1）Inside Network Research最新报告指出，约有半数Facebook游戏玩家每天都会玩游戏（游戏邦注：其调查样本是1418名位于美国的Facebook用户，调查时间是今年8月至9月）。

其中有31%玩家每天会玩几次游戏，有18%每天至少玩一次游戏。这些活跃度极高的玩家似乎更喜欢玩有好友参与的回合制游戏（例如《Words With Friends》）或竞争型游戏（例如《War Commander》）。

words_with_friends(from edge-online.com)

除此之外，报告还指出支持连续跨平台体验的小众游戏（例如《Candy Crush Saga》）用户留存率高于仅限运行于Facebook平台的大众游戏。

2）据pocketgamer报道，Namco Bandai日前宣布其日本社交游戏用户已达3000万，自1月份以来增长3倍左右。

one piece(from pocketgamer)

该公司基于动漫IP《海贼王》的社交游戏《Piece Grand Collection》在Mobage平台用户已超过400万。另外两款基于《机动战士高达》的社交游戏《Gundam Card Collection》、《Gundam Master》玩家总数达400万，《The Idolmaster – Cinderella Girls》玩家数量为250万。

3）据Games.com报道，PopCap日最近正开发新款寻物解谜游戏《Hidden Agenda》，但并未公布这个项目的详情。

Hidden Agenda(from games)

从截图来看，这是一款以动物拟人的游戏，其logo和用户界面带有埃及风情，预计将于2013年第一季度上线。

4）据gamasutra报道，游戏玩家社区Raptr日前公布了2012年最具人气的游戏名单（游戏邦注：其评选标准是每名玩家平均游戏时长，每次游戏平均时长，以及总体游戏时长）：

边境之地2(from gamingogre.com)

*最具人气新游戏：《边境之地2》(Gearbox/2K Games)

*最具人气游戏：《使命召唤：现代战争3》(Treyarch/Activision)

*因用户创造内容而获得人气提升的游戏：《传送门2》(Valve)

*最受期待的人气游戏续集：《边境之地2》(Gearbox/2K Games)

*最能让玩家不间断持续体验的游戏：《边境之地2》(Gearbox/2K Games)

*最具人气的XBLA游戏：《Minecraft》 (4J Studios/Mojang)

*最具人气的新IP：《Dragon’s Dogma》 (Capcom)

*最成功的付费转免费模式游戏：《星球大战：旧共和国》 (BioWare/EA)

5）据gamasutra报道，Valve日前收购了一家位于旧金山的初创公司Star Filled Studios，计划在该地区成立一个新的分公司。

Valve-San_Francisco(from edge-online.com)

这家公司由Tod Semple和Jeff Gates于今年9月成立，Semple曾在参与开发PopCap的《植物大战僵尸》，以及LucasArts的《星球大战：原力释放》以及暴雪北方的《暗黑破坏神3》，而Gates则曾经效力于Maxis，并参与开发《孢子》，并同Semple共同开发《暗黑破坏神3》以及《植物大战僵尸》。

这是继2008年收购《求生之路》工作室Turtle Rock之后，Valve第二次收购的游戏公司。（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）Inside Network Research finds nearly half of Facebook games players are daily users — and so are their friends

AJ Glasser

Inside Network Research, Social Games  Inside Network Research’s newest report, Facebook Games: Increasing Consumer Engagement, finds that almost half of Facebook’s games-playing audience are daily active users.

The study, on sale now, surveyed 1,418 adult Facebook users in the United States between August and September on their games habits. Of those, 31 percent played games several times per day while 18 percent played at least once per day. This highly engaged audience seems to be enjoying the games that bring their friends into the experience either in turn-based games (e.g. Words With Friends) or competitive games (e.g. War Commander).

Not surprisingly, Inside Network Research also found that niche games and those with coherent cross-platform experiences like Candy Crush Saga increased retention better than Facebook-only games aimed at a broader audience. At our Inside Social Apps conference in New York earlier this month, we heard developers on the monetization panel say that their philosophy toward game design has increasingly become a quality discussion, with platform coming at a much later point in a game’s development cycle.（source：insidesocialgames）

2）Double play: Namco Bandai’s GREE and DeNA partnerships pay off as social base in Japan triples to 30 million

by Keith Andrew

Namco Bandai has announced a total of 30 million users now play its social games across Japan, with the firm’s hand in the social scene having accelerated since the start of 2012.

The figures – released in Japanese – suggest Namco Bandai’s total social userbase in the region has tripled since January, when it boasted a total of 10 million users across its titles.

Partner power

No doubt, the company will take the news as the perfect validation of its strategy to partner up with two of the biggest players – and, indeed, fiercest rivals – in the region, DeNA and GREE.

Back in the summer of 2011, Namco Bandai established a joint publishing venture with DeNA based in Tokyo called BDNA.

The two parties had previously worked together on the jointly developed Gundam Royale, which amassed 4 million players on DeNA’s Mobage platform as of August.

Less than a year later, however, Namco Bandai partnered with GREE to develop five games based on the publisher’s IP for release in Japan in 2012.

Millions and millions

Namco Bandai is one of the few major publishers to have a finger in both pies, with most tending to side with either DeNA or GREE in Japan or internationally.

According to information translated by Tokyo-based social gaming consultant Dr. Serkan Toto, the publisher has reported that flagship release One Piece Grand Collection boasts more than 4 million users on Mobage.

Two other Gundam games – Gundam Card Collection and Gundam Master – have amassed a collective total of 4 million players, while The Idolmaster – Cinderella Girls boasts 2.5 million players.（source：pocketgamer）

3）First Look: PopCap’s new hidden object social game, Hidden Agenda

by Joe Osborne

Don’t worry, PopCap is toiling away on more than just the sequel to Plants Vs Zombies. (In fact, rumor has it that it’s working on a 3D console game, too.) The EA-owned creator of Bejeweled is finally ready to show what else it’s working on: Hidden Agenda. A brand new intellectual property, Hidden Agenda is a hidden object game headed for Facebook in early (i.e. Q1) 2013.

PopCap has provided us with the first ever screen shots of Hidden Agenda in action, and we’re told that the studio will begin recruiting beta testers in Canada and Australia to iron out the kinks. Based on these incredibly early screen shots, Hidden Agenda looks to be heavily focused on its characters (no surprise) and plot development (actually a surprise).

Like most, if not all, PopCap games, Hidden Agenda features a cast of anthropomorphic animals, like Penny Paige, a cheetah that just so happens to be a reporter. However, this game has a decidedly different art style from the rest of the studio’s stable of IP. The characters are more human-like than ever and perhaps more mature, which for the hidden object crowd is fitting.

As for the theme of this hidden object game, that’s more difficult to tell. The iconography in its logo and user interface seems to point toward Egyptian, but no such scenes have been shown yet. PopCap is no stranger to hidden object games, so we’ll see whether it can take it to Zynga and Playdom with Hidden Agenda in Q1 2013. And hopefully by then we learn a bit more.（source：games）

4）RAPTR REVEALS SECOND ANNUAL MOST PLAYED GAMES OF 2012 AWARDS

[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]

Raptr Selects Most Popular Games of 2012 Based on Gameplay Data;

2K Games’ Borderlands 2 Sweeps Awards for “Most Played New Game,” “Most Played Long-Awaited Sequel and “No Bathroom Break” Categories

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Dec. 13, 2012  – Raptr, the leading community for gamers, unveiled the results of the second annual Most Played Games Awards. The awards reveal exactly how gamers are spending their time with the biggest releases of 2012 based on gamer behavior and activities, including average individual playtime, average session length, and total playtime share.

The recipients of Raptr’s Most Played Awards of 2012 are as follows:

·         Most Played New Game – Borderlands 2 (Gearbox/2K Games)

·         Most Played Game (Released Anytime) – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Treyarch/Activision)

·         Biggest Boost from User-Generated Content – Portal 2 (Valve)

·         Most Played Long-Awaited Sequel – Borderlands 2 (Gearbox/2K Games)

·         No Bathroom Break – Borderlands 2 (Gearbox/2K Games)

·         Most Played XBLA Game – Minecraft (4J Studios/Mojang)

·         Most Played New IP – Dragon’s Dogma (Capcom)

·         Most Successful Paid to Free-to-Play Game – Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare/EA)

Highlights from the report include:

·         In 2012, gamers spent the most time with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, beating out League of Legends, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, and World of Warcraft, all games that were released before the calendar year and have managed to sustain high levels of community engagement.

·         Borderlands 2 saw 200% more total playtime than its closest competitor, Diablo III, in its first month of release.

·         Portal 2 saw a 446% increase in daily playtime after releasing mod tools that allowed users to create their own levels.

·         Star Wars: The Old Republic experienced a 136% increase in total playtime per day after switching from a subscription business model to free-to-play.

·         Dragon’s Dogma won the category for most played new IP, edging out Dishonored and TERA.

“This year’s results point out notable gameplay trends, particularly how gamers are spending time playing their favorite games,” said Dennis Fong, CEO of Raptr. “We’re seeing more time invested in games that constantly introduce new content and other community engagement activities, from console titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Portal 2 to MOBAs like League of Legends.”（source：gamasutra）

5）New Valve studio headed up by former PopCap devs

By Mike Rose

Valve has acquired a San Francisco-based start-up founded by former PopCap staffers, and plans to set up a new subsidiary in the area.

Star Filled Studios was founded in September this year by Tod Semple and Jeff Gates. Semple was previously a developer on Plants vs. Zombies at PopCap, and has also worked at LucasArts on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and on Diablo III with Blizzard North.

Meanwhile, Gates previously worked on Spore at Maxis, and also developed Diablo III and Plants vs. Zombies alongside Semple.

In a statement to Edge, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell confirmed, “The guys who did PvZ, down in the Bay Area, we’re helping them set up a Valve subsidiary there.”

Newell didn’t give any hints regarding what the studio will be tasked with over the coming months. Gamasutra has contacted Semple for confirmation.

This is Valve’s second acquisition, the first being Left 4 Dead studio Turtle Rock in 2008 — although Turtle Rock was slowly broken down afterwards, and eventually revealed that it is working on its own new IP. （source：gamasutra）