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Glu高管称免费游戏用户并非“不速之客”

发布时间:2011-06-16 11:11:39 Tags:,,

作者:Colin Campbell

如今,富有画面感的3D故事和平板电脑大小的的游戏场景正在替代原先较小且平淡的游戏画面,手机游戏可以说取得了突破性的进展。那些标价过高的游戏已经严重滞销,反倒是更多免费游戏涌现于市场,提供给玩家越来越多游戏体验,随着时间的发展,这些免费体验也将转换成价值,为游戏开发商带来巨大利益。

手机游戏公司Glu Mobile首席创意官Giancarlo Mori(游戏邦注:意大利佛罗伦萨人,曾经就职与艺电,微软及动视)是一名资深行业人士,对于手机游戏带来的这种改变,他感到很欣慰。在Glu最近的分析会议中,Mori称自己很乐见免费模式成为付费游戏体验的另一种选择,尽管免费游戏并不能确保长久的成功,但是事态还是朝着良好的发展方向发展着。作为免费游戏《勇猛二人组》(Men vs. Machines)和《职业杀手》(Contract Killer)的发行商,Glu提高了对第二季度收入的预测。

Men vs. Machines(from ipagame.net)

Men vs. Machines(from ipagame.net)

有人认为,免费游戏模式使游戏产业呈现出在线色情行业的特点。虽然有很多人喜欢免费游戏,但是也有很多人喜欢付费游戏。Mori称“色情产业之所以会如此成功便是因为它迎合了人类的本能需求。我认为游戏也应该借鉴这种方法,迎合人类的核心本能,即学习,成就感和进步等。”

“如果你的游戏能够为玩家带来一个较好的体验,那么他们便愿意在游戏上投入时间。而如果他们觉得这种游戏体验很棒的话,他们还会主动为其付费。有些游戏开发者会抱怨,有90%玩家并不愿意在游戏上花钱,他们甚至把这些玩家称为‘不速之客’。但是对我来说,他们并非‘不速之客’,他们也是游戏开发商必须加以重视的‘市场营销者’。”

Mori还补充道:“我之所以希望能够保留住这样玩家,是因为他们喜欢且乐于玩我的游戏。他们会告诉其他人我们的游戏有多好玩,并将会为我们吸引更多游戏玩家。”

免费游戏建立于一套非常明确的衡量标准之上。从互联网的发展过程中,我们知道即使今年取得了巨大成功,明年也有可能迅速面临巨大的灾难。有人怀疑“不速之客”究竟能否成功转变成付费玩家,或者更直接地讲,这种转化率是否也有可能瞬间跌至谷底?

Mori表示:“这种情况确实让我们担忧。但是因为智能手机的盛行以及免费游戏较低的准入门槛,所以我们知道玩家会继续玩这类游戏,而我们也能迅速了解到他们对游戏的需求,并由此作出相应的改变。”

“人无完人,我们肯定也会犯错误。但是,如果我们能更谦虚地看待游戏,并制作出更高质量的游戏,那么我们便能够凭借优秀的游戏内容而取得最终胜利。”

正如《游戏开发者》杂志的EIC Brandon Sheffield所言,我们必须改变免费游戏的设计理念。是时候该抹掉那种“免费游戏无需太多创意,只迎合大众需求即可”的想法了。

Mori认为,“这些游戏都是通过深刻分析而开发。当第一名玩家下载了游戏,我们便会开始追踪他在游戏中的体验。我们会收集大量数据,并对这些数据加以分析,并从宏观趋势看待问题,提出一些较为关键的问题。如他们玩了多久?他们花了多少钱?他们什么时候输了?哪一款道具无人问津哪一款道具最受欢迎?显然的,我们也必须具备自己的创造性,不能只依赖于这些密密麻麻的数据。但是这些数据确实是有效,精细且有用的信息。”

“所以,通过尊重玩家的个人隐私权,并了解他们在游戏中的各种体验,我们知道他们到底喜欢什么。这对于游戏开发者来说是再兴奋不过的事了,因为我们不需要像以前那些绞尽脑子猜想玩家的想法,我们能够根据他们的需求来开发游戏,而不是凭自己的主观臆断来设计产品。”(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Interview: Glu’s Mori And The Importance Of The Happy ‘Freeloader’

by Colin Campbell

Mobile gaming has come a long way. Rich, 3D stories and tablet-sized canvases are replacing tiny, jerky horridness. Sluggish sales of over-priced baubles are giving way to free-to-play adventures that pull gamers further and further into the experience, producing a value exchange along the way.

Glu Mobile’s chief creative officer Giancarlo Mori, a native of Florence and a seasoned veteran of EA, Microsoft, and Activision, seems happy about the changes. I met with him at Glu’s recent analyst day in San Francisco. He says he’s glad that there is a viable alternative to pay-to-play and, although free-to-play is by no means a guarantee of future prosperity, that things are moving in the right direction. Glu, publisher of free-to-play games including Men vs. Machines and Contract Killer, has increased its guidance for Q2.

I suggest that F2P is making the games business look more and more like the online pornography business. Lots of people enjoying content for free, but a significant enough percentage paying to play (so to speak).

“Well here’s the thing,” he says. “One of the reasons why pornography is so successful is because it caters to a very basic instinct. I think games cater to a different kind of core instinct, which is learning, achievement, progression. ”

“People reward you with their time if you give them a good experience. If the experience is relevant, some of them will pay money. Some people lament the fact that 90 percent of their players don’t pay anything. They even call them freeloaders. For me they’re not freeloaders, for me they are marketers.”

He adds, “These are the people who I want to keep very happy playing my games. They’re the ones who will speak positively about my games to other people. Every happy customer will be a lead to other customers who could well go on to pay.”

F2P is built upon a very specific set of metrics, and one thing we’ve learned from the internet is that one year’s successful mathematical formula is next year’s disaster zone. I wonder if the conversion rates from freeloader to pay-player are sustainable. Put more frankly, might they fall off a cliff?

“Yes that does frighten us,” he says. “But at the same time, because of the penetration of smartphones and the limited barrier to entry in playing free games, we know that people will continue to play our games. We learn from them, quickly, and we react.

He admits, “Obviously nobody has a crystal ball. We are bound to make some mistakes. But at the same time, if we look at this with humility and with a focus on quality games, then the power of great content will always win.”

As Game Developer magazine’s EIC Brandon Sheffield pointed out recently, there is much about F2P’s design specifics to be welcomed. It’s time to move on from this idea that F2P is an abrogation of creative control, a surrender to the mob.

Mori says, “These games are instrumented with analytics. When the first player downloads the game, we start tracking what is happening within the game. We accumulate terabytes of data and we consolidate the data, we take a look at macro trends, we start to ask the big questions.

“How long are they playing? How much money do they spend? When do they fail? Which items never get purchased and which are popular? Obviously, we have to use our own creativity. We don’t want to become paralyzed by the statistics. But they are very powerful, sophisticated and useful statistics.”

“So, always with a lot of respect for the privacy of the individual and for the gameplay experience, we learn what people want. That’s incredibly exciting for a game maker because for the first time we don’t have to guess what players want. We know what the player wants. We can make the games that they want to play as opposed to what we think they want to play.” (source:gamasutra


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