Featured2022-12-21 14:43:29
Written by | Zhang Jia
In just three months, relying on “Bullet Squad” to attract money crazily around the world, the little-known HABBY network was directly sent to the first echelon of China’s most profitable mobile game company, and has partnerships with Tencent, Netease, Sanqi Mutual Entertainment, etc. Big factories are on an equal footing.
“Survivor!.io” is undoubtedly the biggest dark horse of this year, and at the same time it confirms the huge potential of the mobile game market for casual grass mowing + meat pigeon gameplay. In terms of the US market and mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions alone, “Survivor!.io” (Survivor!.io ) maintains a high download volume and turnover ranking in the leisure sub-category, and has won over 200 million US dollars in revenue in just one quarter, and has also led a wave of leisure lawn mowing.
However, the dark horse is not a thousand-mile horse. The sustained revenue capability of “Bullet Squad” is doubtful, and the notoriety of “plagiarism” has been lingering, so that the game has not taken advantage of word-of-mouth and social communication.
Plagiarism is hard to argue
Regarding plagiarism, the main fuse is that the game anchor Queen Yan posted a blog on August 15 this year to publicly express doubts about “Bullet Squad”. After comparison by players, “Bullet Squad” is indeed very similar to the Steam buyout product “Vampire Survivor” launched in 2021.
At present, the TapTap score of “Bullet Squad” is only 4.1, with a score of 3 in the last 7 days, and Haoyou Kuaibang is also as low as 4.5. A large number of players express their dissatisfaction by scoring low scores, and persuade new players not to enter the pit. It is recommended to spend 25 yuan to buy “Vampire Survivor” with more gameplay.
It is quite an old practice in the mobile game market to learn from the gameplay inspiration of buyout products, and then apply the krypton gold gameplay to launch the mobile game version. There are also users who compare the timeline and think that the version number of “Bullet Squad” in 2020 is earlier, and the developer of “Vampire Survivor” once admitted in a blog that “Vampire Survivor” has borrowed from Haibi Network The previous work “Legend of Bow and Arrow” made the problem of plagiarism more complicated.
However, “Vampire Survivor” is not an obscure work. In early 2022, overseas game anchor Splattercat brought this game to life. At present, the game has received 160,000 player reviews on the Steam platform, and more than 10,000 Chinese language reviews.
On the other hand, according to the iterative data of the US server version of “Bulletshell Commando”, during the period of 2020-2021, this game was once called “Fire Now”. In 2022, a major revision of the game was carried out. The painting style and gameplay are also finalized as they are today, and the Survivor in the name is also very close to “Vampire Survivors”.
In fact, it doesn’t matter whether it’s plagiarism or not. The appearance of “Bullet Squad” is completely different. The gameplay customization and commercial considerations of leisure mowing + meat pigeons are worthy of study in this work, and its hidden dangers are also here.
numerical pressure
“Bullet Squad” is valuable for its keen sense of smell and quick response. It not only captures the preferences of users in the current market, but also integrates an effective payment system into the game.
Based on the relaxed and pleasing 2D cartoon style, the battle and development have also been simplified to the greatest extent. Players only need to manipulate the character while sweeping piles of enemies, while upgrading the level and weapons. Large damage and high-speed battles will gradually Incrementally refreshing, and random skill combinations will further enhance the excitement brought about by uncertainty.
In order to better meet the habits of casual players, the vertical screen is the first step. A single game session is compressed within 15 minutes, and there will be an elite enemy confrontation every 5 minutes. efficient processing.
The mobile game of “Bullet Shell Commando” is successful, but like other casual genres, the game has not got rid of the idea of setting a growth bottleneck for light players with simple graphics and inducing payment. The biggest krypton point of the game is to spend money on equipment, so as to quickly optimize the equipment system, enhance the combination of numerical value and equipment quality, and attribute entries, plus monthly cards, resource sales, and mixed realization of internal advertisements. Players will easily find the usual routines of the game.
Perhaps more focused on in-app purchases than advertising, the game has very limited numerical values, even in the early game time that determines player retention. It is feasible to exchange time for free resources or watch advertisements to achieve slow growth, but this process is very long compared to other games. The game also “puts pressure” on Zero Krypton and Micro Krypton players through some activities, in order to receive benefits And pay more, such is the “seven-day challenge” that was complained by novice users.
Also in terms of game experience, it is difficult for “Bullet Squad” to provide users with a rich enough gaming experience in long-term operations. Its core still revolves around the method of stacking combat power values + scanning pictures + optimizing equipment stack values. Players do not have enough motivation to become stronger. Relying on the freshness of content and gameplay cannot stick to users for a long time. Casual games are deep in content Insufficient online is a common problem, so buying volume has become the main means for “Bullet Squad” to continue to attract money.
Success is easily replicated
The pressure of competing products in the leisure category is also not small, and “Lonely Survivor” is the best among many competing products.
“Lonely Survivor” is also a type of casual lawn mowing + meat pigeon gameplay. It will be launched in August 2022. The biggest difference is the Q version fantasy style. Although the ranking is not as high as that of “Bulletshell Commando”, the game adopts the currently popular secondary gameplay routines in terms of buying materials, which will not have much difference from casual game categories, and the antipathy of new users has been reduced. Currently, the game is in the The ranking of the US server is slowly improving.
The success of “Bullet Squad” is mainly attributed to taking the market opportunity and getting the biggest bonus. Regardless of the game theme and gameplay, it is much easier to copy than heavy game themes. How many powerful competitors are there? When will it appear? Will there be user diversion for “Bullet Shell Commando”? These are imminent.