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每日观察:关注Zynga收购DNA Games等消息(5.19)

发布时间:2011-05-19 16:32:48 Tags:,,,,

1)日本电子游戏公司Tecmo Koei日前宣布正式进军社交游戏领域,推出其首款Facebook游戏《JollyWoold》,让玩家“在如诗如画的美景中远离尘嚣”。这款采用免费模式的游戏由Tecmo Koei的新加坡工作室开发,计划未来推出智能手机版本。该公司之前已在日本市场推出数款社交游戏,但这次才是它开始向全球社交游戏市场进军的真正动作。

JollyWood

JollyWood

2)位于旧金山的Tagged公司最近宣布拓展其社交网络业务(游戏邦注:该网站已有1亿注册用户),成立自己的社交游戏开发部门Tagged Game Studio,并指派EA公司Pogo前副总裁Andrew Pedersen出任该工作室主管。该公司成立于2004年,其社交游戏代表作是《Pets》(用户在该游戏中每天的互动行为多达500万次),自2008年以来一直处于盈利状态,去年总营收为3200万美元。

3)WildTangent日前宣布其发行的首款社交游戏《Gun Bros.》在WildTangent Games App及其在线游戏网站上线。《Gun Bros.》这款游戏已显示出良好的发展势头,WildTangent用户在该游戏道具上的消费比其他网站的用户多两倍。《Gun Bros.》由Glu Mobile和HitPoint联合开发的游戏目前在Facebook的MAU接近70万。

Gun-Bros

Gun-Bros

4)据路透社报道,休闲游戏公司PopCap有可能于今年11月份进行首次公开募股。该公司首席执行官David Roberts表示,他们正在为上市做准备,最早可能在11月份上市,但最终结果取决于市场实际情况。

DNA games

DNA games

5)社交游戏开发商Zynga日前宣布收购另一家社交游戏工作室DNA Games,这是Zynga在12个月内的第14笔收购交易。DNA成立于2009年,创始人是Jon Lee和Shaun Haase,其代表作包括《Casino City》、《Slot City》和《Bar World》,Lee将担任该工作室总经理,向Zynga产品开发副总裁Mark Skaggs述职。

6)在本周DAU增长最快速的社交游戏中,Zynga的招牌游戏《CityVille》再次登上榜首,这与Zynga携手Laday Gaga推出的大规模宣传活动有关。在前20强游戏榜单中,《Gardens of Times》位列第二,而《Bubble Saga》和《Diamond Dash》发展依然强势,分别排在第三和第五名。

Top Gainers This Week-Games

Top Gainers This Week-Games

insidesocialgames认为除了与流行歌手Lady Gaga的推广合作之外,Zynga游戏的DAU再度攀升的另一个原因是它们添加了新的游戏内容,例如《CityVille》在两周前增加了动物园元素,促使其DAU提升了10%;而其另一款游戏《Mafia Wars》也在本周更新了格斗系统,但却没有收到同样的成效。除此之外,Zynga首席执行官马克·平卡斯近期的媒体曝光率,也很可能是该公司游戏再获人气的原因之一。

7)社交游戏《A Better World》近日在Facebook上线,该游戏的独特之处在于,它不但奖励玩家在游戏中的表现,而且还鼓励玩家在现实生活中展现自己内心的真善美。该游戏玩法有助于参与其中的玩家感受到自己对他人的价值和意义,同时提供了一系列有助于激发灵感的迷你游戏,支持他们在游戏中购物,以个性化方式点缀自己的虚拟形象和空间。

A Better World

A Better World

该游戏有15个环节供玩家探索,包括Department of Do Good(分享自己所做的善事)、Gratitude Grotto(通过发送信息表达自己对他人的感激之情或提供帮助)、Sanctuary of Hope(与其他玩家畅谈自己的梦想并鼓励他人追求目标)、Arcade(单独体验游戏或者与好友共同挑战)。

该游戏由数字娱乐公司ToonUps开发,目前正处于测试阶段,共有7.8万名玩家参与测试。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

1)Video game maker Tecmo leaps into Facebook games with Jollywood

by Joe Osborne

Tecmo Koei is taking a short break from gore-spewing ninjas and warring Chinese armies to explore a far more lucrative market these days: Facebook games. The Japanese creator of Ninja Gaiden will launch JollyWood tomorrow, a social game developed by its Singapore studio. The game tasks players with creating “getaways of fun and relaxation amidst scenic landscapes,” Tecmo Koei said in a statement.

The game will launch on Facebook, though this studio has big plans for global expansion on not just social networks but smartphones as well, according to the press release. Of course, the game will be free to play and plans to live off of micro-transactions.

Tecmo has already released some social games in the Japanese market, but this is first time that the legendary company has expanded its horizons globally in the social games space. You can find more details on the game through its Facebook page.(source:games

2)Social network Tagged opens own game division, hires EA exec

San Francisco’s Tagged Inc. is trying to expand its niche as a social network for meeting new people by creating its own social games development division.

Tagged, which says it has 100 million registered members, announced Wednesday it has created an in-house Tagged Game Studio headed by Andrew Pedersen, former vice president of the Pogo division of Electronic Arts.

Tagged hopes to build on the success of one of its own social games, Pets, which the company says is generating about five million interactions a day.

“Creating the Tagged Game Studio to develop our future titles was the next logical step,” CEO and co-founder Greg Tseng said in a news release.

Social games have certainly worked for San Francisco’s Zynga Inc., which has millions of players for games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars. But it hasn’t saved MySpace, which last year launched a “MySpace Games” strategy. MySpace owner News Corp. is trying to unload the money-losing social network.

And although Tagged launched in 2004, it is still far overshadowed by the juggernaut that is Facebook Inc., which is just eight months older.

Still, Tagged has been profitable since 2008 and generated $32 million in revenue last year, Tseng said in a recent interview.(source:seattlepi

3)Social Game Gun Bros Launches on WildTangent Games

WildTangent today announced that it released its first social game, Gun Bros from Glu Mobile, in the WildTangent Games App and online games service. WildTangent’s mission is to be a games service supporting all game types for every member of the household. Early results show Gun Bros is currently seeing as much as three times the average spend per paying user on in-game items vs. the average spend on other sites.

Gun Bros currently has nearly 700,000 monthly active users on Facebook alone. Developed by HitPoint Inc. in partnership with Glu Mobile, it is a port of Glu’s hit action game starring Percy and Francis Gun, special agents of the “Freakishly Rugged Advanced Genetics Galactic Enforcement Division” (aka F.R.A.G.G.E.D.). Players focus on shooting waves of enemies, unlocking new items for purchase in the armory store and gathering an arsenal of weapons. (source:sys-con

4)Bejeweled maker PopCap to pop on the market as early as November

by Joe Osborne

PopCap, the creator of casual hits like Bejeweled and Plants vs. Zombies, is looking to make waves on the stock market as early as November, Reuters reports. The Seattle-based, but globally-stretched, casual and social games developer teased its public stock debut to us just a month ago. According to Reuters, however, the time for teasing is over.

“We are very much in the process of preparing a listing,” PopCap CEO David Roberts (pictured) revealed in a press conference. “We expect to be ready to be listed as early as November this year.

Whether we go, will depend on the market… we don’t want to rush into it.” The company has been in talks with investment firms, gauging the viability of its initial public offering (IPO), or when a company opens itself up for public investment.(source:games

5)Zynga acquires DNA Games, 14th acquisition in 12 months

Dean Takahashi

Zynga said today it is acquiring social game maker DNA Games. That’s the 14th acquisition Zynga has made in 12 months.

Zynga is in a race to acquire talent to make more social games for Facebook (where it has more than 250 million monthly active users) and other platforms such as mobile.

DNA Games was founded in 2009 by Jon Lee and Shaun Haase. They have created hits such as Casino City, Slot City and Bar World. Zynga says it will use their expertise in creating next-generation games. Lee will serve as the general manager of the studio, which will report to Mark Skaggs, senior vice president of product development.(source:venturebeat

6)Zynga Games See Spikes In This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Games by DAU

By AJ Glasser

Several Zynga games got lifts in monthly active users and daily active users this week, bringing games like CityVille back onto our top 20 list of fastest-growing games by DAU after previously falling off. A combination of new content and a Lady Gaga promotion could explain the spikes.

On to the rest of the top 20, we see Gardens of Time, Bubble Saga and Diamond Dash still going strong. Ninja Saga also makes a reappearance farther down the list at number 16.

Another contributing factor in Zynga’s surge in DAU may be new game content recently added to several of its titles. CityVille, for example, launched a zoo component to gameplay a little over two weeks ago, which coincides with an overall DAU lift of over 10%. A similar content update to the boss fight system in Mafia Wars released this month doesn’t seem to have had the same effect, however.

The last possible explanation for Zynga’s spikes in DAU may actually be one of visibility. A Vanity Fair article on Zynga founder and CEO Mark Pincus from the magazine’s June issue appeared on the web this week, possibly sparking interest in Zynga’s games from an audience that hadn’t previously experienced them.(source:insidesocialgames

7)Facebook Game Challenges Players to Make A Better World

A Better World, a game that rewards players not just for in-game activities but also for real world acts of kindness and expressions of gratitude, is launching on Facebook.

A Better World, which has soared to more than 78,000 players in beta, adds a new layer of social activity to casual gaming. Gameplay activities are designed to help everyone who participates feel better about themselves, be supportive of others and make positive choices in their everyday lives. Players also can play mini games with inspirational themes; have fun shopping; and personalize their characters and virtual spaces.

The game offers more than 15 locations to explore, including:

* Department of Do Good – Share real world good deeds you’ve performed and see what other members of the community have done

* Gratitude Grotto – Reveal what you are thankful for and express your support for messages left by others

* Sanctuary of Hope – Communicate your hopes and dreams and send encouragement to other players

* Arcade – Play uplifting mini-games alone or with friends

“The model for Facebook games has always been virtual activities – even when the games deal with real world issues,” Gregory Hansell, VP of product development, ToonUps, explains. “A Better World breaks that mold. We encourage players to take positive actions that affect those around them – both in the virtual world and in the real world.”

A Better World’s original approach could usher in a new genre of “do good gaming.”

Beta players report that being encouraged to think about things they are thankful for and doing activities that provide encouragement to others improves their mental, emotional and spiritual well being.

“Our beta players tell us that they don’t just come back because A Better World is fun, but because the game has had a transformative effect on their lives,” MarySue Lucci, president, ToonUps, said. “Community members encourage each other. Players create a feedback loop of goodwill that feeds on itself.”

A Better World was created by ToonUps, a digital entertainment company that has focused on developing digital content that encourages a positive outlook and altruistic behavior for more than a decade. (source:virtual-strategy


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