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Zynga收购英国工作室Wonderland 壮大公司人才队伍

发布时间:2011-05-03 10:15:27 Tags:,,

Zynga显然从未间断收购任何既有小型工作室,其最近宣布将英国工作室Wonderland纳入公司旗下,化身Zynga Mobile UK。

这是Zynga最近一次收购行为,公司平均每月收购一家公司。Wonderland曾推出系列炙手可热的iPhone游戏,《Godfinger》就是其中之一。但这款游戏并未包含于协议内容之中。那么为何两家公司决定进行此项交易,又为何选择此时呢?

god finger

god finger

Wonderland为Zynga制作“合理”游戏提供了大量高端经验。由于Zynga主要依赖这样的游戏机制,即将玩家视为活动于滚轮的仓鼠,因此众多用户对其真实游戏信誉嗤之以鼻。

收购Wonderland大大壮大了Zynga工作室的力量:Wonderland创始人Matthew Wiggins和Mark Rose曾任职于Lionhead(游戏邦注:该工作室是由英国游戏设计传奇人物Peter Molyneux创建的)。《Fable》和《Black & White》均出自Lionhead之手;其他Wonderland员工则是来自Codemasters和Bullfrog之类的英国游戏开发温床。

这一交易也加强了Zynga对于手机领域的认知。由于公司试图减少对Facebook平台的依赖,极力将游戏拓展至其他平台,所以掌握手机领域的权限十分重要。收购涉足手机领域的工作室堪称最为便捷的方式。

这一收购之举也让Zynga在英国拥有自己的立足之地,英国是游戏领域的一大重要市场。英国是个智能手机无处不在的高消费国家,当地居民热爱社交网络和游戏。但是同时英国也是个可供Zynga深入挖掘的人才孕育之地。

英国是全球游戏精英的一大温床(游戏邦注:仅次于美国西海岸、日本和不列颠哥伦比亚温哥华),但其过去几年似乎颇不景气。许多英国工作室过去几年纷纷停止运营,而依然身置身其中的人员则对现状颇为不满。虽然声称高级开发者沿街乞讨的报道着实有些夸大其词,但该国大量游戏人才闲置确实实情。

上述种种情况表明,Zynga此次收购实属一项重要战略决策。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

How Zynga Is Playing to Win With Wonderland

Zynga has continued its apparently unending quest to buy every small games studio in existence, with the announcement it’s purchasing British-based outfit Wonderland, which is being rebranded as Zynga Mobile UK.

It’s just the latest in a series of deals for Zynga, which is currently averaging around one buy every month. Wonderland had made a couple of popular iPhone games, including the hit Godfinger. That game, however, isn’t part of this agreement. So why do this deal, and why now?

Mostly, Wonderland offers Zynga a wealth of high-end experience in making “proper” games. Given Zynga’s reliance on gaming mechanics that seem to treat users like hamsters running on a wheel, plenty of people are sniffy about its actual gaming credentials. (Here’s a piece from gaming blog Kotaku asking, ludicrously, “Is Zynga a Video Game Company?”).

Buying Wonderland gives it a lot more muscle in that department: Wonderland’s founders, Matthew Wiggins and Mark Rose, are former employees of Lionhead, the studio set up by legendary Brit game designer Peter Molyneux. Lionhead is behind titles such as Fable and Black & White; other Wonderland employees came with backgrounds at other U.K. development hothouses like Codemasters and Bullfrog.

It also gives Zynga some more mobile knowhow. As the company tries to become less reliant on Facebook and branch out into new platforms, it’s important for it to understand how to get mobile right. Buying the team that developed a mobile smash is a quick way to get there.

The acquisition also gives Zynga a foothold in Britain, which is an important market. Of course, there’s the fact that the U.K. is a high-spending, smartphone-rich nation that loves social networking and games. But it’s also a huge talent pool Zynga can now tap into.

The country is one of the biggest hotbeds of gaming talent in the world — probably only surpassed by America’s West Coast, Japan’s dev scene and Vancouver, British Columbia — but it’s been troubled over the past few years. A number of British studios have shut down over the last couple of years — and from what people are telling me, there are also plenty of dissatisfied workers at the ones which remain. While reports of high-class developers begging for food on street corners in London would be greatly exaggerated, it’s true that there is plenty of talent available right now.

All of which means that this could be a hugely important strategic purchase, if Zynga plays it right.(Source:gigaom


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