In 2022, many events have taken place, and the gaming industry in all regions of the world has been impacted to varying degrees, making the gaming market enter an unprecedented downturn, but these are temporary. In 2023, the mobile gaming market will usher in new development opportunities.
However, at the same time, the industry has also ushered in new changes: governments around the world either issue policies or invest in various ways to support the development of the game industry. In addition, China showed its attitude towards the industry and participated in the discussion. All these prove that games play a vital role in the development of science and technology.
In fact, the overall competition among governments is ongoing, including culture, economy, science and technology. With the intensification of competition, many new changes have taken place in the gaming industry since 2022, especially at the social level. Governments of all countries use games to spread their cultures, thus starting a new direction of competition.
Support Gained Following Recession in 2022
Gamma data released the Game Industry Report in October 2022, which shows that in October 2022, the actual sales revenue of China’s game market was 19.768 billion yuan, down 18.10% year-on-year. China’s gaming industry, which has been developing for decades, experienced a significant decline for the first time. In fact, the depression of China’s gaming industry is just a microcosm of a rare recession in the global gaming industry. Influenced by the instability of the global financial environment after the US dollar entered the interest rate increase cycle, and the complete recession of the housing economy brought about by the end of the epidemic, the income of major game markets such as the United States, Japan and South Korea also decreased significantly.
According to Sensor Tower, in the first half of 2022, the industry’s sales in the United States fell by 9.6%, while sales in Japan fell sharply by 18%. A gaming industry report by Newzoo shows that in November 2022, the global gaming industry will shrink to US $184.4 billion, a drop of 4.4%.
All kinds of data show that the global game industry ushered in the worst recession in history in 2022. The development confidence of game enterprises in various countries was generally frustrated, and the development direction of the industry also urgently needs to be further clarified. It is at this critical moment that the rare and high-density voice of governments of all countries has injected a shot in the arm into the confused game industry. Governments of Russia, the European Union, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, China and other countries have begun to vigorously support the game industry. In the context of the repeated mention of such keywords as big country competition, soft power, technology and cultural value, it has also brought strong directional support to the game industry in the low ebb.
A New Battlefield for Governments to Compete
The sudden conflict between Russia and Ukraine caused the industrial collapse and brain drain of the game industry in Russia, which was sanctioned by western countries, and shook the foundation of Russia’s digital economy. Against this background, a recently discussed document shows that the Russian government is considering providing a systematic support plan for the game industry. Russia plans to invest up to $50 billion in the game industry by 2030.
It is no coincidence that the European Parliament formally adopted a resolution on video games in November with 560 affirmative votes, 36 negative votes and 16 abstentions. This means that the European Parliament formally recognizes the economic, cultural and educational values behind video games, and accordingly urges the European Commission and the European Council to formulate a long-term video game strategy to support the development of video games.
It should be noted that in addition to Russia and the EU, emerging economies have seen the unique value of the game industry and regard it as the direction of future investment.
For example, Singapore, famous for its financial industry and re-export trade, has been investing in game companies through sovereign wealth funds such as Temasek and GIC. Recently, Singapore’s funds have targeted emerging industries such as cloud gaming, meta universe and Web3.
In addition, Saudi Arabia announced on January 24 that it would invest $1.5 billion to acquire ESL and FACEIT. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF invested billions of dollars in a series of game companies, such as Capcom, Nintendo, NCsoft, Nexon, Embracer, etc., and the MiSK Foundation also acquired 96% of the shares of Japan’s SNK.
Chinese Gaming Industry Sees New Opportunities
Although governments of all countries are setting off a new round of competition in the global game industry market, China has shown a positive attitude towards the value of the game industry.
According to a recent report, the problem of Chinese teenagers indulging in games has been further solved. Since then, the positive value of the game industry has been recognized by the public.
In addition, game technology contributed 14.9% to the technological progress of the chip industry, 46.3% to the 5G high-speed network industry and 71.6% to the XR industry.
In October, Global Times published an article that believed that the game going overseas would help strengthen international discourse in multiple dimensions. The article suggests that scientific research and judgment of domestic and international situations can enhance confidence in development and promote the high-quality development of emerging mainstream culture and emerging sports industry.
In November, an official communication pointed out that we should seize the opportunity to deeply analyze the value of the video game industry. Electronic games have long been rid of the single attribute of entertainment products, and have been transformed into an industry of great significance to a country’s industrial layout and scientific and technological innovation.
Tencent is currently initiating and participating in game technology exploration projects in aerospace, robot learning, digital public welfare and other fields. At the same time, NetEase also applies game technology to the development of automatic mining equipment.
With the joint efforts of organizations, media and game enterprises, there is no doubt that the attitude towards the game industry is undergoing a major change. Compared with the excessive emphasis on entertainment in the past, the multiple social values of economic development, technological progress, cultural heritage and export, and national self-confidence are now recognized.
As the industry has gained unprecedented attention from the government, China’s game industry will directly participate in this competition and usher in new development opportunities. It can be predicted that more and more individuals and governments will realize the importance of developing the game industry after reviewing and thinking about the industry in 2022.
