On October 18th, the Guangzhou game research and development studio "Xinyuan Interactive" under Bilibili reported layoffs and dissolution, and Xinyuan Interactive CEO Ding Qianwei will also leave the company. According to the news, Xinyuan Interactive currently has only one adaptation project of the Japanese anime IP, codenamed QQ13, which has been retained due to an external cooperation contract, but all other projects have been cut off. Regarding this news, the B station side stated that there are currently no messages to respond to.
According to Tianyancha, Guangzhou Xinyuan Interactive Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2019 and has now been renamed Guangzhou Xingao Technology Co., Ltd. It is a developer of action games, with representative works including "Bee: Angel of the Abyss" and "Soul Street: Born to be King". In March 2022, Bilibili completed its acquisition of Xinyuan Interactive. Meanwhile, according to the 2022 financial report of B Station, the company entered into a transaction with a game development company in February 2022, signing an agreement to acquire all equity interests in the game business, with a total cash consideration of 800 million yuan. After delivery, the company owns 100% of its game business.
After the acquisition was completed, Xinyuan Interactive became one of the self-developed studios under Bilibili. 21 software works, including the "Legend of the Sword" IP project, "codename W9", "codename YY16", "Neon Sequence", "My Heroes Academy: The Strongest Hero", "Bee: Abyssal Angel", and the aforementioned surviving project "codename QQ13", were all classified as Bilibili's assets. Founder Ding Qianwei also joined Bilibili to lead Xinyuan Studio. When it comes to major matters such as project approval and layoffs, he needs to report to the Shanghai headquarters.
This dissolution is less than two years away from Bilibili's acquisition of Xinyuan Interactive. At present, Station B mainly relies on the stock performance of proxy mobile games "Blue Route" and "Fate/Brand Order", with "Blue Route" reaching a new high in non user numbers and revenue on its 6th anniversary. But the growth of proxy games is clearly sluggish. From 2020 to 2022, the proportion of mobile gaming revenue to the company's total revenue has been declining year by year, at 40%, 26%, and 23%, respectively. In the first half of this year, it continued to decline to 19%. The history of a single mobile game contributing over 10% of net revenue also lingers in 2020. According to the financial report, in 2022, the cost of terminating game projects on Bilibili reached 526 million yuan, of which 417 million yuan was incurred in the second half of the year. The adjusted net loss of the company in the same year was 6.702 billion yuan.
Previously, Station B announced that it would take the route of self developing high-quality products. However, progress has not been smooth. The new game "Shine! Youjun Girl" on Bilibili has not only been delayed in launch, but also the contribution of proxy game streaming continues to decline. In the first half of the year, mobile game service revenue was 2.023 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16%. As of the end of June, gaming revenue has been declining year-on-year for three consecutive quarters.
According to the second quarter financial report of B Station in 2023, due to the lack of new game launches and a decrease in revenue for certain games, the total revenue of B Station games was 890 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 15%. At the same time, the company has adjusted its expected net income for the entire year of 2023 to 22.5 billion yuan to 23.5 billion yuan, a decrease from the previous 24 billion yuan to 26 billion yuan, mainly due to delays in the launch of several games and lower than expected revenue contributions from non core businesses such as IP derivatives and others. The financial report also shows that in the second half of the year, there will be seven games on Bilibili that will meet with domestic and foreign players. Among them, five games that have received version numbers will be released domestically, and two games will be released overseas.
Wen/Guangzhou Daily · New Flower City Reporter Deng Li