作者：James Nouch

澳大利亚工作室Halfbrick，也就是《水果忍者》和《火箭飞人》的开发商发行了一款带应用内部购买，且售价0.99美元的游戏《Fish Out of Water》。

同时，俄罗斯工作室ZeptoLab也基于授权而推出《割绳子：时光旅行》这款带有0.99美元标签以及IAP机制的游戏。

但是在免费游戏占主导地位的今天，哪一款付费游戏将表现得更佳？让我们从App Store排行榜上寻找答案。

开门见山

无需再拐弯抹角了——《割绳子：时光旅行》在App Store上的排名高于《Fish Out of Water》。

鉴于《割绳子》系列的大受欢迎，以及各种突出场景，我们对ZeptoLab能够击败Halfbrick并不惊讶。

在发行后的24小时内，《割绳子：时光旅行》便登上了付费应用排行榜单第一名的位置，截止本文撰稿它还仍保留在最高的位置上。

但是《割绳子》在付费下载排行榜上的主导地位却并未延伸到营收排行榜单上。

ctr-grossing（from App Annie）

（分析图表所显示的是《割绳子：时光旅行》在美国App Store营收排行榜中的表现。这是由App Annie所提供的分析数据。）

Zeptolab的游戏在发行时位列营收游戏排行榜的第40位，然后在之后的几天又窜到27位。但是自那以后该游戏又滑到了28位。

付费游戏竞争

现在，《割绳子：时光旅行》在付费应用排行榜上仍占据着第一名的位置，而第二名和第三名的游戏分别是《我的世界：袖珍版》和《忍者神龟：屋顶狂飙》。

不过尽管《割绳子》从一发行便创造了比这两款游戏更高的每日下载量，但是在营收游戏排行榜单上，《我的世界》和《TMNT》的排行却高于《割绳子》。

对于Mojang的独立世界创造来说，定价是制胜因素。

也许在过去几周里，《我的世界》下载量不及《割绳子：时光旅行》，但是要知道前者是贴着6.99美元的价格标签。

单凭这一点（游戏也没有IAP）就足以巩固《我的世界：袖珍版》在营收游戏排行榜中第七名的位置。

ctr-tt（from pocketgamer）

而《TMNT》与《割绳子：时光旅行》于同一天发行，并伴随着1.99美元的价格标签。

这是该款游戏能够获得较高营收排名的部分原因，而不得不提的是，其虚拟货币IAP也比《割绳子》的游戏内部升级机制更加吸引人。

尽管从发行后便成为了美国App Store上最受欢迎的付费游戏，但是在营收付费游戏排行榜上它却位居第三。

基于传统观念，免费模式便是Zeptolab提高收益的必然之路，但是从现实看来，设定更高的价格标签似乎更适合开发商们。

瓮中之鳖

与此同时，《Fish Out of Water》在发行时也攀上了付费游戏排行榜上第四名的位置。但是在两天后，也就是游戏发行后的“首个周末”，它又滑落到第五名，并且在我写这篇文章的时候它仍然保持在这个位置。

Halfbrick的这款新IP一开始在营收游戏排行榜的排名是70，并在4月20日（周六）上升到56名。

直到现在那仍是这款游戏所获得的最高位次，而它现在停留于营收游戏排行榜第62名的位置上，远远落后于像《神庙逃亡：魔境仙踪》，《猜字游戏》以及《气球塔防5》等付费游戏后。

fish-grossing（from App Annie）

（分析图表显示的是《Fish Out of Water》在美国App Store营收排行榜单上的表现。）

根据Distimo估计，《Fish Out of Water》在发行（4月18号）与登上营收排行榜上最好位次（4月20号）这几天内在美国App Store中共生成了1万7000美元的收益。

当然了，这一成绩并不差，但是相比Halfbrick之前的成功，这算是在拖后腿了。

鉴于该公司在2011年末将《火箭飞人》从付费模式带向免费模式，所以我们对该公司如今避开免费模式的做法感到非常惊讶。

免费游戏的主导

除了付费价格点之外，《Fish Out of Water》和《割绳子：时光旅行》间还拥有一个共同点便是，它们都是那些在过去通过付费应用获取了巨大成功的开发商的作品。

最初的《割绳子》的售价为0.99美元，并在2010年10月最初发行后一年仍保持在前50名营收游戏排行内。《水果忍者》最初售价也是0.99美元，并在2年后也仍保持在前50名营收游戏排行内。

fruit-ninja-grossing（from App Annie）

（分析图表显示的是《水果忍者》从2010年4月发行以来在美国App Store营收游戏排行榜中的表现。）

今天，对于一款付费游戏能够取得如此巨大且持久的成功是极不寻常的。免费游戏的发展已经改变了整个产业以及App Store中排行榜的排名。

当然了，现在去评判《Fish Out of Water》和《割绳子：时光旅行》长期的表现还太早，它们的开发商们也还能够继续往游戏玩法中添加更棒的内容。

（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）

The Charticle: Battle of the paid games – Fish Out of Water vs. Cut the Rope: Time Travel

by James Nouch

Last week, the developers responsible for some of the App Store’s most well-known names released new games.

Australian outfit Halfbrick – the developer behind Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride – released Fish Out of Water, a 99c game with in-app purchases.

Russian studio ZeptoLab, meanwhile, launched Cut the Rope: Time Travel, a new instalment in the physics-puzzler franchise with a 99c price tag and IAPs too.

But in this time of free-to-play dominance, which paid game performed better? We examined the App Store charts to find out.

Cut to the chase

So let’s not beat around the bush – Cut the Rope: Time Travel climbed higher and faster in the App Store rankings than Halfbrick’s effort.

Given the popularity of the Cut the Rope series, and the number of featured spots that status helped secure, it’s no surprise that ZeptoLab beat out Halfbrick’s new IP.

Within 24 hours of launch, Cut the Rope: Time Travel was #1 in the paid apps chart, and at the time of writing, it remains in pole position.

But Cut the Rope’s dominance in the paid downloads chart hasn’t translated into an especially high position on the grossing charts.

Analytics graph showing Cut the Rope: Time Travel’s performance on the US App Store’s top grossing charts. Analytics data courtesy of App Annie.

ZeptoLab’s latest reached #40 in the top grossing games rankings at launch, and surged to #27 in the days that followed. Since then, however, the game has slid back to #28.

Paid competition

Right now, Cut the Rope: Time Travel is #1 on the paid apps chart, while second and third place goes to Minecraft: Pocket Edition and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Rooftop Run respectively.

But although Cut the Rope has generated more downloads than these two games every day since its launch, both Minecraft and TMNT are ranked much higher in the top grossing games chart than ZeptoLab’s effort.

For Mojang’s indie world-builder, price is the winning factor.

Minecraft may have been downloaded fewer times than Cut the Rope: Time Travel in the past week, but Minecraft has a $6.99 price tag.

This alone (the game has no IAPs) is enough to secure Minecraft: Pocket Edition seventh place in the top grossing games chart at time of writing.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, meanwhile, launched on the same day as Cut the Rope: Time Travel and carried a $1.99 price tag.

That may go part way to explaining its superior grossing charts performance, but the title’s virtual currency IAPs may have also been a more compelling proposition than the in-game power-ups (effectively level skips) that Cut the Rope offers for purchase.

All of which suggests that ZeptoLab may have left some money on the table. Despite being the most popular paid game since its launch on the US App Store, it’s only the third top grossing paid game.

Conventional wisdom suggests that freemium would be the surest path to increased revenues for ZeptoLab, but it seems that a higher price tag might also have worked for the developer.

Fish in a barrel

Fish Out of Water, meanwhile, climbed to #4 in the top paid apps chart at launch. Two days later, by the time its ‘opening weekend’ had rolled around, the game had slipped to #5, where it remains at the time of writing.

Halfbrick’s new IP entered the top grossing games chart at #70 and rose to #56 by Saturday 20 April.

That position remains the game’s highest to date, and it currently rests at #62 in the top grossing games chart, lagging behind other paid titles such as Temple Run: Oz, Scramble with Friends and Bloons TD 5.

Analytics graph showing Fish Out of Water’s performance on the US App Store’s top grossing charts.

According to Distimo estimates, Fish Out of Water generated roughly $17,000 on the US App Store between its launch on 18 April and its grossing chart peak on 20 April.

That’s not bad of course, but given the scale of Halfbrick’s previous successes, it’s certainly anticlimactic.

It’s also surprising to see the developer eschew free-to-play, given that the company successfully transitioned Jetpack Joyride from premium to freemium in late 2011.

Dinosaurs

Besides a premium price point, one thing that Fish Out of Water and Cut the Rope: Time Travel have in common is that they are both the products of developers that achieved great success with paid apps in the past.

The original Cut the Rope had a 99c price tag and remained in the top 50 grossing games chart for almost a year after its October 2010 launch. Fruit Ninja also launched for 99c, and stayed in the top 50 grossing games chart for almost two years.

Analytics graph showing Fruit Ninja’s performance on the US App Store’s top grossing charts since its April 2010 launch.

Today, it’s highly unusual for paid games to enjoy such huge, and sustained, success. The rise of free-to-play has changed the industry – and the App Store charts too.

Of course, it’s too soon to tell how Fish Out of Water and Cut the Rope: Time Travel will perform in the long term, and both developers can clearly still deliver the goods in the gameplay department.

Whether the two studios would be better served by a change in monetisation strategy, however, is another matter.(source:pocketgamer)