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每日观察:关注Facebook再次调整用户隐私政策(3.23)

发布时间:2012-03-23 13:54:18 Tags:,,

1)在线游戏玩家网站Curse最近的调查报告显示(调查样本为1万1800名在线游戏玩家),64%在线游戏玩家声称自己在玩免费增值游戏(以下简称F2P)。

free_to_play_survey(from curse)

free_to_play_survey(from curse)

有43%受访者称自己玩F2P的游戏是为了避开每月的订阅费用,29%表示自己只是想先试试游戏,然后再决定是否订阅MMO游戏。这种情况或许可以解释为何《魔兽世界》现在要免费提供前20个关卡,为何有许多MMO游戏最近都转向了F2P模式。由此可以预见,付费订阅模式正逐渐淡出人们的视线。

2)NPD Group最近报告表明,2011年第四季度欧美用户在非零售游戏(游戏邦注:例如数字下载、社交/手机游戏)中投入33.3亿美元;美国用户投入高达20.4亿美元,英国、德国和法国共占12.9亿美元,其中英国为5.08亿美元,德国为4.61亿美元,法国是3.2亿美元。

the-sims-freeplay(from venturebeat)

the-sims-freeplay(from venturebeat)

第四季度美国实体零售游戏软件销售额为45亿美元,同比上年下降3%。

3)据gamesbrief报道,Playspan在今年的GDC大会上公布的市场调查数据指出,2011年有25%年龄介于13-54岁的美国用户曾购买虚拟商品,比2009年翻倍增长。这一时期玩家比例增长至35%,用户在虚拟商品中的总投入比上年增长28%。

virtual-goods_avatar_options(from blog.replayful.com)

virtual-goods_avatar_options(from blog.replayful.com)

在购买虚拟商品的用户中,年轻群体和男性用户占三分之二;但如果从消费金额上看,50岁左右的女性用户才是消费主力军,她们平均一年在虚拟商品中投入超过100美元,同时也是最乐衷于向他人赠送虚拟商品的群体。

不当的游戏设计才是提升虚拟商品销量的最大障碍,有32%受访者称自己不买虚拟商品是因为他们觉得没有必要,35%称自己玩游戏中并没有出现虚拟商品,24%受访者认为这些虚拟商品毫无意义。但有55%受访者表示自己购买虚拟商品是为了加速游戏进程,49%是为了获得更良好的游戏体验。

4)据ZDNet报道,Facebook最近又更改其用户隐私政策,将允许该平台应用程序或游戏获取用户的Facebook信息和内容(无论用户是否曾访问该应用/游戏)。

facebook-privacy(from games)

facebook-privacy(from games)

Facebook“隐私政策”现已更名为“数据使用政策”(Data Use Policy),从该政策声明可看出无论用户愿意与否,Facebook都会访问用户数据。从现在起,好友访问过的应用或游戏都可以共享用户在Facebook的内容和信息。

用户可以删除自己发布的Facebook信息,但这种做法相当于只是在电脑上清空回收站,这些移除内容仍将在备份文件中留存一段时间(只是其他人看不到而已)。

不过Facebook也表示,这些访问用户信息的应用和游戏必须“尊重用户隐私,以用户同意的方式使用、存储和传递内容和信息”。

5)博彩游戏工作室Plumbee日前宣布融资280万美元,并发布首款Facebook游戏《Mirrorball Slots》(该轮融资由位于巴黎的Idinvest Partners主导)。

Mirrorball Slots(from us.generation-nt.com)

Mirrorball Slots(from us.generation-nt.com)

《Mirrorball Slots》目前正在Facebook进行测试,是一款采用童话主题的老虎机游戏,目前共有“长发公主”、“金发姑娘和三只小熊”以及“魔镜”(取材于《白雪公主》)三个主题,并计划在未来添加更多内容。

其游戏玩法与标准老虎机游戏类似,据AppData数据显示,老虎机游戏是颇受欢迎的Facebook博彩游戏类型之一,在前20名博彩游戏榜单中,老虎机游戏占据半数席位。

Plumbee由前EA Playfish成员Raf Keustermans(CEO)、 Gerald Tan(COO)和Jodi Moran(CTO)成立,这家位于东伦敦的工作室目前有20名来自EA Playfish、诺基亚和Codemasters的成员。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

1)Survey: Free-to-play gamers seem to have commitment issues

by Joe Osborne

Hold your horses, single folk: Free-to-play (F2P) gamers aren’t averse to relationships or anything. They just don’t want to be tied down by MMO (massively multiplayer online game) subscriptions anymore. A survey conducted by online gamer network Curse found the real reasons why more and more subscription MMO players have opted for F2P games.

Of the 11,800 online gamers that the company surveyed, an impressive 64 percent reported that they play F2P games. As VentureBeat points out, a large number of those surveyed likely play World of Warcraft (WoW)–the number one subscription MMO–since Curse not only operates a number of WoW community websites and hosts add-ons for the game.

As for why such a large number of potential subscription MMO players dig F2P games, 43 percent said that they look to avoid commitment to a monthly subscription. Just beneath that was the 29 percent of players that simply like to try out games before subscribing to an MMO. (Gee, then they were probably present and accounted for during Bioware’s free-to-play weekend for Star Wars: The Old Republic.)

If that’s the case, then it’s no wonder why WoW now offers its first 20 levels of play for free. Of course, it’s also no wonder then why so many subscription-based MMOs have recently gone the F2P–and to stellar results, no less. At this rate, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before subscriptions go the way of the dodo.(source: games

2)Digital game sales reach $3.3B in U.S. and Europe in Q4

Dean Takahashi

Add a Comment Tweet Digital game sales reached a total of $3.33 billion in the fourth quarter in U.S. and Europe, according to the NPD Group. That number is up 9 percent in the U.S. from a year ago, though comparison data isn’t available for Europe.

The numbers show that digital games — excluding those sold at physical retail stores — are a growing part of the business while console games have been shrinking for the past couple of years.

Digital game sales include used games, game rentals, subscriptions, digital full-game downloads, social network games, downloadable content, and mobile games. The U.S. captured the lion’s share of fourth-quarter sales at $2.04 billion. The United Kingdom, German and France generated about $1.29 billion, while the rest of Europe wasn’t counted in the data. The United Kingdom generated $508 million, followed by Germany at $461 million and France at $320 million.

“It’s fascinating to see the nuances in consumer behavior across geographies,” said Anita Frazier, analyst at the NPD Group. “Clearly these other forms of content acquisition do not follow as consistent of a trend as we see with the established box product business in the U.S.”

In the U.S., fourth-quarter physical retail game software sales were $4.5 billion, down 3 percent from a year earlier. That means that digital games are about a third of the size of the physical retail game software business.(source:venturebeat

3)Who’s buying apps and virtual goods?

Zoya Street

Tweet  This year’s GDC was packed with juicy data on virtual goods sales. Peter Warman from Newzoo showed that in 2011, revenues from freemium games revenue dramatically increased in the holiday season just as packaged goods games games do; however, revenue remained at that high point after the holiday was over, rather than tapering off in the new year. He suggested that this is because under the games on a service model, players don’t pay a one-off fee but spend gradually over time.

Your Mom spends even more on virtual goods than you do

Playspan also brought some interesting figures to the conference, based on their market research surveys. In 2011, 25% of US consumers aged 13-54 bought a virtual good, a figure that has doubled since 2009. When looking not at the population as a whole, but gamers specifically, that figure increases to 35%. Total spend on virtual goods was up 28% on the previous year.2/3 of virtual goods purchasers are young and male, but when looking at the amount of money spent in a year by people who purchase virtual goods, women in their 50s lead that pack, spending over $100 a year on average. This group is also the most likely to gift virtual goods to other people.

The most commonly cited barriers to buying virtual goods were arguably caused by game design: non-spending respondents felt that they were not necessary or present in the games played (32% and 35%), or that they seemed pointless (24%). Reasons for buying virtual goods were to do more in the game (55%) and to get a better experience in the game (49%).(source:gamesbrief

4)Facebook games you don’t even play can now see your information

by Joe Osborne

The funny thing is that you only have until March 23 to say anything about it. Facebook has updated its privacy policy once again (what happened to “opt-in?”), or rather renamed it and then changed it. According to ZDNet, Facebook games and applications will have access to your Facebook content and information regardless of whether you personally have used the apps or games.

Facebook’s “Privacy Policy” is now known as its “Data Use Policy,” which may as well say that Facebook will use your data regardless of whether you like it. Now, Facebook games and apps that your friends use or play can access your content and information. “When you, or others who can see your content and information, use an application your content and information is shared with the application,” the new policy reads.

You could always delete your Facebook content after it’s published, but what’s the point in that on a social network, and besides: “When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer,” the policy reads. “However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).”

It seems that–unless enough users speak out–Facebook games will access your data one way or another (most likely for advertising and growth purposes). But Facebook reassures users that its applications and games are required “to respect your privacy, and your agreement with that application will control how the application can use, store, and transfer that content and information.” Take a look at the updated policy in full, and if you’re not happy, you have until tomorrow to speak your mind right here.(source:games

5)Plumbee announces funding, launches Mirrorball Slots on Facebook

Mike Thompson

Casino game studio Plumbee breaks out of stealth today with $2.8 million in funding and a freshly-launched slots game on Facebook.

This first round of funding was led by Paris-based Idinvest Partners. Idinvest has a history of getting involved with games startups, and has helped fund other groups like PyramidVille developer Kobojo and Grand Cru, which is currently working on The Supernauts.

Plumbee’s first title for Facebook is Mirrorball Slots, which is currently in beta on Facebook. As the name implies, it’s a slots game with fairytale themes. There are three themes currently available: Rapunzel’s Tower, Goldilocks and the Wild Bears and The Magic Mirror (based on Snow White). Plumbee is promising more themes in the future with the Big Bad Wolf next in line.

Mirrorball’s gameplay feels like a standard slots game, though more social features like medals and soft currency are promised in the near future. There’s little to differentiate the game from similar titles like Lucky Slots, as the only perceivable difference between the themes is their appearance. The game’s store can only be used for the “coins” hard currency at the moment, although there are tabs for “cash” currency, gifts and  charms that are promised to come soon. Slots is a popular subgenre for casino titles on Facebook; our AppData leaderboard for gambling games shows that half of the top twenty are slots-themed.

Plumbee’s public revelation may also be the beginning of a new wave of British game startups, as the UK government recently revealed that it was providing tax breaks to game developers as part of an effort to turn the area  into “Europe’s technology center.”

Plumbee was founded by former EA Playfish executives Raf Keustermans, Gerald Tan and Jodi Moran. Keustermans now serves as Plumbee’s CEO, while Tan and Moran wear the hats of COO and CTO, respectively. Currently, the East London studio’s team consists of 20 people who have worked with companies like EA Playfish, Nokia and Codemasters in the past. Plumbee is also hiring for its in-house team for mobile development.(source:insidesocialgames


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