作者：Joseph Barron

不管你正在谈论的是主要基地还是简单的精神家园，对于大多数手机玩家来说，旧金山都是不可取代的重要角色。

苹果，谷歌，Facebook，Zynga以及大多数美国游戏媒体公司都聚集在此。

的确，对于技术和游戏产业来说，这个城市及其周边领域具有非常重要的作用。

在举办了GDC后几个月，旧金山又迎来了Google I/O大会，并且即将举办全球开发者大会（WWDC）。如此，我们可以说如今这个城市对于游戏产业来说拥有前所未有的重要性。

sanfranmap（from pocketgamer）

尽管加利福尼亚州并未为游戏开发商制定任何政策或提供财政支持，但是这里的开发势头却持续发展着。

如今当我们着眼于全球的手机开发商热点时会发现，提到这个城市之所以会带给各种规模的游戏专家巨大帮助等原因，我们最先注意到的是三家公司，即Storm8，PlayFirst以及社交巨头Zynga。

硅谷

当提到Storm8，这是其中一家由当地人所创建的旧金山湾区工作室，而不是像其它工作室那样，即开发者决定将工作室移到旧金山。

该工作室的首席执行官Perry Tam以前是Facebook（也是这座城市中不可忽视的存在）的工程师。所以从逻辑上来看，当决定创建自己的公司时，他最终选择在家乡创建Storm8。

Tam告诉我们：“我们的所有联合创始人都住在旧金山湾区。”

“这是技术和初创企业的温床，我们找不到更好的地方能够创建公司。我们也从未考虑过在其它地方创建公司。”

来自旧金山外部的开发者对这个城市所拥有的最大先入之见便是，在这里他们很容易便会遇到来自苹果，谷歌以及Facebook等大公司的重要人物。

mos（from pocketgamer）

举办GDC，WWDC和谷歌I/O的旧金山展览中心。

实际上，并不像大多数人所想象的那样，即在这里便能够轻松获取机遇，尽管这个城市拥有主要的产业势力，但是Perry认为即使你想要取得巨大的成功，也无需非得将公司移到旧金山：只要你提供的内容足够优秀，你便有可能吸引更多公司的注意。

他补充道：“实况会议总是非常有效，而如果你在当地，便能够更轻松地接近他们；你可以驾车到山景城或库比蒂诺（游戏邦注：苹果的全球总公司所在地）。”

“最后也是最重要的还是你们的游戏工作室所呈现给合作伙伴的作品。即使你的总部位于世界上的任何地方，但是只要你拥有一款出色的游戏，谷歌和苹果也是会注意到它的。”

争取人才

另一方面，PlayFirst首席执行官Marco DeMiroz表示很幸运能够与苹果进行直接交谈。

他承认：“我们很重视与任何合作者的关系，不管对方是来自哪里，但是我们也真的很开心能够在旧金山湾区与谷歌和苹果进行面对面会议并分享彼此的经验。”

PlayFirsy也是一家总部位于旧金山的公司，多亏了较短的开发周期以及小规模的发行，他们已经在手机领域取得了巨大的成功，即至今共发行了64款不同的应用。

Marco相信这座城市目前所面临的最大挑战是工作室对于当地资源，特别是人才的竞争。

“在旧金山开发游戏的主要利益其实也伴随着一些阻碍。雇佣员工便具有很大的竞争性，因为该领域拥有许多人才，所以许多公司有可能被‘噪音’所掩埋，并很难被媒体或用户所注意到。”

甚至该领域最大的公司也面临着这一问题，以至于Zynga为此创造了一种独特的应对方法。

该公司的首席人员官Colleen McCreary与我们分享了他们的人才捕猎技巧。

她说道：“不管是在游戏和技术社区还是大学里，Zynga的领导者们都采取了积极的行动。”

“他们经常与Zynga外部的群组以及企业家进行交谈，我们也经常邀请一些群组到Zynga接受教育项目，与我们的团队见面并交谈。”

结论

邀请积极进取的开发者和专家们在职业早期进入Zynga能够使他们将这份工作当成长期职业，并进一步维系他们与公司之间的关系。

（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）

San Francisco Week: Why the city by the bay is where mobile’s big boys go to play

by Joseph Barron

San Francisco. Whether you’re talking major bases or simply spiritual homes, the ‘city by the bay’ plays hosts to some major mobile players.

Apple, Google, Facebook, Zynga, and large portions of the American games press all have presences here, to name just a few.

Indeed, the city and its surrounding area have always been of supreme importance to the technology and games industries.

Just a couple of months after GDC came to town, San Francisco is currently playing host to Google I/O and has WWDC just around the corner. As such, it’s no exaggeration to say the city’s role within the games industry has never been more significant than it is today.

Though the state of California does not give any political or financial support to game developers, the development scene here has continued to thrive through the sheer persistence and imagination of its huge gaming community.

In our latest look at mobile developer hotspots around the globe, we find out what makes the city’s games industry tick with the help of games specialists of all shapes and sizes – the first three to fall under our spotlight, Storm8, PlayFirst, and the city’s social giant Zynga.

Silicon Valley

When it comes to Storm8, the firm is one of the Bay Area studios formed by locals, rather than one of the many developers in the city that made a conscious decision to move San Francisco.

The studio’s CEO Perry Tam had previously served as an engineer at Facebook, which also boasts a notable presence in the city. Logical, then, that when it came to his own business, he chose to base Storm8 in his adopted home town.

“All my co-founders lived in the Bay Area,” Tam told us.

“It’s a hotbed for technology and start-ups and we couldn’t think of a better place to found a company than here. We actually never considered setting up elsewhere.”

One of the biggest preconceptions that developers from outside San Francisco have about the city, however, is the idea that it’s easy to meet the bigwigs from Apple, Google and Facebook in person.

San Francisco’s Moscone Center hosts GDC, WWDC and Google I/O

Such opportunities are, in reality, far harder to come by than many believe and, though having major industry forces in the region is a major pull, Perry makes the point that you don’t have to be San Francisco-based in order to get spotted: If what you’re offering is good enough, companies of that scale aren’t afraid to look beyond their doorstop.

“In-person meetings are always great and if you’re local, setting them up is easier; you can easily drive down to Mountain View or Cupertino,” he added.

“At the end of the day though, it’s what your game studio can present to the partners. Even if you’re based elsewhere in the world, if you have a truly amazing game, Google and Apple will take notice.”

Fighting for talent

On the other hand, PlayFirst CEO Marco DeMiroz feels very lucky to have the opportunity to speak to Apple in person.

“We value our relationships with all of our partners regardless of location, but we certainly feel lucky to have face-to-face meetings and a shared experience in the Bay Area with Google and Apple in particular,” he claimed.

PlayFirst is also based in San Francisco and has created its enjoyed success on mobile thanks to short development cycles and volume of releases, launching 64 different apps to date.

Marco believes that the city’s biggest challenge is the competition between the studios for local resources, especially talent.

“The major benefits of developing games in San Francisco, as great as they are, come along with some obstacles. Recruitment can be incredibly competitive, and with so much talent in the area, companies can get lost in the ‘noise’ and receive less attention from press or consumers.”

Even the biggest companies in the area share this problem too – so much so that Zynga has developed a unique approach to the battle for talent in San Francisco.

The company’s Chief People Officer, Colleen McCreary, lets us in on its talent hunting techniques.

“Zynga leaders are very active within the games and tech community and at universities,” she said.

“They frequently speak with groups outside of Zynga, often to entrepreneurs, and we frequently invite groups to Zynga for educational programs and to meet and talk with our teams.”

Summing up

Inviting up-and-coming developers and other specialists into Zynga early in their careers helps to establish the business as a potential long-term career and gives them a personal relationship to the company.

And that’s not the only secret Zynga – or, indeed, its rivals – has up its sleeves.

Check back on PocketGamer.biz throughout this week for the full in-depth interviews with all three studios – Storm 8, PlayFirst and Zynga – as we get to grips with what makes San Francisco one of the mobile scene’s shining stars.(source:pocketgamer)