作者：Jon Jordan

尽管苹果在手机游戏产业中的重要性正相对衰减，但是它仍是产业中最赚钱的公司。

这也是为什么我们值得花时间去分析2012年App Store中表现最出色的游戏趋势的主要原因。

5大市场

着眼于5大西方市场（即美国，英国，加拿大，法国和德国），我们可以很清楚地看出哪些游戏最赚钱。

例如Kabam的《亚瑟王国：北方之战》便是美国最畅销的iPhone游戏。

Kingdom of Camelot Battle for the North（from mobilism）

从总体来看，这款游戏出现在7个十大畅销游戏排行榜单中（我们研究了这5个国家中前5大畅销的iPhone和iPad游戏）。

艺电的《辛普森一家》也出现在7个五大畅销游戏榜单中；而Supercell的《Clash of Clans》，Backflip的《龙之谷》（美国最畅销的iPad游戏）以及Playtika的《疯狂老虎机》均占据着5个五大畅销游戏榜单。

新生力量

如果这些游戏均位于这5大市场的前5大畅销游戏排行榜中，我们便会发现新IP所面对的机遇之门被重重地闭上了（游戏邦注：基于全球性的成功来看）。

2012年，在使用原创IP的游戏中，只有3款取得了成功。

最明显的便是来自芬兰开发商Supercell的《Clash of Clans》和《Hay Day》，但我们也不能忘记Supercell所拥有的资深团队和强大的VC支持。

除了这些游戏，Cygames的《Rage of Bahamut》（位列美国最畅销iPhone游戏的前五名）也是2012年少数取得成功的初创游戏，它拥有来自DeNA强大的市场营销和推广力量的支持。

前几年的游戏

反倒是前几年出现了不少优秀的初创游戏。

例如Backflip于2011年推出的《龙之谷》便取得了很好的成绩，甚至于2012年继续延续着这股热潮；德国开发商Xyrality也通过挖掘当地用户，于2011年发行了中世纪策略MMO《君主与骑士》，并登上了德国iPhone和iPad畅销游戏榜单。

还有其它畅销游戏：

《Kingdom of Camelot》——基于现有的网页游戏发展起来，拥有上百万的玩家基础

《辛普森一家》——电视节目授权游戏

《疯狂老虎机》——发行于2011年的博彩游戏

《Poker by Zynga》——发行于2010年的博彩游戏

《冰河世纪》——电影授权游戏

《模拟人生：自由行动》——发行于2011年的授权游戏

《蓝精灵村庄》——发行于2011年的书籍/电视/电影授权游戏

付费游戏排行

当着眼于这5个国家的最高付费游戏榜单中，我们会发现排行格局更加固定。

例如在前50名的排行榜中，Rovio各种版本的《愤怒的小鸟》便占据了21个位置，剩下的便是其它巨头公司的作品。例如迪士尼的《小鳄鱼爱洗澡》也占了8个名额，Zynga/OMGPOP的《Draw Something》也有6个。

更让我们惊讶的是，2011，2010，甚至是2009年的游戏在付费榜单上仍然有着出色的表现，如Halfbrick的《水果忍者》，Lima Sky的《涂鸦跳跃》以及艺电的《俄罗斯方块》。

也有其它品牌游戏在此突显着自己的长寿，如艺电的《Scrabble》，《FIFA》和《真实赛车》以及Gameloft的《Asphalt》。

然而，前五大付费游戏榜单中却没有一款游戏进入前五大畅销游戏榜单中，这便表明了免费模式的重要性。

拐点

但是考虑到我们所要求的高级别的成功，以及这些游戏也许本来能在2012年创造出上千万美元的利益，我想我们应该是忽视了iOS市场中的一些微妙元素。

数字发行的承诺总是关于一时的热门度，而非长远的发展——这不足以帮助开发商获得更多利益，去支撑着今后的发展。

所以极其讽刺的是，尽管iOS平台上持续涌现出更多畅销游戏，但是开发商们能够获得的市场份额却在日趋减少。

（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）

Opinion: Licences on the rise on iOS while original IP opportunities are shrinking fast

by Jon Jordan

Apple’s significance in the mobile games industry maybe in comparative decline, but it’s still the majority of most company’s revenues.

That’s why it’s worth taking the time to consider trends from the announcements of the games that performed best on the App Store in 2012.

Big Five

Looking at five of the biggest western markets (US, UK, Canada, France and Germany), it’s clear which titles made the most money.

Kabam’s Kingdom of Camelot: Battle for the North was the top grossing game in the US on iPhone, for example.

And in total, it featured in seven out of a possible ten top grossing charts (we researched the top five top grossing games in the five countries for iPhone and iPad).

EA’s The Simpsons: Tapped Out also featured in seven top grossing top fives, while Supercell’s Clash of Clans, Backflip’s DragonVale (the top grossing game on iPad in the US) and Playtika’s Slotomania featured in five.

New sensations

If we consider all the games which appear in these top five top grossing charts in these five countries, we can see how quickly the doors of opportunity for new IP is shutting – in terms of having global success.

Only three games that used original IP and were released in 2012 feature.

Clash of Clans and Hay Day from Finnish developer Supercell are the headliners in terms of breakout success during the year, but let’s not forget that Supercell was set up by a very experienced team and was very well funded by VC money.

The only other original game released in 2012 to find such success was Cygames’ Rage of Bahamut (top 5 in US iPhone top grossing chart) and it had the marketing and distribution power of DeNA behind it.

Last year’s love

There is some hope in terms of original content from previous years, though.

Backflip’s DragonVale was released in 2011, but continued to perform strongly in 2012, while German developer Xyrality has made the most of the local audience, with its 2011 release Lords & Knights – Medieval Strategy MMO appearing in the top grossing charts for iPhone and iPad in Germany.

Looking at the other top grossing games, however, the patterns are clear to see.

Kingdom of Camelot – based on an existing web game with millions of players

The Simpsons: Tapped Out – TV licence

Slotomania – casino game, released in 2011

Poker by Zynga – casino game, released in 2010

Ice Age Village – film licence

The Sims: FreePlay – game licence, released in 2011

Smurfs’ Village – book/TV/film licence, released in 2011

Slowly setting

Things are even more locked down when you look at the titles featuring in the top paid charts in these five countries.

Of a possible 50 positions, Rovio takes 21 with various Angry Birds releases, with other publishing giants feature strongly. Disney has eight positions with Where’s My Water?, while Zynga/OMGPOP’s Draw Something has six.

More surprisingly, games from 2011, 2010 and even 2009 are still doing well on the paid charts, with Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja and Lima Sky’s Doodle Jump (in Germany) and EA’s Tetris (in France) featuring.

Other strong brands demonstrating their longevity include EA’s Scrabble, FIFA and Real Racing and Gameloft’s Asphalt.

Nevertheless, not one of the games in the top five top paid charts also appear in the top five of the top grossing charts, demonstrating how important free-to-play is as a business model.

Inflexion point

Of course, given the high level of success we’re considering – some these titles will have generated tens of millions of dollars during 2012 – various subtleties of the iOS market will have been overlooked.

Yet, the promise of digital publishing has always been focused around the big hit, not the long tail, which for too many developers has proven not to wag strongly enough to produce meaningful revenues, no matter how long it is.

So the irony is that while the big hits continue to get ever bigger on iOS, the opportunity for the vast majority of developers to gain a share is shrinking fast.(source:pocketgamer)