Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from Weixin Official Accounts: Touch Music (ID: chuappgame), author: Zhu Siqi

In order to tap more value in technology development, international competition and economy, all countries in the world are actively increasing their attention and investment in the field of games.

In today's increasingly rich forms of entertainment, games have long been regarded as technical and cultural epitome. Today's games, especially those with huge development costs, are examined and evaluated for their sound and graphics in addition to playability and content. There are also a large number of game devices, such as consoles, high-definition displays, somatosensory devices, and even VR glasses and mobile phones. I still remember that many years ago, I went to the computer city as a "small white" and wanted to equip myself with a PC. The first sentence that the store asked about the demand was often: "Do you want to play games? What kind of game? "As times have changed, mobile phone store salespeople have begun to ask similar questions.

The output value of the game industry has become a link that is difficult to ignore economically. Although the game market declined for the first time in 2022 amid the overall global economic downturn, it was still significant, generating $184.4 billion in revenue.

Affected by the overall environment, the output value of the global game industry fluctuates. According to the statistics of Newzoo, a market research organization, the global game industry shrank by 4.3% year-on-year in 2022. Fortunately, investment activities for the game industry around the world have been very active in 2022, with annual turnover reaching USD 127 billion. In addition to the decline in investment in the esports sector, the scale of investment and mergers and acquisitions in the console, PC and mobile gaming sectors, including blockchain games, is climbing.

All of this suggests that the gaming industry's prospects for economic returns and technological expansion remain positive globally. This attitude applies not only to businesses, but also at the national and regional levels. Throughout the world, governments in many countries and regions have issued support policies for the game industry, helping practitioners to develop games more smoothly through preferential policies or financial assistance. This kind of support has been started since the beginning of the 21st century, and there has been a trend of increasing investment in recent years.

National and regional industry input In November 2022, Toule reported the news that the European Parliament passed the "Game Resolution." The Gaming Resolution, initiated by the European Commission for Culture and Education, is a strong signal of the European Parliament's support for the gaming ecosystem. The resolution stressed the need to establish a truly integrated European video game sector, called for increased investment and support for game research and development and talent training, and encouraged "European Creativity" and "European Horizon Plan" to provide more funds for the video game sector.

These appeals do not stop at words. In 2022, the EU invested $18 million in funding requests specifically for the gaming industry, with more than $40 million in requests related to the gaming industry. Creative Europe and the Media Investment Fund have also started funding the gaming industry.

Among them, the "Creative Europe" project mainly supports development teams in member countries that have not received public funding assistance. The European Game Developers Federation (EGDF) hopes that this project's focus on VR technology will help make Europe once again a pathfinder for humanity's digital future in terms of art and culture. The Media Investment Fund aims to expand investment in the game industry beyond the national level, expand investment horizons to other EU member states, and encourage investors to participate more in small, high-risk investments in the early stages of game studio development.

The Creative Europe project provides financial assistance to EU member states in the cultural and creative fields from 2014 onwards, with additional investment and the opening of the second phase in 2021. For the EU, official investment in the gaming industry is not only for economic and technical reasons, but also as part of international competition. Through this series of measures, the European Parliament hopes to increase the opportunities for local game production in EU member states and prevent local game teams from being acquired by foreign capital.

Among the EU member states, Germany has made great moves in the field of games in recent years. In 2020, a survey by trade agencies shows that German game development costs are on average about 30% higher than those of France, Britain and Canada, which received government funding earlier to develop the game industry. In Germany, for every € 100 spent on video games, only € 4.3 went to local developers.

To this end, starting in 2020, the German government approved a federal budget of 50 million euros per year to revitalize the country's gaming industry. After the implementation of this policy, the number of gaming companies in Germany increased by 26%, and the number of employees increased by 12%. In 2022, this budget was increased to 70 million euros.

The UK is no longer a member of the European Union, but the growth of the gaming industry has always been seen as an important part of the country's overall economy. Since 2014, the UK has introduced a series of game tax relief policies, making many game companies choose to develop in the UK. In the first quarter of 2023, the audio-visual entertainment industry, including games, was not optimistic due to Brexit, higher living costs and the impact of reduced public entertainment activities due to the epidemic. For this reason, the government has once again implemented tax breaks for the gaming industry. But the UK Gaming Association (UKIE) continues to argue that more government spending is needed to keep the industry growing.

The UK also has dedicated government investment to support start-ups in gaming.£ 8 million has been awarded to the UK Games Fund to provide early stage support to eligible companies and resources for independent developers developing new games in the UK.

Specific to the UK region, the Welsh government places a particular emphasis on the development of game engines and interactive entertainment, again in view of the significant contribution of the local games industry to the economy. Wales has had its own booth at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) since 2017. In 2019, companies from Wales struck deals worth £ 2.6 million on GDC. In 2023, Wales 'Minister for Economy led 18 representatives of local gaming companies to the GDC again to express government support for innovative enterprises.

Canada is one of the more developed countries in the game industry, and the government has successively launched a number of related support programs. Montreal, Canada's second-largest city, is home to a number of big and small game companies and has now become the "Hollywood of video games."

In technology, the National Research Council's (NRC) Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) is a commercial research grant provided by the federal government of Canada to support innovative projects with certain technological risks and uncertainties in the form of small loans, including the development of games, game engines and other software.

The Canadian federal government has also introduced funding programs and tax breaks for games already released to help them better promote in both physical and digital markets. CanExport SME, another government-supported program, also provides funding of up to $50,000 to help game companies market their games overseas.

In 2022, the federal government's Creative Export Canada program will invest $11.2 million in 29 organizations across industries such as film, television, publishing and gaming, hoping these investments will create a more diverse online culture that allows Canadian English, French and Aboriginal language users to interact and entertain.

The Canadian federal government has always attached great importance to supporting local game teams, and there are not a few foreign game companies investing in Canada. In addition, there are financial assistance and tax breaks for game companies at the federal government level and in various places, among which Ontario has the largest tax breaks, attracting many game companies.

Perhaps the most high-profile investment in the international gaming market in recent years has come from Saudi Arabia. In October 2022, the Saudi government announced plans to invest $37.8 billion into the gaming industry, hoping to boost game development and eSports in the Middle East. Specific measures include acquiring leading game publishers in the industry, creating homegrown developers and esports organizations in the Middle East, which could include 250 game companies and is expected to create 39,000 jobs. Further investments and acquisitions are planned and underway.

From games, technology to economics and competition, why have countries around the world increased their investment and support in the field of games in recent years? One of the reasons lies in the cultural product attributes of the game itself, and the other is that the game industry, as a link in cutting-edge technology, can spread to other fields and actually change our lives.

There have been a lot of tuyeres in the gaming industry and related technology areas. Some of them are fleeting, some bring great changes to people's game experience and even daily life. Even if it doesn't mean opportunity, the game technology itself is still worthy of attention and development. Consultants have sorted out categories of technology that are widely used in the gaming world and have the potential to have a greater impact on the entire technology field and people's daily lives. These categories have achieved quite good development in recent years, which can be roughly summarized as follows:

Speech recognition technology. There are promising applications for this type of technology both inside and outside games. In games, speech recognition, including the conversion between speech and text, allows players to communicate more smoothly, and can also help players with visual impairments or physical disabilities to control and communicate with game characters. Further, there are already games that apply AI Text To Speech technology, which can partially simulate live voice dubbing. Beyond games, there is an increasing demand for speech recognition in everyday communication and work.

Cutting-edge image technology and HD displays. Game industry practitioners and players are endless pursuit of image quality. Because of problems with image quality and operation, calls for remaking various classic games have never stopped. Currently, the gaming industry has been able to scan and 3D model characters and scenes with very high precision, and the effect is as lifelike as photos. This can not only bring players a very immersive experience, but also expand to many fields such as education, tourism, and even architectural restoration, with a wide range of application prospects. The development of high-definition display equipment and this image technology complement each other. Realistic images in games are often greatly reduced in practical applications due to the limitations of hardware functions, which in turn promotes the development and popularization of hardware. Eventually, such display devices will be used not only in games, but also in other areas such as electronic devices and home appliances.

Motion sensing technology. Motion sensing technology has proven popular in many Nintendo games, such as Fitness Ring Adventure, Mario Kart and Nintendo Switch Sports. This kind of game is not only suitable for family fun, convenient to party with friends, but also provides a certain amount of exercise, whether sales or reputation are quite ideal. This interactive mode can also be applied to other immersive entertainment methods, and it can also make people's lives more convenient.

Somatosensory technology enriches home entertainment life, but also can exercise AR and VR technology. At the time of the "meta-universe" concept fire, AR and VR technologies were highly anticipated, as if they were a stepping stone for people to enter the virtual world themselves. Although there are changes in concepts and winds, the two technologies themselves are still very promising. Half-life: Alex, which uses VR technology, and Pokémon GO, which uses AR technology, have achieved varying degrees of success. Extending to other areas, there are already entertainment and educational activities such as VR concerts and VR art exhibitions that are gradually developing.

Cross-platform gaming and cloud gaming. This type of technology focuses on solving the game experience when players are connected across platforms, travel, and hardware is insufficient. Such services, especially cloud games, increasingly demand server-side rendering technology and network environments, which in turn can promote the development of network technology in this area.

From an industry perspective, gaming has long been not an isolated industry, and Internet technology, chip technology and even personnel training are very closely related. Not only that, but games do penetrate and participate more and more in people's lives, and the boundaries between them and other recreational activities are gradually becoming less clear. In the future, games will certainly not continue to develop as pure entertainment tools alone, but will certainly drive other fields associated with them.

Even though the value of play remains controversial in cultural, recreational, and educational terms, in other respects it is important enough to be considered for policy. Some measures, in addition to promoting the development of economy, employment and even related technologies in their own countries, also try to compete among countries and regions. The EU, especially Germany, has increased its investment in this part, and even Saudi Arabia, a new opponent in the chess game, shows that all countries hope to occupy a place in the new situation in the future, produce more works, attract more talents and create a larger market, whether in terms of output value scale, technology or word of mouth.

After the recession of 2022, people are looking forward to the recovery of the global gaming industry in 2023. This means more pragmatic and effective push is needed to help the industry achieve its goals of continued growth in scale and technology. The support and input of governments of various countries and regions to the industry have increased to varying degrees, reflecting and responding to this expectation from one side.

This is a change worth noting, and perhaps a step worth keeping up with. After all, the gaming industry is still a thriving, emerging industry, full of opportunities and possibilities. How to make the industry, and even make the development of games, consumer games people live better, there is still a lot of exploration and solution space. Even in a more macro direction, how to seize the lead in future technology, cultural communication and other fields is also crucial.

After winter, it's time to start a real "spring" again.

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