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开发者或可借鉴Louis CK的方式发售游戏

发布时间:2012-01-11 17:44:51 Tags:,,,

作者:Joel Brodie

12月,Louis CK(游戏邦注:美国喜剧演员)声称将打破所有视频在线销售的规则,采用自己的新方法。

他决定自行制作视频,以5美元的价格在自己的网站上销售,不含DRM(游戏邦注:数字版权加密保护技术)设置。结果如何呢?仅仅两周销售量便突破100万美元。

louis CK(from interviewmagazine.com)

louis CK(from interviewmagazine.com)

每个独立游戏开发商都应当看看Louis CK的做法,尝试将其复制到游戏行业中。以下便是我所总结的Louis CK采取的正确做法:

1、合理定价:Louis CK视频的大小和定价趋于完美——1小时的视频售价5美元。视频制作所需的时间并不多,而5美元的价格足够支付交易费,同时对于这种价格,粉丝在购买时也不会犹豫不决。游戏开发商也可以制作5小时以内的游戏产品,将其定价为5美元或者更低(游戏邦注:这种模型比较适合智能手机上的预付费游戏)。

2、单一而普遍的支付选项:Louis CK让粉丝很容易地购买他的视频。他没有提供多种支付选项,最初粉丝只能用Paypal购买,现在又多了个Amazon。所有人都认为必须向用户提供尽可能多的支付选项,但有时1个简单的方式却往往是最好的。

3、无DRM设置:这是个最具风险的选择,但也是最睿智的选择。在自己的网站上,Louis CK表示他决定向购买者提供无DRM的视频,使任何购买视频的人可以很方便地随时随地观看。如此做法的风险在于,用户随后可能将视频

放到Bit Torrent上共享。但是他希望自己的粉丝不要这么做,解释称他希望通过这种个人出售的方式为粉丝提供更为出色的产品,希望用户不要让他失望。诚然,随后许多视频可以在Bit Torrent上免费下载(游戏邦注:因为有人会破解DRM,所有仍有许多用户可免费下载含DRM的游戏)。但两周内销售量达到1百万美元这个事实证明,大部分人听从了他的号召。

4、慈善:Louis CK决定将部分盈利捐献给4个不同的慈善机构。这并非视频销售成功的决定性因素,但确实算是个鼓励用户不下载盗版视频的有效方法(游戏邦注:用户如果下载盗版视频,那么他们偷窃的不仅仅是内容,更是捐向慈善机构的善款)。

5、构建庞大的粉丝基础:Louis CK能够获得成功的重要原因是,他拥有庞大的粉丝群体。游戏公司也需要注重培养与用户间的关系,将他们转变成狂热粉丝,帮助你进行病毒式营销。

但是,游戏开发商会面临挑战。现在,各平台中开发商的竞争激烈,所以很难突出重围获得狂热的粉丝群体。

不为人所知的喜剧演员无法实现在两周内售出100万美元视频的目标,同样,不出名的游戏开发商自然也无法取得如此佳绩。

Louis CK试验中最值得游戏开发商借鉴的地方在于,游戏开发商应当尽可能直接将游戏出售给用户,为产品设定合理价格,采用免DRM的方式,并为未来的产品构建坚实的粉丝群体。

但是,他们也不应当放弃目前拥有的销售渠道。

在我们获得真正的游戏DIY销售模式之前,游戏开发商应当同时利用自己的网站和各种平台,以及设备上现存的大型数字化销售渠道来出售游戏。(本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转载,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Monday Morning Quarterback: What Louis CK can teach us about selling games

Joel Brodie

In December, Louis CK (my favorite comedian right now, if you have never watched the TV show Louie, do it!), announced that he was going to break all rules for selling videos online and do his own thing.

Against the better judgment of his friends and colleagues, he decided to produce his own video, sell it on his own web site at a fair price point of $5, and make it DRM-free (so once you buy it you own it).

The result? Over $1 million in sales in just two weeks.

What does this little digital distribution experiment mean for games? In my opinion, a whole lot!

Every independent game developer should be looking at what Louis CK did right and try to replicate it for the games world. Here’s my list of what Louis CK did right:

Pricing and offer: Louis CK’s video was the perfect size and price — one hour long and $5. It was not so long that he had to spend too much to produce the video and the price of $5 was enough to cover the transaction fee but not too much for his fans to feel like it was a hard decision to pay for the item. Game developers can get away with producing a game that produces five hours or less of gameplay if they price it at $5 or below (essentially, this is the model for for-pay games on smart phones).

Payment options: Louis CK made it extremely easy to purchase his video. Instead of providing multiple payment options, he kept it simple, at first offering only a Paypal option and now Amazon.

Everyone thinks you have to offer users as many ways as possible to buy a game or digital item, but sometimes, one simple way is best.

Go DRM-free: This was the most risky decision but also the smartest one. On his web page, Louis CK says that against the judgement of everyone, he decided to offer the video DRM-free to make it as easy as possible for anyone who bought the video to be able to watch it whenever and wherever they want. The flipside is that people could then share it for free on Bit Torrent. But he appealed for his fans not to, explaining that he was going the “non-corporate” route by offering a better product to his fans, and asking his customers not to break his trust. Surely, many copies are being downloaded for free on Bit Torrent (just like any game with DRM is being offered for free, since anyone can break a DRM lock). But the fact that over a million dollars in videos were sold in two weeks shows that enough people did the right thing.

Be charitable: Louis CK decided to give a portion (a large one actually) of the proceeds to four different charities. This is not a “make-or-break” factor to the success of the video, but it is another nice way to encourage users not to steal the video (you are not just stealing the content but also taking away money that can go to charity).

Build a big fan base: A big reason Louis CK was successful was because of his rabid fan base. Game companies need to make sure they foster strong relationships with their users, turning customers into rabid fans who will do the viral marketing for you.

And there’s the rub for game developers. With so many games being released by so many game companies today on so many platforms, it’s hard to initially stand out in the crowd and get that rabid fan base.

A no-name comedian would never have sold a million dollars in videos in two weeks, in the same way that a game developer you may never have heard of would have issues doing so.

And perhaps that is the biggest lesson for game developers for the Louis CK experiment. Game developers should do everything they can to sell their games directly to their customers. They should price their games fairly and cheaply, go DRM-free, and build a fan base for future products.

But they shouldn’t give up on the current distribution channels that exist today.

Until we have a true DIY distribution model for games, game developers should be encouraged to sell their games both on their web site and through the big digital distribution channels that exist on multiple platforms and devices out there today. (Source: Game Zebo)


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