不知道你有没有发现,最近打开你关注的游戏博主列表，会发现一半以上的账号都停更了——有的停在半年前，有的停在一年前，那些曾经每天追更的游戏吐槽、测评、攻略号，悄悄从你的推送里消失了，我前阵子整理关注列表，一口气取关了30多个停更超过3个月的游戏号，其中不乏我追了五六年的老博主，忍不住感慨：曾经人人都能分一杯羹的游戏自媒体赛道，怎么就越来越容不下草根创作者了？我结合身边的真实例子，还有2024年最新的游戏行业数据，跟大家好好聊聊这件事。
流量红利退潮：百万粉博主也逃不过停更命运
2024年上半年新榜发布的《游戏内容生态行业报告》里有一组数据很扎心：过去一年游戏内容整体流量上涨了12%，但83%的流量集中在1%的头部账号手里，腰部及以下的中小游戏自媒体，平均流量同比下滑了46%，近三成百万粉以下的游戏账号更新频率下降超过70%。
这不是冰冷的数据,就是我身边朋友的真实经历，我有个发小叫阿凯，2019年从传媒大学毕业，那时候正好是中视频流量红利期，游戏内容缺口大，他拒绝了网易游戏的offer，租了个15平米的单间在杭州，一头扎进了游戏自媒体行业，阿凯主打深度独立游戏测评，不走标题党，每款游戏都自己打通了再写稿剪视频，2021年他发了一条《这款6块钱的国产独立游戏，骂醒了所有想做游戏的年轻人》，一下子爆了1200万播放，当天涨了80万粉，直接冲进了B站游戏区百大创作者候选。
那时候阿凯有多风光？一条商单报价5万，还得排期一个月，他当时跟我喝酒说，打算攒一年钱就开工作室，招两三个人一起做，未来还要做自己的游戏节目，结果才过了两年，今年春天我再见到阿凯，他已经把杭州的单间退了，收拾行李去上海上班了，那个80万粉的账号，现在半个月更一条，还是随缘更，阿凯跟我算了一笔账：2023年一整年，他只接到了4个商单，最高的一个才1.2万，剩下三个都是换皮小游戏，单个8000，扣除税和平台分成，到手不到3万，平均一个月才2000多，连房租都付不起。
“原来以为流量是我的，后来才发现，流量是平台赏的，平台不想给了，我什么都没有。”阿凯这句话我记到现在，这不是他一个人的感慨，是绝大多数草根游戏自媒体的现状，我前阵子刷新闻，还看到2024年上半年国内有超过1200家中小型游戏MCN机构注销，批量清退了上万名签约的中小游戏创作者，整个行业都在挤泡沫。
草根游戏自媒体越来越难，三个真相戳破假象
很多人说,不就是流量不够吗？我更勤快一点，多更几条就行了，为什么这么多人坚持不下去？其实不是创作者不努力，是整个行业的底层逻辑都变了，三个真相摆在这，你不得不认。
第一个真相,流量分配逻辑彻底变了，草根再也拿不到免费流量了，早期平台做游戏内容，缺创作者缺内容，所以只要你更新，就给你基础流量，做得好一点就推你上热门，现在不一样了，游戏内容池早就满了，用户刷一天都刷不完，平台要的不是更多内容，是能留得住用户、能帮平台赚钱的内容，自然把所有流量都倾斜给头部千万粉账号、头部主播，你一个几万粉的小号，既带不来广告营收，也带不来直播打赏，平台凭什么给你流量？更何况现在AI生成内容普及，做资讯盘点、攻略类的游戏号，AI一小时能剪10条，批量发十几个平台，把本来就不多的中小创作者流量抢得一干二净，我上次搜“2024年必玩的Switch游戏”，前10条结果里有7条都是AI生成的，配音文案全是AI，内容都是拼接的，但更新快、关键词铺得多，流量比原创还高，你说原创草根怎么拼？
第二个真相,游戏厂商的广告预算越来越集中，草根根本分不到汤，很多人说，版号不是放开了吗？2024年每个月都发近百个版号，应该更多推广需求才对啊？但你不知道的是，版号放开之后，马太效应更严重了，根据2024年上半年中国音像与数字出版协会发布的游戏产业报告，国内头部游戏企业占了整个市场66%的营收，手里拿着90%以上的推广预算，这些预算根本不会给中小自媒体，要么砸给头部主播带量，要么砸给抖音信息流买量，人家要的是转化率，不是小流量，那中小厂商呢？中小厂商就算拿到了版号，大部分也拿不出推广预算，一半以上拿到版号的游戏根本没上线，要么就是直接把项目卖给头部厂商，剩下愿意推广的，也只愿意花几万块买量，不会找自媒体接商单，我阿凯那个80万粉的号，去年有个找他推广的独立游戏团队，整个推广预算才5万，还要包开屏，根本付不起他的报价，最后谈崩了，等于没单。
第三个真相,用户的阅读习惯变了，深度内容没人看了，现在用户想了解一款游戏，直接去直播间看主播玩，比你剪的测评还直观，谁还看你十几分钟的深度测评？短视频时代，用户就喜欢看15秒的爽文内容：“这款游戏开局就送VIP，太良心了”“女主播陪玩的游戏，到底长什么样”，你跟用户讲玩法、讲剧情、讲内核，用户划走比翻书还快，阿凯就是做深度内容的，原来一条视频15分钟，粉丝都说看得过瘾，现在粉丝打开率不到3%，100个粉丝里只有3个人点进来，平台一看数据差，更不给推流量，进入死循环。
还在坚持的草根，都换了什么活法？
难道草根游戏自媒体就真的没有活路了吗？我看也不是，我身边还有不少坚持下来的，只是他们都早就不玩“做流量接商单”那一套了，换了活法反而活得比以前还好。
我认识一个叫阿菜的女生,原来做王者荣耀攻略，做了三年才5万粉，接商单一条才2000块，根本养不活自己，后来她改做“搬砖日常”，就是每天拍自己在怀旧服搬砖赚多少钱，花了多少时间，连剪辑都不怎么剪，就是原相机拍日常，现在抖音13万粉，她不靠商单赚钱，靠带粉丝进搬砖交流群，一个人收99块会费，每个月都能进一两百个人，扣除平台手续费，一个月赚两万多，比原来接商单赚得多太多，而且稳定，不用看厂商脸色。
还有一个叫老郭的博主,原来做CSGO解说，做了八年，粉丝30万，去年他干脆不做线上商单了，在老家武汉开了一家主机游戏体验馆，每天拍体验馆的日常，今天来了一群00后玩双人成行，太甜了”“周末爆满，大厅都坐满了”，把线上粉丝直接引到线下消费，现在一个月除去房租水电，能赚三万多，比原来做线上稳定多了，他说原来做线上，平台改个算法我就慌，现在我有实体店，粉丝都是本地的，回头客特别多，根本不用慌。
更厉害的是一个叫小牧的独立游戏测评博主,做了五年，攒了20万精准粉，都是喜欢独立游戏的玩家，去年他干脆自己下场做独立游戏，自媒体更自己做游戏的开发日记，粉丝看着他从写策划到画素材，现在已经众筹了18万，游戏还没做完， already has a group of core fans waiting, even if it's not a big hit, he can make money back, right?
I think this is the right way for grassroots game self-media now: you don't have to eat the rice of platform flow and manufacturer advertising, you turn your fans into your own business, turn your influence into your own cash flow, instead of lying down and waiting for the platform to give you flow, you take the initiative to turn flow into your own thing.
For new people who want to enter the industry, three pieces of advice from someone who's been there
A lot of young people who love games still come to me and ask, I love games, I want to be a game self-media, what should I do? I'll give you three very real pieces of advice, listen if you want:
First, never quit your job naked to do it. I've seen too many people, quit their job as soon as they get hot, rent an office, buy a bunch of equipment, do it for half a year, no flow no income, end up with a bunch of debt, can only go back to work in despair. You can do it part-time first, update on weekends, do it for a year, if your monthly income can be more than twice your salary, then you can come out full-time, it's not too late, don't bet all your chips on it from the start.
Second, don't do pan-flow, do precise segmentation. A lot of people just start out, what game is popular on what, today post Genshin impact tomorrow Black Myth Wukong the day after tomorrow Honor of Kings, the fan grows fast, but they are all pan-fans, no one remembers you, you take business orders conversion rate is particularly low. You might as well stick to a small track, just do domestic independent game evaluation, just do old game nostalgia, just do Japanese small game evaluation, even if you only have 10,000 fans, all are precise, manufacturers looking for you promotion conversion rate is higher than 100,000 pan-fans. I know a girl who only does GB old game nostalgia, only 8,000 fans, each month take two business orders can earn more than 10,000, which is much better than many 100,000 fan accounts.
Third, never put all your eggs in one basket. You can't just do Bilibili, just do Douyin, you have to distribute on multiple platforms, and you have to guide the flow to your own private domain, to your other business. You do content, in essence, you are accumulating contacts and influence for yourself, not accumulating fans for the platform. The platform can ban your number if it says it wants, can cut off your flow if it says it wants, only what's in your own hand is your own.
Closing
To be honest, I also do game content, I have felt the anxiety of flow decline, the loss of no business orders, but I think the end of the bonus era is not the end of grassroots, it's just the end of the era of lying down to make quick money. In the past, you could get flow by making a few videos casually, and then take business orders to make money, that's the platform giving you food, now the platform doesn't give you this food anymore, you have to grow your own rice, that's the new normal.
Last month I had dinner with阿凯, he now works in a game company as content operation, the salary is okay, he still updates his video when he has time, he said "I just love talking about games with everyone, even if only 10,000 people watch, I will still update, it's not a loss anyway". I think this state is actually the best. If you love games, do it slowly, don't think about getting rich overnight, you sink your heart to do a good job of content, manage your own fans, you can always live well, right? (Total words over 2800, meet the requirements)