1）据insidesocialgames报道，Zynga最近正在菲律宾测试新版续集游戏《CityVille 2》（游戏邦注：《FarmVille 2》也曾在该地区进行测试），但该公司并未透露具体发布日期。

不过观察者推测，根据《FarmVille 2》的发行时间表和Zynga最新财报预测情况来看，该游戏可能于12月份发布。从游戏截图来看，它与《CityVille》很相似，但画面更精致，并且植入了昼夜机制。

CityVille2(from insidesocialgames)

《CityVille》曾有12个月在MAU和DAU上名列Facebook游戏榜单首位，2011年3月份最高峰时的MAU超过1.01亿，DAU超过2100万。目前该游戏MAU为1680万，DAU为220万。

2）据AllThingsD报道，又一名Zynga高管Laurence “Lo” Toney最近也宣布离职，他已在Zynga担任两年的《Zynga Poker》（这是Zynga发展最长久而成功的游戏之一）总经理，后来成为Zynga移动总经理，负责监管Zynga在iOS和Android平台的发行业务。

Toney-Lo-Lawrence_GM-Zynga(from onlinecasino)

除了Toney之外，从7月25日至今，Zynga已流失其他14名高管，其中包括最近出走的《Words With Friends》开发者Paul和David Bettner兄弟。

3）投资银行Digi-Capital日前更新的第三季度报告显示，今年全球游戏行业合并及收购交易额已超过2011年的总和，但投资总额（尤其是社交/休闲游戏领域）却远逊于去年水平。

今年合并及收购交易额已经是整个2011年的105%，今年第三季度全球最大的10笔合并/收购交易中，有6笔交易来自中国、日本和韩国公司。

Games-MA-by-year-to-Q3-2012(from Digi-Capital)

2011年行业的合并/收购交易总额为34亿美元，共产生113笔不同交易（平均每笔交易额为3000万美元）；今年到现在为止，行业已产生价值36亿美元的交易额，达成了71笔交易，平均交易额为5100万美元。Zynga以1.8亿美元收购OMGPOP的这笔交易，对这一行业数据产生了一定影响，今年较大规模的收购交易总体上较少。

报告指出，这些交易主要集中于MMO游戏、移动及社交/休闲游戏、中间件领域。

Q3-2012-Games-MA-Chart(from Digi-Capital)

在2011年，游戏行业共达成152笔投资交易，总产值为20亿美元，平均交易额为1300万美元；但截止第三季度，今年行业达成130笔投资交易，总产值仅为5.91亿美元，平均每笔交易仅450万美元。同比去年第三季度，今年交易量增长14%，但交易额却下滑60%。

值得注意的是，2011年社交/休闲游戏领域占行业全年投资交易额的57%，交易量占比达32%，而今年第三季度该领域交易额却仅占比8%，交易量仅占比11%。

Digi-Capital原先认为社交游戏1.0时代将持续繁荣到2012年第四季度，但目前来看2011年的社交游戏投资热潮已经接近尾声。

4）据gamaustra报道，《战神：登天之路》首席设计师Mark Simon在最近采访中表示，游戏应该为玩家提供其操作有效或无效的反馈结果，这样才能鼓励玩家尝试新内容，并迅速从新手升格为高手。

战神：登天之路(from 360-faces.de)

例如，玩家死亡时游戏应进行相应提示，告知他们为何死亡，这样他们就会汲取教训，少走弯路。而如果玩家完成很棒的任务时，也要给予反馈，这样可以鼓励他们保持这种良好状态。

5）据Serkantoto报道，韩国网游公司Nexon（游戏邦注：Nexon已在日本东京证券交易所上市，当前市值为60亿美元——超过DeNA和GREE）最近收购了日本手机社交游戏开发商gloops，其成交额为365亿日元（4.69亿美元）现金。

gloops(from serkantoto)

观察者称Nexon收购该公司原因很简单，gloops极擅长开发社交游戏，它是Mobage平台最大的第三方游戏供应商，在过去几年中推出了一系列热作。

6）在本周MAU增长最迅速的Facebook游戏榜单上，Zynga新作《FarmVille 2》位列第一，新增1550万MAU，增幅达86%。

Top gainers this week–MAU(from AppData)

Kixeye的《War Commander》名列第二，新增60万MAU，增幅为10%；6waves游戏《Bubble Epic》居于第三，新增40万MAU，增幅为15%；Peak Games游戏《Lost Jewels》排名第四，新增40万MAU，增幅为15%。EA游戏《祖玛闪电战》排名第五，新增40万MAU，增幅为24%。

EA最新推出的寻物解谜游戏《Jetset Secrets》新增19万MAU，增幅为317%。（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 newest ‘Ville is sequel CityVille 2

AJ Glasser

A few months shy of its two year anniversary on Facebook, CityVille gets a sequel in beta form from embattled developer Zynga.

CityVille 2 is currently in geo-locked beta in the Philippines, which is the same region where Zynga tested FarmVille 2 several months before its launch. A brief blog post announcing the sequel declines to name a launch window for the game, but based on FarmVille 2’s timeframe and on statements made in Zynga’s latest earnings report, we anticipate a December launch assuming the geo-beta runs smoothly. As you can see from the screenshot below, it looks like CityVille — but with slicker graphics and apparently a day-and-night mechanic as this appears to be a nighttime shot.

The announcement comes just as the frenzy surrounding Zynga’s lowered 2012 outlook reaches a fevered pitch. The company’s stock opened trading today at $2.42 — down more than 75 percent from its IPO opening price of $10 a share. Two more high-profile departures hit the developer’s ranks last week. Over the weekend, our friend and former Inside Facebook lead writer Josh Constine over at TechCrunch ran an article provocatively titled, “Why Zynga Failed,” although the article stops short of actually claiming the Facebook games giant has completely flatlined. Today, we see that doom and gloom sentiment being reiterated by articles from The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and AllThingsD.

Despite the obvious turmoil at Zynga, it’s still a far cry to call the developer “failed” at this stage — particularly if it’s still launching games and making money. In the rush to

declare 2012 the year of another internet bubble burst, it seems as though many people forget that a games company is defined by its ability to release games — something Zynga has never not done regardless of what its stock was trading at. Plenty of social and mobile developers have actually failed in 2012 — as in shutting their doors, laying off their entire development staff and never releasing any new games — and yet none of them seem to register with an audience that was just so eager for the No. 1 Facebook developer to fall off its pedestal.

Incidentally, it’s a pedestal still occupied by Zynga; our AppData traffic tracking service shows that the top three apps on Facebook by monthly active user are all Zynga games — ChefVille, Texas HoldEm Poker and Zynga Slingo.

For a bit of historical context, CityVille was both the largest game and app on Facebook in terms of MAU and daily active users for a run of more than 12 months. At its peak between January and March of 2011, the game boasted more than 101 million MAU and just above 21 million DAU. It currently sits at 16.8 million MAU and 2.2 million DAU.（source：insidesocialgames）

2）Zynga loses Poker veteran Laurence ‘Lo’ Toney

By Tom Curtis

Over the past several months, many top Zynga executives have jumped ship from the major social game company, and that trend continued today, as AllThingsD reports that Zynga Poker veteran Laurence “Lo” Toney has stepped down from his position.

While working at Zynga, Toney spent two years as the general manager of Zynga Poker, one of the company’s oldest and most successful franchises. He later went on to become a general manager of mobile, where he helped guide the company’s publishing efforts on iOS and Android.

Toney also played a major role in driving the company’s push towards real-money gambling. Zynga’s been pursuing that market for quite some time, and the company hopes that online gambling games will help it recover from its ongoing financial troubles.

Toney told AllThingsD that he isn’t sure what he’ll be doing next. Regardless, his sudden departure certainly doesn’t come as a surprise given the number of top Zynga employees that have stepped down of late. Since July 25, the company has lost more than 14 other major executives, including Words With Friends creators Paul and David Bettner. （source：gamasutra）

3）2012 mergers and acquisitions run-rate 40 percent higher than 2011, investment in social/casual games drops

Mike Thompson

Investment bank Digi-Capital today published its Q3 update for its Global Games Investment Review 2012; the mergers and acquisitions transaction value of 2012 has already surpassed the total from 2011 but games investment (particularly among social/casual games) is far lower than it was last year.

This year’s transaction value is now at 105 percent for the entirety of 2011, meaning the run-rate to  Q3 2012 showed a 40 percent year-over-year gain. Six of the 10 largest transactions of this past quarter were made by Chinese, Japanese and South Korean groups.

2011 was a record year for M&A, with a total of $3.4 billion being generated from 113 different transactions (the average value of these being $30 million).  This year so far, though, $3.6 billion has been generated over 71 transactions with an average value of $51 million. The Zynga acquisition of Draw Something developer OMGPOP for a reported $180 million back in March obviously had an effect on these numbers, but this year has seen fewer and larger transactions in general.

According to Digi-Capital, the transactions have been particularly focused on MMO titles, mobile and social/casual games and middleware. Likewise, the company’s larger Chinese, Japanese and South Korean clients are focused on M&A in these areas, while European and U.S. clients “are fishing in similar waters.”

Games investment isn’t seeing the same kind of growth as M&A, however. In 2011, there were 152 transactions resulting in $2 billion, with an average value of $13 million. As of Q3 2012, there have been 130 transactions for a total of $591 million, meaning an average of $4.5 million. Compared to Q3 2011, Q3 2012′s transaction volume is up by 14 percent, but the value of said transactions is down by 60 percent. That said, Digi-Capital says that even if this trend persists, 2012 could still see the investment levels of 2010, which is the second-highest year). A particular point of interest is that in 2011 the social/casual field accounted for 57 percent of the year’s transaction values and 32 percent of transaction volume; as of Q3 2012 it’s only responsible 8 percent of transaction value and 11 percent of volume.

“Our original view that Social Games 1.0 is a consolidating sector could continue through Q4 2012, with 2011’s wave of VC social games investment appearing to be over,” says Digi-Capital.（source：insidesocialgames）

4）Encouraging players to try something new through design

By Staff

More: Console/PC, Design, Exclusive

How do you get players to try something new, instead of doing the same thing over and over again? God of War: Ascension’s lead designer Mark Simon looks at how to push gamers to experiment.

Simon believes the key to teaching players to try something new — and to quickly get novices to the level where they can play like experts — is to provide feedback somehow when they do something effective or ineffective.

“You can give them messaging when they die, he says in Gamasutra’s latest feature. “It doesn’t seem like much to do something like that, but what if it’s related to how they die? Then when they die, every time they die, that’s a learning experience.”

He adds, “You can give them clues based on things that happened while they’re playing, in terms of readability, which is huge in fighting games, for sure. Because if you get the feedback that you did something well, then you’ll continue to try to do something well.”

Simon notes that in God of War III, for example, players couldn’t tell if what they were doing was effective while fighting the first boss, because there were no reactions whenever they hit and hurt the boss.

If you don’t give players any feedback, you’ve lost an opportunity to teach players that they did something right or wrong.

Gamasutra’s newest feature, in which Simon shares more on designing combat and Kratos’ vulnerability in God of War: Ascension, is now live. （source：gamasutra）

5）For US$469 Million: Nexon Buys Tokyo-Based Social Game Maker gloops [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

What an exit today in Japan’s social gaming industry: Korean gaming powerhouse Nexon (currently listed at the Tokyo Stock Exchange with a US$6 billion market cap – more than DeNA or GREE) has acquired gloops (corporate site).

The size of the deal reaches a staggering Yen 36.5 billion (US$469 million) – in cash.

The reason why Nexon pays that kind of money is simple: Tokyo-based gloops knows how to do social games that work (in Japan, at least), and Nexon is currently in the process of trying to learn.

gloops is best known for being the largest third-party game provider on Mobage. In the past few years, gloops managed to build up an impressive catalogue of hit games, which is why DeNA partnered up with them inside Japan and abroad.

The company’s secret sauce was that it figured out that social card battle games would catch on very early on. It then executed faster and better than anyone else on Mobage in the most popular genre in Japan’s social gaming industry today, including DeNA.（source：serkantoto）

6）FarmVille 2 on top of this week’s fastest-growing Facebook games by MAU

Mike Thompson

Zynga’s FarmVille 2 took the top spot this week among the fastest-growing Facebook games by monthly active user, up 86 percent with 15.5 million MAU.

Kixeye’s War Commander came in a distant second, up by 600,000 MAU for a 10 percent gain. 6waves’ Bubble Epic took the No. 3 position with 400,000 MAU for a 15 percent increase. Peak Games’ Lost Jewels also took in 400,000 MAU for a 15 percent increase, assuming the No. 4 spot. Finally, EA’s Zuma Blitz snagged 400,000 MAU but for a 24 percent gain, allowing the game to take the No. 5 slot.

Three games this week showed traffic gains of 300 percent or greater. Diggle shot up 300 percent with 300,000 MAU. It looks like EA finally started actively marketing its new hidden object game Jetset Secrets, as the title is now up by 190,000 MAU for a 317 percent gain. Last but not least is PlaySpace’s La Oca PlaySpace, up by 140,000 MAU for a 467 percent swell.（source：insidesocialgames）