【Preface】
On the evening of May 20, 2025, the high-profile NetEase 520 online press conference was held as scheduled. Since announcing its entry into the C-end market at NetEase’s “520 Conference” in 2022, Yingcore, a well-known domestic VR game publisher, has gone through a three-year journey and ushered in an important milestone for its third anniversary.
In the past three years, Shadowcore has successively brought five categories and a total of ten masterpieces to domestic VR users, covering puzzle-solving adventure, sports, shooting, action, casual social and other rich gameplay. Shadowcore not only introduced mature masterpieces from overseas such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, but also supported excellent VR games in China.
According to the “2024 Global VR Game Industry Report” released by VR Gyro, “Camel Party”, “Brave Fist Charge” and “Arrow of Ashes” released by Shadowcore last year are all among the “2024 PICO Platform New Popularity TOP”
10″, the results of its efforts can be seen.
In this “Echo of Time and Space: Shadowcore 520 Lovers Carnival 3rd Anniversary Carnival” event, Shadowcore launched a series of customized activities based on the respective characteristics of the game and the recent situation of the PICO community, aiming to expand the recognition of the work, deepen brand influence, and further promote the development of the domestic VR market.
Part.1 F2P+ e-sports operation activates the player community
“Brave Fist Charge” is a multiplayer online action game launched last year, focusing on PvP gameplay, developed by Japanese manufacturer MyDearest. The overseas version of the game is priced at $14.99, and when it was released in China, it boldly adopted the “F2P + in-app purchase” business model, combined with various competitions and promotional activities, successfully activated the domestic player community.
In fact, F2P+ in-app purchases are becoming more and more common in the VR gaming space, from the rise of “Gorilla Tag” in 2021 to the “Yeeps: Hide and” in the past two years
Seek” and “Animal Company” are frequent, and their revenue is not inferior to that of boutique buyout games.
Cao Anjie, general manager of Shadowcore, told VR Gyro: “The adjusted “Brave Fist Charge” has lived up to expectations and has been at the top of the PICO free list for a long time, which also reflects Shadowcore’s insight and initiative in the domestic VR market as a publisher.
The F2P business model has proven its success on multiple platforms, and a number of F2P hits have also appeared on Quest to drive strong growth, which also shows that with the increase in user volume, the demand for multiplayer content such as social and competitive content will promote the development of the F2P model and inject new vitality into it. ”
As early as the public beta period of “Brave Fist Charge”, Shadowcore prepared a “killing competition” for it, which has both promotional gameplay and competitiveness, and the popularity continues to this day. This year, the film core has successively launched more rich forms such as team PK competitions and ring competitions, and the first “World’s No. 1 Martial Arts Competition” was held vigorously, supplemented by multi-platform live broadcasts and multi-dimensional play styles of community guessing and sharing, which aroused enthusiastic responses among the player group.
Shadowcore has a lot of experience in VR × esports. As early as before entering the C-end release, Shadowcore has held activities such as the “Rhythm Space” E-sports Challenge and the “2021 World VR Industry Conference VR E-sports Competition”, and has rich experience in event organization, promotion and publicity.
“Brave Fist Charge” is a continuously updated service game (GaaS) that was launched in JanuaryNew heroesAfter “Meige”, a new hero “Hermit” was updated in April, and the exciting “Biochemical Mode Challenge” brought a completely different experience. With the introduction of new characters, venues and gameplay modes, it is more necessary to supplement corresponding activities to maintain popularity and exposure, and phased rewards can also ensure player retention.
This time, the 520 Carnival has launched a special “Pass Hero Challenge” for “Brave Fist Charge”, encouraging players to actively use new characters to level up. The Shadow Core VR Mini Program provides a convenient function for generating achievement posters with one click, making it convenient for players to record and share their results. The discount coupons and in-game currency (Huizhen Gems) rewarded by the event further encourage players to spend and continue to invest in VR, thus achieving a virtuous circle.
Part.2 Cultural empowerment + localization strategy to open up the content ecosystem
Among the first batch of works in the C-end distribution business of Shadowcore, “Labyrinth VR” has won widespread praise from the media and players for its exquisite puzzle-solving gameplay, and ranked among the “TOP of the Quest All-Time Best-Selling List” recently announced by Meta
50″, and received a high score of 4.9 out of 5 from nearly 1,000 domestic users on the PICO platform. In April this year, Shadowcore brought another new game in the puzzle category “Sealegend: The Rise of the Queen”.
The film has won numerous awards overseas, including the 2021 Rain Dance Film Festival Discovery Award, the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival Storyscape Award, and the Producers Guild of America (PGA) 2025 Innovation Award nomination. The game is based on the 19th-century female pirate Zheng Yisao, and invites Liu Yuling, a well-known Hollywood female movie star, to narrate the legendary life of this pirate queen.
Filmmaker and creative director Eloise
Singer gave “Legend of the Sea: The Rise of the Queen” a strong film and television style, combined with the immersive perspective of VR, making players feel like they were in that magnificent era. Since the story takes place during the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of Chinese elements are incorporated into the game, from the scene to the various props and decorations, which makes people feel very cordial. Currently, the game has a positive rating of 92% on the PICO platform.
Singer Studios
Last year’s Meta
Quest’s exclusive masterpiece “Wrath of Asgard 2” has been updated with full Chinese voice + subtitles, which has excited many domestic players. When Shadowcore launched “Legend of the Sea: The Rise of the Queen”, it also added full Chinese dubbing, which is precious in the current field of VR games.
As one of the world’s largest VR markets, China has great potential and has undoubtedly attracted the attention of many overseas VR developers. In the process of playing the role of publisher, Shadowcore contacted VR developers from all over the world, and how to introduce the Chinese market and help them adapt their works to the domestic environment is also very important.
Cao Anjie, general manager of Shadow Core, told VR Gyro: “Overseas developers are generally full of confidence and expectations for the Chinese market, and they hope to bring more high-quality VR content to Chinese players and find their own opportunities in diversified market demands. However, they are also aware of the particularities of the Chinese market, especially in terms of localized content, player preferences, and cultural differences.
Shadowcore is committed to providing a smooth communication platform for overseas developers to help them gain an in-depth understanding of the unique needs and preferences of Chinese players. Through these in-depth insights, developers can more accurately tailor their product content to better align with the local market. At the same time, we also provide developers with one-stop solutions by creating professional and efficient local distribution services, thereby reducing their difficulty in entering the Chinese market. Through the concept of professional, efficient and transparent cooperation, we also focus on providing a high-quality cooperation soil for global developers, promoting more overseas high-quality content to successfully land in China, and helping developers achieve long-term success in this market full of opportunities and challenges. ”
Last year, Meta and PICO coincidentally chose to “open the mall”, giving more independent VR games the opportunity to showcase, but issues such as the unclear recommendation mechanism also attracted some opposition. This year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC
2025), overseas VR developers have expressed concerns about the exposure of their works. As a publisher representative between platforms and developers, Shadowcore also expressed his views:
“In the past two years, indie games have performed very well in the entire game industry, and a large number of indie games have brought many interesting new ways to play. As a field that is still in the growth stage, we certainly welcome more independent VR games to join and jointly explore more possibilities in the form of VR. As a publisher, we also had problems with unclear recommendation mechanisms in the early days of C-side publishing, but as we engaged with players and creators, listened to and observed players’ voices, this problem was naturally solved. ”
Some overseas VR games are trying to “huddle together” through cross-manufacturer cooperation, such as bundling several works for promotion, jointly building booths offline to attend exhibitions, etc. As a distributor, Shadowcore has the advantage in this regard.
In this 520 Carnival, Shadowcore launched the “Puzzle Solving Special Bundle” promotion, which is a bundle promotion of “Maze VR”, “Sea Legend: The Rise of the Queen” and “Stealth: Attrition Crisis”, three different studios of the same category to attract users who love this type of gameplay; The “limited-time flash sale” activity embraces new users at an ultra-low threshold price of 3~4.5% off, and can also increase the exposure of old works.
ChinaJoy held every July is the coveted exposure stage for many VR games. Last year, Shadowcore announced “Brave Fist Charge” and “Stealth: Attrition Crisis” on ChinaJoy, and there was an endless stream of players trying out and checking in on the spot.
ChinaJoy 2024
Part.3 Empower developers and VR users to grow in both directions with brand thinking
In the past three years since entering the C-end distribution, Shadowcore has promoted the diversification of VR game categories with a product selection strategy of excellence, and has launched a brand in a down-to-earth manner, and has a good reputation among users that “Shadowcore is released and must be a high-quality product”.
At the same time, Shadowcore’s own “Little Shadow” IP is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people with an anthropomorphic image, and has become a mascot for publicity, not only appearing as an exclusive skin in games such as “Camel Cub Party”, but also producing a series of exquisite peripheral products such as dolls and stands, making the brand image more concrete online and offline, and deepening the impression of Shadowcore in the domestic VR user group.
Xiaoying image (left) and COSER’s outfit at the offline exhibition (right)
At the same time, Shadowcore has also customized activity plans for the characteristics of the game and the PICO platform, catalyzing the activity of the player community for a long time, and taking “not only distribution, but also connection” as its own responsibility, becoming an important link between developers, platforms and users. Nowadays, VR all-in-one users represented by Quest are showing a younger trend overseas. Shadowcore shared with VR Gyro their long-term observation of the domestic VR market during the operation process and corresponding strategies:
“At present, the main group of domestic VR hardware is still concentrated in 30-45 years old (especially home users and technology enthusiasts), but the proportion of young users (18-25 years old) is gradually increasing. Taking “Brave Fist Charge” as an example, we found that some players are only 12-25 years old in recent online events, and this proportion will rise further during the winter and summer vacations.
Users of “Camel Cub Party” tend to have social needs, like to dress up personally, and play styles for casual entertainment; The audience of “Brave Fist Charge” prefers more challenging gameplay experiences such as competition and tactical operations. The main problem of the two games on the current PICO platform is that there are certain differences in the active time of users of different age groups, so we will guide and assist players through customized strategies to make them have a better gaming experience.
For example, we will prepare questionnaires during the event so that players can fill in their play time in advance, so that they can organize groups in the future, help players better match their game time, and cultivate the habit of focusing on online activities. In addition, we have added limited-time rankings, limited-time modes, and other mechanisms to guide players to go online during more multiplayer periods. For the core users of both games, we have designed some activities that appeal to them, such as “Brave Fist Charge”, and in view of the game’s players who are biased towards competitive attributes, Shadowcore has also held more ‘low-threshold’ events, allowing players to feel the unique charm of the game in the game. ”
“Camel Cub Party” successfully went overseas under the name of “Alpaca Party”
In addition to introducing high-quality content for domestic players, Shadowcore will try to help domestic works go overseas for the first time in 2024, and “Camel Cub Party” has successfully landed on Quest andSteamPlatform. Cao Anjie, general manager of Film Core, firmly said that in the future, he will strive to promote domestic VR products on the international stage:
“As a Chinese VR game publisher, Shadowcore is committed to becoming a bridge connecting players with high-quality content. We have been actively communicating with the domestic VR development team to find high-quality content, and if there is suitable content, we are also happy to let overseas players see high-quality Chinese games.
“Camel Party” is an expansion and attempt of our concept in this concept, and the overseas work of “Camel Party” has allowed us to see many ideas that are completely different from those in China, and we have recognized many interesting overseas players, allowing us to see more possibilities. Therefore, in the next work, I will also encourage our team to continue to promote overseas distribution business, explore more good content and go overseas, and make Shadowcore the core hub for more high-quality VR content to go to the world stage. ”
Looking ahead, the film core also exclusively revealed to VR Gyro about the next introduced work: “This is by the American independent studio Funktronic
A VR game developed by Labs that combines roguelike mechanics and tactical shooting, it received ‘special praise’ on the Steam platform and a Meta store rating of 4.5/5. In VR in 2023
Awards nominations for ‘Best VR Game of the Year’ and ‘Best Indie VR Game’; The Game 2023
Awards (TGA) was shortlisted for ‘Best VR Game of the Year’ by many media outlets. And the sales of all platforms belong to the head echelon among independent VR games, and they belong to niche boutique VR games. ”
【Conclusion】
In the past three years, with a keen eye for product selection and innovative distribution strategies, Shadowcore has not only brought diversified high-quality content to domestic VR players, but also become an important bridge connecting global developers and the Chinese market. From the e-sports operation of “Brave Fist Charge” to the cultural cultivation of “Legend of the Sea: The Rise of the Queen”, from promoting the landing of independent works to helping domestic games go overseas, Shadowcore has always taken “high-quality distribution” as the core and “connecting the ecology” as its responsibility, showing its forward-looking insight and responsibility for the VR industry.
In the future, Film Core will continue to deepen the brand concept of “more than distribution”, work with developers and players to explore the infinite possibilities of VR, and lead the Chinese VR market to a broader stage.
