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人物专访:GetJar首席市场营销官谈手机游戏运营模式

发布时间:2010-10-18 12:56:05 Tags:,,,

面向Android手机用户推出的免费游戏《愤怒鸟》广告赞助版本,在GetJar应用商店甫一露面,短短数秒内就挤破9万次下载量(编者注:其首日下载量已超100万次)。近日,Mobile-ent记者采访了GetJar首席市场营销官帕特里克·莫克(Patrick Mork),了解到GetJar与该游戏开发商Rovio的合作,以及作为独立应用商店GetJar今后的市场策略等有关情况。

Patrick Mork_image

Patrick Mork_image

莫克认为,“我们一直都在说,必须让用户免费下载应用内容……不能指望用户在下载前就为这些内容付费,手机游戏仍然是个年轻产业,用户在下载前根本不知道自己掏钱买的是什么东西。我们也已经认识到,高价游戏发行商仍然得想法实现游戏营收。”

这对GetJar而言是一个两难的抉择。一方面,它迫切希望其应用商店可以提供更多的高价游戏和付费应用,另一方面,GetJar目前还没有自已的计费平台,从莫克的话中可以判断,设置计费系统明显有违GetJar一向奉行的免费下载宗旨。

他表示,“在计费系统这一问题上,我们在市场策略上做了一些基本的改变。我们不会开发自己的计费平台,也不会直接在GetJar.com提供计费服务,但是我们会让开发商自主选择适合的计费运营商,并将其服务植入自己的游戏中。”

换句话说,开发商可以在GetJar应用商店中投放免费游戏,但可以通过付费系统,出售游戏内置功能等内容,莫克还强调,开发商通过此举可以保证100%的游戏营收(当然,如果计费运营商从中抽成的话,这一营收比率还会减少。)

getjar

getjar

GetJar仍将推行“按下载次数付费”的广告赞助运营模式,开发商要为其产品在该网站的广告位置付费。

莫克说,“高价应用是我们的下一个目标,我们不久会宣布与一些不错的计费运营商合作,方便开发商直接在GetJar上出售内容。”

虽然莫克并没有直接列举合作对象名称,但Mobile-ent怀疑贝宝(PayPal)很有可能参与其中,该支付系统与Scoreloop平台的合作,已明确表态其有意涉足手机内容领域。

那么,《愤怒鸟》登陆GetJar的广告赞助运营模式又有何说法呢?据称,开发商Rovio似乎笃定谷歌AdMob广告服务将为该游戏的Android版本带来巨大收益。

莫克认为,“非iPhone平台的应用付费情况并不乐观,这也损害了开发商实现游戏营收的能力。”

他表示,对用户来说,为非iOS平台的游戏和应用付费实在很琐碎也很复杂,在这些问题彻底解决之前,广告赞助是最有吸引力的选择……广告赞助开始成为开发商当前最理想的运营模式,在此之前他们已经受够苦等计费解决方案出台的煎熬。”

不过,他同时还指出,更精明的开发商会选择混合的游戏运营模式,广告赞助仅仅是其中之一,“诀窍就是拥有足够大的发行规模,这样才能保证开发商从广告每千次印象(CPM)中顺利创收。”

GetJar已从eBuddy、Nimbuzz等此类非游戏应用中斩获成百上千万的下载量,因此发行数量是其最大的卖点之一。

AngryBirds

AngryBirds

免费的《愤怒鸟》Android版本对用户而非无疑极具杀伤力,但这种措施是否会危及其高价游戏市场?

如果用户可以免费体验像《愤怒鸟》这么好玩的游戏,那么他们是否会继续追捧更多免费游戏,对付费游戏更加抵触?

莫克表示,“许多例子说明,发行商才是他们最大的敌人……如果你去观察苹果App Store,就会发现最叫座的游戏都标价99美分,这其实是发行商对营收数据的盲目追求所致,这种定价也损害了游戏品牌价值。”

莫克曾就职于Glu Mobile公司,见证了该公司手机游戏的鼎盛时期,所以对App Store之前被迫中断的运营模式颇有研究。他认为,“苹果对这一行业做出了不少贡献,但也摧毁了应用定价,引起了竞相杀价……越多人打价格战,应用品牌价值就流失得越快。开发商要注意的是,强大的产品或品牌确实物有所值,而且这个价值是通过价格反映出来的。”

这是一个微妙的结论,GetJar不提供自己的计费平台,但莫克却认为发行商必须捍卫高价应用的价值,相信这一点将通过GetJar与计费运营商的合作得以实现。

莫克表示,“精明的发行商已经开始提供连续剧式的内容或者下载等级,以便通过长期的以少积多,实现游戏营收……我们认为这是未来的发展趋势,游戏可以像电视连续剧一样提供分集下载,加上强有力的第三方计费解决方案和全球发行规模,我们有理由相信手机游戏产业前途光明。”(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译)

GetJar’s Patrick Mork explains THAT Angry Birds deal

As mobile entertainment coups go, bagging an exclusive on the free, ad-supported version of Angry Birds for Android takes some beating.

That’s what GetJar did today, having struck a deal with developer Rovio to launch its smash-hit game for Google-powered handsets.

GetJar’s site has been manfully struggling to cope with the load ever since – more than 90,000 people downloaded the game in a matter of seconds when it first went live.

ME talked to Patrick Mork, chief marketing officer at GetJar, to find out how the deal came about, and how it fits with the independent app store’s strategy going forward.

“As we’ve always said, downloads of content should be free,” says Mork.

“You can’t expect consumers to pay for content before they download it. The industry is still too new for this, and consumers don’t know what they are paying for. That said, we realise premium publishers still need to monetise games.”

It’s a dilemma for GetJar. On the one hand, it’s keen to offer more premium games and (paid) apps through its store, yet on the other, it doesn’t currently have a billing platform, and judging by Mork’s comments, is philosophically opposed to the idea of having one.

“We’ve made a fundamental change in our strategy on billing,” he continues. “We won’t develop a billing platform of our own or offer billing directly on GetJar.com. Instead, we will let any developer choose any billing provider they like and integrate it into their game.”

In other words, developers can offer their games for free through GetJar, and then use any payment provider they like to sell content in-game – Mork stresses that they will then keep 100% of the revenues (less whatever cut the payment provider takes, obviously).

Instead, GetJar will continue with its ‘pay-per-download’ advertising business model, where developers pay the company for placement on its portal.

“Premium content is our next big push, and we’ll be announcing partnerships in the near future for developers to team up with the right people to be able to sell their content directly on GetJar,” he says.

Naturally, Mork doesn’t name names, but ME wonders if PayPal could be in the frame for this kind of partnership, having already signified its intentions in the mobile content sector with a deal with Scoreloop.

What does the Angry Birds deal say about ad-supported business models, though? It seems like a big vote of confidence from Rovio that Google/AdMob ads will make it plenty of money on Android.

“Payments outside iPhone simply don’t cut it, and this is hurting developers’ ability to monetise their content,” says Mork.

He says GetJar believes that currently, paying for games and apps on non-iOS platforms is too fragmented, complex and difficult for consumers, and while these problems will eventually be solved, advertising is a tempting option right now.

“Ad-supported helps consumers download for free, which is the easiest way to generate adoption of content,” he says.

“It’s clearly starting to be a viable business model for developers who are fed up of waiting for silver-bullet billing solution to arrive.”

However, he points out that the smarter developers will use a combination of different business models to make money from their games, with advertising just one of those.

“The trick is to get enough scale in distribution so developers can make real money from the CPMs,” he says.

With GetJar having generated tens of millions of downloads from non-game apps like eBuddy and Nimbuzz, clearly scale is one of its key selling points.

Free Angry Birds on Android is undeniably appealing for consumers, but is there a danger that this kind of offer could be harmful to the wider premium games market?

After all, if people can get a game as addictive as Angry Birds for free, won’t they seek out more free games, and be more resistant to paying?

“The truth is that in many cases, publishers have been their own worst enemies,” says Mork.

“If you look at the App Store, you see top branded games now going for 99 cents. This is driven by a relentless focus on topline revenue numbers by some publishers, but does erode brand value.”

Mork’s previous job was at Glu Mobile in its branded mobile games heyday, so he had a good view of the pre App Store models, which have since been heavily disrupted.

“For all the good Apple has done the industry, it has also destroyed pricing and created a race to the bottom,” he says.

“As more people compete on price, even brands lose value. What developers need to understand is that a strong product and/or brand does have value, and that value should be reflected in the price.”

It’s a nuanced argument: GetJar will not be offering its own billing platform, but Mork thinks publishers need to stand up for the value of their premium games – and its upcoming partnerships will presumably help them do it on GetJar.

“Smart publishers are already making episodic content or downloadable levels that allow them to monetise in small pieces but over a longer period of time,” he says.

“We think this is the future. Games should be like TV series: episodic. Combine that with a solid third-party billing solution and global distribution, and there is reason to be bullish on the future of the mobile games business.”(source:mobile-ent)


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