Recently, according to the latest data from VG Insights, the domestic 3A game "Black Myth: Wukong" has earned 905 million US dollars in sales revenue worldwide, equivalent to more than 6.4 billion yuan, since its launch!

And that's less than 30 days.

Please note that this achievement has surpassed the 2019 3D animated film "Nezha: The Demon Boy Descends to the World", and its cumulative revenue that year was about 5 billion. You must know that it was once China's No. 1 mythological IP.

There is no doubt that this business record has now been broken by Black Myth: Wukong, and it will continue to grow.

Below, I will analyze the differences between the two IPs from four dimensions, and why "Black Myth: Wukong" is more valuable than "Nezha's Demon Boy Descends to the World".

1. From the perspective of cultural output, "Black Myth" has greater international influence.

From the data, it can be seen that the overseas sales of "Black Myth" account for about 26%; The overseas mainstream box office of "Nezha" accounted for less than 1% of the overseas box office that year (North America, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom), far lower than the domestic box office.

Therefore, from the perspective of market income alone, there is a clear difference between the two: "Black Myth: Wukong" is more favored by the international market than "Nezha's Demon Boy Descends".

In addition, 18 of the 23 language regions of "Black Myth" have a positive rating of more than 90%.

This shows that the international market has a higher acceptance of "Black Myth", which is not only an affirmation of domestic triple-A games, but also a strong support for the export of Chinese culture.

2. From the perspective of cultural carriers, games have stronger commercial potential than movies.

As two super IPs that are household names in China, they are both based on the enduring Chinese mythological universe, and they are also examples of well-made cultural products in recent years.

But why is "Black Myth: Wukong" worth more than "Nezha's Demon Boy Descends"?

Because no matter in terms of interactivity, user consumption time, user stickiness, production threshold, immersion, etc., games, as a cultural carrier, are more refreshing and top-notch than the experience of movies.

Anything that is addictive is worth more.

A movie has the limitations of the release cycle and the geography of its release, and after this season, it will have to schedule other films; The game can be bought and played at any time, and it is not limited by time and space, so the ability to attract money is stronger.

In addition, if you refer to mainstream online games and continue to develop or update gameplay, such as charging through props and equipment, extra-sequels, hidden levels, etc., it may also bring more commercial benefits.

3. From the perspective of communication strategies and channels, "Black Myth" occupies the right time, place, and people.

Returning to the perspective of communication and marketing, the two play styles and channels are also different.

As the first 3D animated film in China, "Nezha's Demon Boy Descends" is actually not inferior to Pixar and Disney at the production level, so it received a lot of attention when it was born in 2019.

However, its dissemination belongs to the conventional movie promotion routine.

For example, the film's official Weibo released the first trailer on January 16, 2019, with "the worst Nezha in history" as a marketing highlight, which quickly attracted the attention of the audience.

With the promotion of the movie, the official gradually established a connection and interaction with fans through screenings, releasing multiple versions of trailers, and interacting with the audience.

And the communication method of "Black Myth: Wukong" is more like "Xiaomi thinking", sharpening a sword in four years, and spreading to the public with the help of a small niche.

As early as 4 years ago, Game Science released a 13-minute demonstration video of the actual machine through Station B for a "cold start".

At that time, this viral video rushed to the first place on station B within 2 hours, and the number of views exceeded 10 million in 24 hours, and spread to other platforms, becoming a hit on the whole network.

This marks the beginning of Black Myth: Wukong's efforts to amass its first seed fans. At this time, its homepage of Station B has become an active fan community.

Over the past 4 years, the founding team has continuously interacted with fans and gradually released the game content, allowing them to become loyal experience officers and "super users" of the product.

By the way: the users of station B and Weibo are also two types of people, the former is more sticky and vertical, while the latter has a wide range of audiences, most of them come to see hot searches and entertainment gossip. Therefore, the premise of user operation is to study the characteristics of the platform.

Another reason is that short video channels are also differentiating.

The mainstream short video platforms in 2019 were Douyin and Kuaishou, and the WeChat video account at that time had not yet been launched.

However, by 2024, the number of daily active users of WeChat Channels is expected to reach 550 million, an increase of about 2.5 times compared to 2020, when it was first launched, and the average user time will also increase from 19 minutes to 70 minutes.

This has created favorable conditions for the content dissemination of "Black Myth".

In addition, Tencent is also an investor in game science, and it is too simple for WeChat to send a wave of "splashing traffic" recommended by algorithms.

Therefore, compared with "Nezha", "Black Myth" occupies all the "heavenly time" in terms of communication strength.

In addition, through 4 years of accumulation, "Black Myth" not only waited for the super co-branded IP of "Luckin Coffee", but also reached a "tacit understanding" with local official media, cultural tourism market, and overseas platforms for content linkage and dissemination, so it has taken advantage of "geographical advantages" and "people".

These comprehensive factors support each other, so that "Black Myth" has a more sensational communication effect and sales conversion than "Nezha".

Fourth, from the perspective of production costs, the two are evenly matched.

According to the information revealed by Feng Ji, the founder of "Game Science", the development cost of "Black Myth: Wukong" is more than 20 million per hour, and the team estimates that the overall game duration is more than 20 hours, so it will require at least 300 million to 400 million yuan in production costs. According to the network data, including the issuance and promotion fee, it is expected to reach about 4-500 million yuan.

On the other hand, "Nezha's Demon Boy Descends to the World", the cost brought by its high-quality production level is not low, and it is rumored on the Internet to be about 60 million US dollars, about 400 million yuan. This cost is considered one of the highest-funded productions ever made by a domestic animated film.

So you'll find that the two are evenly matched in terms of production costs.

Originally, no one was optimistic about 3A games, let alone domestic ones, because they felt that the ROI was too low.

Referring to a company in the United States, it has lost to the point of layoffs:

Recently, Warner Bros., the parent company of Rocksteady Studios, said in the latest earnings conference that the company lost 200 million US dollars (about 1.448 billion yuan) due to the dismal listing of "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League".

It's just that this year's "Black Myth: Wukong" has fought a bloody way, and I have to say that it is a rare phenomenon to look at the world.

If you consider it from an investment perspective, "Black Myth: Wukong" is actually a cultural product with a much higher risk than "Nezha's Demon Boy Descends".

Because before that, there was no benchmarking case for domestic 3A games.

But there are animated movies, which is "The Return of the Great Sage" released in 2015. The box office has also reached 956 million yuan, setting a new box office record for Chinese animated films.

I have to say that Sun Monkey is really an almighty baby: he is not only the originator of IP who dares to be the first, but also the IP terminator who comes from behind. In one word, absolutely.

5. Drama is like life: "Wukong" wins in the victory of spiritual symbols

Finally, let's go back to the origin of art, Nezha and Wukong, the two buddies, have actually had rivalry in "Journey to the West" and "Romance of the Gods".

The first head-to-head confrontation between the two occurred after Sun Wukong made trouble in the Heavenly Palace. Li Jing was ordered by the Jade Emperor to send his son Nezha to subdue the demon monkey. After two rounds, Nezha couldn't resist and fled.

And this dramatic plot has now been transformed into two super IPs in the business world, giving birth to new meanings and understandings, which can be described as "drama is like life".

Whether in the play or outside the play, "Wukong", as a spiritual symbol of generations of young people, has won "Nezha".

I really look forward to seeing more "magic works" of traditional culture in the future, reversing the current situation of Wukong's "one family", so that every charming IP can stand on the international stage vigorously.

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Author丨Jin Xin YOYO

Source丨WeChat public account @ a symbol studio

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