GF Securities released a research report stating that growth in dual-platform products and the PC market essentially reflects users' increased willingness to pay for higher-quality, better-experience games, with the market space for top-tier premium products continuing to expand. The overseas potential for anime-style games is vast, as anime culture, an emerging trend culture, sees its potential user base abroad continuously growing. "Yihuan" demonstrated outstanding performance during its test phase, offering players a more immersive gaming experience. The product is expected to achieve remarkable revenue performance upon launch. The primary recommendation is its developer Perfect World Co.,Ltd. (002624.SZ), with attention also on leading company Tencent Holdings (00700) and NetEase-S (09999), which has "Wuxianda" in its pipeline. The main views of GF Securities are as follows:
Demand in the gaming market continues to grow, with users' willingness to pay for high-quality games persistently increasing. According to Gamma Data, the actual sales revenue of China's domestic game market in the first quarter of 2026 was 971.72 billion yuan, up 2.54% quarter-on-quarter and 13.38% year-on-year. Among this, the actual sales revenue of the client game market was 249.76 billion yuan, increasing 11.17% quarter-on-quarter and 39.38% year-on-year, with growth rates leading the overall market. The report indicates that the quarter-on-quarter improvement in market scale was mainly due to several new dual-platform interoperable titles launching within the quarter and contributing revenue, such as "Arknights: Endfield," "Reverse War: Future," and "Rock Kingdom: World." The firm believes that PC device performance and product immersion are typically higher than mobile platforms. The growth of dual-platform products and the PC market fundamentally stems from users' enhanced willingness to pay for games with superior quality and experience, leading to an expanding market space for leading high-quality products.
The anime-style game track possesses global attributes, with promising prospects for overseas performance. The overseas potential for anime-style games is extensive. As an emerging trend culture, the potential user scale for anime culture overseas is continuously expanding. Overseas research firm Cognitive Market Research estimates the average annual compound growth rate of the ACGN subculture (i.e., anime culture) industry market size at 11.3%. It can be considered that anime is a significant cultural trend in overseas markets with a broad potential audience. The firm believes that the overseas potential for "Yihuan," a core product in the anime-style game category, is equally promising.
"Yihuan" pioneers a new urban open-world track, potentially offering an experience distinct from traditional anime-style open worlds. "Yihuan" has garnered attention comparable to top-tier anime-style games, with over 35 million pre-registrations across all channels, exceeding 6 million followers on TapTap, its public test PV on Bilibili garnering over 8 million views, and its public test preview program exceeding 2 million views. The firm considers its level of attention to be within the first tier of anime-style games. After pre-downloads began, downloads on TapTap exceeded 1.2 million, and downloads via the Bilibili channel surpassed 900,000 (as of 20:00 on April 21). Based on download data, the firm anticipates the product will achieve outstanding performance in terms of new user acquisitions on its first day. Regarding gameplay, according to the official preview PV for "Yihuan," features beyond combat include a vehicle system, residence and character interactions, and urban tycoon elements, integrating experiences with players' everyday life scenes. In terms of character dimensions, after users raise their relationship level with certain characters to corresponding opportunity levels, they can extend outing invitations to explore flower fields, watch meteors together, etc., featuring more companion-like interactions that enhance immersion. Overall, "Yihuan" exhibits clearly differentiated gameplay from traditional anime-style open worlds and is expected to provide players with a distinct experience through innovation. The firm believes that by differentiating itself through its "urban" theme and other gameplay elements compared to existing anime-style games, the product has the potential to discover new gameplay within the already somewhat homogenized anime-style open-world segment, thereby enhancing user retention willingness and boosting the product's revenue scale.
Risk warnings include potential intensified regulation in the gaming industry, increased industry competition, and the risk of the product's launch performance falling short of expectations.
Comments