Author｜Zhou Yao

Without any surprise, "Black Myth: Wukong" received four nominations at TGA, known as the "Oscars of the game industry".

Recently, the 2024 The Game Awards (TGA) announced the nomination list for various awards via its official Weibo account. China's first 3A game, "Black Myth: Wukong", received four nominations: Game of the Year, Best Game Direction, Best Action Game, and Best Art Direction.

In the official Weibo comment section of "Black Myth: Wukong", netizens praised it as "well-deserved".

As "Black Myth: Wukong" received four major TGA awards, the reading volume of the Weibo hashtag #BlackMythWukong# reached 4.36 billion. This means that since its launch on August 20, "Black Myth: Wukong" has maintained its popularity consistently.

In fact, not only big-budget 3A games like "Black Myth: Wukong" but also a series of niche game products such as "Light & Night", "Love and Deep Sky", "Ru Yuan", and "Beyond the World" have demonstrated robust vitality this year.

A common factor behind these products' successful launch and long-term popularity is their emphasis on "social media platforms".

Looking back four years before the launch of "Black Myth: Wukong", the game ID, the developer Game Science, and the producer opened their official Weibo account shortly after the project was officially announced. Similarly, "Light & Night", "Love and Deep Sky", "Ru Yuan", and "Beyond the World" also joined social media platforms promptly.

Every move by a hit game indicates changes in the industry. To some extent, does their entry into social media suggest that the competition in the game industry has shifted from channel battlegrounds to social media battlegrounds?

01

The Logic Behind Multiple Games Going Viral

Flashback to August this year, on the official release day of "Black Myth: Wukong", as the first domestic 3A-level game, it immediately dominated half of Weibo's trending topics upon its launch.

According to Weibo data, within 24 hours of its launch, "Black Myth: Wukong" generated 35,000 posts from verified users, with related topics receiving over 4.5 billion reads, over 8.6 million interactions, and over 200 million video views.

"Black Myth: Wukong" achieved viral success through explosive social media propagation. Similarly, "Light & Night", launched three years ago, continues to gain popularity through long-term social media operations, with the Weibo hashtag #LightAndNight# receiving over 19 billion views to date.

From late July to early September this year, within less than two months, five hashtags related to "Light & Night" trended, including "LightAndNightCharlieSu", "LightAndNightHengshaQianqing", "LuChenShuiHen", "XiaoYiShuaiDeHaoGuoFen", and "QiSiLiGeneralTriumphantReturn"."Through long-term social media operations, "Light & Night" has reached more users and established a strong presence, building a large initial player base. In subsequent operations, it has collaborated with other well-known IPs to launch co-branded products, continuously expanding the game's influence.

Both "Light & Night" and "Black Myth: Wukong" rely on social media for their popularity. However, unlike "Black Myth: Wukong", which became an instant hit, "Light & Night" achieved sustained popularity through long-term operations and investments.

Operations focus on users in social media. Unlike content platforms, social media is user-centric, relying on connections between users for online socializing, sharing, and dissemination, as observed by NewMo.

The official team of "Light & Night" has actively interacted with players on platforms like Weibo, Bilibili, and Douyin, sharing game news and event information, attracting a large number of followers.

In addition, many well-known game bloggers and illustrators have joined the creative community, interpreting the game in their unique ways, enhancing activity levels and enabling secondary dissemination through social interactions among various groups.

As female-oriented games, "Love and Deep Sky" by Paper Games, "Beyond the World" by NetEase, and "Ru Yuan" by Alibaba's Lingxi Interactive Entertainment also view social media as a crucial communication channel. Through social media, players and domestic otome games are embarking on a "two-way journey" across dimensions.

Here, game developers continuously tap into the vivid and sincere emotions behind the data, rather than focusing solely on cold numbers. Players share their gameplay experiences, character preferences, and plot discussions, fostering a sense of belonging among players while enhancing the game's reputation, influence, and long-term value.

02

Leveraging Social Media for Domestic Games

Many industry insiders believe that social media platforms like Weibo and Douyin have become the main battleground for game marketing.

As the game industry matures, the market has entered a stage of stock competition. Market share is monopolized by leading enterprises, posing significant challenges for new entrants. Meanwhile, game products have shorter lifecycles, and users' expectations for game quality and experience are increasingly high.

Currently, "players" have become a highly sought-after resource for game developers.

However, market saturation has led to soaring traffic costs. "User acquisition" advertising, which presents similar content, can lead to user fatigue and abandonment. Relying solely on user acquisition for explosive growth is no longer viable, and this traditional path to success has been disrupted.

Developers urgently need online spaces for sustained player engagement. Socialization has become a crucial strategy for competing in the market.

Compared to pure transactional user acquisition, social media allows game developers to connect with players more frequently and in fragmented forms. This not only saves marketing costs but also enhances player retention and reduces dependency on user acquisition channels, contributing to brand building.

Today, leveraging social media to promote game popularity is a well-established strategy among leading game developers, from miHoYo and Hypergryph to Paper Games.

Paper Games successfully revitalized the domestic otome game market with "Love and Producer" through social media promotion. Similarly, "Love and Deep Sky" became a trending topic on Weibo, gaining significant commercial value through secondary dissemination on social media and player communities, in addition to the game's inherent popularity and sales.

For major game developers, social media offers "new traffic" beyond their immediate circle, according to NewMo.

Compared to game-specific communities and live streaming platforms like Douyu and Huya, social media platforms like Bilibili and Weibo cover a broader user base and are more likely to create viral topics due to their strong social and trending ecosystems. During the Paris Olympics, related Weibo topics received over 400 billion reads and 400 million discussions.

Unlike niche communities, social media serves as a public opinion forum, highly responsive to trends and integrating UGC and PUGC content, enabling more valuable connections through creation.

NewMo observes that almost every game developer now chooses to open official accounts and start trending topics on major social media platforms before game launch or even project initiation, enhancing topic discussions to build momentum for the game.

Before its launch, "Ru Yuan" promoted character images through related Weibo super topics, encouraging players to create UGC content. The social connection between developers and players attracted more active players to the game.

When the game launches, it is easier to ignite discussions based on the existing user base, driving a surge in downloads and increasing the success rate of product releases.

03

Casual Discussion on Industrial Upgrading and the Next Phase of Games

The domestic market has never lacked creativity in gaming entertainment.

However, this also means that China's game industry is constantly evolving, from early console, arcade, and PC single-player games to online games and now mobile games. Over the past three decades, China's game industry has continued to evolve.

Macro changes pose significant challenges to individual game products. Even outstanding games like "Honor of Kings", "Genshin Impact", "Honkai Impact 3rd", and "Black Myth: Wukong" must address the question of "how to stay evergreen".

For a long time, games were launched against a backdrop of unlimited market growth, satisfying unmet demand. However, the current game industry is shifting from growth to stock markets, where long-lived and dynamic games can better adapt to industry changes and challenges.

The relationship between game developers and players is becoming increasingly close, and game sales are transitioning from one-time purchases to long-term services. Continuous player engagement has become a core demand for most developers.

Long-term product operations require one or more platforms for sustained player engagement. These platforms enable timely communication of game updates and development progress to the audience, maintaining player enthusiasm through continuous content updates.

In the early stages of "Black Myth: Wukong"'s promotion, Weibo and Bilibili played crucial roles. Throughout the game's subsequent promotion, based on multiple brand collaborations and KOC player sharing, its popularity continued to rise rather than wane. The Weibo game topic #BlackMythWukong# consistently ranked among the top 10 trending topics.

From the perspective of "Black Myth: Wukong"'s content, social media transformed gameplay, plot, characters, cultural dissemination, collaborations, and more into individual topics. These topics were discussed and expanded by both professional and amateur players, ultimately boosting "Black Myth: Wukong"'s popularity.

In this process, content creators played the role of opinion leaders, such as gaming influencers and bloggers on social platforms, who are crucial for game developers in promoting their games.

According to the latest Weibo financial report, in the third quarter, the scale and activity of verified gaming bloggers in the game sector continued to grow, with the number of bloggers doubling year-on-year and their average daily posts increasing by over 200%. This further enhanced the activity of Weibo's gaming-interested audience.

Today, game developers aim to achieve long-term game popularity through sustained operations. Therefore, effective social operations that leverage social media to connect and expand user influence have become a vital operational direction.

Based on continuous community-based operations, "Honor of Kings" has become a symbol of evergreen success.

In October this year, the official Weibo account of "Honor of Kings" surpassed 20 million followers, making it the first game product to reach this milestone. Launched in 2015, the game still maintains over 100 million DAUs nearly a decade later.

From "Honor of Kings" and "Genshin Impact" to "Black Myth: Wukong", "Light & Night", and "Love and Deep Sky", an increasing number of games are transitioning from traditional channel operations to social media operations.

In the future, the trend of game developers embracing social media is likely to continue spreading.