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

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, by Chen Jing

The changes in the factors such as the increase in publishing costs, the intensity of pre-audit, the progress of game development, and the submission time of materials are all worthy of the attention of developers and manufacturers at any time.

Before the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, the State Press and publication Administration announced the approval information of domestic online games in June 2023, and a total of 89 games were approved. This also means that the number of domestic game versions reached 521 in the first half of this year. Together with the 27 imported game version numbers issued in March, the total number is 548.

If you use one word to describe the version number of 2023, I believe many people will say "smooth". From January to June this year, version numbers are issued every month, and the average number is stable at more than 80. According to this trend, the number of version numbers for the whole year should be about 1000, the vast majority of which are mobile games, but the number of games on clients, consoles and multiple platforms is also increasing.

After the epidemic, the cold winter of the industry and manufacturers reducing costs and increasing efficiency, the smooth release of version numbers is not bad news for practitioners. In turn, this trend has sent some new signals for developers who want to declare version numbers for games.

After the version number is issued smoothly, what details should be paid attention to in the declaration process? With this question in mind, we talked to the president of a well-known publishing house. This publishing house has been engaged in version number agency and game review business for a long time, and the president himself has summed up some experience in the version number application process to help developers and publishers who are not familiar with the process to avoid risks.

According to the website of the State Press and publication Administration, version numbers have been issued from January to June this year, and a number of imported game version numbers have been issued to apply for version numbers. will there be any change? Toule: the fee charged by the publisher in applying for the version number has always been the focus of many developers and distributors. The edition number has been issued steadily this year. Has the cost increased or decreased?

President: with regard to this question, we need to first introduce the two components of "version number fee". The first is the publishing cost, that is, the cost of the process from the collection of materials for examination to the approval of the version number; the second is the cost of supervising the content of the publication. As the main body of the publication, the publishing unit actually bears the responsibility of "who is responsible for publishing." the function of "who is responsible for supervision", so need to be responsible for the content of the publication.

As far as games are concerned, our publishing house supervises all published games once a month to take a look at what is in operation. If the developer needs to launch a new activity, we will ask the other party to send it to us for review before the update, and confirm that there is no problem before we can update it.

In other words, in the process of publishing the game, there is a long-term cooperative relationship among R & D, operation and publishing units.

Toule: how are these two fees charged?

President: the publishing fee is one-off, and the supervision fee is charged on an annual basis.

Toule: with regard to the publishing cost, will it change with the release of the version number? For example, if the version number is stagnant, it will rise; if the version number is issued smoothly, it will be reduced.

President: in the process of applying for a version number, no matter whether the examination and approval is smooth or not, the most input by the publishing unit is the manpower cost, such as material arrangement, content review, content modification, final content inspection, and so on. But the labor cost is a relative cost, if a game is well developed, the content and times of modification are less, and the cost is relatively lower; if the opposite is the case, the cost will be high.

However, on the impact of the version number on the cost, what I have observed is that if the version number is not issued smoothly, the cost will not be very high, because that means that the practitioners do not have much confidence in the industry, and the personnel and capital will not flow in large quantities; on the contrary, if the version number is issued more regularly, in a sense, it is equivalent to the normal and benign operation of the industry, and the cost will increase relatively.

What's more, for a game that can go online and operate normally, the proportion of publishing expenses in game development and operating costs is too small. Therefore, the impact of the increase and decline of publishing costs on the overall cost of the game is also very small.

Toule: about four or five years ago, when the release of the version number was suspended, some independent developers mentioned that the publishing fee for handling the version number at that time was between 15,000 and 30,000 yuan, which was a big burden for them. How does the current publishing cost compare with this figure?

President: the situation of each game is different. What I have learned is that the publishing cost is much higher than this figure, and the publishing cost of some games is even more than 100000 yuan.

Publishing is indeed a bit expensive for some independent developers, who give priority to platforms with relatively low distribution and sales costs: in addition to publishing fees, you also mentioned regulatory fees. Does the regulatory fee "annual charge" continue until the game ceases to operate?

President: yes. If the game decides to stop operating, as a publishing unit, we will ask the operator to issue an announcement and solve all the problems such as player recharge and after-sales service. After the game stops operation, the content update will also stop, naturally no longer incur regulatory fees.

Toule: you just mentioned that the publishing unit has the responsibility to supervise the publication. So, if something goes wrong after the game is launched, what is the responsibility of the publishing unit?

President: our publishing house has never encountered this kind of situation. Such problems will be dealt with with reference to traditional publishing, such as books, which can be sold first, but there are problems with the content after listing, and the most direct consequence is administrative punishment, which is not limited to fines, but also warnings, suspension of business for rectification, and even delisting. These are relatively serious penalties. In terms of game approval, I have indeed heard that some publishing units have been cancelled to declare the qualification of publishing games.

Toule: how do regulators find problems in the game? Is it a spot check or some other way?

President: spot checks come from social supervision on the one hand and social supervision on the other. With the development of society, the channels of feedback are also very different from before, so now various publishing units and operating units attach great importance to supervision, once the emergence of social hot events, the impact may be very bad.

Toule: since the regulatory responsibility of the publishing house is very important, in order to ensure that this responsibility is seriously fulfilled, will the publishing unit control the number of games submitted for review? Will the copyright Administration set a certain "quota" for each unit?

President: there are none of these two cases at present. The censorship department decides whether the game can pass the examination or not according to the content. From the point of view of the publishing unit, after all, it is a market economy, and everyone wants to make more of their own income, so as long as they can ensure the normal operation of the process, there is no limit to the number of people sent for trial.

Online games? Stand-alone games? The concept should be mastered by Toule: at present, the list of edition numbers published by the State Press and publication Administration is "online game approval information". In the version number approval process, online games, and the corresponding stand-alone games, what are their definitions?

President: with regard to the definition of online games, according to the interim measures for the Administration of online Games implemented in 2010, online games are "composed of software programs and information data. Game products and services provided through the Internet, mobile communication networks and other information networks". At the same time, according to the regulations on the Management of online Publishing Services implemented in 2016, online publications refer to digital works that are provided to the public through the information network and have the characteristics of editing, production, processing and other publishing features. including "intellectual and ideological text, pictures, maps, games, animation, audio and video books and other original digital works in literature, art, science and other fields". In the same year, the notice on the Management of Mobile Game Publishing Services was also issued. In the notice, mobile games are defined as "games that take mobile phones and other mobile intelligent terminals as running carriers and are available for public download or online interactive use through the information network".

Generally speaking, when it comes to online games and mobile games, it refers to the content mentioned in the above provisions. Although the interim measures for the Administration of online Games was abolished in 2019, the concept of online games it defines is still in use today.

As for stand-alone games, there is actually no accurate concept at present. In the early days of the Internet, we would classify games that "do not interact or download through the Internet" as stand-alone games, but at that time it was because the download speed was slow, and even many online game installation clients needed CD-ROMs as carriers. Later, with the technological innovation of the Internet, the acceleration of download speed and the gradual popularity of the mobile network, more and more games have joined the network service, the concept of "stand-alone games" is becoming less and less, and the concept is becoming more and more vague.

In the era of underdeveloped Internet, CD-ROM is one of the main carriers of games (the picture shows some domestic stand-alone games sold in the form of CD-ROMs) Toule: is it correct to say that stand-alone games do not need to apply for a version number?

President: now the process of applying for version number of most games is equivalent to pre-examination and approval. Only through pre-examination and approval can you get the version number, that is, ISBN number. For those stand-alone games that do not provide services through the Internet at all, they are equivalent to electronic publications (according to the ownership of the copyright of the work, they are divided into domestic and overseas categories, and the author is an individual, group or organization outside the country, to go through the import declaration procedures. If the copyright owner referred to below is an individual, group or organization within the territory, we can call it "domestic stand-alone game"). The R & D unit and operation unit need to send the domestic stand-alone game to the publishing unit, the content shall be reviewed by the publishing unit. In other words, even if it is a domestic stand-alone game, it cannot be sold directly without doing anything (if it is sold directly, it is an illegal publication), but after its content has been examined and approved by the publisher, it can no longer be sent to the State Press and publication Administration for pre-examination and approval. In 2013, our publishing house published a stand-alone game according to this process.

Toule: you also mentioned the impact of the popularity of the Internet on games. Has it extended to the current game censorship? We have also heard of some situations, for example, although the game is downloaded from the Internet, there is no internal purchase, no chat system, no UGC content, and there is no content update in addition to repairing Bug. Can such a game be counted as a stand-alone game?

President: the Internet is integrated into all aspects of social life. I think it has an impact on the censorship of games. In principle, a stand-alone game, or a game as an electronic publication, cannot be added once the final package is completed. Otherwise, it is no longer an electronic publication.

When is it more appropriate to send it to trial? Does the review process involve copyright? Toule: now you may all realize that for games with a higher degree of development and fewer modifications, the process of applying for version numbers will be relatively smooth. According to your experience, to what extent can the game be developed to meet this standard of "suitable for review"?

President: according to the requirements, the version sent for review should be consistent with the final online version of the game. However, in the actual process, I think it should be developed to at least 70 or 80 percent. Specifically, there may be individual functions in the game that are not well implemented, and there may be some Bug, but the storyline is complete and can run before it meets the minimum standards for trial.

Of course, if the development of the game is submitted for review after 70 or 80 percent, taking into account the time of approval of the version number, the announcement plan of the R & D and distribution units should also be adjusted accordingly. As far as I know, many game companies are adapting to this process.

Toule: in the past few years, under the influence of the epidemic, the decline of the industry, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, the project teams in many game companies, and even the game companies themselves, have been disbanded or closed down, but they have also submitted games for review and finally got the version number. If the version number comes down and the project team is gone, will the version number be "invalid"?

President: that's true. Because the project team or the game company is gone, no one will go online and operate the game, and the version number will lose its meaning. As a matter of fact, when the version number was resumed at the end of last year, the version Administration was also aware of the situation of reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and during the review, it would also ask whether the development and operation company of a certain game was still there, and would verify such issues. However, not every game will be verified by the roster.

In the past two years, the situation of "the game has been reviewed, but the project team is disbanded" will appear on the version number approval list: according to your observation, will reducing the cost and increasing efficiency have an impact on the number of games submitted for review? Now there are some views that a large part of the recently approved games were submitted for review before the epidemic, and when the review of these games is over, those projects that were delayed or even cancelled during the epidemic will cause a gap for the game to be submitted for review and approval.

President: affected by the epidemic and reducing costs and increasing efficiency, there were indeed some projects cancelled in the past few years. But as far as this year is concerned, our publishing house has contacted several game companies, all with new capital, acquiring existing teams and developing new projects. So, I think with the improvement of the economic situation, game development will gradually get back on track.

Admittedly, a new game requires a certain development cycle, maybe two or three years, but there are other situations, such as when the new capital acquires a complete team and the product has a model, the development time will be shortened. Even, some game companies did not survive the epidemic and disbanded, but what the team has done is still there, and if someone is optimistic about their project and invest in it, it will be quite fast to go online.

Toule: for a long time, the problem of "plagiarism" in the game has attracted more attention, and it is often pointed out by players that there are skinning, plagiarism, embezzlement and other phenomena after the game is online. As far as you know, is there any copyright review in the approval process of the version number?

President: there has always been copyright review. First of all, there are corresponding supporting documents, such as "soft Certificate". At the same time, control will also be carried out in the review of the game content. Objectively speaking, the censors can not cover all aspects, but the censors are all professionals in the industry, with a high level, master and understand a lot of information, and game works with defects will basically be found. I know that in the process of applying for examination, individual games are found to be suspected of plagiarism and skinning and are rejected and not approved. If plagiarism or skinning is suspected during the review process, game companies can also provide some materials to prove their originality or to prove that they own intellectual property rights.

As publishers, we have also accumulated some experience, so when we see some familiar and highly similar content in the game, we will also remind R & D units not to infringe intellectual property rights. and ask the copyright owner to provide supporting material-such as playing or ideological stuff-to prove that he has not plagiarized. However, copyright is a private right, and the intervention of third parties is relatively limited.

Toule: as the saying goes, if the game is confirmed to have copyright infringement problems such as plagiarism and skinning, should the publishing unit also be jointly and severally liable?

President: the publishing unit has joint and several liability.

Conclusion for game practitioners and manufacturers who mainly face the domestic market, there is no doubt about the importance of the version number. The smooth release of the version number in the first half of the year, to a certain extent, shows the relatively gentle attitude of the audit department towards the game industry. Although we are not sure how long this situation will last, a period of relatively regular, regular and normal operation is beneficial to research and development, distribution and even publishing units.

Under this premise, developers and manufacturers who intend to declare the version number should pay attention to the changes in the factors such as the increase of publishing cost, the intensity of pre-audit, the progress of game development, the time of material submission and so on. Do what you can, and the process of applying for a version number may be smoother.

Of course, there is another point that game manufacturers, project teams and even individual developers need to always pay attention to, and that is game quality-subjectively speaking, making good games is the goal that most creators pursue. Objectively speaking, in recent years, the copyright Administration has been promoting support measures such as the "Chinese original Game publication Project". Affected by it, a game of good quality and oriented to the right direction will have an advantage in the speed at which the version number is approved.

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