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每日观察:关注Zynga与Lady Gaga市场推广合作(5.11)

发布时间:2011-05-11 18:24:03 Tags:,,,,

1)日本手机社交游戏平台Gree宣布,其2011财年第三季度(截止3月31日)净销售额为164亿日元(约合1.98亿美元),同比去年增长77%;净收入达82亿日元(约合9900万美元),同比增长56%;Gree将把OpenFeint的收购交易列入第四季度财报中。

Gree平台目前共聚集了约800款游戏,共有近400家开发商。目前该平台已向iPhone和Android设备扩张,现在共支持40多家开发商推出的45款智能手机游戏。Gree现在共有2506万名手机及PC用户,而其竞争对手DeNA旗下的Mobage用户则是2450万。

Crime-City

Crime-City

2)社交游戏开发商Funzio(游戏邦注:该公司代表作是《Crime City》)宣布在A轮融资中筹得2000万美元,并将把这笔资金用于拓展业务,推动《Crime City》的持续发展(该游戏目前月活跃用户超过750万)。该公司有意进军手机游戏领域,并计划于今年底推出《Crime City》手机版本。Funzio有意将团队规模扩大三倍,并致力于推行跨平台发展战略。其本轮融资的支持者包括IDG Ventures (美国)和IDG Capital Partners(中国)。

3)社交游戏巨头Zynga日前与流行歌手Lady Gaga展开一系列推广活动,在《FarmVille》、《Words With Freinds》游戏以及RewardVille网站宣传后者即将发布的音乐专辑《Born This Way》。《FarmVille》玩家将可访问以Gaga元素为主题的农场,并在该专辑5月23日正式发布前抢鲜欣赏Lady Gaga的新歌。在5月17至19日期间,玩家每天都可在游戏中开启一首新歌,而在5月20至23日期间,玩家将有幸聆听该专辑的多数新歌,并获得一些奖励。

Gaga unicorn

Gaga unicorn

购买25美元Zynga游戏卡的北美用户还可以免费下载该专辑,并在《FarmVille》中获得独家版的Lady Gaga独角兽。而《Words With Friends》玩家如果参与了“Gaga word of the day”这个环节的挑战,还可以赢取免费的音乐会门票以及获得签名的《Born This Way》专辑。而RewardVille网站则将为玩家限时供应10款Zynga游戏的Gaga主题虚拟商品。

4)Playdom和EA在加州圣马特奥工作室主管Karen Clark最近加入了John Romero、Brenda Brathwaite等游戏老将的行列,成为Loot Drop团队新成员,在此之前,她曾担任Playdom项目经理,EA项目经理(负责监管《质量效应2》等游戏的运营)。

karen clark

karen clark

5)Capcom公司最近表示,Capcom游戏在北美和欧洲的市场份额仅为1.6%(在两地分别排在第13和第14名),而在日本市场份额则占11%,排名第三。据该公司所称,Capcom的手机、在线PC和掌机数字游戏业务将获得更大的发展,而其零售包装游戏的营收却正在下滑。Capcom称公司将把社交和在线游戏作为重点业务,并打造全球性的社交游戏业务。

Denis Dyack

Denis Dyack

6)传统游戏老将Denis Dyack(Silicon Knights工作室掌门人)最近表示,他认为社交游戏市场充满泡沫,这个领域并不可靠。他预测社交游戏将面临收支严重失衡的局面,并称社交游戏是靠市场推广来抬高身价,它们并非真正的游戏,这种运营模式并不健康,而且很有风险。他最后还补充道,许多传统游戏发行商与他的看法相同,所以他们迟迟不肯向这一领域投入资源。

Uno Boost

Uno Boost

7)GameHouse开发的社交游戏《Uno Boost》是一款多人模式的家庭纸牌游戏的变体,目前的MAU(月活跃用户)约为110万,DAU(日活跃用户)为11万左右。据该公司所称,这款游戏的迅速发展得益于绑定了Facebook Credits虚拟货币系统。该游戏的主要盈利来源是Boost cards,玩家可使用Facebook Credits或者游戏虚拟货币购买单件或者捆绑销售的Boost cards。有一些捆绑销售的Boost cards仅限使用Facebook Credits支付费用,该游戏还通过TrialPay综合推广服务和Live Gamer视频广告为玩家提供Boost cards奖励。

GameHouse目前的23款Facebook应用的MAU是390万,DAU是53.8万,最近还宣布与Fremantle联手推出CBS电视节目游戏《Let’s Make A Deal》。

green-farm

green-farm

8)法国发行商Gameloft最近发布了Facebook和iPhone/iPad版本的农场社交游戏《Green Farm》。这是一款免费游戏,但支持玩家付费购买虚拟商品。其主要功能与设置与一般农场游戏相同,可让用户养殖家畜、种植庄稼和草木,并在线访问好友的农场,向他们寻求帮助或者共同体验迷你游戏等。

American Express-social currency ad

American Express-social currency ad

9)美国运通公司最近打出了“社交货币”(Social Currency)广告,Zynga热门社交游戏《CityVille》也因此成为该广告的最大亮点,该广告上显示了“我晋升到《CityVille》第五关了”的宣言。据称用户还可使用运通奖励积分(Amex Reward Points)购买《FarmVille》、《CityVille》等Zynga游戏的独特虚拟商品。如果玩家使用Amex奖励积分购买Zynga游戏卡,还可以享受50%的优惠折扣。

10)据Consumer Reports报告显示,Facebook共有750万名年龄在13岁以下的少儿用户,其中500万儿童用户的年龄在10岁甚至10岁以下。

而来自Liberty Mutual报告也指出,有17%的家长并不反对子女访问社交网站,这一比例比去年增加了两倍。高达90%的家长自称是Facebook活跃用户,还有11%家长承认自己曾为了子女或婴儿而使用Facebook。三分之一的家长表示自己常盯着子女访问Facebook时的活动。

facebook-underage

facebook-underage

尽管Facebook要求年龄在13岁或以上的用户才可注册帐号,但许多受访者却表示不介意自己未达到年龄标准的子女使用Facebook。为了执行Facebook管理条例,该网站管理员平均每天会踢掉2万个未达年龄标准的用户帐号(该网站每年踢掉的帐号总数为700万个)。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请注明来源:游戏邦)

1)GREE posts Q3 FY11 sales of $198 million, up 77%

Japanese social gaming company GREE (TYO:3632) has announced its Q3 FY11 financials for the three months ending March 31.

Net sales were ¥16.4 billion (around $198 million), up 77 percent year-on-year.

Net income was ¥8.2 billion ($99 million), up 56 percent.

GREE bought US gaming network OpenFeint for $104 million in April, but that acquisition will be listed in its Q4 figures.

Who’s a big boy?

GREE pointed to the opening up of its social mobile gaming platform to external developers – it now has around 800 titles from approximate 400 developers – as a key driver of revenue growth.

During the quarter, a new advertising program was launched as well as new payment methods from NTT DoCoMo and au added.

The platform is also being extended to iPhone and Android devices. Currently there are around 45 smartphones titles available from 40 developers.

GREE claims to be the largest Japanese social network with 25.06 million users across mobile and PC. Yet back in February, arch rival DeNA said its Mobage platform had 24.5 million users, so it’s a neck-and-neck comparison.(source:pocketgamer

2)Crime City dev Funzio secures $20 million in funding

Crime City developer Funzio has announced that it will be receiving $20 million in Series A funding. The developer will be using the funding to expand its operations and attempt to follow up the success of Crime City, which currently has just over 7.5 million monthly active users.

In addition to Facebook, Funzio is planning to put a large focus on mobile gaming, which includes a mobile version of Crime City due later this year. With the funding the studio is planning to triple in size and begin focusing on creating multi-platform titles developed parallel to one another.

The funding comes from IDG Ventures (US) and IDG Capital Partners (China). Ventures managing director Phil Sanderson will be joining Funzio’s board of directors as part of the deal, as will former Playdom co-founder Rick Thompson.(source:gamezebo

3)Zynga goes gaga for Lady Gaga with new in-game promotions

Zynga is teaming up with iconic pop star Lady Gaga on a series of promotions that should create even more excitement around her upcoming album Born This Way. The promotions span a variety of Zynga properties, including FarmVille, Words With Friends, and RewardVille.

In FarmVille players will be able to visit a Gaga-inspired neighbor farm, complete with crystals, unicorns, and sheep riding on motorcycles. No word on space eggs, though. But for fans, more important is the ability to listen to songs from the album in advance of its release on May 23. From May 17-19 players will be able to unlock and stream one new track per day, and then from the 20-23 much of the album will be made available to listen to in-game, as well as some bonus remixes.

Those who purchase $25 Zynga game cards in the US or Canada will also be treated to a free download of the album, as well as an exlcusive Lady Gaga unicorn for their FarmVille farms. You’ll even be entered into a contest where you’ll have the chance to win an on-set visit to Gaga’s next music video shoot.

Words With Friends players, meanwhile, will have the chance to win free concert tickets and a signed copy of Born This Way if they manage to play the “Gaga word of the day.” This contest will run from May 17-26 and is only available to US residents.

And finally there will be a series of Gaga-themed virtual items available for 10 different Zynga games through RewardVille. These secret items, available for games like CityVille, FrontierVille, and Mafia Wars, are only going to be around for a limited time.(source:gamezebo

4)Loot Drop adds former Dragon Age, Mass Effect manager to veteran line-up

Loot Drop, the studio co-founded by industry luminaries John Romero and Brenda Brathwaite, is making a name for itself by building a team of veteran game developers dedicated to social games. To

that Loot Drop has announced that Karen Clark, formerly of Playdom and Electronic Arts, will be taking on the role of director of studio operations at the company’s San Mateo, California studio.

Prior to joining Loot Drop, Clark served as program manager at Playdom, and before that was a project manager at Electronic Arts working on titles like Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2.

“Working at Loot Drop was an easy choice for me,” said Clark. “I have a lot of friends in the company who believe in the social space and the opportunities it presents to recapture some of the early magic of games where the gameplay was paramount.”(source:gamezebo

5)Capcom To Continue Western Focus, Projects Online And Social GrowthClearly, Capcom is trying to capture a healthier share of the lucrative Western markets. According to the company, its market share in both North America and Europe was only 1.6 percent (ranked 13th and 14th, respectively), compared to the third-ranked 11 percent it commands in Japan.

Packaged console games represent the largest part of Capcom’s business — and will through at least fiscal 2015, according to the company — but its mobile, online PC, and console digital businesses are projected to grow tremendously while its packaged business ultimately declines.

Its social and online business in particular “is expected to expand and drive growth of the entire game market,” according to the company. In the coming year, the company says it will ramp up both its social and mobile game development to meet with industry trends. It will create a global business out of its social games, the company said, establishing development in North America, Europe and Japan. (source:gamasutra

6)The booming market for social gaming is about to hit a brick wall, so says games industry veteran Denis Dyack.

The Silicon Knights chief told IndustryGamers that he believed the sector had no real future.

“The trend that I see is it’s probably going to be one of the biggest bubbles and explosions that our industry’s seen in a long time and I think when it crashes it’s going to crash very hard,” he predicted. “I don’t think there’s an economy there.”

Dyack speculated that revenues from social games would not match the huge amount of investment currently being thrown at them.

“I don’t know about Zynga – I think that’s a big micro, but I think that the amount of venture that’s being poured in, in general, that’s most of the video game industry investment.

“It looks like marketing to me. It doesn’t look like real gaming. And maybe it’ll change, I don’t know. It looks very, very dangerous.

“I think Zynga’s valuated more than some traditional publishers right now that have been in the industry for decades,” he continued. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t see it. It seems imaginary to me… it doesn’t look long term healthy to me.

“And right now you’re seeing a lot of influx in venture and you’re seeing a lot of excitement and a lot of pie in the sky ideas, but when games actually have to start showing pure revenue and real ‘here’s how much we made and here’s how much it cost’… I think that industry is going to not last very long.”

Though EA was quick to jump on the bandwagon with its Playfish purchase last year, Dyack suggested that many traditional game publishers shared his concerns and were reluctant to commit resources.

“I think there are a lot of publishers out there that don’t agree with it and they just haven’t spoken about it. I don’t see Nintendo going into that space, as an example. There are a lot of publishers that I don’t see going into that space.” (source:eurogamer

7)Uno Boost Gets a Boost From Facebook Credits Integration

Uno Boost is a single player variant of the popular family card game from Mattel developed by GameHouse for Facebook. The game is enjoying steady growth, with a monthly active users north of 1.1

million and daily active users at 110,000, according to our traffic tracking service AppData. GameHouse credits the game’s rapid growth to fully embracing Facebook Credits.

The game is monetized primarily through the sale of the aforementioned Boost cards, which can be purchased individually or in “packs” using either Facebook Credits or in-game currency. Certain packs are only available using Facebook Credits. There’s also an offer wall powered by TrialPay and a video ad service powered by Live Gamer that nets players individual Boost cards per viewing in exchange for viewing video advertisements.

GameHouse currently enjoys a total MAU of 3.9 million and 538,000 DAU across all 23 of its Facebook apps. Fliflet tells us that the company has more titles in development that span both original intellectual property and licensed IP. GameHouse recently announced a partnership with Fremantle to bring CBS game show Let’s Make A Deal to Facebook.

8)Green Farm From Gameloft Now On iOS To Take On FarmVille iPhone For FREE

Do you LOVE  social networking games like my friend @superbad24? Gameloft introduces an online social FARMING game you can play on both Facebook and your iPhone/iPad.

Of course the game is free to play but if you want all the neat stuff you will have to spend real monies. Features after the jump.

Green Farm Features:

• ADDICTIVE: Get addicted to farm life as you raise crops, trees and livestock.

• UNIQUE: Access your existing Facebook farm or create a new one. Earn coins to buy a huge variety of seeds, animals and buildings to customize it!

• ONLINE: Visit your friends’ farms, ask them for help or even invite them to your farm toplay mini-games together ‘till the cows come home!

• GREEN: Gather organic plants and use renewable energy sources like solar panels or electric windmills.

• AWESOME: Make your own homemade apple juice & cheese, or develop specialties like gardening or carpentry!

• BETTER: Never again forget to feed your animals on time thanks to push notifications!

• NEW: The fun never ends thanks to frequent updates!(source:theappera

9)CityVille scores a starring role in new American Express ad

Not sure if you’ve spotted this relatively new American Express ‘Social Currency’ ad, but Zynga’s game CityVille managed to score a starring role. About halfway through, you see someone sharing “I’m Level 5 in CityVille.”

Why is a game like CityVille part of this Amex ad? Aside from the its obscene popularity (it currently boasts 88 million players worldwide), you can renew your Amex Reward Points for virtual currency that can be used in Zynga games or to buy exclusive virtual items for FarmVille, CityVille, et al. For more information on which items you can buy, head to socialcurrency.com.

As an extended part of this deal, Zynga is currently offering FarmVille players a free virtual windmill, Instant grow potion and special free gifts that players can send to each other. You can also get 50% off Zynga Game Cards when you use your Amex reward points to buy them. See? Just like Amex always says: ‘Membership has its privileges.’(source:games

10)REPORT: 5 Million Facebookers Are Below Age 11

This comes from the June issue of Consumer Reports, which features a special report about online security that appears to be a rehashing of previously reported lore on the subject.

And this publication coincides with another report that came out this week, from Liberty Mutual. The insurer revealed that 17 percent of parents have no angst about their children using social networking sites, a figure that has more than doubled since last year’s result.

A whopping 90 percent of parents admitted to being frequent Facebook users, while 11 percent spilled the beans and confessed to have used the site on behalf of their young child or infant.

One third of the parents did state however, that they do keep an eye on their younger children’s activities as they visit their Facebook accounts.

Interestingly enough, although the minimum age requirement for a Facebook user is 13, many respondants didn’t seem to mind their kid’s age fudging in order to secure an account.

In a concerted effort to stop underage children from opening up Facebook accounts, site administrators do try to enforce its terms of service by booting off an estimated 20,000 youngsters per day that adds up to about 7 million accounts per year.  The move not only safeguards the site but most importantly, it helps protect younger children from sleaze balls, encounters with cyberbullies and exposure to objectionable material.(source:allfacebook


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