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每日观察:关注Facebook平台创造的经济效益(9.20)

发布时间:2011-09-20 15:06:45 Tags:,,

1)美国马里兰大学最新研究结果表明,Facebook经济领域的繁荣发展,也对美国整体经济带来了积极影响。Facebook游戏、应用、社交插件(例如“赞”按钮、粉丝页面、Facebook Connect等功能)已为美国增加了18万2744–23万5644个就业岗位,创造了121.9亿至157.1亿美元的经济效益。

研究结果指出,虽然Facebook平台在2007年5月才问世,但其发展速度甚为惊人。Zynga是Facebook平台最为成功的企业,目前有2000多名员工,公司估值高达150至200亿美元。而Playfish被EA收购时的身价是3亿美元左右,迪士尼收购Playdom时斥资7.632亿美元。

facebook-economy(from visualeconomics)

facebook-economy(from visualeconomics)

据Visualeconomics在2010年6月发布的信息图表显示(游戏邦注:详见上图,其中所涉数据仅反映2010年6月份的情况),Facebook平台有55万款以上的应用,77%用户每月都会体验访问应用,该平台聚集了100万应用开发商,顶级开发商Zynga在2009年实现了2.5亿美元收益,其中利润高达8000万至1.5亿美元,净利润远超Facebook。

Facebook平台最热门的应用开发商包括:Zynga、RockYou、EA、CrowdStar、Playdom、Cause、Slide、6 Waves、Topzy、iLike、MindJolt和RIM。

Facebook现在有150万个活跃页面,平均每个粉丝的价值是136.38美元,许多著名页面的价值极为惊人:

迈克尔·杰克逊的Facebook页面拥有1330万粉丝,其页面价值高达18亿美元;动画电视剧《恶搞之家》页面拥有950万粉丝,价值达13亿美元;Lady Gaga和奥巴马分别拥有910万粉丝,价值也都是12亿美元左右;演员范·迪赛尔页面拥有900万粉丝,价值是11亿美元;星巴克页面有820万粉丝,价值也是11亿美元;卡通片《南方公园》页面有620万粉丝,价值是8.45亿美元。

Facebook用户已超过5亿(游戏邦注:据Facebook所称其用户已超过7.5亿),有2亿用户平均每天都要在Facebook中逗留55分钟,假如这些用户将这些时间用于工作,每小时工作报酬是5美元,那么他们将每天总共多创造9.16亿美元收入。

在2010年第一季度,Facebook共展示1760亿次广告,约占展示性广告市场的16%,据Facebook所称,其广告主自2009年以来增加了四倍。假如Facebook是一个国家,那么它就是人口仅次于中国和印度的全球第三大国,Facebook目前估值是79至110亿美元。

2)韩国网游公司Nexon日前宣布其Facebook游戏《MalpeStory Adventures》用户已超过300万(游戏邦注:该游戏目前仍处于公开测试阶段,它是根据PC游戏《冒险岛》改制,后者在全球注册用户已超过1亿)。

maplestory adventures(from tjsdaily.blogspot.com)

maplestory adventures(from tjsdaily.blogspot.com)

据Nexon所称,公司今年第一财季(截止3月31日)的营收增长了59%,并计划于本月底发布第二款Facebook游戏《Wonder Cruise》。

3)数字广告技术公司SocialVibe日前发布报告指出,91%用户会积极关注社交游戏中的奖励性品牌广告,而不是无所事事地坐等广告展示完毕后收获免费虚拟货币。该公司首席执行官Jay Samit表示,这类广告越具有互动性,就会越受用户欢迎。

该报告完成时间是今年6月至7月,搜集了SocialVibe在一系列媒介(包括社交游戏)的奖励性广告的3万份用户数据,并发现用户不但喜欢积极与这类广告进行互动,而且他们之后访问该品牌网站的意愿也高达161%,在当地实体店购买产品的消费意愿也达到36%。

约有半数(48%)受访者自称他们原来只是为了获取虚拟货币才点击广告,但随后就会积极参与其中的互动。

4)据Wired报道,谷歌日前推出Google+ API,支持开发者针对Google+创建应用,但目前这个API功能较为有限(采用该API创建的应用,只能发布只读性公开内容)。例如,假如Zynga等社交游戏开发商在Google+Games平台发布一款游戏,该游戏的用户好友就不能与你发布的News Feed贴子进行互动。而实际上,这种互动方式却是玩家直接向好友求助的最基本方式。

Google+(from games)

Google+(from games)

据PC World报道,谷歌高管Eric Chabot解释道,公司采用这种做法的原因在于,他们想逐步完善Google+,而不是“闭门造车”式地一下子推出众多不适合平台的API功能。

5)继6个月之前推出English Countryside之后,社交游戏开发商Zynga最近再度发布《FarmVille》新扩展内容Lighthouse Cove,支持玩家访问海边小镇,种植新庄稼,饲养新品牌的家畜。

《FarmVille》总经理Nate Etter表示,这个扩展内容相当于《FarmVille》与《Martha’s Vineyard》两者的合体,他们应玩家的要求,推出了这个依山傍水的海边小乡村。

FarmVille-English-Countryside-Traffic(from AppData)

FarmVille-English-Countryside-Traffic(from AppData)

Pioneer-Trail-FrontierVille(from AppData)

Pioneer-Trail-FrontierVille(from AppData)

据AppData数据显示,《FarmVille》在English Countryside发布6个月后的MAU和DAU均呈下滑趋势,而其另一款游戏《FrontierVille》的独立扩展内容《Pioneer Trail》推出后的MAU、DAU均明显上扬。

6)据Mashable报道,美国资本金融公司Capital One近日再度与Zynga携后,通过后者旗下的《FarmVille》、《CityVille》和《Pioneer Trail》推出品牌营销活动(游戏邦注:这是该公司今年第二次与Zynga进行品牌营销合作)。

goat(from blog.games.com)

goat(from blog.games.com)

Capital One在《FarmVille》中植入了代表公司标志的山羊,支持玩家饲养这种家畜,在《CityVille》中则仅添加了一个Capital One银行以供玩家使用,如果玩家建设了这种银行,就可以获得一些装饰品奖励、虚拟货币、能量及其他资源。而《Pioneer Trail》则在游戏设置了自己的一系列任务,如果玩家帮助游戏中的山羊找到丢失的同类,就可以获得一只Capital One山羊。

7)在本周的MAU增长最快Facebook游戏榜单上,Zynga新游戏《Adventure World》发布一周表现不甚理想(其表现逊于另一款Zynga游戏《Empires & Allies》发布10天的成绩),仅位居榜单第10名(最近MAU是667万)。《模拟人生社交版》(MAU为5146万)及《祖玛闪电战》(MAU为574万)仍稳坐头阵,各占第一第二席位。

Top Gainers This Week-Games(from AppData)

Top Gainers This Week-Games(from AppData)

《FarmVille》因发布第二个扩展内容,所以MAU数量有所回升,而扩展游戏《Pioneer Trail》的MAU和DAU均超过其母版游戏《FrontierVille》。Zynga游戏在过去30天中的MAU总体稳定,但DAU略有下滑倾向。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

1)New study finds Facebook games might do the economy good

by Jenny Ng

The success of Facebook gaming goes beyond Facebook. Based on an economic impact study released today (courtesy of the University of Maryland), Facebook games, applications, and social plugins (e.g. “Like” buttons, fan pages, Facebook Connect, etc.) are responsible for adding somewhere from 182,744 to 235,644 full-time jobs, and $12.19 billion to $15.71 billion into the US economy.

Seeing that the Facebook platform has only been around since May 2007, the growth has been tremendous. The study cites Zynga as an example as the most successful venture on the Facebook platform, primarily thanks to hits like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Words With Friends. Zynga itself has 2,000 employees with the company valued at $15 to $20 billion. Whereas, Playfish was bought by EA for $300 million, and Playdom was bought by Disney for $763.2 million.

The study, created by professors of the Center for Digital Innovation, Technology, and Strategy at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, moves on from counting the numbers of direct employment to uncovering jobs indirectly created by Facebook apps. It then estimates the economic value of all those jobs, which means analyzing salaries and benefits. Still skeptical? They’re calling it the “Facebook App Economy” and you can read all about it here.(source:games

The Facebook Economy

There are 550,000+ apps that are used on Facebook. Seventy percent of users engage with apps each month. There are one million app developers. Zynga, the top app developer, made $250 million in 2009. Of that amount, $80-$150 million is estimated to be profit, more net profit than Facebook itself made.

The most popular Facebook apps are:

Zynga

Rock You!

Electric Arts

CrowdStar

Playdom

Causes

Slide

6 Waves

Topzy

iLike

MindJolt

RIM

Facebook Pages

There are 1,500,000 active Facebook pages. The average value per fan is $136.38. Extrapolating on that, many celebrity pages would be worth enormous sums:

Michael Jackson, with 13.3 million fans, would have a page worth $1.8 billion. Family Guy has 9.5 million fans for a worth of $1.3 billion. Lady Gaga and Barack Obama each have 9.1 million fans, worth $1.2 billion each. Vin Diesel has nine million fans, worth $1.1 billion. Starbucks has 8.2 million fans, worth $1.1 billion. South Park has 6.2 million fans for a worth of $845 million.

Popular Facebook pages include:

Barack Obama

Lady Gaga

Michael Jackson

Family Guy

Vin Diesel

Megan Fox

House

Twilight Saga

Starbucks

Users

There are 500,000,000+ users of Facebook. Of those, 200 million users use it daily for an average of 55 minutes a day. If those users were all working for $5 an hour instead of going on Facebook, they would collectively earn $916,000,000 a day.

Advertisers

In Q1 2010, 176 billion display ads were posted on Facebook, 16 percent of the display ad market. Facebook says its advertisers have quadrupled since 2009.

If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populous in the world after China and India. Today’s valuation of Facebook is $7.9-$11 billion.(source:visualeconomics

2)Nexon’s Facebook Debut MapleStory Adventures Passes 3M Players

by Frank Cifaldi

Nexon’s MapleStory Adventures has attracted more than 3 million registered players on Facebook, the company announced Monday.

The game, which is still in open beta, is the social network extension of its popular PC game MapleStory, which the company says has over 100 million registered players worldwide.

MapleStory Adventures is the first Facebook game from Nexon, the Los Angeles-based company whose parent operates in Seoul.

Nexon specializes in free-to-play titles, and other popular games from the company include Atlantica Online, Combat Arms, Vindictus, Dungeon Fighter Online and Mabinogi.

The privately-held firm recently reported a 59 percent revenue increase in its fiscal quarter ending March 31, a traditionally slow period for the company.

“Our success is the result of our ability to deliver engaging content that our players find valuable, whether they are playing for free or purchasing items in our games,” Nexon America CEO Daniel Kim said at the time. “The substantial growth we are experiencing in North America is a reflection of how well Nexon is doing globally.”

Its second Facebook title, Wonder Cruise, is set to launch by the end of this month. (source:gamasutra

3)SocialVibe Study: Incentivized Brand Ads Work Well in Social Games

By AJ Glasser

Digital advertising technology company SocialVibe is releasing a study today that claims 91% of people pay active attention to brand messaging packaged in incentivized engagements encountered in social games, as opposed to just idly sitting through an ad to score free virtual currency.

SocialVibe is best known on Facebook for its integration with Zynga’s games, such as its Super Bowl XLV engagement app promoting Kia Motors or last year’s Thanksgiving Facebook app that drew funds on behalf of charitable organization United Nations World Food Programme. The company’s integration types vary by brand partner — CEO Jay Samit stresses that SocialVibe never charges for creative services, which encourages the brand to experiment with ads. One example he uses is another Kia Motors engagement app that allowed users to re-edit segments of a 30-second TV commercial for the brand’s latest car, effectively creating their own music video. Another is a Toy Story 3 trailer viewed in FarmVille that asks the participant at what their favorite childhood toy was, and then prompts them to share on their Wall.

“The more interactive, the more people enjoy it,” Samit tells us, in support of his company’s product. “I’m all for brands embracing the medium — everything we do on the internet is by choice, not like TV. It’s a lean-to experience. People want to participate. One of our secret sauces is that if we can get you to emote, you’ll want to share. We never charge for that, that’s to incentivize brands to be creative.”

The study released today in collaboration with KN Dimestore was compiled during June and July of 2011, collecting information from a group of 30,000 consumers exposed to SocialVibe incentivized ads across a number of mediums, including social games. Key findings of this study suggest that not only are users more likely to be active participants with incentivized brands, but that users were 161% more likely to visit a brand’s website and 36% more likely to shop for brands at a store location after completing an engagement. Nearly half of the participants (48%) in the study reported that they only clicked on the engagement to get the virtual currency — but wound up staying to actively engage with the brand once the experience started.

“We had a client that produced 5 different videos [for an engagement]. That was unusual,” Samit says, explaining that each video rewarded participants with the exact same amount of in-game currency and that the participant only had to watch one to be eligible. “But users were averaging 93 seconds to complete three videos. They opted in. There was a pause moment — and then they enjoyed it.”(source:insidesocialgames

4)Google+ releases API to developers, more social games incoming

by Joe Osborne

Google+ Games is cool with its no-nonsense interface and all, but the sad fact is that it only has 16 games. Compare that to the thousands of Facebook games out there, and it’s clear that Google has to do something to compete with that selection. Enter the Google+ API, which was just recently released to developers, and could lead to a plethora of more Google+ Games.

The acronym API is short for Application Programming Interface, meaning it contains the tools for developers to create new applications within a given framework–in this case being Google+. Wired reports that Google will steadily release its developer API, meaning that it will be some time before it’s feature-complete. And the features not yet included are, well, kinda vital.

For instance, at the moment developers can only create apps that publish read-only public posts. For instance, if a developer like Zynga released a new social game today on Google+ Games, your friends would not be able to interact with the News Feed posts you create. You all already likely know that this is essentially the bread and butter of Facebook games. It’s how things get done in-game aside from directly requesting help from friends.

The reasoning for the omission? According to PC World, Google’s Eric Chabot explains that this is because the company would rather improve Google+ over time, rather open up a “vacuum” with too many features at once. I’m not sure adding simple post-sharing interactivity would create a vacuum for the platform, but it’s a first step nonetheless. What Google+ Games has to deal with more in its competition with Facebook’s wide offering of games is scale. The bell rings on Round 2.(source:games

5)Zynga Launches Second Major FarmVille Expansion, Lighthouse Cove

By AJ Glasser

Six months after launching the English Countryside expansion to FarmVille, Zynga follows up with Lighthouse Cove — a new addition to the base game that allows players an entirely new setting in which to build a farm.

Speaking to Inside Social Games during a press briefing last week, FarmVille General Manager Nate Etter walked us through a few segments of the expansion to showcase its key features. Players are invited to visit a coastal town, where a recent storm has damaged the port and lighthouse. Encouraged by non-playable characters local to the Lighthouse Cove area, players take on objective driven quests that have them growing new crops and nurturing new animal types to restore the town to its pre-storm glory.

“It’s like FarmVille meets Martha’s Vineyard,” Ette explains. “We’re responding to the fans’ desire to [be near] the water with a fall getaway to a coastal village.”

Like English Countryside, Lighthouse Cove introduces new “crafting” buildings that allow players to convert their harvested crops into local dishes — like clam chowder. The cove itself can also be harvested once per day for special ingredients used in the recipes. Ette says that each week, an NPC will present players with a new themed quest. He did not say how many weeks out Zynga has planned for, but to give you an idea of scope, the English Countryside quests concluded roughly six months after its March 2011 launch.

FarmVille’s expansion strategy is very traditional compared to its Zynga sibling, FrontierVille. While Pioneer Trail introduced an entirely new core gameplay element, English Countryside and Lighthouse Cove are essentially providing players more of the same — but in a new location and with the added value of “starting over” without players having to scrap their progress on their original farm.

It’s too soon to tell if one expansion strategy is ultimately more successful than another — but we do observe from our AppData traffic tracking service that FarmVille overall lost monthly and daily active users in the six months period following English Countryside’s versus FrontierVille’s apparent spike in both MAU and DAU. Recall that FrontierVille migrated from its original app ID to a new one.(source:insidesocialgames

6)Capital One gets in Zynga’s wallet with FarmVille, CityVille, Pioneer Trail

by Joe Osborne

Capital One asks Zynga once again, “What’s in your wallet?” To which the developer replies, “Why, FarmVille, CityVille and Pioneer Trail, of course!” Mashable reports that the national financial services firm has teamed up with Zynga again for three brand new in-game branding promotions involving Capital One’s infamous goat character. Well, two outta three, at least.

Granted, keep in mind that these promotions are slowly rolling out to players, as I’ve yet to see most of them in my games. Starting with none other than FarmVille, Capital One returns (remember the Visigoths?) with its beloved goat to the game as a breedable animal, which comes just in time for the slew of Breeding Pens in the game.

CityVille, on the other hand, simply features a Capital One-branded Bank for players to use, and opening it offers players a bonus decoration as well as additional Coins, Energy and other resources. Pioneer Trail has its very own set of Goals to help the goat-on-arrival find his lost band mates, which ultimately reward players with a Capital One goat of their own.

This is the second time Capital One has worked with Zynga this year in a branding promotion, and it comes hot off of the heels of a Best Buy promotion conducted through CityVille. And this will be far from the last branded promotion to be featured in a Zynga game. (If anything, the work of Ecko|Code speaks to its popularity.)

The San Francisco-based (but global) developer is joining forces with Lucasfilm to bring Indiana Jones into Adventure World, Zynga Boston’s debut Facebook game. Considering the game has been retitled, “Adventure World: An Indiana Jones Game,” it could be the first Zynga game built entirely around a brand. So yes, branded Facebook games are here to stay.(source:games

7)Adventure World Debuts in the Top 10 on This Week’s List of Fastest-Growing Facebook Games by MAU

By AJ Glasser

Zynga’s newest game, Adventure World, debuts on our rankings at number 10 a week after launch, but it’s still The Sims Social and Zuma Blitz leading the list of fastest-growing games by monthly active users.

In other Zynga growth news, FarmVille gets a slight lift this week just as its second major expansion launches while Pioneer Trail is now officially larger in MAU and daily active users than its FrontierVille parent was at the point of the expansion’s launch. Zynga’s overall user base across all its apps and games has remained fairly consistent in MAU for the past 30 days while DAU has dropped slightly.

As for how Adventure World’s launch pattern stacks up to Empires & Allies before it (and CityVille before that), it’s a couple million MAU shy of what Empires & Allies managed in 10 days’ time. It may be that overall growth potential is higher, however, as Adventure World seems like the kind of game that would appeal to audience compared to the strategy-oriented Empires & Allies.(source:insidesocialgames


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