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Misha Lyalin阐述ZeptoLab的发展战略

发布时间:2012-12-06 17:00:47 Tags:,,,,

作者:James Brightman

大受欢迎的《割绳子》开发商ZeptoLab于近日公布了其最新手机游戏《Pudding Monsters》。这家俄罗斯游戏开发商希望借此向全世界证明他们并不是只能依靠《割绳子》去谋取成功。上周,ZeptoLab首席执行官Misha Lyalin在最近采访中谈到了他们为何需要接受这一挑战。

Misha Lyalin(from wsj)

Misha Lyalin(from wsj)

其实从某些方面看来ZeptoLab与Rovio非常相似,但却不像它那么成功。如今的Rovio仍然打着《愤怒的小鸟》的招牌。他们的所有业务,不管是游戏还是其它商品化经营都是围绕着《愤怒的小鸟》展开。而《Amazing Alex》和《Bad Piggies》均未能取得这般巨大的成功。但是与之不同的是,ZeptoLab并不期盼着新游戏能够达到与《割绳子》(到目前为止共获得了超过2.5亿的下载量)一样的水平。

Lyalin说道:“我们的公司叫做ZeptoLab,我们并不希望一直被称作《割绳子》开发者。我们同样也希望创建属于自己的品牌,而唯一的方法便是面向目标用户发行更多新游戏。”

Lyalin表示,《Pudding Monsters》是一款老少皆宜的游戏,但他们也并不怕走细分市场路线。他说道:“如果我们因为某些原因而面向特定目标用户创造出一款游戏,并在此取得了巨大的成功,这也不是意味着我们创造了另一款《割绳子》,而只能说我们创造了另一款优秀的游戏。”

早前的ZeptoLab选择与Chillingo合作,共同在iOS平台上发行《割绳子》,而这次他们决定完全依靠自己的力量再次创造出这种成功。Lyalin继续说道:“如果我们能够创造出另一款与《割绳子》一样大受欢迎的游戏,我们便可以创建另一个游戏品牌了。当然了,现在的我们已经能够意识到这个过程中还存在着各种陷阱以及有待解决的问题——因为如今的我们已经拥有了更多的经验,经历了商品化,游戏授权以及创建业务等过程。”

尽管Lyalin首先强调的是ZeptoLab是一家游戏开发商,但是他也承认他们公司与Rovio一样会接触娱乐业务。在谈及近来与Sony Pictures签订的直播电视节目合约时他说道:“我们知道一家公司的能力远不只如此。而如今我们正在对此进行试验,如果我们有幸取得与《割绳子》一样的巨大成功,那便说明这种方式是有效的。所以我们便决定正视娱乐业务。而对于《割绳子》,我们则需要做出进一步的完善。玩家对于我们的游戏角色以及游戏本身的发展具有极大的需求,我们也需要继续发展游戏故事。所以今后玩家将能够看到更棒的《割绳子》以及更棒的Om Nom。”

Cut-the-Rope(from pocketnow)

Cut-the-Rope(from pocketnow)

就像Swarm的联合创始人Matt Haggerty所说的,易用性是决定手机游戏是否成功的一大关键因素,但是与此同时手机上的中核游戏领域也在不断崛起,而这正是ZeptoLab所瞄准的方向。尽管从本质看来《Pudding Monsters》是一款休闲游戏,但是这家俄罗斯发行商已经明确了面向中核游戏类型的发展目标。

Lyalin说道:“中核游戏正在快速发展着,并且已经出现了好几款畅销游戏。所以很显然玩家需要这类型游戏。”他也表示他们的开发团队已经足够成熟,能够同时涉及休闲游戏和中核游戏领域。

Lyalin表示:“虽然一开始我们只有两名成员,但是现在我们已经发展成拥有超过50名员工的工作室了,所以我们能够同时致力于多个项目中,并定期发行和更新各种内容。而为了满足广大用户的需求,我们也决定尝试不同的游戏类型。”

Lyalin认为,为了跟上不断壮大的手机游戏市场,他们也必须变得越发强大。他们将不断进行尝试,并在今后推出更多新游戏类型。

“每个人都会挤向最有利可图的发展区域,从而导致其它类别出现各种空缺—–即缺少一些真正优秀的内容。但是我却认为这里还存在着巨大的机遇,因为还有许多游戏类型是我们未曾接触过的。”

“这个市场与其它市场其实没有多大差别。唯一的不同应该是其更块的发展速度。它将不断壮大,并获取更大的收益,甚至超过其它的任何市场。一旦市场变得足够成熟,我们必然能够看到这种转变。”

尽管Lyalin的观点并不是绝对的公正,但是他认为手机(或者至少是手机生态系统)将主导着未来的游戏领域。就像Green Throttle Games,Ouya等公司都将手机游戏推向了高清电视,所以主机游戏所面临的压力也越来越大。而平板电脑则具有巨大大发展潜力。

Lyalin说道:“我仍然保留着Xbox和PlayStation,但却很少再使用它们了。并且应该不是只有我有这种想法,所以我敢肯定如今的市场正倾向于手机游戏。而平板电脑的使用率也将逐渐超越主机。”他同时也强调,如今的平板电脑游戏还不能完全满足玩家的期望值。就像玩家还不能在平板电脑中看到《使命的召唤》这类型游戏。但是有时候简单的游戏不只更有趣,同时还能取得更大的成功。

“如今当你在主机(如Xbox Live Arcade)上玩某款游戏时,你便会期待着看到更高质量的内容并挑战更多不一样的关卡。但是如果你是面对iPad等平板电脑和手机,你可能就会觉得最简单的游戏便拥有最高质量的内容。这是市场的有趣变化,也是人们对于这些设备的不同体验。这一切都不同于主机平台,甚至连玩家的购买动力和心理元素也不同。而最终免费模式将会主导中核游戏的每个层面。”

最简单的游戏如果能够获取成功便是一个积极面,因为中核游戏的崛起便意味着手机游戏开发成本也将随之提升,并且终有一天也会接近主机游戏开发。

Lyalin强调:“这是一种必然的过程。当人们在一个市场中获取巨大利润时,他们便会投入更多成本去生产更多产品,随之市场中也会出现更多更棒的手机和平板电脑,以及更加强大的处理器和更大容量的内存,等等。所以我们终将会迎来这种过程。”

“这并不意味着你不能创造一款廉价的游戏。这个市场也会与其它市场一些出现不同细分领域。所以开发者必然会创造一些廉价的游戏并将其投入市场进行测试。而测试成功后便会出现与网络结合在一起的廉价游戏,并且开发者也可以从中赚取一定的利益。当然在这之间也存在各种昂贵的游戏以及大制作游戏等。”

对于新晋手机游戏开发者来说,这是一个鼓舞人心的过程,但是Lyalin却认为他们不应该“单打独斗”。如果你刚进入这一领域,你便很容易迷失在应用的海洋里或执行一些糟糕的业务。他说道:“如果你们是一家新公司,或者刚进入游戏开发领域,你便不清楚如何进行市场营销。这时候你们就应该向那些拥有流量和网络的人寻求帮助。问题就在于,每个人都宣称自己拥有流量,但却并非所有人都能够将这些流量真正带进游戏中。这便是任何想要进入这一市场的人需要搞清楚的问题。如果你选择与别人进行合作,你便需要先搞清楚他们是否具有经验?他们是否知道去哪里寻找游戏的目标用户?”

“所以我认为这才是开发者真正需要明确的内容,并且他们可以采取不同的方法做到这一点。有些人只是不断地壮大自己。创造出更多游戏并购买更多流量。而有些人则采取了更加巧妙的方式并取得了不错的效果——因为他们的游戏都属于相同的类型,而那些喜欢这一游戏类型的玩家们便有可能变成你的用户。有些人只是为了获得更大的利益而不断壮大自己,也有些人虽然通过购买流量获得了成功,但是他们却必须为此付出更大的代价。”

Lyalin总结道:“因为我们已经拥有了一些成功的游戏并建立了一个成功的品牌,所以我们便免费获得了流量。我们知道那些选择我们游戏的玩家们就是喜欢这种游戏类型(游戏邦注:即容易操作的游戏),并且喜欢我们的游戏品牌。所以我们将基于此继续拓展,并投入更多成本进行市场营销,而不只是面向App Store和Google Play。”

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

Cut the Rope studio: We’re not a one-trick pony

By James Brightman

ZeptoLab, makers of the popular Cut the Rope franchise, announced a new mobile IP earlier today called Pudding Monsters. It’s an attempt by the Russian games developer to branch out and prove to the world that it can be successful with other titles besides Cut the Rope. ZeptoLab CEO Misha Lyalin spoke with GamesIndustry International last week about the need for his company to take on this challenge.

ZeptoLab, in some ways, is a bit like Rovio, albeit slightly less successful. Rovio is still very much the Angry Birds company. Their entire business, whether games or merchandizing, revolves around Angry Birds. Amazing Alex and Bad Piggies didn’t produce results in the same way. ZeptoLab, however, is hoping that it’s not in the same position with Cut the Rope, which has seen over 250 million downloads so far.

“The company is called ZeptoLab, right? We cannot always be known as makers of Cut the Rope. And so we need to cultivate that brand and the only way we can do that is by releasing new games that make sense to whatever target audience it is,” Lyalin tells us.

While Pudding Monsters, Lyalin says, is designed to be playable by anyone from two to a hundred years of age, ZeptoLab isn’t necessarily afraid of going after a niche market either.

“If we, for whatever reason pick a very niche game for a very target audience and we’re being successful there, it doesn’t mean we haven’t created the next Cut the Rope; it just means that we created another great game,” he says.

And unlike its early days when the company signed a one-time publishing deal with Chillingo for the original Cut the Rope on iOS, ZeptoLab is prepared for another breakout success on its own. “If we manage to create a game that everybody will love just like Cut the Rope, well, great, and then we can build another brand outlet. Certainly, when we have attempts like that, we will know some of the pitfalls and some of the issues to solve because we now have a lot more experience because we’ve gone through merchandizing, licensing, setting up that business and it’s going well and it’s growing like crazy,” Lyalin continues.

While Lyalin notes that ZeptoLab is a games developer first and foremost, he also believes his company, like Rovio, is equipped to handle entertainment properties. “There is a lot more now we understand as a company. So we’re experienced and if we happen to have a success like Cut the Rope, with all the success that Cut the Rope has, we will make sure that we will address it properly. So we’re set up to handle an entertainment property. At the same time, with Cut the Rope, we do understand that we need to take steps further. We have a good demand for our character. We have a good demand for our game… but we also need to grow our story. So there will be more of Cut the Rope and there will be more of Om Nom,” he says, adding that part of that includes a deal recently signed with Sony Pictures to do a live TV show.

One of the keys to success on mobile has been accessibility, as noted by Swarm co-founder Matt Haggerty, but there’s also the rise of the midcore segment on mobile, and that’s an area that ZeptoLab believes is growing. While Pudding Monsters is obviously casual in nature, the Russian developer could be targeting a midcore style title in future.

“That’s going to grow and we see it right now with some of the top grossing titles have really been in that category. And obviously people need that,” Lyalin says. He notes that his team has grown enough to the point where they can approach both the casual and midcore sectors.

“Basically, because we’ve grown from essentially two people when we started to over fifty people now in the studio, we’re able to work on multiple projects at the same time and do regular releases and updates to those regular releases and we’re going to try ourselves some different genres because our user base is very interesting and our user base has asked us in comments and in tweets and Facebook to do certain things and we’re moving in that direction. We’ll see,” Lyalin says.

For as big as the mobile games market has become, Lyalin sees it getting bigger and bigger and the growth has been accelerating. Developers are experimenting, and plenty of new genres will be created in the coming months and years.

“Everybody is digging for gold where everybody else is digging at the same time and there are lots and lots of applications on those stores but at the same time, there are completely empty categories – empty of really, really good content. I think the opportunity is still enormous because there are so many genres that haven’t been even touched yet,” Lyalin observes.

“This market is just like any market. The only differences from before mobile or before console…this is just moving a lot faster. It’s getting bigger and it’s going to get much, much bigger than anything we’ve seen. And it’s going to get there much, much faster. And the transformations that are going to happen will be a lot more because that’s what usually is required to get to where the market will be mature. So we’re going to see a lot of fun times.”

While Lyalin is obviously not an unbiased source, he does feel that mobile – or at least the mobile ecosystems – will dominate the games sector. With companies like Green Throttle Games, Ouya and others pushing mobile to the HDTV, consoles are facing increasing pressures. And tablets have enormous potential.

“You know, I still have an Xbox and a PlayStation, but I don’t use them, at least not as often. I think that’s pretty general for the market, so I would definitely agree that the market is going mobile. Tablet devices are probably going to be played more overall than the console,” Lyalin says. For now people’s expectations are being kept in check when it comes to tablet games, he notes. You don’t expect Call of Duty level gaming on that device currently. And sometimes the simplest games are not only enjoyable, but more successful.

“On consoles right now, if you play something, Xbox Live Arcade, you expect that thing to be different quality, a different level, right? But if you look at iPads and tablets and phones in general, the simplest games are probably the best quality you can ever see. So it’s an interesting way how the market will perceive that and how people experience with those devices will be. It will be different than consoles. Definitely, the dynamics and psychology of the purchase is obviously different. And the freemium model is going to be dominating the midcore and basically every layer probably,” he says.

It’s certainly a positive that the simplest games can succeed, because with the rise of midcore, the cost of mobile development is on the rise, and one day it may approach the higher levels of console development.

“It’s going to get that way. There’s no other way about it,” Lyalin notes. “Obviously, when people are making a lot of money in the market, they compete by throwing more money into products and people are trying to make products better and phones and tablets are getting much, much better and the processors are more powerful, more memory, the whole nine yards. So that is obviously going to happen.”

“That doesn’t mean you cannot make a game for cheap. You can still make a game for cheap. So I think the market is going to develop just like any other market, right? It’s going to be segmented. There will be cheap games to make and people will throw them out to see if they’re successful. And then there will be cheap games to make that will be combined with the networks and people will make money that way. There will be expensive games, blockbusters, and everything in between.”

For new mobile developers, that’s encouraging, but Lyalin doesn’t think they should go it alone at first. It’s way too easy to get lost in a sea of apps or mismanage a business when you’re fresh.
“If you’re a new company, if you’re a completely new game developer, you don’t know how to market. I think your best bet is to seek somebody that has traffic and has a network,” he offers. “The problem there is that traffic – everybody claims to have traffic, but not everybody can convert that traffic from what those people are playing or doing or whatever to your game. That is the biggest question that always needs to be asked by everybody who wants to enter the market. If they partner with somebody, do those people have experience? Do those people know where to get the relevant audience to the game?”

“So that, I think, is the name of the game for everybody right now and there are different ways to do that. Some people just get much bigger, right? Have a lot of titles and try to shop traffic between them. And people who are doing it in a smart way, do that very well, because their games are in the same kind of genre; the same kind of people who like those kinds of games and you can grow your audience and make sure that your audience converts really well. For others, they just get bigger for the sake of getting bigger and that has different effects. Some people just buy traffic and can be very successful there, just buying and monetizing that way.”

“Our strategy is, because we have such successful games and we have such a successful brand, we get our traffic virtually for free. So we know the people who play our games, they like games like that, being easy to play, and they love our brand. So we’re going to continue expanding from there and do a lot more consumer marketing, not just App Store marketing, and not just Google Play marketing,” Lyalin concludes. (source:gamesindustry)


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