Huajin Securities: The number of games released on Steam has reached a record high for the year. Quality games and IP drive the market.

Huajin Securities released a research report stating that according to SteamDB, in 2024, the Steam platform released a total of 18,825 new games, breaking the record of 14,311 from last year and setting a new high. Recently, the NYX Gaming Awards officially selected "Black Myth: Wukong" as the best game of 2024, and its developer, Game Science, was listed as a selected brand. According to Steam's year-end review data, high-quality old games still account for the majority of players' game time. The number of game releases on the top platforms reached a new high, "Black Myth" continued to win awards, and high-quality content and IP are expected to continue to strengthen the foundation of the game industry and empower its development. The main points of Huajin Securities are as follows: The number of new game releases on the top platform reached a new high, and online users reached record highs. According to SteamDB, in addition to the record number of game releases in 2024, the number of online users on the platform also reached new highs multiple times throughout the year. In early December, it surpassed 39 million, reaching 39,205,447 people, exceeding the previous peak by about 8 million. In October alone, 1,901 games were released, setting a new record. The top platform ecosystem is thriving, and the game industry is stable and improving. "Black Myth" continues to receive recognition, with technology, culture, and IP driving high-quality games. The NYX Gaming Awards is an international-level authoritative award designed to recognize 3A and indie games that have won awards and have creativity and technical excellence on all platforms. "Black Myth: Wukong" was awarded "Best Game of the Year", continuing to demonstrate its quality. According to SteamDB, among the games released in 2024, "Joker Card" ranked first on the Steam rating list with a 96.73% approval rating, and "Black Myth: Wukong" ranked seventh with a 95.84% approval rating. According to the latest VGI data, "Black Myth: Wukong" has sold over 22.1 million copies on the Steam platform, with total revenue exceeding $1.1 billion (approximately RMB 7.974 billion). High-quality culture and IP are expected to continue to inject strong momentum into the game industry. Emotion and IP-driven high-quality old games, looking forward to the industry prosperity brought by the new game matrix. According to Steam's year-end review data, Steam users spend 47% of their time playing games released in the past 1-7 years, while 37% of their time is spent on classic games released over 8 years ago, and only 15% of their time is spent on newly released games. The main factors leading to this phenomenon include long-term domination of classic IP and hit old games, the long-tail effect of high-quality DLC, discounts on old games, and software and hardware compatibility issues. Nevertheless, a few hits like "Black Myth: Wukong" and "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds 2" have performed exceptionally well in new games. Looking ahead to 2025 with blockbuster buy-to-play games like "GTA 6" leading the market, as well as many new games from leading domestic game companies, the game industry in 2025 is still promising. Investment advice: The top ecosystem continues to thrive, with high-quality culture and IP injecting content, empowering the development of the game industry. It is recommended to pay attention to companies such as TENCENT (00700), NTES-S (09999), BILIBILI-W (09626), Zhejiang Jinke Tom Culture Industry (300459.SZ), 37 Interactive Entertainment Network Technology Group (002555.SZ), Kingnet Network (002517.SZ), Giant Network Group (002558.SZ), G-bits Network Technology (603444.SH), Hangzhou Shunwang Technology (300113.SZ), Ourpalm Co., Ltd. (300315.SZ), Shenzhen Zqgame (300052.SZ), Beijing Ultrapower Software (300002.SZ), Shanghai Film (601595.SH), Shenzhen Bingchuan Network (300533.SZ), KUAISHOU-W (01024), Shanghai Yaoji Technology (002605.SZ), etc. Risk warning: Policy volatility, new game performance below expectations, macroeconomic volatility risks, etc.