The Zhitong Finance App learned that Wanlian Securities released a research report saying that on August 31, 2026, the State Press and Publication Administration announced the August domestic game version number and imported game version number. A total of 209 domestic games and 6 imported games have passed the review, and a total of 215 game versions were distributed. The number of game editions distributed continues to grow, the number of domestic versions remains high, and reserve products from leading manufacturers are being intensively approved, covering a wide range of game themes. Overall, the trend of normalization of versions continues, new supply-side products continue to be released, and industry prosperity is maintained. It is recommended to focus on the progress of new product launches, market feedback on major products, and leading manufacturers with rich product reserves, outstanding R&D capabilities, and diverse topics.
The main views of Wanlian Securities are as follows:
Game version sales continued to grow in August and hit a new high during the year
Overall, the game version passed a total of 215 models in August, up 9.14% from July (197 models) and 24.28% year over August last year (173 models), continuing the growth trend and hitting a new high during the year. Among them, the domestic game version passed the approval of 209 models in August 2026, including Guangzhou Longchang's “Shelter No. 33”, 37 Entertainment's “Legend of Mortal Immortals: The Road”, Shanghai Sulong's “Dragon Valley: Classic”, Duoyi Network's “Journey to the Dragon”, “Legend of Zhen Yi: Return”, etc.; 6 imported game versions passed approval, including “Cookie Man League”, Hainan Shengtenda's “I Upgrade Alone: Rise”, and Kaiying Network's “Sailing for Hope” etc.
Judging from the announcement of game approval changes in August, dual-end interconnection has become a normalized trend in the domestic game industry
Many popular old products that have been proven in the market have been upgraded through version number changes to add client or mobile versions to complete cross-terminal operation upgrades, thereby breaking the traffic boundaries of a single terminal, fully revitalizing existing IP and user assets, and extending the product life cycle. Among them, Tencent's “Battle of the Golden Shovel”, Gibbitt's “Asking the Sword for Eternity”, and Kaiying Network added client versions to expand mature mobile games to the PC side to take on deep core players, while Duoyi Network's “Heroes of Salvation” added a mobile version, migrating the original PC gameplay to the mobile device to adapt to the fragmented gaming scene. The reason behind the trend of dual-end communication stems from increasingly diverse user play scenarios. Players need both an immersive experience on the PC side and the need to play anytime, anywhere. This model enables users on both ends to channel each other, forms a “deep PC experience+mobile fragmentation” combined operation, and relies on version changes to achieve cross-end expansion. It has become an important path for game manufacturers to tap existing value, but it also places higher demands on manufacturers' technical adaptation, version synchronization, and operation experience optimization.
A number of well-known IP adaptation products have been reviewed
Online articles, classic mobile games, film and television, and mature overseas IP adaptation products such as “Legend of the Mortal Man”, “Dragon Valley”, “Legend of Zhen Yi”, “I Upgrade Alone”, and “Cookie Man League” have received edition numbers, reflecting that the current industry's IP adaptation projects continue to be recognized by the approval side. Major game manufacturers continue to step up their efforts to explore and commercialize existing high-quality IPs. Relying on the IP's own user base and accumulation of feelings, they can effectively reduce the cost of education in the new product market and achieve the dual goals of awakening the feelings of existing users and expanding incremental users. In this imported version approval, Korea's leading IPs “I Upgrade Alone” and “Cookie Man League” were successfully implemented, and the IP source structure of imported games changed markedly. Gradually, from the past dominated by Japanese IPs, to an increase in the proportion of Korean high-quality IPs introduced, the overall quality and supply structure of imported versions was optimized. At the same time, in the approval of domestic game versions, the penetration of IP in online articles, movies and TV series into the game field continues to deepen, and the competitive logic of the industry has been further iterated. The competitive dimension is no longer limited to simple product production quality, but gradually extends to the ecological layout capabilities of the entire IP chain. IP reserves, adaptation and development, and cross-media linkage operations have become important grippers for manufacturers to build long-term competitiveness.
Risk factors: Policy and regulatory risks, the pace of issuing versions falls short of expectations, delays in the launch and performance of new tours falls short of expectations, new game flows fall short of expectations, increased risk of overseas business, and risk of impairment of goodwill.