游戏邦注：本文作者为Nicholas Lovell，文章主要讲述游戏广告赞助模式。

Exent from multiview.com

Exent是家致力传统游戏领域的公司。

他们既不同Facebook虚拟交易模式免费游戏抗衡，也不同Bigpoint之类的浏览器游戏公司分羹。他们仍旧试图说服休闲游戏公司，所谓的“先试后买”模式不再适用。

Exent副总裁Kobi Edelstein（游戏邦注：他同时也是该公司免费游戏服务部门总经理）表示，休闲游戏领域面临价格急剧下滑压力，其产品价格在短短几年就由原来的20美元下降至6美元（这个趋势仍呈强化态势）。

他称，广告赞助模式更有吸引力，其中玩家只要观看广告，就能够无限制体验游戏。

而传统的先试后买模式：

* 需吸引100位玩家

* 需2%的兑换率

* 游戏均价是6美元

* 每下载100次需换得20-30份游戏销量，而这几乎是无法实现的

我支持Edelstein的观点，广告赞助模式比先试后买模式更适合这些游戏，但有几点需要注意：

* 这是指游戏开始或期间播放广告，而非内置广告。这只适合某些游戏，而非所有游戏。

* 广告追求的是用户覆盖数量，所以游戏必须有广泛吸引力，而不是瞄准细分市场。

* 这个策略并未将那些鲸鱼玩家（游戏邦注：指那些会在游戏中豪掷千金的用户）考虑在内。

总而言之，我觉得广告赞助模式比先试后买模式更胜一筹。但这个模式无法像虚拟商品模式那样给独立开发商带来丰厚利润。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

What’s the lifetime value of an ad-funded gamer?

By Nicholas Lovell

Exent is a business that makes money in an old world of gaming.

They’re not focused on fighting against the free-to-play virtual goods business models of Facebook and browser-game companies like Bigpoint. They are still trying to persuade casual games companies that the “try-before you-buy” model is broken.

Speaking to Gamasutra, Kobi Edelstein, vice president and general manager of Exent’s Free Game Services division, focuses on the rapid downward price pressure on casual games that have fallen from $20 to $6 in a few short years (and I suspect the trend is still further downwards).

He says that the ad-funded model, where players can play for as long as they like as long as they are prepared to watch the ads, is more attractive.

“What we’re seeing – from the ad supported side – is users bring in lifetime values in the $5-$8 range.”

Compare that to a traditional try-before-you-buy model, where if you:

* take 100 users

* Assume a 2% conversion rate

* Sell at an average price of $6 per game

* You need to sell 20-30 games per 100 downloads, which just isn’t going to happen.

I think Edelstein is right that ad-supported is better than try-before-you-buy for these games, but there are several (massive) caveats:

* These are around or before game ads, not in-game ads. They suit certain types of game well, but not all games.

* Advertising is a volume play, so they need games with broad appeal, not niches.

* It’s a strategy that doesn’t take any notice of the whales, who might spend tens or hundreds of dollars on a single game.

In short, I think ad-supported is a better business model than try-before-you-buy. But it is unlikely to be as profitable for an individual developer as a solid virtual goods business.

But now you’ve got these numbers, you can crunch the figures yourself.（Source：gamesbrief）