text | tech planet, author | Chen Qiaohui
tech planet has exclusively learned that due to business adjustments, the business of multiple exploration iap interactive drama mini programs developed by the Byte Commercialization Department’s Juju Engine will be shut down on June 17, respectively. Choose from bubble hearts, claw hearts, and jelly hearts.
These interactive drama services are embedded in the Douyin app in the form of mini programs. Among them, Jelly Heart Selection and Claw Heart Selection were developed by Beijing Bitwalk Interactive Entertainment Network Information Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Bitwalk), and Bubble Heart Selection was developed by Beijing Juliang Engine Network Technology Co., Ltd. According to QiChacha, both companies are 100% controlled by Douyin Co., Ltd.
Currently, all three platforms have announced announcements of shutting down operations.
Caption: Excerpted screenshot of business shutdown notice.
In the current hot short drama track, it is subdivided into multiple branches, and interactive drama is one of them. Interactive drama is an entertainment form that combines short dramas and game interactive technology. It not only retains the compact and exciting characteristics of the short drama, but also brings more participation and immersion to the audience through game interactive technology.
Last year, it was because of a video called "It's finished!" I'm surrounded by beautiful women! "The interactive drama suddenly became popular, making the new cross-border trend of "game + short drama" rise overnight. According to the "Top 10 National Games Sales Inventory in 2023" released by the third-party data statistics team Guoyu Sales Bar, the interactive drama achieved sales of up to 80 million yuan last year. Faced with this new piece of cake, multiple platforms such as China Literature, Kuaishou, Byte, and Chinese Online have made plans.
However, what is quite surprising is that Byte has shut down its interactive drama business this time. Are interactive dramas no longer popular?
Byte’s new attempt in the short drama track
Byte’s short drama business is divided into two lines, one is the Douyin short drama on the main end of Douyin, and the other is the huge engine of the commercialization department, both of which It is an important chess piece in Byte's short drama business layout. Among them, the huge engine is an important starting point for Byte to explore new businesses in short dramas, and interactive dramas are one of them.
In 2020, Tech Planet exclusively disclosed that the giant engine was launched and internally tested its first interactive novel "Qianli Interactive" app. This product was also developed by an affiliated company of Bitwalk, but the interactive novels at that time were far inferior to the current interactive dramas. The content attracted so much attention that Qianli Interactive was eventually shut down.
Although this business failed to make it out of the interactive content track, it also accumulated experience in interactive content project development for Byte. Taking advantage of the popularity of short dramas, interactive dramas have entered the fast lane since last year, and the giant engine is also keenly aware of this new track. Tech Planet learned that Juju Engine began exploring the interactive drama business in the second half of last year.
’s three interactive drama platforms, Bubble Heart Selection, Claw Heart Selection, and Jelly Heart Selection, were successively launched on Douyin app in the form of mini programs at the beginning of this year.
Take Paopao Xinxuan as an example. You can see on the homepage that in addition to some interactive dramas, in order to enhance the content richness of the platform, Paopao Xinxuan also launched urban passion, son-in-law counterattack, sweet pet romance, etc. Each type of short drama requires membership or platform virtual currency points to unlock.
Bubble Heart Selection has launched the first interactive drama about love triangle "The Choice of Ex's Love" on the Internet. Different from traditional short plays, this short play adopts interactive gameplay. In each episode, there will be different interactive options for users to choose. The user's choice will affect the direction of the plot. It can be said that every interaction will trigger a new story. ending. This interactive drama requires payment to unlock the plot, and a one-month membership price is 199 yuan.
Caption: Screenshot of bubble heart selection.
bytes is not only a platform, but also personally produces interactive dramas. In December last year, Byte obtained a radio and television program production and operation license through its subsidiary Beijing Bitwalk Interactive Entertainment Network Information Co., Ltd., and subsequently began its attempts to produce interactive dramas.
In December last year, Byte produced its first self-produced interactive drama "Back to 1990: Beautiful Women Like Clouds", and completed the software copyright registration and launched it on the above three interactive drama platforms.
This means that Byte has formed a full-link layout from interactive drama production to platform promotion, and its interactive drama business has gradually surfaced.
A hard nut to crack.
Byte has shut down the interactive drama business of Bubble Heart Selection, Claw Heart Selection, and Jelly Heart Selection. It is not difficult to see that interactive dramas are still a tough nut to crack. An insider of
revealed to Tech Planet that the interactive drama business matrix created by Byte is more like a test of water. Although there are some twists and turns at present, facing the temptation of this market, there is still the possibility of a comeback in the future.
From the current point of view, Byte has not vigorously promoted this business. Tech Planet found that Byte’s self-made interactive drama "Return to 1990: Beautiful Women Like Clouds" has only 79,000 views in the Douyin app. It is far lower than other interactive dramas that have over one million, ten million, or even over one hundred million views on Douyin.
On the other hand, for Byte, the cost of exploring new businesses is not low. Compared with traditional dramas, interactive dramas require the production of more content materials and the implementation of complex technical architecture, so the cost will increase significantly. From scene construction, actor performance to post-production and other aspects, more resources need to be invested, and the production cost is high.
The high production cost will also prevent interactive dramas from having the same efficient production capacity as short dramas. Therefore, there are not many interactive dramas available on the market. For example, there are only a handful of interactive dramas on the Byte platform.
Moreover, the 199 yuan/month price of the Byte interactive drama platform is relatively not low, and others such as "Done!" I'm surrounded by beautiful women! 》, the official version of the game is priced at 42 yuan. If there is a discount season, the price can be as low as 35 yuan, and it only costs a few dozen yuan to experience it. If the same price of 199 yuan is spent, users can experience at least 4-5 interactive games. drama.
Looking at the general environment, although interactive dramas have a trend of becoming popular, there are still very few popular interactive dramas that have made it out of the industry. Except for "It's over!" I'm surrounded by beautiful women! 》Except for most interactive dramas, most interactive dramas have not yet become hits with market influence.
According to the "2023 Short Drama Industry Special Report" released by Western Securities, around 2019 and 2020, the film and television industry has been trying interactive dramas, with different-oriented and differentiated plot stories selected based on the audience's answers, including "Black Mirror: "Pandanetsky", "The Origin of the Buddha's Head in the Antique Game", "Celebrity Detective: The Prime Suspect", "Love Apartment 5", etc., but overall there are no hits, and the volume is relatively small. At present, existing interactive dramas have problems such as inconsistent plots, weak interactivity, and insufficient immersion.
Leading players continue to test the waters
Although Byte's interactive drama business is currently experiencing setbacks, there are not a few leading players in the content industry who are testing the waters and exploring interactive dramas. Internet platforms such as China Literature, Kuaishou, and Chinese Online have some action.
At the end of last year, Hou Xiaonan, CEO and President of China Literature Group, released China Literature’s “Short Drama Galaxy Incubation Plan”, which included three major initiatives to explore interactive short dramas. In less than a month, the interactive short drama "Bourne", jointly produced by China Literature Group, Huying Technology, Shanghai Film Yuan and Shanghai Film Production, was officially launched on the Steam platform.
Kuaishou short drama also tested the interactive gameplay of short dramas during the winter vacation last year, providing users with a variety of aigc gameplay, such as "Drama Wants to Fall in Love", which allows users to transform into the starring role in short dramas with one click through AI tools, attracting 200,000 Users participate in interactions. reelshort, a short drama platform operated by cms, an overseas company of
Chinese Online, has become popular overseas. It opened a new interactive game section in its app this month and launched an interactive short drama called "pregnant by my ex's dad" .
In addition, according to Beluga Chuhai, the development company of reelshort also operates the interactive novel platform Chapters. According to Diandian data estimates, Chapters' double-ended revenue in the past year was US$49 million, while reelshort's revenue during the same period was US$67 million. In terms of revenue, the former is not much inferior. If costs are also considered, interactive novels are more profitable. Some. The interactive short drama launched this time has also allowed the outside world to see Chinese Online’s new ideas for the commercialization of short dramas.
Many people in the industry are also optimistic about interactive dramas. A short drama producer told Tech Planet that the commercialization of TOC content formats represented by mini-program short dramas has basically passed, and short dramas with tens of millions of recharges have appeared.For example, "Oops!" The 24-hour user recharge of "The Empress Comes to Work" exceeded 12 million, and "Wushuang"'s launch consumption exceeded 100 million within 8 days of its launch.
With the rapid development of innovative content forms such as interactive short dramas, new stories may emerge in this segment.
