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关于平板电脑游戏领域的一些思考

发布时间:2013-06-01 10:23:53 Tags:,,,

作者:Matt Hannus

在于旧金山举行的手机游戏大会上,我和来自GREE、Scopely、Virtual Piggy和TS2的高管们组成座谈小组,探讨了平板电脑游戏行业的现状,特别是关于营销和最大化这个新兴平台的投资回报率。与智能手机、主机和PC相比,iPad和iPad Mini、微软Surface以及Kindle Firet等更“小众”的平板电脑,不同产品的巨大差异对平板行业构成更加特殊的挑战。无论你是否从事平板游戏,你必须理解这个领域,因为平板电脑正在并将持续对其他游戏平台构成威胁。

ipad-tablet-gaming(from digitaltrends)

ipad-tablet-gaming(from digitaltrends)

对于微软等主机巨头(被本周公布的Xbox One所证实)而言,如果说游戏是仅次于电视和体育运动的主要娱乐活动,那么平板电脑等平台与电子游戏以及他们的消费者(玩家)的关系则更加紧密。现在,电影工作室、电视公司和各个行业的公司及品牌都正在制作他们自己的游戏(或请其他公司帮忙制作自己的游戏)。另外,AAA游戏与独立游戏领域也正在形成对阵之势。

我们从中可以得到不少启示。

第一,随着娱乐公司和消费者品牌涌进游戏领域,他们的受众中有许多人都没有高端PC或次世代主机,这使得“多屏”技术呈现出前所未有的重要性。毕竟,你不可能在电视上实现多屏显示。

第二,随着高品质的免费游戏的普及,甚至硬核玩家也不像从前那样愿意掏出60美元购买新主机游戏了。理论上,这将刺激AAA游戏领域提高产品开发预算、外观品质和操作。但更重要的是,这意味着吸引更多玩家、玩家期待更大以及为手机和平板游戏带来更大的机遇。

在Sleepy Giant,我们的合作伙伴带着他们已有的游戏和品牌找到我们,希望开发出更多目标玩家。当你与主流消费者交流时,特别是有小孩的家庭,你会发现他们基本上都有平板设备。但是,我们的意思不是劝你:“嘿,你应该制作平板游戏!”我们首先考虑到的是品牌和它的受众,然后根据能达成我们合作伙伴的目标的最佳方案选择平台和制定赢利策略。

如果你正在制作一款原创游戏,没有现成的粉丝,你最好先考虑建设玩家社区。但是,建立平板游戏社区比其他平台(如主机或PC)的更困难得多,并且“平板优先”的路线可能并不适合你。平板电脑是一个令人兴奋、激动、幻想的新平台,但你不应该被一腔热血冲晕了头脑,以至于忘记你的决策应该本着客观、明智的原则。

然而,如果你的游戏以故事叙述为主,那么制作平板游戏也许是个正确的选择。制作平板游戏是用新途径吸引已有粉丝社区的好办法,特别是像Kindle Fire这样的设备,这类设备的受众还不至于多到让传统大开发商在开发这类游戏上投入最大的预算。随着娱乐品牌和知名产品进入游戏领域,将会有更多资金流向平板电脑这个游戏平台,而那它正是“传统”游戏开发商还没挖掘的“金矿”。

重点是,平板电脑游戏是一个正在崛起的市场。潜力在那里,风险也在那里。你应该明确你的目标、定位你的受众,更重要的是,步步谨慎。(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

Thoughts on tablet gaming

By Matt Hannus

At the Mobile Gaming USA conference in San Francisco, I spoke on a panel with executives from GREE, Scopely, Virtual Piggy and TS2 about the state of the tablet gaming industry, specifically marketing and maximizing ROI for this emerging platform. The vast differences from iPad and iPad Mini to Microsoft’s Surface and “lighter” gaming platforms like the Kindle Fire make the tablet industry a unique challenge, compared to smartphones, consoles and PC. Whether or not you’re making tablet games, it’s important to understand the space because tablets are disrupting – and will continue to disrupt – other gaming platforms (whether or not Blackberry’s CEO agrees).

If gaming is taking a backseat to TV and sports for console giants like Microsoft (as evidenced by the Xbox One reveal this week), it makes platforms like tablets even more relevant for video games and their consumers (gamers). And now that movie studios, TV networks, companies and brands from every industry are making their own games (or working with companies to make games for them), we’re seeing an increasing divide between AAA and indie.

There are a couple important implications here.

First, as entertainment companies and consumer brands enter the gaming arena, they bring with them existing fans, many of which are far less likely to own high-end PCs or next-gen consoles. This makes “multiscreen” more important than ever. And you can’t do multiscreen on just TVs.

Second, with so many quality free-to-play game experiences at their fingertips, even hardcore gamers aren’t as willing to shell out $60 for a new console game as they used to be. Theoretically this will lead to bigger budget, better looking, better operating video games coming from the AAA title realm. But more importantly, it means bigger audiences, bigger expectations, and greater opportunities for mobile and tablet games.

At Sleepy Giant, our partners come to us with established IP and franchises, looking to reach their fans where they’re at. And when you’re talking about mainstream consumers, especially families with younger children, that most definitely includes tablets. But, we don’t say “Hey, you should make a tablet game!” We think about the brand and its audience first, and we make platform and monetization decisions based on the best approach to achieve our partner’s goals.

If you’re starting from square one and setting out to make an original game with no pre-existing audience, it may seem backwards to think about community up front. But, building community on tablets is far more difficult than on other platforms (like console or PC), and if community matters, going tablet-first may not be the right decision for you. Tablets are a super exciting, shiny, fancy new platform, but you shouldn’t get caught up in the hype and forget to make objective, smart decisions.

However, if you want to tell a story, making a tablet game may be the right choice. Tablets are a great way to reach an existing community in a new way, especially on devices like Kindle Fire, where the audience isn’t large enough for independent developers to get the biggest bang for their (development) buck. With more entertainment brands and well-known franchises entering the game space, there are new dollars to be spent on platforms that might remain unexplored by “traditional” game developers.

The point is, tablet gaming is an emerging market. The potential is here, and with it comes risk. Know your objectives, know your target audience, and most importantly, proceed with caution.(source:gamesbrief)


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