作者：James Nouch

11月末，英国独立开发商Hogrocket正式宣布倒闭——离他们从Bizarre Creations走出来过了20个月。

Hogrocket由三名Bizarre的老员工所组成，他们在动视关闭Bizarre后决定成立属于自己的工作室，于是Hogrocket便诞生了。

尽管该工作室拥有宏伟的计划和优越的“血统”，但也难逃在倒闭前只发行一款游戏的下场——Hogrocket也并非唯一赞成向手机平台转变的主机开发团队。

该公司的倒闭不免让人们好奇，在向手机游戏开发领域转变中到底该使用怎样的主机开发技能？早前的技能是否能够在新市场中发挥功效？

《小小入侵者》

首先，让我们着眼于Hogrocket的首款，也是唯一一款游戏《小小入侵者》。

这款游戏发行于2011年9月，而该开发者与早前工作室的关系更是在发行时为其做了大量的宣传，从而引起了巨大的关注。

但是这种关注却不能转变成巨大的利益。

可能是定价的原因。游戏发行时的定价为3.99美元，后来降为0.99美元，随后又提高到1.99美元，而这些改变甚至只是发生在短短的2周之内。从而导致消费者开始对《小小入侵者》的价值定位感到困惑。

发行时，《小小入侵者》迅速攀上美国最高付费游戏排行榜的94位，但随后也迅速掉出了前1000名排行。

发行几周后，游戏开始实行限时免费销售。并因此推动游戏攀上第47名的最好成绩，不过这次之后，它也永久地脱离了前1000名榜单。

在英国，《小小入侵者》的命运虽然稍微好点，但在下载排行榜上的名次却始终没有起色。

不管从哪方面来看，《小小入侵者》在畅销排行榜单上的表现都很糟糕。

（2011年9月和10月《小小入侵者》在英国App Store最畅销应用排行榜单的表现。在此之后它便未再进入这些榜单。）

发行后，游戏的排行位次迅速开始滑落，而在发行20天内，它甚至掉离了美国和英国前1000名畅销游戏榜单。

Rodeo的尝试

尽管具有优越的“血统”，Hogrocket并不能维持有效的手机游戏开发业务。

近年来，英国的手机游戏市场迅速发展起来。例如，总部位于吉尔福德（游戏邦注：英国东南部萨里郡的郡府）的Rodeo Games便宣布“放弃开发AAA级游戏而转向手机游戏开发领域。”

最终他们便创造了一款史诗般的回合制RPG。有趣的是，当2011年2月发行时，《猎人：第一章》是免费的，并完全依赖于应用内部购买。

但是在2012年6月，Rodeo Games将游戏定价重新设定为1.99美元，并一直使用这种“免费”模式至今。

从游戏在畅销排行榜单上的表现我们可以看出这种方法是有效的。

尽管游戏在美国畅销排行榜单上的最好成绩仅为108名，但是与《小小入侵者》不同的是，它的滑落速度较为缓慢，最终在发行3个月后才掉出前1000名畅销游戏排行榜。

2012年3月，Rodeo Games以4.99美元的定价推出了《猎人2》，并设置了一系列应用内部购买机制。虽然游戏的最高排名比前一款稍显出色，但是其滑落速度也比之前的游戏更加迅速。

限时免费机制

总部位于伦敦的独立开发商Hutch（由5名前主机开发者所组成——他们分别参与了包括《神鬼寓言》，《火爆狂飙》以及《逃亡之路》等游戏的开发）便取得了很大的成功。

2012年1月，该团队发行了《亡命威龙》——售价2.99美元且带有应用内部购买选择的赛车游戏。在美国，游戏一经发行便取得了畅销游戏排行榜第4名的好成绩。

（《亡命威龙》在美国App Store畅销游戏排行榜单上的表现。）

从中我们可以发现，游戏在榜单上的排名从发行后便开始出现下滑。

但是Hucth Games能够使用一些巧妙的减价策略去缓解这种下滑。例如当游戏掉至第649名时，Hutch便开始实行限时免费策略。

如此便再次推动了下载量的提升，并刺激玩家在游戏中的消费，最终将游戏的排名提升到第95名（畅销游戏排行榜）。

Boss Alien的优势

当然了，还有一家从废墟中破茧而出的手机游戏工作室，即英国的赛车游戏开发商Boss Alien。

因为成员是来自迪士尼的Black Rock Studio，所以Boss Alien所面临的境况与Hogrocket非常相似。而不同的是，后者遭遇了失败，Boss Alien取得了巨大的成功。

《CSR赛车》在发行的第一个月便为该公司赚取了1200万的收益，并在之后继续吸金。

自从2012年6月发行以来，《CSR赛车》便未曾掉离美国畅销游戏榜单前25名的位置，而在英国排行榜单的表现甚至更加出色。

（《CSR赛车》在美国App Store畅销游戏排行榜单上的出色表现。）

所以Boss Alien到底拥有哪些优势？

盈利方法应该是最关键的因素。《小小入侵者》的定价很容易让玩家感到困惑，并且只能作为一款免费游戏去推动下载量的提升。而只有《CSR赛车》复杂的免费模式才能真正推动游戏的成功。

结束语

显然，主机游戏开发商应该想办法去提升游戏盈利。手机和主机是两个完全不同的领域，但是不管怎样，优秀的游戏设计才是最重要的因素。

主机游戏开发者一般都不需要牵扯到游戏盈利，但是手机游戏则要求开发者将盈利与游戏设计相结合。

而关于主机向手机的转化的另一个有趣元素则是这些主机拥护者是如何表现自己的。

有些开发者认为，一些“资深人士”在进入手机领域时都坚信，主机游戏开发经验定能够帮助自己在手机游戏大显身手。

但是有关这一说法是否合理还存在争议。可以说，到目前为止Boss Alien是该类型游戏中最成功的开发工作室，其开发者便是根据当前手机领域的某些成功案例而不断修改自己的方法。

相比摒弃原有的手机游戏，Boss Alien选择去完善早前一些不甚理想的游戏，并从中赚取巨大的利益。

（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: Do console developers have the edge on mobile?

by James Nouch

Back at the end of November, UK indie Hogrocket revealed it had closed its doors, some 20 months after rising from the ashes of Bizarre Creations.

The studio comprised three Bizarre veterans who’d been left high and dry after the developer was shuttered by Activision. The trio came together to form a micro-studio, and Hogrocket was born.

But although the outfit had grand plans and excellent pedigree, it only managed to release one game before shutting up shop – and Hogrocket is by no means the only team of console pros that’s struggled with the transition to mobile.

The firm’s closure raises the question of just how transferable console development skills are when it comes to the mobile scene. Can old-hands find success in new markets?

In our latest weekly round up, we turned to the app charts for some answers.

The invasion

First of all, let’s take a closer look at Hogrocket’s first and only release, Tiny Invaders.

Launched in September 2011, the game received widespread press attention thanks to its developers’ association with a dearly departed studio, and a certain amount of hype surrounded the game’s launch.

However, this didn’t translate into big bucks for the studio.

Perhaps it was the price. The game launched with a $3.99 price-tag, which was lowered to 99c and then raised to $1.99, all within two weeks of release. This arguably made Tiny Invaders a confusing value proposition for consumers.

Tiny Invaders

Whatever the reason, Tiny Invaders climbed to #94 in the US top paid games chart at launch, before quickly dropping out of the top 1,000.

A few weeks later, Tiny Invaders went free for a limited time. This saw the game peak at #47 in the rankings, before dropping out of the top 1,000 for good.

In the UK, Tiny Invaders fared a little better, but still failed to chart highly in the download rankings.

And whichever side of the pond you’re looking from, Tiny Invaders’ grossing charts performance is poor.

Tiny Invaders’ performance on the UK App Store’s top grossing charts between September and October 2011. It did not re-enter these charts. Analytics data courtesy of App Annie.

Immediately after launch, the game slides down the charts, and within 20 days of its release, Tiny Invaders has fallen out of the top 1,000 grossing charts in the US and UK.

First time at the rodeo

So despite its hallowed lineage, Hogrocket couldn’t make a sustainable business of its mobile development.

But the UK has been fertile ground for mobile start ups in recent years. Guildford-based Rodeo Games, for instance, bills itself as a group of veteran developers that “gave up their jobs developing triple A games to bring something new to mobile gaming.”

The new thing in question turned out to be Hunters, an episodic turn-based RPG. Interestingly, Hunters: Episode One was free when it launched back in February 2011, and supported entirely by in-app purchases.

But in June 2012, Rodeo Games upped the game’s price to $1.99, and has been using this ‘feemium’ model ever since.

Hunters: Episode One

A look at the game’s performance on the grossing charts shows moderate success.

The game peaked at #108 in the US grossing games chart, and unlike Tiny Invaders, it shows some staying power, taking three months to fall out of the top 1000 grossing games rankings.

Hunters 2 launched in March 2012, priced at $4.99 and armed with an array of IAPs. The game peaked higher than its predecessor – reaching #78 in the US top grossing games chart – but slipped out of the top 1,000 slightly quicker.

Crash, bang, wallop

London-based indie developer Hutch – comprised of five former-console developers whose combined credits include Fable, Burnout and The Getaway – can also claim much success.

In January 2012, this team released Smash Cops – a driving game with a $2.99 price tag and in-app purchasing options. In the US, the game shot straight into #4 in the top grossing games chart.

Smash Cops’ performance on the US App Store’s top grossing charts.

Predictably, the game’s grossing chart performance began to slip after launch.

However, Hutch Games was able to manage this descent with some canny price cuts. For instance, once the game had dropped to #649 in the grossing charts, Hutch made Smash Cops free for a limited time.

Smash Cops

A spike in downloads followed, and these players soon began spending in game, bringing the game back up to #95 in the top grossing charts.

Just one more…

Of course, there is another mobile studio that emerged from the rubble of a well-regarded British racing-game developer – Boss Alien.

Formed by former-staff of Disney’s Black Rock Studio, Boss Alien is a developer with superficial similarities to Hogrocket. But where some would say the latter has failed, Boss Alien has seen overwhelming success.

CSR Racing famously generated $12 million in revenue during its first month of availability, and the game has continued to draw in significant amounts ever since.

In fact, CSR hasn’t left the US top 25 grossing games chart since launching in June 2012, and in the UK, the game’s chart performance has been even stronger.

CSR Racing’s impressive performance on the US App Store’s top grossing charts.

So what did Boss Alien get right that these other companies haven’t quite captured?

It seems that monetisation methods could well be key. Tiny Invaders was confusingly priced, and only able to drive significant downloads as a free title. Unfortunately, without IAPs, these downloads didn’t help Hogrocket much.

Hunters and Smash Cops both include IAPs, which meant their developers benefited from free downloads. However, it was CSR Racing’s sophisticated freemium model that delivered the most resounding success.

The takeaway

It stands to reason that console developers might struggle with monetisation. It’s a very different beast on mobile and console, after all, while good game design tends to be more universal.

And whereas console developers are typically divorced from the monetisation of their games, mobile titles typically require monetisation and game design to be developed hand-in-hand.

CSR Racing

But another interesting aspect of the console-mobile transition is how these console pros present themselves.

Some devs have argued that some ‘veterans’ have entered the mobile space armed with conviction that their experience developing console games would help them reinvent the rural backwater that is mobile gaming.

Whether this is a fair argument or not is entirely up for debate. So far, however, Boss Alien is perhaps the most successful studio of its type, and it’s a developer that modified its approach to suit the successes already seen in the mobile field.

Rather than dismissing existing mobile games, Boss Alien looked to improve upon what had gone before, and has made an awful lot of money as a result.(source:pocketgamer)