1）Newzoo最新报告指出，2014年全球游戏市场规模增长10%，达到836亿美元。该市场前25家公司总计创造了541亿美元收益。

从游戏收益来看，前十名公司分别是中国腾迅、索尼、微软、EA、动视暴雪、苹果、谷歌、King、任天堂和育碧。

这十家公司中只有动视和任天堂2013至2014年收益出现下滑，最引人注目的是手机游戏公司King居然击败任天堂位居第八。

Newzoo_Top10_Public_Companies_Game_Revenues_FY2014(from Newzoo)

报告还预测，2015年中国将超越美国成为世界上最大的游戏市场，其规模将达222亿美元（美国为220亿美元）。届时全球游戏行业市场同比将增长9.4%，达到915亿美元。

该报告认为美国手机游戏市场仍未饱和并将持续发展，预计2015年该市场收益将增长15%。

Newzoo_Global_Games_Market_2015_Per_Screen_Segment_V2（from Newzoo)

2）据《企鹅俱乐部》前美术师博客透露，迪士尼互动娱乐本周遣散了大量曾从事虚拟世界《企鹅俱乐部》项目的员工（包括洛杉机、英国和加拿大三地的员工）。

club penguin(from iresearch.com)

迪士尼于2007年斥资7亿美元购得这一儿童虚拟世界的所有权，但之后该项目一直无法实现利润目标，其三名联合开发者也相继从迪士尼离职。

加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省本地媒体Castanet最近报道称有30名迪士尼加拿大工作室（游戏邦注：原名为New Horizon Interactive公司，曾与RocketSnail合作创建了《企鹅俱乐部）成员为此失业，并声称该项目位于洛杉机、英国布赖顿工作室（已经关闭）的员工也将面临裁员。

3）据venturebeat报道，Kabam首席运营官Kent Wakeford日前表示，由于业务重心转向中国市场，公司在近期裁员约25人。

Kabam(from news.yzz.cn)

Kabam于去年获得阿里巴巴1.2亿美元投资，其目标是成为中国手机游戏市场第一名，计划在今年仅发布4款游戏（去年发布12款游戏）。这些游戏的平均开发周期也从去年的12个月延长至18个月，以便打造“AAA级手机游戏”，并且取消了“未达到AAA质量的游戏”。尽管经历此番裁员，Kabam员工仍然还有825人左右。

4）据venturebeat报道，日本视觉小说游戏《Hakuoki》日前向iOS和Android平台推出了一个售价高达28美元的付费版本。值得注意的是，《无尽之剑3》和《Minecraft》这种付费游戏最高售价也仅为7美元。智能手机平台上的视觉小说游戏较为罕见，这种以武士爱情为主题的游戏一般售价仅为3美元，并且只包括一个章节，而《Hakuoki》开发商Gloczus却表示该游戏还有14个章节，每章节售价为3美元，玩家也可以一次性付费28美元购买所有内容。

Hakuoki(from ycool.com)

该游戏已登陆日本PS 3\PS 2\PSP\任天堂DS和3DS平台，甚至还被改编成了电视动画。（本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao）

1）Top 25 game companies generate 65% of revenue, as industry grows 10%

By Christian Nutt

The global game market grew 10 percent in 2014, to a total size of $83.6 billion, says research firm Newzoo. The top 25 companies in the market generated $54.1 billion of that — or 65 percent.

The company also ranked the top 10 game companies around the globe; China’s Tencent handily took the number one spot over Sony, the number two, which in turn beat Microsoft. For the platform-holders, only game revenue is counted.

Of note is that EA and Activision switched places; the only two companies in the top 10 whose revenues went down from 2013 to 2014 are Activision and Nintendo. Mobile studio King beat out Nintendo for 8th place; according to Newzoo, if it were public, Supercell would rank at number 11.

You can see Newzoo’s full ranking below; if you want to know more about who ranked where and why, you can head over to Newzoo’s blog. If you need more depth, there’s the full, paid research report. (source：gamasutra）

Global game market to grow to $91.5 billion as China overtakes U.S.

By Christian Nutt

China will likely eke out a win over the U.S. as the biggest market for games in 2015, analyst firm Newzoo says, at $22.2 billion to the U.S. $22 billion. That’s earlier than expected.

The entire games business, globally, will grow by 9.4 year-on-year to a robust $91.5 billion overall, the firm states.

This data comes as part of the company’s new Global Games Market Report, which is both available for purchase and helpfully summarized in this blog post.

The report breaks down regions and types of games, as the graphic below illustrates. Smartwatch games and VR are broken out for the first time in the new report, but are both insignificant in 2015, the firm warns.

A bigger surprise, perhaps, is Newzoo’s suggestion that the U.S. mobile market is not yet saturated, and continues to grow, with 15 percent revenue growth in 2015.(source：gamasutra）

2）Report: Layoffs strike Disney’s Club Penguin

By Alex Wawro

Disney Interactive has laid off a number of people who work on its decade-old virtual world Club Penguin this week across offices in Los Angeles, England and Canada, according to both a local news report and a blog post from a former Club Penguin artist.

Disney paid $700 million to acquire the kid-focused virtual world and its British Columbian creators back in 2007; Club Penguin went on to repeatedly miss profit goals, and its three co-creators have since departed Disney.

But it’s still operating, and today British Columbian local news outlet Castanet reports that 30 people at Disney Canada (formerly New Horizon Interactive, which created Club Penguin in partnership with RocketSnail Games) have lost their jobs.

More layoffs are believed to be occurring at Club Penguin offices in Los Angeles and Brighton, England, with Castanet reporting that the latter office is being shut down. Gamasutra has reached out to Disney Interactive for confirmation and further comment on these cutbacks.

A Disney Interactive representative reportedly issued the following statement to Castanet regarding the layoffs:

“Disney Interactive continually looks to find ways to create efficiencies and streamline our operations. As part of this ongoing process, we are consolidating a small number of teams and are undergoing a targeted reduction in workforce.”

As always, if you or someone you know was affected by this deal you can email Gamasutra to tell your story confidentially.（source：gamasutra）

3）Kabam pivots toward China with hopes of a $1 billion game

By Christian Nutt

Kabam has shed around 25 staffers as it pivots toward the Chinese market. The company’s COO Kent Wakeford put it to Re/code like this: “we’re really going all in in China.”

“The opportunity to create a $1 billion annual mobile game franchise is real,” CEO Kevin Chou writes in a blog post discussing the company’s restructuring plans.

China’s Alibaba, one of the country’s most successful internet companies, invested $120 million in the San Franicisco-based studio last year — presumably with an eye toward the execution of this strategy. Two more “undisclosed” Chinese companies have also invested in Kabam, Chou’s writes.

The company’s goal is now to reach the top of the mobile charts in the Chinese market. “The real opportunity is what’s happening at the top. Kabam is only one of a handful of companies positioned to go after the top of the market,” Wakeford told Re/code.

The studio will release only four games this year — down from 12 last year. It’s also expanded the development cycles of the games, according to a Cnet report: 18 months, on average, up from 12 last year. The goal is “triple-A mobile games.” The company has also cancelled games “that were not triple-A quality,” according to Chou’s post. He also writes that the company wants to strengthen its ties with Hollywood; it has already released games based on The Fast and the Furious and The Lord of the Rings.

The company has been restructured to assist with this move: RPG and Strategy studios, as well as a China Region studio and Platform and Studio Operations, an internal-facing prong of the company. Even after the layoffs, Kabam will have over 825 staffers.（source：gamasutra）

4）This game thinks it’s worth $28 on mobile

Dale North

Gaming execs: Join 180 select leaders from King, Glu, Rovio, Unity, Facebook, and more at GamesBeat Summit. This is an invite-only event so apply now!

Asking nearly $30 in a world of free games seems crazy, but one company is doing it anyway.

Hakuoki, a Japanese visual novel game, comes to iOS and Android today with a $28 premium edition. The standard release of this samurai-themed romance story costs $3 and includes only the first chapter. Developer Gloczus says players can either spend $3 for each of the remaining 14 chapters or shell out $28 for the premium release, which includes a bonus chapter. Compare this to the current prices for premium games, with games like Infinity Blade 3 and Minecraft topping out at $7. That’s about the price of a decent steak dinner!

Visual novels are pretty rare on smartphones — and are almost as rare on any platform on in the West, though some franchises hold wide appeal. Spike Chunsoft’s Danganronpa and Capcom’s Phoenix Wright series are bringing Western fans to the genre. But those more popular in Japan — romantic and adult visual novels — remain rare.

Meanwhile, these visual novels, which feature anime-style art and branching storylines, are hugely popular in Japan. As an example, Hakuoki is a major series in Japan, with releases on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nintendo DS and 3DS. It was even adapted for television animation. Generally, titles from the choose your own adventure-style genre rarely make it to Western shores, but when they do, they usually land on handheld game systems such as the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS. A mobile release is a rare treat for Western fans.

The $28 asking price may be surprising, especially when listed among free and $1 games on app stores, but Hakuoki in line with visual novels on handhelds. It also lines up with other iOS visual novel releases such as the Japanese-only Steins;Gate HD, a title that started out on the Xbox 360 and has since sold half a million copies.（source：venturebeat）