The "2023 China Game Industry Report" shows that in 2023, the actual sales revenue of China's domestic game market will be 302.964 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.95%, breaking through the 300 billion mark for the first time; the number of users will be 668 million, a year-on-year increase of 0.61%, setting a record high .
Against the backdrop of the game industry's resumption of growth, Kaiying Network (002517.sz) has once again continued its good growth trend, achieving significant growth in its full-year performance in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
html On April 30, Kaiying Network disclosed its 2023 annual report and 2024 first quarter report. According to the announcement, the company will achieve operating income of 4.295 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%; total profits will be 1.697 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.61%; net profits attributable to shareholders of listed companies will be 1.462 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 42.57%;In addition , Kaiying Network achieved a good start in the first quarter of this year. According to the first quarter report, the company achieved operating income of 1.308 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 36.93%; total profit reached 442 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.60%; net profit attributable to the parent company was 426 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47.06%.
Kaiying Network has verified its strong operating strength after strategic transformation and improvement of corporate governance with its excellent performance. In recent years, Kaiying Network has focused on the research and development, production and operation of high-quality online game products. It has always adhered to the three major sectors of research and development, distribution, investment + IP, comprehensively enhanced the competitiveness of its main business, simultaneously strengthened the construction of corporate culture, and created Core competitiveness, in order to continuously achieve outstanding performance. At present, Kaiying Network has entered the first-line camp of the domestic game industry.
Optimizing the internal governance structure and actively paying dividends to return investors
For Kaiying Network, 2023 is a historic year.
During this year, Kaiying Network continued to take action. With the appointment of the new directors, supervisors and senior management and the settling of the new actual controller, a new management team of Kaiying Network was formed, which marked that Kaiying Network achieved the same goal as the previous actual controller. The complete decoupling and unbinding of the controllers will usher in a new era of development. According to
public information, in July 2023, Kaiying Network completed the replacement of directors, supervisors and senior management. At the same time, the proportion of independent directors has increased to 1/2, the decision-making efficiency has been further optimized, and the level of internal control and decision-making has been significantly improved. In November of the same year, Kaiying Network welcomed a new actual controller, Jin Feng, and the company's equity structure was further stabilized.
According to statistics, since 2020, the actual controller Jin Feng has increased his holdings 11 times, with the amount exceeding 1.5 billion yuan.
Guolian Securities research report analysis believes that the chairman's increase in holdings not only demonstrates the confidence of the management, but also marks the end of the company's state of no actual controller for nearly a year, and the company's long-term strategy is expected to be more effectively implemented.
"Being investor-oriented" and actively returning investors has become a practical action of the new management of Kaiying Network.
In March this year, the actual controller and chairman Jin Feng proposed a cash dividend plan for 2023, distributing a cash dividend of no less than 1 yuan (tax included) to all shareholders for every 10 shares, and distributing more than 200 million yuan in dividends in 2024. Dividend payment plan, the two-year dividend payment is expected to be approximately 600 million yuan.
Since 2023, regulators have paid more and more attention to encouraging listed companies to give back to small and medium-sized investors through cash dividends. On March 15, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of Listed Companies (Trial)" stating that strong restraint measures should be adopted on dividends. Listed companies are required to formulate active and stable cash dividend policies and clarify investor expectations.
Industry insiders pointed out that dividends, repurchases, and holding increases are not only important "anchors" for long-term investment, value investment, and rational investment, but are also intuitive manifestations of the high-quality development of listed companies.
It can be said that insisting on stable dividends is not only a long-term measure by Kaiying Network to pay attention to the interests of investors, but also a specific action to actively respond to the requirements of regulators. It is also a self-requirement of a first-tier gaming company. The dividend payment plan released by
this time is another sincere and real-money return to investors after the fifth term of directors, supervisors and senior management of Kaiying Network. It fully demonstrates Kaiying Network’s confidence in the company’s future development.
"IP + self-research" deeply collaborates with "small games" to open up a new growth space
Through continuous improvement of corporate governance, Kaiying Network has been able to continue to focus on the main business of games. Focusing on the troika strategy of "R&D, distribution, investment + IP", the company has achieved Remarkable results.
During the reporting period, Kaiying Network benefited from the stable operation of long-term products such as "Original Legend", "Gundam Clash", "Blood Attack", "Angel of War" and "Eternal Alliance".
Judging from the performance of new products launched in 2023, the company’s high-quality strategy is significant, and the hit rate continues to increase. Newly launched products such as "New Heaven and Dragon Sword", "Legend of Sword and Fairy: A New Beginning" and "Stone Age: Awakening" performed well. Among them, "New Eternal Dragon Slayer" (overseas version) quickly achieved excellent results on the iOS free game list in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, China; after "Stone Age: Awakening" was officially launched, it won the free list on the app store. No. 1 and No. 8 on the best-selling list, industry recognition continues to soar. In terms of
ip, Kaiying Network further supplements the company's product line by investing in other R&D studios with differentiated features and creative gameplay in addition to its self-developed product line, and promotes strong business synergy between strategic investment enterprises and the company's publishing business segment. In the
ip business, the company provides IP support for the company's R&D system by introducing top-level IPs that match the categories it is good at and exploring cost-effective IPs with potential in the future. While
independently incubated the "Baigong Ling" and "Sui Ling" IPs, it also accumulated a large number of IP authorizations through the introduction of IP strategies, including "Mobile Suit Gundam Series", "Overlord" and "About Me Reincarnated as a Slime". "This Thing", "Nobunaga's Ambition: The Way of Heaven", "Hot-Blooded Jianghu", "Dragon Raja", "Journey to the West", "Fengshen Series", "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", "Tomb Robbery Notes", "Douluo Dalu" "Bleach Thousand Years of Bloody Battle", "Ultraman", "King of Fighters", "The Condor Trilogy (The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Slayer)", "Red Moon" and other well-known IPs. These well-known IPs are the fulcrum to achieve product diversification goals, and they continue to provide strong support for the company's research and development of emerging masterpieces. In terms of
's follow-up product reserves, the company's self-developed products include "Douluo Dalu: Legend of Zhu Xie", "Codename: Tomb Robbers", "Mecha Party", "Legend of Liangshan", "Legend of Dragon Soaring", "Codename: Nobunaga", "Codename: dr" and " "That Time I Was Reincarnated as a Slime: New World" and "Three Kingdoms: The Return of the World" are expected to be launched in 2024, with strong performance growth certainty.
It is worth mentioning that Kaiying Network has also made early arrangements for the new track of small games that has exploded this year and is expected to open up new market growth space.
Kaiying Network revitalizes classic IP by expanding into emerging areas such as IP products and mini-games. At present, many games such as "Original Legend", "War of Angels" and "New Eternal Dragon Slayer" have been launched on the WeChat mini-game platform. The company's idle game "Legend of Sword and Fairy: A New Beginning" adopts the policy of first launching mini-games and then The distribution strategy of the online app has made it stay in the top ten of the best-selling and popular lists after its launch, and has been recommended many times by the platform.
Industrial Securities research report analysis believes that Kaiying Network, as the "IP treasure house" among A-share game companies, has unique advantages in the creation of IP for small program games. With its strong buying volume advantage, it is expected to open up new profit growth space. .
In addition, in the field of "game +", Kaiying Network insists on taking technological innovation as the internal driving force, cultivating new productive forces, activating new development momentum, and exploring "game + party building", "game + culture", and "game + medical care" and other diversified functions, build a digital cultural ecology, and help promote social practice in multiple fields. Whether it is through the development of the anti-fraud public welfare game "Smart Catch the Scammer" to help the country's anti-fraud propaganda, or through the "Kaixin·Baigongling" top player program to inject new life and vitality into intangible cultural heritage, it all demonstrates the persistence of Kaiying Network The determination to innovate and expand the boundaries of the game.
anchors new tracks and new technologies. Kaiying Network is ready to launch in 2024.
2023 is the first year of the explosion of large AI models. Riding on the trend of AIGC, the wave of large models has swept the world and continues to be popular. According to the "China Game Industry AIGC Development Prospects Report", more than 60% of the leading game companies are currently engaged in the AIGC field.
As an innovative leading game company, Kaiying Network attaches great importance to the construction of a multi-dimensional and three-dimensional R&D system, and began to lay out the layout in the early days of the rise of AI.
In 2023, the company will invest 527 million yuan in R&D, accounting for 12.26% of operating income. At the same time, the company adjusted the business structure of its self-research system to achieve pipelineization, standardization, modularization, and automation, and further increased its investment in AIGC technology.
company's exploration of AIGC technology adheres to pragmatic principles, aims to feed back the core game business, and focuses on the value of AIGC's middle layer and application layer. Through targeted training and application in subdivided areas, AI can be more suitable for its own needs; the trained AI tools can be expanded to the entire system for application, expanding usage scenarios and improving efficiency.
In April 2023, Kaiying Network and Fudan University reached a software customization development agreement, and they are jointly committed to using the combination of aigc and ainpc to promote the research and development and application of new technologies in the fields of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality. In August of the same year, Kaiying Network announced that it would invest 800 million to build a digital economy research and development center to empower the big data industry and deeply tap into the industry's "new momentum." In March this year, the VR game "Mecha Party" developed by Chenni Network, a subsidiary of Kaiying, was officially launched on the PlayStation North American server and Steam platform.
In addition, according to relevant sources, Kaiying Network is currently developing the first Douluo Continent IP mobile game based on aigc and ainpc technology.
With the support of these new technologies, in the future players are expected to see a lifelike Douluo Continent composed of "alive" NPCs, lifelike world scenes, diverse interaction modes and rich content.
Recently, Kaiying's self-developed "Xingyi" large model has been the first to be smoothly integrated into the research and development pipeline of its products, and has successfully achieved significant efficiency gains in the research and development of multiple projects. For the company, empowered by cutting-edge AI technology, listed game companies have achieved significant results in cost reduction and efficiency improvement, which will also have a positive impact on performance improvement.
In a future that will be reshaped by technology, what new dynamics will AI bring to enterprises, industries and capital markets?
At the Boao Forum, experts said that the game industry is an important force in promoting new productivity. At the same time, Galaxy Securities believes that AI will continue to enable cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Industry insiders pointed out that "the golden decade of artificial intelligence has begun, which will greatly change the entire social economy and industrial ecology and become another kind of productivity."
focuses on its main business and takes the lead in AI layout, and Kaiying Network has achieved business success. It has achieved double growth in revenue and performance, and has been widely recognized by the capital market. It has been included in the MSCI China Index and Shenzhen Stock Exchange Component Index sample stocks.
Kaiying Network will start from the "new" in 2024. In the new year, Kaiying Network already has a complete management system, rich product schedules, and an extremely leading AI layout. It can be predicted that 2024 will be the year that Kaiying Network takes off. (Huang Yifan/Text)
