In the first three quarters, the sales expenses of Panax notoginseng, a large purchaser, decreased by 1 billion compared with the same period last year.
However, we have recently discovered that Sanqi Interactive EntertainmentQ4 has seen a surge in material purchases. In just 40 days, the amount of material released has exceeded any previous quarter. In November, Sanqi will also launch 3 products at once (two products are currently online).
products are being launched intensively, with crazy buying volume. Is "A-share game number one" panicked?
html In Q4 of 2012, Sanqi’s single-quarter revenue and profit hit new highs. At present, Sanqi is unlikely to exceed this high point in 22Q4.
There are only more than 50 days left in 2022. How will Sanqi perform in Q4 this year? What else is worth looking forward to?
-
Q4 business outlook: At least 4 products were launched in Q4, but the response was mediocre because there was no effort in new product marketing?
html Since 1Q4, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment has launched 3 products, and another product will be launched next week. In addition, Sanqi's first SLG product "Baye" will undergo paid testing in November and is expected to be launched within the year.
Data source: financial reports, public information; Game Finance Chart
Compared with top players, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment Q4 has more product reserves, and at least 4 products will be launched online.
Tencent Q4 may only have one music and leisure product "Jin Le Fantasy" online. NetEase's IP masterpieces such as "Nike Shuihan Mobile Game" and "Eternal Tribulation Mobile Game" have no choice but to postpone the launch because they have not yet obtained version numbers. Gigabyte and Perfect World Q4 will most likely not have new products online.
Judging from the new products, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment is expected to become the biggest winner in the domestic Q4 game market. However, from the perspective of product performance, the overall performance of Sanqi's new products is average.
According to Qimai data, the performance of the steampunk parkour card mobile game "Sky Fortress: Set Away" is acceptable. It has been downloaded more than 4 million times on all platforms within half a month of its launch (iOS) The number of downloads is about 576,000, and the downloads of Huawei , Xiaomi , vivo and other Android terminals are about 3.57 million), and iOS revenue is about 2.416 million US dollars (about 17.527 million yuan).
Another business simulation game "Tomorrow's Tycoon" performed slightly poorly. Within one week of its launch, it had more than 800,000 downloads across all platforms, and revenue on iOS was approximately US$6,769.
Sanqi's SLG product "Bugtopia", which was recently launched overseas in a low-key manner, has been downloaded more than 50,000 times in Google app store. Beyond that, not much data is available yet.
As for the fusion card game "Bright Adventure" that will be launched next week, the current market popularity is average. So far, TapTap has less than 50,000 reservations, and Station B has 72 reservations. Judging from the number of reservations, the product is unlikely to be a hit.
Judging from the purchase volume, the three products of Sanqi have changed from the previous "big publicity" style, and the overall marketing intensity is weak.
According to DataEye data, "Sky Fortress: Set Away" has released more than 7,700 sets of materials so far, and only more than 1,600 sets of materials have been released on the day it was launched. "Tomorrow Tycoon" has released less than 100 sets of materials, and "Bright Adventure" has released more than 400 sets of materials so far.
Source: DataEye data; Game Finance Chart
In terms of investment intensity, the above-mentioned games are far less than the new games "Little Ant Kingdom" and "Mortal Cultivation of Immortality M" launched in September. Up to now, "Little Ant Kingdom" has released a total of about 30,000 sets of materials, with an average daily release of about 2,000 sets of materials. "Mortal Cultivation of Immortality M" has released a total of more than 7,000 sets of materials in overseas markets.
On the brand side, "Sky Fortress: Set Sail" invited Angela Chang to sing the theme song of the same name "Sky Fortress". "Tomorrow's Tycoons" and "Bright Adventure" have no action on the brand side for the time being.
And "Little Ant Kingdom" invited two superstar goddesses "Mu Yao 4 Super Game" to serve as annual spokespersons, and "Mortal Cultivation of Immortality M" invited Zhang Junning to be the spokesperson and shoot a short film on cultivating immortality.
Game Finance Exchange believes that the mediocre performance of these new Sanqi products is mainly due to the following three reasons:
First, the product quality is average and it is difficult to attract "tap water" players. The TapTap score of "Sky Fortress: Departure" is only 6.3. "Tomorrow Tycoon" was complained by players because of the name of the company and employees involved in the game.
Secondly, most of the games launched in Sanqi Q4 are fusion games with niche themes. Compared with games with mature gameplay, they are less likely to succeed. However, there is a small chance of unique hits due to innovation.
For example, "Sky Fortress: Departure" combines card + shooting + parkour and other gameplay methods, and "Bugtopia" combines the gameplay of the classic tower defense " Plants vs. Zombies". Compared with the mature gameplay games previously released by Sanqi (such as Douluo Dalu, Little Ant Kingdom, Call Me Big Shopkeeper), this is a big breakthrough, but the integrated gameplay comes with risks - it is not easy to succeed.
Third, the overall marketing efforts are weak. The above-mentioned products may belong to the company's second tier or non-key products, and the company provides less marketing support.
Summary:
Compared with the top players, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment Q4 has more product reserves, and at least 4 products will be launched online. However, from the perspective of product performance, the overall performance of Sanqi's new products is average. The main reason is that the product quality is average, most of the games have integrated gameplay, the themes are niche, and the overall marketing efforts are weak.
二
Q3 review: Product strength has not improved much, and still cannot escape the curse of "buying volume"
(1) Q3 performance review: both revenue and non-net profit dropped
Data source: wind; Game Finance Exchange Chart
Game Finance Exchange believes that Q3 Sanqi revenue and non-attributed net profit declined year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to:
First, the flow of blockbuster products launched in the same period last year has declined. Sanqi's "Douluo Dalu: Soul Master Duel" was in the early stage of product launch in 21Q3 and produced high performance contribution. Currently, the game has entered a mature and stable period, and its sales volume has naturally declined from the high point in the early stage of launch.
Secondly, some old games are affected by the life cycle , and the sales volume has dropped compared with the same period last year.
Third, several new products were launched at the end of Q3 and are still in the ramp-up period, so there is a certain lag in revenue recognition.
On the product side, in Q3, Sanqi launched 3 products, 2 for the overseas market and 1 for the domestic market.
Data source: financial reports, public information; Game Finance Chart
From the perspective of market performance, the performance of the three new products in Q3 is acceptable. According to the media Game Grape, "Little Ant Kingdom" has grossed over 100 million yuan since its launch in China in September this year.
In terms of overseas markets, "Mortal Cultivation M" has performed well in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. It is currently ranked around 30th on the iOS bestseller list in Taiwan, China, and around 40th on the iOS bestseller list in Hong Kong, China; the new fantasy adventure-themed RPG "빛과 어둠의 전쟁" ranked 16th on the September growth list.
From the perspective of sales expenses, the sales expenses of Q3 Panax notoginseng reached 1.845 billion yuan, which was further lower than Q1 and Q2.
Data source: wind; Game Finance Chart
However, according to DataEye data, Sanqi Q3 purchase volume has increased compared with Q2.
Game Finance Exchange believes that the purchase volume of Sanqi materials has increased year-on-year, but the overall marketing expenses have decreased year-on-year for the following four reasons:
① Inefficient attempts to put more materials and fast scrolling;
② The main investment products are relatively low-cost, and most of the materials are low-cost, such as 2D materials, pictures, etc.;
③ Although there were few materials released last year, there were many new products and brand advertising (brand advertising is often more expensive), so the sales expenses are high;
④ This year may have reduced the number of marketing personnel.
(2) Sanqi R&D and marketing capabilities analysis
Overall, Sanqi’s product R&D capabilities have not improved significantly this year, and only one self-developed game was launched during the year.
Self-developed side: Self-developed capability is still a shortcoming of Panax notoginseng, and the overseas performance of the first self-developed SLG product was mediocre.
html At the beginning of January, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment launched its first self-developed SLG product "Three Kingdoms: Glory of Heroes" overseas (the national server "Hegemony" will undergo paid testing in November). According to Game Finance Exchange's observation of its global ranking, its overseas market performance is average.
In terms of R&D strategy, Sanqi’s R&D strategy this year is more focused, focusing on the currently weak SLG category.
In the first three quarters, Panax notoginseng R&D expenses have been reduced, but investment in strategic categories such as SLG has been increased, while R&D investment in non-strategic categories has been reduced.
According to relevant media reports, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment established Xinghai Studio in Beijing in September. This is Sanqi’s first independent studio focusing on the SLG field.
At present, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment is committed to the SLG track and wants to replicate the success of "Puzzles & Survival". However, due to the lack of SLG experience and relevant talents, it is difficult for the company to quickly improve its SLG R&D capabilities in the short term.
Agent side: Agent for the products of joint-stock companies, but the quality of the products is not as good as the previous two years.
This year Sanqi still mainly relies on agents, but the quality of the products produced by agents is not as good as in the previous two years. At present, there are no long-life hit products such as "Puzzles & Survival", "Call Me the Shopkeeper" and "Song of the City on the Cloud" that have emerged this year.
Sanqi ’s problems at the research and development level of product :
First, Sanqi always wants to copy the past experience of competitors in the selection of themes, such as the Three Kingdoms theme, Ants theme, this following strategy is difficult to overtake in corners.
For example, after "Little Ant" became popular overseas, Yiyu Network, a joint-stock company of Sanqi, immediately launched the SLG product "Ant Legion" with the same theme. However, the performance of "Ant Legion" in overseas markets was far less than that of "Little Ant"; Sanqi's first SLG product chose the Three Kingdoms theme, which is the least error-prone but the most competitive. The game performed mediocre in overseas markets.
Second, there is too much reliance on agency products, and most of the agency products come from small and medium-sized game companies invested by Sanqi. This also leads to the fact that whether the game products released by Sanqi will be popular is like drawing a blind box. Sanqi has no control over it or cannot predict it in advance.
For example, Sanqi's recently launched "Tomorrow's Tycoons" game characters are frantically playing side games. If it weren't for the product shortage, Sanqi would not represent such potentially risky products.
On the product side, one of the major advantages of Sanqi is its ample reserve of version numbers.
Data source: Company financial report; Game Finance Chart
At present, most of Sanqi’s reserve products have obtained version numbers. In contrast, many blockbuster products of NetEase, Perfect and other companies have had to postpone their launch because they have not yet obtained version numbers. In the short term, the supply of Panax notoginseng in the domestic market is relatively abundant, but this time window will not last long.
Overall, Sanqi's overseas distribution capabilities have greatly improved this year, but the company still relies too much on marketing.
Panax notoginseng’s overseas distribution capabilities have been further improved. According to Sensor Tower data, Sanqi's overseas revenue has increased significantly this year, and it has repeatedly ranked among the top 5 global revenue rankings of Chinese mobile game publishers. In the first half of 2022, Sanqi's overseas revenue accounted for 37.48%, a further increase from 30% in 2021.
However, Sanqi still cannot escape the curse of "buying volume". Sanqi's product revenue growth relies too much on marketing (especially performance advertising), and marketing expenses remain high. For example, the reason behind the monthly revenue of "Little Ant Kingdom" exceeding 100 million is that an average of 2,000 sets of materials are released every day.
Due to the lack of blockbuster products during the year and the old products entering the growth stage, Sanqi's sales expenses in the first three quarters decreased by 1.088 billion yuan compared with the same period last year, but were still as high as 6.19 billion yuan, and the sales expense rate was still over 50%.
enters Q4. Due to the intensive launch of new products and the increase in materials for old products, Q4 sales expenses may increase.
Summary:
Q3 Sanqi’s revenue and non-attributed net profit declined year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter, mainly due to the decline in sales of blockbuster products and some old games launched in the same period last year. In addition, several new products were launched at the end of Q3, and there was a certain lag in revenue recognition.
三
Q4 performance highlights: Watch "P&Z" overseas, and "Little Ant" and "Call Me the Shopkeeper" domestically
According to the disclosed third quarter report, Panax Q3 revenue and non-attributable net profit both declined year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter.
As mentioned earlier, Sanqi Q4 will launch at least 4 products, but currently only "Sky Fortress: Departure" can be played. Sanqi's Q4 performance growth mainly depends on new products and old games launched in the first three quarters.
Recently, we found that the purchase volume of Sanqi has increased significantly since October. So far, Sanqi’s Q4 performance advertising volume has exceeded that of any previous quarter.
Source: DataEye data; Game Finance Chart
According to DataEye data, in the past 30 days, 3 games under Sanqi have entered the top 10 of mid-to-several game purchases.
In addition to the new game "Little Ant Kingdom", Sanqi has also increased its investment in old products such as "Call Me the Big Shopkeeper" and "Song of the City on the Cloud".
Source: DataEye data; Game Finance Chart
New products are launched intensively, with crazy buying volume. Is the "A-share gaming brother" panicking?
html In Q4 of 2012, Sanqi’s single-quarter revenue and profit hit new highs. At present, Sanqi is unlikely to exceed this high point in 22Q4.
There are only more than 50 days left in 2022. How will Sanqi perform in Q4? What else is worth looking forward to?
Game Finance Network believes that Sanqi Q4 has the following four major highlights:
Highlight 1: The monthly revenue of the overseas Ant SLG product "Ant Legion" is on the rise, and the annual cumulative revenue will exceed 300 million yuan.
In overseas markets, the Ant SLG product "Ant Legion" released by Sanqi will compete with "The Ants: Underground Kingdom", and "The Ants: Underground Kingdom" will be its revenue ceiling.
According to Sensor Tower data, the overseas version of "Little Ant" has been launched in various countries in the first quarter of 21, and the revenue in August 21 reached 13 million US dollars; according to GameLook and Jinghe data, the overseas revenue in March 22 remained at about 90 million yuan; as of March 22, the cumulative revenue has been close to 70 million US dollars.
Although the revenue of "Ant Legion" is on the rise, it is still far lower than the overseas version of "Little Ant".
According to data disclosed by the official website of the developer Yiyu, the highest monthly sales of "Ant Legion" are on the rise. As of October 2022, the highest single monthly sales exceed 35 million, and the cumulative sales have reached 260 million.
Source: Yiyu official website; Game Finance Chart
According to the current sales trend, the cumulative sales of "Ant Legion" this year will exceed 300 million yuan, and the total sales in Q4 are expected to be around 100 million yuan.
Highlight 2: The domestic Ant SLG product "Little Ant Kingdom" has a monthly revenue of over 100 million, but the profit may be eroded by sales expenses.
As the only ant-themed SLG product in China, the future market performance of "Little Ant" can be referred to "The Rise of the Ants" which has been online for a year.
"Rise of the Ants" will be launched in July 2021. According to the financial report of the parent company Wolong Real Estate , the game has generated approximately 72.316 million yuan in revenue in 21 years. In other words, the turnover reached more than 70 million in less than half a year.
In terms of revenue performance, "Little Ant" is even better, with revenue exceeding 100 million in more than a month since its launch. The performance of is more prominent among Sanqi’s new games this year, but it is far inferior to the two Douluo games launched last year. The sales of "Douluo Dalu: Soul Master Awakening" exceeded 300 million in the first month, and the sales of "Douluo Dalu: Soul Master Duel" exceeded 700 million in the first month.
The reason is mainly due to the lack of ant culture in China, the audience of ant themes is small, and Panax notoginseng has lost its first-mover advantage. Ant-themed users have been basically washed away by first movers such as "Rise of the Ants". This has led to the performance of the national server of "Little Ant Kingdom" being far behind the overseas version.
In addition, due to the extremely strong purchase volume of "Little Ant", the profit of the game may be greatly reduced .
According to DataEye data, in the past 90 days, "Little Ant" ranked sixth on the list of mid-to-several game purchases, with an average of about 2,000 sets of materials released every day. So far, a total of about 30,000 sets of materials have been released.
Source: DataEye data
Highlight 3: The revenue of "Puzzles & Survival" in the first 10 months exceeded 3 billion, and the total revenue for the year will be close to 4 billion.
In terms of old products, thanks to Sanqi’s continuous operation capabilities, the sales volume of the two SLG products is still on the rise, and the product operation status and performance are better.
Currently, Sanqi’s overseas revenue mainly relies on two SLG products, “Puzzles & Survival” and “Puzzles & Conquest”.
According to data disclosed by Yiyu’s official website, from January to October this year, the cumulative revenue of "Puzzles & Survival" reached 3.1 billion , of which the cumulative revenue in the first half of the year reached 1.7 billion, and the cumulative revenue from July to October reached 1.4 billion.
Judging from the current revenue, the revenue of "Puzzles & Survival" in the second half of the year will exceed 2 billion, and the total revenue for the whole year will be close to 4 billion.
Source: Yiyu official website, Sanqi financial report; Game Finance Chart
At present, the revenue of the "Puzzles & Survival" game is still on the rise. As of October, the highest single-month revenue reached 330 million yuan, and this figure as of July was 290 million yuan.
As for another SLG product "Puzzles & Conquest" that was launched in November 2019, the current monthly revenue is still stable at around 55 million yuan.
Source: Yiyu official website, Sanqi financial report; Game Finance Chart
Highlight 4: Seizing the trend of WeChat mini-games, "Call Me Big Shopkeeper" is firmly in the top 5 bestseller list, and the retention rate is higher than that of the APP.
Sanqi is an early game company in the industry that entered WeChat mini-games. The WeChat mini-game has an obvious role in boosting the revenue of Sanqi Games.
Sanqi’s best-performing product on the mini-game platform is “Call Me Big Shopkeeper”, which was launched as a WeChat mini-program in the second half of last year. Taking the WeChat mini-game best-selling list on November 9 as an example, “Call Me Big Shopkeeper” ranked fourth on the mini-game best-selling list.
Xu Shaopeng, the person in charge of the "Call Me Big Shopkeeper" mini-game, recently publicly stated that the revenue and user activity of "Call Me Big Shopkeeper" this year have been showing a positive growth trend, and the long-term retention rate of the mini-game is better than that of the APP.
Image source: GameLook
According to Sanqi’s previous announcement, as of April 2022, more than 30% of the turnover of “Call Me Big Shopkeeper” comes from mini program user contributions.
Summary:
Q4, Sanqi has four major highlights. In terms of new games, the monthly sales of the overseas Ant SLG product "Ant Legion" are on the rise, and the annual cumulative sales will exceed 300 million yuan. The domestic Ant SLG products have exceeded 100 million yuan in the first month, but profits may be eroded by sales expenses; in terms of old products, "Puzzles & "Survival" has gross revenue of over 3 billion in the first 10 months, and the total revenue for the year will be close to 4 billion. In addition, Sanqi has also captured the WeChat mini-game trend in the domestic market, with its representative product "Call Me Big Shopkeeper" firmly ranked among the top 5 best-selling mini-games.
四
Summary
(1) Q4 new product analysis
Compared with the top players, Sanqi Interactive Entertainment has more Q4 product reserves, and at least 4 products will be launched online. However, from the perspective of product performance, the overall performance of Sanqi's new products is average. Judging from the purchase volume, Sanqi's four products have changed from the previous "big promotion" style, and the overall marketing efforts are weak.
Game Finance Network believes that there are three main reasons for the mediocre performance of these new Sanqi products:
First, the product quality is average, making it difficult to attract "tap water" players.
Secondly, most of the games launched in Sanqi Q4 are fusion games with niche themes. Compared with games with mature gameplay, they are less likely to succeed. However, there is a small chance of unique hits due to innovation.
Third, the overall marketing efforts are weak. The above-mentioned products may belong to the company's second tier or non-key products, and the company provides less marketing support.
(2) Q3 performance review
Sanqi’s Q3 financial report was not satisfactory: revenue and non-attributable net profit both declined year-on-year and month-on-month. This is mainly due to the decline in sales of blockbuster products and some old games launched in the same period last year. In addition, several new products were launched at the end of Q3, so there is a certain lag in revenue recognition.
From the perspective of product research and development capabilities, Sanqi’s research and development capabilities have not improved significantly this year. Only one self-developed game was launched during the year.
On the self-research side, the self-research capability is still Sanqi’s shortcomings. The first self-developed SLG product “Three Kingdoms: Glory of Heroes” performed mediocre overseas. On the agent side, Sanqi mainly represents products of joint-stock companies this year, but the quality of the products is not as good as the previous two years.
Compared with its peers, Sanqi’s major advantage is its abundant reserve of version numbers. Currently, most of its reserve products have obtained version numbers. In the short term, the supply of Panax notoginseng in the domestic market is relatively abundant, but this time window will not last long.
From the perspective of marketing capabilities, Sanqi’s overseas distribution capabilities have further improved this year, but it still cannot escape the curse of “buying volume”. Entering Q4, due to the intensive launch of new products and the increase in materials for old products, Q4 sales expenses may increase.
(3) Four major highlights of Q4
Highlight 1: The monthly sales of overseas Ant SLG product "Ant Legion" are on an upward trend, and the annual cumulative sales will exceed 300 million yuan. The total sales of Q4 are expected to be around 100 million yuan.
Highlight 2: The revenue of domestic Ant SLG product "Little Ant Kingdom" has exceeded 100 million, but due to the fierce purchase volume, profits may be eroded by sales expenses.
Highlight 3: The revenue of "Puzzles & Survival" in the first 10 months exceeded 3 billion, and the total revenue for the whole year will be close to 4 billion. Another SLG product, "Puzzles & Conquest", currently has a stable monthly revenue of around 55 million yuan.
Highlight 4: Seizing the trend of WeChat mini games, the representative product "Call Me Big Shopkeeper" is firmly in the top 5 best-selling WeChat mini games, and the long-term retention rate of mini games is better than that of the APP.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-