Text/Qiuqiu

So far, we've underestimated the power of Black Myth: Wukong.

A few days ago, the People's Daily released the 2024 year-end summary video, and "Black Myth: Wukong" occupies the C position; Further back, CCTV News, Xinhua News Agency, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have all mentioned the game, and local cultural tourism, local media, and even people who can't beat the eight poles are talking about black myths.

According to Weibo's data, in the 24 hours after the launch of "Black Myth: Wukong", there were more than 30,000 cross-field Weibo discussions about the game, and the discussion spanned 15 fields - in this way, "Black Myth: Wukong" is no longer just a game, but more like the circle-breaking and cultural confidence of the game crowd that has exploded after accumulating for a long time.

This situation also highlights an interesting phenomenon: games are becoming part of everyone's lives out of a specific medium.

Recently, the list of winners announced by the Weibo Game Awards is more than half of the article on the game ecology and linkage cross-border. This means that many game manufacturers are thinking about how to operate outside of games, and have achieved certain results;

Coincidentally, when manufacturers are aiming for cross-border cooperation and creator incentives, Weibo also opened the topic of game-related clothing, food, housing and transportation at the same time as the game awards, attracting a large number of creators. Among them, "My Game Outfit of the Year" also appeared on the hot search on Weibo, with more than 300 million readers.

You may think: Isn't this a very normal ecological operation method? But you will find that it is special in that it provides users with scenario-based life content: where to play, what to eat, what to wear, what kind of people and things to meet...... This content may seem far away from the game and is almost impossible to convert into game data, but in today's environment where the industry is difficult to increase incrementally, it may be a battleground hidden outside of games.

Weibo's 2024 User Consumption Trends Report also shows:

Players' gaming interests are shifting

01

From ecological operation to life operation

In the past, many manufacturers were raising the long line, but what exactly is the long line? More players? Or is it stable enough to make money?

There may not be a clear answer to this question until now, but with the breakthrough of "Genshin Impact" KFC linkage "Meet in Another World, Enjoy the Delicious" in the past few years, the online and offline battles of "Yuan Dream Star" and "Egg Boy Party" at the beginning of the year, the national craze set off by "Black Myth: Wukong", and the phenomenon reflected in this Weibo Game Awards, are narrowing the scope of answers to the above questions: the long-term game is no longer the long-term of a single product.

More and more manufacturers and products have begun to pay attention to the ecology, and even gradually transition to "life operation".

What is Lifestyle Operations? I think it's because the focus of content distribution has shifted from games to people. If you look at the game ecology, many of its second creation, peripheral, online and offline activities revolve around the theme of the game, which represents more of a kind of commemoration and emotional sustenance;

The life-oriented operation is more about people's lifestyles, reflecting everyone's emotional projection outside the game - the popular point is that it has both mental and physical needs, such as linkage with daily necessities, food and beverages, and into the user's daily clothing, food, housing and transportation.

Weibo Game Awards: "Love of Light and Night" X Hey Tea Case,

also appeared on CCTV

It may be abstract to say this, but it's really the state that many games are presenting at the moment.

In the first stage, when we talk about long-term, it may start from product absorption, operation rhythm, and commercialization, even if there will be some activities outside the game, it is more to attract players to download and install.

In the second stage, more products have begun to build communities on Weibo and other platforms, and game operation has not only made the game live well, but also how many fans and how high the degree of discussion on which platform will be included in the scope of ecological operation - for example, the occupancy rate of mobile games on Weibo Chaohua has reached 100%, which proves that the operation of the Weibo platform has become a common solution for many games.

In the third stage, with the enrichment of operational content and the differentiation of platform strategies, the operation of many games has begun to highlight the characteristics of life, and brands will link with food and beverages, subway travel, clothing brands, etc., to get closer to users' daily lives and strengthen emotional connection.

Weibo Game Awards: "Genshin Impact" X OnePlus mobile phone linkage case

When manufacturers want to occupy users' minds with more life-like content, and users also want their favorite games to enter their lives, the daily life of game operation is a two-way thing that comes naturally.

Taking Weibo as an example, everyone's general perception of Weibo now is a gathering place for eating melons, playing stalks, and working hard, which in other words also means down-to-earth and human. A lot of serious and regular game publicity content will be more naughty and humorous on Weibo;

Weibo's special meme copywriting

"Happy Match" that uses Weibo as a chat software

You'll also find that most of the most popular games reply to user comments under blog posts, and many have official Weibo characters — something that's pretty uncommon on other platforms.

Coupled with Weibo's own "hot search physique" and topic characteristics, many players can create and experience a more life-like side on this platform, such as offline check-in, game comic exhibition, cos group photo, hand-painted second creation, and playing stalks...... In addition, the threshold for Weibo's creation is very low, in a word, one or two pictures of UGC can cause heated discussions, and even appear on the hot search.

NIO CEO Li Bin hit the face of "Black Myth: Wukong" Elder Jin Chi,

A picture and a sentence became a hot search

On the one hand, this relaxed and interesting community atmosphere will stimulate users' desire to communicate and share, and bring out what they think is interesting to communicate with others. On the other hand, it will also promote more diverse hot searches for Weibo games, with more topics in different circles for netizens to participate in, and gradually go beyond the game itself.

Because of the cheapness of "Glory of Kings", it is hotly discussed

The mainstream trend, coupled with the visible effect, proves that there is enough underlying logic and development space for life-based operations, and manufacturers may need to pay more attention to similar platforms and strategies.

02

How to make operations "live"?

So how to transition from ecological operation to life operation? What is the difference between the two?

Many games have been told from both positive and negative sides that if you want to get closer to users and do a good job in ecology, you must first have a correct attitude - ecology is not only a way for games to drain traffic, it has its own value, and it is an important way to change user cognition.

For example, some potential or wait-and-see players will pay attention to game information on Weibo, release game creations, and discuss game content with others, then they can also be regarded as the audience of the game, and may also bring continuous popularity and commercialization space to the game - and this group will basically not be affected by the stock market, it is aimed at more non-professional players.

I believe that everyone will also have a lot of games that don't play much,

But it will depend on the situation of the second creation/listening to songs/buying peripherals

Essentially, life operation is to expand the ecosystem to all aspects of users' lives to seek a wider game audience, more innovative content, and more unique emotional value.

This is not nonsense, in a game community like Weibo, which is easy to break the circle, we can see that many manufacturers maintain the popularity of games, create consumption opportunities, and dig out the life-oriented operation space.

First of all, Weibo has a low threshold for communication, and as long as manufacturers come up with some relatively popular content, it is easy to attract the interest of more users.

For example, the past two years have been the most "demons dancing" moment for game manufacturers on Weibo, playing memes and passionately fighting each other...... While causing heated discussions, it also saves a lot of marketing costs.

For example, "Against the Water and Cold Mobile Game" shouted "Glory of Kings" on Weibo

To make it simpler, manufacturers can also cater to hot spots to show the "brand real sense" to stimulate communication. For example, the launch of corresponding activities in the "First Cup of Milk Tea in Autumn" and the wave of support when "Black Myth: Wukong" topped the hot search, which is a cost-effective thing for both popular and vertical games.

Since it is a life-oriented operation, manufacturers can also make some content packaging similar to clothing, food, housing and transportation for the game, so that users can feel the attention and importance of the game to their lives, triggering emotional resonance and secondary communication; At the same time, it can motivate KOLs and ordinary users to share these down-to-earth content, the former is an important support for the game to accumulate high-quality content and word-of-mouth, and the latter may help the game attract pan-users in daily life.

On the other hand, the upper limit of Weibo is also high enough, it is different from some algorithm platforms, both manufacturers and users can gradually accumulate content and volume, and have an obvious "sense of growth".

This sense of growth mainly comes from Weibo's clear communication effect and growth system.

For example, how popular do you say "Black Myth: Wukong"? Probably the vast majority of people have to look at Weibo data: billions of reads, hundreds of hot searches...... For a long time, reaching the top of Weibo's hot search is the best proof that the game has broken the circle, and many game manufacturers and creators have set it as an important target.

Source: Weibo 2024 User Consumption Trend Report

In order to achieve such a goal and break the circle, many games will also cultivate their own creators on Weibo and accumulate their own fan groups and community content.

The most important thing is the attention, motivation and emotional provision of the creator. Content creation and ecological maintenance is a long-term thing, and many popular games will choose to update the creator incentive plan at the season or version node, forward and like the second creation content, and provide material and spiritual support to the creator.

In addition, as mentioned above, the Weibo platform itself also has a reliable incentive and growth system, which can help manufacturers build relatively mature content communities and help creators grow from ordinary users to content creators, vertical bloggers and big Vs.

Looking back, the cycle between users and manufacturers on Weibo should be "easy creative atmosphere - content can be precipitated - high cross-border communication - cooperate with hot search to break the circle - attract more users to pay attention to creation", starting with simple life content, and finally realizing the common growth of users with the game and the platform.

For example, @Eggart is through life-oriented content

Grown up as a Weibo native game blogger

The lower limit is low enough and the upper limit is high enough, which is the comprehensive value of Weibo as a game community.

Of course, game operation is a very complex science, and it is not like the first stage of the manufacturer, which treats the game as an app and relies on publicity to attract users to download and experience payment.

We may be able to open up our minds and spin down the game's interests to Weibo, where Weibo users are your potential audience, and the same is true for other platforms, online and offline - the greater the contact with the user's life, the greater the long-term chance of the game.

03

epilogue

Although the so-called "life operation" is still relatively abstract, at the moment when game content is gradually becoming daily and life-oriented, there will be more and more manufacturers who take the initiative to promote this process.

The reason why Weibo is mentioned is not only that its platform atmosphere and user characteristics are sufficiently compatible, but also because Weibo is "quite active" in the process of game life, and it can even be said to "take the lead":

With the support and encouragement of Weibo, the daily creation of users, the linkage and cross-border of games, and the mention of games by authoritative media, content will be disseminated in real time in the form of topics, and even rushed to the hot search and discussed by the public - regardless of whether it is related to life, isn't brushing Weibo itself a way of life?

Therefore, the life operation is not abstract, it lies in whether the manufacturer can understand the user's demands outside the game and give the user more special emotional experience - if this can be opened, the life operation is actually the result of the two-way rush and common growth of the manufacturer and the user.

I believe that with the continuous evolution of pan-entertainment content, more game manufacturers' products, Weibo as a platform, and the form of life operation strategy will usher in a new round of changes, and you may continue to pay attention to these changes.

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