Top 12 on the bestseller list, the mini-game *Jian Wang* from Seasun Games stands out, while the mini-game *Swordsman Love World* only delivers a mediocre performance. Is "nostalgia" still the secret formula for creating blockbuster hits?
Recently, new changes have taken place in the mini-game track:
Jian Wang 1: Return, a product under veteran game giant Seasun, quietly launched on WeChat Mini-Games during this year's National Day holiday.
In terms of ranking, Jian Wang 1: Return has fluctuated after being on the list, once falling out of the TOP 60, but it also climbed as high as TOP 12 on the bestseller list.
What is the specific product performance of Jian Wang 1: Return? Is there still an opportunity for the "nostalgia trend" of transplanting classic IP + traditional MMORPGs to mini-games? What kind of thinking of Seasun does this reflect?
Today, DataEye Research Institute will talk about this game.
Market & Product Observations
(1) Observation on Market Performance
Jian Wang 1: Return is not a brand new work of Seasun. It was launched on the APP platform as early as 2021, as a remastered product of the 2003 game *Jianxia Qingyuan Online Edition*. Now the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return can be regarded as the mini-game port of this classic IP remastered product, which follows the currently popular "nostalgic server" route.
According to DataEye-ADX mini-game data, the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return first entered the WeChat Mini-Games bestseller list on October 5, ranking 40th on the bestseller list at that time, and then its ranking continued to fluctuate. After October 12, its ranking once showed a continuous downward trend, falling out of the TOP 60 and ranking 62nd on the list on October 21.
However, in late October, the ranking of Jian Wang 1: Return soared continuously, reaching a peak of 12th on the list, and remained stably within the TOP 20 for several consecutive days. After entering November, the ranking of Jian Wang 1: Return fluctuated significantly, and its performance seems to have returned to a "rational" level.
(2) Observation on Product Content
The gameplay core of the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return does not deviate from the framework of the original mobile game. Therefore, in terms of gameplay, the game is set against the background of the Song-Jin war in the Southern Song Dynasty, and restores a variety of classic gameplay from the PC game 20 years ago. At the same time, it is worth noting that the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return also retains the free trading system with unbound equipment.
However, Jian Wang 1: Return is not a complete port of the mobile game version. It has been lightweightly modified to a certain extent to adapt to the game habits and fragmented time characteristics of mini-game users, such as experiential gameplay contents including in-game auto-battle and auto-pathfinding. In addition, the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return currently only opens two classes, Emei and Tianwang, and has not launched all sects yet.
At the same time, the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return adopts a retro 2D top-down perspective, which almost completely restores the art style of the early *Jian Wang* PC game. The overall texture leans towards the style of old online games, without next-generation rendering for scenes and characters. Meanwhile, the UI layout in the game has a strong MMO nostalgic feeling, which is significantly different from the current mainstream MMORPGs.
(3) Summary of Observations
From the perspective of market performance, the overall performance of Jian Wang 1: Return is decent, but its TOP 12 ranking on the bestseller list is enough to prove that this product has considerable market explosive power. After the initial explosive stage of the product, its ranking falls back to a relatively "rational" range. However, its relatively stable ranking on the bestseller list shows that classic IP + traditional gameplay still has considerable market competitiveness in the current mini-game market.
Therefore, it needs to be clear that this kind of market competitiveness is essentially not the incremental attraction of the product itself, but a relatively precise mining of old players. By means of classic IP remastering + lightweight modification, Seasun has won a group of core players who were eliminated by the iteration of mainstream MMOs. Among this group of users, there are not only "old Jian Wang" players from 20 years ago, but also Legend-themed game players who have gradually adapted to the WeChat mini-game ecosystem.
DataEye Research Institute believes that such users have distinct characteristics in fact: first, they have high awareness of games, in-depth understanding of games, and have a certain threshold for remastered products; second, their age group is roughly in the 35-45 range, their high-intensity operation ability has declined, they adapt to the mini-game ecosystem, and may have a "retirement" mentality, but they have strong willingness to consume and high payment capacity. More importantly, "old players" have potential in-game social networks, which makes it possible to recall more core players. However, how to ensure the activity and retention of this group of core players in the follow-up has become the main operation topic of the project team.
User Acquisition & Creative Observation
(1) Observation on User Acquisition Situation
According to DataEye-ADX delivery data, the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return began to increase the delivery of user acquisition advertisements on September 28, with about 104 pieces of delivered materials on that day. Then the number continued to increase, reaching the peak of about 284 pieces of delivered materials at the current stage on October 2.
On the day when the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return entered the WeChat Mini-Games bestseller list (October 5), the number of its delivered materials was about 270, which was at a relatively high level. However, the number of delivered materials did not continue to rise later, and the number of single-day delivered materials fluctuated in a narrow range of 150 to 250. After entering November, the number of delivered materials also showed a continuous downward trend.
(2) Observation on Creative Materials
DataEye Research Institute has sorted out the popular delivery materials of the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return in the past 30 days, which can be divided into three creative ideas:
The first is the comparison between the mobile game version and the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return. This type of materials accounts for a relatively high proportion. The content of the materials mainly compares the products on the two terminals, focusing on showing the remastering feature of the mini-game version of Jian Wang 1: Return, as well as the "click-and-play" feature of mini-games, so as to attract more attention of old players who have left the game.
The second is the actual gameplay recording of classic gameplay. This type of materials adopts the method of actual game recording + commentary to present the content. By showing classic gameplay such as the classic guild wars and team battles in "Jian Wang", the materials awaken the memories of core users and increase the conversion motivation of core players.
The third is free trading for gold-farming players. This type of materials uses "free trading can make money" as a new user acquisition hook, conveying to core players that in addition to the gameplay content of the game itself, the game also allows players to "grind for profit" to make money. In addition, the materials highlight the sound in-game economic system, emphasizing that the game can become a "monetizable side job", which is more appealing to middle-aged male users than "gorgeous CG" special effects, and effectively stimulates the target users' curiosity and willingness to try.
(3) Summary of User Acquisition Observations
DataEye Research Institute observes that Jian Wang 1: Return maintains a relatively steady delivery rhythm at the user acquisition level.
In terms of user acquisition materials, the project team did not continue the "sentimental blockbuster" style of large-scale films in the mobile game era, but focused more on the display of performance-oriented content. Although the content does not deviate from the creative framework of "classic gameplay + free trading", it essentially aims at core user players, conveying the message of "classic remastered, click to play".
In other words, this also means that its user acquisition ROI is highly dependent on the conversion efficiency of stock users — once the awakening dividend of this group of users is exhausted, the user acquisition benefit will drop rapidly. Therefore, the project department does not pursue "increment acquisition" through large-scale delivery, but chooses a relatively precise stock conversion to make the product enter the market more steadily.
Final Remarks
DataEye Research Institute believes that Seasun in 2026 is in a contraction cycle.
At the Q1 performance meeting, Zou Tao, CEO of Seasun, put forward three internal adjustments, the core of which is to shut down projects that have no strategic value, concentrate resources on projects with more potential, and continue to invest in its core basic product *Jian Wang 3*. The core key of the internal adjustment may be that the performance of *Exceed Limiter* "failed to meet expectations". After burning a lot of investment, it failed to support the second growth curve.
Against this background, we can look at its layout in the mini-game track. When its main business is contracting, Seasun has found a path with controllable cost that can cash out its existing IP once again. Porting PC games to mini-games does not require project approval from scratch, nor does it need to spend several years and huge user acquisition budget to bet on a new category that is disconnected from its core capabilities. The development cost is low, the user acquisition cycle is short, and the sunk cost if it fails to work is limited. For Seasun at the current stage, this kind of certainty is very important.
Prior to this, *Sword Heroes World: Origin* entered the WeChat Mini-Games bestseller list one step earlier, but its overall performance was not particularly ideal.
However, Jian Wang 1: Return still has stable market ranking performance one month after being on the list, which reflects from the side that the Jian Wang IP is capable of retaining a group of middle-aged users with payment capacity in WeChat Mini-Games, preventing them from being completely consumed by Legend-themed mini-games and similar martial arts products.
Therefore, DataEye Research Institute believes that Seasun's layout in the mini-game track has run through a reusable monetization model during the company's contraction cycle — mature IP + low-cost porting + massive WeChat traffic + fast user acquisition model, to serve stock users once again in the new traffic pool.
In other words, the mini-game porting of the Jian Wang IP may be a supplement and buffer, not a chip for a comeback. If the model works, other Jian Wang IPs can continue to be laid out according to the same logic; if it fails, the loss is also within the controllable range, and will not drag down its core business in turn.
At present, the impressive performance of Jian Wang 1: Return may bring confidence to Seasun. In the foreseeable future, Seasun may continue to increase its investment in the mini-game track, and its follow-up trends are still worthy of our continuous attention.
This article is from the WeChat Official Account "DataEye" (ID: DataEye), author: ohzyh, published with authorization from 36Kr.