Being in the building forest in the dog days of summer is hot and boring. When you step into the air vent, you will feel cool and relaxed. For cultural tourism destinations that are deeply affected by strict regulations, the impact of the epidemic, and fierce competition, script killing (script gaming) is like a vent. Spending a small amount of money can not only achieve in-depth local expression, but also differentiate the vacation experience and attract people. There are new passenger flows with high consumption power among those born in the 1990s and 2000s, which can even effectively revitalize local businesses.
"It is no exaggeration to say that on average, no less than 4 scenic spots call us every day to cooperate with us." Post-90s script-killing enthusiast, Chengdu Langjiumen Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jiumen") Fu Peng, co-founder of "Men Detective", told LvJieMedia, "Including Hongyadong in Chongqing, which has a daily flow of 17 million people. China's cultural tourism destinations are generally in urgent need of diverting traffic and enriching secondary consumption." It is reported that Chengdu. The script-based killing industry is more developed than first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The script-based killing of scenic spots in Jiezi Ancient Town, which was previously popular all over the Internet, was introduced to the market by Jiumen Detective at the end of last year and has continued to iterate since then. Chen Jian, commercial director of Qingming Shangheyuan, pointed out to the new travel industry that this is the peak moment for script sales. Qingyuan is currently cooperating with a team with independent script creation capabilities, and will not rule out mergers and acquisitions to develop the industry chain in the future.
And at the end of July, many script-killing projects such as Drama Peach Blossom Spring, Little Black Detective, and Mystery Master have received new funding from Plum Blossom Ventures, Jinshajiang Ventures, Wuyuan Capital, and Black Ant Capital. round of financing, in which Xiaoheitan also received industrial investment from China Literature Group. This is the second capital bet after projects such as I Am a Mystery, Variety Detective, and Drama Detective received financing from star institutions such as GSR Ventures, Matrix Partners China, and Moliang Capital in 2018. Not long ago, Zheng Nanyan, founder of Seven Days and Plateno and executive chairman of Kaiyuan Hotel Group, announced the launch of the script-selling brand "Tianshui Town". Zheng emphasized, "Currently, there are no large chain brands in script-selling, and we have the opportunity to grow bigger."
Yang Tianyi, the president of Amazing Academy, told New Travel World, “With the entry of capital, the industry will definitely be standardized and grow rapidly. Its growth covers upstream content, downstream store openings, and various segmented platforms.” Amazing Academy is a comprehensive brand of social entertainment content with millions of users online. It has successfully launched dozens of interactive puzzle products, immersive live-action scripts, etc. Gao Ge, executive director of Beijing Thirty-Three-day Culture Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Thirty-three Days"), clearly feels that the industry is undergoing earth-shaking changes in recent months, and talents and institutions with high-level thinking have begun to cross-border and explore the industry. , there are also industry reports, and the entire industry looks more "sexy". Thirty-three Days is a script game service provider founded by Gao Ge. It cooperates with hundreds of script game physical stores and has currently introduced desktop script games to high-end barbecue restaurants and nightclubs. How big is the script killing industry? Why did you start to turn away from reality? How does cultural tourism “kill scripts”?
How big is the script killing industry?
According to news on July 19, Drama Peach Garden received tens of millions of yuan in angel round financing jointly led by Wuyuan Capital and Black Ant Capital; followed by July 29, script killing platform Xiaohei Detective An industrial and commercial change occurred, the registered capital increased by 25%, and new shareholders such as China Literature and Jinshajiang Venture Capital were added, each holding 10% of shares; it was reported on July 30 that the script-killing brand "Mystery Master" received a multi-million dollar Pre- Series A financing will be used for offline store expansion, upstream author training, host incubation and other businesses.
According to Qichacha data, as of July 15 this year, there have been a total of 31 financing incidents related to Werewolf and Script Killing in my country, involving 14 projects (generally in the early stages) stage), the total disclosed financing exceeded 25.25 billion yuan. The pace of capital entering the market to kill scripts is still accelerating. Yang Tianyi said that Amazing Academy is currently in in-depth discussions with capital. “The entry of capital will naturally intensify the market better. We are not afraid of our peers, but like our peers, because more and more peers can cultivate more and more customers.
"Fu Peng revealed that Jiumen Detective is also in extensive contact with capital, and plans to raise tens of millions in Series A for the construction of immersive scripted city commercial complexes and immersive scripted management of scenic spots.
At the 2021 IGS·Global Digital Cultural Creativity Development Conference two months ago, Wang Huanyue, founder of Xiaoheitan, revealed that Xiaoheitan has more than 250,000 users in total, 90,000 monthly active users, more than 4,000 scripts on the shelf, and has settled in the studio. Reaching 1,000, the number of participants in a single script-killing exhibition can reach thousands. In 2020, the number of boxes sold on the Xiaoheitan platform exceeded 200,000, and the average unit price was between 400 and 5,000 yuan; in the first quarter of this year, the number of boxes sold on the platform reached 155,000. , the annual transaction volume this year is expected to be three times that of 2020.
Reasoning Master was established at the end of 2017, and has gradually built a product model for online content distribution and offline organization without moderators through public accounts. ; In January 2019, the complete collection of the mini program Reasoning Master was launched, and offline business was also deployed, including offline distribution, content production and brand franchise; in February 2020, the first Reasoning Master directly-operated store was launched in Beijing, and in April the Reasoning Master group The mini program is online, and online games have shifted to the mini program ecosystem. According to Zhao Jiangbo, CEO of Reasoning Master, as of the end of July 2021, Reasoning Master has 13 million online users, with 100,000 daily active users, and the highest daily active users in a single day can reach 500,000; online users. The repurchase rate is around 25%, and the net profit margin of offline direct stores remains above 50%, and it was profitable last year.
Wang Huanyue pointed out that the industry scale of script sales only took 0 to 10 billion yuan. Two years later. According to the "Physical Script Sales Insight Report" released by Meituan, the size of the script sales market in China will exceed 15 billion yuan in 2021. Obviously, the script sales market will accelerate again in the future.
Script-killing games can be traced back to table games in Germany decades ago. At that time, table games were the best way to communicate in various occasions such as family leisure, friend gatherings, and even business leisure. They landed in China at the beginning of the 21st century and became popular among white-collar workers. . This type of game focuses on making friends among players by challenging their intelligence and analytical computing capabilities. In 2016, with the launch of Mango’s large-scale real-life reasoning and investigation variety show "Star Detective", the number of views reached 900 million. , the script-killing market became instantly popular in 2017. The reason for this popularity is that this type of game meets Generation Z’s updated needs for offline social entertainment. According to the Generation Z social entertainment report released by Accenture, 1. Online accounts for a higher proportion, but Forward to combine online and offline; 2. A stronger sense of immersion; 3. Focusing on the same hobbies, less social pressure; 4. The vertical threshold is lower, making it easier to express oneself and achieve higher social and entertainment efficiency.
Yang Tianyi said, “After recent development, script killing has become very popular among young people. It is a very interesting new form of social entertainment and a content fast-moving consumer goods, but for the entire society and all age groups Still relatively niche. Fu Peng judged that as time goes by, this type of product will be consumed by middle-aged and elderly people born in the 80s, 70s, and 60s. Gao Ge analyzed that on the surface, the business links in the script-killing industry are short, from script creation, to script distribution, to script store operations; but any market segment is actually huge enough, and platform companies can do it both for the public and for the public. It is a niche; and the offline entrance of the script is ever-changing, it cannot be monopolized by giants, and the industry is unbounded.
"The industry is currently in its early stages. No part of the entire industry chain is very strong, and every link has weaknesses." Yang Tianyi admitted, "Although the intervention of capital can help, as a content creative industry "Lack of talent and content iteration cannot be achieved with capital." Gao Ge also reminded of the "side effects" of capital: fewer people are doing business and more people are trying to get financing quickly through the model. High predicts that there will be a period of minor turmoil in the industry. But no matter how turbulent it is, it is progress in action, and the industry is accelerating its offline expansion and "moving away from the virtual to the real."
Why is the industry changing from reality to reality?
“Returning to offline is becoming an important trend.
People can't just live in the information world. Life requires a real offline world, with emotions and experiences. "Zheng Nanyan once stated the reason for founding Tianshui Town and launching scripts in mid-to-high-end hotels.
The three script-production companies that received financing this time all have offline layouts. Drama Garden itself is an offline project and is dedicated to To create an immersive amusement park for a new generation of young consumers in the core area of ??the city, the first project is planned to open at the Viva Beijing R&F Plaza in Shuangjing District, Beijing, with an area of ??nearly 3,000 square meters. "National style" style, with Peach Blossom Spring as the background, through immersive space, live actors, plots and game mechanisms, combined with retail, catering, experience and other formats, using space content to guide and drive consumption, creating an offline comprehensive entertainment format.
Reasoning Master has opened 3 direct sales and more than ten franchise stores. Currently, Reasoning Master is trying to promote cooperation projects with hotels, KTVs, party halls, etc. in multiple offline entertainment scenarios; and considering With the fast pace of life and the fragmentation of time, Reasoning Master attempts to reduce dimensions and launch lightweight products. This reduces the investment burden of merchants and allows players to quickly socialize and relax in a shorter period of time. The service target of "Product" is enterprises. Script Killing store owners can purchase boxed or even city-limited exclusive scripts. At the same time, the platform also provides services such as industry exhibitions, scripts, costumes and props.
After the wild growth, Script Killing To further develop, the industry calls for platform companies to empower stores and script creation and distribution companies to achieve quality, standardization, and branding operations, and to avoid losses and move toward profitability. According to research by Guosheng Securities and Kaiyuan Securities, the script killing industry is still in its infancy. , there are many problems: 1. Screenwriting is mainly part-time, and creators with insufficient ability cannot continue to output high-quality scripts; 2. Distribution is not professional, and many publishers even treat publication scripts of tens of thousands of words as Writing game scripts for distribution involves high risks of copyright and sensitive content; 3. NPC (full name is Non-Player Character, which is a non-player character, and is a real-life prop), DM (full name is Dungeon Maste, known as the host, and is the killer of the script) The key plot connecting characters in the game) are insufficient in industry talent and store operation capabilities are poor, which cannot guarantee the experience of new users and even cause the loss of old users.
“Although scripted game products are expensive and price sensitive. Low, but it does not mean that the industry's profit margin is high. In fact, 90 percent of the script-killing stores on the market are losing money because of high decoration costs, store rents, and vacancy rates. "Gao Ge said that operating a script store in Beijing is very similar to a street store with an investment of 20 to 300,000 yuan, and the so-called "making money" is nothing more than the couple's salary of more than 100,000 yuan. Relevant data shows that domestically, currently There are more than 45,000 script sales stores, and the number may exceed 50,000 or even exceed 70,000 in 2021. Most of them need to be integrated to achieve refined operations.
Fu Peng said that in Chengdu script sales stores are the most popular. Like the mahjong parlor at your doorstep, “due to the low barriers to entry (you can open one for 20,000 to 30,000 yuan), the industry is growing rapidly, but there are also many losses. Is it a problem to survive in the future? "But in the view of Fu Peng's team, offline script-killing stores are iterating from the 1.0 era (a desktop game that lasts 4 hours, a customer order of 90 yuan, and the competition is fierce) to the 2.0 era (a real-life search evidence that lasts 5 hours, a customer order of 130 yuan) , there is still market space), the 3.0 era (a two-day, one-night immersive theater script with a duration of 24 hours and a customer order of 800-1500, is different from the 1.0 and 2.0 eras, and players may repurchase)
Text. How does tourism "kill scripts"?
For Detective Jiumen, "script killings in cultural tourism" are the real outlet.
Since the company was established in July 2019, Jiumen Detective has launched "Blissful Yellow Spring", "Qingtianjian", "Xia Ke Xing" and "The World" in many cultural and tourism destinations in Chengdu (about an hour's drive from the city) in the past year The product portfolio includes popular scripts such as "First" for 98-168 yuan, 778-888 yuan for two-day and one-night scripts, and 348 yuan for 100-person scripts. Fu Peng told New Travel World that "Qing Tian Jian" is open 26 to 27 days per month, with 10 people per show, and the venue is full every day. The opening rate of other themes is nearly 75. The above data has not been verified by a third party. Among them, "Qingtianjian" has been revised since last month, and it can open evening shows every day, that is, it can open two shows every day. All scripts are constantly iterated around key elements such as "gameplay, interactivity and capacity".
The reason why the script is so popular among players is inevitable: first of all, the seven co-founders of Jiumen Detective are all gamers (all engaged in the Internet, real estate, finance, and medical equipment) and are still in business. Three scripts kill stores to understand what players want, and 7 people plan the core elements of each script such as the story frame, gameplay mechanism and background tone to produce good scripts; secondly, they have a keen business sense and low prices under the epidemic Chartered B&B, original two-day-one-night live-action scripted product (first "Elysium", and later "Qingtianjian" developed to reduce operating costs) that is popular among scripted fans. It has been applied through alliances with offline scripted stores. Use new media such as Douyin to spread the word, and sell early bird tickets before opening for flexible operations.
With the successful operation of "Blissful Yellow Spring" and "Qingtianjian", the relevant departments of the Chengdu local government took the initiative to find Jiumen Detective, hoping to turn a separate scenic spot in Jiezi Ancient Town that had been abandoned for eight years Let them operate it, rent-free for 8 years. Now, in less than a year, the problems of aging, homogenization, and no-one-stop shopping in this scenic area have been improved. They have been replaced by script-killing clusters. After the introduction of script-killing enthusiasts born in the 90s and 00s, blacksmith shops, pubs, restaurants, and teahouses Wait until the business income increases significantly. "In addition to introducing the original script into Jiezi Ancient Town, we also developed the "The World's No. 1" 100-person script." Fu Peng is confident that Jiumen Detective can create two or three live-action scripts every month. The gameplay is based on Player feedback brings forth new ideas. At present, in terms of operations, considering the richness of the script, blind box products are about to be launched, and in terms of profit model, we are even negotiating with Moutai for advertising and naming in the tavern in Jiezi Ancient Town...
Long-established cultural theme park Zhengzhou Qingming Riverside Garden is also taking advantage of the trend of "scripted movies" to extend and innovate the in-depth experience of cultural themes. Considering that the current market is still dominated by young people, Qingming Garden's first live-action scripted movie was developed around junior high schools, high schools and college students. "Right now is the peak moment for script sales. For scenic spots, it can not only enrich the secondary entertainment, but also be closely linked with the six elements of food, accommodation, travel, shopping and entertainment." Chen Jian told the New Travel Industry that he is working with independent scripts Teams with creative capabilities will cooperate in joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions will not be ruled out after reaching a certain scale to build an industrial chain development model.
The Zen town Nianhuawan is also stepping up its pace. The planning directions include "hotel accommodation and script killing" and "immersive interpretation and script killing". According to Zhu Weidan, general manager of Nianhuawan Scenic Area, as a content experience product, Nianhuawan's hardware construction and software services are very mature. To make a good "Nianhuawan Script Killing" product, a very professional writing and creation team is needed Empower the “script”. In particular, we must avoid making the scenic spot script into a product that can only explode temporarily. Otherwise, the initial investment in setting up the scene, costumes, lighting, venue construction, etc. will cause inevitable losses to the scenic spot.
Wangxian Valley, located in the north of Wangxian Township, Guangxin District, Shangrao City, has been officially open for script killing since the end of last year. Groups will be launched every day as long as there are enough people to book to participate, with 6 people in a round, each time Duration 2-3 hours. Fang Wei, a script-writing enthusiast and the person in charge of the script-writing project of Shangrao Wangxian Valley Cultural Tourism Development Co., Ltd., said that he is currently refining the two-day-one-night script and at the same time upgrading the accommodation and accommodation packages, including customizing ancient and Republican-style rooms. Dinner packages, transforming a B&B into an inn with a story, etc.
Fang Wei analyzed that the current duration of traditional desktop script killing is generally 4-5 hours, which is too long for novices and people who do not understand script killing, while live script killing makes up for the shortcomings of sitting in the room for too long, two days There is a lot of potential after the one-night live-action script killing. In the future, the immersive plot experience of Wangxian Valley, the immersive interactive theater, and even the 100-person immersive tour project will be launched within this year.
"Currently, cooperation with offline spaces such as hotels, scenic spots, and shopping malls to implement scripts is generally in the early stages, so both parties need to explore more in the early stage." Yang Tianyi of the Amazing Academy told the new travel industry frankly, Although cooperation with the offline space is being carried out on a "case by case" basis, there is no fixed model. "From the payment system to the split account model, there are both independent innovation and joint ventures. Specific issues are analyzed in detail. The key lies in the industry recognition of both parties." Knowledge leads to knowledge." Yang Tianyi suggested that destination operators should prioritize Party B's demands based on the traffic of scenic spots, and at the same time comprehensively consider Party B's team's script creation and script-killing product operation capabilities. Amazing Academy has carried out phased cooperation with Youxi Hotel, has an understanding of offline user needs, and has accumulated experience in hotel scene transformation and script killing operations.
Unlike the Amazing Academy, Thirty-Three Days has a clearer cooperation model with scenic spots, only with "convenient transportation, complete catering and accommodation facilities, but poor management due to lack of high-quality content" In cooperation with scenic spots, Thirty-three Days is responsible for script creation and soft decoration in terms of cooperation model, and revenue sharing is carried out in terms of benefit distribution. The bottom line of Thirty-Three-Day is that it will not invest in the construction of hard equipment and supporting facilities, and script-killing products must be led and operated by Thirty-Three-Day. "Currently, Thirty-Three-Day has signed nearly ten cultural and tourism projects." Gao Ge said, "The reason why we can undertake so many cultural and tourism projects is because Thirty-Three-Day is a cultural company and has done cultural projects such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. And with partial IP authorization, they have the ability to develop the cultural characteristics of scenic spots. However, most of the script-killing stores on the market do not have the ability to undertake scenic spot projects. Most scripts come from publishers and lack the ability to independently create scripts. ”
There is no doubt that Detective Nine Gates has achieved initial success in the field of live-action scripted thrillers. "So far, we have hatched four major categories of two-day-one-night live-action scripts in Chengdu: ancient style, Republic of China style, "Werewolf, Vampire" European style, and "Ninja, Onmyoji" two-dimensional. We are currently developing them in specific locations based on the architectural characteristics of the destination. "Fine-tuning will be done based on the type of script." Fu Peng said that the cooperation with the destination will be carried out in the form of a joint venture, with Jiumen Detective holding 51 shares for brand licensing, script creation and operation, and a small amount of funds will be invested according to the specific conditions of the project. hold. The company is currently launching two-day and one-night live-action scripted productions in Zhejiang, Nanjing, Chongqing, Liaoning and other places. It remains to be seen how effective the joint venture will be. According to data provided by Fu Peng, 30% of players in the past have "second-purchased" (repurchased) the same script of Nine Detectives. "After playing the live-action scripted killer, they are often unwilling to go back to play the desktop scripted killer. It feels too low. , not fun.”