Recently, the market has entered a period of intensive disclosure of performance forecasts.

On February 6, Friendship Time released its 2023 performance forecast. The estimated revenue is about 1.04 to 1.07 billion yuan, and the net profit loss is about 13—150 million yuan. As the first loss since listing, Friendship Time frankly expressed several core influencing factors in the announcement, including the decline in old products, depreciation of income tax assets, and investment in promoting new products. If you take a closer look, you can see that the tax-related aspects are a one-time non-cash impact, and the upfront investment in new products is due to a mismatch between short-term income and profit.

Further rational analysis shows that performance fluctuations due to one-time or short-term effects represent the past of 2023. Its stock price already fully reflected corresponding pessimistic expectations when the results for the first half of the year were released, and the long-term value of a company ultimately depends on its future profitability. As an investor, if you can detect and judge its headwind reversal trend in the bottom range, you may be able to generate greater returns.

An example is the new blockbuster tour “Fukusheng Memories Exquisite” by Friendship Time.

As can be seen, market popularity is one of the indicators that intuitively reflects the degree of success of a new game after it is launched. Since the game went live in public beta on all platforms on January 2,It not only quickly received homepage recommendations from major channel providers such as the Apple App Store and Huawei App Store, but also jumped to Bilibili, Weibo, and TapTThe most popular AP game listIt fully proves its market popularity and popularity among players.

Currently,”“Fukusheng Mei Ling” is in the top 50 best sellers, showing a continuous upward trend. At the same time, it has sparked lively discussions among players on various social platforms such as Weibo. It is expected to target the performance of the previous generation product “Fusheng as a Qing Song”.

The game showed strong vitality in just one month, which not only laid a good foundation for the performance of Friendship Time and then injected strong impetus into its future growth potential.

Why don't you further discuss the three dimensions of gameplay innovation, celebrity promotion, and brand linkage, and what is the right thing to do in “Floating Memories”? What is the significance of friendship time?

1. Innovative gameplay stimulates enthusiasm and increases player stickiness

Behind the high popularity of the market, a very important point is that the innovative gameplay of “Floating Memories” continues to be introduced, so that players can continue to get a brand new gaming experience, thereby increasing player stickiness.

For example, on February 1, the Lunar New Year version of “Floating Memories” was launched, and the “Exquisite Sending Acacia” event was launched simultaneously within and outside the game, greatly increasing the fun of the game.

Among them, the government office of Bianjing set up a giant Exquisite Lantern at Linglong Bay Wharf. Players can participate in the Linglong Sending Love Series and receive corresponding rewards after reaching the lighting progress; defeating Lunar New Year's beasts can also receive unexpected rewards; there are also ways to play, such as the ferrule game, which is essential for a lively temple fair.

2. Use the star effect to dig deeper into the value of fans

Similarly, the star effect also played an important role in the success of “Floating Memories”.

As the second installment of the Friendship Time Fukusheng IP series, after announcing the endorsement of first-line actor Luo Yunxi, Friendship Time also announced that on January 31, the powerful Chinese-speaking singer and music producer Liu Xijun acted as Ling Long's recommender to affectionately sing the theme song of the same name for the “Fukusheng Memories” mobile game. The MV debuted at 10:00 a.m. on February 7 on platforms such as QQ Music, Kugou Music, and Kuwo Music.

The fan base and influence of Luo Yunxi and Liu Xijun, while expanding the game's audience, also increased the game's exposure and topicality, thereby further increasing the popularity of the market.

3. Brand linkage and win-win, break the circle and inject new vitality

Also,Brand linkage is also one of the key strategies for the success of “Born to Remember”.

Adopt andNational jewelry brandZhou Liufu, tea brand Cha Yanyu, China Academy of Art, etc.Many well-known brands, colleges and cultural tourism have cooperated. The game provides players with more diverse gaming experiences and benefits, and continues to expand its brand influence and market share. This cooperation model helps both brands achieve mutual benefit and win-win situation, and further enhances the commercial value of games.

For example, on January 30, “Floating Memories” and the China Academy of Art began joint research on the “Jiangnan Aesthetics” topic. Using the inspiration of the game's floating creatures, combined with elements of national style aesthetics, they created a new Jiangnan lighting “Exquisite Lantern” to achieve the integration and output of virtual games and intangible heritage culture.

In preparation for the cultural tourism event, the “Floating Life and Remembrance” offline event linked to Suzhou's Qilishantang Scenic Area came to a perfect conclusion and received a good response. Next, “Fusheng Meilong” will launch a collaboration with Hangzhou's West Lake to launch a new Chinese Jiangnan afternoon tea project; bring a romantic Lantern Festival event at the Qilishantang Scenic Area in Suzhou; and launch a new Chinese fashion headdress “Delicate Hairpin” ingeniously designed by the China Academy of Art.

epilogue

Overall, whether it is innovative game design or the use of star effects and cross-border linkages between brands, it can help improve the commercial performance of “Floating Memories”, bring in more revenue, and lay a solid foundation for the long-term operation of the game. According to reports, Friendship Time is also simultaneously advancing the launch plan for “Floating Memories” in overseas markets. In the future, it will gradually enter markets such as Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, Europe and the US, and continue to expand the game's global influence and market share.

Regarding the potential for growth in the aftermath of Friendship Time, CMB International believes that the company's new work “Floating Memories” has been good since its launch, and is expected to maintain an upward trend, contributing 1.2 billion yuan in revenue and 200 million yuan in profit in the 2024 fiscal year. Meanwhile, new products such as various mini-games, “Mojianghu”, and “Reign of Destiny” are entering the testing period and overseas expansion one after another, which will bring further upside. Coupled with impressive shareholder returns and repurchase plans, investors are advised to pay attention to their bottom reversal in fiscal 2024.

Recently, the pace of distribution of game industry versions has accelerated, the number has increased, and favorable industry policy trends have gradually emerged. Based on this, as Friendship Time's new game products continue to be commercialized and implemented, it is expected to continue to catalyze the company's development in a richer dimension under the current marginal policy guidance of the game sector.