Data Map: On December 3, 2019, the 2019WUCG Sanya E-sports Festival opened in the sailing port of Sanya Mid-Levels Peninsula, Hainan. E-sports teams from 16 countries including China, the United States, South Korea, Malaysia and Spain gathered together and will be launched to the global champions of League of Legends, DOTA2, the glory of the king, Hearthstone and the king of fighters 14. The picture shows the team of Jimei University in China playing League of Legends. China News Service reporter Luo Yunfei photo

　　BEIJING, April 24th (Xing Rui) The topic "Wang Sicong spends 666 yuan an hour as a sparring partner in the game" has recently caused a heated discussion among netizens in Weibo. While watching "eating melons", many people are also curious about the profession of "game sparring".

　　With the rapid development of e-sports industry, many new occupations have been born. E-sports anchors and professional players have gradually entered the public’s field of vision and are no longer unfamiliar. In the past two years, the e-sports sparring teacher, which has gradually emerged, seems to be "mysterious" a lot.

　　Spend 3 million to find a sparring partner

　　"E-sports sparring instructor", as its name implies, is paid to accompany others to play games. In terms of industry terminology, the customers served by sparring instructors are called "bosses". If you are willing to spend 666 yuan to find Wang Sicong as a sparring partner, then you will become his "boss".

　　Open the game sparring platform where Wang Sicong is located. The price of sparring on it ranges from ten yuan to tens of yuan per hour. It is not difficult to see that Wang Sicong’s fee of 666 yuan is far higher than the general price of game sparring on this platform.

　　Wang Sicong entered a platform as a "game sparring teacher".

　　As the saying goes, "there will be a market if there is demand", and the part-time game sparring of "national husband" actually reflects the demand of many young people for "finding someone to play games with me".

　　According to an industry data previously released by the game sparring website, in 2019, more than 27 million players searched for "Great God" to accompany them to play games, and about 68% of them were "post-95 s".

　　There is no doubt that "finding game sparring" has become a trend of entertainment for this year’s e-sports youth. For their favorite video games, many users have shown amazing spending power. Take the above-mentioned platform as an example. Last year, the "Golden Master Dad" with the highest order consumption spent a total of 3.08 million yuan to find someone to play games with him. During the period from January 24th to February 29th this year, a 22-year-old boy from Shanghai spent more than 1500 yuan a day on average, and found 12 "great gods" to accompany him to play 1850 games.

　　Data Map: On December 3, 2019, in the e-sports education center of Changchun Health Vocational College, students practiced the popular e-sports games in the classroom, while teachers taught the skills of game operation. The major of e-sports and management opened in September 2018 requires students to study more than 20 courses in three years, and e-sports training is one of them. China News Service reporter Zhang Yao photo

　　Millions of people’s "new rice bowls"

　　The blowout consumer demand naturally attracted a large number of e-sports enthusiasts to start the career of sparring. According to statistics, a game sparring APP attracted 2.9 million game sparring players last year, and 1.29 million of them made money by sharing game skills. The average monthly income of full-time sparring is as high as 7857 yuan, and the average monthly income of part-time sparring is 2929 yuan.

　　In the e-sports industry, it has become a consensus that e-sports game sparring instructors can earn money, and some sparring instructors at the top of the pyramid can even make a fortune through this profession. Earlier, some media reported that a senior game sparring teacher in his early 20 s earned millions of dollars by playing games with others and paid off his mortgage.

　　Age distribution of game gods released by a platform.

　　Although not every e-sports sparring instructor can achieve the "small goal" of earning 100,000 yuan a month, realistically speaking, this profession has at least become a personalized profession with the opportunity to get a high salary.

　　In addition, game sparring may also become the longest career in the e-sports circle. On the platform of game sparring in Wang Sicong, the average age of game gods is 23.27, and the oldest is 39. Compared with the trend of younger e-sports anchors, it seems that the age requirements of players for e-sports sparring instructors are not too harsh.

　　"Game sparring" also has official certification.

　　In 2019, the E-sports Branch of China Communication Industry Association issued the "Standards for E-sports Trainers in China" after the profession of game sparring was sought after by more and more people. This means that "e-sports sparring instructor" has been officially recognized as a professional skill, and game sparring has officially become a nationally recognized and controlled profession.

　　In this document, e-sports sparring instructors are divided into three levels: primary, intermediate and advanced. In order to obtain vocational skill certification, they need to pass theoretical knowledge examination and skill assessment, and both of them are qualified with a score of 60 (100%) or above.

　　E-sports sparring instructor certification platform.

　　Although e-sports sparring teachers have the qualification certification standards, some game sparring platforms do not require their sparring gods to pass the skill certification assessment. It’s just that the price of certified game play is higher than that of ordinary play.

　　It is reported that the total number of registered e-sports sparring instructors (including the names predicted by various channels) is about 50,000, and the number of people who have passed the examination is about 2,500-3,000. Although the above data has not been confirmed by official channels, it can at least help people to establish a basic judgment, that is, it may not be as easy as expected to get a paper certificate, and excellent game sparring is only a few people.

　　The sadness behind glamour

　　It is undeniable that there are "big coffees" in this industry that can earn 100,000 yuan a month by playing games with people, but these people are only rare in the circle. In contrast, many ordinary game sparring partners are far less capital and confidence than Wang Sicong’s asking price of 666 yuan an hour.

　　On a game sparring platform, a large number of sparring instructors have never received a single business since they settled in. In the highly competitive industry, an excellent sparring instructor not only has superb game skills, but also shows good comprehensive quality in emotional intelligence and communication skills. As a full-time sparring instructor, playing games may soon become a repetitive, boring and mechanical labor.

　　Data Map: On August 23, 2019, the 2019 Hong Kong Computer Communication Festival opened at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. The theme of this year’s Computer Festival is "Technology improves life and creates infinite possibilities", and many well-known brands in the information industry participated. The picture shows many e-sports players participating in the e-sports competition. China News Service reporter Zhang Yushe

　　In the face of mixed players, some game sparring will also encounter "bosses" with impure purposes and bad luck. In the final analysis, e-sports sparring instructor is also a kind of service industry, and the demand for social interaction has been running through it. When the appearance and voice have also become factors for players to consider when placing orders, higher requirements have been put forward for the supervision of the industry.

　　As a brand-new profession, the development of "e-sports sparring instructor" is undoubtedly still in its infancy. Behind it, it is not as glamorous as imagined. Some people earn millions a year, while others get nothing. Even if you are full of love for e-sports, the way of a sparring teacher is by no means that you can go.

　　Recently, the latest report released by Canalys, an international market research organization, shows that in 2023, the global smartphone shipments were 1.14 billion units, and China’s Xiaomi, OPPO and Voice were among the top five brands. In terms of sub-regions, China’s mobile phone brands have a high market share in India, Southeast Asia and Africa. In Europe, China’s smartphone brands are also accelerating their layout. With the development and maturity of smart phone industry in China, more and more China brands have gone overseas and gained consumer recognition.

　　Seek business growth in overseas markets

　　"China mobile phone manufacturers are becoming more and more innovative." According to the website of the German newspaper Le Monde, at the recent Mobile World Congress, the glory Magic6 Pro mobile phone uses artificial intelligence technology, and some functions can be controlled by eyes. Previously, Glory launched Magic V2, a foldable smart phone, with a thickness of only 9.9 mm, which is equivalent to that of ordinary mobile phones, which is the first time in the field of foldable smart phones.

　　In recent years, with the development and maturity of China’s smart phone industry, China has become the world’s largest producer and exporter of mobile phones with the help of the wave of the global mobile Internet era. According to the statistics of China General Administration of Customs, in 2023, China exported 13.92 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, accounting for 58.6% of the total export value. In the first two months of 2024, China exported 2.22 trillion yuan of mechanical and electrical products, up 11.8% year-on-year, accounting for 59.1% of the total export value, including 123.745 million mobile phones.

　　According to the statistics of many international market research institutions, by the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, global smartphone sales had been declining for several consecutive quarters, showing a recovery trend. The total smartphone shipments in China market also stopped falling and rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2023.

　　"In the bustling shopping area of downtown Nairobi, billboards of China mobile phone brands such as TECNO, itel and Infinix can be seen everywhere, and blue, red and black and white storefront signs attract customers. These mobile phone brands are all produced by Voice. This Shenzhen-based company once sold mobile phones only in Africa, and then gradually expanded its business to other markets such as Latin America, India, Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. " The South China Morning Post quoted Ali Sachu, a sub-Saharan geo-economic analyst, as saying: China mobile phone brands are "everywhere in the whole African continent".

　　According to a report quoted by Sputnik, in 2023, China brand smartphones accounted for 79% of Russian imported smartphones, which was 4 percentage points higher than that in 2022 and 29 percentage points higher than that in 2021.

　　Liu Yixuan, research manager of Canalys, analyzed that at present, overseas markets, especially emerging markets, are an important breakthrough for China smart phone brands to seek business growth, and different mobile phone brands also have their own development areas. Xiaomi has made full efforts in markets such as Middle East, Africa, Europe and Latin America. The overseas markets of OPPO and vivo are mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, and the overseas focus of glory is in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Seeking business growth in overseas markets is a strategic choice for many China mobile phone brands.

　　From "Winning by Price" to "Excellent Quality and Price"

　　Why do China smart phone brands sail in overseas markets? The technological innovation, industrial chain layout, product positioning and marketing strategy of China smart phone brand have attracted attention in the global mobile phone market. Alceni Thiam, an associate researcher at the European Institute for Outlook and Security, said that China’s products have been "winning by price" in the past to "excellent in quality and price" now, and they have advantages in research and development in smart phones, electric vehicles and other fields. China’s products are being favored by more and more countries.

　　Bai Ming, a member of the Academic Degree Committee of the Ministry of Commerce, said in an interview with this reporter that at present, China’s smart phones have occupied an important position in the international market and have strong market competitiveness in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. The advantages of smart phones in China are as follows: First, the cost performance is high, and the functional design meets the local needs of overseas markets; Second, China has infrastructure cooperation with many countries in the field of communication, which facilitates the matching of smart phones and communication technologies; Third, China’s domestic smart phone industry is mature, with many sub-categories, complete industrial chain and high product update frequency. After full competition in the domestic market, the products have strong "hard power" when participating in overseas market competition.

　　Taking HONOR as an example, Canalys and Counterpoint data show that in the fourth quarter of 2023, it returned to overseas markets for less than two years, and its sales volume in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and other regions has ranked among the top five in the market, and a global sales service network covering more than 70 countries and regions has been established. Zhao Ming, CEO of Glory Terminal Co., Ltd., said in an interview with this reporter that Glory has maintained a rapid growth trend in the context of the global smartphone market decline, thanks to Glory’s insistence on high-quality development, targeting user needs, strengthening global industrial chain cooperation, and transforming technological innovation into products needed by the market. In addition, glory focuses on adapting to local conditions in different regional markets, providing product portfolios that match the needs of local users, and strengthening communication and cooperation with local partners to better enhance the user experience.

　　Advance into the developed market with "hard power"

　　According to the trend data of smartphone price segment share in China from 2019 to 2023 recently released by IDC, an international market research institute, the high-end market share of China brands above $600 has been growing continuously for five years, reaching 27.4% in 2023, an increase of 3.7 percentage points over 2022, and a full double of that in 2019.

　　According to Canalys data, in the recent fourth quarter of 2023, Apple’s share in the European smartphone market reached 33%, surpassing Samsung for the first time in seven quarters. Among the mobile phone brands in China, Xiaomi’s market share in Europe dropped from 17% to 16%, and Glory’s market share increased from 1% to 3%. At present, entering the developed markets has become a strategic choice for some smart phone brands in China.

　　"2023, as a year of vigorous development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, brings a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and also brings new opportunities and challenges to the global smart terminal market. The European mobile phone market is a representative mature market in the world, with a relatively high proportion of high-end users and large operators, and a high demand for innovative products and high-end brands. " Zhao Ming said that Glory regards Europe as the "second local market" and hopes to enter the European market with "hard power" such as innovative technology and high-end products. For example, glory has invested as much as 10 billion yuan in research and development in the AI field, obtained more than 2,000 AI-related patents, and used platform-level AI technology to promote the application of innovative technologies such as cross-device collaboration and next-generation intention recognition human-computer interaction in smart phones.

　　According to a recent report on the German newspaper Le Monde, it was not easy to buy a non-Apple brand smartphone in Germany a few months ago because there were not many choices. Previously, due to patent disputes, many Android mobile phone brands disappeared from the shelves of European countries. At the beginning of this year, related companies shelved patent disputes. China mobile phone manufacturers, including OPPO, Yijia, vivo and Realme, may try new things in Germany soon. As these brands re-enter the German market, the mobile phone brands that can be selected in the future should be more diversified.

　　"With the emergence of more and more application scenarios and requirements and the development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the iterative update of China smartphones in terms of functions and technologies is worth looking forward to." Bai Ming believes that at present, China is still facing a bottleneck in the field of high-end smart phone chips, and it is urgent to continue to promote technological breakthroughs. In addition, in the markets of developed countries in Europe and America, China’s smartphones still face certain development bottlenecks and policy risks, and it is still necessary to speed up localization, strengthen cooperation with local industries, and build a diversified supply chain system.