作者：Paul Hyman

谷歌开始在自己的游戏平台Google+添加游戏至今已有9个月，正考虑是否要追随Google游戏风潮的开发者纷纷询问其他开发者他们的具体表现情况。但他们发现，自己很难从中获得详细信息。

Gamasutra通过对部分Google+开发者进行的非正式调查发现，他们都守口如瓶，拒绝谈论细节内容，或者甚至完全闭口不谈。

Google+ from insidemobileapps.com

Wooga（游戏邦注：其《Diamond Dash》在Facebook相当受欢迎，是首批入驻Google+平台的16款作品之一）发言人回应称，他们“目前不方便对Google+游戏加以评论”。Wooga的《Bubble Island》和《Monster World》也入驻谷歌平台。

PopCap Games发言人表示，“我们恐怕不方便谈论这一话题”。PopCap的《宝石迷阵闪电战》也是Google+平台的作品之一。

BioWare的《龙腾世纪传奇》也在Google+平台运作，其发言人表示，“团队目前不方便接受采访”。

相比之下，在今年3月份的GDC 2012上，Google+游戏及移动平台首席产品经理Punit Soni则公开讨论这一新兴社交网络，强调游戏是推动平台创新及发展的最大潜在因素。

他表示，“游戏是Google+成功的关键。”

那么开发者为什么拒绝谈论自己在Google+的表现情况？

迪士尼互动媒体集团Playdom的Central Game Services副总裁Chris Hinton表示，“我真的不清楚。”

这一在线社交网络游戏开发商最近推出一款隐藏物品游戏《Gardens of Time》，这款游戏被Facebook称作是2011年最热门的社交游戏，而且还被GDC Online 2011评选为最佳社交网络游戏。游戏1月份入驻Google+平台。

Hinton表示，“我不想要代表其他开发者发言，但在我们看来，Google+依然是个新兴平台，我们依然处在探索阶段。回首过去，当我们还处在Facebook摸索阶段时，曾犯过错误。我觉得大家是担心在真实情况尚未呈现前，就对平台做出具体的说明性陈述。”

他选择不进行详述，但给出这一类比：“2年前，有人也许曾建议开发者忽略Android平台，专攻iOS。从中我们发现，若你忽略Android平台，将错失众多创收机会。”

此外，Hinton还回忆表示，做出此扩大游戏用户基础的决定并非难事（也许邦注：从只锁定Facebook到搭载Google+）。他将这一新兴平台描述成“小型但成熟的平台，我们希望同其建立联系。加入他们并没有让我们感到后悔。”

但他拒绝比较用户或描述Google+平台的用户族群。

他表示，“我们刚得到数据不久。所以现在谈论这些有点为时过早。我们恐怕无法分享Google+或Facebook的具体数据，只能说，玩家在Facebook各回合的平均体验时间是45分钟。即使没有更具粘性，Google+玩家也至少维持同等活跃水平。我没法再提供更多参数。”

他表示，平台的用户性质截然不同，Google+吸引更多男性群体。他没法提供具体的年龄层对比数据，以及留存率、病毒式传播情况和创收水平。

他表示，“这些信息我们现在不方便透露。”

令Hinton印象深刻的是，Google+团队称Facebook的竞争有效激发他们的积极性，他们迫切想要提高自己的产品。他们积极配合开发者，“而Facebook则无需这么做。尤其是在测试新功能方面。他们积极协助各开发者完成测试工作及尝试新内容能够提高平台的安装数量，进而令平台达到饱和状态，获得持续扩展。”

他表示和Google+团队的合作非常愉快，“尤其是看到这一新团队积极在被Facebook主导的市场中争取自己的一席之地。”

同样，Kabam发现Google+平台积极争取工作室全新大型多人社交游戏《The Godfather: Five Families》的专属运营权。

Kabam游戏工作室总裁Andrew Sheppard回忆称，“当时我们手头有个大型电影品牌，因此我们希望将作品发布会打造成大型文化活动。所以我们联系各大平台，询问他们会在此采取什么方案。我欣赏谷歌团队的地方在于，他们清楚内容的价值所在，他们看到其中蕴含的机会。”

最后，Kabam给予Google+平台独家发布权（游戏邦注：除公司自身平台Kabam.com外），于去年9月推出自己的这款新作。

虽然Sheppard称自己不方便透露具体协议内容，但他表示，Kabam获得谷歌的“直接宣传支持，这包括游戏页面植入及众多杰出的公关活动。我们对结果非常满意。我们不便详细谈论运作情况，但游戏一直是平台发展最快速的作品之一——远超出我们的预期，这主要归功于谷歌的支持。”

他引用谷歌最近发布的数据，目前Google+的DAU和MAU分别是5000万和1亿。但Facebook的庞大用户基础不是更能给Kabam带来更乐观的数据？Sheppard表示，虽然Facebook是Kabam其他游戏作品的主要合作伙伴，但谷歌团队给我们带来了“强势发行活动”。

他表示，“查看他们（谷歌和Facebook）提供的方案后，我们发现谷歌的方案更具可行性，更吸引眼球，能够带来更多用户及更丰厚的收益。”

但Sheppard表示，《Godfather》未来有可能也会入驻Facebook平台；我们目前尚未做出决定。

那么未来作品呢？

Sheppard表示，Kabam考虑未来将所有游戏作品都投放至Google+和Google Chrome平台——但不一定采用独家发布形式。

他表示，“我们欣赏谷歌积极给游戏开拓特殊渠道；想通过Google+寻找游戏的玩家能够轻松找到游戏内容；我觉得这非常有吸引力。此外，我们依然致力于Facebook平台；我们喜欢和他们合作。他们有些举措非常不错。总之：我们将逐一评估各款游戏。我们的长远计划是，将作品呈现给尽可能多的用户。”

和Playdom将热门游戏《Gardens of Time》由Facebook扩展至Google+一样，Funzio（游戏邦注：该公司现已被日本手机社交游戏巨头Gree收购）也就《Crime City》采取相同举措。公司于2010年9月在Facebook推出这款游戏，游戏凭借顶峰时期的750万MAU和60万DAU，成为当年Facebook的前5大热门作品。

公司业务拓展副总裁Jamil Moledina表示，约1年之后，Funzio在8月份将这款社交黑帮动作游戏移植至Google+及iOS平台，旨在遵循公司“将游戏投放至玩家最方便的平台”的宗旨。

他发现，两个平台的用户族群非常相似，主要是20-30岁间的男性用户。

Moledina表示，Funzio对自己的Google+战略非常满意，上月公司专门在此平台推出新作《Kingdom Age》。

但对于开发者避而不谈自己的Google+数据，他并不感到惊讶。

他解释表示，“这多半是因为，目前，Google+的规模比Facebook小很多，当前的数据缺乏准确性，因为谷歌平台存在巨大的发展空间。所以开发者们觉得现在谈论数据有点为时过早，这些数据很快就会出现变化。”

Moledina没有谈论《Crime City》在Google+的具体表现情况，而只是表示，“其RPU（每用户平均收入）和Facebook不相上下。这一平台的用户数量显然少很多，但其创收水平毫不逊色。”

但究竟是什么水平的创收率？

他表示，“具体数据我现在不方便透露。”（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）

Nine months later, Google+ game devs are reluctant to share success stories

by Paul Hyman

It’s been nine months since Google added games to its Google+ platform, and developers who are considering whether to get on the Google games bandwagon are surely inquiring from other devs what their experiences have been. They may find, however, that details are particularly hard to come by.

In an informal survey of a handful of Google+ developers, Gamasutra found them to be surprisingly closed-mouthed, reticent to discuss specifics – or to discuss anything at all.

At Wooga, whose Diamond Dash is popular on Facebook and was one of 16 launch titles for Google+, a spokesperson responded that the Berlin, Germany-based developer “doesn’t comment on Google+ games at the moment.” Wooga’s Bubble Island and Monster World were also launch titles.

At PopCap Games, a spokesperson said “we’re not really up for a conversation on that topic, I’m afraid.” PopCap’s Bejeweled Blitz was a Google+ launch title.

And at BioWare, where Dragon Age Legends was a Google+ launch title, a spokesperson reported that “the team isn’t doing interviews right now.”

In comparison, it was just last March at GDC 2012 that Punit Soni, lead product manager for Google+ games and mobile, was talking up the young social network, stressing that it is games that have the most potential for driving its innovation and growth.

“Games are key to the success of Google+,” he said.

So why then the reluctance of developers to discuss their Google+ experiences?

“I really don’t know,” said Chris Hinton, VP of Central Game Services at Playdom subsidiary of Disney Interactive Media Group.

The online social network game developer currently has a hidden object game, Gardens of Time, that Facebook named its most popular social game of 2011, in addition to it being named best social network game at GDC Online 2011. It was subsequently added to Google+ in January.

“I don’t want to speak for the other developers,” Hinton added, “but, for us, Google+ is still new and we’re still in a learning phase. Looking back, when we were in a learning phase with Facebook, mistakes were made. And I think people are concerned about making clear, declarative statements about a platform before the true story has been written.”

He chose not to elaborate, other than to offer this analogy: “Two years ago, people might have suggested that developers ignore the Android platform and stick with iOS. Well, we’ve learned that there’s a lot of money you would have left on the table if you’d ignored Android.”

Meanwhile, Hinton recalled that the decision to expand the game’s audience — from Facebook only to including Google+ — was an easy one. He described the fledgling platform as “small, but ripe for the picking, and we wanted to make sure we were part of it. We have absolutely no regrets joining them.”

But he was reluctant to compare audiences or to describe the demographics of the Google+ platform.

“We’re just now getting a lot of the data back,” he said, “and so it would be a little premature to go into that. I’m afraid we can’t really share specific numbers – on Google+ or on Facebook – other than to say that players spend an average 45 minutes per session on Facebook. The Google+ players are just as active if not more engaged. I just can’t give you any metrics.”

The nature of the audiences are different, he said, with Google+ attracting a slightly larger male component. He was unable to give details on age comparisons. Nor could he share information on retention or virality or monetization rates.

“That’s information we’re not addressing at this time,” he said.

What impressed Hinton was that the team at Google+ recognizes that their Facebook competition has set the bar high and they are eager to improve their product. And they are willing to accommodate developers “in ways that Facebook doesn’t necessarily have to do anymore. Especially in the area of testing new features and functionalities. They believe in helping developers of all sizes benefit from their testing, trying new things that, hopefully, will drive installs and help the saturation and proliferation of the platform.”

He described working with the Google+ team as enjoyable, “especially watching a new team kind of scratch and claw and fight its way for relevance in a space that’s quite frankly dominated by Facebook.”

Similarly, Kabam also found Google+ to be a platform that works hard to please – in this case, to secure exclusively the developer’s new massively multiplayer social game The Godfather: Five Families.

“Because we had a major movie brand on our hands, we wanted to make the launch a big cultural event,” recalled Andrew Sheppard, Kabam Game Studio’s president. “So we reached out to all the platforms and asked them what they could do for us. What I love about Google people is they understand the value of content and they saw the opportunity they had with us.”

As a result, Kabam decided to go with Google+ exclusively (in addition to its own Kabam.com site), launching its new MMSG in September.

While Sheppard said he’s unable to be specific about the terms of the deal, he said Kabam was able to benefit from Google’s “direct promotional support, which included game page placement and a lot of good public relations. We were very happy with the results. We’re a little bit shy to talk about how we’re doing specifically, but let’s just say that the game is one of our fastest-growing of all times – that it is far exceeding our expectations — and it was in large part due to Google’s support.”

He cited data that Google presented publicly recently indicating that Google+ has 50 million daily active users and 100 million monthly active users. But wouldn’t Facebook’s larger audience have produced even higher numbers for Kabam? Sheppard said that even though Facebook is an important partner on other Kabam titles, Google’s team was the one that presented the best opportunity for what he calls “a really massive launch.”

“We tore apart both of their packages – Facebook’s and Google’s – and determined that it was Google’s that made the most sense to us, that was most attractive, and that would generate the highest number of users and the greatest revenue,” he said.

There is, however, the possibility that Godfather could end up on Facebook as well in the future, Sheppard said; that decision has not yet been made.

But what of future launches?

Sheppard revealed that Kabam is considering launching all its titles on Google+ and Google Chrome from here on out – but not necessarily exclusively.

“We like the way Google carves out a specific channel for games; people who want to find games on Google+ can find them very easily; I find that very compelling,” he said. “Meanwhile, we are committed to Facebook; we love those guys. They’re doing some great stuff. Bottom line: Each title will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Our long-term plan is to have our games in as many user’s hands as possible.”

Just as Playdom expanded its popular Gardens of Time from Facebook to Google+, San Francisco-based social game developer Funzio — now owned by Japanese social and mobile giant Gree — did the same for its Crime City. It released the title on Facebook in September 2010 and it became one of the top five Facebook games of the year with 7.5 million monthly active players at its peak and over 600,000 daily active users.

After almost a year, Funzio ported the social action gangster game to Google+ — and to iOS — in August in keeping with the company’s stated goal of “delivering games to players on whatever platform is most convenient for them,” said Jamil Moledina, VP of business development.

What he’s discovered is that the demographic is very similar on both platforms, skewing largely male and in their 20s and 30s.

Funzio is so pleased with its Google+ strategy, added Moledina, that last month it launched its Kingdom Age exclusively on that platform.

He is not surprised, however, that developers are reticent about discussing their Google+ numbers.

“It probably has to do with the fact that Google+ is a much smaller community right now than, say, Facebook, and to cite a number now may not be accurate moving forward because of the growth curve that exists on Google,” he explained. “So I think people feel it’s just a little premature to cite numbers that could change pretty quickly.”

Moledina wouldn’t discuss specifics about how well Crime City is doing on Google+ other than to say “its RPU is very comparable to Facebook. There are obviously fewer people on the platform, but it is monetizing at a pretty comparable rate.”

And what is that comparable rate?

“It’s not something I’m comfortable sharing right at the moment,” he said.（Source：gamasutra）