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从产品体验的角度聊《暗影之枪:传奇》是如何盈利的

发布时间:2018-04-18 10:04:42 Tags:,

从产品体验的角度聊《暗影之枪:传奇》是如何盈利的

原作者:Matt Suckley 译者:Willow Wu

欢迎回到In-App Purchase Inspector,在这里我们会以消费者的视角,定期测评一些F2P游戏。

每期文章,我们都会考虑游戏中IAP的诱因、压力、它们的感知价值、IAP带来的扩展内容还有整个游戏体验的评估。

最终目的就是看看这游戏究竟值不值得我们砸钱,不花钱的游戏体验是否也能让玩家感到满足。

这次我们测评的是《暗影之枪:传奇》(Shadowgun Legends),Madfinger最新的科幻风格第一人称射击游戏。

新作上架

首款《暗影之枪》游戏发行于2011年,在那时要做一个类似《战争机器》的手游几乎是不能可能的。

《暗影之枪》是付费游戏,那时候的手游大多都不是免费的。在2013年,Madfinger将这一系列转向了F2P&多人游戏模式。

而现在,他们又在这个系列中加入了新元素——《暗影之枪:传奇》是一款设定在永恒世界中的FPS游戏,和初代游戏一样,游戏画质达到了超一流的水准。会让人不禁想拿这个游戏和《命运》做对比。

Shadow gun Legends(from pocketgamer.biz)

Shadow gun Legends(from pocketgamer.biz)

除了技术上的成就,Madfinger CEO Marek Rabas还告诉PocketGamer.biz《暗影之枪:传奇》还有其它方面值得期待,他表示在盈利上也会“比较特别”。

所以《暗影之枪:传奇》有呈现出这些“特别之处”吗?

解脱

Rabas的之前的采访中说“新游戏中不会有任何常见的盈利套路——比如说计时器、能量条等等”,这就让人觉得有意思了。

确实,手游有一些普遍应用的盈利机制,动作游戏中更是如此。

但是Rabas并没有食言。《暗影之枪:传奇》真的没有计时器和能量条,流程长度限制显然也不是为了盈利。

但是其它F2P机制还是不可避免地出现了。游戏有硬货币和软货币,奇怪的是它们并没有非常明确的名称,我就把它们称作金币和现钞吧。

玩家可以花4.99美元买到250个金币,最多可以花99.99美元买到12500个金币,可以说这是专门为付费玩家准备的。

买买买

《暗影之枪:传奇》的游戏体验有很大的部分是来自游戏的环境设定——一个繁华的大都市,当你完成任务平安返回的时候会有市民跟你一起庆祝,还有很多店主会给你任务奖励,提供新的任务。

玩家可以跟其中的某些人做交易,例如买卖护甲、武器等等,这就给虚拟货币带来一种更加私人化的感觉。

而非付费玩家可以通过完成任务或者是花现钞来获得新装备。玩家每天能得到300现钞(可以看作是角色的“工资”),完成任务可以挣得更多。

玩家还可以出售不想要的装备换取现钞,再用来购买新物品。但出售装备更多时候是为了腾出装备栏的位置。

游戏初始装备栏只有16格,玩家很快就会觉得不够用了,这就是《暗影之枪:传奇》的主要盈利点之一。

空间需求

无论玩家内购了什么东西,他们都会因此得到一个戒指(Premium Ring),它最吸引人的地方在于附赠的80个装备空位。

考虑到这是一款注重装备和任务回报的游戏,可以说这个戒指真的是一笔非常划算的投资。

保险箱也是盈利点之一。

做任务可以获得保险箱,它会占据一个装备格子,玩家只能用钥匙打开。(80金币才能买一把钥匙,大概是1.60美元)。

装备空位紧张的时候,就会让人更想打开这些箱子——你不仅能获得箱子内的物品,还能腾出一些空位,这就是游戏设计的巧妙之处。

鹤立鸡群

所以总的来说,《暗影之枪:传奇》还是成功证明了手游可以完全不用计时器或者是能量条来盈利。

有一个小细节值得注意——游戏中的广告牌播放的是Nvidia的产品,目前尚未清楚Nvidia是否有投资这个游戏。

《暗影之枪:传奇》中的大部分内购都是外用装备,玩家可以从不同的商店购买礼包,有时还能遇上折扣。

对于那些喜欢拼运气的玩家,他们可以花100金币玩一次幸运轮盘,奖品就是装备、财富或者是保险箱。

前文提到的,把有限的装备空间当作是游戏的核心盈利点再结合保险箱的设计机制,这就是《皇室战争》宝箱机制的改良版,而且它还不用计时器。

游戏的所有流程都没有能量条限制,甚至在PvP模式中也没有,这是个相当大胆的设计,但能够有效地激励玩家一直玩下去。

只有时间才能证明这种做法是否能带来可观的利润,但它确实是令人耳目一新。

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Welcome back to the In-App Purchase Inspector – our regular look at free-to-play games from the consumer’s perspective.

In each instalment, we consider the incentives or pressure applied to make in-app purchases, their perceived value, the expansion offered by IAPs and the overall value of the experience.

The end goal is to see whether the game makes a good enough case for us to part with our cash, or whether players are content – or engaged enough – to ‘freeload’.

This time we’re taking a look at Shadowgun Legends, the latest in Madfinger’s sci-fi FPS series on mobile.

A new take

When the original Shadowgun launched in 2011, having a Gears of War-style third-person shooter on mobile seemed barely possible.

Shadowgun came with a premium price tag, as was standard for mobile games at the time, but the series took the leap to free-to-play – and multiplayer – with Shadowgun Deadzone in 2013.

And now Madfinger is keen to put another new spin on the series with Shadowgun Legends, a persistent-world FPS that invites comparisons with Destiny – and like the original Shadowgun in 2011, is very much at the forefront of mobile visuals.

It’s a technical achievement if nothing else, but Madfinger CEO Marek Rabas told PocketGamer.biz last year to expect innovation in other areas; he promised “something different” in terms of monetisation.

So has Shadowgun Legends delivered?

Welcome break

Perhaps Rabas’ most intriguing claim from the aforementioned interview was that “there will not be any typical mobile stuff like timers, energy bars or whatever”.

Indeed, these are some of the most-used monetisation mechanics on the platform, particularly when it comes to action games.

But there has been no back-pedalling in this department. Shadowgun Legends really is free of timers and energy bars, and limiting session length is evidently not part of its monetisation strategy.

Inevitably, though, other free-to-play monetisation staples do feature. The game has hard and soft currencies – their names curiously ambiguous in-game, but we’ll refer to them here as Gold and Cash, respectively.

Gold comes in bundles ranging from $4.99 for 250 to $99.99 for 12,500 and is almost exclusively the preserve of paying players.

Retail therapy

Shadowgun Legends’ bustling hub world is a large part of the experience, with its citizens celebrating your character’s safe return from missions and numerous vendors serving up new missions and rewards.

Some also buy and sell items, such as armour and weaponry, which gives a more personal feel to virtual currency transactions and embeds them in the game’s world.
For non-paying players, new gear can be gained through playing missions or by buying it using Cash. Players earn 300 Cash per day (an in-game “salary”), while more can be earned by completing quests.

Selling unwanted gear is obviously another way of earning Cash for new items, but this also serves the arguably more important function of clearing inventory space.

The inventory has only 16 slots by default, so it fills relatively quickly. This is the one major element of Shadowgun Legends’ monetisation design in which scarcity plays a major role.

Room to breathe

Any purchase in Shadowgun Legends grants the player a Premium Ring, the most valuable perk of which is an additional 80 inventory slots.

For a game based heavily around gear and loot, this is a major boost that – for dedicated players – is worth investing for.

The inventory is really the centre of the game’s monetisation strategy and this also comes to the fore with locked strongboxes.

These can be earned through playing missions, and occupy a slot in the inventory, but can only be opened using a key that costs 80 Gold (approximately $1.60).

With inventory space already tight, it makes the appeal of unlocking them twofold: not only do you get the items within, but also save some all-important space.

Away from the herd

So for the most part, Shadowgun Legends is successful in proving that mobile game monetisation can be built without timers or energy systems.

Worthy of note are the in-game billboards for Nvidia, though it’s unclear whether Nvidia is paying for this placement.

But the vast majority of its purchasable items in Shadowgun Legends are cosmetic, with particular bundles and offers available from specific vendors on a rotating basis.

For those wanting randomised rewards, 100 Gold can also be used to spin the Lucky Wheel to get either gear, currency or strongboxes.

Elsewhere, the aforementioned strongbox mechanic and the centralising of the inventory is a clever take on the Clash Royale chest mechanic, without having to resort to timers.

Meanwhile, the complete lack of an energy mechanic – even for the PvP modes – is a brave move that encourages play first and foremost.

Only time will tell whether or not this approach can yield significant profits, but it’s certainly a breath of fresh air to play.(source:pocketgamer.biz


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