1）据gamasutra报道，Zynga日前宣布公司首席运营官John Schappert已离职并退出公司董事会（游戏邦注：Schappert曾是负责监管Zynga所有游戏的头号人物，但上周已被公司削减有关游戏业务的职权，并由移动高管David Ko及执行副总裁Steve Chiang接替其职责）。

Zynga-John-Schappert(from thenewstribe.com)

虽然Zynga并未指出Schappert降职原因，但该公司在Schappert担任首席运营官期间确实遇到不少问题。在去年加入Zynga之前，Schappert曾任EA首席运营官。他在1994年联合创立了《adden NFL》开发商Tiburon Entertainment，他在2007年曾加入微软，但在2009年7月又重返EA。

2）Niko Partners最新报告显示，尽管基于客户端及硬核类MMO游戏主导了中国市场，但基于浏览器和社交网站的游戏增长速度最为迅速。

2011年中国在线游戏市场规模为70亿美元，预计2012年浏览器游戏（游戏邦注：包括网页游戏、休闲在线游戏、社交游戏）所创收益将增长41%，其未来市场份额还将显著增长。

3）据福布斯报道，Zynga首席执行官Mark Pincus及其妻最近又在旧金山购买了一处价值1600万美元的豪宅，这是Pincus一家在一年内购买的第三个房产。该住所位于Pacific Heights中央地区，与Oracle首席执行官Larry Ellison相邻。

mark-pincus-buys-san-francisco-mansion-1(from games)

mark-pincus-buys-san-francisco-mansion-2(from games)

4）据美联社报道，迪士尼首席执行官Bob Iger在最近电话会议中表示，公司将在今年发布10款游戏，其中多数是基于迪士尼IP的产品。不过Iger并未指出这些游戏将出自迪士尼还是其社交游戏工作室Playdom之手。

mickey-mouse(from games)

5）据serkantoto报道，日本社交游戏公司GREE曾在2009年起诉DeNA侵犯其热门社交游戏《Tsuri Star》（其海外版本为《Fishing Star》）版权。

Tsuri Star(from serkantoto)

Tsurige Town 2(from serkantoto)

当时GREE声称被告游戏《Tsurige Town 2》剽窃了自己游戏的特定设计和游戏机制，该诉讼案于2012年2月暂告一段落，东京地区法院要求Mobage停止在Mobage平台运营该游戏，并向GREE支付300万美元赔偿金。

DeNA不服这一结果并上诉至东京高级法院，后者于近日撤消了下级法院的判决，并驳回了GREE的赔偿要求。

6）据insidesocialgames报道，Facebook日前宣布向平台所有应用开发者推出订阅付费功能。该功能原先在6月份由Zynga、Playdom和Kixeye参与测试，现已面向所有开发者开放虚拟商品、付费体验或升级内容的包月付费服务。

Gardens of Time--subscription(from insidesocialgames)

开发者可根据用户当地使用货币来设置产品价格，并提供不同级别的订阅服务，此外还可提供免费试用期，以便更好地实现盈利。用户可通过信用卡或PayPal帐号支付订阅费用，也可以通过Facebook支付设置中取消相关选项。

7）在本周DAU增长最快的Facebook游戏榜单上，Zynga旗下的Ville游戏包揽前三名，《FarmVille》位列第一，新增2310万DAU，增幅达131%；《CityVille》名列第二，新增1690万DAU，增幅为78%；《The Ville》排名第三，新增1190万DAU，增幅为33%。

top gainers this week-DAU(from AppData)

EA游戏《SimCity Social》新增270万DAU，增幅为23%；FreshPlanet游戏《SongPop》新增170万DAU，增幅为14%。（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）Zynga’s COO steps down after being pushed to the sidelines

by Tom Curtis

After some major corporate shakeups just last week, Zynga has announced that COO John Schappert has stepped down from the company and its board of directors, effective immediately.

While this move could have major implications for Zynga’s future, Schappert’s departure is not particularly surprising, as the executive (and former EA bigwig) was reportedly stripped of his duties overseeing Zynga’s game operations early last week.

“We can confirm that John Schappert has left Zynga and its Board of Directors effective immediately,” Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said in a prepared statement. “John has made significant contributions to the games industry throughout his career and we appreciate all that he has done for Zynga. John leaves as a friend of the company and we wish him all the best.”

Before he was sidelined last week, Schappert was the primary figure in charge of all of Zynga’s games. As we reported last week, however, those duties now fall upon chief mobile officer David Ko and executive VP Steve Chiang, who currently report directly to Pincus.

While Zynga did not confirm why it relieved Schappert of his responsibilities, the company did run into some trouble while he was COO. Zynga’s most recent quarter was particularly troublesome, as the company failed to meet expectations for a number of its major Facebook and mobile games.

Prior to joining Zynga last year, Schappert served as COO at Electronic Arts, where he helped the company gain a foothold in the online and social space.

In addition, Schappert helped co-found Madden NFL developer Tiburon Entertainment in 1994. Following EA’s acquisition of the studio, he served in several executive roles at the publishing giant before heading to Microsoft in 2007. He then rejoined EA in July 2009. （source:gamasutra）

2）China’s social, browser games raking in cash this year – study

by Eric Caoili

Newsbrief: Client-based and core-targeted MMOs are dominating China’s game market now, but a new report shows that browser-based titles and social games make up the fastest-growing segment in the country.

Niko Partners’ new “China’s Casual and Social Online Games 2012″ study has found that games played through browsers — and that don’t require users to download a client — will make 41 percent more revenue in 2012 compared to last year.

The browser-based game category (includes web games, casual online games, and social games) makes up a significant portion of China’s $7 billion online games industry, and Niko expects its market share to significantly increase.

Niko added that the browser game market is currently fragmented with low barriers to entry, allowing developers ample opportunities to step in and make their mark. It also has fewer infrastructure restrictions than the client-based MMO market.（source:gamasutra）

3）Take a peek (or two) at Zynga CEO Mark Pincus’s $16M mini-mansion

by Joe Osborne

The FarmVille maker is in a rough spot right now, but that hasn’t stopped Zynga CEO and founder Mark Pincus from treating himself to some new digs. Forbes reports that Pincus and his wife have purchased a $16 million (haggled down from $16.5 mil) home in San Francisco, and based on the shots from real estate portal Trulia, it’s (expectantly) absolutely gorgeous.

The (what we call a) mini-mansion is located in the heart of Pacific Heights, commonly referred to as “Pac Heights” by the billionaires that inhabit it. The Pincus clan can now call folks like browser provider Oracle CEO Larry Ellison “neighbor”. Here’s how Forbes describes the multimillion-dollar home:

… a classic example of Dutch Colonial Revival architecture with shingled facade, period lighting, and myriad diamond divided light windows, plus picture windows that present magnificent Golden Gate Bridge and Bay views. Spanning four levels plus a spacious attic, the home reflects the design of the early 1900s, with grand formal rooms on the main level, a continuous succession of family bedrooms and sitting rooms on the second and third floor, plus original staff quarters and the main kitchen on the basement level.

This big-time buy marks the third for Pincus and family in less than a year. Tumbling stock prices and copyright infringement suits aside, Zynga’s commander in chief seems to be doing just fine.（source：games）

4）Disney: Expect 10 Facebook games from the Mouse House in 2012

by Joe Osborne

Hold onto your Donald Duck mouse pads, because Disney doesn’t plan on leaving the Facebook game scene any time soon. In a recent earnings cal, Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed concerns of a dwindling social games space in the wake of Zynga’s shares hitting the floor, Associated Press reports. His response was parts concerning, exciting and lukewarm … all at the same time.

“I think we will launch about 10 games this year, a lot of them are based on Disney-owned (intellectual property) …. . So we feel very good about it. It is not a huge business for us, it is one that we’re going to continue to be in,” Iger revealed amid bullish views on the recently-launched Facebook App Center.

Iger wasn’t clear whether he meant that Disney, or rather its social games arm Playdom, would release 10 more Facebook games by years end or that it will have released that many in 2012 by that time. That would include games like Armies of Magic, Threads of Mystery, Botkin’s Hidden Cove, Animal Kingdom Explorers, Ghosts of Mistwood and Blackwood & Bell Mysteries (plus the upcoming City Girl and Mobster’s Criminal Empire).

Since a studio of Playdom’s size pumping out 10 games in less than five months sounds ludicrous, we’ll go with the latter. That said, a whopping eight games in just a few more months than that was possible for the company, so who knows? Either way, just know that more Disney-grown Facebook games are on the way. Just cross your fingers that they’re on par with Armies of Magic.（source:games）

5）Did DeNA Really Copy A GREE Game? High Court Says “No”. [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Way back in September 2009, GREE sued DeNA for infringing the copyright on their hit social game Tsuri Star (Fishing Star outside Japan).

GREE claimed that its biggest rival (or to be more precise: the developer of the game, Tokyo-based mobile tech company Orso) copied certain designs and game mechanics in their game Tsurige Town 2.

The case came to a temporary close in February 2012 when the Tokyo District court ordered DeNA to stop distributing the title on Mobage and  pay Gree around US$3 million in damages.

But DeNA appealed the ruling on the same day, and today, six months later, the high court dealing with IP cases in Tokyo actually revoked the lower court’s decision and rejected GREE’s demand for damages.

GREE’s position was that DeNA violated Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Law.（source:serkantoto）

6）Facebook subscription payments come out of beta, now available for all app developers

Brittany Darwell

Facebook today announced that subscription payments are now available to all developers with apps on the site.

The company originally announced the program in beta with Zynga, Playdom and Kixeye as partners in June. Now any developer can offer subscriptions for virtual goods, premium experiences or updated content within their apps for a monthly fee. See an example from Disney Playdom’s Gardens of Time below.

Developers can set different prices based on a user’s local currency and offer different levels of subscriptions. They can also offer free trial periods. This flexibility could help developers better monetize their apps. The model could also lead players to spend more in games and also makes Facebook a better option for developers of free-to-play browser-based massively multiplayer online role-playing games. It might also be a start to getting non-game developers to try the social network’s payment platform. For example, professional networking app BranchOut or news apps like Washington Post Social Reader might find uses for subscriptions. However, Facebook will take a 30 percent fee from these transactions.

Developers can combine subscriptions and in-app payments. For instance, a game might offer a monthly subscription for energy or supplies and sell vanity items through in-app purchases. Users can pay for subscriptions with a credit card or PayPal account, and they can cancel from their Facebook payment settings. Facebook recommends that developers provide a cancel option from within their apps as well.

Developers can learn more about implementing subscription payments here. Daily transaction data about subscriptions will be available for download through the payments reporting API introduced on Monday.（source:insidesocialgames）

7）FarmVille beats out city slickers for this week’s fastest-growing games by DAU

Kassi Murray

Author’s note: The large traffic gains for Zynga’s “Ville” games on this week’s list of fastest-growing games on Facebook by daily active users is largely based on dramatic (but temporary) surges in these games’traffic over the weekend that have since dropped off. We reached out to Facebook earlier this week for information about the traffic spikes, and will update the article if we hear back.

Zynga had the top three slots on this week’s list of fastest-growing Facebook games by DAU. Farmville took the No. 1 spot with 23.1 million DAU, a 131 percent gain.

CityVille took the No. 2 slot with 16.9 million DAU and a 78 percent increase. The Ville dropped down to No. 3 with a 33 percent increase and 11.9 million DAU. EA’s SimCity Social  came in at No. 4 with 2.7 million DAU and a 23 percent increase. FreshPlanet’s SongPop was at No. 5 with a 14 percent increase and 1.7 million DAU.

Two other games had an increase of over 1 million users, but still saw gains smaller than 25 percent. Social Point’s Dragon City brought in 1.4 million DAU and an 18 percent gain. Zynga’s Bubble Safari gains only 5 percent with a 1.3 million DAU. Konami’s Puzzle Chasers was the only game that was over the 100 percent gain mark with 123 percent and a DAU increase of 320,000 users.（source:insidesocialgames）