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超休闲游戏的崛起(一): 划定不同游戏类型之间的界线

发布时间:2017-09-21 10:30:52 Tags:,

原作者:Guest Author 译者:Willow Wu

本文是系列文章的第一部分,预计会有三篇(第二篇可以阅读)。

自2008年App Store登台以来,手游市场百花齐放。

多亏了各种各样的助攻因素,10年之后App Store成了超过76万游戏的归属地,这么庞大数量真的是值得琢磨琢磨。

经过时间的历练,有三大类游戏(虽然大家对它们并没有划分得那么清楚)在手游中脱颖而出——休闲类,midcore和hardcore。手游行业基本上也是这三类游戏当领头羊,通过这三种游戏就可以判断玩家的偏好。

在这个系列文章中,我会说明为什么我认为除这三大类型外,还有一种游戏类型正蓄势待发。

但是首先,在这篇文章里我想说说那些曾经的日子和我们所处的现状。

big fish casual game(from bigfishgames.com)

big fish casual game(from bigfishgames.com)

App时代的黎明

还记得用翻盖手机和功能手机的黑暗年代吗?或者你不记得了?距离App Store问世已经过去很多年了,有些年轻的开发者们也许除了智能手机,其他东西都不知道。

好吧让我告诉你,想当年,手游还是小小的java应用,下载来的格式还是 .JAR。至于分销的话,都是国家通信公司在掌控,制定规则。而且并不存在标准化——确实啊,毕竟不管是硬件还是软件都很分散,而且盈利也是主要通过电信公司的收入分成。

问题当然就是没有几个玩家会特地去下载游戏,所以如果你是手游发行商,那就得和电信公司做好工作,因为做成默认app就是成功的唯一办法了。电信公司就像是守门人,如果你通过不了他们,那么你连机会都没有。

但意思不是说这就是那个年代手游开发者的唯一麻烦:用Java开发游戏不是什么有趣的事,不同的电信公司有很多不同类型的手机,设计方案需要对应不同平台,而且移动硬件设备功能也是非常差,因此,在游戏玩法、画面和音效上限制条件非常多。

毋庸置疑,2008年App Store的出现对app的发展和分销有着革命性的意义。突然之间,开发者们只需要考虑两种设备(初代iPhone和iPhone 3G),一条全球分销渠道还有好用的开发工具。

收入分成也有了标准。用户们可以很容易的找到、下载他们的app。当你回顾这个时刻,感觉真的像是新时代的黎明,各种新发明、新设备相继爆发。

休闲游戏:快餐式游戏成为热门&IAP的黎明

就在这种环境下,第一个手机游戏在iOS上发布了。业内支持者很快就开发出了像Super Monkey Ball (Sega)和Spore Origins (EA)这样的游戏,而且在APP Store发行时,Steve Jobs还把它们放在了的相当显眼的位置。

当时大部分的游戏都是付费下载,起步价为69美分,应用内付费(IAP)是不允许的。2009年,Rovio是第一个利用触摸屏功能赚钱的工作室,2012年Angry Birds的下载量就要超过10亿了。

接着,IAP功能开通,Candy Crush和King成功地从Facebook平台移植到移动平台,引入了社交功能还有十分吸引人的meta游戏,有效地教会了大批用户怎么通过IAP完成微支付。

Candy Crush Saga是西方休闲手游市场中早期的IAP先锋之一。

这些先锋们定义了我们现在在移动设备上所说的“休闲类游戏(casual)”。他们的主要游戏特征就是玩法比较直接,而且学起来也非常容易,这就吸引了一大批玩家。

Midcore:复杂盈利机制的出现

之后在2012年的夏末,Clash of Clans的出现再次改变了手游行业。Supercell认为可以把现有的游戏理念(游戏邦注:比如农场、反塔防)移植到另一种平台上,玩家可以专注在时间相对较短的流程上。

在此阶段,吸引人的meta游戏、触屏的自适应控制、简易的游戏设计一齐把手游行业提升到一个新高度。

当时,midcore游戏推动了异步多人游戏和社交功能的进一步发展,掌控了虚拟经济。

在经销方面,行业内出现了可拓展的新销售渠道,在那个时候,顶级的游戏开发者们做的事就是想尽一切办法获取用户:他们的用户获取团队明白了如何使用交叉推广、广告平台很多Facebook寻找新玩家。

同时,盈利方式变成了虚拟经济和全屏广告的结合体。

Core

好了,接着就是core类游戏,它的主要特征就是流程少,玩家也没有那么多,但是转化价值极高。虽然midcore和core之间的分界线是所有类别中最模糊的,而且还有些交叉领域,这里我要说的是Game of War或者Empires and Allies这样的游戏。

这些游戏在2013年开始火起来,这时候手游的已经非常普遍了。安卓也后来居上,多亏了先进的硬件设备,那些极其复杂的手游才得以实现。

Core F2P游戏要如何成功盈利?Game of War就是一个非常好的例子。

除此之外,由于core游戏的玩家有上百万人,社交功能就变成了盈利的基本要素。Machine Zone创始人Gabriel Leydon称Game of War是一个“高度结构化的Facebook”。

考虑到前期对游戏投入的时间,玩家不得不花钱。如果不花钱,那么他们就会功亏一篑,淘汰出局。由于Game of War不限制规模,游戏中永远都不会缺少交易,而且这些交易通常都非常划算,在玩家改变主意之前,性价比会不断提升,就如同这篇Game of War的分析所说。

Core类游戏的盈利很大程度上是靠那些砸大钱的玩家——游戏所具有的复杂性和精致程度能够留住这些土豪,而且有传闻说就算是普通消费玩家,他们的年平均消费也有550美元左右。

Core类游戏的盈利状况已经到达巅峰,兼具了复杂的虚拟经济、抽卡机制、社交诱因还有活跃的社区管理。

还有其他类似我上面说到的游戏,它们每一个都是手游玩法领域的先锋,制作这些游戏的公司创造了巨大的商业价值,身价都高达数十亿美元。

现在的问题是:我们是否完成了手游类别的进化工作?我认为答案是否。

确实,我认为还有一种能造成轰动的游戏类型将会出现,或者它还处于自我革新的阶段。

在下一篇我会告诉你它是什么。

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao
This article is part one of a planned three-part series.

Since the App Store first debuted in 2008, the mobile games landscape has flourished.

Thanks to various enabling factors, nearly ten years on, the App Store is home to over 760,000 games – a volume that is quite amazing to ponder.

Over time three rough categories (with admittedly blurry lines) have emerged within mobile gaming – casual, midcore, and core – that define players’ tastes and generally speaking dominate mobile gaming.

In this three-part series, I will cover why I think an addition to these categories is on the horizon.

But first, in this installment, I’d like to cover where we’ve been and where we are now.

The dawn of the app age

Remember the Dark Ages of flip and feature phones? Or perhaps you don’t? The App Store is old enough that some younger developers may have never known anything other than smartphones.

Well let me tell you, those were the days. Mobile games were small Java apps that you downloaded in .JAR files. In terms of distribution, the national carriers maintained walled gardens. And there was no standardisation – indeed both hardware and software were massively fragmented – and monetisation was chiefly through carriers with different revenue shares.

The problem of course was that few users went out of their way to download games, so if you were a mobile game publisher, getting “on deck” with the carrier as a default app was the only way to succeed. Carriers were the gatekeepers, and if you didn’t get past them, you didn’t stand a chance.

But it’s not like that was the only problem if you were a mobile game developer back then: building games with Java was no fun, there were literally dozens of different handsets across multiple carriers that had to be designed for, and mobile hardware was extremely underpowered, so the limitations on gameplay, graphics and sound were many.

The introduction of the App Store in 2008 of course revolutionised both app development and distribution: Suddenly there were only two devices (the original iPhone and iPhone 3G) to design for, one global distribution channel and robust tools to develop with.

Revenue share was standardised. Discovering and downloading was suddenly easy for users. When you look back at that moment, it really was like the dawn of a new era in terms of the burst of innovation and creativity.

Casual: “Snackable” mass appeal and the dawn of IAPs

It was in this environment that the first games were launched on iOS. Industry stalwarts moved fast to develop games like Super Monkey Ball (Sega) and Spore Origins (EA), which were highlighted on stage by Steve Jobs at the App Store’s launch.

Most games were paid downloads that started at 69p, and IAPs were not allowed. In 2009, Rovio was the first studio to really figure out how to capitalise on the touch screen with Angry Birds, which by 2012 would notch over a billion downloads.

Then when IAPs were introduced, with Candy Crush, King managed to transition from Facebook to mobile, introducing social hooks and an engaging meta-game, effectively teaching a large user base how to make micro-payments through IAP.

Candy Crush Saga was one of the early pioneers of IAPs in the Western casual mobile market
These pioneers came to define the category we now call ‘casual’ on mobile devices. Their products were characterised by relatively straightforward and easy to learn gameplay and appeal to a broad audience.

Midcore: the advent of sophisticated monetisation

Then in the late-summer of 2012, Clash of Clans changed mobile gaming again. Supercell understood that it was possible to migrate existing game concepts (farming, reverse tower defense) onto a platform where players would engage in relatively short sessions

In this phase, the engaging meta game, the adapted controls for touch and the delivery of a simple, recognisable design pushed mobile gaming to new levels.

Then there was the fact that midcore games moved asynchronous multiplayer and social features to the next level and mastered virtual economies.

In terms of distribution, new scalable marketing channels emerged and the top game developers during that time pushed the envelope in terms of user acquisition: their user acquisition teams figured out how to use cross-promotion, ad networks and Facebook to find new players.

Meanwhile, monetisation became a flexible hybrid combining virtual economics with full-screen ads.

Core

Then there’s ‘core’ titles – games that are characterised by fewer sessions and users but conversion at high prices. While the lines between midcore and core are the blurriest of all the categories, and there are crossovers, here I’m talking about games like Game of War or Empires and Allies.

These games started to take off in 2013, as mobile became ubiquitous. Android caught up and incredible complexity in mobile games was possible thanks to advancements in hardware.

Game of War is a prime example of how to succesfully monetise a core F2P game
Not only that, but as core games connected millions of people, social networking became a foundation for monetisation; Machine Zone founder Gabriel Leydon called Game of War “a highly structured Facebook”.

Time commitment to the game forces players to spend money; if a player doesn’t spend money, they’re out. Because Game of War is infinitely scalable, deals are constant and generous, and they become more valuable until players convert, as outlined in this analysis of the game.

Monetisation of core games is highly whale-driven – depth keeps its big spenders engaged and average paying users are rumored to spend about $550 annually.

In core, monetisation has reached its apex, combining complex virtual economies, gacha mechanics, social incentives and active community management.

Games like the ones I’ve mentioned above have each been pioneers in mobile gameplay, and the companies that have built these games have created massive businesses valued at billions of dollars.

The question becomes: in terms of the evolution of mobile game genres, are we done? I think not.

Indeed, I think another blockbuster genre is emerging, or rather is re-inventing itself from an earlier incarnation.

I’ll tell you what it is in Part two of this series.(source:pocketgamer.biz


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