社交游戏领域泛滥的“衍生”活动何时才能停歇？这是Playfish合作创办者Sebastien de Halleux最近在Leweb’10提出的第一个问题。

尽管承认目前社交游戏领域中存在很多抄袭游戏，但Halleux相信明年首季度众多社交游戏“入门者”将发布各种内含游戏设计新概念的社交游戏种类。

据游戏邦了解，目前近半数Facebook社交网站用户，即2亿至2亿5000万用户为游戏玩家。而过去一年中，前十大社交游戏开发公司的发展停滞不前，这一情况隐含着社交游戏领域未来的发展趋势。

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对此，Halleux认为创新是影响未来社交游戏领域发展的关键因素，但他也承认技术能直接影响游戏的开发。由于Flash技术的局限，社交游戏机制无法充分发挥。

关于虚拟商品的出售情况，Halleux指出目前Playfish每天销售的虚拟道具在9000万件左右。这一数据是易趣网上出售商品总量的10倍，其中虚拟苹果道具的销量更是突破了17亿。在朋友生日时送上虚拟生日蛋糕或是在情人节送上虚拟玫瑰，社交游戏玩家之所以购买虚拟商品是为了获得社交收益。然而，如果令玩家认同虚拟商品的意义，他们也会慷慨解囊，譬如FIFA Superstar推的价值8欧元黄金球员礼包。

目前，Playfish旗下游戏的用户中有1%至5%的玩家愿意在游戏中花费真实货币，其中部分玩家投入了零售难以比拟大量的金钱。更有趣的是，甚至有玩家还要求Playfish公司推出价值100美元的虚拟商品，以减少反复购买的次数。Halleux认为“这部分玩家十分慷慨大方。他们尊重社交游戏公司免费提供的游戏体验，也很高兴可以自由选择购买的道具。”

此外，Halleux也赞同“品牌融入社交游戏”具有广阔的发展空间。但是，Playfish更希望未来公司的主要收入来自于玩家的直接交易额。

而关于手机游戏领域，目前Playfish仅是“浅尝则止”。从EA公司的角度出发，他们表示十分注重手机领域的发展。

When will social games stop being so derivative? It was the first question for Playfish co-founder Sebastien de Halleux at LeWeb ’10 this morning.

“In the first quarter of next year you’re going to see a raft of announcements from new entrants in the social gaming category with new game design concepts,” he said, while admitting that there has been a lot of copying until now.

Roughly half Facebook users are engaged in games – 200-250 million on a monthly basis, according to Halleux.

He also talked about the growth of branded games on Facebook. “There has been a little bit of a status quo in terms of the top ten in the last year, but that’s hiding a more meaningful trend,” he said.

“Look underneath that cover at the categories, and you see the emergence of new categories.” He cited the Arcade category, with games like PopCap’s Bejeweled Blitz, and Sports, with Playfish/EA’s FIFA Superstars.
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“Where are your first-person shooters, where are your racing games?” he asked. “There’s lots of room still to innovate.

He admitted that technology is a factor in this, thanks to the limitations of Flash, and the mechanics of social gaming itself.

“Technology has never been a limiting factor to create great gaming experiences,” he said.

Playfish currently sells about 90 million items a day in its games – “ten times the total number of items listed on eBay in any given day” said Halleux, after being asked about virtual items. The company has also sold 1.7 billion virtual apples.

“You buy those items to get a social benefit. You buy a cake to give to your friend for his birthday, or you buy a rose for Valentine’s Day,” he explained.

However, another dynamic at work is that virtual items are meaningful – for example FIFA Superstars players paying eight Euros for a gold player pack, because they see that as meaningful (and worthwhile) in the context of the game.

Typically, between 1% and 5% of Playfish players are currently spending money within its games. “Those players are actually spending a significant amount of money, certainly in comparison to retail,” he said.

Interestingly, Halleux claimed that users have asked for things like introducing a $100 price point within Playfish games – “we wanna higher price point so we don’t have to do multiple transactions” as he put it.

“They don’t feel nickel and dimed. They respect that we’re offering them the content for free in the first place, and letting them decide [whether to pay].”

Halleux also said there’s a lot of room for “game enhancement through brands” in the social gaming world – more so than on console. Think Dr Pepper drinks in Playfish’s restaurant-themed game, as an example.

However, Playfish expects the majority of its revenues to come from direct player transactions in the future.

What about mobile though? Playfish has only dipped its toes in the app store waters so far, so will that ramp up in the months and years ahead?

“Mobile is extremely important to us,” he said, from an EA perspective. “We try to select the network that has the best social graph and that gives you an experience that includes your real friends…” （Source：mobile-ent）