Frost & Sullivan, in collaboration with LeadLeo Research Institute, released the '2022 China Cloud Gaming Service Platform Market Report'

In 2021, the number of new entrants and enterprises entering the cloud gaming market was higher than in 2020, along with increased financing. Representative high-quality content has emerged one after another. The positive reputation gained by 'Cloud & Original Spheres' after its launch further validates that high-quality content and a good experience are key to the success of cloud gaming.

Alibaba has released a new brand, "Metaverse," providing a cloud game research and operation integrated service platform. It moves from serving "point-to-point game cloudification" to supporting "large-scale cloud porting" andCloud-native game"Moving forward. At the same time, cloud business models are highly recognized by the industry and have achieved significant results in promoting large-scale growth of users and revenue. More and more game content providers are becoming more willing to actively move their games to the cloud. The trend towards miniaturization and mobileization of high-quality games such as large-scale PC games and hardcore mobile games is becoming more evident. From 2021 to 2023, the cloud gaming industry enters an important transitional phase from 'cloudification' to 'cloud-native'. Catalyzed by the concept of the metaverse and the digital economy, core cloud gaming technologies are expected to make another breakthrough. It is estimated that after 2023, cloud-native games will see a new turning point."

• Cloud gaming breaks through device barriers, comprehensively improving the overall quality of the gaming industry from supply to demand.

In the history of game industry development, there has been a positive correlation between gaming experience and hardware performance. Large-scale games require high-performance, high-spec hardware to support them, while the emergence of cloud gaming has completely broken down barriers to hardware devices. Under cloud gaming mode, cloud servers, as a unified backend, can replace hardware devices to provide users with continuous and rapid computing capabilities, achieving the goal of comprehensively improving the overall quality of the gaming industry from supply to demand and forming a new positive cycle.

• The rapid development of the cloud computing industry has laid the foundation for the development of the cloud gaming service platform industry.

The development of China's cloud computing industry has been rapid, laying the foundation for the development of the cloud gaming industry. In the past five years, China's cloud computing industry has maintained a good development trend. It is expected that during the period from 2021 to 2025, the compound growth rate of the Chinese cloud computing market size will be close to 35%. The good development trend of China's cloud computing industry can provide a solid technical foundation for the construction of cloud gaming platforms, thereby promoting the development of the cloud gaming industry.

• The implementation of 5G technology will boost the development of cloud gaming service platforms.

The era of 5G commercializationThe arrival of 5G will trigger a new round of transformation in the cloud gaming industry. Its high-speed, low-latency, and low-jitter network characteristics can provide an ideal connection architecture for cloud gaming, supporting higher game quality images and smoother interactive experiences. It can also effectively reduce the service cost per user, allowing users to enjoy a high-quality gaming experience. For cloud gaming platforms, taking the lead in development will help them seize market share.

• Higher concurrency and performance

A large number of players concurrently access the server, placing extremely high demands on the server's computing power and stability. The game content features PVE and PVP, which have a low tolerance for network latency. High concurrency areas require higher read/write capabilities.

• There are many server attack methods, posing a high security risk.

Game servers have become a major target for high-traffic DDoS attacks andCC attackThe preferred target. Malicious attacks come in various forms, causing game suspension and player loss.

• High R&D costs and difficulties in management collaboration

The competition in the gaming industry is intensifying, and game products need to be launched quickly to seize the market. Managing core R&D personnel across regions and achieving effective collaboration have become difficult problems.

• The distribution channels are extensive, making it difficult to target precisely.

The distribution and operation channels for games are extensive and unstable, failing to quickly and effectively attract new players. The game deployment is separated from the operational platform, and the non-cooperation between clients and cloud servers leads to high costs. The games are highly homogeneous, making it difficult to accurately target game players.

• Provides cloud gaming technology solutions and pioneers 2B business models such as interactive advertising, game trials, and live streaming interactions.

The operational costs of cloud gaming may decrease with the growth of third-party cloud gaming service providers. Currently, the operational cost of cloud gaming is significantly higher than that of console and mobile games. This is mainly due to the need for cloud gaming operators to independently cover server and network costs. Judging from the trend of reduced operational costs for computer games and mobile games, it is expected that Chinese cloud computing service providers, telecom operators, cloud gaming platforms, and vertical cloud gaming service providers will partially expand downstream into the industry, transforming into third-party cloud gaming service providers and driving down cloud gaming costs.

• Platform-based operation, with a profit model benchmarked against video streaming platforms

Assuming active users spend 8 hours per month on gaming, most manufacturers charge a monthly fee ranging from 20 to 40 yuan. Some platforms are increasingly adopting subscription-based models and membership systems that lean towards video streaming media products. Currently, many differentiated pricing strategies are closely linked to the life cycle of startups. With the expansion of user scale, platform advertising revenue is also expected to further increase. In addition, most cloud gaming platforms have built-in or external social windows or BBS forums, establishing a gaming ecosystem based on UGC communities, which serves to enhance user stickiness, understand user needs face-to-face, and create a cloud gaming ecosystem.

• Provides cloud gaming technology solutions, innovating in B2B business forms such as interactive advertising, game trials, and live streaming interactions.

YoubidadaStartups such as Weilinqingyun, Cocos, VisualBOS, and WeicaiLink (Red Finger) also make profits by providing cloud computing solutions for public cloud providers, telecom operators, and terminal device manufacturers. Their main revenue sources currently include technical service fees, renting idle server resources, configuring APIs, and trial play advertising.

From the perspective of the internal logic of business models, as the scale of basic cloud services in China continues to expand, leading public cloud providers such as Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud are gradually establishing themselves in foundational and cutting-edge technologies. Specific application scenarios rely more on ecosystem partners to achieve cost reduction and large-scale profitability. Currently, startups offering cloud gaming solutions have all cooperated with domestic and international public cloud giants. Taiwan-based cloud gaming vendor Youbid officially joined hands with Alibaba Cloud at the Yunqi Conference in 2019; Weiling Cloud has gradually reached cooperation agreements with Alibaba Cloud, Kingsoft Cloud, and Baidu Cloud; Cocos is jointly researching the underlying architecture of mobile cloud games with Huawei Cloud.

Frost & Sullivan, in collaboration with LeadLeo, conducted a multi-factor hierarchical assessment of the market competitiveness of China's cloud gaming service platforms based on two major evaluation dimensions: growth index and innovation index. The assessment included indicators such as basic capabilities of the cloud gaming service platform center, infrastructure capabilities, sharing of resources, user-friendliness, ecosystem construction, consumption patterns, analysis and linkage, and market influence.

Based on the comprehensive scores of the 'Innovation Index' and 'Growth Index', Yuanjing, Haimajun, Wil Vision, and Weiling Times rank among the market leaders in China's cloud gaming service platform market.

Realm:Origin Games, based on its independently developed technologies such as real-time high-definition streaming, full-platform game containers, and cloud-edge collaborative elastic scheduling, and by integrating Alibaba Cloud computing power, edge node networks, and enterprise-level service capabilities, provides game enterprises and developers with a full-stack service including cloud gaming infrastructure, technical tools, innovative applications, and commercial platforms.

Haima Yun:Haimajun relies on its fully self-developed core technologies and has been deeply involved in service areas represented by cloud gaming and cloud XR computing services. It provides industry-leading and cost-effective cloud services, including scenarios such as cloud gaming, cloud XR, cloud mobile phones, cloud computers, and cloud applications.

Will Vision:Will Vision, leveraging its technical strengths and market foundation accumulated in areas such as 5G video cloud, cloud gaming, and cloud VR, has joined hands with communication operators, cloud service providers, and internet companies to offer a relatively mature cloud gaming service platform solution to the market. This solution rapidly promotes cloud gaming research and development, deployment, and upgrades, highlighting the technical characteristics of the interactive video cloud computing era such as high traffic, low latency, strong interactivity, and ultra-high definition.

Weiling Era:Weilink Times has independently developed innovative cloud computing architecture, as well as key technologies such as real-time audio and video encoding/decoding, application container technology, and GPU virtualization. On this basis, it has built a high-quality standardized cloud gaming platform.PaaS platformIt aims to provide one-stop cloud gaming PaaS services for numerous enterprises such as game developers, game operators, terminal manufacturers, and communication operators.