1）休闲游戏公司Arkadium日前针对1500名美国手机和Facebook游戏玩家的调查报告显示，手机游戏玩家的付费意愿比Facebook玩家更高，但他们第一时间挑选的游戏数量明显少于后者。

43%受访者表示自己曾在手机游戏中购买IAP，而Facebook用户的这一比例仅为38%。

但有56%的Facebook游戏玩家每周玩过3款以上的游戏，而具有同一习惯的手机游戏玩家仅为48%。

crossplatform-games-infographic(from arkadium)

有46%受访者认为能够与好友玩游戏是最重要的游戏功能，其重要性超过好友分享消息、在游戏中购买道具和商品，解琐内容和接发通告等功能。

2）据pocketgamer报道，人人游戏最近针对1040名中国平板电脑和手机用户（年龄介于15-64岁）的问卷调查显示，70%用户经常使用移动设备的即时通信（聊天）功能，60%常用这些设备看新闻，还有56%常用于听音乐。

仅有31%经常用这些设备玩游戏，其比例与网银和电子邮件功能相当。

chinese-mobile-internet-use-q2-2013(from renren games)

但问到手机应用使用率时，游戏使用率高达65%，仅次于社交通信应用（77%）。

分析称出现这种情况的原因在于，中国手机用户不愿意因为长时间在线玩游戏（包括网页和应用版本）而消耗大量网络流量。

3）移动分析公司Mixpanel最近数据指出，相对智能手机而言，儿童用户更喜欢在平板电脑这种更大的触屏设备上玩游戏。

Mixpanel数据分析显示，77%儿童更喜欢在平板电脑上玩游戏，而更青睐智能手机的儿童用户仅为10%。有17%成人在平板电脑上玩游戏，而在智能手机上玩游戏的成人占比高达65%。

children tablet(from telegraph.co.uk)

有趣的是，儿童用户经常更新设备操作系统，有81%儿童当前使用的是iOS 6，仅有18%使用iOS 5，1%使用iOS 4。与此同时，有80%成人使用iOS 6，3%使用iOS 5，17%使用iOS 4。

另一项值得注意的结果是，儿童用户留存率普遍较低，平均仅有12%儿童会在一个月后重返某款游戏应用，而成人用户的这一比例超过41%。这意味着儿童应用开发者必须投入更多时间长时间吸引用户，而非向更多儿童推销自己的应用。

4）据法国网站iGeneration报道，不少法国大型电信运营商表示iPhone 5C市场需求并不理想，目前仅收到数百份订单。

不少评论认为iPhone 5C是瞄准中国市场的商品，尽管该设备售价比iPhone 5S低100美元左右，但对许多用户来说还是太贵了。

iphone5c(from pocketgamer)

苹果至今未公开iPhone 5C订单信息这一举动也不禁令人担忧该设备究竟有多大市场潜力（游戏邦注：苹果在过去四年的惯例是，每推出一款新iPhone都会公布相应的首日订单数量）。

5）据gamasutra报道，《暗黑破坏神3》项目主管John Hight日前宣布这款游戏将于2014年3月18日关闭其中的拍卖行功能。

Diablo-3-The-Auction-House(from softpedia.com)

Hight在该游戏博客中指出，他们设计和植入拍卖行的初衷是为用户提供方便而安全的交易系统，但最后却发现该功能削弱了游戏的核心玩法。（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)Mobile gamers spend more, but play less, than those on Facebook

by Keith Andrew

The result of a move to build out its own cross-platform capabilities, casual gaming specialist Arkadium has published a series of stats detailing US mobile and Facebook gamer habits.

The firm claims that a survey of 1,500 gamers across the country revealed that, while mobile gamers appear more willing to part with their cash in play than their Facebook counterparts, the number of games they take on in the first place is often smaller.

Facing the facts

Arkadium reports 43 percent of those questioned claimed to have made in-app purchases within a mobile title. That compares favourably to the 38 percent who have done so within a Facebook title.

On the flip side, however, 56 percent of Facebook gamers play more than three games a week. That’s a higher share than the 48 percent of mobile gamers who take on more than three titles across the same period.

The results, detailed in a short infographic, also suggested that, when it comes to social interaction, 46 percent said the ability to play games with their friends is the most important feature, ahead of sharing with friends, purchasing in-game items and goods, unlocking content and notifications.（source：pocketgamer）

2）Chart of the Week: Chinese players prefer apps over web gaming

by Jon Jordan

Released last week, there’s plenty of interesting information from RenRen Games’ survey of 1,040 Chinese netizens aged 15 to 64.

Organised through mobile ad network Ader’s 7X24 platform, the respondents – who access the internet via mobile and tablet devices – were quizzed about a bunch of topics.

How do your gamers game?

When asked what they usually do with their mobile device, communications – notably instant messaging (70 percent) -was highest, followed by news (60 percent) and online music (56 percent).

Online gaming was ranked fairly low at 31 percent – around the same level as online banking or email.

But when asked about mobile app usage, games came out at 65 percent, second only to social communications at 77 percent.

It’s a marked difference given that the ‘mobile gaming’ was the end point of each question, the only difference being the path to it. Of course, Chinese mobile users prefer not to incur high data costs so always-on online games (whether web or app-based) are not popular.

Yet, in both situations, it’s also clear to see that the combination of games and social communications will be an explosive combination; something that the market is looking to as Tencent commercially launches the game platform element of its WeChat social messaging service.（source：pocketgamer）

3）Little fingers love big touchscreens: Kids favor tablets over smartphones for games

Dean Takahashi

Mixpanel’s mobile game stats: Kids love tablets.

This may not be a shocker, but kids overwhelmingly favor the big touchscreens of tablets over smartphones when it comes to playing games, according to mobile analytics firm Mixpanel.

The data from 15 billion mobile transactions a month shows that 77 percent of kids favor gaming on tablets compared to about 10 percent who favor smartphones. By comparison, 17 percent of adults play on tablets while 65 percent play on smartphones.

Suhail Doshi, the chief executive of Mixpanel, said in an interview with GamesBeat that the data makes sense on an intuitive level, as kids like the larger screens while adults often play while on the run during the work day, when their primary device is a mobile phone. Younger kids often don’t have their own smartphones as well.

“Kids are getting very used to using these devices,” Doshi said.

As those kids in the tablet generation grow up, developers can expect more and more of their audience to shift toward tablets.

“Developers who make games for kids should really consider prioritizing tablets,” said Nicole Leverich, the head of corporate communications at Mixpanel.

For adults, the analogy is getting a quarter from your parents to play a game at an arcade. Today, kids have regular access to connected devices at a very young age. Kids are especially found of the iPad, while Android tablets aren’t nearly as plentiful among the groups studied, Mixpanel found.

The study looked at a series of games designed for kids under the age of 10 as played on iOS devices. It also looked at games with a primary audience of adults, and it looked at a control group of multiple age groups.

Developers who target different audiences should keep this data in mind. If they target kids, they should optimize their games for tablets first. If they target all ages, they should make sure their apps perform well on all devices.

One of the interesting facts is that kids are very good at keeping their devices up to date. About 81 percent of kids are using iOS 6, compared to only 18 percent for iOS 5 and 1 percent for iOS 4. That compares to 80 percent of adults using iOS 6, 3 percent using iOS 5, and 17 percent using iOS 4.

“People are keeping their devices up to date, even if they might be hand-me-down devices,” Doshi said.

Many developers may assume that they have to make their games work across all OS versions in order to reach the largest audience. But if the developers are targeting kids, they don’t have to worry about targeting older versions so much, and that will free the developers to create games that take advantage of new OS features.

Another interesting fact is that games for kids have remarkably low retention rates. On average, only 12 percent of kids return to a game app after one month. By comparison, more than 41 percent of adults will return to a mobile game after one month. That means that developers should spend more time making their apps more engaging, rather than marketing the app to more and more kids.（source：venturebeat）

4）iPhone 5C pre-orders only in the ‘hundreds’, says French carrier

by Keith Andrew

Carriers in France have reportedly branded iPhone 5C’s pre-order campaign as ‘disappointing’, with one suggesting it’s received only “a few hundred” orders for Apple’s latest smartphone.

French site iGeneration claims that figure comes from one of the country’s largest telecommunications companies, with rivals carriers also claiming consumer interest in iPhone 5C has been unexpectedly slow.

The article, which is written in French, brands the news as “worrying”, but adds that the country’s leading operators believe interest in the iPhone 5S will be much stronger come launch.

C is for challenging

The apparent slow start for iPhone 5C will no doubt worry Apple, however, which abandoned its usual routine of discounting existing models in favour of launching an entirely fresh ‘budget’ device.

Commentators believe iPhone 5C is primarily aimed at the Chinese market, though early reports suggest the device – which is around $100 cheaper than the iPhone 5S – is still too expensive for many consumers.

Apple’s decision not to publish iPhone 5C pre-order figures has also set alarm bells ringing, breaking with the tradition of the last four years, when Apple routinely pushed out day one pre-order totals for each new iPhone.

The iPhone amassed 2 million pre-orders in its first 24 hours.（source：pocketgamer）

5）Blizzard to shut down Diablo 3 auction house

By Kris Ligman

Share on twitter Share on facebook Share on gmail Share on stumbleupon More Sharing Services

“It ultimately undermines Diablo’s core game play.”

Diablo 3 project director John Hight has announced that the game’s troubled auction house feature would be shut down by March 18th, 2014.

“When we initially designed and implemented the auction houses, the driving goal was to provide a convenient and secure system for trade,” Hight wrote in Blizzard’s official Diablo 3 updates blog. “[However] it became increasingly clear that despite the benefits of the AH system and the fact that many players around the world [use it], it ultimately undermines Diablo’s core game play.”

Diablo 3′s auction house, which allows transactions in real-world currencies, has been at the epicenter of economic problems for the game in the past. Blizzard previously announced in May of this year that it was donating money raised by a recent duplication bug to charity.

In the announcement of the auction house’s closure, Hight added that the team was still “working out the details” of how to remove the auction house system from the game, but said an announcement was made early in consideration of players. The auction house closure acts in conjunction with Diablo 3′s planned Loot 2.0 system, which Hight said “will result in a much more rewarding game.”（source：gamasutra）