作者：James Nouch

上个月，苹果正式公布Kabam的《卡米洛特王国:北方之战》为2012年美国App Store上最畅销的iPhone游戏。

这是如此让人羡慕的殊荣，而这款游戏也的确实至名归。

《卡米洛特王国:北方之战》发行于2012年3月，并迅速在排行榜上攀升着，连续八个月都保持在前10款最畅销游戏榜单内。

尽管《北方之战》的成功是大家有目共睹的，但是它却不是Kabam手上的唯一王牌。例如《神秘王朝》便是该公司旗下一款大受欢迎的多人城市建造游戏；并且他们也与华纳兄弟达成协议，创造了游戏版的《哈比人》。

所以，为了进一步了解这家拥有2012年最成功iPhone游戏的公司，我们决定转向App Store排行榜进行研究。

交叉推广

在《北方之战》取得众所瞩目的成功之时，我们也可以预见《哈比人：中土王者》的光明前景。

《哈比人》于2012年11月发行后的24小时内便迅速挤入最畅销游戏前100名榜单内。

hobbit（from pocketgamer）

12月初，它更是出现在前25名畅销游戏榜单中；游戏排名的稳步上升更是为同名电影于12月的上映做足了铺垫。

自从电影上映以来，这款游戏仍旧保持着稳定的发展。

the-hobbit-grossing（from App Annie）

（这是《哈比人》在美国App Store中有关iPhone畅销游戏排行榜上的表现。）

值得注意的是，《中土之战》也拥有网页版的游戏同伴，即《哈比人：第三季元军队》（游戏邦注：同位Kabam所开发的游戏）。

如此，该公司便能够交叉推广这两款游戏，将电影的粉丝以及某一款Kabam游戏的玩家推向其它游戏。

《神秘王朝》

《神秘王朝》是Kabam旗下第三款手机游戏，也是目前唯一未能保持稳定发展的游戏。

这款游戏于2012年8月发行后便迅速冲上App Store畅销游戏排行榜单，但是从那以后它便一直保持着缓慢的滑落状态。

如今，它在畅销游戏排行榜单上的排名为第115名，并仍处于下滑趋势。

arcane-empires-grossing（from App Annie）

（《神秘王朝》在美国App Store中有关iPhone畅销游戏排行榜上的表现。）

当然了，第115位的排名仍然让许多游戏望尘莫及，但是根据这款游戏在下载排行榜上的表现来看，它在发行后的安装率也是呈现出快速下滑的状态。

很明显，Kabam想要吸引那些较为活跃的用户（能够带来较大的盈利）的注意，但是如果新玩家不愿意安装这款游戏，那么这些玩家也不会永远停留在游戏中。

arcane-empires-downloads（from App Annie）

（《神秘王朝》在美国App Store中有关iPhone游戏下载排行榜上的表现。）

稳定发展

在2012年末的新闻稿中，Kabam宣称他们在12月份已经成为了“旗下拥有三款游戏同时待在iOS和Android上前25名畅销应用排行榜的少数公司之一。”

经过证实，在2012年12月份，Kabam旗下的《北方之战》，《哈比人》以及《神秘王朝》的确同时位于iOS和Android平台上的前25名畅销游戏列表上——对于任何工作室来说这真的是一个了不起的成绩！

最重要的是，Kabam的游戏总是能够保持着稳定的发展。尽管《神秘王朝》处于摇摆不定的状态，但是《北方之战》在发行9个月以后仍然处于iPhone畅销游戏排行榜的第7位。

而《哈比人》的诞生也让Kabam再次拥有一款不断发展的游戏，并能够因此进行交叉推广。

该公司已经向世人证实了自己拥有长时间管理游戏和社区的能力，他们面向硬核玩家而传达多人游戏体验的尝试也得到了回报。

而关于Kabam在2013年是否能够维持这种好成绩则仍是一个未知数。

（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 Kabam keep its earnings booming in 2013?

by James Nouch

Last month, Apple officially named Kabam’s Kingdom of Camelot: Battle for the North as the single highest grossing iPhone game of 2012 on the US App Store.

That’s an impressive accolade, but not an altogether surprising feat.

Battle for the North launched in March 2012, and after a steady climb up the charts, enjoyed an eight month unbroken run in the top 10 grossing games chart.

But while Battle for the North’s success is well-known (and ongoing), it’s certainly not the only ace up Kabam’s sleeve. Arcane Empires is a popular multiplayer city-building game, for instance, and the studio has also struck a deal with Warner Bros. to create tie-in games for The Hobbit film trilogy.

So, in order to get a better sense of the company behind the most financially successful iPhone game of 2012, we’ve turned to the App Store charts.

Small but mighty

While Battle for the North is a weathered success, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-earth is a promising upstart.

Launched at the start of November 2012, the game broke into the top 100 grossing games charts within 24 hours of release.

By early December, The Hobbit had made it into the top 25 grossing games chart, and the game’s steady ascent through the rankings continued in the lead up to the film’s 12 December release date.

Since then, the game’s gradual ascent has continued.

Analytics graph showing The Hobbit’s performance in the top grossing games chart for iPhone in the US App Store. Analytics courtesy of App Annie.

It’s worth noting, too, that Kingdoms of Middle-earth has a web-based companion game in the form of The Hobbit: Armies of the Third Age, also developed by Kabam.

As such, the company may be able to cross-promote to players of both titles, sending movie-fans and engaged gamers from one Kabam title to the other.

Major Arcana

Arcane Empires is the third title in Kabam’s mobile triumvirate, and the only one that isn’t currently enjoying growth or stable mega-success.

The game shot up through the App Store’s grossing games chart upon its release in August 2012, but since then, Arcane Empires has been in a state of slow decline.

It’s currently ranked at #115 in the grossing games chart and the game is clearly trending downwards.

Analytics graph showing Arcane Empires’ performance in the top grossing games chart for iPhone in the US App Store.

Of course, #115 is actually a perfectly respectable ranking, but a look at Arcane Empires position in the downloads charts shows that installs dropped off quickly after the game’s launch.

Clearly Kabam is catering to an active and engaged audience that is monetising well, but that audience isn’t going to remain forever if new players aren’t installing the game.

Analytics graph showing Arcane Empires’ performance in the downloads chart for iPhone in the US App Store.

Rarefied

In a press release issued at the end of 2012, Kabam boasted that, during December, it had become “one of the rare companies to have three games simultaneously ranked on the top 25 grossing apps lists for both iOS and Android.”

We’ve struggled to independently verify this statement, but it’s certainly true that Battle for the North, The Hobbit and Arcane Empires were all simultaneously ranked on the top 25 grossing games list for both platforms during December – a remarkable achievement for any studio.

And, crucially, Kabam’s titles are still performing strongly. Although Arcane Empires has wavered, Battle for the North is currently #7 in the iPhone’s top grossing games chart, almost nine months after launch.

With The Hobbit, Kabam has a game that’s growing and cross-promotion opportunities, too.

The company has demonstrated its ability to manage a game and a community over a long period of time, and its gamble on multiplayer experiences for ‘core’ gamers has clearly paid off.

In 2013 the question will be whether Kabam can maintain and build on these successes in a market that’s sure to keep changing. (source:pocketgamer)