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游戏行业人士谈拯救Zynga的办法和建议

发布时间:2012-10-29 11:00:38 Tags:,,,,

作者:Zoya Street

问:

根据最近的报道,如今Zynga的市值已经低于其现金持有量以及它在旧金山所拥有的全部资产价值。如果该公司聘请你接替马克·平克斯而担任首席执行官,你会采取何种措施去恢复其发展,这需要花费多长时间,你最终的成功衡量标准又是什么?

Zynga-game(from examiner.com)

Zynga-game(from examiner.com)

答:

Dylan Collins——《Fight my Monster》执行总监

私有化

如果华尔街并不能接受你所谓的业务模式转变(游戏邦注:从社交游戏到手机游戏的转变),你便很难在上市环境中站稳脚步。

这时候私有化便是一种廉价且有效的方法,即购买一些优秀的手机公司而获得其资金和股票。然后在两三年内,当发展趋于稳定或者博彩游戏变得合法化时,将其出售出去。

这么做能够让你利用私人资本

这么做能让你暗中进行一些博彩游戏业务

这么做能够维持你的股价稳定,从而有效地雇佣到一些更忠实的员工

Ian Marsh——Nimblebit开发者

我认为Zynga应该变得“精简”些,也就意味着它需要裁掉大量的劳动力。开发一款休闲游戏并不需要使用上千名的员工。我将留下一些最具创造性的人才,并让他们带领小团队去创造一些具有创意的新游戏。而当一款游戏开始爆红时,我便会将全部重心转向市场营销和市场分析中。我将采取与DeNA相同的做法,即将手机作为游戏的最新发行平台。我将最先面向iOS和Android发行游戏,如果游戏获得了成功,我便会将其移植到网页或其它平台上。同时我也会采取私有化方法去避免股票波动所造成的员工流失情况。我认为如果有适合的人士能够主导Zynga的发展,它便有可能重振雄风。

Harry Holmwood——Heldhand顾问

的确,私有化是一种有效的方法。在今后几年里Zynga将继续转型,而整个游戏产业也将发生更大的变化。它不应该只停留在一个市场中。

尽管Zynga已经在手机领域取得了很好的成绩,但却还有更大的机遇在等待着他们。对于Zynga来说,投入更多的资本于用户获取以及受自我驱使的收购行动中便是巨大的发展机遇。博彩便算是一大潜在的发展领域。

除此之外,大量的资本与技术便是他们持有的一大优势。所以他们可以利用这些技术(易用性与各种参数)去创造更具有深度的游戏(但同时也不放弃他们的休闲玩家群体),从而吸引大量玩家愿意为游戏投入更多的金钱。《英雄联盟》,《坦克世界》等游戏都取得了巨大的成功,而它们都属于拥有巨大“障碍”(游戏邦注:它们虽然拥有较高的客户端下载量,但却拥有复杂的学习曲线)的游戏——而这恰好是Zynga游戏的优势所在。

Zynga需要投入18至24个月的时间去落实巩固,投资以及收获成功的整个过程。希望到那时候整个市场也会随之变得更有意义。以下便是帮助Zynga再次获取成功的重要方法:

1.确保现金流动的合理性。

2.积极进入两个以上的不同领域,包括“硬核游戏”,博彩,脱离Facebook的游戏以及有效盈利的手机领域。

3.摆脱各种负面新闻。

4.挽留住创意人才与执行人员,并不断地激励他们。

Andy Payne——Mastertronic的创始人

如果让我主管Zynga,我将采取以下方法:

尽快执行私有化政策。

完全专注于手机平台。

审查运营成本—-投入3个月时间去研究人为因素,从而明确最佳的运营开支。

牢牢把握住1至2款大获成功的游戏。

正视具有发展潜力或发展迅速的作品。

甩掉不必要的包袱。

重新树立品牌—-但并不是为品牌更名,而是需要投入更多精力重新唤回用户的品牌意识。

继续想办法吸引玩家的注意。

停止复制别人的作品。

具有创造性。

成功=

1.在12个月内赢得利润。

2.在手机领域享有较大的名气。

3.获得大量的现金收入。

4.拥有一支彼此关心,且重视玩家和整个产业的团队。

5.如果未能做到1至4点,你就只能对员工施以“迷幻药”了。

Oscar Clark——Applifier倡导者

我同意其他人关于回归私有化以及调整业务的相关建议。除此之外,我还认为他们必须转向市场营销引导策略而不是变成一家依赖于获取新用户的公司。

这便意味着他们的业务核心必须是明确并满足用户的需求。

也就是他们需要努力创造出最优秀的游戏,并将其投入于基本品牌中进行发展,从而推动那个原本已经没有多大吸引力的品牌再次复苏。

他们拥有许多重要的数据,但是我认为真正有帮助的还是数据内部的深刻含义,并且他们还需要专注于扩大产品的娱乐价值(对于用户而言),而不只是依靠着鲸鱼玩家去提高公司收益。

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

How would you save Zynga?

By Zoya Street

Question:

It was recently reported that Zynga’s market value was less than the value of its cash holdings and the property it owns in San Francisco. If you were suddenly asked to replace Mark Pincus, what would you do to revive the company’s fortunes, how long would it take and what would be your metric of success?

Answers:

Dylan Collins Executive chairman at Fight my Monster

Take it private.

A transitioning business model (social to mobile) which at the best of times wasn’t really understood by Wall St has no place being on the public markets. You’re just asking to get the shit kicked out of you.

Take it private (it’s cheap), buy a couple of really good mobile companies for cash and stock. And then sell it or refloat it (if you have to) in 2-3 years when things have stabilised. Or when gambling has been legalised

It lets you take advantage of private money (plenty available)

It lets you do the gambling stuff behind closed doors

It gives equity stability which is critical for hiring people who’ll stay longer than a couple of weeks

Ian Marsh Developer at Nimblebit

I think Zynga needs to be a much leaner machine, and that means laying off a big chunk of their workforce unfortunately. You don’t need thousands of people to work on a handful of casual games. I’d keep the best creative talent there and put them at the heads of small teams to come up with new and original games. Once a hit is recognized I suppose you could put the full weight of Zynga’s marketing and analytical teams behind it. I’d also take a page from DENA and make mobile the primary focus  for their new publishing and social platform. I’d launch games on iOS and Android first and only port them to the web or other platforms if they prove to be successful games. I’d also probably take the company private again to prevent stock fluctuations from de-motivating employees or providing the wrong kind of motivations for working there. I think Zynga could actually be salvaged with the right person at the helm.

Harry Holmwood Consultant at Heldhand

Yes, definitely – take it private.  Zynga is going to continue to be in transition for the next couple of years, as is the entire industry. The market isn’t the place for it.

They’re doing fine in mobile, and that’s where the bigger opportunity for them lies.  It’s also a huge opportunity for them to squander silly money on user acquisition and ego-driven acquisitions, if they’re not careful.  Gambling is a big potential growth area too.

Plus… they have a massive amount of cash and expertise.  They need to start attracting more of the spending crowd, and they can do that by applying the expertise they have (in accessibility and metrics) to that crowd via more compelling  in depth games (without dropping the ball on their casual crowd).  Despite the huge success of League of Legends, World of Tanks etc, these are still products which have huge ‘convenience walls’ (if that phrase catches on, please remember I just invented it and credit me in your book   ) – massive client downloads, tough learning curves etc – areas where Zynga excels.

It needs 18-24 months to refocus, invest and reap the rewards.  Hopefully the general market makes more sense by then too.
Measures of success:

1.Cashflow positive

2.Successful entry into two or more of – ‘harder core games’ (need a better word), gambling, off-Facebook gaming, well-monetized mobile

3.No longer being seen as a dirty word

4.Key creative and exec staff retained, incentivised and happy.

Andy Payne Founder of Mastertronic

If I was asked to do the job I would go down this route:-

Privatise the company ASAP

Focus completely on mobile platforms

Review operational costs – spend 3 months understanding the people factor – decide on what is an operational overhead and what we could afford

hold on to 1 or 2 cash cow games

Identify a rising star or commission one fast

Ditch the dogs

Rebrand – not rename but that needs massive work

Go on a charm offensive

Stop copying others

Be original

Success =

getting into profit (if not already) within 12 months

be a proper player in mobile and known for it

generate cash although that comes with 1 or should do

have a team who care about each other, their players and the industry in general

issue Acid to all staff if 1-4 does not worked

Oscar Clark Evangelist at Applifier

I agree with all of the other statements about returning to private ownership and refocusing the business.  For me I would only add that I believe that they need also to transition to a marketing led strategy rather than sales/new user acquisition company.

This means putting at the heart of the business the goal to identify and satisfy consumer needs.

That to me means aspiring to make the best possible games and investing in their underlying brand, which I believe is tarnished.

They already have a lot of data to help them do this, but I feel they need to look below the surface of that data means and focus on maximising the entertainment value to the customer – not just maximising the income to Zynga from the whales.(source:gamesbrief)


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