63%. Similar male-perspective love themes are very rare in the entire short drama industry.
In addition, "Finish!" The birth of "Beauty" also happened to be at the point when the entire short drama market was exploding. It is understood that "End!" The main creative team of "Beauty" has a background in the film and television industry in the past. They understand the market in the micro-short drama industry and grasp the male game users through plot and visual experience. It is very challenging to enter the game industry from micro-short dramas, but it also has advantages.
Relevant data shows that as of 2022, the number of daily active users of Kuaishou short dramas has reached 260 million, and the number of short drama creators on the platform has exceeded 130,000. Kuaishou’s financial report shows that in the first half of 2023, Kuaishou Xingmang short dramas generated a total of more than 60 billion views. As of June this year, the daily active users of Douyin short dramas are about 150 million, and there are more than 400 short dramas that have exceeded 100 million. The DAU of Douyin short dramas increased by 67% year-on-year in 2021, and the number of views increased by 99%.
In addition, "Finish!" beautiful! "The topicality of "" itself has allowed major game anchors and self-media to act as "tap water", triggering a large amount of communication on social platforms.
For example, Zhong Chenyao, who plays Zheng Ziyan, currently has 1.58 million Douyin fans, but before the game was launched, her number of fans did not exceed 100,000. On Station B, many netizens posted video clips of game scenes similar to "Zheng Ziyan's Heartbeat Moment" and "Zheng Ziyan's Unheartbeat Challenge".
In short, the precise positioning of demand, the popularity of the short drama market and the communication effect have brought together "the right time, the right location, and the right people" to create "Finish!" beautiful! 》Get out of the circle smoothly.
Can "short drama + game" continue to be popular?
"over! beautiful! "The popularity of "The Short Drama" has also made the market once again pay attention to the short drama industry that has been booming in the past two years.
In addition to leading short drama platforms such as "Hippo Theater", Douyin and Kuaishou are accelerating the layout of the short drama track. The more people enter the game, the harder it is to divide the cake.
Short play producer Zhao Si told "Leopard Change" that industry practitioners have almost no expectations for the method of "producing a good work and then profiting from it".
"Currently, the main method of the short drama industry is to increase the volume. A relatively large short drama company can produce 10 mini-program short dramas in about two or three months. Among these 10, as long as one of them is a hit, the income can make the other nine dramas recoup their costs." Zhao Si said.
The "2023 China Online Audiovisual Development Research Report" released by the 10th China Online Audiovisual Conference shows that among the 1 billion short video users, 50.4% of users have watched micro short dramas, micro variety shows, and instant noodles within 3 minutes. In addition, 172 key online micro-short dramas will be launched in 2022. In the first half of 2023, 481 new micro-short dramas will be launched on major video platforms, and nearly 300 micro-short dramas will be submitted for filing every month.
To a certain extent, "Finish!" beautiful! 》is considered an innovative existence in the short drama industry. Screenwriter Xiaoying said of "Leopard Transformation": "This game may have captured men's needs for visual perspective and sensory stimulation, while women tend to pay more attention to emotional needs, and the design of the plot and character are more important."
Xiaoying believes that "It's over!" beautiful! "It will not have a particularly big impact on the creation of short dramas, but it may have a greater impact on the gaming field. In terms of market performance, although adaptations and remakes of male-channeled novels are gradually increasing, short dramas are still mainly aimed at female audiences.
In the game industry, the concepts of "video game fusion" and "interactive video game" and the gameplay of plot plus interactive games are not new. "Finish!" beautiful! The "short drama + interactive game" gameplay pioneered by "The Game" is more like an "alternative version" of interactive video games.
The artificial intelligence-themed interactive movie game "Detroit: Become Human" briefly boosted the popularity of interactive video games. The domestic "real-person spy war + love story" interactive game "Invisible Guardian" was also welcomed by players after it was launched.
In addition, the domestic interactive video game "Leap to Room 13" developed and produced by domestic game studio ALTLab on January 9 this year is one of the niche works with a good reputation among domestic games in the past two or three years.
On November 6, the official website of HippoJoy Game stated, "In view of the fact that 99% of the previous "Finished! I'm Surrounded by Beautiful Girls!" are male users, aiming at the blank market for women, preparations for the next new game "Finished 2! I'm Surrounded by Handsome Guys" are currently underway."
But then, the news about this official public account was refuted by Hippojoy, Qishuyouyu, and Xiaoyou Content.
A game industry practitioner told "Leopard Transformation": "The requirements for otome games are very high. The market has been divided very finely, and the acceptance of three-dimensional games is much lower than that of two-dimensional games. Simply copying the model of "Perfect! Beautiful!" to make a female-oriented game is obviously not feasible."
In any case, the renewed turmoil also confirms the market’s response to "End!" from another aspect. beautiful! 》attention. However, whether it is the short drama industry or the game industry, the next "End!" beautiful! 》It will take some time to get out of the circle.
As Zhao Si said: "From my own experience, I still feel that this industry is too impetuous. There are very few people who are serious about making good works, and it is difficult for those with the mentality of 'making money quickly' to produce good works. Everyone seems to be chasing after each other, frantically looking for new ideas, and constantly creating new twists."
Author | Zhao Ruoci