据《华尔街日报》报道，2010年Zynga的总营收是8.5亿美元，利润是4亿美元。如果这一数据可靠，那么Zynga的利润率就是47%，这真是一个令人震惊的数字。

这可是47%啊!

相比之下，谷歌的利润率是29%，苹果为28%，而且这两者的盈利能力都已经相当惊人。Facebook在2010年的利润率也接近30%。Salesforce和Amazon也是十分受人尊敬的公司，但它们的利润率仅接近5%。

farmville

事实上，科技公司可能并不是最好的参照物。世界上最受赞誉的奢侈品牌爱马仕利润率在30%左右。如果你在某个商学院求学，那么在奢侈品行业拥有丰富经验的教授会告诉我们，不公开财务情况的私人公司香奈儿据称是欧洲最赚钱的公司，利润率高达45%。

再重复一次，Zynga的利润率是47%!

这还是Zynga向Facebook支付用户获取成本，以及30%的虚拟商品交易提成之后的利润，Zynga如果不是有史以来吸金能力最强的公司，那也至少已经十分接近这一地位。

游戏邦认为，虚拟商品销售或许是Zynga获得惊人利润的主要动力。它们不需要花费很多成本，不需要物流运输，也不需要推销人员。因此，真正的问题是：Zynga的虚拟商品业务是如何运作的？

最简单的理解方法是回顾1980年代的电子游戏街机。

那时候，街机游戏的盈利模式是首先让人们沉迷在简单的游戏中（如《吃豆人》），并在游戏里引进“阻力”（难度逐级递增），然后再通过收取少量金钱来降低“阻力”（允许玩家买“生命”）。

Zynga的社交游戏采用的也是同样的方式——通过向人们收取少量金钱来降低他们的游戏难度。唯一的区别是，社交游戏不是付费买另一条“生命”，而是在《Mafia Wars》中购买微型冲锋枪，在《FarmVille》中购买新的农田。

另一个极为相似之处是：人们通常在社交环境中参与街机游戏，而Zynga游戏则是在虚拟社交环境Facebook让用户进行互动。

如果你对这个答案毫无知觉，那么就说明你从来没有见过Facebook游戏，或者你已经看过Zynga的游戏，比如说《FishVille》，并对自己说：真的吗？

我们原来的感受大致相同，但接触后才发现已经沉陷其中难以自拔。我们以Zynga早期的作品《FishVille》为例，该游戏于2009年11月面世，它游戏机制比较简单，可以更好地诠释了Zynga的虚拟商品交易运作方式。

玩家在《FishVille》的目标是建造一个华丽的虚拟水族馆，装满观赏鱼和设计师的装饰品。你得用虚拟货币购买固定价格的小鱼，然后在照顾它们几个小时或者几天之后，以高于买入价的价格售出，而后你可以用这些钱买到更多小鱼。如果想加快进程，你得用真正的钱来购买虚拟货币。

我们还可以更详细地进行解释，但相信以上所述的简单原理已经足够说明事情的来龙去脉。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Is Zynga The Most Profitable Company Ever?

Zynga’s made a $400 million profit on $850 million revenues in 2010, reports the WSJ.

If that’s true, that’s an astounding 47% profit margin.

47%!

By way of comparison, Google’s profit margin is is 29% and Apple’s is 28%, and both of those are considered fantastically profitable. Facebook had a profit margin close to 30% as well in 2010. Salesforce and Amazon by contrast, also very respected companies, have profit margins closer to 5%.

In fact, tech companies might not be the best comparison. Hermès, the world’s most lauded luxury brand — a company whose business is selling $20,000 handbags — has a profit margin around 30%. When one of your writers was in business school, a professor with extensive experience in the luxury industry told us that Chanel, a private company which doesn’t report financials, was rumored to be the most profitable company in Europe with profit margins of 45%.

Again – 47%!

And this after Zynga pays Facebook taxes in the form of advertising to acquire users and 30% of virtual goods sales.

Zynga is either the most profitable company ever – or it’s very close to it.

The main reason this kind of profitability is possible is that Zynga sells “virtual goods.” They don’t cost much of anything to make, don’t need to be shipped to shelves, and don’t need any kind of sales force to be sold.

So the real question is: How does Zynga’s virtual goods business work?

The easiest way to understand it is to remember the the videogame arcades of the 1980s.

Back then, arcade games made money by addicting people to simple games (like Pacman), introducing “friction” into these games (by making them harder after each level), and then charging small amounts of money to ease that friction (by allowing gamers to buy “lives.”)

That’s what Zynga’s social games do – charge people small amounts of money to reduce friction in games they are addicted to. Only, instead of paying another quarter for another life, social gamers buy sub-machine guns in “Mafia Wars,” and new farmland in “FarmVille.”

Another big similarity: Arcade games were usually played in a social environment. Zynga games are played on Facebook, a virtual social environment.

If this answer leaves you cold it’s probably because you’ve never actually seen a Facebook game. Or maybe you have looked at Zynga game – say, FishVille – and said to yourself: Really?

We felt much the same way until we decided to suck it up and get addicted to one.

We picked FishVille,  an early hit from Zynga. It came out in November 2009 and its simple mechanics best demonstrate how Zynga works.

The object of FishVille is to build a magnificent virtual aquarium, full of spectacular fish and designer decorations. The way you do it is spending fake money to buy small fish for one price, and then, after tending to them for a few hours or days, selling them for more fake money then you paid. Then you use that money to buy more fish. If you want to speed your progress, you buy fake money with real money.

We’d explain more, but it’s really just easier to show you how it works.（source：businessinsider）