Competition in the game industry has gradually evolved into IP competition
In the past, games were just games. Now, with the development of the entertainment industry, the value of games is no longer limited to the scope of games. With the maturity of the industry, competition in the game industry has gradually evolved into IP competition. On the one hand, after years of precipitation, the literary industry has entered the IP era, and the derivative realization methods have become diversified, including film and television, animation, comic and so on. Game, operating for many years, they did not come to the end of the game generation by generation accumulated huge fan, and also considerable gamers can recall – even though these players have left the game, once favorite works, however, when the game stretches out the other content, feelings will make them still will come back to support the game.
On the other hand, no matter how good the experience of a game is, there will also be content consumption. If you want to maintain a high level of influence in the long term, you need to constantly evolve other business forms to maintain influence and extend the influence from the niche of the game to the mass culture. Based on the game to establish IP value system, in fact, previous attempts have been made, and left many successful cases for future generations to refer to.
Overseas “warcraft”, “FATE” series, “final fantasy” series are radiated outward from the game as a starting point, now its value has been extended to the animation, and other fields, and also has many fans in new areas, including carrier and so on animation audience may never exposed to the game, but the adaptation of the animation itself, It’s probably where you start to see games and understand them. There are also some successful examples in China, such as Chinese Paladin series and Ancient Sword Stories. Although the value derivative of these games is not extensive and diversified, and the adaptation of these games has different praises and criticisms, it is enough to prove the feasibility of adapting games into other carriers.
Under the huge possibility of value derivation, games are changing from the last link of commercial realization to the source of IP derivation, and growing branches in the fields of animation, comics, novels and so on. More importantly, the achievements made in other fields will also feed back to the game, which will continue to generate enthusiasm for the game and extend the life cycle of the game. The reason why almost every FATE series can be animated is that the popularity of animation can continuously attract users to the game, just like the interaction between film and game. Games and other cultural carriers thus form a mutually feeding relationship, so that games can last forever.
To build an IP value system, games need to solve three difficult problems
The competition in the game industry is gradually turning to IP competition, and the construction of IP value system to maintain the sustainable longevity of games has become an important way to explore derivative value in the game industry. But games are different from other cultural vectors, and there are more business conversion challenges when building IP value systems.
The first problem is that the game has a strong sense of immersion and continuity. The identity of the player in the game is also a part of the world view. The player drives the progress of the game, and the game is constantly updated, which can attract players for a long time. However, comics, novels, and even more intuitive carriers such as animation, film and TV series are far less relevant and sustainable than games, and these carriers adapted from games are difficult to attract users for a long time.
Second, it is difficult to adapt games into other cultural carriers. When manga is adapted into animation, there will be a dispute between original party and animation party, and this dispute is more serious in game adaptation. Experience in game when invested a lot of feelings, combined with the game details is rich, strong immersive, gamers in the process of game on the game’s view of the world, such as the understanding of the content will form their own unique, so a lot of old players of the game’s loyalty is very high, expectations of adaptation after product has been increasing, finding fault, Plot, people set and other details of a little regret will cause heinous saliva case. Even though Warcraft earned 1.3 billion yuan at the box office and cost a lot of money to make, some players still think the characterization failed after watching the movie, which shows how critical players are to adapt the game into other media.
The third problem is that the game is adapted into animation, film and other cultural carriers in order to establish the IP value system and deliver fresh blood and influence to the game through other commercial forms. Therefore, how to attract new users who have no understanding of the world view during the adaptation is also a big problem.
Game’s world view is generally very large, many characters and the plot line, adaptation is needed to show the best of the game both in the limited space, and not withdrawn to the general audience, confused about ordinary readers, novels, comic books, such as carrier can be said, if you like movies in the 120 minutes both difficulties, slightly wrong, Adapted works have become fawning fans of their own high. The leap of Faith movie released this year, is to please the players but not take into account the ordinary audience, people who have never played the game, watching the movie experience is greatly compromised, and may even be unable to understand the world view shown in the film, let alone take this as an opportunity to contact the game.
The culture of the circle is increasingly important for games to establish IP value systems
The long-term operation of games will virtually form a unique circle culture, and the circle culture generated by players is playing an increasingly important role in the long-term operation and commercial transformation of games. If good content is the backbone of a game’s IP value system, then the culture of the circle is its flesh and blood.
When it comes to the operation of the game circle culture, it is necessary to mention the fan culture. Many players with creative talent or strong desire to express themselves have high emotional investment both inside and outside the game. Outside the game, players will create around the story, characters or what they hear and feel in the game. UGC content created by players often has its own spread because it resonates with other players. Therefore, the use of circle culture in game operation can not only increase players’ sense of participation in game construction, but also improve the emotional bond between users and the game.
After 12 years of operation, World of Warcraft has a strong and deep culture around the world, with countless surrounding industry chains that almost completely permeate the lives of fans and continue to radiate and expand its influence beyond the game. “World of Warcraft” movie of the same name after the release of box office success, not only players, but also in the society has gained wide attention and discussion. Therefore, the importance of the circle culture to the long-term operation of games has gradually attracted the attention of domestic game manufacturers, and more and more games are trying to build the IP value system of games by mining the circle culture.
Three ways to excavate circle culture
The starting point and end point of the game’s IP system is always on the player. The users in the game circle have their unique language, emotional logic and values, and have strong exclusivity. The mining of the game circle culture can be started from the following aspects.
First, the era of popular idols has passed due to the continuous segmentation of interests, and now the users are the opinion leaders in the minority circle, so the culture of the business circle also demands that games change the way they are sold. At a time when writers and artists are idolized, KOL’s opinions are especially influential in the direction of users, and exploring the KOL circle is the first element in the cultural operation of the game circle.
Of course, not just any KOL can do the job, and only a KOL that is committed to the game can gain recognition from the audience. However, KOL, a fan of the game, also has a long track record of working with the game. DNF chose Wlop as a partner because he is a veteran PLAYER of DNF and his fan base is in line with DNF’s target audience.
The selection of UGC content can promote the release of more UGC content, so that the emotions and stories between players can be continuously passed on, and also attract audiences other than potential game fans. The recognition of values can make other users quickly accept and have the desire to understand the game, so as to build the emotional community belonging to players.
Second, the management culture requires officials to lower their profile and operate as equal players. The long-term operation of IP is not brand-oriented, but gathers through value identification. To establish emotional connection between games and players, it is necessary to integrate into the culture of the circle, master the unique culture of players in the circle, and communicate with users through their language and logic, so as to gain their recognition and influence their cognition and decision.
This running ideas by game companies more and more attention, such as the DNF player is keen on creation of user-generated content related to arad, and official encouragement, attitude to and launched “arad creator plan” actively encourage users to participate in the depth of the creation, also, the author of the novel and comic team, KOL group work closely, The IP value system of DNF is established through cross-border linkage through co-creation.
In a word, after the launch of a game, its excellent production and unique world view can temporarily attract a large number of players to experience, but the long-term development of the game needs careful management, and the establishment of IP value system is the power of the game to last forever.
The circle culture formed in the process of game operation has now become an important way for games to establish IP value system. Managing the circle culture of a game well not only helps maintain or increase the relationship between the game and users, but also helps the game to complete the commercial transformation.
Games use animation, comics and other derivative methods to cover more users and extend the user’s time outside the game, and the appeal of the circle can attract users back to the game. The commercial transformation feeds back into the game, and the culture of the circle deepens the emotional connection and value recognition between the game and the user, and between the user and the user, which is why DNF, Final Fantasy and other games are so enduring. The culture of the circle is becoming an important business way to promote the IP of games.
Liu Kuang, meditation on the Internet, wechat official account: Liukuang110