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迪斯尼能否在未来电子游戏领域发光发热?

发布时间:2011-10-08 15:07:51 Tags:,,,

作者:Jim Squires

谈到娱乐行业,有个无法回避的清楚事实:迪斯尼拥有一切。漫威公司?迪斯尼所有。美国广播公司?迪斯尼所有。ESPN、《提线木偶》和《小小爱因斯坦》;迪斯尼似乎在娱乐业各领域都占据优势地位。如今他们已将视线转向电子游戏。

将迪斯尼和电子游戏结合起来的观念并不新颖。《电脑争霸》在1982年改编成电子游戏后,成为街机游戏经典。《Castle of Illusion》向我们展示世嘉五代的优势所在(游戏邦注:当时《Sonic》尚未问世),在最近几年,我们发现所有迪斯尼角色已在《王国之心》系列中同《最终幻想》角色融为一体。融入迪斯尼角色的游戏多达上百款。

micky from blogspot.com

micky from blogspot.com

然而虽然迪斯尼凭借所推内容获得丰厚营收,但其从未被视作游戏行业的中坚力量。

也许是由于其多数作品过于“孩子气”。也许是由于在所有《王国之心》内容中,有若干糟糕内容企图凭借其最新电影的风靡获利。不论原因何在,在电子游戏领域,“迪斯尼”并不等同于成功——但这种局面即将改变,原因如下:

其收购正确工作室。在过去5-6年,Disney Interactive进行大量收购。最初这些都来自“核心”游戏世界。迪斯尼2009年收购的公司Wideload Studios由Bungie元老组成,他们曾参与《光晕》系列的制作。2005年收购的公司Propaganda Games由前EA加拿大雇员组成,他们曾推出《NBA街头篮球》和《Def Jam Vendetta》之类的作品。

理论上看,他们似乎非常懂得鉴别人才。但多数所收购公司的作品,如《TRON: Evolution》或者《Guilty Party》都无法成为发行商所期望的轰动巨作。当然其中也有《争分夺秒》这样的风靡之作。但即便是沃伦·斯派克掌舵的《传奇米老鼠》也存在各种评价声音。对一个严格遵照掌机游戏规则运作的公司而言,这样的结果不尽如人意。

他们开始瞄准国内掌机以外的市场。

去年7月,他们收购了Tapulous——其是热门iPhone游戏《Tap Tap劲乐团》的开发商。他们还收购Playdom(游戏邦注:它是Facebook领域的主流开发商),及物理游戏《蜡笔赛车》的开发商。这就带出下一点……

他们进军正确市场。

凭借其早期收购活动,迪斯尼进入本已饱和的市场,试图成为其中佼佼者。但由于存在Facebook和移动平台,这片市场依然相对宽阔。这里具有成千上万的开发商,但却只有少数真正的发行商。在Facebook领域,其最大劲敌是Zynga、Crowdstar和EA Playfish。在移动平台,形势更加严峻,但其中主要对手依然屈指可数。若你打算留下自己的标记,就需将其置于显眼位置。Facebook和移动设备是绝佳平台。

Disney from gamezebo.com

Disney from gamezebo.com

这些也是具有发展潜力的市场,尽管如此,但很多传统发行商依然小心翼翼。EA在两个领域都颇有作为,但动视之类的公司就公开回避这些市场。这些市场是供迪斯尼等公司深入挖掘游戏的绝佳平台,而同时又能够让他们保持其在家庭市场所具有的优势。

他们不只是制作“迪斯尼”游戏。

当我首次听说迪斯尼收购Tapulous时,我的首个想法是:“太棒了,我们什么时候能够再看到《High School Musical Revenge》之类的作品?”但这并没有发生。其实对一个拥有悠久音乐历史的公司而言,其尚未推出迪斯尼版的 Tap Tap系列游戏着实有些令人咋舌。这是件好事,因为这说明他们依然让所收购公司做自己所擅长的工作。

Playdom也是如此。他们刚宣布依托迪斯尼品牌的Facebook游戏将于2012年问世——但这是在其推出许多与《米老鼠群星会》无关新社交作品之后。《Gardens of Time》、《Deep Realms》和《Gnome Town》——这些作品都在迪斯尼收购Playdom后问世。由于Capcom Beeline品牌凭借《Smurfs’ Village》和《Snoopy’s Street Fair》等授权社交游戏在移动领域引起轰动,迪斯尼Playdom团队希望通过既有品牌在社交游戏分羹也属常情。

但最主要的“非迪斯尼”迪斯尼游戏不是出自Tapulous或Playdom之手,而是由迪斯尼自己制作。

Where’s My Water from gamezebo.com

Where’s My Water from gamezebo.com

《Where’s My Water?》由迪斯尼内部开发,但这其实是由开发商walaber完成。在通过迪斯尼发行《JellyCar 2》后,公司请其“制作优秀手机游戏”。其最新作品《Where’s My Water?》此时雄踞App Store销量排行榜之首,在Gamezebo获得5颗星评价,在其他地方也获得狂热褒评。

从这一点看来,迪斯尼仿佛已拥有自己的真正电子游戏作品。

迪斯尼的前景似乎一片光明。仅保持其现有路线就足以让他们在社交和手机游戏新领域占据有利位置,但他们似乎打算进一步深化自己在此的地位。今年3月他们收购HTML5初创公司RocketPack。该公司今年出现2次裁员,这源于其转投社交和手机领域(游戏邦注:一次是3月份的Disney Interactive裁员,一次是9月份的Disney Avalanche裁员)。显然该公司的意志非常坚定。

这并不是说我们未来不会从迪斯尼那里看到传统PC和掌机视频游戏,要知道《Disney Universe》也即将问世。但未来这类“传统”作品在Disney Interactive的地位似乎将逐步削弱,取而代之的是《Where’s My Water?》和《Gardens of Time》这类新兴游戏作品。

当然未来情况如何,我们只能拭目以待。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Monday Morning Quarterback: Could Disney be the next big name in gaming?

By Jim Squires

When it comes to the business of entertainment, there’s one hard and simple fact that can’t be avoided: Disney owns everything. Marvel Comics? Disney owns it. ABC television? They own that too. ESPN, The Muppets, Baby Einstein; it seems there’s not a single aspect of the entertainment industry that Disney doesn’t have a dominant foothold in. And now, it would seem, they’ve turned their attention to video games.

The notion of combining Disney and video games isn’t new. TRON spawned an arcade classic with its 1982 video game adaptation, Castle of Illusion showed us how good a platformer on the SEGA Genesis could be before Sonic showed up on the scene, and in more recent years we’ve seen the entire stable of Disney characters mix it up with the Final Fantasy folks in the Kingdom Hearts series. The number of games with Disney characters in them must number in the hundreds, if not thousands.

And yet despite the financial success that their associated releases have seen, they’ve never really been treated as a dominant force in the industry.

Maybe it’s because most of their titles are a little too “kid friendly.” Maybe it’s because for every Kingdom Hearts, there are a dozen disasters trying to cash in on the popularity of their latest film. Whatever the reason, the name “Disney” simply hasn’t been synonymous with “success” when it comes to video games – but all of that is about to change for three simple reasons;

They’re buying the right studios. Over the last five or six years, Disney Interactive has made a number of acquisitions. Initially these were all from the world of “core” gaming. Wideload Studios, a company they acquired in 2009, was made up of Bungie veterans who’d worked on the Halo series. Propaganda Games, a 2005 acquisition, was made up of former EA Canada employees who’d created franchises like NBA Street and Def Jam Vendetta.

On paper it certainly seems like they have an eye for talent. But many of the games such acquisitions produced, like TRON: Evolution or Guilty Party, failed to become the breakout hits that a publisher would hope for. Sure there was the occasional critical success like Split/Second, but even the Warren Spector helmed Epic Mickey met with mixed reviews. For a company that seemed to be doing everything right by console gaming standards, the results were all wrong.

…and then they started looking beyond home consoles.

Last July they acquired Tapulous – makers of the mega-popular Tap Tap Revenge franchise on the iPhone. They also acquired Playdom, a leader in Facebook gaming, and somewhere along the line they brought the developer of the physics game JellyCar into their fold. Which brings me to my next point…

They’re playing in the right markets.

With their earlier acquisitions, Disney was jumping into an already full playground and trying to be the kid who climbs to the top of the monkey bars. With Facebook and mobile though, that playground is still relatively empty. Sure there are thousands upon thousands of developers out there, but there are only a few real publishers. On Facebook the only major competition comes from Zynga, Crowdstar, and the EA-owned Playfish. On mobile things are a little tougher, but still – you can count the number of major mobile games publishers on little more than one hand. If you’re looking to leave your mark, you need to make it where it can be seen. Facebook and mobile can be the places to do it.

These are also the markets with the most growth potential, and despite this fact, a lot of traditional publishers are still playing shy. Sure EA has made a big splash in both areas, but companies like Activision have openly shunned these markets. And they’re both great places for a company like Disney to explore gaming while maintaining their family-friendly appeal.

They’re not just making “Disney” games.

When I first heard that Disney had purchased Tapulous, my first thought was “oh great, how long until we start seeing releases like High School Musical Revenge?” But it didn’t happen. In fact, for a company with a rich history of song, it’s downright shocking that there’s hasn’t been a Disneyfied Tap Tap game yet. And that’s a good thing, because it means they’re letting acquired studios keep doing what they already do best.

The same goes for Playdom. Sure they’ve just announced that Disney-branded Facebook games are on the way in 2012 – but that’s only after releasing a bevy of great new social games that haven’t had a thing to do with the House of Mouse. Gardens of Time, Deep Realms, Gnome Town – every one of these Facebook titles were released after Playdom’s Disney acquisition. And with Capcom’s Beeline brand making a splash in mobile with licensed social games like Smurfs’ Village and Snoopy’s Street Fair, you can hardly blame the Playdom/Disney team for wanting to mine their existing properties for social gaming gold.

The biggest “non-Disney” Disney game, though, doesn’t come from Tapulous or Playdom, but from Disney itself. Kind of.

Where’s My Water? was developed in-house by Disney, though it was done by the developer formerly known as walaber. After publishing JellyCar 2 through Disney, he was offered a job “making cool mobile games” for the company. His latest creation, Where’s My Water?, sits at the top of the App Store sales charts at the time of this writing, has received a 5 star review right here at Gamezebo, and is getting rave reviews everywhere else.

It seems as though Disney finally has a bona fide video game hit on their hands.

Going Forward…

Things looks pretty bright for Disney. Just keeping on the path they’re on now could be enough to propel them to the top of the game in the new worlds of social and mobile gaming, yet they seem intent on cementing their place in this new world even further. Back in March they acquired RocketPack, an HTML5 startup. And twice this year the company has seen layoffs resulting from a shift in focus to social and mobile – once at Disney Interactive in March, and then in September at Disney Avalanche. Clearly this is a company that’s committed.

That’s not to say that we won’t see traditional PC and console video games from Disney in the future. Disney Universe is on the horizon, and as the parent company of Marvel, I couldn’t imagine a world without comic book heroes on my PlayStation 3. But it seems like going forward, more “traditional” releases like these will play less of a role in Disney Interactive’s future than titles like Where’s My Water? and Gardens of Time.

Then again, what do I know? It’s all speculation. That’s why we call this series Monday Morning Quarterback.

Monday Morning Quarterbackis a new weekly editorial series from Gamezebo. Each and every Monday one of our editors tackles a specific issue around the latest trends and news in the world of gaming.(Source:gamezebo


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