作者：Dant Rambo

中国市场隐藏着巨大的利润，但是西方游戏开发者却总是未能有效地从中获利。虽然部分原因是源于中国市场对于电子游戏的态度，不过根据PopCap战略开发总监James Gwertzman所述，主要原因还是西方开发者未能采取有效的方法进入中国市场。

在题为“OMG! Zombies on the Great Wall of China”的GDC演讲上，Gwertzman讨论了PopCap的《植物大战僵尸》是如何在中国取得巨大成功，以及开发商们该如何做才能征服中国市场。

Gwertzman认为，西方开发者所犯的一个错误便是“错误的期望”。许多人都认为，既然中国拥有如此庞大的人口，那么游戏的销量自然也不会差到哪里去。这一想法本身就是错误的，如此“你将做出各种决定，如快速招聘，或复制任何在美国取得成功的游戏内容。”

但是不得不说的是，你现在面对的不再是堪萨斯州了。

Gwertzman提出了一种更加合理的方法去帮助西方开发者们进入中国市场。他认为，“将中国当成一个巨大的创意沙盒”便是最佳方法。这是一个能让开发者实验并迭代的市场，尽管也具有种种盗版问题。实际上，Gwertzman认为盗版也有助于开发者进行实验。因为当其他开发者窃取了你的IP并肆意使用时，你便能够从中判断哪种业务模式更适合该IP。而当你想出解决方法时，你也可以将其复制回来了！

PopCap便非常清楚这一点。《植物大战僵尸》在面向中国的PC市场发行后便立刻成为了最受盗版者看好的一款游戏。如此便出现了大量“假货”。一开始PopCap非常担心这一问题，但后来他们将这种担忧转变成灵感而推出了官方的《植物大战僵尸》商品。如今这些商品的销售已经占据着他们在中国市场盈利额的30%了，他们也受此鼓励开始面向其它市场推出更多产品。

china-plantsvszombies（from gamezebo）

“如果未进入中国市场，我们永远不可能（在美国）做出这一尝试。”

Gwertzman也阐述了面向特定市场定制游戏的重要性。PopCap便是通过发行《植物大战僵尸:长城版》而做到这一点。这也是面向中国市场调整IP的一个典例，不过该公司同样也适当调整了《植物大战僵尸》的游戏模式（游戏邦注：即执行游戏内部交易，设定付费专区并添加软货币和硬货币）而确保游戏更能获利。实际上，游戏的应用内部购买模式是推动着《植物大战僵尸：长城版》成为艺电第四大赚钱游戏的主要原因。

Gwertzman所提到的最后一个（也是最重要的一个）话题便是中国市场中的Android用户人数。

问题就在于，许多用户都拥有固定的数据套餐。PopCap通过使用像当地字体和音乐去缩小文件的下载规格。而当规格减小后，下载量便会随之上升了。Gwertzman表示这也是PopCap之前在美国从未尝试过的方法。

对于开发者来说，中国市场其实一点都不可怕。这里存在着许多能够推动成功的潜能，但是成功的大门却只面向那些有计划，足够耐心，并且愿意在逆境中成长的开发者们敞开。如果发现了一些基于你的游戏但却未经授权的商品出现，切忌通过法律渠道进行解决，而是将其当成是你推出官方商品的绝佳时机。对于盗版作品也是如此，你应该趁此了解该山寨游戏在市场中到底能够取得怎样的表现。

（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）

PopCap’s James Gwertzman on how to succeed in the Chinese games market [GDC]

By Dant Rambo

There’s money to be made in China, but western game developers haven’t had the best luck making it. Part of this can be attributed to China’s stance towards video games, but according to James Gwertzman, PopCap’s Head of Strategic Development, some of the problem also lies with how western developers approach the market in the first place.

In a GDC talk titled “OMG! Zombies on the Great Wall of China,” Gwertzman discussed PopCap’s massive success with Plants vs. Zombies in China, as well as how developers can fare better in the country.

One of the biggest mistakes western developers make is “setting the wrong expectations,” Gwertzman said. Many people assume that because China has such a large population, a game’s sales numbers should reflect that. That in itself isn’t entirely wrong, but it “sets you up to make decisions like hiring too fast or copying whatever made you successful in North America.”

Put another way, you aren’t in Kansas anymore.

Gwertzman suggested a healthier approach that developers could take towards China. In his opinion, it’s best “to see China as a giant sandbox of innovation.” It’s a market that allows for experimentation and iteration, despite the well-documented troubles of piracy. In fact, Gwertzman feels that piracy can help with the experimentation. As developers steal your IP and run wild, you can see which business models have worked best with said IP. Once you have it figured out, you can copy them back! All’s fair in love and game development, after all.

Knockoff PvZ toys flooded China when the game hit PC there [image credit]

PopCap knows a thing or two about this. When Plants vs. Zombies was released for PC in China, it quickly became one of the most pirated games in the country. This, in turn, led to a mountain of fake merchandise. The company was concerned at first, but they leveraged those concerns as inspiration to launch official Plants vs. Zombies merchandise. This now makes up 30% of their profits in China, and it inspired them to release products in other markets.

“We would never be doing this [in North America] if we hadn’t started it in China.”

Gwertzman also discussed the importance of tailoring your games for the market. PopCap did this by releasing Plants vs. Zombies: Great Wall Edition, a version of PvZ that takes place on – you guessed it – The Great Wall of China. This in itself is a pretty prime example of adapting an IP for the Chinese market, but the company also tweaked the PvZ model a bit as a means to make the game more profitable by implementing in-game transactions, a paywall, and soft and hard currencies. This is something they tried here, but it came nowhere close to the same level of success. In fact, thanks in large part to the game’s in-app purchase model, Plants vs. Zombies: Great Wall Edition is currently the fourth most profitable EA game in terms of microtransactions.

Plants vs. Zombies: The Great Wall Edition

One of the last (and also one of the most important) topics Gwertzman discussed is the popularity of Android in China.

“In China, Android is the [OS] in town.” The problem, though, is that a lot of users have fixed data plans. PopCap dealt with this issue by taking out features like local fonts and music until the download size was significantly reduced. And as the size went down, the downloads went up. Gwertzman noted that this is something the company never would have done in the US.

China doesn’t have to be a terrifying market for developers. There’s lots of potential for success, but it requires planning, patience, and a willingness to roll with the punches. If unlicensed merchandise based on your game starts showing up everywhere, for example, avoid seeking legal action and take it as an opportunity to release official merchandise. The same goes with piracy; forget the lawyers and focus instead on the lessons you can learn from how the knockoff games perform.(source:gamezebo)