为了适应新的技术，新的购买行为以及不断改变的客户基础，电子游戏产业正快速发展着，虽然有时候也会遇到一些瓶颈。在线多人游戏是一把双刃剑，对于买家来说会因为有太多的手机设备供选择而头疼，但是对于市场营销者来说却是即使不断扩大预算却仍是不赚不赔的尴尬局面。

无数的新玩家加入了电子游戏这个随处可见但却极其“疯狂”的世界，以追求个人的消遣，放松，娱乐，甚至是解脱。这项特殊的产业对于这些蜂拥而来的人们来说具有深远的影响力。

girls-playing-games

在这个产值达280亿美元的电子游戏产业里，每天都在发生巨大的变化。电子游戏产业的不断壮大对于传统意义上的个人电脑和游戏机发起了挑战，并且它还改变了大众对于“互动娱乐”的定义。创新给我们带来了多种多样的设备，包括个人电脑，电视机，游戏机，智能手机和平板电脑，同时它也通过诞生了休闲游戏，社交游戏，智能手机应用程序，数字销售渠道，云计算，广告游戏以及体感控制技术等元素改变了游戏本身的属性。这种巨大的变化对于加利福尼亚以及它的三大电子游戏创新中心（游戏邦注：北加州，洛杉矶和奥兰治县）来说影响是最大的，这三个地区见证了不少游戏公司的兴盛和衰亡。

根据游戏市场分析师兼Wedbush Securities总经理迈克尔·帕切（Michael Pachter）表示，电子游戏产业跟其它产业一样，也面临着资金问题的挑战。如何控制游戏成本是这项产业所面临的最大难题，而如何让多人在线游戏实现更多收益，则是这项产业所面临的最大问题。帕切说到：“游戏的制作成本提高了，开发商对它的期望值也随之提高了。但是事实是，仅有小部分的游戏是有利可图的，绝大部分游戏只有创造100万份以上的销量，才能维持不赚不赔的局面。如果这种情况一直持续下去，这个产业将难以发展。”

帕切继续说到：“这个产业出现了一种失衡状态，虽然很多玩家在线游戏上的投入时间比以往更多，但他们花费在电子游戏上的消费却反而更少了。而与此同时游戏的制作成本却在逐年增加。按照这种情况，电子游戏产业将难以为继。除非发行商能够想出理想的在线游戏营收方案，否则他们只能维持着不赚不赔的尴尬局面了。”

据NPD Group调查显示，比起2009年的情况，2010年的电子游戏销售表现平平。NPD估计2010年用户在电子游戏内容上的消费金额大约是154至156亿美元（游戏邦注：这里不包括硬件的销售额）。这些销售额来自通过多种营利模式的游戏，包括实物包装的新款电子及电脑游戏、原版本的游戏、出租游戏、订阅游戏、数字渠道下载游戏、社交游戏、可下载内容以及手机游戏应用。

电子游戏市场仍在发展

据PricewaterhouseCoopers（简称PC）所称，游戏软件仍是美国发展最快的产业之一。这个行业在2011年仍将成为全球娱乐产业中高于平均增长水平的一个分支。

根据电子游戏销售追踪服务网站VGChartz的信息显示，2010年有17款发行于一个或多个平台的游戏实现了500多万份销量。任天堂、美国动视、Take Two、微软、育碧、Square-Enix和美国艺电这几家公司均有产品跻身这500多万销量的游戏行列。它们的续集版游戏横扫多个游戏平台，其中以任天堂游戏产品的销量最为显著（游戏邦注：包括《Wii Sports》，《New Super Mario Bros. Wii》，《Wii Sports Resort》，《Wii Fit Plus》和《Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver Version》均名列电子游戏排行榜的前十名）。

call-of-duty-black-ops

美国动视在2010年11月9日出品了《使命召唤：黑色行动》，它是著名FPS游戏《使命召唤》系列的第七部，同时也是该系列游戏的销量冠军。《使命召唤：黑色行动》才刚登台亮相就立刻风靡全球。发行第一周就在全球各种游戏平台的销量将近940万份（游戏邦注：它在Xbox 360销量为536.2003万份，在PS3平台是376.9572万份，其PC版本则是27.9107万份），该公司随即宣布《使命召唤：黑色行动》是迄今为止发行量最大的一款游戏。据VGChartz估计，《使命召唤：黑色行动》共为美国动视带来了将近5亿美元的收益（游戏邦注：如果再算上PC版本、可下载内容和版税，这款游戏实际上已为该公司创造了将近10亿美元的收益）。

NPD Group的行业分析师Anita Frazier表示，“2010年玩家们更加追求游戏内容的多样性，他们不仅可以购买实体产品，也可以通过数字下载渠道、数字应用商店找到游戏。与2009年相比较，2010年用户获得所需产品的途径更加多样，这一点也是2010年的游戏销售额与2009年基本持平的原因所在。由于用户对游戏的需求还在不断增加，所以我们预计2011年仍将是游戏产业蓬勃发展的一年。”

美国娱乐软件协会（ESA）是代表美国电脑及电子游戏出版商的贸易协会。根据ESA在2010年8月发布的电子游戏行业报告显示：

·2009年，电脑及电子游戏产业共为美国经济创造了49亿美元收益；

·该产业从2005年到2009年，每年的增长率超过了10%，比起美国经济的整体增长率高7倍；

·美国娱乐软件产业在美国34个州，共有超过12万名的员工（包括直接和间接雇佣）；

·该产业的直接雇员平均每年的薪酬高达8.9781万美元。

游戏玩家数据

ESA在“2010年电脑及电子游戏产业发展的基本要素”的报告中指出，在美国共有67%的家庭在玩电脑及电子游戏。该报告还显示了一些关于当今游戏玩家的有趣数据，包括：

·游戏玩家的平均年龄是34岁，并且其中多数玩家的游戏史已达12年；

·40%的玩家是女性，其中18岁以上的女性成为了这个行业最活跃的群体。现在，成年女性在游戏人口中所占比例高达33%，而17岁以下的男孩也占了20%的比例；

·比起1999年的9%，50岁以上的玩家比例在2010年增加到了26%。由于现在美国绝大多数养老院和老年护理中心都开设了电子游戏休闲娱乐项目，所以这个数据在今后几年还将持续增长；

·在美国共有67%的家庭拥有至少一台可运行娱乐软件的游戏机或者电脑；

·58%的在线游戏玩家是男性，而其余的42%则是女性。比起2002年的20%比例，2010年共有42%的家庭用户称他们现在使用无线设备（包括手机或者掌上电脑等）玩游戏。

重要的发展趋势

当今电子游戏产业的发展趋势是不断提高产品的技术性和社会复杂性。如今不断进步的电子游戏领域，已推动了商业，教育，卫生服务等各行各业的游戏玩家，以及非游戏用户的进步和发展。

·游戏变得更加休闲。与硬核游戏玩家不同，许多“休闲”游戏的玩家（游戏邦注：绝大部分是女性）更倾向于使用个人电脑或者手机玩游戏。他们喜欢那些规则简单，不用花太多时间也不需要太多技巧的游戏。游戏开发者也乐于生产这种类型的社交游戏和智能手机应用程序，因为它们的生产和发行成本都比较低。

·社交游戏。社交网络巨头Facebook共为来自于全球的5亿多用户提供了好几百款的免费游戏，包括动作游戏，冒险游戏，街机游戏，益智游戏，赛车游戏和射击游戏等。社交游戏已经成为了全球最受欢迎的游戏，共吸引了数千万的游戏玩家，在2010年比较出名的社交游戏包括《FarmVille》，《FrontierVille》和《Mafia Wars》。总部位于美国旧金山的社交游戏公司Zynga创造的基于网页的游戏，可以在Facebook以及MySpace等社交网站上发布，也可以作为相对独立的应用组件运行。

·智能手机应用程序。不可否认，智能手机（掌上电脑与手机的融合）游戏仍存在一些问题，例如屏幕太小，或者很多游戏不能同时在多种手机平台上运行等等。但是据ComScore调查显示，2010年美国共有4550万的智能手机用户，这个数据表明智能手机的市场占有率相当之大。智能手机游戏主要是一些休闲游戏，从苹果今年年初所公布的App Store下载排行前十名榜单上可以看出，绝大多数上榜的都属于休闲有趣的游戏，包括《涂鸦跳跃》、《愤怒的小鸟》和《Flight Control》等。

·数字发行渠道。虽然今天主要的游戏产值都来自于游戏零售商巨头GameStop的实体销售渠道，但现在日益盛行的是数字游戏发行渠道，玩家无需通过实体销售途径，只要利用硬盘驱动器或者游戏设备，直接从网站下载内容即可。EA Games总裁Frank Gibeau称，他们公司的未来发展有赖于PC游戏下载渠道。

·云游戏。它是一种寄存在互联网中的游戏。这是个非常有“弹性”的服务项目，玩家可以在任何时间自由安排玩游戏的时间。服务供应商已经为玩家打点好一切内容，玩家只需要有一台个人电脑与网络相连，就能玩各种自己想体验的游戏。Gaikai（美国云计算流媒游戏公司），OnLive（美国网络游戏公司）和OTOY（远程游戏服务公司）都是这个领域的佼佼者。OnLive不仅销售完整版游戏，而且还提供试用版游戏，“炫耀剪辑”（游戏邦注：Brag Clips，指将游戏上的内容进行剪辑，并将这种剪辑同朋友一起分享）等内容。Gaikai则是通过网页试用版游戏推广产品。云游戏会涉及“版权”和订阅费等问题，此外，由于大多数人所使用的宽带网络还不够理想，所以这种技术暂时无法高效地为用户提供服务。

·广告游戏。广告游戏主要是通过使用电子游戏对企业产品，公司本身甚至是企业文化进行宣传。随着网络的普及，广告游戏得到了迅速发展。在这日趋分散的媒体环境下，广告游戏经常是品牌网站的关注焦点，并且它也将成为品牌媒介策划中不可缺少的一部分。广告游戏在理论上促进了网站的传播以及品牌的巩固。同时用户登录对他们有价值的网站，还能帮助市场营销者收集相关的用户数据。玩家也可能邀请朋友加入，这将会是最有价值的口碑营销。

·体感控制技术。体感控制游戏不仅吸引了休闲游戏的忠实玩家，也吸引了很多硬核玩家。当任天堂的《Power Glove》发行时，玩家就一直幻想自己是里面的角色，而通过体感游戏，玩家就可以通过肢体动作变化来进行（操作）游戏。任天堂于2006年推出的Wii就是第一款的无线体感游戏机，使得玩家能够亲自操纵屏幕上的角色。体感控制器和加速器构成了这类游戏的控制器。Wiimote，ASUS Eee Stick，PlayStation Move，Xbox Kinect，和HP Swing是这类市场上为数不多的体感控制器。Sixense TrueMotion（游戏操纵系统）运用磁场确定位置和方向。Kinect在2010年的假期季的巨大销量，为微软该财年第二季度（截止2010年12月31日）的财报添上了乐观的一笔。在Kinect刚上市的头60天，微软就已经卖出了800万台带有Kinect的免提式控制器。索尼表现也不俗，其PlayStation Move系统的销量已超过了400万。

顺应发展趋势

IGN Entertainment的GameSpy Technology（该公司主要业务是提供线上游戏服务和软件）副总裁兼总经理Todd Northcutt说到：“社交游戏和手机游戏的崛起，对传统游戏，即电子游戏产业形成了巨大挑战。免费和低成本游戏对60美元的包装类游戏构成了威胁，整个电子游戏产业是时候好好想想如何去应对这种局面了。”

他指出任天堂3DS不得不考虑一个棘手问题：即家长们到底是会选择购买附带0.99美分游戏、售价229美元的iPod touch，还是附带40美元游戏，售价达250美元的掌上游戏机？

Northcutt告诉媒体：“对于硬核游戏玩家来说，他们的选择是很明确的——两样都会买！”Northcutt继续说到，“这些新型的游戏在对传统游戏产业发起挑战的同时，也为传统产业带来了一个机遇。很多游戏开发者把社交游戏当成了一种特殊的交叉推广工具（像Rockstar在Facebook上的游戏《Red Dead》），在游戏正式版发行前就对玩家产生一种特别的吸引力，并使那些购买完整版游戏的玩家能够同时体验到两种不同版本的游戏。我相信很多聪明的开发者将会好好利用这种新型的游戏和商业模式，为自己创造出更大的商机。”

总部位于加州奥兰治县的Gaikai是一家提供云游戏服务的公司，其总裁David Perr表示，“电子游戏产业所面临的最大挑战是从零售到数字销售的转变。虽然这个转变还需要很长的一段时间，也许我们将发现有许多发行商推出了一系列新型的数字商业模式。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Fast Times in Gaming, Part 1: Turbulent Transitions

The video game industry is going through a fast-moving and sometimes painful series of changes as it adjusts to new technologies, new buying habits and a changing customer base. Online multiplayer gaming has proven to be a double-edged sword, a wide selection of handheld devices has become a conundrum for buyers and marketers, and expanding development budgets mean huge sales may only mean breaking even.

Succumbing to the primal pull of gameplay, millions of new consumers are joining the nearly ubiquitous adventure of exploring the pixelated worlds presented in video games, seeking personal recreation, relaxation, amusement, even escape — and the industry is feeling the profound effects of that stampede.

Ginormous metamorphoses continue to roil the busy, merciless landscape of today’s US$28 billion U.S. video game business, challenging traditional concepts of how leading PC and console titles operate and altering the very definition of the term “interactive entertainment.” Innovations are transforming a variety of devices from PCs to TVs, consoles, smartphones and tablet computers, while trends like casual gaming, social  network games, smartphone apps, digital distribution, cloud computing, advergaming and motion controls are changing the very nature of gameplay itself.

And nowhere are the impacts of the forces at work more pronounced than in California and its three hubs of video game creativity — Northern California, Los Angeles and Orange County, where companies come and go in a vibrant flux of continuous and sweeping aesthetic and artful destruction and renewal.

As always, money remains central to the challenges facing the video gaming industry. The biggest difficulty for the industry is reining in the cost of games, and the biggest issue facing the industry is the monetization of multiplayer online gaming, according to Michael Pachter, gaming research analyst and managing director at Wedbush Securities.

“Costs have escalated and expectations have increased to the point where only a small percentage of games are profitable, and most games require more than 1 million units sold to break even,” Pachter told the E-Commerce Times. “The industry can’t thrive if that remains the case.”

Regarding multiplayer online gaming, publishers have trained consumers to expect hundreds of hours of online game play, with the consequence that these gamers buy fewer games than in the past, he noted.

“The industry has created a mismatch, where there are more people playing more hours than ever, but they’re paying less for the privilege, while the cost of providing content continues to rise,” Pachter explained. “This is unsustainable, and until the publishers figure out how to monetize online game play, they are likely to be only modestly profitable.”

Sales of video games in 2010 were flat compared to 2009 totals, according to NPD Group, a consumer and retail market research firm. NPD estimates that consumers spent between $15.4 to $15.6 billion on all video game content (not including hardware). That comprises gaming content sales via all monetization methods, including new physical video and PC games, used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content and mobile game apps.

Still a Growing Market

Nonetheless, entertainment software remains one of the fastest growing industries in the U.S. economy, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. In fact, states PwC, the sector will remain “one of the above-average growth segments of the global entertainment industries through 2011.”

According to video game sales tracker VGChartz, 17 games available on one or more video game platforms sold more than 5 million units in 2010. Nintendo, Activision, Take Two, Microsoft (Nasdaq:

MSFT), Ubisoft, Square-Enix and Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS) all produced 5m-level hits. Sequels reigned across all gaming platforms, and sales were dominated by Nintendo titles (with “Wii Sports,” “New Super Mario Bros. Wii,” “Wii Sports Resort,” “Wii Fit Plus” and “Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver Version” ranking in the top 10).

Star of the 2010 show, though, was definitely Activision’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops.” The seventh installment in the “Call of Duty” franchise made history with its last-quarter sales spree. A first-person shooter, “Black Ops” quickly achieved sudden and extreme success in the gaming world when it was released on Nov. 9. Activision sold a total of approximately 9.4 million copies of the game across multiple platforms (Xbox 360: 5,362,003; PS3: 3,769,572; PC: 279,107) in the very first week, subsequently announcing that “Black Ops” had become the biggest entertainment launch to date. VGChartz estimates that “Black Ops” generated more than $500 million for Activision. Including downloadable content and royalty breaks, not to mention the PC version, the game might have made closer to $1 billion for the company.

“The dynamics of games content purchasing changed dramatically in 2010, with options ranging from the physical product to digital downloads on connected devices as well as in-store digital kiosks,” said Anita Frazier, NPD Group industry analyst. “The increasing number of ways to acquire the content has allowed the industry to maintain total consumer spend on content as compared to 2009, and we should expect 2011 to be a growth year in the games industry as the consumer demand for gaming continues to evolve.”

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is the trade association that represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. According to an Aug. 2010 ESA study, “Video Games in the 21st Century:

The 2010 Report”:

The computer and video game industry added $4.9 billion to the U.S. economy in 2009.

The industry’s annual growth rate from 2005 to 2009 exceeded 10 percent, more than seven times the growth rate of the U.S. economy as a whole.

The entertainment software industry directly and indirectly employs more than 120,000 people in 34 states.

Direct industry employees earn an average annual compensation of $89,781.

Game Player Data

The ESA’s “2010 Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry” show that 67 percent of American households play computer and video games. The research also reveals other interesting demographic facts about today’s gamers and the games they play, including:

The average gamer is 34 years old and has been playing for 12 years.

Forty percent of all players are women, and women over 18 years of age are one of the industry’s fastest growing demographics. Today, adult women represent a greater portion of the game-playing population (33 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (20 percent).

Twenty-six percent of game players are above the age of 50, an increase from nine percent in 1999. This figure is sure to rise in coming years with nursing homes and senior centers across the nation now incorporating video games into their activities.

Sixty-seven percent of homes in America own either a console and/or PC used to run entertainment software.

Fifty-eight percent of online game players are male and 42 percent are female. Forty-two percent of heads of households report they play games on wireless devices such as a cellphone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.

Tremendous Trends

The prevailing direction of trends in the video game industry is toward increasing technological and societal complexity. Video games are driving advancements that serve gamers and non-gamers alike in the areas of business, education, health and more.

Going Casual. A mass audience of “casual” gamers (largely women), indifferent to (or even unaware of) hardcore gamer scorn, are currently using their PCs and cellphones to play games with simple rules that require minimal time commitment and no special skills. Game producers love “social” games and smartphone apps because of low production and distribution costs.

Social Games. Facebook Apps offers the top social network’s 500+ million subscribers hundreds of free games to play — including action, adventure, arcade, puzzle, racing and shooters. Social network games rank among the most popular games played in the world, with several products attracting tens of millions of players. “FarmVille,” “FrontierVille” and “Mafia Wars” are examples of popular social network games. San Francisco-based social network game developer Zynga develops browser-based games that work both standalone and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace.

Smartphone Apps. Admittedly, the nascent mobile/portable smartphone (handheld computers integrated with mobile telephones) gaming market has its problems, e.g., small screens and the fact that mobile games do not run identically across multiple platforms. But according to a study by ComScore, more than 45.5 million people in the United States owned smartphones in 2010, so a sizeable market does exist. And smartphone game tastes are definitely casual — when Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) revealed its Top 10 Most Downloaded Apps earlier this year, the overwhelming majority of the games listed were amusing distractions in the vein of “Doodle Jump,” “Angry Birds” and “Flight Control.”

Digital Distribution. While today’s most substantial game fare is still found in boxes on the shelves of the giant retailer GameStop, digital (online) game distribution is growing in popularity with the practice of delivering content without the use of physical media, typically by streaming games or downloading everything from the Web directly to the consumer’s hard drive or gaming device. EA Games President Frank Gibeau has said that the company’s future may lie in PC game downloads.

Cloud Gaming. Cloud gaming involves delivering hosted games over the Internet. Game time is sold “on demand,” typically by the minute or the hour. The service is elastic – users can play as much or as little as they want at any given time. Everything is fully managed by the provider — all the consumer needs is a personal computer and Internet access. Gaikai, OnLive and OTOY compete in this space. OnLive sells full games, provides demos, brag clips and the ability to watch other players play games (Arena). Gaikai advertises games via a webpage as demos. Main cloud-based gaming issues concern game “ownership” and subscription fees. Moreover, the broadband Internet connection needed to deliver that efficient streaming technology is out of reach for a lot of people.

Advergaming. Advergaming is the practice of using video games to advertise products, organizations and even viewpoints. With the growth of the Internet, advergames have proliferated, often becoming the most visited aspect of brand websites and turning into an integrated part of brand media planning in an increasingly fractured media environment. Advergames theoretically promote repeated traffic to websites and reinforce brands. Users choosing to register to be eligible for prizes can help marketers collect customer data. Gamers may also invite their friends to participate, which could assist promotion by word-of-mouth viral marketing.

Motion Controls. Motion control-based gaming appeals to casual and hardcore gamers alike. Controlling an onscreen avatar (a graphical image that represents the player) with nothing more than slight flicks of a wrist has been a dream of gamers ever since the Nintendo Power Glove. Nintendo’s Wii, introduced in 2006, was the first wireless motion-capture gaming console-sensors allow players to dictate the movements of their onscreen avatars. Motion controllers with accelerometers are used as gaming controllers. Wiimote, ASUS Eee Stick, PlayStation Move, Xbox Kinect, and HP (NYSE: HPQ)

Swing are a few motion controllers available in the market. Sixense TrueMotion uses a magnetic field for determining absolute position and orientation. Kinect’s runaway success over the 2010 holiday season helped Microsoft vault into record revenue for its second fiscal ending Dec. 31, 2010. Eight million Kinects were sold within the hands-free controller’s first 60 days of life. Sony (NYSE: SNE) didn’t do too bad either — more than 4 million PlayStation Move systems sold as well.

Going With the Trends

“Social and mobile games are two big challenges on the business side for the traditional, core video game industry,” said Todd Northcutt, vice president and GM for IGN Entertainment’s GameSpy Technology division, which provides online video game-related services and software. “Free and low cost alternatives to sixty-dollar shrink-wrapped games abound and the industry needs to figure out how to respond.”

Northcutt cited the challenge the Nintendo 3DS faces — which system do parents chose for their children: the $229 iPod touch with 99 cent games, or the $250 handheld with $40 games?

“For hardcore gamers the choice is obvious — both!” Northcutt told the E-Commerce Times.

While these new kinds of games present difficulties for the traditional video game industry business, they also present a huge opportunity, according to Northcutt.

“We’ve seen some developers use social games as unique cross-promotional tools, like Rockstar’s ‘Red Dead’ Facebook game, which was used to build pre-release buzz and offer those who purchased the ‘full’ game exclusive perks for playing both versions,” he explained. “I think we’ll see clever developers learn how to use these new game types and business models to enhance and augment their big-budget titles.”

David Perry is CEO of Orange County, Calif.-based Gaikai, a cloud gaming service based on the idea of playing games remotely on a central server, with the video footage fed to the home PC.

“The biggest business challenge facing the industry is the transition from retail to digital,” Perry told the E-Commerce Times. “It will take time and it will be fascinating to see all the new digital business models publishers come up with.” （source:technewsworld）