近来Facebook社交网站发展最快的游戏开发公司非Digital Chocolate莫属。在最近的1个月中，Digital Chocolate旗下游戏的月活跃用户新增近700万。目前，该公司凭借其2400万MAU和400万DAU超越了Playdom（该公司自被迪士尼收购后流量有所下降），迅速跻身Facebook大型平台游戏开发公司之列。

在Digital Chocolate的成长过程中，尽管其十分注重发展信息渠道，Digital Chocolate一直希望将自己定位成与众不同的公司。对此，Digital Chocolate公司主席Mark Metis认为Facebook社交网站上虽然有很多有趣的公司，但实际上大部分只能称为产品还算不得是公司。他认为真正的公司应该建立在不同时期，且不过分依赖病毒式传播渠道。

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Digital Chocolate近来的快速增长部分是由于该公司最近连续发布多部游戏，其中4部是Facebook社交网站原有游戏的翻版。也许有些人会认为Digital Chocolate新增长的700多万玩家是由于广告宣传，然而Metis却否定了这一观点。他指出Digital Chocolate获取新玩家的最主要途径是通过病毒式传播渠道。Metis表示，“我们采用了大规模的跨游戏宣传活动，使我们的新游戏有足够的曝光率。而广告宣传则是我们最低下的一种玩家获取途径。”

不论未来Digital Chocolate采用何种方式获取用户，其是否能跻身成为Facebook主流游戏开发商主要取决于游戏品质。最近新发布的6款游戏仅仅象征着开始。Metis也表示“我们还未竭尽全力。在未来的几个月里，玩家将看到更多有趣的Digital Chocolate游戏。”

13 Apps By Digital Chocolate (New Games Bolded)

最近Digital Chocolate公司取得的成功足以令那些在其低谷时期看不起它的游戏公司刮目相看。Metis认为正是此前在社交游戏和手机游戏领域失败的经验造就了其现在的成功。

未来，Digital Chocolate公司计划跨平台开发Facebook和智能手机游戏。此前该公司就发布了面向iPhone平台的MMA Pro Fighter和Millionaire City。将来，Digital Chocolate公司将开发能互动于网页和手机的优质游戏体验。

然而，这类发展策略并非Digital Chocolate独创。Zynga，CrowdStar等其他游戏几乎都有类似的打算。Metis预计这一发展策略将从明年开始实现。他认为2011年将成为社交游戏进军手机领域的关键一年。他相信在明年社交游戏领域将迎来某些重要的胜利，但还不足以达到最高峰。

尽管已经有所计划，但Digital Chocolate仍是希望保持步调，稳步发展。对此，Metis表示不希望迅速增加员工。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

The fastest-moving game developer on Facebook recently has been Digital Chocolate, which has raced ahead of other mid-sized developers over the past month with a gain of over seven million new monthly active users.

The company is rapidly becoming one of Facebook’s biggest platform companies; with 24 million MAU and four million daily active users, it is poised to overtake Playdom, whose traffic has slowed since its acquisition by Disney.

Throughout its growth on Facebook, Digital Chocolate has been eager to define itself as a different sort of company, and it’s certainly not slacking off on that message now. “There are a lot of interesting companies out there, but a lot are actually products, not companies,” president Mark Metis told us yesterday. “The ones that are companies were built in a different era, when virality was easier and lightweight apps could slide.”

Digital Chocolate’s growth is coming in part from a rapid-fire series of releases, four of which are skins of platforms already in use by other games. One might assume that Digital Chocolate is pushing all the new users in via advertising, but Metis said that isn’t the case.

“Far and away our biggest source of user acquisition is virality,” Metis said. “We’ve also built significant cross-promotional scale, and that has enabled us to get exposure to our games very quickly. And then we feel like we’re bringing unique and new offerings to the market. Advertising is far and away our lowest source of user acquisition.”

Whether Digital Chocolate can power its way into the upper echelons of Facebook developers may depend on games it hasn’t yet released. The six newest titles are just the start. “We haven’t used all of our bullets, I can tell you, and you’ll be seeing some additional interesting games in coming months,” said Metis.

Digital Chocolate’s success so far may give pause to those who haven’t taken it seriously in the past, when it released several games that didn’t pan out. It’s those failed games, along with similar failures in mobile gaming, that will make Digital Chocolate stand out over all of its competitors in the future, according to Metis.

The plan is to cross-develop titles for both Facebook and smartphones. That has already been done for MMA Pro Fighter and Millionaire City, which Metis says have done well on the iPhone. Future titles will be carefully designed to provide good experiences and interoperability across both the web and mobile.

That plan isn’t unique; Zynga, CrowdStar and others have either talked about or made moves to do the same thing. Metis thinks the idea will start to get real traction next year. “I think 2011 will be an interesting year for social gaming on mobile, and we’ll start to see some significant levels of success. It won’t reach its peak, but serious traction will be gained,” he said.

Even with all its plans, Digital Chocolate is trying to stay disciplined and grow at a measured pace. “This isn’t a rollup, and we’re not trying to pile employees on quickly,” says Metis. （Source：Inside Social Games）