SANQI HUYU(SZ:002555) 3 6 Ke·2025-10-16 09:57Core Insights - The Chinese gaming market, despite being perceived as saturated, continues to evolve with the emergence of mini-games, which have shown significant growth in recent years [1][3] - The mini-game market generated revenue of 39.836 billion yuan in the past year, marking a year-on-year growth of 99.18%, with 500 million monthly active users, only 10% of whom overlap with the mobile gaming market [1][3] Group 1: Market Dynamics - The success of mini-games is attributed to their reliance on social platforms, ease of access, and strong social sharing attributes, alongside lower development costs compared to traditional mobile games [3][6] - Currently, 70% of listed gaming companies are investing in the mini-game sector, with notable products like "Endless Winter" and "Seeking the Great Thousand" leading the market [3][6] Group 2: Challenges for Small Teams - The entry of large companies into the mini-game market has increased operational costs, making it harder for small teams, which constitute 80% of the market, to compete [5][6] - As competition intensifies, the marginal returns on purely creative gameplay are diminishing, making it difficult for new mini-games to achieve significant user acquisition without substantial marketing budgets [8][9] Group 3: Opportunities for Small Teams - Despite challenges, small teams remain a vital part of the mini-game ecosystem and can leverage partnerships with larger platforms for support in product development and marketing [9][10] - Companies like ByteDance and Kuaishou are providing financial incentives and technical support to developers, helping to reduce marketing costs and enhance product competitiveness [10][12] Group 4: Evolution of Game Development - The mini-game sector is evolving similarly to the mobile game market, with a shift towards combining creative gameplay with established genres to meet user expectations [6][17] - Traditional mobile game content is increasingly influencing mini-game development, with many existing mobile games being adapted for mini-game platforms [17][19] Group 5: Future Directions - The unique social and high-sharing characteristics of mini-games may lead to distinct developmental paths compared to traditional mobile games, emphasizing the importance of innovation and adaptation to platform features [19][20] - Developers are encouraged to focus on gameplay creativity while relying on professional teams for technical optimization and commercialization, allowing them to carve out a niche in the growing mini-game market [20]