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每日观察:关注Facebook用户增长速度减缓(6.15)

发布时间:2011-06-15 16:39:59 Tags:,,,

1)据Zynga最近收购的一家公司高管所称,Zynga公司奉行“雷厉风行”的工作原则,总是速战速决地打造成功的游戏项目。

zynga-logo(from wallstreetcn.com)

zynga-logo(from wallstreetcn.com)

但这位不愿具名的高管还表示,他认为Zynga制定某些决策时似乎缺乏深思熟虑,“他们的执行力很强,但有时候也显得考虑不周……不管怎样,Zynga的运营很成功,我也并非批评这种策略。”他称有些时候如果一款游戏不成功,主事者就会果断决定再招20人参与项目,Zynga未必知道自己将走向何方,但总是步履匆匆。他们总是很迅速地取缔失败项目,然后将资源投向更有发展前景的游戏。整个公司都在“以Zynga速度前进”,但这也许就是Zynga领先于其他同行的原因之一。

2)休闲游戏公司PopCap Games近日举办了一场义卖活动,旨在通过拍卖PopCap旗下游戏的原创艺术品及概念图复制品,资助严重疾病和残障儿童。该公司在6月14日至7月12日期间,在其Ebay商店拍卖34件作品,所得款项将全数捐赠给美国星光儿童基金会、英国SpecialEffect基金会。这些拍卖作品包括《植物大战僵尸》、《祖玛闪电战》和《Peggle》等知名游戏的相关艺术品。

popcap-peggle-sake-set(from games.com)

popcap-peggle-sake-set(from games.com)

3)eMarketer预测,Facebook美国用户增长速度放缓,2013年将达1.521亿人,届时50岁以上的美国用户将显著增长,这一用户群体将占2013年美国网民的89%左右。

US Facebook users(from eMarketer)

US Facebook users(from eMarketer)

4)RockYou最近在Facebook推出继集游戏《Zoo World 2》,这个新版游戏运行速度优于原版《Zoo World》,并采用了一个新的能量系统,但这两者在玩法上仍存在不少相似之处。原版《Zoo World》仍然在Facebook平台运营,RockYou也仍未表态将对其作何处理。

zoo-world-2(from games.com)

zoo-world-2(from games.com)

5)Valve旗下的Steam平台近日推出了五款采用微交易模式(游戏免费,道具收费)的免费游戏,此举标志着免费游戏也正成为视频游戏领域的主流发展趋势。微交易模式最早由韩国Nexon等游戏公司首创,当时主要用于应对亚洲盛行的盗版现象。Steam平台的这五款免费游戏包括《Spiral Knights》、《Forsaken Worlds》、《Champions Online:Free For All》、《Global Agenda:Free Agent》以及《Aliance of Valiant Arms》。Steam平台至今已有1500多款游戏,3000万个活跃用户帐号。

Steam(from venturebeat.com)

Steam(from venturebeat.com)

6)据inside facebook报道,多项调查数据显示Facebook全球用户增长速度已经趋缓,多数新用户来自发展中国家,而在发达国家则不断流失用户。例如Compete数据表明,今年4月份,Facebook在美国的月独立访问用户,已从3月份的1.407亿缩减至1.379亿。Inside Facebook Gold数据指出,在5月初至六月初期间,Facebook在美国独立访问用户已从1.552亿下滑至1.494亿,但同一时期,其全球月独立访问用户却增加了1180万,目前共达6.871亿。

Facebook US Traffic in 2011(from insidefacebook)

Facebook US Traffic in 2011(from insidefacebook)

不过comSore数据却显示,今年5月份,Facebook在美国的月独立访问用户增加了316万,共达1.572亿。而MySpace同期的用户出现下滑趋势,在美国月独立访问用户为3489.6万,Twitter却略有增长,其同期数据为2699.7万。

comScore-facebook US traffic(from insidefacebook)

comScore-facebook US traffic(from insidefacebook)

7)《PyramidVille》是一款由法国开发商Kobojo推出的城市建设类Facebook游戏,自6月份以来用户数量一路走高,据AppData数据显示,《PyramidVille》当前的MAU是240万,DAU是46万6747。该游戏支持玩家在古埃及故事背景中建设自己的家园、工坊以及奇迹,种植庄稼并饲养动物。

PyramidVille(from insidesocialgames.com)

PyramidVille(from insidesocialgames.com)

玩家可使用Facebook Credits购买虚拟货币Gemmes(或通过完成游戏任务赢取该奖励)购买特殊道具或加速游戏进程。据该公司产品及战略副总裁Vincent Vergonjeanne所称,他们将通过在Facebook平台的推广活动以及本土化策略,扩大游戏用户规模。在上周这款游戏推出意大利和西班牙语版本后,其用户流量迅速从原来的140万突破200万大关。

8)EA Games总裁Frank Gibeau在最近的媒体采访中表示,游戏内置聊天系统、状态追踪以及内容分享等社交功能与游戏玩法和视觉效果同样重要,并且将成为EA游戏的关注重心。

Frank-Gibeau(from guardian.co.uk)

Frank-Gibeau(from guardian.co.uk)

据他所述,在游戏中植入社交功能是公司所有游戏开发过程中的一个“首要设计考虑”,也是EA掌机和PC游戏设计的重要一环。他认为社交网络的口碑传播效应有助于推广游戏,从而提高其知名度。除了最近刚开张的Origin数字下载商店之外,EA还将针对旗下游戏推出多个独立网站,其中包括《战地3》的网站Battlelog。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,转载请联系:游戏邦

1)Report: Zynga ‘Throws Bodies At Problems’

by Mike Rose

A top executive at one of social gaming giant Zynga’s recent acquisitions has said that the company will “throw bodies at problems” to make a game successful, according to media reports.

Talking anonymously to the Business Insider, the executive noted that the acquisition “was a good experience”, and that the company was integrated into Zynga without taking a day off.

However, the person explained that Zynga’s methods lack thought. “They move really fast and they’re good at executing,” said the exec, “but they just kind of throw bodies at problems. Not thought.”

“It’s successful. I’m not criticizing the strategy. For people who like to have ownership, sometimes it can be a serious headache. [They'll say], ‘This game isn’t working? Hire 20 more people.’”

The executive also said that the social games company “doesn’t always know where it’s going but it’s going fast.”

“They’re really ruthless with cutting things that don’t work. If a game doesn’t work, they kill it. They’ll throw those resources somewhere else.”

“They have ‘move at Zynga speed’ written all over the walls. I think everyone’s hustling… I think it’s one of the reasons that they’re ahead of other people. They got that early lead and started acquiring as many users as possible and cross-promoting. They’ve got one or two things right and they’re focused on that. I think a lot of companies do that.”

Zynga has acquired a number of smaller social games companies since the start of this year, including Casino City developer DNA Games and UK mobile developer Wonderland. (source:gamasutra)  

2)PopCap Auctions Original Game Art For Charity

by Frank Cifaldi

PopCap Games is auctioning a number of unique and original pieces of art related to its games catalog, with all proceeds benefiting charities that aid ill and disabled children.

The company will auction of 34 pieces of PopCap-related art between now and July 12 on its Ebay shop, ranging from original sketches to high quality reproductions of concept art from its games.

“This auction is our way of letting consumers peek behind the creativity curtain at PopCap, but more than that, it’s a wonderful opportunity for us and fans of our games to support children in need,” said PopCap VP of marketing Ben Rotholtz. “Every piece in the auction is unique and each reflects a facet of PopCap’s history in a whimsical way.”

All proceeds from the auctions will go to the U.S.-based Starlight Children’s Foundation, which provides support to seriously ill children and their families, and UK-based SpecialEffect, which helps children with disabilities to play games and engage in their creative interests.

“PopCap’s games are well known to provide therapeutic effects to adults and children alike, but now consumers have the opportunity to take home a tangible piece of PopCap happiness,” said Elaine Siver, of Starlight Children’s Foundation. “Thanks to PopCap’s support, we will raise a lot of awareness and thousands of children will continue to be helped given our mission at Starlight Foundation.”

Pieces currently available include art from Plants vs. Zombies, Zuma Blitz and Peggle. A promotional video showing a few of the pieces in detail is available here. (source:gamasutra)  

3)Will Facebook Reach 152 Million U.S. Users Next Year?

by Jackie Cohen

Facebook’s membership in the U.S. might have dipped recently, but eMarketer expects it to bounce back up to reach 152.1 million in 2013.

The growth will come from increased usage by older users, specifically those over the age of 50; eMarketer sees the penetration rate among these demographics reaching up to 89 percent of Internet users by 2013.

Readers, what do you think about the future growth of Facebook usage in the U.S.?(source:allfacebook)   

4)Zoo World 2: Will this sequel breathe new life into RockYou’s zoo game?

by Libe Goad

When interest starts to wane in a Facebook game, most creators will launch a big, fancy in-game feature designed to keep players coming back for more. And, it seems to work, at least for a while.

FarmVille got a big boost when it rolled out a second farm set in the English Countryside and FrontierVille’s upcoming Pioneer Trail expansion will likely do the same.

RockYou’s taking a different tact with its zoo simulation game, Zoo World, which was one of the most popular games on Facebook about a year or so ago. Instead of launching a big add-on to the game,

Rock You rebuilt the game from the ground up and launched it as a sequel — Zoo World 2 — which is now live on Facebook.

A side-by-side comparison of the two Zoo Worlds shows that the new game has amped up the graphics and has built in more ways to customize your zoo to your liking.

Pretty graphics aside, Zoo World 2 also runs much faster than its laggy predecessor and employs a new energy system, meaning it now costs energy to feed and breed animals and to harvest kiosks for cash. Like any other Facebook game that uses energy, once it runs out, it will refill over time or there’s the option to pay real-life cash to fill it up on the fly.

There are still plenty of similarities between the two games, such as the ability to harvest and breed animals and a series of quests, which direct you to do things like ‘Buy 1 Animal’ and ‘Breed two babies,’ and help drive the game forward.

Right now, the original Zoo World is still alive and kicking (go here if you want to play it), and there’s no word yet whether RockYou plans to keep it around or if it will eventually be phased out in order to drive players to the newer game. In the meantime, we’ll see if Zoo World 2 has what it takes to put this zoo simulation game series back on top of the Facebook gaming charts.(source:games)  

5)Valve’s Steam online store launches micro-transaction games

Dean Takahashi

Valve’s Steam service dominates the market for downloadable games on the PC. So it’s a big victory for the free-to-play market that Valve is announcing its first micro-transaction games on the Steam service today.

The company is releasing five games on the Steam store today that use micro-transactions. That’s a big deal because it shows that free-to-play games (where gamers can play a game for free and then pay real money for virtual goods in small transactions) are becoming more and more mainstream in the video game industry.

Daniel James, chief executive of Three Rings, an independent game developer in San Francisco, said his game Spiral Knights will debut in the Steam store with micro-transactions. That shows how far micro-transactions have come. In the past, micro-transactions were pioneered by Korean companies such as Nexon a decade ago to stop game piracy in Asia. It worked, but it also became a standard business model because users liked the fact that they could pay in smaller, measured amounts and try a game out before they spent money on it.

Other free-to-play games include Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free For All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valiant Arms. Overall, Steam has more than 1,500 games and 30 million active accounts worldwide. It is available for Mac and PC games.(source:venturebeat)  

6)Available Data Shows Facebook User Numbers Growing Quickly, or Slowly, or Falling

Our data source was Inside Facebook Gold, our tracking service that shows country-by-country monthly active user counts, based exactly on the data that Facebook provides in its advertising tool. It showed Facebook falling from 155.2 million at the beginning of May to 149.4 million at the beginning of June, but growing by 11.8 million monthly actives around the world to reach 687.1 million over the same period.

Compete

May stats are not yet available, but looking back to April, the firm shows Facebook falling from 140.7 million monthly unique visitors in March to 137.9 million in the US. In contrast to multiple other sources, Compete has shown Facebook gaining and losing users month-to-month over much of the past year.

It also shows Facebook’s most direct social product rivals, Twitter and MySpace, also losing users in April.

ComScore

While often more in line with the data in Facebook’s ad tool, comScore’s data tends to diverge a bit in the US and a lot internationally — or at least that’s what we’ve observed in the past(take a look at the top graph in this story for another divergent month: January of 2011).

In May, Facebook grew by 3.16 million monthly unique visitors, according to the firm, to reach 157.2 million in the country. It’s not clear why comScore is showing growth while Facebook itself is showing a loss. Twitter, meanwhile, made back some losses from April, while Myspace lost some of its gains from that month.(source:insidefacebook)   

7)PyramidVille on Facebook Sees Strong Growth After Round of Funding

By Carolyn Koh 

PyramidVille is a city building Facebook game from French social game developer Kobojo, which recently secured $7.5 million in funding to put toward expansion and acceleration plans. Since that time, PyramidVille has shown rapid growth for the month of June that puts it toward the top of our fastest-growing Facebook games both by monthly active users and daily active users.

According to our data tracking service AppData, PyramidVille currently has 2.4 million monthly active users and 466,747 daily active users.

PyramidVille monetizes through its premium currency, Gemmes, which can be spent on special items or on gameplay acceleration. The game’s standard currency, gold, can be bought with Facebook Credits or earned in-game. A third currency, Orbs of Anubis, is only available for purchase with Gemmes and it is spent on super powers that can do things like revive all your wilted crops or collect all the taxes in your city in one click. The super powers feature was only recently added to the game.

Representatives from Kobojo were unavailable at time of writing to discuss future plans for the game. When we last spoke with the developer, VP product and strategy Vincent Vergonjeanne told us that Kobojo would invest most if its newly-acquired funding into marketing its games on Facebook and into expanding its localization efforts. It looks like both have brought in new users to PyramidVille, with the game’s traffic leaping from about 1.4 million to past the 2 million mark in just the last week, during which time the game was localized in Italian and Spanish. Vergonjeanne also mentioned a piece of proprietary technology that would be used to port PyramidVille and other games to mobile platforms, but we cannot confirm if that has happened yet.(source:insidesocialgames)   

8)Gibeau: Social Now A ‘Primary Design Pillar’ For EA

by Frank Cifaldi
 
Social features such as in-game chat, stat tracking and the ability to share content with others are as important as gameplay and graphics, and will be a primary focus in all EA games going forward.

That’s according to EA Games president Frank Gibeau, who discussed the company’s philosophy in an interview published Tuesday.

According to Gibeau, the implementation of social features is “a primary design pillar” for all of the company’s games in development, and is “part of every design that we put in a console and now also our PC games.”

Social features will “absolutely” help the publisher sell more games, he said, through its use as a discovery tool.

“If I can post something about what I was doing in a game and tell my friends that, they will take notice,” said Gibeau. “It helps facilitate the spreading of that game. Word of mouth plus the network effect is driven by social.”

In addition to the social features provided by its new Origin digital storefront, EA will also continue to offer individual networks for its titles, including a network called Battlelog for this year’s Battlefield 3. (source:gamasutra


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