Hello everyone, this is Dr.
Today Dr.
↑There are many foreign SLG anchors↑
Since the new crown epidemic, the overseas SLG market has also been expanding. According to a recent report from Sensor Tower, the overseas revenue of SLG games in Q1 of 2022 has reached 4.3 billion US dollars, becoming second only to RPG the second largest category market.
Naturally, Chinese people are indispensable for making money. The popularity of the SLG category has made major domestic manufacturers restless. Today, Dr. X will show you the layout of Tencent and NetEase in the SLG track.
Point 1: Can even two-dimensional SLG be used? After " The Shore of the Land ", NetEase went crazy on SLG.
"The Shore of the Land" launched by NetEase in 2015 is still the target of imitation by major manufacturers today, which also brought a lot of reference to NetEase.
In August last year, NetEase launched a science fiction-themed SLG "Endless Lagrange", and after a lapse of 9 months, it surpassed "Honor of Kings" and topped the domestic iOS free list, becoming a A true dark horse.
When the Three Kingdoms-themed SLG was badly played, NetEase successfully tasted the sweetness of "theme innovation" from "Endless Lagrange", so it also went further and further on this road.
"Gate of Ages: Eon Strife (hereinafter referred to as GOA)" is an SLG recently launched overseas by NetEase. Different from the realistic painting style in traditional SLG, "GOA" adopts a European and American cartoon style.
↑The second dimension of Europe and the United States is to be "big"↑
While focusing on the style of painting and differentiation, "GOA" does not have many innovations in the gameplay. Although the game has added such features as marching without grid restrictions system and other content, but the framework of "GOA" is still "Litu-like".
From the perspective of painting style, "GOA"'s playful cartoon NPCs and two-dimensional vertical paintings all reflect NetEase's desire to bring SLG to a younger group, but whether the painting style alone can firmly capture the hearts of players , this will take time to verify.
Another NetEase "The Lord of the Rings: Rise of War" (referred to as "Rise of War") , which was launched in some areas last year, has recently joined the ranks of global distribution.
↑The download volume of "Rise of War" has exceeded 5 million times↑
"Rise of War" has not made much changes on the basis of "Lulu-like" in terms of gameplay, and it still follows a grid pattern. How to play.
However, the game’s performance in various arts such as UI and modeling vividly restores the world of “The Lord of the Rings” written by J.R.R. Tolkien, and its screen production is undoubtedly first-rate among SLG games. .
When the two armies confront each other, the game not only has gorgeous real-time animations, but the battle between the two warring parties is more fist-to-knuckle, no longer like bowling balls in the same category of SLG games.
↑ Players complaining about the slow development in the second season without recharging ↑
Although the game has been criticized by some players due to the imbalance of krypton gold and other issues, with the support of big-name IPs, the monthly revenue of "Rise of War" has currently exceeded 50 million. , successfully occupied a place on the SLG track.
Focus 2: Tencent , which started late on the SLG track, is crossing the river by feeling its stones
Compared with NetEase, Tencent itself started late in SLG. " King of Chaos ", which was publicly tested in 2017, is Tencent's first strategy mobile game. The game refers to the "COK-like" framework and implements a series of lightweight mechanisms based on it, successfully allowing the game to achieve an overseas revenue of nearly US$1.1 billion.
In recent years, "Big-name IP + SLG" seems to have become NetEase's new wealth password, and Tencent, as NetEase's mortal enemy, is naturally not to be far behind in this regard.
In April this year, SLG " Return to the Empire " , developed by Tencent Tianmei Studio and officially authorized by the "Age of Empires" IP, was officially launched. "Return to the Empire" is not only a big-name IP licensed game, but also a bold attempt by Tencent in the SLG field.
In traditional SLG, player operations such as marching and fighting are done by reading the time or completing it instantly. For example, in "Land of the Land", once the player selects to march, he must count the seconds and wait for the march to complete and cannot change the destination midway.
"Return to the Empire" is completely different from the traditional SLG countdown method. Players' marching and combat operations are real-time. The marching route can be changed at will during the march, so that strategies such as "striking in the east and attacking in the west" can also be completed in the game.
During the battle between the two sides in "Return to the Empire", players can retreat directly if they see that the situation is not going well, instead of having to fight off the last soldier like in other SLG. Compared to traditional SLG, "Return to the Empire" is closer to the original RTS game "Age of Empires" at this point.
Tencent's promotional resources for "Return to the Empire" can be said to be full. Not only did they shoot gorgeous CGs, they also invited various PDD, Luo Yonghao and other big guys to promote it.
In the end, "Return to the Empire" successfully broke out among many SLGs. In April, the revenue on the iOS side exceeded 100 million, and it once entered the top ten of the SLG game rankings.
However, the good times did not last long. As time went by, the ranking of "Return to the Empire", which was huge and time-consuming, gradually declined. Now it can only be ranked 87th in the strategy category. On the other hand, NetEase's "Endless Lagrange" 》Still firmly in the top ten.
In addition to "Return to the Empire", "Wolong Yin 2" is another Three Kingdoms-themed SLG game launched by Tencent at the beginning of this year. The original version of " Wolong Yin " is a web game SLG in 2011. At that time, domestic web games were almost all "dark-like" games with mindless graphics.
The emergence of the Three Kingdoms-themed SLG "Wolong Yin" has made players' eyes light up. Due to good long-term operations, "Wolong Yin" even has a monthly turnover of tens of millions even 8 years after its release. It has become a model that the industry is eager to learn from. Object.
It is this SLG with Three Kingdoms theme that is the oldest in China. This IP was taken out by Tencent after more than ten years.
Similar to "Return to the Empire", "Wolong Yin 2" also adds a free march function similar to that in RTS games based on the "Litu-like" gameplay, so that players can implement more varied tactics in the game.
In terms of map exploration, "Wolong Yin 2" uses a fog mechanism. This setting requires players to have higher ability to detect enemy situations. In addition, when exploring on a large map, players will also be affected by terrain and weather.
Compared with other gameplays, "Wolong Yin 2" is relatively innovative in the gameplay of siege. When sieging a city, players must attack the city gates, arrow towers, and other buildings in sequence, and avoid multiple injuries by moving, layer by layer. , so that siege in SLG is no longer about the ratio of numerical values to attributes.
However, due to the high krypton fee of the game and the excessive suppression of civilians by RMB players, "Wolong Yin 2" has not received as good a reputation as "Return to the Empire". The game currently has a score of only 3.8 points in the iOS store.
After-class summary:
NetEase has been deeply involved in the SLG field for many years. Not only does it have its own professional R&D team, but related games can also occupy a place in the SLG market. On the other hand, Tencent, which started late in the SLG field, found it quite laborious to break through.
Judging from the current situation that hard-core players are more common in SLG games, Lao X thinks there are no more than two ways to get a share of the SLG market: One is to develop through "SLG+X" category integration More users, the second is to carry out micro-innovation in themes.
Nowadays, many domestic SLGs going overseas are playing very well in these two aspects. Dr.
