作者：Jon Jordan

将两种极其成功的游戏类型融为一体并非难事。

但是，Zynga推出《Temple Run》和《Words with Friends》的混合体——《Running with Friends》，不算太快。

这款与Eat Sleep Play工作室（代表作品为《Twisted Metal》）合作完成的游戏于2013年3月中旬全球发布。这距离“跑酷”游戏类型一炮而红的时候已经不下18个月了。

running-with-friends(from polygon.com)

各就各位

就《Running with Friends》的玩法而言，问题始终是，在异步回合的约束下，玩家对游戏的“再玩一盘”的致瘾属性将产生什么反应。

另一个问题是，这款游戏如何赢利：在刺激玩家消费方面，像《Temple Run》和《Subway Surfers》这类游戏的表现始终不温不火。

Zynga尝试将两款游戏组合起来，使玩家可以用100个宝石购买两条额外的“生命”，和用150个宝石购买“跑前”增益道具。

当然，你也可以把宝石用于升级等，不过为了跑得更远，你必须购买宝石。

借此，Zynga希望能将《Running with Friends》的竞技属性与这种类型的致瘾属性结合起来，以拉动收益。

各个击破

就平台部署方面，Zynga做出了一贯的选择——分别推出iPhone/iPod touch和iPad版应用，即发布该游戏的标准版本和HD iPad版本。

正如你所预料的，考虑到玩法，表现最好的总是手机版本。

running-with-friends-top-grossing-us(from app annie)

（根据App Annie，《Running with Friends》在美国iPhone应用商店收益排行榜上的表现）

该游戏在6个国家的iPhone应用排行榜上位列第10，而在75个国家的iPhone应用排行榜上则名列第100。

在美国，它的收益排名最好成绩是第15名。

至于HD版本，它的表现就没那么强劲了——在3个国家的iPad应用收益排行榜上名列第10名，而在37个国家的iPad应用收益排行榜上名列第100名。

running-with-friends-HD-top-grossing-us(from app-annie)

（根据App Annie，《Running with Friends》在美国iPad应用商店收益排行榜上的表现）

在美国的iPad应用商店收益排行榜上，《Running with Friends》的最好名次是第94名。

显然，这些排名并不能反映Zynga通过游戏创造了多少广告收益。这笔收入可能相当大，毕竟Zynga的月活跃玩家达到2亿5千万。

预付成本

仍然可以说，《Running with Friends》还没有证明自己的成功，尽管它的表现引人注目。

但Zynga对这款游戏还抱有期望。

作为测试，Zynga在加拿大推出两个付费版本——仍然是iPhone版和iPad版分开。

再算上预料中的Android版，我们等着看该游戏的整体赢利情况将发生什么变化。（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: After a slow start, Zynga accelerates with paid versions of Running with Friends

by Jon Jordan

Combining the DNA of two extremely successful game types isn’t rocket science.

Still, Zynga’s launch of its Temple Run meets Words with Friends – aka Running with Friends – was hardly rush job.

Co-developed with Twisted Metal studio Eat Sleep Play, the free-to-play game was released globally in mid-March 2013, more than a 18 months since the endless runner genre exploded.

On your marks…

In terms of the with Friends gameplay, the issue has always been how will gamers react to its ‘just-another-go’ addictive nature being gated by asynchronous turns.

The other issue has been how to monetise: games such as Temple Run and Subway Surfers are a notorious soft-touch in terms of asking their players for cash.

Zynga has attempted to combine the two by enabling players to buy two additional ‘in-run’ lives at the cost of 100 and 150 gems, respectively, as well as buying pre-race bonuses.

Of course, you get some gems for levelling up etc, but to maximise your run distances, you need to purchase gems.

In this way, Zynga is hoping that the competitive nature of the with Friends gameplay will combine with the genre’s ‘just-another-go’ nature to drive revenue.

Divide and conquer?

In terms of deployment, Zynga has chosen – as it often does – to split out iPhone/iPod touch and iPad apps, releasing a standard version and a HD iPad version of the game.

As you’d expect, given the gameplay, it’s been the phone version that has performed best.

Running with Friends’ performance on US iPhone top grossing chart (via App Annie)

It’s been ranked in the top 10 top grossing iPhone charts in 6 countries, and been top 100 in 75.

In the US, it peaked at #15 top grossing.

In terms of the HD version, performance is much weaker. The game has been top 10 in 3 counties’ top grossing iPad chart, and top 100 in 37.

Running with Friends HD’s performance on the US iPad top grossing chart (via App Annie)

In the US, iPad top grossing chart Running with Friends HD peaked at #94.

Obviously, these positions don’t take into account any advertising revenue Zynga has generated from the games. This could be relatively large, given its ability to cut its own deals over its 250 million monthly active userbase.

Upfront cost

Still, it’s fair to say that Running with Friends is yet to prove itself as a success, despite its presentational polish.

But Zynga’s not given up on the title.

It’s just released two paid versions in Canada for testing – again splitting out iPhone and iPad.

Priced at $4.99, these Running with Friends Paid releases remove the ads and also give you a bunch of gems (although it’s not yet clear now many).

Combined with an expected Android release, we await to see how these developments will change overall monetisation.(source:pocketgamer)