1）据App Annie最新发布的Portable Gaming Report报告显示，2012年第四季度iOS和Google Play平台的合并销售额已经超过专用掌机游戏，该时期有60%的专用掌机（包括所有任天堂3DS、PSP和PS Vita平台）游戏销售额来自12月份圣诞假期。

iphone_vs_ps_vita(from sonyviet.vn)

超过三分之一的iOS App Store和Google Play下载量来自游戏产品，IDC调查指出2012年所有智能手机和平板电脑平台的游戏下载量超过200亿次，《Clash of Clans》仍是iOS平台收益排名第一的游戏，《Puzzle & Dragons》则是Google Play榜单冠军。

2）据Serkantoto报道，截止2月18日，日本热门智能手机游戏《Puzzle & Dragons》用户已达900万（每月收益约5400-7500万美元）。该游戏的主要发展原因并非采用跨平台策略，而是借助了电视广告媒体渠道（始于去年秋季）。

电视广告是日本社交游戏获取用户的最有力工具，DeNA、GREE和LINE等平台运营公司，以及KLab、Crooz、A-Team、Voltage及新上市的enish等纯内容供应商都是利用这一渠道推广游戏。

《Puzzle & Dragons》于2012年10月份首次在日本电视频道推出广告，并在11月份又发布第二支广告。

以下是该游戏在播映广告后，仅历时19天就从300万用户增至400万的图表（在此之前，该游戏用户历时94天才从200万增长至300万）：

puzzle-dragons-9-million(from serkantoto)

3）据pocketgamer报道，Unity联合创始人Nicholas Francis日前透露自己受到Unity游戏的启发，打算离职着手制作自己的游戏。

Unity-logo(from devxstudis.org)

他在公司博客中表示，他为开发者使用Unity所开发的游戏而着迷，因此迫切希望能够尝试自己的理念，打算离开公司以便“全身心投入游戏开发过程”。

4）FixYa最近调查结果显示，虽然有不少iPhone用户抱怨苹果智能手机电池寿命短，添加新功能的节奏太慢，但实际上iPhone仍是市场上性能最佳的智能手机，其可靠性比三星智能手机高三倍，比摩托罗拉手机强25倍左右（游戏邦注：其调查样本是72万2558名智能手机用户）。

iphone(from summarynewspaper)

FixYa指出三星智能手机用户认为自己的移动设备存在麦克风和扬声器、电池寿命问题，Nexus系列产品尤其如此。诺基亚用户则表示自己的手机运行迟钝，其应用系统也很不理想；摩托罗位用户则表示手机有太多预装的垃圾应用，触屏质量很不理想，摄像功能也很糟糕。

这些用户给予苹果、三星、诺基亚和摩托罗拉手机的可靠性评分如下：

1.苹果：3.47分

2.三星：1.21分

3.诺基亚：0.68分

4.摩托罗拉：0.13分

5）美国移动盈利服务公司SessionM最近发布的2012年第四季度报告显示，“超级用户”（指完成最多应用内部活动的用户）在应用中投入的时间占比73%，在IAP开销上占比70%，并且在应用中执行的操作比一般用户多576%。

有趣的是，这一群体的男女比例为51：49，但这也要视不同应用类型的情况而定。

q4_power_user_report（from SessionM)

（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）

1）Google Play and iOS games exceed the sales of dedicated handheld titles last quarter

By Joe Jasko

The gaming industry has certainly come a long way since the only way to game on the go was with your chunky old GameBoy. But it seems now we’re in the midst of another big change, as mobile games are slowly beginning to overtake the sales of dedicated portable gaming software.

According to App Annie’s latest Portable Gaming Report, the combined sales from iOS and Google Play mobile platforms exceeded the total sales of dedicated handheld games in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2012, ending on December 31st. Most of the dedicated handheld sales were during the brief holiday period in December, which accounted for 60% of all Nintendo 3DS, PSP, and PS Vita game sales.

Over one-third of all iOS App Store and Google Play Marketplace downloads last quarter were games, and IDC surveys indicate that over 20 billion games were downloaded across all smartphone and tablet platforms in 2012. Clash of Clanscontinued to reign as the top grossing portable game on the iOS platform, while Puzzle & Dragons led the pack on Google Play, and Pokemon Black / White 2 dominated the Nintendo DS/3DS charts. Nintendo shipments topped both Sony’s Vita and PSP by a near 3-to-1 ratio.

I can’t say that a lot of us at Gamezebo will be surprised by this news. I mean, I can’t even remember the last time I bought a game on my Nintendo 3DS, and I don’t think I’ll be picking up a PlayStation Vita anytime soon. Do you tend to buy more mobile games than you do handheld titles these days?（source：gamezebo）

2）Puzzle & Dragons Hits 9 Million Users (And Shows How Important TV Is In User Acquisition In Japan)

by Dr. Serkan Toto

Puzzle & Dragons, Japan’s top smartphone game, now counts 9 million users: the puzzle/RPG hybrid actually reached that milestone on February 18, just a few days after hitting 8 million downloads late last month.

The chart below, compiled by Social Game Info, shows how Puzzle & Dragons grew to 9 million users since launch on iOS in February 20, 2012.

Versions for Android and Kindle Fire followed in September and November, respectively.

But make no mistake, the main reason why growth went through the roof wasn’t going multi-platform but the TV ad campaign GungHo started in the fall of last year.

And as I tried to highlight earlier on this site, in Japan, heavy TV promotion is the most important (and powerful) tool to acquire users in social games – by very, very far.

It’s not only Mobage operator DeNA, GREE or LINE that are using TV ads to promote games in Japan but also “pure” content providers like KLab, Crooz, A-Team (see here), Voltage, or newly listed enish.

In the case of Puzzle & Dragons, the first spot went live on Japanese TV in October 2012, followed by a second one in November.

That first ad was aired nation-wide exactly on October 15, 2012.

Observe how it took the game just 19 days to go from 3 to 4 million users right after TV promotion kicked in – after it took it 94 days to get from 2 to 3 million:

So in other words, growth – counted in million in this case – was accelerated by a factor of 5 through TV advertising. And as can be seen from the chart, GungHo succeeded in sustaining that growth rate from October to today.

So no wonder Puzzle & Dragons is estimated to make between US$54 and US$ 75 million per month – making it the most profitable mobile game out there.（source：serkantoto）

3）Unity co-founder: Your games are so good, I’m leaving to make one myself

by Keith Andrew

After ten years at Unity, co-founder and CCO Nicholas Francis has revealed he’s been so inspired by the games made using the tech, he’s leaving to make one himself.

His departure has been announced on the company’s blog, with Francis describing his decade long run at the company as an “awesome ride”.

Hard choice

“Over the years it has been amazing to watch Unity getting better and better at such a crazy speed,” said Francis in the blog post.

“Lately I have been incredibly inspired by what you guys have been creating and have been experimenting more and more with my own ideas. It’s made me realise that I have games I want, no need, to make!”

Francis claims that actually making games that utilise the platform he helped to set up is what “really scratches my itch”, with the plan being to leave the company in order to “dedicate myself to creating games.”

“This has not been an easy choice – in fact, it has been one of the hardest ones in my life,” he concluded.

“I am infinitely proud of everything I’ve been part of building, proud of the team, and proud of having a tiny part of me in all your games. So proud that I can’t wait to experience Unity from the other side of the fence. I’ve given to Unity all I had to give, and now I gotta go do what I gotta go do.”（source：pocketgamer）

4）iPhones are 3X more reliable than Samsung smartphones, FixYa says

John Koetsier

iPhone users might occasionally complain about battery life and Apple’s slowness to add new features or enable complete customizability. But according to FixYa, Apple smartphones are the best-performing devices on the market: three times more reliable than Samsung smartphones, and a staggering 25 times more reliable than Motorola phones.

“With Apple and Samsung in an epic battle over smartphone supremacy, the biggest issue that no one talks about is overall reliability,” FixYa CEO Yaniv Bensadon told me via email.

FixYa’s smartphone reliability report says that Samsung smartphone owners have consistent issues with microphone and speaker quality — plus battery life problems, particularly with the Nexus line. According to the report, Nokia users say their phones are laggy and have a poor app ecosystem — this is not a shock — and Motorola customers say their phones have too much pre-installed crapware, poor quality touchscreens, and bad cameras.

How did FixYa arrive at these conclusions?

The product Q&A site took 722,558 troubleshooting requests posted by smartphone owners to its site and analyzed the data to see what issues were reported most for each manufacturer. Then FixYa normalized the data for relative market share — as defined by Statcounter.org — and derived a Smartphone Reliability Score.

The upshot? Apple wins, big time, and it’s not even close:

1.Apple: 3.47

26 percent market share, 74,163 problem impressions

2.Samsung: 1.21

23 percent market share, 187,520 problem impressions

3.Nokia: 0.68

22 percent market share, 324,439 problem impressions

4.Morotola: 0.13

1.8 percent market share, 136,436 problem impressions

“Our newest FixYa report looks at lines like the iPhone, Galaxy, or Lumia,” Bensadon said in a statement. “The result is a scaled approach to fairly compare these top companies to truly see who is the most reliable, and who is barely even competing.”（source：venturebeat）

5）SessionM highlights the value of the Power Users who account for 70% of your IAP revenue

by Chris James

We’re still using the term ‘whale’, despite Nicholas Lovell’s attempts to replace it with ‘True Fan’.

Perhaps US mobile monetisation outfit SessionM will succeed with its ‘Power User’.

Significantly, it’s putting numbers behind the concept too: it defines a ‘power user’ as the third of users who complete the most in-app activities across the apps it tracks through its network.

Each quarter it consider the behaviour of this valuable cohort in its Power User Report. It’s just released the report for Q4 2012.

The droids you want

Key findings are these users account for 73 percent of time spent in-app, for 70 percent of in-app purchases, and perform 576 percent more actions than the average user.

Interestingly, the gender split is 51:49 male to female, although this average clearly depends on the specific app you’re looking at.

Of course, who these users are and how you can convert ordinary users into power users is the key point, and one about which SessionM thinks it can help, at least if you start using its real rewards platform, which is backed by its mPOINTS virtual currency.（source：pocketgamer）