PopCap公司将于明年初在日本发布首款手机社交游戏服务。

最近，世界顶尖的休闲游戏和手机游戏开发公司PopCap宣布将与日本Square Enix（安尼斯次方）旗下的TAITO公司合作，为日本市场开发一款精致的手机社交游戏服务Pop Tower。

Pop Tower中将包含PopCap公司长期以来的《宝石迷阵》、《祖玛》等经典游戏。游戏中会加入专为日本玩家量身打造的角色扮演元素，同时还会融入更多与朋友互动的社交元素。

Pop Tower这项新服务是在PopCap日本东京工作室监管下的首部作品，同时也昭示着PopCap公司的全球发展策略。此前在今年8月，PopCap与中国最大的社交网站人人网达成合作，而9月又宣布与韩国顶尖游戏供应商NcSoft达成合作，在韩国发行了PopCap的首部网络多人游戏服务PopCap World。

PopCap

而这次公布的Pop Tower信息再次标志着PopCap公司在全球网络和社交策略的又一个里程碑。该公司的单人手机游戏目前在日本的销量已经突破100万，而Pop Tower则标志着PopCap公司进入手机社交游戏领域。据统计，该行业在2009年创收近10亿美元。

作为拥有丰富经验的游戏公司，TAITO是首批进军手机社交游戏市场的公司之一，发布了多款成功的手机社交游戏。对此，PopCap亚太副总裁James Gwertzman表示：

手机设备上的社交游戏即将风靡全球市场，而日本抢占了潮流的先机。而我们PopCap所想做的就是赶在潮流之前，而不是追赶潮流。我们希望做到最好，我们会投注大量精力和时间开发真正具有创新价值的游戏。我们很看好日本这个全球第二大游戏市场，尽管长期以来鲜有西方公司在此获得成功。

PopCap坚信将思想和行动本地化是拓展全球市场的关键因素。因此我们在日本创建了一个本地团队，我们为可以和TAITO开展合作而感到兴奋。PopCap是希望Pop Tower能将我们公司最好的游戏如《宝石迷阵》和《祖玛》带给日本客户，同时从中发掘可以与全球游戏玩家共享的游戏体验。

凭借着经典的《宝石迷阵》游戏，PopCap公司堪称是休闲游戏领域的创始人。在过去的十年中该公司开发的《植物大战僵尸》等创新游戏更巩固了其在游戏领域的先锋地位。它是少数几家能够成功适应各种新平台和新技术变化的游戏开发公司之一。

近来，PopCap公司在手机和社交游戏领域也颇有成就，旗下第一款iPhone游戏《宝石迷阵2》在2008年7月发布以来一直在App-Store排名前20，而该公司的第一款社交游戏《宝石迷阵闪电战》也自2008年12发布后以100万日活跃用户排名Facebook游戏前列。

TAITO公司的资深内容副总裁Mr Akihito Shoji表示，拥有《宝石迷阵》等各种知名游戏的PopCap Games公司可以说是休闲游戏巨头公司。目前社交游戏市场正以惊人的速度成长，我们对这次的合作充满希望。手机社交游戏是我公司整体发展策略的一个关键部分，我们公司投注了大量精力设计和经营这些有趣而又培养玩家交流互动的游戏。凭借我们在手机社交游戏市场的经验及PopCap宝贵的游戏资产，我们的合作一定可以为游戏玩家带来全新的体验。

PopCap相关

PopCap Games是一家全球顶尖的休闲视频游戏开发商、发行商兼运营商。旗下多种简单而有趣的休闲游戏在各种平台上受到了各个年龄层玩家的欢迎。PopCap公司成立于2000年，总部设于华盛顿州西雅图。在西雅图、旧金山、芝加哥、温哥华、都柏林、首尔、上海和东京等全球各地总共有职员350名。迄今为止，该公司旗下游戏的全球下载量为15亿，其中经典的《宝石迷阵》的销量近5000万件。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

- PopCap’s First Mobile Social Game Service to Launch in Japan Early Next Year

PopCap Games, worldwide leader in casual and social games, today announced a partnership with TAITO Corporation (TAITO(R)), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd to launch Pop Tower(TM), a dedicated mobile social game service for the Japanese market.

Pop Tower will house custom-built social adaptations of PopCap’s stellar global game brands including Bejeweled(R), Chuzzle(R) and Zuma(R), and will tie them together with an all-new metagame with RPG elements, tailored for Japanese audiences. Not only will the Pop Tower edition of each game feature all-new game modes, they will also include social elements that allow users to interact with friends. The playing experience will be further expanded upon through a wide array of in-game virtual goods and premium service options.

This new game service is the first product released under the supervision of PopCap’s Tokyo office, and is representative of PopCap’s focused global strategy, which has already generated major announcements in China and Korea in recent months. In August, PopCap confirmed a strategic partnership with one of China’s largest social networking sites, RenRen, and in September, PopCap announced an agreement with NCsoft, leading provider of online games, to bring PopCap’s first online multiplayer game service, PopCap(R) World, to Korea.

Today’s announcement marks another major milestone for PopCap in terms of its global online and social strategies. The company has already sold more than 1 million units of its single player mobile games in Japan, but Pop Tower marks PopCap’s arrival into the mobile social gaming space, which generated over $1 billion in revenue in 2009.

A veteran of the game business from the earliest days of the arcade industry, TAITO has made a seamless transition to the mobile, connected world of today. TAITO was one of the first major game companies to enter the burgeoning mobile social game market, releasing more than a half dozen successful titles to date. James Gwertzman, PopCap’s Vice President for Asia/Pacific, said:

Social games on mobile devices looks set to dominate gaming worldwide and Japan is already ahead of the curve. PopCap is about identifying the curve and getting ahead of it. It’s not about being “trendy” or “first”; it’s about being the best; taking the talent and time to create something genuinely innovative. The Japanese game market is the second largest in the world, but historically, few Western companies have succeeded here.

PopCap believes the way to succeed globally is to think and act locally. We’ve set up a local team in Japan, and are very excited to collaborate with TAITO, one of the most dynamic Japanese companies in the social mobile space today. Our ambition for Pop Tower is to bring the best of PopCap – core game franchises like Bejeweled and Zuma – to Japanese customers; and hopefully make some discoveries about the mobile social space that we can then share with gamers internationally.

PopCap – along with flagship franchise Bejeweled – is widely regarded as a founding father of the casual games industry. Over the past 10 years, the company has solidified its reputation as a games pioneer by innovating new game genres exemplified in games such as BAFTA-nominated, Plants vs. Zombies(TM). PopCap is one of the few game developers/publishers that has successfully adapted itself to an ever-increasing variety of new gaming platforms and technologies.

Most recently, the company has gained notice for its success in the mobile and social spaces: it’s first iPhone game, Bejeweled 2, has been in the top 20 App-store apps since its July 2008 launch, while the company’s first social game, Bejeweled Blitz, launched in December 2008, is one of the top games on Facebook with over 4 million daily active users (DAU).

Mr Akihito Shoji, TAITO’s Senior Vice President of Content, said:

With Bejeweled and a host of other successful properties, PopCap Games is a casual gaming giant. The social game market is undergoing remarkable growth, and we have high hopes for this partnership. Mobile social game are a critical part of our overall strategy, with much of our resources devoted to the design and management of games that are not only fun pastimes, but also foster interaction and communication between players. We’re confident that our mobile social market experience and PopCap’s strong casual properties is a winning combination, and one that will deliver a whole new experience to the game users.

Developed by TAITO under the supervision of PopCap’s Tokyo office, Pop Tower is due to launch in early 2011 on GREE, a leading Japanese social network.

About PopCap

PopCap Games is the leading global developer, publisher and operator of casual video games: fun, easy-to-learn, captivating games that appeal to all ages across PC, mobile, social and other platforms. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000 and has a worldwide staff of more than 350 people in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, B.C., Dublin, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. Its games have been downloaded over 1.5 billion times by consumers worldwide, and its flagship franchise, Bejeweled(R), has sold more than 50 million units. （source: Prnewswire）