英国手机游戏开发商Tag Games日前宣布成立非游戏应用开发新部门Tag Apps的消息，这一举动究竟有何深意？它对Tag的核心游戏业务，包括其自主发行的iPhone游戏《侠盗飞车》（Car Jack Streets）和《Astro Ranch》等作品又会有什么影响？

car-jack-streets

为寻找答案，Mobile-ent网站记者近日采访了该公司总经理保罗·法利（Paul Farley），总算得知Tag Apps部门的成立并非该公司游戏业务下滑的前兆，而是向新领域进军的多元化发展策略。

法利表示，“我们的游戏业务在过去两年中的营收增长几乎是100%，游戏仍然是我们公司的主要重心。”

但继《Astro Ranch》这款iPhone游戏之后，Tag的自主发行业务就陷入了沉寂，这一点却是不争的事实。

对此问题，法利的解释是，“苹果App Store的地位已经稳固，Android应用商店正在崛起，而其他采用不同运营模式的发行渠道也还处于摸索状态，我们想暂时退一步，看看究竟哪一个才是最大赢家。”

据法利所称，尽管Tag接受的外包开发项目不乏其数，但自主发行业务仍然占公司总营收的三分之一以上。

他表示，“《Astro Ranch》曾经是我们从付费下载模式转向免费模式的一个惨痛教训，但目前该游戏的下载数据极大地鼓舞了我们明年的自主发行计划。我们正筹备重新推动自主发行业务，明年将发行《侠盗飞车》续集，《Astro Ranch》和其他新作品也将投放到新平台。”

换句话说，Tag Apps部门是对该公司游戏业务的一个“补充和延伸”而非替换性选项。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Tag: ‘Our games business has grown almost 100% year on year’

MD Paul Farley explains why Tag Apps won’t eat into Tag Games

Earlier today, UK mobile games developer Tag Games announced a new Tag Apps division, to focus on non-game apps for clients like Channel 4.

ME caught up with MD Paul Farley to find out what the move means for Tag’s core games business, including the self-publishing seen in iPhone games like Car Jack Streets and Astro Ranch.

Rest assured, the launch of Tag Apps isn’t a sign that games are performing badly for the company.

“Our games business has grown almost 100% year-on-year in revenue terms for the past two years and will remain the main focus of the studio,” says Farley.

It’s true that Tag has been quiet on the self-publishing front since the launch of Astro Ranch – its ambitious blend of FarmVille and Animal Crossing for iPhone.

Farley says that the main reason is “as the App Store consolidated and Android emerged, and others experimented with different business models, we wanted to step back and wait to see which were successful.”

Farley says that despite a big uptick in work-for-hire projects, self-publishing still accounts for more than a third of Tag’s revenues.

“Astro Ranch in particular was tough learning as we switched from a paid download model to free to play in a live market situation, but the data we have now is informing self-publishing strategy for 2011,” he says.

“We are in the process of ramping up self-publishing again and 2011 will see a sequel to Car Jack Streets, Astro Ranch on new platforms plus some new IP.”

In other words, Tag Apps is very much a “complementary extension” to that business, rather than a replacement for it.（source:mobile-ent）