Show girls from Perfect World Co Ltd pose at the China Joy expo in Shanghai. （Photo by Jin Xin / for China Daily）
Last summer, iQiyi launched a new plan to connect its various IP resources, including online literature, TV dramas, movies, gaming and products based on those IPs.
Mobile gaming is another sector contributing hugely to the new business. Gama Data Corp noted in its report that mobile games based on other forms of IP products contributed 74.56 billion yuan to China's economic output in 2017. They also accounted for more than 60 percent of the total revenue of the mobile games segment.
Wang Xu, chief analyst at Gamma Data Corp, said that as the country's demographic dividend is disappearing, gaming developers need to explore new methods of business expansion.
"Driven by the love for great copyrighted cultural products, netizens will be willing to experience related derivative works, among which games will be suitable carriers. And the IP rights-protected products will help reduce the cost for developers to attract users," Wang added.
The report noted that digital games occupied around 40 percent of the total pan-entertainment industry sales and hit 200 billion yuan in revenue last year. The gaming segment is playing a key role in boosting the overall development of the pan-entertainment market, it said.
Perfect World Co Ltd, a Chinese movie and gaming company, is now targeting the digital young generation with IP-protected products, spanning the categories of anime, comics and gaming, or ACG, movie and TV dramas.
Lu Xiaoyin, chief operating officer of Perfect World Games, said at a company news conference earlier this year in Beijing that young people usually prefer the specific culture embodied in the game, and they will also like the application of the latest technologies.
Lu claimed the company will continue to innovate its key IP rights-protected products to cater to the younger generation's diversified and personalized cultural needs.
Agreed Tong Qing, senior vice-president of Perfect World: "There is a growing trend of spinoffs from hot IP rights related to games and other forms of entertainment products."
Because China is at the forefront of the online culture industry in the world, it's also a pioneer in dealing with new problems that pop up.
Si Xiao, president of Tencent Research Institute, said at a culture summit in Shenzhen, Guangdong province in May that the online literature business loses more than 10 billion yuan each year to piracy.
According to Si, IP-protected products have gradually become the key to drive the online culture industry, and the industry should pay more attention to IP protection activities.
"More efforts are needed to protect IP from infringement and piracy, which will also better encourage the creation and innovation," Si added. "It will still take years to foster a better environment, and I believe new technologies such as blockchain will help protect the IP."
