作者：Jon Jordan

2013年6月，我们第一次看到《The Drowning》。

然后，我们的兴趣被勾起了，因为DeNA的这款iOS独占FPS游戏已经在9个国家进行预先推介发布3个月了。

这么长的预先推介发布期表明，其开发者——内部工作室Scattered Entertainment正在花大把时间保证这款游戏在自己手上成功。

drowning opening(from pocketgamer)

不受欢迎

在这种情况下，游戏的全球发行结果——在强大的PR活动支持下，多少有些令人感到吃惊。

尽管它的画面精美、操作创新、玩法刺激，但《The Drowning》并没有受到硬核游戏媒体的待见；主要是因为它的赢利表现。

从排行榜的名次上看，这似乎是一个连锁反应。

尽管它的初始下载量相当可观——DeNA称这个数字达到200万，并且在39个国家的iPhone应用排行榜和48个国家的iPad应用排行榜名列前十，但它并没有获得相应的商业成功。

the-drowning(from Dstimo)

（Distimo根据《The Drowning》的下载量做的统计曲线）

iPhone版只在3个国家（老挝、立陶宛和马尔他）的收益排行榜上进入前十；而iPad版的收益，仅在马耳他、厄瓜尔多、亚美尼亚和波利维亚的排行榜上进入前十。

the-drowning-iphone-download-us(from app-annie)

（《The Drowning》在美国iPhone应用免费榜上的表现。最近有所上升是因为更新了2个新游戏模式。）

在排名方面，《The Drowning》在英国的iPad应用收益榜的最好名次是第219名。

the-drowning-iphone-top-grossing-uk(from app-annie)

（《The Drowning》在英国的iPhone应用收益榜的表现。）

转化率问题

这是令人惊讶的地方，因为你会认为一款硬核游戏的每用户（或付费用户）收益应该高于瞄准大众市场的游戏——当然，DeNA卡牌战斗游戏就属于这种情况。

然而，在日活跃用户的平均收益（ARPDAU）方面，这家公司表示，《The Drowning》“的赢利水平可能与《Candy Crush Saga》相当。”

问题是，考虑到King的全球成功主要靠用户基础庞大，《Candy Crush Saga》的平均ARPDAU还是比较低的。

在纯下载量方面，像《The Drowning》这样的游戏永远不能与休闲游戏竞争。相反地，它必须依靠更高的ARPDAU，而这似乎正是这款游戏失败的地方。

首次尝试

基本上，大多数人都会认为这款游戏是失败的，尽管DeNA并不这么认为。

该游戏的制作总监Ben Cousin称《The Drowning》本可以得到更高评价，特别是它的限时竞技场玩法。也许有些玩家会认为这是一款自由的射击游戏。

他还表示，游戏的精力机制——用于其他类型的游戏如赛车游戏，对留存率有影响。

他若有所思：“在以后，我们可能不会使用手机式的游戏循环。”

然而，他的关键结论是，手机免费射击游戏是有市场的；DeNA和Scattered Entertainment在以后的游戏发行，必定会研究这个市场。

the-drowning-iphone-top-grossing-thailand(from app-annie)

the-drowning-iphone-top-grossing-mexico(from app-annie)

（就iPhone应用收益排行方面，《The Drowning》表现比较好的市场有两个：墨西哥和泰国。）

（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: 2 million downloads not enough to stop The Drowning sinking

by Jon Jordan

It was back in June 2013 that we first viewed The Drowning though The Charticle’s lens.

Then, our interest was raised because DeNA’s iOS-only first-person shooter had been soft launched in nine countries for three months.

This prolonged period suggested the developer – internal studio Scattered Entertainment – was spending plenty of time to ensure it had a hit on its hands

Unfriendly welcome

In that context, the game’s global launch – backed with a strong PR campaign – was something of a surprise.

Despite its strong graphics, innovative controls and skill-based progression, The Drowning was savaged by the hardcore gaming press; mainly for concerns over its monetisation mechanics.

This seemed to have a knock-on effect in terms of chart position.

Although it gained fairly strong initial download numbers – DeNA claims 2 million and it entered the top 10 download charts in 39 countries for iPhone and 48 for iPad – it didn’t find an audience in terms of commercial success.

Distimo’ view of The Drowning’s launch; a short burst and decline

The iPhone version was top 10 top grossing in only three countries – Laos, Lithuania and Malta – while the iPad went top 10 top grossing only in Malta, Ecuador, Armenia and Bolivia.

The Drowning’s performance on the US iPhone free download charts. The recent uptick is thanks to an update with 2 new game modes

In terms of the top 10 territories, The Drowning’s highest position was #219 in the UK’s iPad top grossing chart.

The Drowning’s top grossing performance on the UK iPhone chart. Not troubling the top 250 – via App Annie

Conversion issues

This is something of a surprise as you’d expect a core-focused game to monetise at a higher level per user (or paying user) than mass market games; certainly that’s the case with DeNA’s card-battlers.

However, the company commented that in terms of average revenue per daily active user, The Drowning was “probably monetising at the same level as Candy Crush Saga”.

The problem is that given the massive user base of King’s global hit, Candy Crush Saga has lower than average ARPDAU.

A game like The Drowning was never going to compete with such casual hits in terms of pure download numbers. Instead it needed to monetise each users at a much higher level, and this seems to be its key point of failure.

We considered the game’s economic system previously in our Monetizer column.

First attempt

On the basis, most people would view the game as a flop, although DeNA refutes the claim.

The game’s creator director Ben Cousin suggests The Drowning could have been better described, highlighting its time-based arena gameplay. Perhaps some players thought they were getting a free-roaming shooter.

He also says the energy mechanic – used in other genres such as racing games – had an impact on retention.

“In the future, we probably won’t use the mobile-style game loop,” he pondered.

Yet, his key conclusion is there is an audience for free-to-play shooters on mobile; something DeNA and Scattered Entertainment will no doubt be investigating in future releases.

Two markets where The Drowning performed comparatively well were Mexico and Thailand; seen above in terms of their iPhone top grossing charts – via App Annie(source:pocketgamer)