1）据gamasutra报道，EA日前出人意料地宣布将于6月14日关闭包括《The Sims Social》在内的一系列大型Facebook游戏。

《The Sims Social》在2011年底日活跃用户曾一度高达1000万，但据AppData数据显示，该游戏目前DAU在50万上下浮动，已经跌出Facebook前100名。除此之外，《Pet Society》（约50万DAU）以及《SimCitySocial》（10-50万DAU）也同样面临关闭。

这三个项目关闭之后，《Solitaire Blitz》和《宝石迷阵闪电战》这两款PopCap作品将取而代之成为EA最大的Facebook游戏。

2）据mobile-ent报道，继上月推出针对亚马逊Appstore分析服务之后，应用商店分析公司App Annie日前宣布支持微软Windows Store，并表示Windows 8已成为今年最热门的操作系统之一，将推出针对该平台21种类型，44个地区/国家和三种设备前100名热门应用（付费、免费和最新）的分析服务。

3）Strategy Analytics最近针对6500名欧美用户的调查发现，通过台式电脑和笔记本电脑访问Twitter的用户从去年的77%降至64%。

相对而言，基于手机的Twitter使用率却从53%增长至64%，通过平板电脑使用Twitter的用户却从9%双倍增长至18%，基于移动设备（包括手机和平板电脑）使用率从56%增长至71%。

此外，Twitter在英国使用率最高，有21%用户至少每周登录一次，美国用户的这一比例为18%，意大利为14%，法国为9%。有80%的英国用户通过移动设备访问Twitter。

4）据Gematsu报道，GungHo热门手机游戏《Puzzle & Dragons》最近宣布将日本市场发布任天堂3DS版本。

报道指出该版本将有超过200种怪兽，以及专属于3DS的特殊爆炸效果。

5）据venturebeat报道，Facebook首席运营官Sheryl Sandberg在最近采访中表示，Facebook广告平台的目标是增加广告粘性和使用性，并不一定需要增加用户接收到的广告量，并指出她认为移动平台的重要性可能很快就会超过电视机。

eMarketer数据显示，2012年美国移动广告投入从14.5亿美元增至40.6亿美元，增幅高达180%，其中多数来自Facebook的贡献。而在2012年初，Facebook甚至还没有进军移动广告市场，却在短短一年时间中令其移动广告收益增长至3.4亿美元，预计2013年还将双倍增长。

6）据insidemobileapps报道，应用追踪公司Onavo最近数据显示，从2月至3月，视觉测试游戏《4 Pics 1 Word》开发商Lotum在美国iPhone用户中的市场份额有所增长，而《Temple Run 2》则下滑明显（游戏邦注：Onavo所指的使用率是基于30天内用户至少开启应用一次的比例）。

《4 Pics 1 Word》市场份额超过7%，同比上月至少增长2个百分点。这意味着Onavo所追踪的用户中，有7%在移动设备上安这款游戏，并且在过去30天中至少开启游戏一次。

另一款表现出众的游戏是EA作品《Real Racing 3》（发布于2月底），一个月内市场份额增长3%；Zynga游戏《What’s the Phrase》（发由于3月份）新增市场份额近2%，开发商Social Quantum游戏《Megapolis》市场份额双倍增长至1.5%，Rovio游戏《愤怒的小鸟里约》市场份额仅超过1%。

《Temple Run》市场份额从2月份时的14%降至3月份的10%左右（游戏邦注：该游戏发布4天突破2000万下载量，2周实现5000万次下载量），其他市场份额下降明显的游戏包括《Words With Friends》、《Fun Run》、《Ruzzle》以及《愤怒的小鸟：星球大战》。

7）据serkantoto报道，东京开发商Beeworks于2011年6月向iOS推出《Nameko Saibai Kit》（比《Puzzle & Dragons》提前8个月）时可能并没有料到自己有可能成为日本的Rovio。

在《Nameko Saibai》（nameko是一种特殊的蘑菇，saibai是培养的意思）这个游戏系列中，玩家需在一块木头上培植蘑菇，等待片刻功夫让它们成长，然后通过划动手指收割蘑菇。蘑菇种类各异，有些麻蘑菇很难采集，游戏的目标则是“采集所有的蘑菇”。

该游戏实际上并没有真正玩法，也没有高质量的画面或音效，以及社交功能，但首款Nameko游戏一开始就在没有营销的情况下征服了市场，目前在iOS和Android平台下载量为1100万次（与《Puzzle & Dragons》相当）。

截止今年4月7日，该游戏系列在全球范围下载量达3019万次。

Beeworks与Rovio的相似之处在于，它也是一家成立已久的小公司（1998年成立，Rovio成立于2003年），两家公司都针对同款游戏推出多个衍生版本，并成功推出了例如玩具、手机套、文具、服装、糖果、漫画、家具、拖鞋等周边授权产品。（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）EA backs off from Facebook in a big way

By Mike Rose

In a surprise announcement, Electronic Arts today revealed that it is retiring a number of its biggest Facebook games, including The Sims Social.

The Sims Social in particular has been extremely popular in the past, with 10 million daily active users recorded towards the end of 2011.

However, as the game threatens to leave the top 100 DAUs rankings with somewhere over 500,000 DAUs according to App Data, EA has now made the decision to shut the game down. It is also retiring Pet Society (in the same ballpark for DAUs) and SimCity Social (which has between 100,000 and 500,000 DAUs, according to App Data.)

EA says that while these games proved popular to begin with, “the number of players and amount of activity has fallen off.”

“For people who have seen other recent shutdowns of social games, perhaps this is not surprising,” the statement added.

Indeed, social games on Facebook aren’t performing as well as they used to, with numerous developers now favoring mobile over browser games. Facebook recently said that it is looking to

target core gamers in 2013, in a bid to become one of the more popular game platforms again.

As for the aforementioned EA games, all three titles will go offline on June 14, 2013. The company’s biggest games on Facebook will then be Solitaire Blitz and Bejeweled Blitz — both games from its PopCap subsidiary.

Notably, the company isn’t offering any sort of refund on remaining in-game credit. Beverly Myshrall, senior community specialist at EA, posted on the official forums, “Players are encouraged to spend their remaining balance of SimCash in The Sims Social before the game is retired on June 14th. As of that date, any remaining SimCash left in the game will be invalid.”

[Correction: This article previously said The Sims Social currently had over 6 million DAUs -- that's the figure for MAUs. DAUs stand at somewhere over 500,000. Apologies for anyconfusion.] （source：gamasutra）

2）App Annie now supports the Windows Store

by Zen Terrelonge

Will provide analytics to Microsoft platform as it experiences ‘impressive traction’.

Analytics solutions provider App Annie only supported the App Store and Google Play until very recently, launching for the Amazon Appstore in beta just last month.

In a bid to further its reach, the company has now revealed support for Microsoft’s Windows Store in beta, which comes as the platform has built ‘its app collection to an impressive 130,000 apps, including many premium titles.’

App Annie says that Windows 8 could become one of the hottest operating systems this year, and adds: “Given the impressive traction of the Windows Store, we are excited to announce the addition of Windows Store to App Annie Store Stats.”

Store Stats for Windows will reveal the top 100 ranked Windows Store apps (paid, free, new) across 21 categories, 44 countries and three devices.（source：mobile-ent）

3）Mobile-based Twitter usage outpaces access from PCs

by Zen Terrelonge

71 per cent now tweeting from phones and tablets.

Twitter claims it was ‘born mobile,’ and recently urged brands to optimise services and campaigns for mobile because users rarely access the social network from desktops.

Strategy Analytics now supports the statement, surveying more than 6,500 people in the US and Europe to find the number of users tweeting from desktops and laptops fell from 77 per cent to 64 per cent between March 2012 and October 2012.

Comparatively, mobile phone-based tweeting rose from 53 per cent to 64 per cent, tablet usage doubled from nine per cent to 18 per cent, and general mobile device tweeting (phone or tablet) increased from 56 per cent to 71 per cent.

Additionally, Twitter usage is highest in the UK, with 21 per cent of users logging on at least one a week, followed by the US on 18 per cent, Italy on 14 per cent and France on nine per cent. It’s perhaps unsurprising that Twitter is so popular among Brits, with the social network recently revealing 80 per cent of UK users log on from mobiles.

David Mercer, VP of digital consumer practice, Strategy Analytics, said: “The immediacy of Twitter communications requires devices which are close to hand at every waking moment. By definition this suggests mobile phones and tablets should be preferred devices for Tweeting and the survey evidence points clearly in this direction.”（source：mobile-ent）

4）Puzzle & Dragons makes the jump to Nintendo 3DS this winter

by Brandy Shaul

Gungho’s mobile phenomenon Puzzle & Dragons is apparently making the jump from iOS and Android devices to Nintendo’s 3DS this winter, but unfortunately, it looks like the release is only scheduled for Japan, for now.

According to Polygon (via Gematsu), this announcement was found in CoroCoro magazine, which had a two-page spread showing off how Puzzle & Dragons Z looks on Nintendo’s 3D handheld. There, we see the match-three puzzle board presented on the bottom touch screen of the device, while players’ team members and the current enemies are displayed on the 3D screen up top.

According to Gematsu, the announcement also states that over 200 monsters will be available, along with 3DS exclusive symbols that will cause large explosions when cleared from the board. Hopefully, Puzzle & Dragons Z on Nintendo 3DS will perform well enough to warrant a worldwide release, and we’ll make sure to let you know if that ends up being the case.（source：games）

5）Facebook making ads more useful to mobile users, says COO Sandberg

Selena Larson

Facebook is moving forward with plans for its mobile advertising platform even after concern from users about an oversaturation of advertising and receiving unwanted messages.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, told reporters today the goal of the advertising platform is to increase engagement and usefulness of advertising, not necessarily increase the number of ads users receive. She noted that the mobile platform may soon become more important than television.

With the recent launch of Facebook Home, a special OS skin for Android users, and the social network raking in 30 percent of all mobile ad spending in 2013, Facebook is clearly planning to capitalize on the opportunity mobile presents.

Last year, U.S. mobile ad spending increased from $1.45 billion to $4.06 billion in 2012 alone, according to data from ad analysis firm eMarketer. This growth presents a 180 percent increase in mobile ad growth, which was driven almost entirely by Facebook. At the beginning of 2012, Facebook wasn’t even in the mobile advertising market, but the company grew its mobile ad revenue to $340 million in one year. That revenue is projected to more than double in 2013.

Mobile devices are in almost every consumer’s hand, opening a door for advertising opportunities that will allow companies to cash in on our always-on lifestyle. According to Sandberg,

Facebook is pleased with the company’s advertising platform so far and will continue to monitor engagement to best get messages across.

Users already see plenty of advertising on Facebook, from sponsored stories and posts from brands you don’t currently follow to finely targeted advertising in news feeds on both mobile and desktop applications. Facebook’s new software released this year will surely please marketers and advertisers, but the affect on users remains to be seen.（source：venturebeat）

6）Onavo: 4 Pics 1 Word increases U.S. market share, Temple Run 2 loses market share

Scott Reyburn

Onavo logoVisual quiz game 4 Pics 1 Word from developer Lotum increased its market share among U.S. iPhone users from February to March, while Temple Run 2 from Imangi Studios lost market share, according Onavo, an app tracking company that can monitor a user’s third-party apps usage. The data came from Onavo’s monthly report on the biggest winners (gains) and losers (dips) in the mobile app market (this report specifically focused on mobile games). The company defines its winners and losers based on the percentage of U.S. iPhone users who open an app at least once in 30-day period.

Visual quiz games, where a user is presented with four pictures and then tasked with finding out the word that all four pictures have in common, had exploded in popularity in late January with the likes of RedSpell’s What’s the Word, Itch Mania’s 4 Pics 1 Word: What’s the Word and Lotum’s 4 Pics 1 Word (also known as What’s the Word? 4 Pics 1 Word), which increased its market share by nearly 2 percent month-over-month to just over 7 percent. This means that 7 percent of users Onavo tracks has the game on their mobile device and at least opened it once in the last 30 days.

Another mobile game that was classified as a winner included Electronic Arts’ Real Racing 3 (review), which launched at the end of February, nabbing just shy of a 3 percent market share in just a month. Other notable winners included Zynga’s What’s the Phrase (review) grabbing nearly a 2 percent share of the market since its March release, developer Social Quantum’s Megapolis (read our review of the Facebook version here) almost doubled its market share to around 1.5 percent, and Rovio’s Angry Birds Rio, which was recently updated with the addition of a new episode and power ups, increased its market share to just over 1 percent.

The most notable loser was endless runner game Temple Run 2, which went from a 14 percent market share in February to just over 10 percent in March. Temple Run 2 ran to a record-setting start when the game reached the 20 million downloads mark in four days and 50 million downloads in two weeks. Other losers included Zynga’s Words With Friends, Fun Run, Ruzzle and Angry Birds Star Wars.

Onavo collects usage data from its two free consumer apps, Onavo Extend and Onavo Count, which both monitor a user’s app data usage. Note that Onavo anonymously collects a user’s usage data of third-party apps who have downloaded and use Extend or Count on their device.（source：insidemobileapps）

7）Nameko Saibai: How “Japan’s Angry Birds” Racked Up 30 Million Downloads (And Makes Money With No IAP)

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Puzzle/RPG hybrid Puzzle & Dragons and messenger app LINE aren’t the only hypes in Japan’s smartphone world right now.

The third big name that must be mentioned in this context is “Nameko Saibai”, a series of super-quirky smartphone games that center on cute mushroom characters (nameko is a special mushroom, while saibai means cultivation).

Tokyo-based Beeworks probably didn’t know they were to produce the country’s first really big smartphone game when they launched the first Nameko title, namely “Nameko Saibai Kit” (English version: “Mushroom Garden” or “Funghi Gardening Kit”) in June 2011 on iOS – eight months before Puzzle & Dragons.

Today, if there is one company that can be labeled as a Japanese counterpart of Rovio (on a small scale), it’s Beeworks.

Nameko Saibai Kit – The First Game In The Franchise

As the title suggests, players need to grow mushrooms on a piece of wood, wait a while for them to grow before harvesting them by swiping over the screen.

There are varieties of Nameko, some of which are harder to get than others. The goal of the game is to “collect them all”.

There is basically no real game play, no high-quality graphics or music (quite the contrary), and no social hooks.

Reasons I heard from Japanese players why they like the game so much in the past include “I like the feeling of swiping over the screen to harvest the mushrooms”, “The Namekos are so cute”, or “I love it how they say NNFF NNFF when I harvest them”.

This first Nameko game took Japan by storm (without any marketing at the start) and currently boasts 11 million downloads across iOS and Android, putting it in Puzzle & Dragons territory.

Nameko Saibai Kit – Variations And Downloads
Much like Rovio with Angry Birds, Beeworks was very clever in creating variations of essentially the same game and making use of its existing user base for distribution.

There are two different versions in addition to the original, namely Nameko Saibai Kit Seasons (users can harvest different mushrooms, depending on the season) and Nameko Saibai Kit Deluxe (which has some improvements, i.e. BGM).

Beeworks has been seeing considerable success with this strategy, in Japan and some Asian countries. The company is offering English versions of Nameko (on iOS and Android), but success outside Asia has been limited so far.

As of April 7 this year, all Nameko Saibai Kit games have been downloaded 30,192,789 million times worldwide:

Beeworks – Parallels To Rovio

The Japanese developer can’t think in billions like Rovio does, but the numbers above are pretty impressive, and there are a few parallels between the two companies.

For instance, much like Rovio, Beeworks was a small company that was around for a long time but largely unknown before landing their first real big hit (Beeworks was established in 1998, Rovio in 2003).

Both companies rolled out variations of their hits in quick succession and cross-promoted them inside the existing user base: the “Seasons” versions even share the exact same idea.

Both franchises are specifically made for touch screens, feature “character-focused” design, come with a low learning curve, come with extra-cute graphics and sound, etc. etc.

But the biggest parallel can actually be found somewhere else.

Nameko’s popularity in Japan made it possible for Beeworks to build a successful merchandising business around its IP: there are now Nameko-themed toys, phone cases, stationery, key holders, clothes, music CDs (really), candy, coffee mugs, manga, furniture, slippers etc. etc.（source：serkantoto）