Blue Whale News, August 30th - The controversy between hip-hop and esports is still brewing. Hip hop singer Boss Pi, located at the center of the storm, apologized twice today, and several official accounts of Yiyou have stepped down to confront him. Game giants such as Tencent and NetEase have also been involved.
Clash between two circles: Boss apologizes, multiple game developers step down
How did these two seemingly unrelated circles come together? The trigger for the war can be traced back to the 21st of this month, when hip-hop singer Naiwan posted on social media about his participation in the Yiyou event. In the communication with B-game players in the comment section, the conflict between the two sides quietly escalated.
Yi Nv Game, abbreviated as Yi You, is a dating simulation game developed for female players and was first introduced to the domestic market in Japan. Love and Producer "and" Love and Deep Space "are representative works in the domestic second tier gaming market.
On August 26th, Parker, the manager of Naiwan's label, released a song criticizing the game "Yi Nv" and used the game graphics of "Love and Deep Space" in the song video. The lyrics mention, 'You game developers really dare to blatantly poison the next generation,' and 'It's all borderline and greasy, letting underage children play adult games.'.
Faced with diss from Haquan, Yiyouquan directly responded with a lawyer's letter. On the evening of that day, the involved game company "Love and Deep Space" issued a solemn statement, stating that the evidence collection had been completed and they would investigate to the end. As of press time, the statement has received 2.75 million likes.
Although Pickett deleted the relevant Weibo account the next morning, the war had escalated out of the circle, with hip-hop singers and music critics including Pi Boss, Liang Yuan, and Buzzy joining the fray. On the 29th, hip-hop singer Pi Boss released a song from the Dis Yiyou circle, further intensifying the conflict between the two sides.
However, Pi Boss's "Freestyle" game was taken down by NetEase Cloud Music on the same day. Because NetEase itself is one of the players in the second tier game track, NetEase's second tier game "The Traveler in Time and Space" responded to boss Dis by saying, "I accidentally heard it, it's disgusting, it's taken down.
Similarly, Tencent, a major player in the second tier gaming industry, has not been absent from the battle. The variety show "Happy Hip Hop" originally scheduled to be launched on Tencent Video on the 29th has recently announced a delay in airing due to technical reasons. Speculation in the community suggests that the delay of hip-hop programs may be affected by the aforementioned controversy.
Thus, a previously unremarkable Weibo post developed into a battle between two circles.
As of the time of publication, official platforms such as "Love and Deep Space," "The Traveler in Time and Space," "Love of Light and Night," and "Eternal Thoughts" have all made statements on this matter, involving game developers such as Tencent, NetEase, and Paperback.
On August 30th, Boss Pi released two Weibo posts apologizing to the players and the public of Bilibili. He stated that he is not targeting all Bilibili players, but only those who are unreasonable and brainless. This is my lack of understanding. I underestimated myself before knowing about a game. This is my problem, and I sincerely apologize again. I'm sorry
The fierce battle between the two circles has temporarily eased, but discussions about the game are still ongoing.
From 'Love and Producer' to 'Love and Deep Space', what is the size of the second tier gaming market
In fact, although the concept of "Yi Nv" games is still relatively unfamiliar to many people, in the gaming industry, the money making ability and player base of "Yi Nv" games should not be underestimated.
The term 'Yi Nv' originates from Japan and means a young girl. The Yi Nv game features female characters as the main characters, weaving various stories to simulate real-life romantic interactions, and unfolding the plot through emotional interactions with male characters. The Yi Nv game, which undertakes the "dream making" function, has created an "emotional utopia" for players. Scholars have pointed out that the essence of love games is "daydreaming", projecting players' needs for virtual ideal self construction and expectations for ideal romantic partners. The high cost game consumption market reflects the high demand and low satisfaction of young people for real-life emotions.
Since the emergence of "Love and Producer" in 2017, the development of Chinese female games has been rapid.
According to a survey conducted by Aurora Big Data, the proportion of female players in "Love and Producer" is as high as 94.2%, with over 90% of players under the age of 30; And the proportion of players in first and second tier cities is 57%, with Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou ranking in the top three. According to relevant data statistics, as of December 2023, the number of female gamers in China has exceeded 300 million.
The profit model of Yi Nv games mainly includes players paying for in-game purchases, releasing merchandise, and IP collaborations.
According to Southern Metropolis Daily, within a month of its launch in December 2017, "Love and Producer" had 7.1113 million installations, over 4 million daily active users, and a total platform revenue of over 300 million yuan.
After "Love and Producer", domestic game giants competed to expand their presence. Tencent's "Love of Light and Night", NetEase's "Traveler in Time and Space", "Beyond the World", miHoYo's "Undecided Event Book", and others are all popular female mobile games in the market.
Among them, "Love and Deep Space," produced by the same company as "Love and Producer," immediately made a crazy profit upon its release. According to Sensor Tower data, "Love and Deep Space" received over 5.4 million downloads in less than two weeks after its launch, ranking among the top 30 global revenue creators of Chinese mobile games. According to Qimai data, as of mid August, the estimated total revenue of "Love and Deep Space" in the past three months is 36.4 million yuan, leading the gap.
In addition to game recharge, Yi Nv games are also popular in the co branding circle, and have even caused "downtime incidents" multiple times due to the joint activities of well-known Yi games.
On this White Valentine's Day, Xicha cooperated with Yiyou's Love of Light and Night to launch a limited edition "Marriage Certificate". Consumers can combine their own photos and character cards into wedding certificate photos and put them in the wedding certificate. They can match the character's signature stickers to customize their own wedding certificate. On the day of the event, HEYTEA sold over 1.38 million co branded themed wedding certificates. At the same time, many stores were overcrowded with orders, with some stores selling nearly 3000 cups of co branded drinks on the same day.
Since its launch on January 18th, "Beyond the World" has established partnerships with nine well-known brands, including Quduoduo, Shufujia, KFC, and more.
Not long ago, the linkage activity between Lawson Convenience Store and the mobile game "Love and Deep Space" was launched, which also caused an abnormality in the WeChat mini program "Lawson IP Purchase" system.
Whether in the gaming or cultural fields, Yiyou has become a hot cultural symbol. After this battle, Yi Nv Games will further break through the circle. How to withstand the joint scrutiny of "insiders" and "outsiders" will be an important issue for game companies in the future.