作者：Kevin Kwang

Zynga和Playfish之类的社交游戏开发商应该考虑将他们的产品带到亚太地区的现有社交网络站点。Pearl Research某位高管表示，为研发出能够吸引玩家的内容，他们也应该着手开始研究当地用户的思维习惯。

据该调查公司总经理Allison Luong所述，这两家开发商取得成功的缘由是他们与Facebook间的合作。尽管如此，Playfish的游戏在亚洲并不流行，这两家公司以及其他外国游戏开发商需要与当地社交网络站点进行合作。

她在回复ZDNet Asia提问的邮件中表示国，“Zynga和Playfish都是拥有高级游戏的成功公司，他们利用Facebook在西方市场的盛行轻易便聚集起数百万的用户。他们面临的最大挑战之一是Facebook在亚洲并不流行，这意味着他们必须寻求其他社交网络展开合作。”

Luong称虽然形势如此，但合作平台必须愿意宣传和推广开发商的游戏，因为市场上社交游戏的数量成千上万。她补充道，否则因为竞争应用很多，玩家可能无从察觉到他们的游戏。

Pearl发言人进一步提到，重要的是外国社交游戏开发商需要花时间了解当地文化和玩家的普遍行为。这些工作以及对游戏的正确定位将有助于确保这些公司能够在充满竞争的社交媒介行业中胜出。

Restaurant City-Playfish

需要强大的盈利合作伙伴

对于社交游戏的盈利以及公司如何成功在亚洲实现这个目标，IDC新兴技术咨询服务、数字化市场和新媒体负责人Claus Mortensen向媒体表示，社交游戏盈利的增长与虚拟道具和升级有关。也就是说，订阅盈利在亚洲仍然不断增加。

但是他补充道，以订阅为基础的盈利模式只适用于硬核游戏，社交游戏或休闲游戏需要采用其他盈利方法。

他还指出，就社交游戏而言，通过虚拟物品销售来产生盈利只在用户达到一定数量时方能产生效果。

Mortensen说道：“社交游戏开发商可能需要免费向玩家提供游戏的所有内容，知道某个游戏确实足够流行，才能采用虚拟物品销售的盈利手法。”

游戏开发商PopCap Games早期便意识到不能采用在美国之类的市场上使用的销售方式。

该公司亚洲及太平洋地区副总裁James Gwertzman在邮件中说道，自PopCap进驻该地区起，其战略就是建立当地工作室来制作以当地受众为目标群体的游戏在线版本。

他补充道，这些游戏使用在亚洲已被广泛接纳且证实有效的运营模式（游戏邦注：比如销售虚拟道具的免费游戏）。

公司还声称，该地区每个国家都存在差异。他说道，这使得PopCap进一步根据各个市场来对游戏进行本土化处理。比如，日本受众偏爱手机和此类平台上的社交网络，而韩国流行的是在线免费游戏。而中国则盛行社交和免费网游。Gwertzman表示，PopCap采用不同方法满足各个市场的需求。

他还指出，公司在亚洲的业务已经开始盈利，该地区的销售额在公司全球销售额所占比例超过6%。

Gwertzman说道：“这还不是个大数目，但对PopCap来说，亚洲也是盈利增长最快的地区。机会很多，而且新平台的出现为我们带来了更多的机遇。”

当问及公司用于网上交易的虚拟货币时，PopCap副总裁说道公司以往长期与其他公司合作，为用户提供购买虚拟商品的方式。他补充道，公司和中国本土社交网络人人网合作，使用后者的虚拟货币框架（游戏邦注：其作用和Facebook Credits系统类似）。

最近，该公司竞争者Zynga和Playfish都表示他们也已在该地区成立相关机构。

前者于2010年5月进驻亚洲，公司收购了北京的XPD Media（游戏邦注：中国最大的社交游戏开发商之一）。2009年被EA所收购的Playfish也于2010年早期在北京成立开发工作室。

Playfish全球通信主管Tom Sarris拒绝对公司在亚洲的做法发表看法。而截止本文撰稿，Zynga方面还未就此做出回应。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Social game developers need strong tie-ups in Asia

Kevin Kwang

Social game developers such as Zynga and Playfish should look to leverage existing social-networking sites in Asia-Pacific to bring their products over to the region. They should also undertake to learn about local consumers’ mentality in order to introduce unique content that will draw gamers, said a Pearl Research executive.

According to Allison Luong, managing director of the research firm, these two developers in particular have been successful because of their partnership with Facebook. However, Playfish’s site is “not as popular in Asia”, and the two, together with other foreign game developers, need to partner with local social-networking sites instead.

“Zynga and Playfish are both successful companies with compelling games, [leveraging] the popularity and scale of Facebook in Western markets to their advantage, easily accruing millions of users,” she said in an e-mail response to ZDNet Asia’s queries. “One of the biggest challenges they face is that Facebook is not as popular in Asia, which means they must seek other social-networking partners.”

The platform partners, however, must be willing to advertise and promote the developers’ games since there are “thousands of social games on the market”, said Luong. If not, gamers might not discover their games with all the competing apps out there, she added.

Furthermore, the Pearl executive mentioned that it is important for foreign social game developers to spend time understanding the region’s culture and the gamers’ general behavior. This, and the right portfolio of games, will go a long way to ensuring that these companies are able to “carve a niche” in the competitive social media scene here.

Strong monetization partners required

As for the monetization of social games and how companies can successfully do so in Asia, Claus Mortensen, IDC’s principal for emerging technology advisory services (ETAS) and digital marketplace and new media, told ZDNet Asia that the “real growth” in revenue for social gaming is connected with virtual items and upgrades. That said, subscription revenue is still growing in Asia.

However, subscription-based revenue models work with only the more “hardcore” games, and social, or casual, games have to rely on other approaches to make money, he added.

He also went on to point out that getting revenue from virtual sales is “only possible” once there’s a certain mass of users, particularly for social games.

“Social game developers will probably continue to offer all aspects of their games for free until the individual games become popular enough to make virtual sales revenue viable,” said Mortensen.

One game developer which realized early on that it could not sell its games the way it does in markets such as the U.S. is PopCap Games.

James Gwertzman, the company’s Asia-Pacific office vice president, said in his e-mail that PopCap’s strategy since its entry into the region was to build up a local studio specifically to create online versions of its games that are targeted at the local audience.

These games utilize business models that are “widely accepted and proven in Asia”, such as free-to-play games coupled with sale of virtualized items, he added.

The company also recognized that each country in the region is unique in its own way, which meant PopCap would have to further customize its offerings to individual markets, he noted. For instance, Japan’s audience is into mobile and social networking on such platforms, while in South Korea, online free-to-play games are popular. In the meantime, China is embracing social and free online games. So PopCap caters to each market’s needs differently, said Gwertzman.

He also pointed out that the company’s Asia business is “already profitable” and sales from the region amounts to “more than 6 percent” of the firm’s global revenue.

“That’s not a big number yet, but Asia is also the fastest-growing region for PopCap and the opportunities are vast…with new platforms opening up new opportunities for us,” Gwertzman said.

When quizzed about the virtual currency it uses for online transactions, the PopCap VP said the company has a long history of partnering with other firms to provide the means for users to purchase virtual goods. One example of this is its collaboration with Chinese social-networking site RenRen to use the latter’s virtual currency framework, not unlike that of Facebook’s Credits system, he added.

Recently, competitors Zynga and Playfish both revealed that they have set up shops in the region, too.

The former established its foothold in Asia in May 2010, when it bought over China-based XPD Media, which is known as one of China’s largest social game developers. Playfish, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in 2009, established a development studio in Beijing earlier this year.

When contacted, Playfish’s director of global communications, Tom Sarris, declined to comment save to say that “our activities in Asia are at a stage where we wouldn’t have anything substantive to contribute to your story”. Zynga did not reply to ZDNet Asia’s queries by press time. (Source: ZDNet Asia)