Bullet screen game live streaming has become popular on Douyin, with some anchors earning as much in one month as they did in the past year...

How does the live broadcast of interactive games with bullet screens work? Why did it suddenly become popular? Will this be a new trend? This article introduces the operation of the live broadcast of interactive games with bullet screens, which has recently become popular on Douyin, explains the reasons for its second popularity, and then analyzes the current market situation of this type of game. It is recommended for people who are interested in the operation of live broadcast of interactive games with bullet screens, and I hope it will be helpful to everyone.

Do you still remember the barrage interactive game "Xiu Gou Nightclub" that became popular on Bilibili in 2021?

Danmu interactive games are games that convert effective bullet comments sent by viewers into commands to realize game operations. They rely on live broadcast rooms, rely on audience rewards and commercial cooperation for profit, and have features such as instant play and multi-person interaction. For example, "Xiu Gou Nightclub" is to control your own puppy image by sending bullet comment commands, and simply interact with the music to realize "cloud disco".

Nowadays, the interactive game live broadcast on Douyin has become popular again, attracting many guilds and anchors to join. It is understood that some anchors earn 100,000 yuan in one hour; some anchors have a monthly turnover of one million, and one month is equivalent to a year's...

What is the magic of interactive game live streaming with bullet screens? Will it become a new outlet?

1. Bullet-screen game live streaming swept TikTok

"2600 groups of frog jumps and 1560 groups of bats, they were a direct counter-kill. My computer was clocked out. Thank you, especially for your support."

At 12:30 in the morning, the live broadcast room of anchor @12 i gathered nearly 1,300 viewers. She was passionately explaining the progress of the game and cheering for the players on both sides. In the live broadcast room, users' barrages and gifts kept flashing.

The game in @12 i's live broadcast room is called "Dragon Wars", an interactive game officially supported by Douyin. Users can send "red" or "blue" in the comment area to join a camp, and summon "soldiers" to fight by giving gifts.

Finally, when the game confrontation reached a white-hot stage and the two sides were in a stalemate, a user generously bought 2,600 groups of jumping frogs and 1,560 groups of bats, completed the counterattack and won the victory.

This also opened the eyes of the audience in the live broadcast room: "We are fortunate to witness this visual feast." Some people even joked: "This is not a fight, this is throwing money."

This is the recently popular interactive game live broadcast of barrage on Douyin. It is a new type of game play based on live broadcast and barrage functions. The audience can influence the progress of the game through barrage or gifts, and thus win the final victory of the game.

Because of its low threshold, strong interactivity, rich live broadcast scenarios, and the ability to bring in good influx, it has attracted many anchors and guilds to join.

According to the Operation Research Society, the Douyin anchor "Wang Jiaoshou" once live-streamed for 1.4 hours, with 106 viewers sending gifts, earning 1.12 million sound waves, or about 110,000 yuan.

Q, an operator from a leading guild, posted on WeChat Moments that some anchors can earn millions in monthly revenue, which is equivalent to the anchor's annual revenue from other live broadcasts.

In addition, Xinbochang saw a guild’s bullet screen game live broadcast fan group announcing the live broadcast of anchors on a certain day, showing that there were 275 anchors broadcasting on that day, with a total daily turnover of 5.4 million and an average income of 884 yuan. According to the published data rankings, the anchor with the highest live broadcast income on that day had a cash income of 9,460 yuan.

"Interactive games are so popular, and interactive barrage is a trend. Those who haven't seen the trend and entered the market should hurry up." Q said in the circle of friends. With low cost and high return, this niche track that is not well known to the public is in a state of "making a small fortune in silence".

Xinbochang took stock of some accounts on Douyin that make barrage games. When you click on the homepage, almost all of them are live broadcast slices and short video content of barrage games. Among the accounts with the name "barrage games", the top three personal accounts with the highest number of fans are @夜猫子爱游戏, @森林浒玛-是鹿哥呀, and @利昂(互動游戏), with 238,000, 67,000, and 64,000 fans respectively.

If you search for a specific game name, such as "萌宠宠之战", there are more related anchors. Among them, the one with the most fans is "明家游戏君", a game anchor with more than 1 million fans.

It can also be seen that these accounts are not all anchors, some are institutional accounts. The guild personally made videos and live broadcasts to introduce the gameplay and participation methods of the barrage interactive game.

For example, "Leader | Barrage Game Live" has 258,000 fans. The organization behind it is Asia Entertainment. The anchor communicates with the audience in the live broadcast room about the process of creating a barrage game live broadcast account. Fans can apply to go on the microphone if they have any questions, and they can also get the account creation information by clicking into the fan group on the homepage.

2. Why did it become popular again?

The live streaming gameplay of barrage interactive games is not new, and it can be said to be a second comeback.

As early as 2014, some people abroad had tried it on the Twitch platform. The audience in the live broadcast room could jointly operate the game by sending barrage commands. Initially, this game mode was called "Twitch Plays" on the Twitch platform and was named "Bullet Screen Interactive Game" in China.

The development of interactive game live streaming with barrage in China can be summarized as "becoming popular on Tik Tok and becoming extremely popular on Bilibili."

In September 2021, a game called "Summon Wukong" was launched on Douyin. As long as users give gifts in the live broadcast room, they can increase the level and attack power of the character, thereby winning the game, which has attracted many users to spend money on it. It is reported that at that time, the income of a new account of "Summon Wukong" could reach about 800 yuan a day.

However, the game was soon determined by Douyin to be a "pay-to-win" mobile game that induces payment, and was officially banned.

Following the previous ban, many games on Douyin were forced to move to Bilibili. It was also from this time that the live broadcast of interactive games with barrages began to "grow wildly".

In November 2021, a game called "Xiu Gou Nightclub" became popular on Bilibili. At that time, the story of 600,000 people gathering in the live broadcast room to start a "cloud disco" swept the entire live broadcast industry and started a wave of interactive game live broadcasts in China. Later, Bilibili also formed an independent section for barrage interactive live broadcast games. In addition to "Xiu Gou Nightclub", small games such as "Crowding the Subway" and "Flushing the Toilet" are also popular among users.

In addition to the dedicated partitions, game developers can also find the barrage interactive game function development documents provided by Bilibili in the Bilibili Creator Center.

Perhaps seeing the value of barrage interactive games, and with the enrichment of barrage interactive game types, Douyin began internal testing of barrage interactive game live broadcasts in October 2022. Until this year, more and more anchors have entered the Douyin market, and platforms such as Huya, Douyu, and Inke have also begun to enter the market.

In essence, the low threshold for live streaming of barrage games, low costs, rich live streaming scenes, and strong interactivity are important reasons that attract many entrants.

For this type of live broadcast, the host is more like the host of the game than explaining the game, and the audience is the real player of the game. On the other hand, the live broadcast of barrage games is a confrontation mechanism between different camps, and users can fully enjoy the thrill of the game, which is fresh and exciting, and the live broadcast room has become a game hall.

Previously, a guild operator posted on WeChat Moments that barrage game live streaming does not require the host to be able to play the game. The key is to be able to see the situation of the red and blue sides, and to lead the pace and cheer on whichever side is at a disadvantage.

It is the same as a normal live broadcast, except that the PK scene has changed. The protagonist of the live broadcast room has changed from the anchor to the audience, but the requirements for the anchor's live broadcast ability are actually not high.

In terms of hardware equipment, the anchor only needs a computer, a mobile phone and a microphone. During the live broadcast, the anchor must show his face throughout the whole process, and can also use special effects props to cartoonize the characters, but he cannot hang up the live broadcast, otherwise the system will permanently ban the game opening permission.

In addition, the development cost of the barrage interactive game is very low. The owner of XiuGou Nightclub said in a media interview that the development time of XiuGou Nightclub was less than a week, and the operating cost was basically the electricity bill, "it can be achieved with a few thousand yuan."

With low costs and quick money-making, coupled with the success of major official platforms, many people have seen the potential value of interactive game live streaming with barrages, causing this wave to come again, even more popular than before.

3. Is this just a passing fad or a new trend?

It is understood that there are currently dozens of interactive games officially supported by Douyin.

Among them, competitive games are the most popular among users, such as "Cute Pets Battle", "Werewolf Killing", "Tank War", "Ball Era", etc.; followed by decompression games, which have the simplest gameplay, such as "3D Pinball".

In addition, there are many other categories such as points-based games, and different games have different ways of playing. From the multiple live broadcast rooms observed by Xinbochang, the most popular live broadcast on Douyin is "Cute Pets Battle".

It is understood that the existing barrage interactive gameplay is a business model jointly operated by the platform, manufacturers, and anchors. The commission ratios of the three parties are 50%, 8%, and 42% respectively. Except for the game manufacturer's commission of "Forest Party" which is 18%, the commission of other games is 8 points.

According to a screenshot posted by the head of a live broadcast guild on WeChat Moments, "The revenue share of Cute Pets War has changed because the game is so popular that the official and the manufacturer have increased the commission ratio. Originally, the official took 50% and the manufacturer took 8%, but now it has been adjusted to 50% and the manufacturer took 13%." However, the developer of Cute Pets War said that the news was untrue.

Currently, if anchors want to do barrage game live broadcasts, they must join a guild that has the authority to broadcast live, and they cannot broadcast on their own.

After consulting with a guild’s recruiter, Xinbochang found that there are currently two cooperation models for guilds recruiting barrage game live streamers: 1. The guild does not share any profits, and after deducting the official and manufacturer’s commissions, the anchor can get a maximum of 42% of the profits; 2. The guild takes a certain share, and one guild takes 4.2%, and can provide the anchor with 1-on-1 operational support, live broadcast room construction and other operational support.

Not sharing profits is equivalent to the "hanging on" model. When the overall turnover of the guild reaches a certain scale, it will receive official profit sharing rewards. This is a common operating method for entertainment guilds.

Nowadays, the reason why many guilds are actively recruiting anchors is not only because of the low threshold, considerable turnover income and official support, but also because the boom period of barrage game live streaming may not last too long.

First of all, there are not many professional gaming organizations and anchors entering the market now, so entertainment anchors and amateur anchors can still get a piece of the pie.

Furthermore, during the promotion phase of bullet screen games, manufacturers will give relatively large concessions on revenue sharing. As the game continues to be popular, the subsequent revenue sharing ratio may increase. An example is the increase in the revenue sharing ratio of "Cute Pets War".

Moreover, "Summoning Wukong" was banned before because it was defined as "krypton scam". Now with the emergence of a large number of barrage interactive games, it is still unknown how the platform and industry supervision will be.

Whether this is just a passing fad or a new trend remains to be seen.

Author: Xiaolongguo

Source: WeChat public account "New Broadcasting Field (ID: chuanboticao)"