作者：Cristian Parrino

除了能让我们在休闲的时间享受到乐趣之外，社交游戏还具有何种不同寻常的魅力？

简单来说：在社交游戏领域里，几乎所有公司都获得了巨大的盈利。

通过分析如Playfish，Zynga，Playdom，MindJolt等成功的公司运营策略，我们便对一些事情一目了然了：比起游戏开发，这些公司更擅长进行病毒性营销。他们以最低的成本吸引到了更多的用户，并使用最简单的商业模式而获得相关收益。更重要的是，他们与用户/玩家间的密切关系不仅能够推动促销策略的进行，同时也能帮助他们更好地开发游戏并优化商业模式。换句话说，他们的成功模式相当于：

成功=简单的游戏+克隆+病毒式传播+免费商业模式+直接用户关系

简单的游戏：这是游戏开发者所采用的简单方法，包括简单的游戏访问和游戏机制，将能够帮助游戏吸引到更多玩家，并提高玩家的回访率。对于所有游戏公司来说，游戏访问都是基于浏览器而进行，包括依赖平台和脱离平台两种情况。基于平台的游戏（游戏邦注：例如Facebook，MySpace等平台上的游戏）能够影响多数且容易受影响的用户群体。而脱离平台的游戏因为拥有病毒式传播特征而显得更加灵活。游戏机制方面，如果一款游戏能让玩家快速理解游戏玩法，并且不会过多干涉玩家，提供给他们足够的交互性和竞争性体验，那么这款游戏将能够吸引广大玩家的注意并形成强大的用户粘性。简单休闲的游戏设置能够缩短开发时间（对于大多数开发者来说只需要3-6个月时间），但是却会因此促成更多“克隆”游戏的诞生。

Cafe World(fro sidneyland)

克隆：传统游戏公司雅达利和任天堂作品便可以阐明这一事实。虽然对于那些总是复制他人游戏的商家很无语，但是不可否认，在游戏开发初期，以及在如此不成熟的市场，克隆不失为一种有效的商业模式。毕竟，人们总是青睐于一些熟知的游戏元素，就像喜欢看一些熟悉的电视频道一个道理。此外，以Facebook平台上的游戏为例，这些克隆游戏能够填补市场上的空缺，而这也是原创游戏开发者力所不及的事情。例如，Zynga紧随着Playfish《Restaurant City》的步伐推出《Café World》（游戏邦注：它在发行头两周获得了1千6百万的用户），但是却并未对前者的用户数量增长造成显著的影响。随着用户对于游戏的需求越来越高（追求更多深层次且复杂的游戏），整个市场也随之变得越来越成熟，此时克隆游戏模式将日渐衰退难以为续。

病毒式传播：我们首先要清楚的是Zynga和Playfish都投入了不少营销成本从而获得了大量初期玩家。但是这两家公司都擅长巧用初期投资，通过病毒式传播，以较低的成本吸引到了更多的玩家。对于依赖平台的游戏公司来说，他们需要牢牢抓住Facebook所提供的病毒式传播机遇，如整合与自动化状态更新，涂鸦墙，推荐，“戳一下”等功能。他们还巧妙地把游戏变成一种广告方式——用游戏做交叉推广（这是Zynga的《Café World》在发行2周后就迅速吸引了1千6百万用户的部分原因），通过时间设置以鼓励玩家重复回到游戏中，利用好友推荐或其它烦人的提醒信息以增加玩家的注意力等等。

免费商业模式：绝大多数受欢迎的游戏都是采取免费模式以减少玩家进入游戏的障碍。社交游戏的交互性和竞争性特征（如在游戏中想要超越其他好友）推动了“虚拟货币”的使用。玩家可以使用现金购买或者注册广告服务（不要被那些虚假广告欺骗了）而得到虚拟货币，通过使用这些虚拟货币他们能够购买虚拟产品去挑战新的游戏关卡，进入更高级的游戏领域，获得一些特别的能力，甚至只是用来满足自己的虚荣心（装饰虚拟环境和游戏角色）。据说通过使用这种商业模式，Zynga在2009年的营收达到了1亿美元，而Playfish也高达7千5百万美元。根据Venture Beat报道，无数活跃于Facebook上的小型游戏开发者每年的收益也在25-50万美元之间。

直接用户关系：与那些将用户关系出让给零售商的传统游戏公司不同，社交游戏公司更倾向于与玩家将的直接交流。而这种直接用户关系为他们带来了很多好处：1）获得了大量的数据和指标，2）获得玩家对游戏功能的及时反馈。因此很多社交游戏公司都致力于完善并扩展游戏设置，提高虚拟产品的转化，更重要的是提供一系列数据以创造更多有价值的广告，并开创更多新的商业模式。

相信在不久的将来，我们将会在一个更加成熟的市场中看到更多新的商业模式和更加精致的游戏。媒体买主将不再只把用户点击和印象当成是用户粘性的唯一判断标准，而是通过“游戏广告”（如TGI Friday餐厅可以在游戏《Restaurant City》中也拥有一家模拟餐厅）或者综合广告而与玩家进行长时间的互动。当用户对游戏的要求越来越高时，游戏公司把他们现有的技巧，如病毒式传播，市场营销等同一些新的软件开发技术结合起来，然后就是获得产品的专利权。传统游戏公司大多是通过兼并而实现这一目标（例如EA收购了Playfish）。随着Ning和Drupal等社交网络的发展，越来越多利基游戏将充斥着这些利基社交网络。Mind Candy和它旗下的《Moshi Monsters》（针对于少儿的游戏）便是首个好例子。作为一家脱离平台的游戏公司，Mind Candy更加关注于教育和父母控制的内容，该公司通过与学校系统合作，让老师们可以在一个更轻松有趣的环境下布置并批改作业，因此而推动公司的进一步发展。

游戏邦注：原文发表于2009年10月25日，所涉数据于事件均以当时为准。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Dissecting the Success of Social Gaming

By Cristian Parrino

So what’s so fascinating about the Social Gaming space beyond the entertainment factor for those of us who enjoy the occasional game?

Simple: just about every company in the space is astoundingly profitable.

In dissecting the success of companies like Playfish, Zynga, Playdom, MindJolt, etc – a few things become clear very quickly: Their expertise is more about viral marketing than it is about game development. They’ve mastered massive user acquisition at lowest possible costs while introducing simple business models to generate revenue. Even more importantly, they own the relationship with users/players which is not only critical to their promotional strategies but also to game development and future business models.  In other words, their success formula looks something like this:

SUCCESS = SIMPLE GAMING + CLONING + VIRALITY + FREEMIUM BUSINESS MODEL + DIRECT USER RELATIONSHIP

Simple Gaming – The simplicity approach taken on by game developers, both in terms of access and game mechanics, has significantly facilitated user adoption and repeat visits. Access, which for all companies is browser-based, is also about being on or off platform.  On-platform games (those on Facebook, MySpace, etc) get to leverage massive and easy-to-target user bases. Off-platform games have more flexibility with game development at the expense of “viral-ability”. On the game mechanics front, enabling users to quickly understand game play, making that game play light touch, interactive and competitive have been key aspects in triggering user adoption and return. The light and casual approach to game mechanics has also dramatically reduced game development times (3-6 months for most developers), but has also facilitated a cloning wildfire.

Cloning – Very much a legacy of traditional gaming as the Ataris and Nintendos of the world can teach us. Though easy to frown at companies who constantly release obviously cloned games, cloning is arguably a smart business approach in early stage and immature markets. After all, people like to play instantly recognizable concepts just as they like to watch familiar formats on TV (what’s the last original Reality or Game Show format you’ve seen?). Additionally, if the uptake of Facebook games is of any indication, a cloned game is more likely to fulfill areas of the market that haven’t been reached by the original game developer than it is to erode at that developer’s existing market.  For example, when Zynga introduced Café World earlier this month (16M users in its first two weeks), it didn’t visibly impact Playfish’s Restaurant City user and growth counts. As the market matures with users demanding games with more depth and sophistication – cloning will become more difficult and as a consequence, an un-sustainable model. The first test of this may come with the recently announced Facebook version of Sid Meier’s Civilization classic.

Virality – Let’s be clear upfront: Zynga and Playfish have both invested millions in advertising to gain their initial player critical mass. They have also mastered making the most out of that initial investment, using virality to significantly reduce additional user acquisition costs.  As on-platform companies, they have leveraged the numerous embedded viral opportunities Facebook provides – integrating and automating status updates, wall posts, suggestions, friend pokes etc. They have also cleverly turned their games into advertising platforms of their own. Games cross-promote each other (which is half the reason why Zynga reached 16M in the first two weeks after launching Café World) and they encourage user-returns through time-based play, friend challenges and those annoying reminder messages.

Freemium Business Model – Play is free across the most popular games to eliminate barriers to entry. The interactive and competitive characteristics of social games (i.e., friends wanting to top each other) has facilitated the introduction of “virtual currency”.  Virtual currency can either be purchased for cash or acquired free by registering for services offered by advertisers (and in many cases unfortunately, offer-scams) – and is used by players to buy virtual goods that help them reach new levels faster, access advanced play areas, gain special powers or even for vanity purposes (decorating your virtual environments and avatars). Sounds flaky?  Zynga is rumored to be on a $100 million annual run-rate for 2009, while Playfish is allegedly on track for a $75 million result. According to Venture Beat, even the hundred or so garage-shop game developers present on Facebook are making between a quarter and half a million dollars per annum.

Direct User Relationship – Unlike traditional gaming companies who gave up user-relationship to retailers, social gaming companies interact directly with their users. This has given them a couple of invaluable advantages: 1) access to a huge amount of data and metrics, and 2) immediate feedback on game features.  Social Gaming companies are therefore in the position to quickly improve and extend game play (most introduce games ), increase virtual good conversions and crucially – provide a set of data that can yield much better value for advertisers and for the creation of new business models.

Looking ahead, new business models and new levels of game sophistication are bound to arise as the market matures.  Media buyers may figure out that engagement is more than clicks and impressions and use social gaming to interact with their audiences over a broader period of time with “advert-games” (imagine a TGI Friday’s own Restaurant City) or integrated advertising (earn enough points for a virtual Audi to move up to the next level).  As users begin to demand better games, gaming companies will need to match their existing skills in viral marketing, with new ones in software development and while we’re at it, patenting. This may also happen through acquisitions led by traditional gaming companies (as I write, EA is in rumored acquisition talks with Playfish for over $250M).  Niche games are likely to arise the way niche social networks are already doing so thanks to Ning and Drupal. A fantastic first example is Mind Candy and their Moshi Monsters game targeting young children. As an off-platform company with a focus on education and parental-control, one of Mind Candy’s potential growth paths could be joining forces with school systems to provide teachers with managed fun environments for assigning and reviewing home-work.(source:digitalpopuli）