作者：James Nouch

Ninja Kiwi最近透露，《Bloons》系列的下载量已突破800万次。

毫无疑问，这是一个可观的成绩。但其中最突出的当数2010年发行的塔防游戏《Bloons TD 4》，其下载量已突破150万次。

bloons-tower-defense-4(from rapidtyping.com)

虽然其中有某些下载量来自该游戏的Lite版本，但定价2.99美元的《Bloon TD 4》问世时间却更为长久，并一直维持在App Store下载榜单的前几位。

也就说，在150万次的下载量中，有不少是付费版本的贡献。

grossing rank(from App Annie)

（图表显示了《Bloons TD 4》在美国iPhone畅销游戏榜单的表现情况，这是App Annie提供的数据）

逆反潮流

现在，该系列又以《Bloons TD 5》这一新版本再次出现在App Store。

Ninja Kiwi并未采取盛行的免费增值模式，而是坚持采用支持IAP功能的付费策略。早期迹象表明，2.99美元的定价并未对《Bloons TD 5》的榜单表现造成消极影响。

该作发行一天后，便跃居美国iPhone畅销应用榜单第3名，仅次于《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》与《Clash of Clan》。

自那以后，它跌落至第5位，此后稳定保持在这一名次。截止本文撰稿，《Bloons TD 5》位居美国App Store付费游戏榜单第2名。对于一款定价颇高的游戏，这是个不错的开端。

paid and grossing chart(from app annie)

（美国iPhone付费与畅销游戏排行榜情况，这是App Annie提供的数据）

显然，《Bloons TD 5》在畅销游戏榜单的表现情况优于前作（游戏邦注：即上面提到的下载量为150万次的《Bloons TD 4》）。

这是一种有趣现象，因为它确实与我们预计的情况完全相反。在2010年，付费游戏的成功案例可谓司空见惯，但如今，免费游戏则主导着畅销榜单。

唯一的特例是《Minecraft》与《FIFA》这些具有较大知名度的游戏。Ninja Kiwi似乎采用了和迪斯尼相同的策略，后者售价99美分的原创游戏也同样长期位居榜单之首。

Android问题

《Bloons TD 4》在iOS平台推出一年多后，它又登上了Google Play平台，与其它跨平台开发商不同的是，Digital Goldfish（游戏邦注：它已合并到Ninja Kiwi公司）并未选择针对Android平台大幅调整盈利方式。

因此，其3.15美元的价格并没有取得类似iOS平台的成绩。事实上，比起较晚发行的Android版本，问世13个月以上的iPhone版本仍然能够长期位居榜单前列。

但考虑到Android平台上付费游戏的大体情况，这款游戏在Google Play平台实现10万次下载量已经算是不俗的成绩。（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: Can Bloons TD remain buoyant with a $2.99 price tag?

by James Nouch

Speaking to PocketGamer.biz recently, Ninja Kiwi revealed that the various Bloons games have been downloaded a total of more than 8 million times.

That’s undoubtedly impressive. But what stands out is the fact that its 2010 tower-defence game Bloons TD 4 has had over 1.5 million downloads.

While some of these downloads will undoubtedly have been generated by the Lite version of the game, the $2.99 version of Bloons TD 4 has been available for longer and consistently ranked higher in the App Store’s download charts.

In other words, plenty of those 1.5 million downloads were paid for.

Against the grain

Now, Bloons TD is back, appearing on the App Store once again in the form of Bloons TD 5.

Rather than adopting the freemium model that’s prevalent, Ninja Kiwi is sticking with a premium pricing strategy backed by in-app purchases. The early signs are that the $2.99 price point hasn’t hurt Bloons TD 5′s performance one bit.

A day after launch, the game shot into the #3 position on the US iPhone top grossing charts, where it was second only to Angry Birds Star Wars and Clash of Clans.

Since then, it’s dropped into fifth place and seems to be holding steady. At the time of writing, Bloons 5 TD was also at #2 on the App Store’s US top paid games chart. That’s a promising start for a game that’s undeniably expensive by App Store standards.

And, remarkably, Bloons TD 5 has already peaked higher in the grossing charts than its predecessor, the aforementioned 1.5 million-download-generating Bloons TD 4.

This is interesting because it’s exactly the opposite of what you’d expect to see. In 2010, premium success stories were commonplace, but today, freemium titles utterly dominate the top grossing chart.

The only exceptions tend to be titles with huge name-recognition – the likes of Minecraft and FIFA. It would seem that Ninja Kiwi has access to the same secret sauce that allows Disney to still top the charts with original-IP games priced at 99c.

The Android question

More than a year after its launch on iOS, Bloons TD 4 launched on Google Play, and unlike many other multi-platform developers, Digital Goldfish (now a part of Ninja Kiwi following their merger) chose not to significantly adapt its monetisation mechanics for Android.

As such, the $3.15 game failed to generated near the same level of success as it had seen on iOS. In fact, the iPhone version was typically ranked higher in the grossing charts than its newer released Android equivalent, even 13 months after its launch peak.

But considering the general problems with paid games on Android, 100,000 sales on Google Play are certainly nothing to be sniffed it.

It’s something also reflected in the game’s success on the rather more easy to monetise Amazon’s Appstore for Android and Barnes & Noble’s Android devices. (source:pocketgamer)