作者：Henry Fong

“破解游戏”，也就是移除或绕过需要玩家为产品付费的机制，几乎同游戏这种媒介同期出现。不幸的是，你无法保证产品免遭破解，只要有人发明新的保护措施， 就会有人找到应对的方法。那么，开发者，尤其是iOS平台开发者，要如何保护自己的产品免受知识产权盗窃，增加利润回报呢？

不要尝试去寻找防破解方法，这需要耗费大量的精力和时间，从长远来看，你应当将这些时间用在提升游戏质量上。开发者真正应该致力于设计和执行盈利机制，使其让技术菜鸟难以绕过或者让用户可以免费体验足够的游戏“样本”。

免费增值游戏，也称为“免费”游戏，允许玩家免费玩游戏，这样便可以使游戏的用户获取达到最大化，游戏允许玩家通过微交易来付费增强游戏体验，也就是花钱购买虚拟商品或货币让玩家获得更大的力量或能力。数十年来，基于PC端的在线游戏已经证实了这种模式在亚洲市场和西方市场的有效性。我相信，这种模式是手机游戏应对中国游戏破解问题的最佳方法，不仅可以让用户获取和粘性获得提升，还能够良好地适应中国智能手机市场。

jailbreak(from venturebeat)

越狱在中国很方便

在中国，你不需要上网查找越狱iPhone的方法。只需要将手机拿到当地非授权的苹果产品分销商，花点小钱就可以完成手机越狱。有些好心的店员还会帮你安装最新的越狱App Store客户端，向你展示如何免费下载软件，甚至主动为你安装他自己最喜欢的游戏。但是，许多中国人让设备越狱的主要目标并非是为了获得免费游戏。毕竟，每次苹果更新iOS系统后都要再次进行越狱，由此带来的麻烦和额外成本往往高于将设备越狱后节省下来的成本。

过去，越狱是绕开苹果中国App Store不能支付人民币的方法。现在，苹果已经增加了本地货币支付服务，人们越狱的主要原因是为了更容易地使用设备，可以更容易地寻找和下载游戏。

如何保护产品

关键不在于防止人们越狱设备和破解游戏，这是一场你永远也无法打赢的战争。但是，如果你专注于向付费用户提供更好的体验，那么你会发现他们很愿意支付金钱。与付费下载、订阅和广告免费模型相比，免费增值游戏的盛行有以下原因：

1、中国玩家愿意付钱在游戏中获得提升。他们喜欢升级带来的喜悦感，也愿意付费购买让他们在游戏中获得优势地位的功能。无论是通过游戏中某个难度较高的部分或获得竞争优势，66亿美元（游戏邦注：中国2011年游戏盈利，数据来自Pearl Research）的数据证明中国玩家愿意付钱玩游戏。

2、中国玩家喜欢先尝试再购买。截止本文撰稿，苹果中国地区App Store游戏营收榜单前10名中，有7款可以免费下载，前25名有20款可以免费下载。免费下载游戏的安装量往往高于付费下载游戏，更快的用户获取、更高的游戏粘性和广告驱动盈利带来了更好的盈利率。

3、因为中国某些流行网站的存在，付费下载游戏在越狱设备上的破解甚为方便。只要点击一次鼠标，越狱设备便可以免费获得你的所有内容。而免费增值游戏整合的是苹果的应用内置付费机制，玩家可以在试玩游戏后决定是否花钱解锁额外内容或购买虚拟道具。使用IAP的iOS游戏很难被越狱用户破解，因为他们解锁内容或购买虚拟道具的唯一方法是使用特定产品的特定“IAP破解软件”。付费下载游戏会让玩家更倾向于破解游戏，而免费则从某种程度上保护了游戏。

总之，成功的全球化开发者需要适应世界各地用户的不同需求，这种适应不仅包括内容层面，还包括不同地区玩家玩游戏的习惯。Flurry三月份报告称中国iOS和Android设备激活量居世界之最，而遭遇盗版侵害的游戏和高盈利游戏之间的区别或许就在于盈利模式和设计。

就中国目前的智能手机游戏当前状态来看，在这个充满盗版和破解的市场中，免费增值模式将立于不败之地。（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）

Are Chinese gamers addicted to crack?

Henry Fong

“Cracking games,” or removing and bypassing mechanics that require players to pay for the product, has existed since the medium first developed. Unfortunately, you can’t guarantee protection against game cracking, and as soon as someone invents a new safeguard, someone else find a new way to circumvent it. So, how can developers – particularly on the iOS platform – protect their prized assets from intellectual theft and increase their monetary return?

Forget about trying to crack-proof anything – it takes insurmountable effort that, in the long run, should be spent building better games. The true task at hand is for developers to design and implement monetization mechanics into their releases that 1) make it harder for non-technical consumers to bypass them, and 2) design games so that users get access to a sufficient “sampling” of game content for free.

Freemium, or “free-to-play” games, allow players to try them at no cost, which maximizes user acquisition from the start and allows them to pay into the play experience through microtransactions – small purchases of virtual goods or currencies that give players more power or the ability to advance more quickly. The model has been proven in freemium PC-based online games for a decade now, in both Asia and the West. I believe this model is the best way to crack-proof mobile games in China, not only due to improvements in user acquisition and engagement, but also due to new circumstances affecting the China smartphone games market.

Jailbreaking in China is very convenient

In China, you don’t have to browse the Web to learn how to jailbreak your iPhone. Simply take it down to your local (unauthorized) Apple reseller and get your phone jailbroken for the cost of a roasted turkey sandwich. The friendly neighborhood store clerk will also install the latest jailbreak App Store client, show you how easy it is to download free software, and even install his favorite games for you as part of the package. However, the primary reason many Chinese people do this to their devices is not to get free games. After all, the inconvenience and additional cost of having to get their device re-jailbroken every time Apple upgrades its iOS far outweighs the cost benefits of jailbreaking a device in the first place.

In the past, jailbreaking was a way to bypass the Apple China App Store’s inability to process local currency (RMB) payments. Now that Apple has enabled local payments, the primary reason people hack their phones is for ease of use…for an experience that is arguably better than Apple’s App Store for Chinese people to find, read about, and download games, all free of charge.

How to protect your products

The key to “crack-proofing” your monetization lies not in preventing people from jailbreaking their devices and cracking your games – that’s a battle you just won’t win. However, if you focus on giving your users an all-around better experience when they do pay, you’ll find that your users will be happy to do so. This is where the freemium, free-to-play model shines when compared to the paid-download, subscription, and free (ad-only) models for the following reasons:

Chinese gamers will pay to advance in a game. They enjoy the instant gratification of leveling up or moving ahead and are willing to pay for features that provide an instant advantage in the game. Whether it’s blowing past a particularly difficult section of a game or gaining a competitive advantage against an opponent, 6.6 billion good reasons exist (China’s 2011 gaming revenue in U.S. dollars, according to Pearl Research) that prove Chinese gamers will pay to play.

Chinese gamers like to try before they buy. On the day of writing this, the top-grossing games in Apple’s China App Store show 7 of the 10 top-grossing games are free for download. Expanding the list to the top 25 grossing games shows 20 that are free for download. What’s more, games that are free for download typically generate a significantly higher install base than paid download games, allowing a better monetization rate through more rapid user acquisition, higher game engagement, and the resulting ad-driven revenue.

Paid downloadable games are convenient to crack on jailbroken devices, thanks to popular sites in China. One click, and a jailbroken device gets all of your content for free. Freemium games, on the other hand, are integrated with Apples’ In App Purchase (IAP) mechanism, unlocking additional content or virtual items after a gamer has had a taste. iOS games that use IAP are very difficult for jailbreak users to crack because the only way they can unlock content or buy virtual items is via the use of a specific “IAP cracker” for a specific product. Paid downloadable games encourage cracking, while free-to play tends to keep cracking at bay.

In summary, successful global developers need to adapt to the changing needs of a worldwide audience, not only in terms of content, but also in terms of how gamers in different regions prefer to pay for games. China now has more iOS device activations than any other country in the world, and the difference between a wildly pirated game versus a highly profitable game may truly lie in the monetization model and design.

In the current state of smart-phone gaming in China, in a market rife with pirating and cracking, the freemium model cannot be beat. (Source: Games Beat)