游戏邦注：本文原作者是Jonathan，他去年在上海采访了社交游戏开发商Happy Elements的产品总监Ronny Xu、运营总监Mike Li，以及公共关系主管Charles Silverman，本文是游戏邦编译的访谈内容：

Happy Elements的背景

2009年5月28日，Happy Elements在人人网上发布首款社交游戏《开心水族箱》，首创虚拟水族箱题材游戏。2009年8月3日，Happy Elements将传统中国版《开心水族箱》引进Facebook。两个月内，日活跃用户便达到240万，开启Facebook上水族箱游戏时代。他们的第二款游戏《My Bar》发布于Mixi平台上，在1个月内周活跃用户便上升至Mixi第二位。因为5%的用户在玩《开心水族箱》，Happy Elements使Facebook Taiwan成为台湾位居榜首的社交网站。

开心水族箱

1、能否简要介绍下Happy Elements的历史和团队？团队有多大？未来有什么进军美国的计划？

我们的公司成立于2009年初，Happy Elements所有早期成员都在中国有过社交网络背景和工作经验。我们的首款游戏是《开心水族箱》，它让水族馆游戏流行起来。自那时起，我们的团队成员增长至100多人，近期在东京成立工作室。对于进军美国的事宜，如果时机成熟我们当然会考虑，但目前我们还会继续专注制作高质量的游戏。

2、你们是否关注像人人网之类的中国社交网络平台？

当然，我们最先在人人网上发布《开心水族箱》，但雄踞中国市场并非我们唯一的目标。对中国公司来说，社交游戏行业提供了全球化的机遇，这也正是我们尝试在国内外利用的机会。

3、中国公司为Facebook和Mixi等国外的社交网络设计游戏是否能赚得更多？

就数据上来看，转向中国以外的社交网络确实能获得更多的盈利。西方社交游戏玩家税后收入更多，因而获得盈利也较为容易。中国和东亚市场也能带来收入，只是我们的目光并不仅局限于这个市场。社交游戏是人人都可以玩的东西。

4、就Facebook而言，你们主要将目标锁定哪些国家或地区，原因是什么？

因为我们了解用户的趋势和他们想要的东西，因而目前我们在台湾、马来西亚和香港等地居于首位。Facebook今日能在台湾获得如此成就，也有我们的贡献。5%的台湾人每天玩《开心水族馆》，此作已经成为台湾最成功的社交游戏。你在世界上其他地方很难看到这种现象。

5、在不同社交网络上获得成功的游戏间，设计存在差异吗？

设计间的差异并没有多数人想象的那么大，我们认为好的游戏娱乐想法可以传播到世界各地。

6、对于Mixi以及Facebook上的用户，你们是否需要考虑到文化差异？Facebook中不同地区用户的文化差异又是如何处理的呢？

我们在Facebook上的水族箱游戏有英语、西班牙语、意大利语、法语和汉语版本，所有这些都经适当调整以符合用户文化。Mixi是个小型平台，因而他们对客户支持方面有着非常严格的要求。如果Mixi上有用户抱怨，那么平台就会要求你更改游戏以满足用户的需求，这也是开发商愿意做的事情。Facebook并没有给我们强加这些严格的规定。但是，我们将游戏看做是服务而不是产品，因而根据用户需要来改变是我们能够在社交网络上位居榜首的重要做法。

7、你是否觉得中国和美国的社交游戏市场已过饱和？是否仍有足够的市场份额供当前新兴游戏公司攫取？

社交游戏仍处于初级阶段，我们认为还有许多发展空间。社交游戏的产生让游戏首次有机会在群众中普及。因为所有人都能够玩社交游戏，因此我不认为目前市场已过饱和。

8、我此前曾听说过，外国公司进入日本市场会感到格外困难。Happy Elements与Mixi进行商业合作以及成立工作室是否曾面临挑战？

是的，进驻日本市场确实很困难。成立工作室、寻找有才华的员工、与日本员工间的交流、客户支持和游戏本土化都需要大量的工作方能实现。以我们庆祝中秋的月饼促销为例，这对亚洲玩家来说很重要，但面对西方用户我们就不能这么做。在日本的病毒性营销也是个挑战。Facebook上适用的策略在Mixi上并不能发挥成效，因为后者有抑制病毒性营销的规章制度。

9、可以看到目前Happy Elements偏重于Facebook和Mixi平台，Happy Elements将游戏服务器设立在国外吗？

是的，我们将服务器放在国外。

10、Zynga、Playdom（游戏邦注：现已被迪斯尼收购）和EA等大公司逐渐收购小型游戏公司，你是否认为小型游戏公司也能通过巨作成长为Zynga之类的大公司吗？还是说像XPD等多数公司会走上并购之路呢？

仅仅数年之前，Zynga还只是Mark Pinkus心中的想法而已。尽管不能忽略Zynga和其他大型公司在发行和资金方面的优势，但这个市场还很年轻，一切皆有可能。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Interview with Happy Elements: More Lucrative to Build Games for International Social Networks

Jonathan

Recently, I had the pleasure of dining with Happy Elements, Kabam, Kontagent, Joyport, and Offerpal at a dinner I helped organize in DinTaiFung at Shanghai’s Ritz-Carlton Portman Hotel. I had a great time dining and talking with two key employees of Happy Elements, Ronny Xu, Chief Product Office, and Mike Li, Director of Business Development. They introduced me to their Lead PR and writer, Charles Silverman, who also has been an avid read of MOBINODE. Given that connection combined with my interest in writing about a local Chinese Internet company, I took the opportunity to interview them for MOBINODE.

Background: About Happy Elements

On May 28th 2009, Happy Elements launched the virtual fishbowl genre on Renren.com with its first social game ever: “My Fishbowl”. On August 3rd 2009, Happy Elements launched the Traditional Chinese version of “My Fishbowl” on Facebook. Within two months it had attracted 2.4 million daily active users, and began the new wave of fishbowl games on Facebook. Their second game, “My Bar” was launched on the Mixi platform and within one month it has become the 2nd most popular social game on Mixi in terms of weekly active users. Happy Elements helped Facebook Taiwan become the #1 site in Taiwan with one in twenty users playing “My Fishbowl”.

1. Can you give a brief history of Happy Elements and introduce your team? How big is it? Any future plans for expanding into the US?

Our company was founded in early 2009 and all the early members of Happy Elements have social networking backgrounds and experience in China. Our first game was My Fishbowl and it began the fishbowl game craze. Our team has grown to more than 100 since then and we recently set up our Tokyo office. As far as expanding to the US, of course if the opportunity presents itself we would jump at the chance but for now we will continue to put out quality content.

2. Do you target local Chinese social networks such as RenRen?

Of course, we launched My Fishbowl on RenRen first, but being #1 in the China market is not our only goal. The social game industry has created a truly global opportunity especially for Chinese companies and it is something we are trying to take advantage of at home and abroad.

3.Is it more lucrative for Chinese companies to build games for social networks outside of China such as Facebook and Mixi?

It can be much more lucrative to traverse into social networks outside of China because sheer numbers dictate it. At this point in time western social game players have a lot of disposable income so it’s easier to make more of a profit. China and East Asia are certainly lucrative but our vision reaches beyond that. Social games are something that everyone can play.

4.For Facebook, which country or countries do you mainly cater to and why?

Today we are #1 in Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong because we know the user bases tendencies and what they want. We had a large part in making Facebook the phenomenon in Taiwan that it is today. 5% of all Taiwanese people play My Fishbowl daily and is the most successful social game in Taiwan. You would be hard presses to find a phenomenon like that anywhere in the world.

5. Are there core differences in design that make a game successful in the different social networks?

There’s not too much of a difference and certainly the gap is certainly smaller than most people imagine. We think the idea of a great and entertaining game is universal.

6. Are there cultural differences you have to account for users on Mixi vs users on Facebook? What about the cultural differences in specific demographics within Facebook?

We have English, Spanish, Italian, French and Chinese versions of our fishbowl game on Facebook all with variations to fit culture. Mixi is a smaller platform so they have very strict requirements regarding customer support. If you have customer complaints on Mixi they will ask you to change your game to fit the users’ needs, which is something that is desirable for everyone including the developers. Facebook does not impose these rigid guidelines. However, we consider our games are a service not a product so evolving to the needs of the user base is one of our #1 priorities.

7.Do you think the social gaming space in China and US is over-saturated with gaming companies or is there still enough market share for current and new gaming companies to grab?

Social gaming is still in the early stages so we feel there is still plenty of room for expansion. The invention of social gaming marks the first time that games can truly be mass marketed. With everyone able to play we don’t think the market has been over-saturated just yet.

8.I heard it can be quite difficult for foreign companies to enter the Japan’s market. Did Happy Elements have any challenges in forging a business relationship with Mixi and setting up an office?

Yes, it can be quite difficult. Setting up an office, finding talent, communicating with Japanese staff, customer support and customizing and localizing games all takes a great amount of effort. For example our Moon cake promotion celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival is very important to our Asian communities but is not something we could promote for western audiences. Viral distribution in Japan has also been a challenge. Strategies that are customary on Facebook will not work on Mixi because of the regulations they have in place to curb viral promotion.

9.Given that Happy Elements now caters to Facebook and Mixi, does Happy Elements host its games in server farms outside of China?

Yes, we house our servers outside of China.

10. With big companies like Zynga, Playdom (now Disney), and EA buying out smaller gaming companies, do you think smaller gaming companies have a shot at becoming large like Zynga? Or do you think most companies, such as XPD, will go the M/A route?

Zynga was just a twinkle in Mark Pinkus’ eye just a few years ago. It’s impossible to ignore Zynga and other large companies’ strengths in distribution and capital but the market is so young that anything is possible. (Source: TechNode)