作者：James Nouch

毫不夸张地说，自《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》于11月8日发行以来，它已取得突破性的成功。

这款游戏的iOS版本与高清版分别定价为99美分与2.99美元，它们一经推出，便跃居美国App Store付费应用榜单之首。

angry birds_star wars(from eonline.com)

另外，这两个版本同时荣登App Store畅销应用榜单首位，而且自发行后，其iPhone与iPad版本一直占据榜单首位。

事实上，《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》iPhone版已经攻克了42个国家/地区的畅销应用榜单，其中包括美国、英国、加拿大和德国。其iPad版本也在64个国家取得了同样的佳绩。

angry-birds-star-wars-grossin charts(from pocketgamer)

（《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》在世界各地应用排行榜的表现情况，这是App Annie公司提供的分析数据）

强大力量

一直以来，虽然Android平台的情况错综复杂，但目前，《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》同样位居Google Play免费应用的榜单之首。

现在，其高清版本在该平台的付费应用榜单居于第3位。

目前，在Windows Phone 8平台上，《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》以79便士的零售价居于英国付费应用榜单第13位，以99美分的价格位居美国付费应用榜单第10名。

同时，该作的Windows 8版本已经发行，但目前尚无法获得榜单排名情况。

《愤怒的小鸟》似乎已成为各个平台的无敌霸主。真正的问题是，同它相比，其它《星球大战》系列游戏的表现又是如何呢？

失败案例

总体上看，先前那些费力利用LucasArts这一品牌而发行的移动游戏，其结果与Rovio大相径庭。

发行商THQ在2010年11月发行了一款强调现实感的实景游戏《Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner》。该游戏在发行初期，以4.99美元价格登上了iOS付费游戏榜单第24位，一天后，其名次上升至11位，随后，这款游戏逐渐淡出排行榜。

同样，该作在畅销游戏榜单上的表现亦是如此。它在发行初期取得了第3位的优异成绩，但这一成绩并未持续多久。

最近，LucasArts又推出了《星球大战机器人》——这是一款以《星战前传:魅影危机》原型创作的基于机器人角色的益智类游戏。

该游戏发行不久，它便以1.99美元的价格登上付费游戏榜单第69位。随后，它以迅雷不及掩耳之势淡出了玩家的视线。

发行6周后，该游戏已跌出付费游戏榜单前1000位。

它在畅销游戏榜单的表现更为糟糕。发行后不久，它居于榜单第180位，一个月后，它已跌出畅销游戏榜单前1000位，再无回天之力。

pit-droids-top-grossing(from pocketgamer)

（《星球大战机器人》在畅销游戏榜单的表现情况，这是App Annie公司提供的分析数据。）

未来趋势

以上均是《星球大战》授权游戏在移动平台的过去历程，而它的未来前景又会如何？首先，值得注意的是，《星球大战》又有了一个新靠山。

2012年10月，迪斯尼以40.5亿美元的价格收购了卢卡斯电影公司，并向全世界宣称，将于2015年发布《星球大战》系列的新电影。

但收购事件是否会影响《星球大战》的授权项目呢？迪斯尼首席执行官Bob Iger解释称公司将“关注社交/手机平台甚于主机平台”。

Iger透露，迪斯尼可能会“适时”授权支持其它公司开发针对主机平台的《星球大战》作品，但他认为移动平台更加适合《星球大战》的发展。

这个说法确有几分道理。毕竟，某些游戏已经证明了迪斯尼在移动领域取得的巨大成功，比如《小鳄鱼爱洗澡》。

然而，迪斯尼并不仅仅会制作成功的游戏——它还擅长利用绑定营销手段一边获利，一边推广电影。

如果迪斯尼能在几年内将《星球大战》电影版本推广到大屏幕上，届时这种绑定手段还将继续发挥重大作用。（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）

The Charticle: Is the Star Wars licence a force to be reckoned with?

by James Nouch

It’s no exaggeration to say that, since launching on 8 November, Angry Birds Star Wars has been really quite successful.

On iOS, the 99c Angry Birds Star Wars and $2.99 Angry Birds Star Wars HD have both shot straight to the top of the US App Store’s paid app rankings.

More impressively, the duo also topped the App Store’s grossing charts too, and since launch, neither the iPhone nor iPad version of Angry Birds Star Wars has left the #1 spot in either chart.

Indeed, the iPhone version of Angry Birds Star Wars has conquered the top grossing app charts in a total of 42 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Germany. The iPad version has performed the same feat in 64 countries worldwide.

The force is strong with this one

As ever, it’s a more complicated picture on Android, but Angry Birds Star Wars (which is available for free from Google Play) is currently #1 in Android’s free app charts.

The $2.99 Android version of Angry Birds Star Wars HD is currently at #3 in the platform’s paid app charts.

On Windows Phone 8, the game – which retails for 79p in Britain – is currently sat in 13th spot in the UK’s top paid chart, while in the US the 99c release is in 10th position.

Angry Birds Star Wars also launched on Windows 8, though charts are currently unavailable.

Regardless, it seems safe to say that Rovio’s latest is more than holding its own – though that’s unlikely to surprise.

Angry Birds is a proven star performer. The real question, however, is how its performance compares to other releases in the Star Wars series.

Don’t fail me again, Admiral

The suggestion is, previous efforts to utilise LucasArts’ brand on mobile haven’t achieved anything like the level of success Rovio’s currently enjoying.

THQ’s novel augmented reality game Star Wars Arcade: Falcon Gunner launched in November 2010. Upon release, the $4.99 iOS title entered the paid games chart at #24, peaked at #11 a day later, and then began a slow slide out of the charts.

It’s a similar story in the grossing games chart. Falcon Gunner peaked at a very respectable #3, but this success didn’t last.

2010 was a long time ago, though, and two years feels far far away. More recently, LucasArts itself published a take on the brand in the form of Star Wars Pit Droids – a puzzler based around the robotic characters featured in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

In the days following its release, the $1.99 game climbed to #69 in the top paid games chart. Then, it fell through the rankings faster than a pod racer piloted by a prepubescent Jedi.

Within six weeks of release, the game was no longer listed in the top 1000 paid games chart.

Its performance in the grossing games chart was even worse. The game peaked at #180 a few days after release, and tumbled out of the top 1000 grossing games chart altogether less than one month after launch, never to return.

You’re my only hope

That’s the franchise’s mobile gaming past dealt with, but what of its future? Well, first of all, it’s worth noting that the Star Wars franchise has a new custodian.

Disney acquired Lucasfilm and its properties for $4.05 billion in October 2012, and generated headline news worldwide with the announcement that a new instalment in the Star Wars series would hit cinema screens in 2015.

But how will this acquisition affect Star Wars’ gaming exploits? During an investor call, Disney CEO Bob Iger explained that the company is “likely to focus more on social and mobile than we are on console.”

Iger mentioned that Disney would “opportunistically” make use of licensing deals to allow other companies to create Star Wars games for consoles, but clearly he sees mobile as the natural home of in-house Star Wars games.

That makes perfect sense. After all, Disney’s seen tremendous success in the mobile gaming space with titles such as Where’s My Water.

But the ‘House of Mouse’ hasn’t just built successful games – it’s also proven adept at using tie-in mobile games to simultaneously earn money and promote its movie properties, as we examined in last week’s Charticle.

And that’s a skillset that’s bound to come in handy once Disney brings its own version of Star Wars to cinema screens in a few years’ time.(source:pocketgamer)