【动向】《原神》热退烧，腾讯“放下”米哈游

梦想敌不过现实的引力

时至今日，腾讯对标《原神》的几款开放世界大作仍未上线，内部对做出下一个《原神》的期待也在逐渐消失。

米哈游《原神》的崛起绕过了腾讯的流量和渠道，让许久未出新爆款的腾讯看到了新机会，也产生了焦虑。

对财务回报的追求、内容的短板和研发机制的壁垒，让腾讯难以做出下一个《原神》。

一场持续3年的“原神热”，正在腾讯IEG内部退烧。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

1月8日的腾讯IEG（互动娱乐事业群）内部员工大会，是近年来“含原量”最低的一届。从腾讯高级副总裁马晓轶到其他管理层，都甚少提及《原神》，就连其“同门师弟”《崩坏：星穹铁道》也是作为“反面教材”出现。

二次元赛道在2023年的表现，被概括为“战况惨烈”——40余款品质较好的作品中，只有《星铁》取得明显成功。

时至今日，IEG对标《原神》的几款开放世界大作仍未上线，内部对做出下一个《原神》的期待也在逐渐消失。

马晓轶为 IEG 2024年定下的战略基调是：在守住基本盘的前提下探索新赛道。IEG的目光将聚焦在自己的优势项目和中等投资的垂类项目。管理层在会上表示，休闲游戏增长最快，多人竞技最有价值。言外之意，IEG不再将二次元视为加码投资的最佳赛道。

从重兵投入二次元、势要再造《原神》，到不再添兵加码，腾讯何以放下执念？

一、《原神》热退烧

在3年前，二次元这块难啃的骨头，还是被IEG寄予厚望的新机会。

2020年9月末至年末，在最初上线的3个月内，《原神》收入就超过了《PUBG Mobile》，仅次于《王者荣耀》。

《原神》的成功，不但让二次元从窄众变为热门赛道，也在腾讯IEG内部掀起了一股“原神热”。

“如何应对二次元？最好的办法就是做出好的二次元游戏。”马晓轶如是定调。

为了做出自己的“原神“，IEG重兵投入二次元赛道。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

2021年，腾讯投资了超100家游戏公司，其中近1/5是二次元游戏公司。原米哈游技术总监和艺术指导贺甲，也被IEG招至麾下，在腾讯天美工作室带队研发代号为NXS的二次元开放世界游戏。该项目被外界视为对标《原神》的旗舰作品。

从2021年至2023年，腾讯推出的20多款游戏都紧紧围绕二次元和开放世界题材展开。2023年发布的18款新作中，有1/3是二次元游戏。IEG内部不少工作室都在立项二次元和开放世界项目，包括投入超10亿元的《王者荣耀·世界》。

2021年，IEG还对标米哈游“研运一体”的模式，时隔7年再次重新调整组织架构，其中有两点改变引人瞩目。一是打破自研工作室-发行线-市场部的发行模式，将发行团队与市场业务并入自研工作室中，从大发行模式转向以产品驱动的大项目模式；二是专门设立了自研二次元游戏的独立部门。

直到一年前的内部员工大会上，《原神》还是高频词，虽然杀入二次元赛道两年有余的IEG仍未生产出足以抗衡《原神》的作品。一名IEG员工回忆称，当时更像是一场高管们对“为什么造不出《原神》”的复盘和检讨会。

在这条陌生而又艰难的赛道上，腾讯的执念显而易见。

二、被撕开的一道裂缝

《原神》的崛起，让腾讯产生了巨大的FOMO（Fear of Missing Out）情绪和焦虑。

彼时，《王者荣耀》已经发行了5年，吃鸡手游也已发行超过3年，都已进入平稳发展期，IEG亟需新鲜血液。2021年的旗舰新作是《英雄联盟手游》和《金铲铲之战》，但二者均是腾讯旗下大IP的手游化，并非新的游戏类型尝试。

如何做大蛋糕，是IEG亟需解决的问题。

米哈游凭借《原神》在二次元赛道的异军突起，又加重了腾讯的焦虑。一方面，腾讯此前在二次元赛道几乎没有布局；另一方面，腾讯后发制人的绝招，在二次元赛道很可能失效。

腾讯不仅是国内最大的游戏厂商，也是最大的流量池和发行商。凭借QQ和微信这两个巨大的流量入口，以及最大的安卓第三方渠道应用宝等，腾讯打赢了数次后发制人的仗。

但《原神》的崛起，却绕过了腾讯掌控最强的护城河。《原神》注重游戏内容而非社交性，它更像是一款可以联机的单机游戏。同时，它还绕开了腾讯的发行渠道，在《原神》最早登陆市场时，用户甚至无法在任何腾讯旗下渠道下载这款游戏。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

绕过腾讯擅长的社交+大发行，《原神》不但开辟了一块新的蛋糕，也撕开了腾讯万亿游戏帝国的一道裂缝。

不得不躬身入局的腾讯，想在新蛋糕中分一杯羹并不容易。

在自研、代理和大IP手游化三条路上，腾讯都尝试过二次元+开放世界的玩法。比如，腾讯自研的NXS项目，代理祖龙的二次元+开放世界《诺亚之心》，以及大IP《王者荣耀》的开放世界游戏《王者荣耀·世界》。

但截至目前，腾讯的三年重兵投入收效甚微。NXS和《王者荣耀·世界》尚未上线，曾被寄予厚望的《诺亚之心》在上线一年半后就草草关停。

三、沉重的现实引力

为什么腾讯做不出《原神》？公司内部和业界对此有过长时间的讨论，最终答案落到了财务、内容和研发机制上。

在腾讯内部，对财务数据的要求，直接影响了一个项目的立项机制和投入程度。有IEG内部员工对雪豹财经社表示，“腾讯做游戏更像是做项目，而米哈游是做产品”。 CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

在《原神》崛起之前，IEG立项的一般流程是两轮考核。下级工作室提出方案，由工作室群总裁及子工作室负责人内部审核，然后再递交到评审会，以星级制度打分评估是否立项和投入度。该评审会由发行线负责人、各大自研工作室群总裁等组成。在两轮考核中，ROI和回本盈利时间，都是重要考核标准。

财务的硬指标要求，让腾讯在很长一段时间内有两大立项偏好：投资小、回报快的轻量游戏和投资大、市场前景稳定的大型旗舰游戏。《王者荣耀》和吃鸡手游是后者的典型代表。

而类《原神》的二次元+开放世界游戏，是窄众且不稳定的游戏类型，这让腾讯对其天然地有风险厌恶。作为一家中等体量的厂商，米哈游敢于对《原神》投入1亿美元研发成本和3年时间，这在对ROI有严格要求的腾讯几乎是不可能的。

一位内部员工告诉雪豹财经社，在2021年调整组织架构后，IEG取消了星级打分制度，让渡了一部分权利给工作室群，但ROI等财务指标还是审核项目的重点，且大体量项目仍要两度过会。据IEG最新透露出的投资意向，目前管理层鼓励各工作室立项中等体量的垂类项目，即3亿元上下的投资标准。

另一方面，二次元游戏最注重的就是内容质量。米哈游在发行《原神》之前的8年时间一直专攻二次元，从《崩坏3》开始便积累开放世界素材和制作经验。

纵观腾讯游戏二十年历史，代表作几乎都是代理或倚靠社交的竞技类游戏，还尚未在注重内容的纯自研游戏上证明自己，在二次元赛道的经验更是几乎空白。突破内容这层壁垒，对腾讯而言并不容易。

此外，IEG内部通常实行内部赛马机制，各大工作室往往各自独立，彼此之间有强竞争关系，这也导致资源和精力无法集中。这一制度曾在腾讯从PC游戏转向手游的过程中立下汗马功劳，但在面对《原神》这类对内容质量有很高要求的大体量自研游戏时，又成为壁垒。

在《原神》刚崛起的2020年，马化腾和总裁刘炽平曾在财报电话会上表达过对这款游戏的称赞和关注，称《原神》的出现让他们看到了新机会。但3年过去，腾讯仍没能做出自己的《原神》。

在马化腾近年最喜欢看的小说《三体》中，有一句话或许能给出答案：“任何超脱飞扬的思想都会砰然坠地，现实的引力太沉重了。” CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

翻译：

“Original God” fever, Tencent “put down” Miha tour

Dreams are no match for the gravity of reality

To this day, Tencent has not yet launched several open world masterpieces of the original God, and the internal expectation of making the next Original God is gradually disappearing.

The rise of Miha You “Original God” bypassed Tencent’s flow and channels, so that Tencent, which has not been new for a long time, saw new opportunities and also produced anxiety.

The pursuit of financial returns, the shortcomings of content and the barriers of research and development mechanisms have made it difficult for Tencent to make the next “original God”.

A “original god fever” lasting for 3 years is reducing the fever inside Tencent IEG.

The Tencent IEG (Interactive Entertainment business Group) internal staff meeting on January 8 was the lowest “original content” in recent years. From Tencent senior vice president Ma Xiaoyi to other management, there is little mention of “original God”, even its “classmate” “Collapse: Star Dome Railway” is also as a “negative teaching material”. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

The performance of the quadratic circuit in 2023 is summarized as “the battle situation is fierce” – of more than 40 good quality works, only “Star Iron” has achieved obvious success.

To this day, IEG’s several open world titles for the Original God are still not online, and internal expectations for the next Original God are gradually disappearing.

Ma Xiaoyi’s strategic tone for IEG 2024 is to explore new tracks while maintaining the basic plate. IEG’s focus will be on its own strength projects and vertical projects with medium investment. Management said at the meeting that casual games are the fastest growing and multiplayer games are the most valuable. The implication is that IEG no longer sees quadratic as the best track for incremental investment.

From heavy military investment in two yuan, is going to rebuild “original God”, to no longer add troops, Tencent why put down obsession?

First, “Original God” fever

Three years ago, the hard bone of the second element was still a new opportunity that IEG had high hopes for.

From the end of September to the end of 2020, within three months of its initial launch, “Original God” revenue exceeded “PUBG Mobile”, second only to “King of Glory”.

The success of “Original God” not only made the second Yuan from a narrow crowd to a popular track, but also set off a “original God heat” within Tencent IEG.

“How to deal with the second element? The best way to do that is to make good quadratic games.” Ma Xiaoyi sets the tone. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

In order to make their own “original God”, IEG heavily into the two-dimensional circuit.

In 2021, Tencent invested in more than 100 game companies, of which nearly one-fifth are secondary game companies. He Jia, the former technical director and art director of Miha You, was also recruited by IEG to lead the research and development of a quadratic open world game code-named NXS in Tencent Tianmei Studio. The project is considered to be the flagship work of the Original God.

From 2021 to 2023, more than 20 games launched by Tencent are closely focused on secondary and open world themes. Of the 18 new games released in 2023, one-third will be quadratic games. Many studios within IEG are setting up secondary and open world projects, including the “King of Glory · World” with an investment of more than 1 billion yuan.

In 2021, IEG also re-adjusted the organizational structure of the standard Miha tour’s “research and operation in one” model after 7 years, and there are two notable changes. The first is to break the publishing model of self-research studio-distribution line-marketing department, merge the publishing team and marketing business into the self-research studio, and shift from the large publishing model to the product-driven large project model; The second is to set up a special independent department of self-development of quadratic games.

The rapid rise of the Original God allowed Miha to swim and the quadratic circuit
Overnight fame picture source: “Original God” official website

Until the internal staff meeting a year ago, “Original God” is still a high-frequency word, although IEG into the two-dimensional track for more than two years has not yet produced enough to compete with “original God” works. One IEG employee recalled that it was more like a review and review meeting of senior executives on “why can’t we make Original God”.

On this strange and difficult track, Tencent’s obsession is evident.

Second, a crack that has been torn open

The rise of “Original God” has generated huge FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) emotions and anxiety for Tencent. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

At that time, “King of Glory” has been released for 5 years, eat chicken mobile game has also been released for more than 3 years, have entered a stable development period, IEG in need of fresh blood. The flagship new work in 2021 is “League of Legends mobile game” and “Gold Shovel Shovel Battle”, but both are mobile games of Tencent’s big IP, not a new game type attempt.

How to make the cake bigger is an urgent problem for IEG to solve.

Miha Tour with “original God” in the quadratic circuit of the sudden rise, and increased Tencent’s anxiety. On the one hand, Tencent had almost no layout in the quadratic circuit; On the other hand, Tencent’s post-strike trick is likely to fail in the two-yuan circuit.

Tencent is not only the largest game manufacturer in China, but also the largest traffic pool and publisher. With QQ and wechat, two huge traffic portals, as well as the largest Android third-party channel app Bao, Tencent has won several battles of post-creation.

But the rise of “Original God” has bypassed Tencent’s strongest moat. The Original God is more about content than social, it’s more like a single player game that can be played online. At the same time, it bypassed Tencent’s distribution channels, and users couldn’t even download the game on any of Tencent’s channels when it first hit the market.

Bypassing the social + distribution that Tencent is good at, “Original God” not only opens up a new cake, but also tears open a crack in Tencent’s trillion game empire.

Tencent, which has to bow into the game, wants to get a share of the new cake is not easy.

In the three roads of self-research, agency and big IP mobile games, Tencent has tried the second yuan + open world gameplay. For example, Tencent’s self-developed NXS project, the agent Zulong’s two yuan + open world “Noah’s Heart”, and the open world game “King Honor · World” of big IP “King Honor”.

But so far, Tencent’s three years of heavy military investment has had little effect. NXS and “King of Glory · World” have not yet launched, and the Heart of Noah, which was highly expected, was shut down after a year and a half. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

“King of Glory · World” is regarded by the outside world as the work of the original God,
Expected to be released in 2024 Source: PV screenshot

Third, the heavy gravity of reality

Why Tencent can’t make the Original God? There was a long discussion within the company and in the industry, and the answer came down to finance, content, and development mechanisms.

Within Tencent, the requirements for financial data directly affect the establishment mechanism and investment degree of a project. IEG internal staff told the Snow Leopard financial news agency that “Tencent to do games is more like doing projects, and Miha tour is to do products.”

Before the rise of Original God, the general process of IEG project approval was two rounds of assessment. The proposal proposed by the lower studio will be reviewed internally by the president of the studio group and the head of the sub-studio, and then submitted to the review meeting to evaluate whether the project is approved and the degree of investment based on the star system. The review will be composed of the head of the publishing line, the president of each major self-developed studio group, and so on. In the two rounds of assessment, ROI and profit return time are important assessment criteria.

Financial hard indicators require Tencent to have two major project preferences for a long time: lightweight games with small investment and fast returns and large-scale flagship games with large investment and stable market prospects. “King of Glory” and eating chicken mobile games are typical representatives of the latter.

The quadratic + open world game like “Original God” is a narrow and unstable game type, which makes Tencent naturally risk-averse. As a medium-sized manufacturer, Miha You dared to invest $100 million in research and development costs and 3 years in the original God, which is almost impossible in Tencent, which has strict requirements for ROI.

An internal employee told Snow Leopard Financial News Agency that after adjusting the organizational structure in 2021, IEG canceled the star rating system and gave some rights to the studio group, but financial indicators such as ROI are still the focus of the audit project, and large projects still need to spend two days. According to the latest investment intention revealed by IEG, the current management encourages the studios to set up medium-sized vertical projects, that is, the investment standard of 300 million yuan. CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

Quadratic games, on the other hand, are all about content quality. Mihayu had spent the last eight years of his career focusing on the second level before the release of Original God, and had accumulated open world material and production experience since Crash 3.

Throughout the 20-year history of Tencent games, the representative works are almost all competitive games that are agents or rely on social interaction, and they have not yet proved themselves on pure self-developed games that focus on content, and their experience in the two-dimensional track is almost blank. Breaking through the barrier of content is not easy for Tencent.

In addition, IEG usually has an internal horse-racing mechanism, and the major studios are often independent and have strong competitive relations with each other, which also leads to the concentration of resources and energy. This system was instrumental in Tencent’s transition from PC games to mobile games, but it became a barrier when faced with a large self-developed game with high content quality requirements like Yuanshen.

In 2020, when the Original God just rose, Ma Huateng and President Chipping Lau expressed their praise and concern for the game in the earnings call, saying that the appearance of the Original God allowed them to see new opportunities. But three years later, Tencent has still not been able to make its own “Original God.” CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）

A line in the Three-Body Problem, Ma Huateng’s favorite novel of recent years, may provide the answer: “Any transcendent and flying thought will crash to the ground, the gravity of reality is too heavy.”

由CXO UNION-CXO联盟（cxounion.cn）转载而成，来源于雪豹财经社；编辑/翻译：CXO UNIONCXO联盟小U。

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