Mini games are one of the biggest growth points in the game industry in recent years.

Based on the data of all parties, DataEye exclusively publishes WeChat Mini Game data, and regularly publishes monthly and quarterly WeChat Mini Game observations.

1. Q1 WeChat mini game market situation

(1) The proportion of the top 100 categories on the best-selling list of WeChat mini games in March

DataEye Research Institute sorted out the top 100 best-selling products of WeChat mini games on March 31. The data shows that the popular categories in the Q1 WeChat mini game track are highly competitive, and the ranking of medium and heavy categories is gradually climbing.

According to the ranking of the best-selling list of WeChat mini games in March, the number of products related to the placement (including unboxing) category accounted for 20% of the market. Card RPG ranked second with 14% of the total, and salted fish like related products were the mainstay.

It is worth noting that the SLG of medium and heavy categories accounted for 6%, and the ranking of related products in the best-selling list continued to improve, among which Jiangyu's "Pocket Shock" and Sanqi's "Baye" rose to the top 30 of the best-selling list. The new product "Fingertip Warriors" rose to No. 31 on the best-selling list at the end of March.

(2) The best-selling list of products in the main track in March

Unboxing category (traditional + slime): The competition on the track is fierce, and more than 4399 products of Sanqi have entered the game

Specifically, the market in the open box track is fiercely competitive, and it is basically a "fight" for large manufacturers.

Taking Sanqi as an example, in addition to "Seeking the Way", which has dominated the list for a long time, "The Nameless" and "Spirit Sword Immortal Master" launched this year have all landed in the TOP10 best-selling list after being launched.

The best-selling list of Haoteng's "Crazy Knights" fluctuated in early March, but at the end of the month, it stabilized at around the TOP20, and still has a certain market competitiveness.

In addition, 4399's two unboxing products that integrate gameplay still perform well in the domestic market.

DataEye Research Institute believes that at present, the products of the open box track are gradually moving from the differentiation of the theme to the integration of gameplay, and the competitiveness of the simple open box gameplay has declined.

Card RPG (salted fish like): The track has entered the stage of theme competition

The track creator "King of Salted Fish" is still competitive in the market and still leads the card RPG track. At the same time, it was also found that more and more salted fish-like products ran out, and in the best-selling list in March, "Journey to the West" and "The Last King" were basically stable in the TOP40 of the best-selling list. And "The Legend of the Snow Knife Heroes" soared all the way on the best-selling list, once rising to No. 20 on the best-selling list.

DataEye Research Institute believes that salted fish-like related products have entered the stage of differentiated competition in themes. In addition to the common Journey to the West and martial arts themes, "The King of the Last Days" is dominated by the theme of apocalyptic zombies. The emergence of diversified theme products reflects the good acceptance of innovative themes by salted fish like players.

Strategy Category (SLG): Gradually establish a firm foothold in the mini game track and continue to integrate into the mini game ecosystem

On the WeChat best-selling list in March, the overall ranking of SLG-related products was stable. "Pocket Shock" basically remained within the TOP20 of the best-selling list, and "Hegemony" experienced a shock in early March, and its subsequent performance stabilized at around the TOP30. The ranking of "Soldiers of the Three Kingdoms" shows the characteristics of small fluctuations.

It is worth noting that "Fingertip Warriors", which integrates more gameplay, continues to improve in the ranking of the best-selling list, entering the TOP40 of the best-selling list at the end of March, and continues to rise in the future. This also reflects that SLG wants to be based on the WeChat mini game track, and needs to integrate the mini game ecology in terms of gameplay and experience.

Similarly, with the integration into the WeChat mini game ecosystem as the core element, the business model of "Behemoth Battlefield" has transformed from IAP in-app purchase to a more mainstream hybrid model. Judging from the data, "Behemoth Battlefield" returned to the best-selling list at the end of March and maintained a steady upward trend.

(3) The monthly active scale of WeChat mini games increased by 20% month-on-month

In the case of the continuous development of the mini game market, the Spring Festival stalls will be superimposed to stimulate the overall growth of the scale of mini games.

Judging from the market data, the monthly active scale of WeChat mini games will reach 755 million in February 2024, an increase of more than 20% month-on-month, a new high in the past year, and higher than the mobile game APP industry.

From a product point of view, WeChat mini games with more than 100 million active users are frequent. According to the data, "Seeking the Way" ranked first with more than 160 million active users, while "King of Salted Fish" ranked second with 110 million monthly active users.

The monthly active scale of the mini game version of Tencent's new party game "Yuanmeng Star" exceeds 78 million, and the combination of party type + mini game products is worth looking forward to.

(4) IAA has achieved a double breakthrough in the scale of users and commercial scale

In the first quarter of 2024, IAA's WeChat Mini Game grew rapidly, reaching a new high of 500 million monthly active users. Among them, the IAA mini game "Sheep is a Sheep" has a monthly active scale of 24 million in February, ranking 8th in February.

IAA's WeChat Mini Game continues to make breakthroughs at the user level and has become a major contributor to the growth of users in the broader market.

In addition, IAA's WeChat mini game has also achieved a breakthrough in the commercialization model. According to official data, IAA advertisers increased by more than 35% year-on-year, and traffic owners increased by 15%.

The breakthrough of the commercialization model of IAA's WeChat mini game can be seen from three aspects:

First, the scale of buying volume has increased rapidly and the coverage is wider. According to official data, the scale of IAA mini game purchase consumption has increased by 100%, and the participating products have increased significantly year-on-year. This is mainly due to the diversification and abundance of traffic inventory, which efficiently covers more target user groups.

Second, around the gameplay path, the advertising placement has a high degree of fit. Based on the characteristics of IAA products, the target system is formulated to improve the comfort of ad placement, reduce the resistance of players to ads, and then increase the frequency of ad playback and user penetration.

Third, the rise of live streaming of mini games has become a new channel for growth. In March '24, the IAA mini game live broadcast audience increased by 220% month-on-month, and the scale of live broadcast showed a rapid growth trend. According to official data, the current performance of the category of finding faults and breaking through the level is outstanding, the game turnover of related products has increased by 10 times, and the user value has also increased significantly. According to official sources, it is expected that the live broadcast of IAA mini games will be fully released to the public in June.

Overall, IAA WeChat Mini Games have achieved breakthroughs at both the user level and the commercial scale, and with the continuous growth of IAA Mini Games, it is expected that the total commercial volume of IAA Mini Games will exceed 10 billion in 2024.

(5) Mixing mini games has become a mainstream trend

Judging from the consumption list, "Seeking the Way" and "The King of Salted Fish" are basically stable in the top two on the list, and there are no other products that can surpass it for the time being.

In addition, in addition to the head products, the waist changes significantly in the best-selling list, which shows that the market is in the stage of high-speed blood exchange, and the marketing rhythm is efficient and rapid.

From the perspective of the marketing growth list, the overall change is obvious, and different products are at the top in 1/2/3 months.

In addition, the trend of buying the leading manufacturers is obvious, and they take the initiative to launch new products of the same type to consolidate the product moat, and new products are often the main force on the list. For example, Sanqi's "Nobody" launched in February entered the TOP10 of the consumption growth list, and "Spirit Sword Immortal Master" launched in March ranked 6th on the consumption growth list. and 4399's "Peach Blossom Master" ranked 9th in consumption growth.

The DataEye Research Institute observed that the consumption of hybrid products was significantly stronger. According to the data of the WeChat consumption growth list in March, hybrid products accounted for 70%, an increase of 20 percentage points compared with January.

At the same time, DataEye Research Institute observed that as more and more heavy mini game manufacturers actively accelerate the transformation of hybrid games, it shows that the boundaries of hybrid mode mini games are gradually expanding. Hybrid is not only suitable for light casual games, but also for some products with medium and heavy gameplay.

The data shows that "Behemoth Battlefield" was still an IAP in-app purchase model in January this year, but it was internally transformed into a hybrid mode from February to March. On March 23, it returned to the best-selling list of mini games and ranked 45th, and then maintained an upward trend, and now (April performance) basically remains around 20th.

Judging from the current situation, the hybrid monetization business model has attracted more and more developers' attention and has gradually become the development trend of Mini Game products. At the same time, it also means that the layout of hybrid products in advance, or transformation, will have the opportunity to achieve greater development advantages.

2. Consumption of WeChat mini games in March by category

(1) Changes in the proportion of consumption of each category of WeChat Mini Games

Judging from the consumption data, the total number of placement (including unboxing) and character cards is close to 50%, which belongs to the head consumption camp, but it was squeezed by other camps in Q1.

The second is the traditional game categories such as legendary RPG, Xianxia RPG and simulation management, which account for a stable proportion of consumption and belong to the second camp of consumption.

It is worth noting that the consumption of chess and card categories accounted for more than 4% in February, mainly based on the Spring Festival holiday, and the consumption of chess and card game content tends to intensify, but this increase is often short-term.

(2) The amount of WeChat Mini Game materials

According to the delivery data, the average daily delivery volume of WeChat mini games in Q1 this year is about 159,700 sets, a decrease of 5% from Q4 in 2023.

Specifically, January and February are the Spring Festival marketing nodes, and the amount of materials placed in WeChat mini games has risen again, with an average daily volume of about 170,000 in February. After entering March, the amount of materials placed has declined.

DataEye Research Institute believes that the decline in advertising volume may be affected by the differentiation of marketing strategies.

On the one hand, the head manufacturers enter the mini game track, and small and medium-sized manufacturers will grab the volume through "off-peak buying";

On the other hand, the diversification of WeChat mini game marketing is gradually emerging, in addition to traditional effect advertising, it can also be obtained through influencer marketing, community private domain operation and other methods.

(3) The number of games in WeChat Mini Games

Judging from the delivery data, the average number of games in Q4 23 is about 3,900 per day. After entering 2024, the average number of games in Q1 will rise to more than 4,500, an increase of about 15% month-on-month.

In Q1 2024, the number of IAA WeChat mini games will account for about 65% of the market.

The number of WeChat Mini Games in investment continued to rise in Q1, which means that effect delivery has become the marketing standard for Mini Games, and more and more Mini Games are gaining volume through effect advertising.

From the perspective of new participating games, more than 900 mini games entered the market in Q1, which will make the number of WeChat mini games continue to grow in 2024.

Specifically, more than 1,000 products entered the market during the Spring Festival holiday in February, and fell back in March, mainly due to the decrease in the number of IAA new tour participants.

At the same time, this data shows that the current supply side of the mini game market is stable, the number of entrants continues to increase, and new products frequently run out, which also means that the market is still in the stage of continuous reshuffle.

(4) The number of games in which WeChat Mini Games are hotly invested

The delivery data shows that the number of games in leisure categories such as casual/puzzle/elimination in Q1 has increased significantly, which means that the market space is not yet saturated, which is suitable for more mini game developers to enter the game and test the waters.

In addition, the number of MMORPG games in Q1 increased by more than 50, and the traditional medium and heavy gameplay has received more and more attention from players in the mini game track. It is worth noting that the card category has declined significantly, with a decrease of more than 50 products from the previous month.

The above is the DataEye Research Institute's 2024Q1 WeChat Mini Game data report.