作者：Keith Andrew

随着《CSR Racing》的成功，Boss Alien总经理Jason Avent在伦敦F2P Summit大会上详细阐述了至今为止他在移动领域的发展历程。

他首先指出，PR在免费增值游戏领域没有多大效应。

Avent声称，对于拥有《CSR Racing》这种用户规模的游戏来说，通过PR与这些用户进行交流无疑是徒劳的。

CSR-Racing(from appcroc.com)

无需借助PR

Avent首先提到：“除首次冲击榜单之外，其它时候确实无需借助PR宣传。”

“免费增值游戏能够吸引大量的用户，你无法通过PR联系到这么多用户。”

如他在布莱顿Develop大会上所发表的言辞一样，Avent承认Boss Alien真的“非常非常的幸运”可以收获《CSR Racing》的巨大成功。

他补充道：“我感到震惊。免费增值确实是个不错的发展途径，但我仍惊讶于它的成功性。”

Avent推断，由于《CSR Racing》在进军App Store首个月就创收1200万美元，这款游戏可能将成为“2012年iOS平台上最大的免费游戏”。

高利润产品

但不久前刚被MaturalMotion收购的Boss Alien并非这一行的孤例。Avent表示，其竞争对手也不乏一些创收达1亿美元的手机游戏。

他补充道：“如今的游戏行业将比以往更为壮大。”

免费增值领域尤其如此，Avent表示，关键是不要试图诱导玩家过早对游戏付费。

他指出：“《CSR Racing》的前45分钟可让用户免费玩游戏。实际上，玩家投入游戏的时间越长，他们就更有可能向朋友推荐这款游戏，关键是，他们更有可能为游戏付费。”

情况确实如此，Avent表示我们应让用户尽情享受免费游戏，尽管开发者可以决定玩家何时，以及多久享受免费模式。

比如，《CSR Racing》的玩家只要支付汽油费，就可继续体验游戏，但面对抠门的玩家，开发者也不应该设置过多游戏障碍。

反对声音

但是，仍有些玩家对免费增值模式作出负面反应，Avent将《CSR Racing》所遭受的这些差评归结为汽油系统的“另类”。

他补充道：“这是早期免费模式所遭遇的困难，”他声称这种负面反应是他们料想中的情况，毕竟大多数用户已经习惯付费模式。

他表示，实际上，如果从来没有收到用户抱怨，那可能说明你的模式过于廉价。

他指出：“每个项目运营均是如此。你必须接触某些反对观点。判断收益对自己的重要性。”

尽管如此，Avent再次重申总结道：“免费增值游戏必须是免费的”，这样才能算是实至名归。

“现在，免费增值模式如同二手汽车推销员——我们仍处于学习阶段。最终我们会更加了解这一领域。我想，未来我们会在用户需要的时候兜售他们需要的产品。”（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）

F2P Summit: Freemium haters are ‘xenophobic’, says Boss Alien’s Jason Avent

by Keith Andrew

With the success of CSR Racing under his belt, Boss Alien MD Jason Avent took to the stage during his keynote at the F2P Summit in London to detail his mobile experiences to date.

Lesson one? PR lacks a real punch when it comes to freemium games.

Such is the size of a game like CSR Racing’s audience, he claimed, that trying to communicate with that number of users through PR is a fruitless task.

No PR power

“It’s not really worth doing PR beyond that first kicker to get in the charts,” opened Avent.

“But because of the volume of people you get in a freemium game, you can’t contact that many people through PR.”

Mirroring his appearance at Develop in Brighton, Avent admitted Boss Alien had been “very, very lucky” to enjoy such success with CSR Racing.

“I’m shocked,” he added. “In a good way, but I’m shocked.”

Avent speculated that Boss Alien’s smash could end up being the “biggest freemium game on iOS in 2012″, with CSR Racing having amassed $12 million in revenue during its first month on the App Store.

Million dollar baby

Boss Alien – which was recently acquired by NaturalMotion – is not alone, however. According to Avent, $100 million mobile games are “happening now” for some of his rivals.

“The games industry is going to be bigger than it ever was,” he added.

Specifically in regards to freemium, Avent said it’s crucial not to try and entice the player into paying in play too early.

“Around the first 45 minutes of CSR Racing can be played for free,” he said. “The thing is, the longer players have an association with the game, the longer that can evangelise about it with their friends and – crucially – the more likely they are to spend in play.”

Indeed, Avent said people should be able to play for free as long as they want to, though it’s fair game for a developer to decide just when players can play without paying and for how long.

CSR Racing players, for instance, can pay for gas to play on, but the road shouldn’t be too bumpy for those that zip up their wallets.

Xenophobia

Of the adverse reaction some gamers have had to the freemium model, however, Avent described some of the negative ratings CSR Racing has suffered due to its gas system as “xenophobia”.

“This is early days for freemium,” he added, claiming such an adverse reaction is to be expected when most users have grown up used to the premium model.

In fact, if users aren’t complaining, he said, then your model is probably too cheap.

“This is how every business operates,” he said. “You have to reach the point of resistance. You have to judge whether revenue matters to you.”

Nonetheless, Avent concluded by repeating that “freemium games need to be free” in order to live up to their name.

“At the moment, freemium is like a dodgy used car salesman – we’re still learning. We will get cleverer at all this eventually. Sell users what they want when they need it – that’s the future, I think.”(source:pocketgamer)