The virtual anchor industry needs to break the circle to survive, and "Void Ring" is a bold attempt. But ideals are always good, and if "Imaginary Ring" still maintains a one-legged support of only theme innovation when it is launched, reality is likely to give different feedback than expected.

Reading Entertainment | yiqiduyu

Text | Garlic jelly corner

On August 4th, Tencent made a big move in the second-game market, announcing the self-developed game "Void Ring" by CDD, an independent division of IEG, and the first PV of the game exceeded 5.5 million views in 4 days after it was launched on station b, reaching the level of video interaction of popular games.

The reason why "Void Ring" attracted a lot of attention when it first appeared is inseparable from the theme of the game. "Void Ring" is positioned as a virtual idol strategy development game that can fight, and the virtual idols in the game are all virtual anchors (Vtuber) in reality, and this kind of planning also makes netizens ridicule "Who will say that Fujiko is not creative in the future, I will be the first to be in a hurry with him".

In the past two years, the V circle is far from being as vibrant as before, bad news about the groups that have been out of the circle has been coming, the involution of small and medium-sized anchors has intensified, and the user ecosystem can hardly be called good, and the worst thing is that compared with the glorious period of 2021, the general income of virtual anchors has declined, and entertainment companies and live broadcast guilds have also lost their enthusiasm for cultivating virtual anchors, and the virtual anchor industry seems to be declining.

In this context, Tencent launched a game that allows virtual anchors in the market to join in the group development, and the positive influence on the industry is conceivable.

1

The Creation of Virtual Anchors 101?

"Don't like the second tour of the rice circle? Then let's turn the fan circle into a second tour." Although this comment is ridiculous, it is indeed a good explanation if you don't know about "Void Ring".

To put it simply, "Void Ring" is a strategy development game, players cultivate virtual idols, pre-war strategy arrangements allow virtual idols to carry out slightly adjustable broadcast battles, the fun experience of the game focuses on the cultivation and interaction of virtual idols, in line with the logic of the regular second game, but because the virtual idols in the game are virtual anchors in reality, so that "Void Ring" has absolute characteristics.

Compared with other second games, which need in-game plots and interactions to set up characters step by step and cultivate user feelings, the virtual idols in "Void Ring" naturally have their own fan base, and other games are because the game knows the characters, but the basic users of "Void Ring" are undoubtedly playing games because of the characters, so it is a relatively reasonable explanation to say that "the second game of the fan circle" is a relatively reasonable explanation.

At the same time, in order to attract users, the game has lowered the threshold very low in terms of combat experience, and the characters will automatically fight if the combat mode is set in advance, so that users can watch the battles of virtual anchors more immersively; At the same time, the acknowledgement list and poster of the first PV show that in addition to the top popular anchors, there are also many virtual anchors or join them, watching their favorite anchors fight under their own hands, this kind of happiness is also something that live broadcast interaction cannot provide.

Cheering for the virtual anchor's stage, cultivating the growth of the virtual anchor in the game, and watching the anchor win through battle, how is it not the game version of the virtual anchor 101? And the gold attraction of such content should not be underestimated.

In the information revealed so far, the commercialization of "Void Ring" is no longer a rice-style selling of character cards, but unlocking characters for free to use skins as a selling point, and at the same time, various skins will give different combat skills and attributes to the characters, making it possible for a character to form a team to meet the needs of a single pusher.

The advantage of this business strategy is that on the one hand, it can not only stimulate players to continue to consume for their favorite characters, but also avoid conflicts between fans to a certain extent. After all, the game still has to make money, and you can't be scolded by players before you make money.

However, "Void Ring" obviously does not want to become a game that only serves fans in the V circle, and the production team also said in the live broadcast that "it is difficult for the V circle to continue to improve in live broadcast and video, and the game may be an opportunity", as for whether "Void Ring" can be up to this big task, it needs to be reconsidered.

2

"Imaginary Ring", which eats more than one fish, has a beautiful ideal

Although it is difficult to see a future in the V circle at present, virtual idols still have their market influence. miHoYo's new game "Jeopardy Zero" has announced its own virtual idol camp characters, which has mobilized players' expectations; In addition to the game field, in early August, four days after the world's largest AI virtual anchor officially settled on Station B, the number of fans of Station B also exceeded its YouTube account to 442,000.

Why is it that virtual idols are still a favorable label to attract the attention of the young market, but they are still just a niche circle culture? In the past, the process of infiltrating niche culture into popular culture had a breakthrough that could arouse the resonance and empathy of the big market. So can the game be this breakthrough in the V-circle?

Tencent's CDD department chose to do "Imaginary Ring", which is indeed true from the underlying logic. The feature of the second game is to increase the emotional connection between the player and the character through the game, so as to stimulate the player to consume for the character, and "Void Ring" can completely replicate this to benefit the virtual anchors in the game. The production team also said that the revenue of the game will be shared with the virtual streamers.

At the same time, virtual anchors are active and interactive in a new world view, so that outsiders can feel that virtual anchors are also groups with their own true feelings just like the characters in various second games, so as to offset the discomfort of some players to "virtual". It can be regarded as cultivating the market through games, so that the niche preference of virtual anchors can infect a larger market through games.

The third point is that "Void Ring" may also integrate the current chaotic V-circle into a whole, and work together to speak out of the market through games through virtual anchors, so as to expand the market for the entire virtual anchor industry. And, if this "virtual anchor 101" can really be made, Tencent's voice in the industry will also be greatly improved, perhaps paving the way for Tencent's future development in virtual technology.

However, the current cultural atmosphere of the V circle is hardly worth breaking. Compared with the pure love of most fans in the early days, now the V circle abstract fans and fun people are mixed in, "box weapons (human flesh search)" and fan scolding often appear in the circle, virtual anchors seem to be safe, but due to the actual "human" factor of the person, words and deeds that do not conform to values will also make the anchor collapse overnight. That is to say, while "Void Ring" is developing the market for the V circle, it also needs to readjust the community atmosphere of the V circle, so that it can go far and steadily in the big market, but this is obviously not what a game should undertake.

And whether the game "Void Ring" can really move towards the mass market, or even just the second-game market, there is still a question mark.

If you look at it from the perspective of the game, the quality of "Void Ring" is just the level of ordinary second game, and the general framework of the game includes three parts: character development interaction, story experience content and stage performance, and plot combat performance.

At the same time, the revenue of the second game market is concentrated on the head project, and small and medium-sized second games must have a skill if they want to survive, except for the real virtual anchor who has no other special highlights of the "Void Ring", it is difficult to grab users from the head of the second game, after all, the users who come because of the fun turn around and leave after the popularity fades, which is the most common reality in the game circle.

The virtual anchor industry needs to break the circle to survive, "Void Ring" is a bold attempt, from this dimension, Tencent has really done a good job this time, with imagination and original intention. But ideals are always good, and if "Imaginary Ring" still maintains a one-legged support of only theme innovation when it is launched, reality is likely to give different feedback than expected.

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