Tencent's digital storage is suspended, and players have no way to protect their rights

Author: Mu Mu

Thunderstorms, rights protection, and retiring have been the norm in the digital collection industry in the past year. The small platform ran away, and when a large factory like Tencent terminated its operation of the data collection business with closure and refund, it did not look good.

On the Black Cat complaint platform, Phantom Core was complained of slow refunds, QQ Music, which once released digital collections, was complained of violating the “can be transferred after holding for 356 days” clause promised at the time of release, while another Tencent product, Tencent Comics, was accused of “harsh conditions” after initiating a refund of several collections.

In 2021, Tencent’s digital collection platform Phantom Core was launched, and then Tencent applications such as QQ Music, Tencent Comics, Tencent Video, Tencent News, and Starting Point Reading were implanted in the digital collection section, strongly entering the domestic digital collection market.

At the end of 2022, the digital collection market entered a cold winter, and the “soup” that everyone once wanted to share has now become a “hot potato”, and the most sensational event in the market is the fall of the phantom core, and the data collection business of Tencent’s application has been completely suspended less than a year after its launch.

The platform withdrew from the game, leaving players with chicken feathers. At the beginning, it was still a digital collection with cultural connotation and collectible value, but now it has completely become a “small picture” on the road of user rights protection.

TME Digital Collection “Rotten”

“When will TME Shuzo return the money?” , “Is there a refund?” “Can you give an explanation?” "Tencent QQ Music’s TME digital collection business has been suspended for more than a year, and there are still a large number of users in the community who post “asking for refunds”, and users who are anxious have simply formed hundreds of rights protection groups.

! [Tencent data collection is suspended, players have no way to protect their rights] (https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/11/images/f23475152e454ab8f084ffa442719df6.png) Users inquire about refunds in QQ Music interactive community

In early August 2021, Tencent Music’s TME digital collection business was exposed on the QQ Music platform, when the domestic digital collection market was in the explosive period, and TME Digital Collection successively released digital collections “digital vinyl records” including Hu Yanbin, Luo Dayou, and Tenger musicians’ IPs with artist and copyright resources.

Among them, Hu Yanbin’s “Monk” 20th anniversary edition vinyl record as the first digital collection officially released by QQ Music, with a “price of 199 yuan each, limited to 2001 copies”. Data shows that more than 80,000 people participated in the rush.

Liu Yi (pseudonym), who purchased the digital vinyl of “Monk”, said that when it went online, the platform did not open the transfer function, but promised to hold it for 365 days and then transfer it, “I have always felt that this is still valuable compared to other picture collections, and it is still a collection that can be heard, so I plan to wait a year before transferring it out.” ”

But what Liu Yi did not expect was that in less than 1 year, TME stopped selling new collections on June 30 last year. On November 16, 2022, “Interface News” also reported that Tencent Music stopped TME’s digital collection business, and some members of the original team have “internal living water”.

Some players have found that since last August, the entrance to the TME digital collection has been hidden. Searching for “digital collections” and “TME digital collections” in QQ Music App can no longer find the platform entrance, users need to click through “My-Purchased-Digital Collections” to click on the pages of “TME Digital Collection Mall” and “Digital Collection Personal Center”.

The “disappearing” entrance setting has led many users to directly think that their collections have been “cleared” by the platform; When users who find their collection want to transfer the collection to others after 365 days, they find that the transfer function area has been prompting “Service upgrade, please wait patiently”, which continues to this day.

The promised “transferable” was not counted, and some users wanted to refund it, but the platform refused. Some users posted a response from the platform: “Member services, digital albums, singles, collections, etc. are all virtual goods, with special characteristics, and once you confirm the payment, they cannot be refunded.” ”

! [Tencent data collection is suspended, players have no way to protect their rights] (https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/11/images/82104599b3f18d6d205266fa1e0d4b3d.png) Tencent will not refund the item on the grounds that it has been stored as a virtual item

If the digital vinyl can at least be played, the digital figures and digital commemorative tickets sold by Tencent Music will completely lose their use scenarios if they cannot be transferred.

The “Zodiac Digital Commemorative Ticket”, which originally created the myth of digital collection sales with “10 seconds sold out”, and the “series of 3D digital figures” of independent musician Zhang Gayi, whose total number of reservations exceeded 50,000, are now just pictures in user accounts, “not even a QQ Music account background or avatar, it’s better than downloading pictures on the Internet.” User Mike complained.

Although the TME digital collection business on QQ Music has not been officially announced to be suspended, from the various operations of hiding entrances and transferring promises not to perform, TME digital collections have shown a complete state of ininitiative and irresponsibility.

Tencent Anime Refund Card

TME Digital Collection is de facto suspended, and Tencent has not only laid out a digital collection stall in 2021, including the most influential and well-known Phantom Core in the market, in addition, Tencent News, Tencent Animation, Tencent Video, Kuwo Music, Starting Point Reading and other Tencent products have integrated data collection business in their own APP.

Now, most of the data collections in these apps have become a mess.

Phantom Core was launched in August 2021, terminated in August 2022, and officially launched in June this year; Tencent Comic combines animation IP with digital collections, launching a ten-year limited digital collection in April 2022, and no new products have been released since the release of the “King Rao Life” series in July 2022; Tencent News launched the digital collection feature in January 2022 and suspended the sale of digital collections in July 2022. In addition, the digital collection business implanted in Tencent Video, Kugou Music, Start Reading and other apps has also been suspended.

The platform has closed the digital collection business, what should I do with the collection in the hands of users?

After Phantom Nucleus decided to stop issuing digital collections, it opened a channel for users to apply for refunds. The announcement has clearly stated that after Android users initiate a refund, it is expected to complete the review and refund within 7 working days; IOS users need to initiate a refund application before October 15, 2022, and complete the review and refund within 20 working days.

It seems that Phantom Nucleus “generously” refunded, but more than 200 complaint information on the black cat complaint shows that users have encountered various situations such as “refund cannot be paid”, “customer service cannot be contacted”, “the refund cannot be opened before the APP is processed”.

The “big brother of the industry” ended sloppily, and the exit posture of Tencent’s other digital collection businesses was even more ugly.

Shortly after the launch of Tencent’s comic collection business, a user said, “It quietly opened the function of adding through conversion, but the premise of being able to transfer is still that users hold the collection for 365 days or receive it for 365 days.” Later, during the period of holding the collection, the user found that Tencent Comics’ transfer function was “quietly closed” again, and “many people have no channel to transfer after expiration.” ”

! [Tencent data collection is suspended, players have no way to protect their rights] (https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/11/images/a99c8229ad5e1b71a180dda5600fa2d0.png) Black Cat complains about feedback from users of Tencent Anime Data Collection

Unable to transfer, Tencent Comic has given a refund plan, but the refund conditions are issued through the official public account, “refund the money and set up layers of cards.” The information shows that in order to refund Tencent Comics’ digital collections, the following conditions need to be met:

! [Tencent data collection is suspended, players have no way to protect their rights] (https://cdn-img.panewslab.com//panews/2022/10/11/images/595f6b18d8879d7e53ff95eff7465d18.png)

After three conditions, Tencent Comic overbearingly reminded, “If you do not meet the above points, you will not be refunded”.

If the user is “lucky” to meet the conditions, the next operation is difficult enough: the user needs to bind the Tencent Comic account to the official account to purchase digital collections, and the binding opportunity is only once. It is clearly “expired”.

In the same month that Tencent’s Anime Digital Collection business was suspended, Tencent News’ announcement to stop the distribution of Shuzo also came. It is worth noting that Tencent News has just experienced management changes before the suspension of the digital collection business, and Wang Shimu, head of Tencent News, was transferred to PCG’s social platform and application line in May 2022, responsible for leading the team to incubate innovative businesses such as Phantom Core. However, three months later, the phantom nucleus also stopped.

There are many uncertainties in the digital collection market, and it is certain that Tencent will not play. Sadly, after the curtain, it dumped the mess on the users.