1）comScore最新数据显示，在今年8月份调查的3万名美国手机用户中，有28.5%受访者是手机游戏玩家，比5月份的26.9%上升了1.6个百分点。

调查发现，手机应用使用率增长最为明显，目前所占比例已达41.6%，紧随其后的是社交网络和网页浏览器使用率（游戏邦注：尼尔森最近的一项调查指出，游戏是最受用户欢迎的智能手机应用）。

谷歌Android操作系统市场份额已达43.7%，增长5.6个百分点，而苹果份额则增长0.7个百分点，RIM黑莓所占份额仍在下滑。

2）英国游戏行业贸易协会TIGA最近报告表明，自主发行游戏的英国开发者数量正不断上升，在其调查的104家英国游戏开发公司（其中有72%属于TIGA成员）中，有47%受访者选择自主发行游戏。

调查还发现，iPad是多数开发者锁定的游戏发布平台。但也有50%受访者表示，零售模式仍是其最大的盈利渠道。

47%受访者称自己同时通过零售和在线渠道发售游戏，XBLA和App Store是他们最主要的销售渠道。13%受访者自称主要通过订阅模式盈利，26%通过微交易模式创收，29%采用免费增值模式，27%开发者已在游戏中植入广告。

在这些自主发行游戏的开发者中，67%自主发布了iPhone游戏，45%发布iPad游戏，41%发布PC游戏，31%发布Facebook游戏，31%发布PSN游戏，16%发布Xbox Live Arcade游戏，12%发布WiiWare游戏，14%受访者则针对其他各类移动设备开发游戏。

这些开发者的年均投入约240万英磅（约合370万美元）。PS3游戏的开发成本最高，平均达194万英磅（约合299万美元），排在其后的是任天堂Wii、Xbox 360和PC游戏开发成本。开发成本最低的是iPad游戏，平均约34.7万英磅（约合53万4692美元）。

五分之一以上的受访者承认自己曾半途而废地开发过一款游戏，三分之一受访者表示曾接受过来自澳大利亚、加拿大或法国等海外补助款项。

五分之一受访者表示公司曾因员工到海外开发游戏项目而流失人才，有74%表示支持政府针对游戏开发产业的减税政策。

3）市场调研公司Strategy Analytics最新报告预测，亚马逊平板电脑Kindle Fire到2013年底的全球销量将超过1500万部。

该报告指出，亚马逊7英寸、199美元的Kindle Fire激活了初级平板电脑市场，并预测这款平板电脑将在2013年前在西欧、日本等美国之外的市场发售。

该公司高管Peter King十分看好Kindle Fire发展前景，并认为该产品避开了其他iPad竞争对手早期所犯的错误，在产品型号、功能、售价和用户体验方面都颇具优势，其销量的增长将有助于Android操作系统获得更多市场份额。

4）Unity Technologies最近宣布公司在亚太地区的营收同比上年增长258.7%，并称盗版软件提升了Unity工具在当地的市场需求。

Unity亚洲总经理John Goodale表示，Unity工具在中国市场获得发展的一大原因就是盗版现象，即使是盗版Uinty引擎也可以让公司通过Asset Store等渠道从用户身上获得收益。

他称公司在中国的营收同比上年增长了280%，在日本的同一增幅更是高达897%，并指出Unity每月用户访问率最高的分别是首尔、北京、上海和Nei-Hu这四个亚太城市。

5）Epic Games创始人、首席执行官兼技术总监Tim Sweeney在最近的Adobe Max大会上宣布，Unreal Engine 3将支持Adobe的Flash技术，并以PC、Xbox 360和PlayStation 3游戏《Unreal Tournament 3》为例，展示了UE3运行于刚发布的Adobe Flash 11中的效果。

据Adobe公司所称，由于目前多数网页浏览器和社交网络普遍支持Flash技术，UE3与Flash的结合有望将用户从原来简单的2D游戏环境中引进顶级的3D游戏世界；“Flash 11的2D和3D图像渲染效果比Flash Player 10快1000倍”，每秒可运行60帧，可为Mac、Windows和连网电视带来“掌机水准”的高质量游戏体验。

6）Epic Games子公司Chair Entertainment最近表示公司将推出继集游戏《无尽之剑2》，这款游戏将于今年12月1日在iOS平台独家发布，支持iCloud等iOS 5功能，允许用户在不同设备之间转换，但并未透露具体定价情况（原版游戏售价5.99美元）。

据该公司所称，这款游戏将植入新的boss，地点和环境，以及新的战斗风格和“深度的角色扮演元素”。

除此之外，Chair还宣布推出2.99美元的电子书《Infinity Blade: The Awakening》，该书作者为《纽约时报》第一热销幻想小说家Brandon Sanderson（游戏邦注：其代表作包括《The Way of Kings》、《Mistborn》和《The Wheel of Time》。

7）据JP摩根日本分公司在9月29日发布的报告指出，日本社交平台Mobage的Android应用下载量“十分之少”（不超过10万次），而且现存用户对该版本应用基本上是负面评价，其英文版Android应用的平均得分仅2.8颗星（满分为5颗星）。

从10月5日的Android Market排名情况来看，有524名用户为Mobage应用打分，但平均得分已下降至2.7颗星，下载量仍介于50-10万次之间。

观察者认为，尽管Mobage的英文版Android应用今年7月才上线，现在虽不宜过早判定其成败，但这个现象确实值得身价已达80亿美元的DeNA重视。

8）虚拟世界Habbo Hotel开发商Sulake近日宣布将Habbo Hotel这一品牌引进移动领域，根据该主题向App Store推出一款免费应用《Lost Monkey》。

玩家可以在其中玩迷你游戏，照顾一只虚拟小猴，为它找到返回Habbo Hotel家中的路。在完成游戏任务的过程中，玩家可以通过网页端的Habbo Hotel解琐特殊的小猴宠物。

据Sulkae所称，这款游戏锁定的是儿童用户，公司今后推出的手机应用也仍将遵循这一定位。

不过《Lost Monkey》并非该公司首款手机应用，他们在2009年曾发布一个针对智能手机平台的虚拟世界《Bobba》。

9）据Games报道，FarmVille Freak一名读者透露，《FarmVille》游戏或将推出一个移动网页版本《FarmVille Express》。

该读者在访问《FarmVille》iPhone应用时无意发现了以下画面从而推测出这个情况，其画面与iPhone版游戏并不相同，看上去似乎是从Safari移动浏览器中截取。

这些信息表明Zynga可能正开发一个移动网页版《FarmVille》，以便用户无需下载应用也能玩游戏。如果此事成真，它将是Zynga发布的首个移动网页版游戏。

10）Social Cast公司最新整理发布的移动信息图表显示（如下图），IAP（应用内置付费功能）是手机游戏的最佳盈利模式，自2009年9月以来，IAP营收一路增长，而广告赞助收益则基本停滞不前。

苹果App Store和谷歌Android Market平均每名用户IAP消费额是14美元，每款应用平均售价是2.43美元。

至少有三分之一的北美智能手机用户每月都会下载应用程序，据Pew Research统计，每四名美国成人用户中，就有一者是应用程序的活跃用户。从2007年至2010年，全球手机应用下载量约109亿次。

从智能手机的付费应用转化率来看，苹果iPhone用户转化率最高，比例达43%，其次是微软Windows Mobile用户，其比例为42%，第三是Android用户，比例为34%，第四是黑莓，转化率为21%，其他手机平台的用户付费转化率为24%。

尼尔森2011年调查显示，游戏仍是最受欢迎的手机应用类型，其付费应用下载比例高达93%，其次是娱乐应用，付费下载比例为87%。

Forrster Research今年6月份调查数据表明，日本已成全球移动网页使用率最高的国家，每月访问移动互联网的手机用户比例达47%；其次是中国城市用户，每月比例为43%；第三名才是美国用户，同一比例为22%。

Forrester预测到2015年手机应用程序将产生380亿美元收益，GetJar预测2012年应用下载量将达500亿次，IDC认为2014年全球应用下载量将达769亿次。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

1）comScore: 29% Of U.S. Mobile Phone Subscribers Play Mobile Games

by Frank Cifaldi

comScore: 29% Of U.S. Mobile Phone Subscribers Play Mobile Games

The amount of people using their mobile phones to play games is on the rise, according to a recent survey.

According to comScore, 28.5 percent of the 30,000 mobile phone subscribers the company surveyed in the United States in August used their devices to play games, an increase of 1.6 from the 26.9 percent who made that claim in May.

As the amount of feature-rich phones become more popular in the marketplace, mobile usage beyond calling and texting is continuing to grow across all sectors.

The biggest growth the survey found was in the usage of apps, which grew 3 percent to 41.6, followed closely by social networking and accessing an internet browser.

The survey also revealed that Google’s Android operating system is still rapidly expanding its market share, now claiming 43.7 percent (up 5.6 percent).

This is not due to a decline in Apple market share, which itself grew 0.7 percent, but is instead attributed to declining sales of devices such as RIM’s BlackBerry.

A recent study by Nielsen shows that games are the most popular smartphone apps. （source:gamasutra）

2）TIGA: 47% Of UK Devs Self-Publish, iPad Most Popular Platform To Develop For

by Mike Rose

TIGA: 47% Of UK Devs Self-Publish, iPad Most Popular Platform To Develop For

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UK trade body TIGA today released survey results that show the number of game developers in the UK who self-publish their games is on the rise.

The State of the UK Games Development Sector 2011 report surveyed 104 game development businesses, with 72 percent being TIGA members, and found that 47 percent of developers surveyed self-publish their own games.

The report also noted that the iPad is currently the number one gaming platform that developers are working on games for overall. In comparison, 50 percent of respondents noted that retail was still their biggest monetization mechanic.

47 percent said that their games were also sold online alongside retail, with XBLA and the App Store popular choices. 13 percent said that they generated money from subscriptions, 26 percent generated money from micro-transactions, and 29 percent said they used free-to-play mechanics.

27 percent of those surveyed said they currently use in-game advertising in their titles.

In terms of those who self-publish, 67 percent publish for iPhone, 45 percent for iPad, 41 percent for PC, 31 percent for Facebook, 31 percent for PSN, 16 percent for Xbox Live Arcade, and 12 percent for WiiWare. 14 percent develop for all other mobile device types.

The average yearly spending by those surveyed was £2.4 million ($3.7 million). Those developers producing PS3 games saw the highest average cost of £1.94 million ($2.99 million), followed by Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, and PC.

The lowest average cost was iPad games, which cost £347,000 ($534.692) over all respondents working on titles for the Apple tablet.

Elsewhere in the report, more than a fifth of those surveyed said they had worked on a game that was cancelled before the project was finished.

The report also noted that a number of developers said foreign subsidies are holding them back. A third of those surveyed said they were being held back by subsidies handed to companies making games abroad, including countries such as Australia, Canada and France.

A fifth of the developers surveyed said that they had lost employees due to people moving to work on games outside of the UK, while 74 percent said they supported a tax break for games production. （source:gamasutra）

3）Analyst: Kindle Fire Will Sell 15M By End Of 2013

by Mike Rose

Analyst: Kindle Fire Will Sell 15M By End Of 2013

A new report from market research firm Strategy Analytics suggests that Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet will sell more than 15 million units worldwide by the end of 2013.

If the installed base for the Kindle Fire reaches that forecast, the relatively inexpensive tablet could have an audience too large for game developers to ignore.

Amazon revealed the Kindle Fire last week, a 7-inch, Android-based LCD tablet to market for $199, with access to games through Amazon’s Android App Store.

The Strategy Analytics report, entitled ‘Amazon’s Fire Reignites Entry-Level Tablet Market’, notes that it is likely Amazon will release another two Fire models during that period.

The analyst group also suggests that the Kindle Fire will be released in regions outside of the U.S. before the end of 2013, including Western Europe and Japan.

Peter King, director of touchscreen strategies at the analyst group, explained, “Our first impression of the Amazon Kindle Fire is very positive.”

“Amazon has avoided what most of the earlier iPad competitors failed to avoid; a direct comparison on size, features, price and user experience.”

He also noted that Google will benefit greatly from the move. “Amazon will likely sell such high volumes of the Fire that Google’s Android OS will benefit from the increased scale of Apps developed with Android in mind in general, and Amazon specifically,” he said.（source:gamasutra）

4）Unity: Piracy Driving Huge Growth In Asian Regions

by Mike Rose

Unity: Piracy Driving Huge Growth In Asian Regions

Unity Technologies said this week that its revenue intake is up 258.7 percent year-on-year in the Pan-Asia region, noting that piracy is helping to drive demand for the Unity tools.

Speaking to Edge during Unite 11 in San Francisco, Unity general manager of Asia John Goodale explained revenue growth in the region has been helped along by piracy of the software.

“In China, quite candidly, what is driving a lot of our growth, is piracy,” he explained. “Even through a pirated version of Unity, we can still make revenue from that customer, for example through the Asset Store.”

“We don’t condone it, but it’s also something we don’t super-aggressively pursue,” he continued.

He revealed that the company has seen revenue growth of 280 percent in China year-on-year, while it has seen even more significant growth in Japan of 897 percent.

Goodale also noted that the top four cities for monthly Unity user sessions are currently Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Nei-Hu, all part of the Pan-Asia region.

Earlier this week, Unity unveiled version 3.5 of its popular game development environment, to be released later this year with a raft of new features. （source:gamasutra）

5）Epic Games’ Unreal Engine Heads To Flash

by Kris Graft

Unreal Engine 3 may have — so far — made its mark on the console, PC and mobile markets, but now Epic Games says its engine is about to truly go “everywhere.”

On Tuesday during the Adobe Max conference in L.A., Epic CEO, founder and technical director Tim Sweeney announced UE3 support for Adobe’s Flash player.

With support for Flash, Gears of War and Unreal Tournament developer Epic Games brings its already widely-used engine to an even wider audience of web-goers, thanks to the ubiquity of Adobe’s web-based platform.

Industry veteran Sweeney showed a live demonstration of UE3 running inside the recently-released Adobe Flash 11 during his keynote at the conference, using the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game Unreal Tournament 3 as an example.

UE3 works well thanks to Flash 11′s hardware accelerated, programmable graphics pipeline, Adobe said. Flash is now “capable of running triple-A gaming content authored for high-end platforms using the industry’s latest tools and technologies,” the company said in a statement.

Adobe also promised that thanks to the wide use of Flash in web browsers and social networks, UE3 is expected to “usher in the leap from simplistic 2D game experiences to world-class 3D gaming on the web.”

The company claimed Flash 11 allows “1,000 times faster 2D and 3D graphics rendering performance over Flash Player 10,” allowing for 60 frames per second, “console-quality” visuals on Mac OS, Windows and internet-enabled TVs.

“With UE3 and Flash, games built for high-end consoles can now run on the Web or as Facebook apps, reaching an enormous user base,” said Sweeney. “This totally changes the playing field for game developers who want to widely deploy and monetize their games.”

Adobe Gaming Solutions group product manager Emmy Huang called Flash 11 “the console of the web” in a statement on Tuesday. “Flash is delivering immersive gaming experiences across screens and we’re thrilled to have Epic Games using Flash Player to deliver its blockbuster, premier 3D games on the web.”

UE3 licensees will be able to access new Flash features, and more information is available at the engine’s official website. （source:gamasutra）

6）Epic, Chair Reveal Infinity Blade 2 For iOS

by Kris Graft

Epic, Chair Reveal Infinity Blade 2 For iOS

During Apple’s iPhone press conference Tuesday, Epic Games subsidiary Chair Entertainment revealed Infinity Blade 2, the iOS follow-up to its 2010 Unreal Engine 3-based App Store hit.

Last year’s original Infinity Blade was also a technological showpiece for Apple mobile hardware, and raked in millions of dollars for Epic and Chair.

The game is not only a showpiece for Apple, but also for Epic, which is expanding its UE3 licensing efforts beyond the console and PC space and into emerging platforms such as mobile.

Infinity Blade 2 will once again be exclusive to iOS, and will launch on December 1 this year for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The title will also support iOS 5 features including iCloud, allowing users to transfer profiles between devices.

Epic promised the sequel will continue the Infinity Blade adventure with new bosses, locations and environments. The game will also include new fighting styles and “deep role-playing elements.”

Chair also announced the $2.99 eBook, “Infinity Blade: The Awakening,” written by #1 New York Times bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, author of “The Way of Kings,” “Mistborn” and the latter “The Wheel of Time” novels

Epic and Chair did not reveal pricing for Infinity Blade 2. The original currently sells for $5.99 on the App Store. （source:gamasutra）

7）JP Morgan: DeNA Struggles With English Mobage For Android [Social Games]

by Dr. Serkan Toto

I have been preaching for months that Japan’s social gaming giants DeNA and GREE will have a hard time replicating their enormous success outside Japan, and now JP Morgan in Tokyo has released a report pointing out the trouble that DeNA in particular is seeing currently.

To be more specific, JPM says the number of downloads (50-100,000) of the Mobage app on Android is “extremely small”. In  the report from September 29, the company also points out that the existing users have given largely negative reviews so far, resulting in a 2.8 out of 5 possible stars rating for Mobage’s English Android version.

If you check Mobage’s Android Market page now (October 5), the rating (coming from 524 users) has actually slipped to 2.7 stars. The number of downloads is still stuck somwehere between 50-100,000. Most of the user reviews are just brutal.

It’s way too early to call Mobage – in English – on Android a “failure” (it launched in July), and the app is off to a bad start for sure – but an US$8 billion company should never be underestimated.（source:serkantoto）

8）Habbo Hotel Brand Goes Mobile With New iOS Game

by Tom Curtis

Habbo Hotel Brand Goes Mobile With New iOS Game

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Habbo Hotel developer Sulake announced that it will bring its popular Habbo Hotel brand to the mobile space with the recently-debuted free-to-play app, Lost Monkey.

In the game, users play mini-games and take care of a virtual pet monkey as they guide back to its home in Habbo Hotel — upon completing the game, players will unlock the exclusive monkey pet in the web-based virtual world.

“Creating a Habbo mobile game continues to grow our product offerings for teens. Lost Monkey gives teens a chance to have Habbo on the go and bring a sharable character back to the Habbo web environment when they want,” said Sulake CEO Paul LaFontaine

Sulkae said that like its other titles, this new game primarily targets a teen audience, and future mobile apps from the company will follow suit.

However, Lost Monkey isn’t the first mobile app to come from Sulake. In 2009, the company launched Bobba, a virtual world created specifically for smartphones. Both Lost Monkey and Bobba are currently available on the iTunes App Store. （source:gamasutra）

9）Rumor: FarmVille coming to mobile browsers

By Andrew Webster

You can already play FarmVille on your mobile phone, as the game is currently available as an iOS app. However, if rumors are to be believed, soon you might not have to download an app at all: you’ll be able to play FarmVille right from your phone’s browser.

The news comes after fansite FarmVille Freak was tipped off by a reader who allegedly came upon the following screen while trying to access the FarmVille iPhone app:

The image shows a new version of the game, rebranded as FarmVille Express. However, as Games.com notes, the image doesn’t appear to actually be of the iPhone version of the game, but instead looks more like it was taken in the Safari mobile browser. This suggests that Zynga is working on a version of the game that doesn’t require a download to play on your phone, which would make mobile FarmVille much more accessible, as you wouldn’t need an iPhone to play.

If true, this would be the first time that Zynga has released such a game. Other spin-offs of its Facebook games, such as CityVille Hometown or the upcoming Mafia Wars Shakedown, are stand alone iOS apps.（source:gamezebo）

10）In-App Purchases “Bring in the Dough”

Zoya Street

Social Cast’s mobile affairs infographic confirms that the best way to make money from mobile games is through IAP.  Since September 2009, revenue from IAP has soared, while revenue from advertising has remained almost static. With an average IAP spend per user of $14, compared to an average app price of $2.43, it’s clear that a model based on selling virtual goods within free games is far more lucrative than advertising-funded free games or pay-to-play.（source:gamesbrief）