作者：James Nouch

在之前的文章中，我们曾分享了迪士尼如何在成功推广电影的同时，通过手机游戏创造可观收益的案例（例如《Temple Run:Brave》这款出自Imangi Studios之手，用于推广Pixar电影《勇气传说》的游戏）。

尽管《Temple Run》是以免费游戏的身份获得巨大的成功，但《Temple Run:Brave》却是一款99美分的付费游戏，并且一度攀向美国应用营收榜单第3名。

现在，我们要分析的是华纳兄弟如何复制迪士尼的成功。该公司将于本周向家庭主机发布《Injustice:Gods Among Us》（游戏邦注：这是由开发商《Mortal Kombat》推出的格斗游戏）。

为了预热新游戏，华纳兄弟也先推出了这款游戏的iOS版本，其中含有与主机版本相似的能量机制，以及可收集卡牌和一点gacha元素。

为了解这种组合如何虏获玩家，我们分析了这款游戏在App Store的数据表现。

injustice-shot(from pocketgamer)

上升时期

该游戏在2013年4月4日刚发布时就跃升至美国App Store免费应用榜单第4名，排名仅次于《Sonic Dash》、《Vine》和《Candy Crush Saga》，24小时之后这款游戏登上榜首。

它在随后两天一直位居免费应用下载量榜单第一名，之后才开始下滑。

但截止本文撰稿，这款游戏仍位居美国App Store免费游戏榜单第6名。

injustice-downloads(from App Annie)

（以上图表来自App Annie：《Injustice:Gods Among Us》在美国App Store下载量榜单的排名情况）

据Distimo取自4月13日的数据统计，这款游戏目前在美国每天安装量约10万次。

收益表现

得益于DC Comics以及华纳的营销投入，再加上苹果提供的一系列推荐，这款游戏正在收获大量用户。

让我们再看看它的收益情况。

《Injustice》的IAP包含能量包和虚拟货币包。

你每次输入操作都会消耗能量，但会随着时间重新填充，就像《CSR Racing》中的设置一样。如果玩家需要在游戏中获得更长久的持续体验，那就需要掏钱重新为角色补充能量。

玩家需通过玩游戏赢取游戏内部货币，并用这些货币购买角色卡牌和支持卡牌。支持卡牌一般更为实惠，起始价为3000个货币，而最昂贵的角色卡牌售价可能高达22万个货币。

injustice-characters(from pocketgamer)

（上图是《Injustice》商店中所供应的一些较昂贵的角色。）

《Injustice》游戏内部商店中含有1.2万个货币的内容包售价1.99美元，19.2万个货币售价则是19.99美元，最大的货币包售价99.99美元（含有150万个货币）。

博彩机制

除了将这些货币直接用于角色和支持道具上，用户还能可将其用于购买含有半随机性卡牌的升级包。

这个系统与一些日本卡牌战斗游戏中出现的gacha机制颇为相似，但需要指出的是，不可将其与2012年在日本备受争议的complete gacha系统混为一谈。

这些升级包价格介于8000至1万个货币，可能让用户赢得一些售价低于商店价格的珍贵卡牌。但这实际上还是一种赌博，你当然有可能因为获得一些无用的卡牌而后悔。

《Injustice》还跨平台兼容即将问世的主机版游戏。iOS玩家可以在主机版游戏中解琐道具，反之亦然——这成了另一种刺激玩家掏钱的因素。

这款游戏确实采用了一些有趣的盈利机制，并且看起来对华纳兄弟很管用。

在4月6日，《Injustice》晋升为美国App Store游戏营收榜单冠军，之后一周仍保持在第6至第9名。

injustice-grossing(from App Annie)

（以上图表显示了《Injustice：Gods Among Us》在美国App Store收益榜单排名情况）

据Distimo数据统计，这款游戏4月13日在美国App Store收益超过100万美元，距离其上线日期仅有9天。

《Injustice》已进入全球40多个国家/地区游戏营收榜单前10名，因此我们可以推测它现在的收益已经远不止100万美元，并且在这个过程中还为其主机版本打造了声势。

总结

这就是关键所在。通过将这两款绑定在一起，华纳兄弟制造了一些强大的交叉推广机遇。

这种跨平台兼容性，激发了iOS玩家重拾主机游戏的兴趣，并鼓励主机玩家下载游戏的iOS版本。

即便这款游戏的iOS版本无缘进入收益榜单前列，它也仍然是一种极有价值的推广工具——向潜在玩家群体推广主机版本。

通过这种重叠的盈利机制以及游戏设计，华纳兄弟有效地将一个营销工具转变成了盈利工具。（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: How Injustice: Gods Among Us hit $1 million in US App Store revenue

by James Nouch

In previous editions of the Charticle, we’ve examined how Disney manages to simultaneously promote its movie releases and generate significant revenues through its mobile gaming offerings.

Temple Run: Brave, for instance, was developed with Imangi Studios to promote Pixar’s CG movie.

Despite the fact that Temple Run found success as a free-to-play game, this new installment charged players 99c up front and still managed to peak at #3 in the US top grossing apps chart.

Now, Warner Bros. is looking to emulate Disney’s success. This week, the company will release Injustice: Gods Among Us for home consoles – a DC-themed fighting game from the makers of Mortal Kombat.

And in preparation, the company has launched an iOS version of the game that features similar beat-em-up action imbued with energy mechanics, collectible cards and a little bit of gacha.

To find out exactly how that combination has gone down with players, we examined the App Store data.

Ascension

At launch, on 4 April 2013, Injustice shot straight into #4 on the US App Store’s top free apps chart, behind Sonic Dash, Vine and Candy Crush Saga. 24 hours later, the game had reached pole position.

It remained the most downloaded free app on the App Store for two more days before installs began to drop off slightly.

They remain strong though – at the time of writing, Injustice is sixth in the US App Store’s top free games chart.

Analytics graph showing Injustice: Gods Among Us’ performance on the US App Store’s download charts. Analytics data courtesy of App Annie.

And according to Distimo estimates based on data from 13 April, the game is currently generating around 100,000 installs a day in the US alone.

Gods and money

So Injustice is certainly acquiring plenty of users – helped, no doubt, by a number of featured spots from Apple, an association with DC Comics and Warner’s marketing dollars.

But let’s take a closer look at the monetisation.

Injustice’s in-app purchases include energy packs and virtual currency packs.

Energy is expended each time you enter a bout, but refills over time, much like in CSR Racing, for instance. If a player wants a lengthy session with Injustice, they’ll likely need to spend real money to recharge their characters’ energy.

In-game currency, meanwhile, is earned through play – albeit rather slowly – and can be spent on characters cards and support cards. Support cards are generally cheaper and start at 3,000 coins, while the most expensive characters cards cost as much as 220,000 coins.

Some of the pricier characters on offer through the Injustice store

Injustice’s in-game store charges $1.99 for a pack of 12,000 coins, $19.99 for a pack of 192,000 coins, and $99.99 for its largest currency pack – which contains a whopping 1.5 million coins.

Gods do not throw dice

But rather than spending these coins directly on characters and support items, users are also able to spend them on booster packs that contain a semi-random selection of cards.

It’s a system that shares much in common with the gacha mechanic found in certain Japanese card-battlers, although it’s worth noting that this shouldn’t be confused with the controversial ‘complete gacha’ system that attracted the attention of Japanese regulators in 2012.

These booster packs range in price from 8,000 to 100,000 coins and offer the tantalising prospect of getting valuable cards for considerably less than their in-store prices. But it’s fundamentally a gamble, and you could, of course, be left with nothing but naff cards and regret.

As if all that wasn’t enough, Injustice also features cross-platform compatibility with the forthcoming home console game. iOS players can unlock items in the console version of Injustice – and vice versa – giving additional incentive for players to open their wallets.

The payout

So there are some interesting monetisation mechanics at work here, and they seem to be working well for Warner Bros.

By 6 April, Injustice had broken into the top ten grossing games on the US App Store, where it’s remained ever since, hovering between #6 and #9 in the rankings for more than a week so far.

Analytics graph showing Injustice: Gods Among Us’ performance on the US App Store’s top grossing charts.

According to estimates provided to PocketGamer.biz by Distimo, Injustice’s revenue total for the US App Store surpassed $1 million on Friday 13 April, just nine days after its launch in the region.

Considering the fact that Injustice has penetrated the top 10 grossing games chart in more than 40 countries worldwide, it seems safe to speculate that it’s brought in considerably more revenue than that to date – all while generating interest in its console sibling.

Symbiosis

And that’s the key point here. By tying these two games together, Warner Bros. has created some powerful cross-promotion opportunities.

The cross-platform compatibility, for instance, creates incentives for iOS Injustice players to pick up the console game, and for console gamers to download the iOS version – even if they might not have otherwise bothered.

And even if Injustice for iOS wasn’t sitting in the upper echelons of the top grossing charts, it would have had value as a promotional tool – marketing a console game to its substantial playerbase.

But with an overlapping system of monetisation mechanics and game design, Warner has effectively made what could have been a pricey marketing tool into a money spinner in its own right.（source：pocketgamer）