The concept of "free" is revolutionizing online games

Source: New daily report

The "Free hurricane" in the online gaming market has effectively led to a sharp increase in online users. For the emerging operating model of "free", online gaming giants including Kingsoft and Shanda in China are still in silence in this field, and there are also different opinions in the industry. Industry insiders believe that the free model, as a market strategy for some online game operators to kill a bloody path in the fiercely competitive market, has been vigorously promoted in South Korea, however, most manufacturers in China do not have the corresponding technical conditions and market operation capabilities.

Some insiders believe that the online gaming industry in China is currently in the growth stage, and because most operators do not have Operation Experience in the mass entertainment industry, the profit model is limited to charging gamers a certain fee. At this stage, the majority of network operators are focusing more on themselves, launching a large number of homogeneous products in the same mode as follow-up; ignoring the different consumption psychology of different groups, let alone the development of new requirements. With the further development of online games as a mass entertainment mode, online games will inevitably learn from the experience of developing various peripheral value-added products in the film and other entertainment industries, and form resource integration with traditional industries to form multiple profit models. In this regard, the free mode is just the beginning.

At present, there are nearly 300 online game manufacturers in China, of which about 150 are game developers, ranking second in the world after South Korea, and nearly 200 online game products. As market entrants gradually increase, the cake in the domestic online game market will continue to grow bigger. However, due to a single operating model, the investment of huge amounts of money has not brought more fresh breath to the online game industry, A large amount of money is spent on the introduction and development of games, advertising and media, and a large amount of energy is spent on the fight with existing counterparts. But this does not bring the winner in the industry. The characteristics of the online game industry, unattainable capital, brand, and market have set up barriers for the promotion of small and medium-sized online game operators. People predict that 2005 will be the winter of China's online gaming industry, probably more serious than most industry personnel predict.

As a matter of fact, several major online game operators have not yet entered the free mode due to historical reasons, but they have already begun exploration based on their large customer base and good brands. The combination of Shanda's surrounding product chain stores and traditional supermarkets, the exchange of advertising resources between Kingsoft and Columbia companies, and the real exchange of virtual items between online fans, the newly-opened advertisement location in Korean online games, without exception, indicates the rapid development of online games, a large fixed consumer, and gradually entering the mainstream culture at the same time, the online gaming industry itself will serve as a new entertainment communication platform, and will gradually explore its own commercial value in the exchange and cooperation with traditional industries.

It is undeniable that, after all, online games are emerging entertainment industries. They can only refer to the experience of other entertainment industries in their business cooperation models. That is to say, the lack of rich experience in the online gaming industry and the lack of commercial talents in cross-industry operation severely restricts the exploration of the innovative path. At the same time, because many small and medium-sized game operators lack a large fixed user base, they will be greatly limited by resources when exploring new game profit models, it is still in a weak position in the interactive business model of industries related to the society, and more importantly, it relies on the power of traditional industries.

In this regard, free is just a model, a brave innovation and exploration. Behind the free architecture, operators need to have excellent resource integration capabilities and business creation capabilities. Many game operators will inevitably fall down on the road of exploration, which is brave and tragic. But from the perspective of material exchange in commercial society, spiritual exchange, and the foreseeable development prospects of information technology, this is only the darkness before industrial integration.

Perhaps we should not focus solely on the free model, but on how many ground-breaking activities of game operators in 2005.

"Free" will contribute to a win-win situation

According to a statistics on the game costs of gamers, the average monthly online game spending should be less than 50 yuan, accounting for 83% of users, while the actual monthly spending of less than 50 yuan accounts for only 73% of users, users still think that online gaming fees should be cheaper. From the perspective of players, the free mode lowers the threshold for entering a game, giving players more freedom to choose online games and no longer worrying about the money they will spend on investing in a game. Truly investing in the game, finding pure game fun, and facilitating better communication and communication between players, it is bound to contribute to the development of the relationship between players and operators.

For online game operators, in the free operation mode, the increase in the number of online users will lead to a series of problems related to customer service software and hardware support, at the same time, fees are no longer charged based on the length of online time. Therefore, the profits of online gaming products will inevitably decline. This is actually an inevitable outcome of the development of the online gaming industry to a certain extent, in the past few years, the number of online game products was small, and one game product was enough to earn a profit. However, today's market is already a strong market, and the previous high profits have gone forever, in terms of industry development rules, profit margins and the intensity of competition should also be inversely proportional. On the other hand, operators improve their service quality and begin to improve the game itself to stimulate players' strong interest in the game, along with the Free model, the monetization of some virtual items in the game results in players' consumption behavior, making the operator profitable, thus forming a win-win situation between the company and the players.

"Free" will bring fun to gamers

In the previous Charging mode, the operator sold the point card or monthly card to the player. The player can continue to play the game only when the amount of money that the player will recharge each month, this mode puts players completely in a passive consumption mode, which greatly limits their initiative. In order to control the number of recharges, many players have a heavy psychological burden, to a large extent, it limits the passion of players in the game. The brand new free mode will inevitably eliminate the worries of players, devote themselves to the wonderful world of the game, and truly feel the pleasure of the game, find real game fun.

"Free" will bring about its own development

Happy digital's online games are free of charge this time, but it will also bring a certain amount of pressure to itself. However, from another perspective, after the permanent free model is implemented, operators will certainly sell after-sales services, the technical support service and customer service have been upgraded to a new level, and the relationship between players and operators has been redefined. Players are truly regarded as food and clothing parents and sincerely served, A top-to-bottom ideological revolution will be initiated within the operator. Only by correctly understanding oneself can we find out the advantages and disadvantages that exist and remain undefeated in the online gaming industry.

(Xinbao Reporter Chen Yong)