1）据serkantoto报道，日本手机游戏开发商Colopl当前市值达34亿美元，超过了Zynga（32亿美元）、DeNA（31亿美元）以及GREE（23亿美元）等行业巨头。

该公司最近与Glu Mobile进行国际游戏发布合作，在11月份下载量达6000万次，旗下游戏《Quiz RPG: World Of Mystic Wiz》在11月底用户就达到1400万，目前该游戏用户为1700万；Colopl宣布这款游戏用户全部来自日本（这意味着将近13%的日本人口都在玩《QuizRPG》）。其竞争对手、日本头号智能手机游戏《Puzzle & Dragons》截止去年12月15日用户为2200万。

colopl-quiz-rpg(from serkantoto)

2）据gamasutra报道，EA旗下工作室Chillingo日前宣布其创始人Chris Byate以及Joe Wee已离职。

Chillingo cofounders(from manchestereveningnews)

这两者于2005年成立了Chillingo，并在2010年被EA收购。这是继PopCap联合创始人Dave Roberts和Jason Kapalka本周离开公司之后（游戏邦注：据venturebeat报道，EA旗下另一工作室Criterion Games创意总监Alex Ward以及工作室总监Fiona Sperry也于近日离职），EA再度流失重要人物的消息。

3）据gamasutra报道，《Far Cry 2》以及《Splinter Cell》设计师Clint Hocking最近已离开Valve Software。他此前为育碧创意总监，之后任Lucasarts创意总监，于2012年加入Valve。

Clint Hocking(from n2g.us)

知情者透露，他曾是《求生之路3》这个尚未公开项目的团队成员；Hocking在自己的网站上也确认了这一离职消息，但并未透露具体原因。

4）据venturebeat报道，开发商Bohemia Interactive所推出的僵尸游戏《DayZ》自2013年12月发布以来，目前销量已经超过80万份。该游戏售价30美元，目前收益已达2400万美元。

dayz(from overclockersclub.com)

该游戏开发者Dean Hall在Reddit发贴表示，他原先认为一个季度销量达25万份已经算是了不起的成功，万万没想到一个月之内销量就接近80万份。

5）据gamasutra报道，知名MMO游戏元老Brad McQuaid（游戏邦注：曾参与开发《EverQuest》，担任索尼在线娱乐的《EverQuest 2》和《PlanetSide》首席创意官）日前宣布成立新MMO工作室，并透露了第一个游戏项目。

Brad McQuaid(from joystiq.com)

McQuaid于2013年9月成立了这家尚未命名的新工作室，他通过Twitter透露目前正在开发的MMO游戏是《Pantheon:Rise of the Fallen》，预计开发周期至少3年，并计划不久展开Kickstarter众筹融资活动。

6）据The Verge报道，Zynga日前低调宣布旗下7款社交游戏支持比特币支付方式。

即日起玩家就可以在Zynga.com的《FarmVille 2》、《CityVille》、《ChefVille》、《CoasterVille》、《CastleVille》、《Hidden Chronicles》以及《Hidden Shadows》中通过Bitpay服务使用比特币购买游戏道具。

Bitcoin(from gamezebo)

在Reddit的评论中，许多开发者发贴表示有兴趣添加比特币付费服务，以便节省其游戏全球发布的成本。因为这意味着在全球统一使用一种货币，就无需担忧多个不同国家之间的交易或货币成本。

值得注意的是，Zynga游戏支持比特币的消息公布后，比特币价格从12月19日的500美元飙升至1000美元，但这一消息对Zynga股票行情却并没有多大影响。

7）据venturebeat报道，小米日前发布信息图表指出，小米手机用户目前已覆盖58个国家，主要用户在中国；在广东最具人气，北京次之，第三是江苏。

miui_global-scale(from MIUI)

值得注意的是，上海小米用户比例相对较低，有可能是因为该地区使用苹果和三星设备的用户比例更高。

miui_location-breakdown(from MIUI)

miui_top-10-apps(from MIUI)

但小米手机的主要用户并非游戏玩家，在小米应用商店8月份使用频率最高的前10款应用中，仅有《极品飞车》和《Temple Run 2》这两款游戏入围，该公司声称其应用商店通过游戏创造的收益为150万美元。

muiu_chinese-cities(from MIUI)

而在东北的辽宁地区，游戏却是小米用户主要手机活动。（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）Colopl’s Quiz RPG Hits 17 Million Users, 13% Of Japan’s Population

by Serkan Toto

Tokyo-based Colopl (3668), which I recently called “the biggest mobile game maker you never heard of”, is on a roll.

Colopl’s market cap currently stands at US$3.4 billion, higher than that of Zynga (ZNGA, US$3.2 billion), DeNA (2432, US$3.1 billion), or GREE (3632, US$2.3 billion).

Outside of Japan, Quiz RPG maker Colopl recently made some headlines by partnering with Glu Mobile (GLUU) for international game distribution.

The company’s cumulative downloads hit 60 million back in November, with the flagship title “Quiz RPG: World Of Mystic Wiz” alone boasting 14 million users by the end of that month.

Fast forward to today, and said game is now at even 17 million players, thanks to a new flood of users coming in over the holidays.

This time, Colopl is making clear that these users are all based in Japan (meaning roughly 13% of this country’s population is playing Quiz RPG).

The game was launched on Android in March last year, followed by an iOS version one month later. It’s also available in Korean and English.

Quiz RPG will have no problems jumping over the 20 million mark soon, especially in the light of the ongoing shift from feature phones to smartphones and PCs to tablets on the Japanese market.

By way of comparison: Japan’s top smartphone game Puzzle & Dragons boasted 22 million users in Japan by December 15 last year, the last time maker GungHo Online Entertainment (3765) updated that number.（source：serkantoto）

2） More high-profile EA departures, as Chillingo founders leave

By Mike Rose

Chillingo today confirmed that founders Chris Byate and Joe Wee have left the company, providing more high-profile departures for parent company Electronic Arts.

Byate and Wee founded Chillingo as a video game publisher back in 2005, and the company was acquired by EA in 2010.

Now a Chillingo rep has confirmed the duo’s departure, although Gamasutra was told there is no further information being given at this time.

This is the latest in a string of big names leaving EA studios. PopCap co-founders Dave Roberts and Jason Kapalka are leaving the company this week, while Criterion Games co-founders Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry also left recently. （source：gamasutra）

3）Noted game designer Clint Hocking leaves Valve

By Mike Rose

Newsbrief: Gamasutra sources have independently confirmed today that Far Cry 2 and Splinter Cell designer Clint Hocking has left his most recent employer, Valve Software.

Hocking was previously creative director at Ubisoft, and later creative director at Lucasarts. He left the latter position to join Valve in the summer of 2012.

Now the industry veteran has moved on from Valve. It was thought that he was part of the team working on the upcoming, unannounced Left 4 Dead 3.

Hocking’s own website confirms that he left the company at the end of 2013, while Gamasutra sources have confirmed that this is the case. The designer has not confirmed the reason for his departure as-of-yet. （source：gamasutra）

4）DayZ’s standalone release has made nearly $25 million in under a month

Jeffrey Grubb

DayZ isn’t finished yet, but that’s not stopping thousands of gamers from picking up the survival shooter.

Developer Bohemia Interactive has sold more than 800,000 copies of DayZ since it debuted in December, according to creator Dean Hall (via Destructoid). At $30 per copy, the zombie title has already earned an estimated $24 million.

“We — Bohemia and I — had very ambitious plans for 2014 already, however, this amount of sales was completely unexpected,” Hall wrote in a post on Reddit. “Honestly, 250,000 within a quarter was what I would have considered a success. So to move nearly 800,000 in under a month is crazy.”

DayZ is an open-world online shooter that has players attempting to survive in a zombie apocalypse. They can gather up supplies and team up with others to attempt to overcome starvation, the undead, and other humans.

The survival game is available to purchase now in a test state through Steam’s Early Access program. Those that purchase it now will also get the final-release version of DayZ at no extra cost when Bohemia finishes it.

Hall confirmed that the huge influx of cash will help the company with development.

“We’ll be finalizing our [development] roadmap in mid-January, but it is safe to say that this kind of result will be having a very positive effect on that roadmap,” he wrote.（source：venturebeat）

5） Veteran MMO designer Brad McQuaid reveals new studio

By Mike Rose

Brad McQuaid, an industry veteran best known for his work on high-profile massively multiplayer online games, has founded a new MMO studio and revealed its first game.

McQuaid has plenty of experience in the field — he co-designed EverQuest, and acted as chief creative officer for Sony Online Entertainment on EverQuest 2 and PlanetSide.

He later co-founded Vanguard: Saga of Heroes studio Sigil Games, which was bought up by SOE, and then returned to SOE in 2012 to work on a Vanguard reboot.

Having left SOE again last year, McQuaid founded a new studio in September, which is currently working on an MMO called Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

The designer confirmed the new as-of-yet unnamed studio and game via Twitter and his website, and said that we can expect the game to be in development for at least three years. He also plans to launch a Kickstarter for the project sometime soon. （source：gamasutra）

6）Zynga leads the way with Bitcoin payments for 7 games

By Joel Brodie

When I put together my Top 10 Predictions for 2014 last week, I actually dropped an 11th prediction — that bitcoin would start to make inroads as a currency for games. Which is a bummer, because had I kept it in there, I would already have proven myself to be an able prognosticator.

The Verge is reporting that Zynga has quietly announced it has added Bitcoin support for seven of its web games.

Starting today you can buy items on Zynga.com in FarmVille 2, CityVille, ChefVille, CoasterVille, CastleVille, Hidden Chronicles and Hidden Shadows with Bitcoins via a test partnership with Bitpay.  Per Zynga’s post on Reddit, they are making this move because they say that Bitcoin is getting too big a payment method to ignore.  Surely the other reason is that it’s a good bit of publicity to start the new year with, and that it positions Zynga as a leader amongst game developers (where it is usually accused of being a follower).

In the comments in Reddit, many developers have posted that there is a lot of interest in adding Bitcoin support to help cut costs as they distribute their games globally.  It makes sense:  one currency used around the world means no transaction or currency costs to worry about across hundreds of countries.

The problem with Bitcoin is that it’s a highly speculative currency, making it easy for billionaires to invest in but hard for game players to justify using to buy an item for $1 (that could cost $5 the next day, based on how high or low it goes.)

Case in point, the Zynga news is credited for pushing the price of Bitcoin from a low of $500 on Dec 19 to $1000/Bitcoin!  The Bitcoin impact on Zynga stock?  Not so much of a jump…（source：gamezebo）

7）Chart of the Week: Tracking the rise of Xiaomi

by Jon Jordan

Upcoming Chinese Android OEM Xiaomi is on a roll.

It recently announced 30 million users for its MIUI Android OS fork.

These are mainly purchasers of its high-end but cut-price Android devices, although you can download the OS to your Android device too if you so wish.

The company expects to keep growth going in 2014, and will be expanding outside China to other countries in southeast Asia, including Singapore.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons it’s released an English language infographic, digging into its audience.

Going global

Indeed, it’s keen to show that it already has global scale with users in 58 countries.

Of course, these are mainly in China, with Guangdong (aka Canton) the most popular location; not a surprise as it’s the most populous region in China.

Next comes the capital Beijing, followed by Jiangsu, a high tech region including the cities of Nanjing and Suzhou.

One surprise, however, is that Shanghai ranks relatively low; perhaps because its inhabitants are more likely to have high-end devices from Apple and Samsung.

Going for games?

MIUI users don’t seem to be primarily gamers, though.

Only Need for Speed and Temple Run 2 ranked in terms of the top 10 most used apps, although in August, the company claimed to be generating $1.5 million in gross revenue from games via its app store.

Similarly, only in the northeastern region of Liaoning is gaming listed as the top activity on MIUI.（source：pocketgamer）