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每日观察:关注2014年中国手机游戏玩家ARPPU等消息(5.9)

发布时间:2014-05-09 11:27:22 Tags:,,,

1)据gamasutra报道,King日前发布了2014财年第一季度报告,指出其收益同比上季度相对持平,而利润则有所下滑。

King指出《Candy Crush Saga》占公司第一季度总收益的67%,其月独立用户降至1190万,低于上季度的1220万。

平均每付费用户收益为18.02美元,高于上季度时的17.32美元。日活跃用户增长至1.43亿,超过上季度时的1.24亿。

king revenue(from King)

king revenue(from King)

截止2014年3月31日,King收益为6.067亿美元,略高于上季度时的6.017亿美元,利润为1.272亿美元,低于上季度时的1.592亿美元(游戏邦注:King去年第一季度收益为2.059亿美元,利润为5270亿美元)。

2)据gamezebo报道,King本月初在Facebook低调发布了新款游戏《Diamond Digger Saga》这款爆破连线消除游戏,要球玩家清除砖块将水流引向底部的出口,从而找到宝藏。

Diamond Digger Saga(from gamezebo)

Diamond Digger Saga(from gamezebo)

目前King尚未公布其移动版本的发布时间,但值得注意的是,苹果App Store已经在1月份出现了一款名为《Diamond Digger》的游戏。由此不难预测,King或将再与另一家公司卷入游戏名称风波。

3)据gamasutra报道,微软与北卡罗莱纳州立大学最近展开的联合调查结果指出,当代计算机科学课程不足以让学生认清真正的游戏开发现状,游戏开发实际上更重视创意性以及同非工程师人员的合作能力,而不是传统的软件开发技能。

该调查样本为364名微软开发者,其中有145名游戏开发者,100名是微软Office开发人员,119名从事其他微软的软件项目开发工作。

The-Video-Game-Development-World(from writethegame.com)

The-Video-Game-Development-World(from writethegame.com)

调查人员指出,比起传统软件开发者,游戏开发者更倾向于在需要更多创意以及人际交流技能的多样化团队中工作。他们一般习惯用自己认为“敏捷”的方法执行开发过程,并且迭代设计的频率也比传统软件开发者更高。

4)Superdata日前发布报告预测,中国玩家今年在手机游戏上的投入将达30亿美元,其消费速度有可能在明年超过美国人。

中国平均每付费用户收益(ARPPU)以及转化率自去年以来均增长超过20%。

china(from venturebeat)

china(from venturebeat)

美国有2.42亿玩家每年投入约32亿美元,中国有2.66亿玩家一年投入30亿美元,但美国月平均总服务台户增长速度已经减缓,其市场已经趋于饱和。

2014年第一季度,美国ARPPU增长11%,达到21.6美元,而中国ARPPU则增长21%,达到32.46美元。

值得注意的是,在过去一年中美国每安装成本增长了37%,但用户投入却没有明显增长,从而导致该市场的低利润性。而中国每安装成本则降至更为理性的水平,低于每用户平均收益,这意味着游戏开发者更容易在此创收和实现利润。

5)据venturebeat报道,动视暴雪首席执行官Bobby Kotick日前表示,Bungie即将推出的科幻电子游戏《Destiny》有望成为公司的下一款10亿美元大作。

bungie_destiny(from theregister.co.uk)

bungie_destiny(from theregister.co.uk)

他称该游戏订单显示这款将于9月9日发布的作品有可能成为史上最热门游戏之一,动视暴雪在该游戏的营销、开发和其他成本投入为5亿美元,这款游戏将成为2014下半年六大主流发作游戏之一。

6)据gamasutra报道,《Minecraft》开发者Markus Persson在最近《滚石》杂志采访中谈到了自己对Mojang工作室的十年规则很随意,他希望他们能够继续保持工作室的盈利性,如果不能那也没有关系,因为他们已经享受了10年有趣的时光。他们曾在去年向员工表示,“如果我们今年不能盈利,Mojang就是死路一条。你们可能也得另谋出路。”

markus-notch-persson(from technews)

markus-notch-persson(from technews)

Persson称自己青少年时期从未真正享受过探索世界的乐趣,因为他只能坐在家里学习编程;同时也谈到了《Minecraft》的成功给自己的个人和职业生涯带来的影响,并承认这款游戏的成功让自己的生活变得更加复杂。(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) King profits are up from last year, but down from recent quarters

By Mike Rose

Update: Since the New York Stock Exchange opened this morning, King’s share price has dropped by around 13 percent, and appears to be continuing a downward trend.

Original story: Candy Crush Saga creator King today released its first quarter results for the 2014 fiscal year, recording flat revenues and a drop in profits compared to the previous quarter.

Today’s earnings release is the first since King’s IPO — the social games company launched on the New York Stock Exchange in March, and quickly faltered.

The company noted at the time that Candy Crush Saga alone accounted for 78 percent of King’s total gross bookings, and that it needed to diversify its game catalogue more.

The company now says that it has managed this, as Candy Crush Saga accounted for 67 percent during the first quarter of this fiscal year, thanks in part to the new players added to other games like Farm Heroes Saga.

King says that it is seeing regular Candy Crush Saga players paying less into the game now — its total monthly unique payers dropped to 11.9 million users last quarter, down from 12.2 million quarter-over-quarter.

However, it says that these players are spending money across the other King games thanks to cross-promotion between the games, and as such, average revenue per paying user is up to $18.02 compared to $17.32 quarter-over-quarter.

King’s total daily active users also increased, up to 143 million DAUs this quarter compared to 124 million in the previous quarter.

But these additional players do not appear to be translating into boosted revenue and profits. For the quarter ended March 31, 2014, King recorded revenue of $606.7 million, up slightly from $601.7 million quarter-over-quarter, and profits of $127.2 million, down compared to $159.2 million quarter-over-quarter.

Still, the company is doing better than it was a year ago, before Candy Crush Saga really kicked off — King’s first quarter results a year ago were revenues of $205.9 million, compared to $606.7 million now, and profits of $52.7 million, compared to $159.2 million now.(source:gamasutra

2)King quietly launches Diamond Digger Saga to Facebook

By Jim Squires

If it ends in “Saga,” it’s not hard to guess what studio is behind the latest craze on Facebook. This week King launched Diamond Digger Saga on the social network, a Collapse-style match-3 game about digging deep in search of treasure.

The mechanics seem pretty straightforward. Water enters through the top of the board, and you’ll need to clear away blocks to help it reach an exit at the bottom. Each stage has a finite number of boards to guide the water through before you reach the treasure-filled bottom.

There’s no word yet on a mobile release, though considering King’s standard M.O., we figure it’s only a matter of time.

It’s also worth noting that there’s already a game on the App Store called Diamond Digger that launched in January, so… hooo boy.(source:gamezebo

3) Study suggests game development demands more creative coders

By Alex Wawro

A recent study conducted by Microsoft Research in tandem with North Carolina State University suggests that contemporary computer science programs may be inefficiently preparing students for the realities of game development, where creativity and the ability to collaborate with non-engineers is more valuable than it might be in traditional software development.

The study surveyed 364 Microsoft developers, of whom 145 made games, 100 worked on Microsoft Office, and 119 worked on various other Microsoft software projects.

“We wanted to evaluate which skills are important to game developers versus other fields of software development,” stated NC State assistant professor computer science Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill in a press release issued by the university. “These findings could influence how we teach aspiring game developers.”

The survey that each participant was asked to complete was created by Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill in conjunction with two Microsoft Research representatives, Thomas Zimmermann and Nachiappan Nagappan, and was based on interviews the trio conducted with 14 developers from within and without Microsoft who had experience in the game industry.

Excerpts of those interviews are published in the paper, and they make for fascinating reading.

Based on the responses of those surveyed, the study authors concluded that game developers tend to work in more diverse teams that require more creativity and interpersonal communication skills than traditional software developers. They also tend to use development processes they perceive to be “agile” and iterate on their designs more often their compatriots in traditional software development.

“Our results suggest that special skills, beyond those taught to most computer science students, would be beneficial for students thinking about moving into games,” reads the paper. “Chief among them is the ability to communicate with non-engineers.” (source:gamasutra

4)China’s mobile games market doubling this year to $3B, will surpass U.S. in 2015 (report)

John Koetsier

You can’t monetize in China, right? Wrong, apparently.

According to a report that research firm Superdata released yesterday, Chinese gamers are on track to spend $3 billion this year on mobile games. And they’re spending at a rate that will surpass the U.S. next year.

“The U.S. mobile game market is showing signs of saturation,” Superdata says, adding that “China’s average revenue per paying user (ARPPU) and conversion rate both grew more than 20 percent since last year.”

We recently released the VB Mobile Games Monetization report.

As a result, companies like Microsoft have announced their entry into the Chinese market with the Xbox One home console, and gaming-specific companies such as King have inked deals with Tencent to release the popular Candy Crush Saga in China.

Data on the Chinese market is notoriously difficult to acquire.

Superdata typically derives its data directly from participating games, not unlike a Flurry or App Annie. However, for this report the company combined its resources with a partner, Talking Data, which focuses on the China.

Talking Data says its gathers its information from 20,000-plus apps and 400 million mobile users, while Superdata focuses on 450 big apps, with millions of users.

Worldwide, the app stores and chat networks account for just shy of 1.5 billion mobile games, the report says. The U.S. has 242 million players spending about $3.2 billion a year, while China has 266 million (and presumably growing) who are spending $3 billion a year at current revenue run rates. But growth in U.S. monthly average users has slowed as the market has saturated, Superdata claims.

Tellingly, while average revenue per paying user in the U.S. edged up 11 percent to $21.60 in the first quarter of 2014, ARPPU in China jumped 21 percent to an astounding $32.46.

The most painful number for American game developers, however, has to be cost per install.

In the U.S., this number has jumped 37 percent in the past year, according to Superdata. But spending hasn’t changed anywhere near that amount, resulting in lower profitability. Meanwhile in China, cost per install — which more than doubled in January — has settled back down to more reasonable levels. Importantly, it’s well below average revenue per user, meaning game developers have an easier time making money and generating profits.(source:venturebeat

5)Activision says sci-fi shooter Destiny is on track to become next $1B video game franchise

Dean Takahashi

Bungie’s upcoming Destiny sci-fi video game is on track to become Activision Blizzard’s next $1 billion franchise, said chief executive Bobby Kotick said today in an analyst conference call.

Kotick said that preorders for Destiny show that it could be one of the biggest launches of all time. The sci-fi shooter is due to arrive on a number of platforms Sept. 9. The statements show — and reinforce — that Activision Blizzard is all about betting big on blockbuster video games.

“We expect it to be the biggest new intellectual property launch in history,” said chief financial officer Dennis Durkin in the conference call.

Activision Blizzard is spending an estimated $500 million on marketing, development, and other costs for Destiny, according to Kotick. That’s a lot of money, but Activision Blizzard has $4.3 billion in cash.

Destiny is one of six major game releases coming in the second half of the year.

Eric Hirshberg, the chief executive of Activision Publishing, said in the call that game sales for the Xbox 360/PS3 generation have been dropping even as sales climb for the new consoles.

He said that Destiny will have multiple ways to play, with multiplayer and single-player.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is scheduled to debut on Nov. 4. It’s under development from Sledgehammer Games and is the first COD to benefit from a three-year development cycle. Hirshberg said it is expected to be the biggest Call of Duty game yet. He said he was also excited about launching Call of Duty Online in China with partner Tencent. But he gave no date for that launch.

Mike Morhaime, the head of Blizzard Entertainment, said that Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft has been downloaded more than 10 million times on the PC and it is at the top of the free apps rankings on the iPad. He said new Hearthstone content will be coming this summer.

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor is coming this fall as an expansion for World of Warcraft, and he said people have preorded more than 1 million copies already, even if Blizzard lost another 200,000 players this quarter.

He also said Blizzard is working on launching Heroes of the Storm (an online multiplayer strategy game), and it will become Blizzard’s fifth active game on its Battle.net gaming network. He said that tickets for Blizzard’s BlizzCon event go on sale tomorrow.(source:venturebeat

6)Minecraft creator remains casual about the future of Mojang

By Alex Wawro

“Hopefully, we are going to keep making money at Mojang, but if we don’t, that’s fine. We just have 10 fun years, and then, the last year, we’d say to our employees, ‘If we don’t make any money this year, Mojang is going to be dead.  So you might want to look for new jobs.”

- Minecraft creator Markus Persson explains his 10-year plan for Mojang in a new interview with Rolling Stone.

The remarkable success of Minecraft has brought an equally remarkable amount of media attention upon creator Markus Persson and his studio Mojang. Persson discusses the impact that attention has had on his personal and professional life, as well as his plans for the future of Mojang, in a recent Rolling Stone interview.

The story makes for a good read, and much of it is given over to explaining Mojang’s success and the impact that had on Persson.

“I never really had the fun teens of exploring the world, because I was sitting at home, learning programming,” Persson says, when asked about whether or not the success of Minecraft contributed to the failure of his marriage. “Then everything started changing. I got the opportunity to do all the things I wanted to do…It got more complicated.”

There’s also a decent bit of rumination from Persson about his future as a developer, and the future of Mojang as a whole. Persson seems casual about his 10-year plan for the studio, but when the Rolling Stone reporter presses him he admits to making a conscious effort to relax the pressure he feels to make his next game after Minecraft.

“I think the only way I could make something fun and big is if I don’t expect it to be,” said Persson, and in fact his recent projects have been very small in scale — his most recent game, Drowning in Problems, is a browser-based game created in 48 hours for the Ludum Dare 29 game jam. (source:gamasutra


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