作者：Shubhi Tandon

根据Nielsen，随着新加坡，香港和马来西亚主导着亚洲市场的智能手机渗透率，亚洲的手机游戏市场面对着一个巨大的机遇。随着手机游戏市场的不断发展，应用内部盈利也将跟着发展起来。根据InMobi最近的报告，游戏广告创造出了比餐饮，汽车和电信空间广告更高的点击率。

全球手机游戏联盟（GMGC）的国际高级主管Maxim de Wit与Digital Market Asia谈论了东南亚的手机游戏产业和应用内部盈利状况。GMGC于2015年1月在曼谷举办了2015年的Mobile Game Asia大会。

GMGC_Maxim-de-Wit(from digitalmarket)

问题：对于手机游戏产业来说哪个市场的表现最佳？

全球三大表现最佳的手机游戏市场分别是日本，美国和中国。根据市场情报公司CyberZ和研究公司Superdata，日本的手机游戏收益在2014年达到了65亿美元，紧跟着是美国的32亿美元以及中国的30亿美元。

着眼未来，我们可以发现中国市场巨大非常大的发展潜力。中国的手机游戏市场的收益在今年第一季度便会赶超美国市场，即根据Niko的2014年中国手机游戏市场报告，中国的手机游戏玩家数量将从2014年的2.88亿发展到2018年的7.7亿。

相比之下，像日本和美国这些已成形的市场的发展速度有可能趋于平缓。例如美国便已经达到了发展饱和点。

问题：根据研究，游戏广告创造出了比餐饮，汽车和电信空间广告更高的点击率。你对此有何看法？

出现这种情况的主要原因是游戏的应用内部广告更加直接且更吸引人，并且也不断变得更具激励性。

具有激励性的广告让用户能够通过选择观看并与广告互动而获得游戏内部奖励，这对于用户，广告商和开发者来说都是有益的。有效做到这点的一个游戏典例便是《过马路》，这是由2名开发者所组成的澳大利亚团队所开发的游戏。通过结合选择去支付应用内部购买，游戏不仅能够获得来自玩家的正面评价，同时也能够得到不错的盈利。

问题：2014年的游戏盈利中有什么突出的趋势吗？

2014年我们所看到的主要趋势在于免费模式作为主要业务模式在全球范围内拥有了自己的立足点。许多亚洲市场，特别是中国，韩国和日本都适应了免费模式，即该模式的收益占总收益的90%。

尽管应用内部购买仍然占据着主要的收益，但是广告的作用也在不断增强。根据App Annie & IDC的数据，在像美国，巴西和英国等市场，到2017年广告收益将占据手机游戏收益的70%。

尽管免费模式不一定是未来的主要趋势，但该模式在亚洲市场仍然是最有效的。因为该模式主要依赖于少量玩家去创造所有收益，而市场也需要综合思考如何从他们的大部分玩家中获取盈利。

问题：2014年游戏产业中的主要趋势是什么？在2015年的游戏产业中我应该着眼于怎样的趋势？

2014年的主要趋势在于用户获取的挑战不断升级。不断增加的游戏数量让游戏曝光变得更加困难，并且CPI（每安装成本）也不断增加。对于那些缺少市场营销预算的的小型开发者来说要想获得关注便更加困难。这种趋势在2015年将继续维持着，越来越多游戏将在新游戏中使用现有的IP去利用现有的用户基础。

另外一个主要趋势便是我们将看到一些尝试着使用较少的本土化战略去创造能够征服所有市场中的用户的公司（如Supercell）与那些创造出完全本土化并且主导着当地市场的游戏的成功公司（如中国的腾讯，日本的mixi和GungHo）之间的较量。我们可以期待是否有人能够创造出能够与在不同市场中进行本土化的游戏相抗衡的游戏策略。在日本和中国市场角色扮演游戏将继续发展着，并且具有挑战的纸牌收集游戏将成为2015年最赚钱的游戏。

问题：在2015年免费游戏模式是否仍会受到欢迎？

免费游戏将继续作为主要的业务模式，但我们也会看到开发者想出一些全新的盈利机制将更多用户转换成付费用户。根据Superdata，2014年5月付费用户的比例在美国的比例是5%，在中国是2.9%。这意味着游戏主要依赖于少量用户贡献收益（游戏邦注：即我们所谓的鲸鱼用户）。

问题：免费模式是否会继续留在这里？

在过去几年里免费模式的确留下了自己的印记并且在今后几年里仍会作为主要模式存在着，但广告收益的重要性将不断提升。比起RPG，策略和纸牌游戏，行动体育和休闲游戏拥有更低的应用内部购买，并且它们将更大地受益于广告盈利。

问题：2014年在亚太地区最受欢迎的游戏有那些？

在中国，最受欢迎的休闲游戏包括腾讯的《天天跑酷》和《Massive Plane Warz》，中核游戏有Locojoy的《MT Online》和Supercell的《部落战争》和《海岛奇兵》。

在日本则是GunHo的《智龙迷城》，mixi的《怪物弹珠》，Line的《LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum》和《Line Pokopoko》。

我们可以发现在中国，日本和其它亚洲市场中一些表现最佳的游戏都利用了像微信和LINE等社交信息平台，如此看来这些社交平台对于这些游戏的分销作用非常强大。

问题：游戏下载背后的主要推动力是什么？

游戏下载背后的主要推动力是应用商店排行，口口相传以及社交媒体。根据Ilovegame的研究，在中国37%的用户将口口相传作为自己下载游戏的原因，而23%的用户将社交媒体作为原因。

问题：除了横幅广告外还存在哪些全新的应用内部广告方式？

全新方式包括间质性广告（占据整个屏幕的广告）和视频广告。经过证实奖励性广告非常成功，它让玩家能够通过自愿选择观看广告而获得游戏内部奖励（游戏邦注：如游戏货币或额外的生命），让广告体验变得更加积极，并更有可能创造成功的用户转换。

问题：这时候手机游戏产业所面临的关键挑战是什么？

主要存在两大挑战，即用户获取和付费用户的低转换率。随着越来越多游戏的问世，开发者发现自己的游戏越难得到注意—-特别是对那些缺少营销预算的小型开发者来说。盈利挑战，或者增加付费用户比例的挑战是迫切需要得到解决的问题。在亚洲，用户总数更青睐于免费模式—-所以在这里挑战便在于如何让更大部分的玩家去创造利益。

在亚洲还存在一个挑战便是市场分裂性。有些公司成功创造出极具本土化的游戏，这便导致这些游戏将主导它们各自的市场。另一方面，有些亚洲开发者更注重全球市场，认为国际性用户比本土市场的用户更有价值。随着亚洲手机游戏在接下来几年里将不断成熟，我们将找出最适合当地开发者的发展策略。

问题：在亚太地区，手机游戏产业的未来是怎样的？

中国的手机游戏市场将继续大幅度地发展，但市场中的竞争也会日趋激烈。每年在中国大概有4000款手机游戏会问世—-平均算来也就是一天会有超过100款游戏诞生。除此之外这里还有超过15000个内容供应者。

在中国，市场规模以及激烈的竞争创造了更多想要扩展全新市场的巨头们。在2014年一些主要例子便包括阿里巴巴投资了1.2亿美元于游戏公司Kabam，腾讯也选择投资于韩国的4:33 Creative Lab。

此外，东南亚的手机游戏市场承诺，随着智能手机的渗透率不断增强，该区域将在今后几年取得巨大的增长。根据On Device Research在2014年的研究。东南亚的一些市场的智能手机渗透率还只有23%，所以这里存在巨大的发展空间。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Japan leads mobile gaming market worldwide: GMGC’s Maxim de Wit

Shubhi Tandon

With Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia leading smartphone penetration in Asia, according to Nielsen, there is a huge opportunity for the mobile gaming market in Asia. As the mobile gaming market will grow, so will in-app monetisation. According to a recent report by InMobi, gaming advertisements yielded higher click through rate (CTR) against dining, automotive and telecom space advertising.

Maxim de Wit, VP of International at the Global Mobile Game Confederation (GMGC), speaks to Digital Market Asia, about the mobile gaming industry and in-app monetisation in South-East Asia. GMGC will organise the Mobile Game Asia 2015 in Bangkok on January 23, 2015.

Q. Which are the best performing markets for the mobile gaming industry?

The global top three best performing mobile gaming markets are Japan, the US and China. According to market-intelligence firm CyberZ and research firm Superdata, Japan’s mobile gaming revenue reached 6.5 billion USD in 2014, followed by the US with 3.2 billion USD and China with three billion USD.

Looking forward, we see a lot of growth potential in the Chinese market. China’s mobile gaming market is bound to overtake the US market in terms of revenue in the first quarter of Q1, with mobile gamers in the country expected to grow from 288 million in 2014 to 770 million by 2018 according to Niko’s Chinese Mobile Games Market Report 2014.

In comparison, established markets like Japan and the US are likely to see slower growth. The US, for example, is already hitting its saturation point.

Q. According to research, game advertisement yield higher CTR against dining, automotive and telecom space advertising. What are your views on it?

The main reason for this is that in-app advertisements in games are much more intuitive and immersive, and are becoming more and more incentivised.

Incentivised ads allow users to choose to watch and interact with an advertisement in return for in-game rewards, which means a great outcome for the user, advertiser and developer.
One example of a game that has done this well is Crossy Road, which was developed by a team of two Australian developers. By combining the option to pay for in-app purchases that are a little over a dollar and incentivised ads, the game got both great reviews from players, and has also done well in terms of monetisation.

Q. What are the trends that stood out in the monetisation of games in 2014?

The main trend we saw in 2014 was that the freemium model established itself globally as the dominant business model. Many Asian markets especially China, Korea and Japan have adopted the freemium business model which accounts for about 90 per cent of total revenues.

Although in-app purchases still account for most of the revenue, ads are definitely on the rise. According to data from App Annie & IDC, advertisements might account for as much as 70 per cent of the mobile games revenue in some markets such as the US, Brazil and the UK by 2017.

While the freemium model is not necessarily the future, it’s certainly the model that works best in Asia. Since the model relies on a very small percentage of players generating all of the revenue, the industry is going to need to think strategically about how to monetise a larger percentage of their players.

Q. What are the key trends in the gaming industry in 2014? What trends should we lookout for from the gaming industry in 2015?

A key trend that stood out in 2014 is the increasing challenge of user acquisition. The increasing number of games is making it harder and harder for games to be discovered, and the CPI (cost per install) is increasing. This is making it harder especially for smaller developers, which have limited to no marketing budgets, to get above the noise and get noticed.
A continuing trend in 2015, I think, is that more that more and more games will rely on using pre-existing IP in their games to leverage the already existing fan-base for the IP to gain traction.

Another key trend is that we will see some companies trying to create games that can conquer users in all markets with very little localisation (such as Supercell) versus the success of companies that create games that are fully localised and dominate their local markets (such as Tencent in China; mixi and GungHo in Japan). It will be interesting to watch if there is anyone that can invent a consistent recipe for games that can compete with heavily localised games in different markets.
Role-playing games (RPGs) will also continue to rise in Japan and China and challenge collectible card games as the most lucrative games in 2015.

Q. How popular will the Free-to-Play model be for games in 2015?

Free-to-Play will remain the dominant business model, but it will interesting to see what new monetisation mechanics developers will come out with to convert a larger percentage of the users to paying users. According to Superdata, the percentage of paying users in May 2014 was about 5 per cent in the US and 2.9 per cent in China. This means games are depending on a very small percentage of users to spend large amounts (a.k.a. “whales”).

Q. Is the freemium model here to stay?

The freemium model has certainly made its mark in the past year and will continue to be the dominant model in the coming years, but the revenue share of ads will continue to increase. Action, sport and casual games see lower in-app purchases than RPGs, strategy and card games, and will benefit from monetising through ads.

Q. Which were the most popularly downloaded games in 2014 in APAC?

In China some of the most popular casual games were Tencent’s “WeChat Dash” and “Massive Plane Warz”, and midcore games such as Locojoy’s “MT Online” and Supercell’s “Clash of Clans” and “Boom Beach”.

In Japan the most popularly downloaded games in 2014 were GunHo’s “Puzzle & Dragons”, mixi’s “Monster Strike” (which dethroned “Puzzle & Dragons” as the number one after two years), and LINE’s “LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum” and “Line Pokopoko”.

It is interesting to mention that some of the best performing games in China, Japan and other Asian markets leveraged social messaging platforms such as WeChat and LINE, showing the distribution power of these social platforms for games.

Q. What is the key driver behind game downloads?

The main key drivers behind game downloads are app store’s rankings, word of mouth and social media. According to research by Ilovegame, in China, 37 per cent of the correspondents cited word of mouth and 23 per cent cited social media as the reason for downloading games.

Q. What are the other new ways of in-app advertising besides banner ads?

New ways are interstitial advertisements (ads that take up the whole screen), and video advertisements. Incentivised ads are proving to be very successful, as it lets the player voluntarily watch an advertisement in return for an in-game reward (such as game currency or extra lives), making the experience of the ad more positive, with a much higher chance of a successful conversion.

Q. What are the key challenges that the mobile gaming industry is facing at the moment?

Two of the key challenges are user acquisition and low conversion rate of paying users. With more and more games being published, developers are finding it increasingly difficult to stand out and get noticed – particularly for smaller developers, who do not have the budget to market their games in the same scale as the bigger players. The challenge of monetisation, or increasing the volume of paying users, will need to be addressed by the industry at large. User preferences in Asia are very much in line with the freemium model – the challenge is tapping into a larger segment of players to generate revenue.

An additional challenge in Asia is the fragmentation of the markets. Some companies have been successful in creating games that are very localised, which have resulted in these games dominating their respective markets. On the other hand, a number of Asian developers are looking more at the global market, thinking of the worldwide audience rather than simply their home market. As the Asia region’s mobile gaming arena matures in the coming years, it will be interesting to see which strategies prove to be most successful for local developers.

Q. What is the future of the mobile gaming industry in the APAC region?

China’s mobile gaming market will continue to see large growth, but competition within the market is getting intense. Approximately 4,000 mobile games are published in China every year – on average, that’s more than 100 games a day. Beyond that, there are over 15,000 content providers.

The size of the market, as well as the intense competition in China has created many large players that are now actively looking to expand to new markets. Some prime examples of this in 2014 are Alibaba’s 120 million USD investment in gaming company Kabam, and Tencent’s investment in Korea’s 4:33 Creative Lab.

Furthermore, Southeast Asia’s mobile gaming markets promise massive growth over the next few years, as smartphone penetration increasing rapidly. According to a 2014 study done by On Device Research, some markets in Southeast Asia have a smartphone penetration rate as low as 23 per cent so there is still a lot of room to grow.(source:digitalmarket)