Auto Chess has no second half, but the chicken game has entered the resurrection game
Since the popularity of “chicken-eating games” represented by “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” in 2017, it is generally believed that chicken-eating games will most likely end the dominance of MOBA games and become a new trend in the industry. However, the fact is that due to Blue Hole's "letting go" in terms of plug-ins, servers and optimization, new competitors in Auto Chess have emerged strongly, giving "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" a heavy blow.
At the same time, major manufacturers began to step up the development and launch of their own chicken-fighting games, quickly disintegrating the long-term dominance of "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and breaking the myth of 2 million online players. Before "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" had completely stepped on "Dota 2" and beat "LOL" to officially take over, various types of auto-chess that came out halfway had already snatched the handover baton from its hands.
No one thought that a giant with millions of people online would be knocked to the ground and beaten up by a casual idle game. However, what is ironic is that in such novels, The plot that I dared not write also appeared in just 2 years.
From 2019 to 2020, Auto Chess has hurriedly passed its short but brilliant life.
Now, we have entered 2021. As we all know, there is no second half in auto chess. However, as the saying goes, the game of chicken has begun to change its appearance and re-entered the resurrection game.
One "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" fell, and thousands of chicken-eating games stood up
The first batch of chicken-eating games quickly attracted a large number of user groups with their social attributes and gameplay innovations , such as H1Z1, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, etc., quickly fermented among the player group through the anchor's promotion, broke the circle and became popular all over the world.
After entering the second half, major manufacturers began to enter the game one after another. Follow-up products such as "Fortnite", "Call of Duty Warzone", "APEX Legends" and so on quickly began to update their gameplay and content. Iteration, this also caused the self-proclaimed big brother "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" to be unknowingly "poached", and a large number of users began to divert.
So in a sense, one "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" fell, but thousands of chicken-eating games stood up.
Judging from the financial reports of major manufacturers, compared with their own traditional products, chicken-eating games have a higher revenue and ancillary value, such as a huge number of active users. These data show that Everything looks very "beautiful". In the financial report released by Activision Blizzard last year, the number of players of "Call of Duty: Warzone" exceeded 85 million. Considering that this free game was officially launched less than a year ago, I am afraid that the player base is nearly 100 million, no matter which manufacturer watched it Everyone is jealous. "APEX Legends", which was launched earlier, also performed well in EA's financial report last year. According to EA's chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen, "Apex Legends" generated revenue of nearly US$1 billion in less than two years, and it still maintains its revenue. With a strong vitality of earning 500 million yuan every year. I have to say that this is infinitely better than "Battlefield 5" which was canceled halfway through "Anthem 2.0".
As the big brother in the second half, "Fortnite" is naturally unambiguous. Although Apple's tough move last year had a big impact on mobile products, it still has IP linkages by holding concerts in the game. , further expanding the original influence of the game, and was even once regarded as a powerful successor to the "Metaverse". According to relevant data, the full-year revenue of "Fortnite" in 2019 reached US$1.8 billion, and brought 125 million player activity.
This is quite similar to the Moba market back then. After the "originator" "Dota" was eliminated by the times, the huge user group was replaced by "LOL", "Dota2", "Honor of Kings" and so on. New products are quickly "distributed".
The chicken-eating game of "Reincarnation from the Dirty Land" enters the revival round
Major manufacturers have established a solid foundation through their own chicken-eating products. This is naturally very unfriendly to new manufacturers.
Therefore, it can be seen that after the chicken game officially enters the resurrection competition, both the gameplay and the group orientation are quite different from the previous "old guys".
The recently launched martial arts chicken game "Eternal Calamity" retains the basic gameplay logic of the battle royale game, including drug running, resource management, and multiplayer survival. However, in terms of the core gameplay experience, combat and missions are combined, and character skills, mutual counterattacks, attribute soul jade, and trading stores are introduced to dilute the gaming experience of traditional chicken games.
In "Eternal Calamity", basic attack, body dominance, and sword vibration restrain each other, which makes the battle get rid of the gun battles of traditional chicken games. It is often encountered that the player with the last bit of health uses Bo Zhen Dao to knock out the opponent's weapon, and then takes away a set of full health (Zhen Dao is only useful for the Overlord, and the duration is extremely short, but once successful, it can defeat the opponent's weapon) The currently used weapon falls to the ground). This kind of gameplay similar to guessing makes the one-on-one duel between players more exciting. Targeted moves are often more threatening than a random attack. At the same time, the Jedi counterattack will also make players feel more confident in the process of fighting. gain a greater sense of accomplishment.
The addition of character skills and soul jade attributes also brings uncertain variables to the battles between players, especially in team battles, the coordination of the team's character skills, and the soul The choice of jade attributes plays a vital role in winning or losing on the battlefield. The design of the trinity of assistance, output, and treatment puts more emphasis on the responsibilities of a single player in the team, and also greatly improves the sense of participation of players of different levels in the game.
Although "Eternal Tribulation" caused a lot of response during the closed beta stage, many problems such as plug-ins, servers, and balance still make this half-finished chicken-eating game encounter quite a challenge. .
If "Eternal Reincarnation" only differentiates the gameplay, then "Eternal Return: Black Survivor" (hereinafter referred to as: Eternal Reincarnation) is more like a set of eating methods. Chicken rind Moba game. As a chicken-eating game, upgrades, extra points, wild monsters, skills, and props are all available in "Eternal Return". Even the cool operation of squatting in the grass is perfectly reproduced in the game. The game adopts the unique oblique 45-degree overhead perspective of Moba games. Players can choose characters with different skills to perform a battle royale on a large map. Since the map itself is small, the shrinking circle has been changed to restrict access to some areas, and the location will be changed after a period of time. However, there are only 16 players in a game, which avoids the embarrassing situation of long-term "shopping".
In addition to the above two games, the earlier "Spellbreaker" also combined magic and chicken fighting, and the number of players once exceeded 5 million after its launch. Even Nintendo, which has always been regarded as the benchmark for games "suitable for all ages", has launched a "magically modified" casual chicken game like "Mario 35" on its own handheld console NS. In addition, after "Tetris 99" became a hit on the NS platform, Bandai Namco's "Pac-Man 99" will also be launched soon.
Conclusion
It can be seen that compared to the more fixed gun battle gameplay of traditional chicken-fighting games, the new generation of chicken-fighting games incorporate more battle royale elements and other game types. combined. The proportion of battle royale elements is reflected less and less in games. More often, it just retains a framework and fills it in with various gameplay mechanisms.
In addition, the diversity of gameplay means that the audience is no longer just FPS players. By integrating more game types to open up new markets, this is very important for breaking the traditional chicken game. barriers are crucial.
However, although there are advantages such as gameplay innovation and new markets, the new generation of chicken-eating games have certain advantages in attracting new players, but they will still encounter difficulties in long-term operations, retention, and content updates. challenges.
Before the next hit game type officially arrives, whether these "reincarnated" chicken-eating games can challenge the dominance of "Big Brother" may require long-term market testing.