1）继Zynga关闭Mixi平台的2款社交游戏，EA Playfish停止运营在Mixi的《Restaurant City》之后，RockYou位于东京的亚洲工作室也于近日宣布关闭四个Mixi项目，这四款PC平台的社交游戏分别是：

Zoo-World(from insidefacebook.com)

·《Speed Racing》（71万注册用户，将于9月30日关闭）

·《Zoo World》（14万注册用户，将于9月30日关闭）

·《Super Pets》（16万注册用户，将于10月31日关闭）

·《Crime World》（10万注册用户，将于10月31日关闭）

不过该工作室投放于Mobage和GREE等其他平台的游戏不受此决定的影响，该公司投入于Mixi的《Hero World》和《Happy Idol》等其他游戏也暂无停止运营的计划。

2）据games报道，虽然《模拟人生社交版》DAU已超越Zynga游戏《FarmVille》，但Playfish的其他多款社交游戏发展前景却不容乐观，该公司在8月30日通过Playfish论坛宣布，《Hotel City》、《My Empire》、《Who Has The Biggest Brain?》、《Geo Challenge》、《Word Challenge》和《Bowling Buddies》将在9月30日停止运营。

retired-playfish-games(from games)

《Hotel City》发布于2010年3月26日，这款制作精良的游戏在全盛时期的MAU是1300万，DAU也一度达到300万，但目前仅有140万MAU和10万左右的DAU，曾是EA和Playfish在Facebook排名第九的人气游戏。

但也有人认为Playfish的这一决定并不一定与游戏用户数量有关，因为《Country Story》的人气排在《Hotel City》之后，但Playfish却并没有关闭该游戏。

3）据LinkedIn一些人事更新资料显示，社交游戏《NBA Legend》开发商Lionside可能已在最近被ngmoco收购。insidesocialgames观察者发现，Lionside业务运营副总裁Michael MaBride及其欧洲客户经理Kane Currant的个人资料都显示公司“已被ngmoco收购”。

NBA Legend(from insidesocialgames)

该公司首席执行官Brandon Boyaer的谷歌资料上也自称“Lionside和ngmoco的市场营销和产品人员”，不过Lionside公司网站目前已关闭，其Twitter帐号也有一年多无法访问，暂时无法获取第一手消息。

4）日本手机社交游戏巨头DeNA日前收购越南河内开发商Punch Entertainment，以促进旗下Mobage平台的游戏发展。

punch-entertainment(from penn-olson.com)

Punch Entertainment曾开发游戏包括《Ego》、《Music Tycoon》和《Reign of Swords》，该公司在两三年前较有影响力。

5）据gamasutra报道，《Moshi Monsters》发行商Mind Candy最近正准备向音乐发行领域进军，通过iTunes发售与《Moshi Monsters》这款游戏及其角色相关的歌曲（游戏邦注：《Moshi Monsters》这款锁定少儿用户的游戏自2008年上线以来，注册用户已超过5000万，该公司位于伦敦，目前估值已接近2亿美元）。

lady-goo-goo(from moshimonsters2009fire15.wordpress.com)

该公司推出的恶搞版游戏角色Lady Goo Goo在YouTube大受欢迎，在今年夏天收获了300多万观众，基于该角色的歌曲《The Moshi Dance》也已在本周日现身iTunes。

Mind Candy表示他们将在今年末推出Dustbin Beaver、49 Pence、Broccoli Spears、Hairosniff和Avril Le Scream等更多“艺人”的恶搞歌曲专辑。

其首席执行官Michael Acton Smith表示，他们试探性地在YouTube发布Lady Goo Goo音乐视频，结果发现用户反应极为热情，孩子们非常喜欢这类视频，所以他们决定制作更多这种音乐内容。

6）据asiajin报道，日本社交游戏平台Mobage排名第一的《Kaito Royale》将成为世界上首款被改制成电视连续剧的社交游戏。

Kaito Royale(from serkantoto)

该电视剧名称也是《Kaito Royale》，三位主角将分别由日本模特Aya Oomasa、Seiji Fukushi和Toori Matsuzaka饰演，这三者在剧中均患有健忘症，不得不在一位神秘女人的指使下盗窃珍宝，以此换取自己失去的记忆。

该剧将从下个月开始，在每周五的TBS电视台播放。DeNA已在今年初将该游戏推向小说和漫画领域。

7）在本周的MAU增长最快Facebook游戏榜单上，《模拟人生社交版》仍然领先（最近MAU是3600万，DAU达940万），其次是EA PopCap的《祖玛闪电战》（最近MAU为423万），第三名是Social Point推出的《Social Empires》（最近MAU为507万）。

Top Gainers This Week-Games(from AppData)

值得注意的是，EA PopCap游戏中含有《模拟人生社交版》的条幅广告，但《模拟人生社交版》却仅展示自己本身的广告，该游戏至今未交叉推广其他EA或EA Playfish社交游戏。由于Zynga新游戏《Adventure World》在9月11日才刚发布，所以暂时无法获知其相关用户数据。但观察者称从Zynga以往游戏的发布情况来看，《Adventure World》可能在10天之内就会突破100万。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）RockYou Asia Shuts Down 4 Games On Mixi [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

First Zynga Japan shuts down 2 social games on Mixi, then Playfish/EA does the same with Restaurant City, and now it’s RockYou Asia‘s turn: American social game makers are having a hard time in Japan (hint: don’t come here if you don’t have anything unique to offer).

And Tokyo-based RockYou Asia, a subsidiary of US-based RockYou, is being especially radical. Gamebiz reports that the following games will not be available on Mixi (PC version) anymore soon:

Speed Racing (710,000 registered users/to be closed down on September 30)

Zoo World (140,000/September 30)

Super Pets (160,000/October 31)

Crime World (100,000/October 31)

The social games RockYou Asia is distributing on other platforms (Mobage and GREE) are not affected by the decision. The same goes for other Mixi PC social games from the company, i.e. Hero World or Happy Idol.（source:serkantoto）

2）Playfish says goodbye to Hotel City, My Empire and four more games

by Jenny Ng

The Sims Social might have dethroned the mighty FarmVille, but its success may have cut into Playfish’s other Facebook games and sent them to a speedier doom, too. On August 30th, the word went out in the official Playfish forums that Hotel City, My Empire, Who Has The Biggest Brain?, Geo Challenge, Word Challenge and Bowling Buddies will be getting axed Sept. 30.

We used to cover Hotel City back in the day (the game first launched on March 26, 2010) and can remember when it was a big deal. The game was well made and had once held an all-time high of 13 million monthly players and 3 million daily players. Right now, it’s at 1.4 million monthly players and about 100,000 dailies, ranking it the 9th most-played Playfish and EA game on Facebook. But it’s clear that won’t be enough to save it.

Hotel City’s popularity is followed closely by Bowling Buddies, Word Challenge, then Geo Challenge. Finally, far beneath them all on the social games ladder are Who Has The Biggest Brain?

and My Empire. Though, at least one player suspects it may not be all about numbers, because Country Story currently ranks 10th behind Hotel City. But there’s been no announcement to shut it down (yet).（source:games）

3）Social Sports App Developer Lionside Possibly Acquired by Ngmoco

By AJ Glasser

NBA Legend developer Lionside may have been acquired recently, according to recent LinkedIn updates on several employee profiles.

Over the weekend, an ISG tipster pointed us toward profiles for Lionside VP of Business Operations Michael McBride and European Account Manager Kane Curran that both list the company as “acquired by ngmoco.” Company CEO Brandon Boyer’s Google+ profile now says “Lionside & ngmoco marketing and product guy.” Lionside’s website is currently down and its Twitter account hasn’t been touched in over a year.（source:insidemobileapps）

4）DeNA Acquires Punch Entertainment’s Vietnam Studio to Bolster Mobage Network

By Kim-Mai Cutler

Japanese mobile-social gaming giant DeNA made another small acquisition to fuel development of its global platform Mobage. It agreed buy the Hanoi-based arm of Punch Entertainment to create gaming titles for the platform.

Like we’ve noted before, the Japanese mobile gaming platforms are distinct from U.S.-based ones in that they both create games and support the infrastructure for third-party developers.

This is different from what other social networking platforms like Facebook have elected to do in not creating their own gaming IP.

Punch Entertainment has built games like Ego, Music Tycoon and Reign of Swords, which did decently when they were initially released two or three years ago. But it doesn’t appear that the studio has stayed as competitive since.（source:insidesocialgames）

5）Mind Candy To Begin Selling Songs Based On Moshi Monsters

by Kyle Orland

Moshi Monsters publisher Mind Candy is preparing to make its first foray into the music publishing business, selling songs based on the game and its characters on iTunes.

“The Moshi Dance,” from parody game character Lady Goo Goo, will be available for download on iTunes starting Sunday, following the success of a YouTube video that attracted over 3 million views over the summer.

An entire album of parody songs, from “artists” such as Dustbin Beaver, 49 Pence, Broccoli Spears, Hairosniff and Avril Le Scream, will be made available later in the year, the company said.

“We released the Lady Goo Goo music video on YouTube as a bit of an experiment and were amazed at the response and how fast it spread,” Mind Candy CEO Michael Acton Smith said in a statement. “Kids loved it so we though it would be smart to release it and are developing many more tracks.”

The child-focused, free-to-play Moshi Monsters now boasts over 50 million registered users since its 2008 launch. The June sale of a small stake in Mind Candy valued the London-based company at roughly $200 million. （source:gamasutra）

6）Mobage Hit Game Kaito Royale To Be Turned Into TV Series [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

If you still needed proof that Kaito Royale, the No. 1 title on Mobage, is Japan’s biggest social game (over 10 million registered users), here’s another hint: as probably the first social game in the world, Kaito Royale will be turned into a TV series.

As in the game, there will be three main characters with three distinct basic personalities in the show: a “sexy” type (played by fashion model Aya Oomasa), a macho type (played by Seiji Fukushi) and an intelligent type (played by Toori Matsuzaka):

In the weekly series (which is also called Kaito Royale), the 3 characters suffer from amnesia and have to steal treasures under the command of a mysterious woman who claims to be able to bring their memories back if they play along (?).

Kaito Royale will be aired on TBS, a major (nation-wide) Japanese TV station every Friday starting next month.

I am sure it will be terrible, but as the actors are quite famous in this country and Friday is a good day in terms of exposure, the TV series will help spread the word about the game.

DeNA already made Kaito Royale turn into a novel and manga earlier this year.（source:serkantoto）

7）The Sims Social, Zuma Blitz Top This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Games by MAU

By AJ Glasser

The Sims Social is sill on top in our list of fastest-growing Facebook games by monthly active users. EA PopCap’s Zuma Blitz and Social Point’s Social Empires round out the top three.

As an interesting aside, EA PopCap’s games have a banner ads for The Sims Social displayed at the bottom of the Canvas app, but The Sims Social only displays adds for itself. As of press time, there’s not even a cross-promotion bar for other EA brand or EA Playfish games displayed on The Sims Social Canvas page. At 36 million MAU and 9.4 million daily active users, the game commands a lot of eyeballs that could be directed at future EA-brand social games. It’ll be interesting to see if the company makes it a point to leverage The Sims Social cross-promotion only for core franchise-branded products, or if they aim it games that appeal to the casual gamer audience (e.g. PopCap titles).

If just now you’re wondering where Zynga’s just-launched Adventure World is on this list, sit tight for a week or so. At day four of its life cycle — just after the September 11 weekend — it hasn’t had much time to build momentum in traffic. As we’ve seen with previous Zynga launches, however, this probably won’t hold Adventure World back from breaking into the millions within 10 days of launch.（source:insidesocialgames）