Game Weekly: Roblox declares war on "Apple tax", Alibaba's entertainment CEO sharp comments on Lingxi Interactive Entertainment

By the end of 2024, let’s take a look at the latest gaming news and updates for this week.

On the domestic front, Tencent’s new work based on the King of Glory IP, ‘Dawn of Stars,’ was reported to have been suspended, with the team members responding that the team has not disbanded yet; Bilibili’s first self-developed game targeting females, ‘Light Shaker: Princess of Turmoil,’ announced to cease updates, with the main creator stating that the team has been under immense pressure for a long time; Fan Luyuan, Chairman and CEO of Alibaba’s entertainment group, criticized the Lingxi team, stating that Lingxi has never carried Alibaba’s bloodline from the beginning; after the launch of ‘Endless Warmth’ on December 5th, Yao Runhao, CEO of Origaming, claimed that it broke Origaming’s first-day revenue record.

On the international front, the metaverse giant Roblox is waging war against the “Apple tax,” announcing that users who recharge on the official website will receive up to 25% additional virtual currency; new dynamics have emerged in Tencent’s acquisition negotiations with Ubisoft, with future control of the company becoming a key issue for both parties; “Pokémon TCG Pocket Edition” generated over $200 million in revenue in its first month, becoming the most lucrative new game overseas in November.

In terms of compliance and regulation, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued the “Requirements for Digital Virtual Human Technology”, which sets requirements for virtual human images, data security, personal information protection, etc.

The test of the new mobile game “Dawn of the Stars”, an IP of Honor of Kings, has been suspended.

Recently, there have been reports that the J5 Studio under the Tencent Timi Studios, a subsidiary of IEG, has suspended the project ‘Honor of Kings: Awakening of the Stars’ and disbanded the relevant team. Subsequently, Tencent responded that the team has not been disbanded and will continue to work based on new strategic requirements after determining the appropriate adjustment direction for the future. In addition, Timi will also provide opportunities for members of the ‘Awakening’ team to join other projects within the studio group, allowing employees to make choices in both directions.

On the afternoon of December 4th, the official website of ‘Dawn of the Stars’ released a notice of the closure of the advanced test server and stated that all player recharges will be refunded.

Bilibili’s self-developed female-oriented game ‘摇光录：乱世公主’ announced the cessation of updates.

On December 3, B Station’s first self-developed female-oriented game ‘摇光录：乱世公主’ announced a suspension of updates, stating that it will officially stop updating after the end of the ‘梦前尘：云胡不喜’ version event. The project team stated in the announcement that the original update plan had to be terminated due to ‘long-term enormous pressure on the project team, as well as various insurmountable difficulties.’

Fan Luyuan criticized Lingxi Interactive Entertainment, saying ‘It has never had the bloodline of Alibaba from the beginning’.

On December 6, Fan Luyuan, a partner of Alibaba and chairman and CEO of Alibaba’s large entertainment group, gave a thematic sharing at the internal meeting of Lingxi Interactive Entertainment. Fan Luyuan said that he believed that Lingxi did not have Alibaba’s blood from the beginning. Because at that time, the management of Lingxi did not fully recognize Alibaba’s culture, and there was no consensus on the values, ideals, and mission of the enterprise, and it did not match Alibaba’s mission and vision.

In addition, Fan Luyuan also expressed the hope that Lingxi can become the third largest game company in China after Tencent and NetEase within the next 8 years; Lingxi Games will become the second largest in China within 12 years; Alibaba’s entertainment business will become the third largest in the global entertainment industry after Netflix and Disney within the next 15 to 18 years.

Yao Runhao claims that “Infinite Warmth” broke the first-day revenue record for the folding paper game

On December 5th, “Infinite Warmth”, developed by Papergames Games, was launched simultaneously around the world, and landed on iOS, Android, PC, PS5 and other platforms, ranking 12th on the best-selling list of domestic games on the first day of launch. The next day, Yao Runhao, CEO of Papergames, issued an internal letter, saying that “Infinite Warmth” broke the first-day turnover record of Papergames, of which the domestic PC revenue exceeded 50%, and the overseas PS+PC revenue accounted for 80%.

Roblox goes to war with ‘Apple tax’

Recently, the foreign metaverse giant Roblox officially entered the battlefield between game developers and platform channels, announcing that players who recharge from the game’s official website or use gift cards will receive an additional maximum of 25% of the recharge amount in the platform’s virtual currency Robux. In an announcement posted on the developer forum, Roblox stated that Apple and Google are important partners. The company has also been looking for ways to control costs while bringing more value to users and creator communities.

Nan Cai Review: In terms of effectiveness, Roblox’s move is clearly aimed at combating the commission policies of the two strong channels, Apple and Google. Compared to the 30% channel tax directly extracted by the platform, Roblox’s new policy is equivalent to a 20% discount to users. Therefore, under the condition of the target recharge amount remaining unchanged, the more users transfer from Google and Apple to recharge on the official website, the more profit Roblox will make from it.

It is worth noting that Roblox’s move will undoubtedly stimulate the use and consumption of in-app virtual currency in the short term. However, for creators who also create and profit from third-party content on the Roblox platform, Roblox has not reduced their earnings from Robux sharing and withdrawal in the same proportion, which to some extent increases the earnings of the latter—although on the Roblox platform, the revenue share for third-party content is still as high as 70%.

The control of the company becomes the focus of Tencent’s acquisition negotiations with Ubisoft.

Recently, there have been new developments regarding the rumors of Tencent’s acquisition of Ubisoft. According to media reports, Ubisoft’s shareholders are considering how to construct a further acquisition plan for Tencent’s stake in the French gaming group without weakening the control of the founding Guillemot family. It is reported that Tencent has not yet decided on the acquisition because it hopes to have greater decision-making power in future board meetings, including cash flow distribution, among other reasons, which the Guillemot family has not agreed to.

At present, the Geely Motte family is still the largest shareholder of Ubisoft, holding 15% of the shares; Tencent is the second largest shareholder, holding 10% of the shares.

The first month’s revenue of “Pokémon TCG Pocket Edition” exceeded $200 million

According to the third-party data website AppMagic’s estimate, in the first month after the launch of the “Pokémon TCG Pocket Edition”, it generated over 208 million USD in revenue on both Apple and Android platforms. As the mobile version of the PTCG, a key gameplay of Pokémon, which is the world’s largest IP, the game achieved over 10 million downloads worldwide within 48 hours of its launch, making it the most lucrative new game in the overseas market in November.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television promulgates the “Technical Requirements for Digital Virtual Human Technology”.

Recently, the State Administration of Radio and Television officially released the “Technical Requirements for Digital Virtual Humans”, approving it as a recommended industry standard for broadcasting, television, and online audio-visual in the People’s Republic of China. The standard number is GY/T 411-2024, which will be implemented from the date of release.

According to this standard definition, the main application scenarios of digital virtual humans are divided into content broadcasting, interactive customer service, virtual hosting, and content creation; in addition, the standard also stipulates the image requirements, data and security algorithm security, and personal information protection for virtual humans.

（Article Source: 21st Century Business Herald）

Source: East Money

Author: 21st Century Economic Report