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每日观察:关注Supercell公司收益及King商标风波(2.13)

发布时间:2014-02-13 10:42:43 Tags:,,

1)据pocketgamer报道,芬兰手机游戏公司Supercell日前公布了2013年收益数据,指出《Clash of Clans》和《Hay Day》这两者收益为8.92亿美元(6.72亿欧元),远超2012年时的1.01亿美元。基于EBITDA的收入为4.64亿美元。

但如果是根据GAAP原则,其收益就是6.89亿美元,基于EBITDA的收入则是3.22亿美元,已经堪比EA和Glu Mobile等大型公司。

earnings-2013(from supercell)

earnings-2013(from supercell)

该公司首席执行官Ilkka Paananen表示,公司创始人在2013年已向芬兰政府缴纳约3.45亿美元的税收。他称团队的梦想就是建设一个可以持续数十年的公司,并计划在2014年向处于公司利润分配系统的所有员工分红。

2)据pocketgamer报道,韩国手机游戏发行商Gamevil日前公布了2013年财报(截止2013年12月31日),指出公司销售额为7640万美元,同比增长16%;净利润为1320万美元。

Gamevil的主要发展动力是海外销售额,增幅达68%,在总销售额中占比57%。

预计2014年Gamevil销售额为1.13亿美元,将发布游戏超过30款。

3)Pocketgamer日前发布的2014年开发者调查结果显示,北欧与日本开发者开发投入超过50万美元的受访者最多,而从推广层面来看,中国开发者表现最积极,有29%开发者为推广投入至少50万美元。

iOS和Android仍是这些受访者的主要目标平台,亚马逊Appstore,以及其他第三方Android应用商店吸引了许多开发者,原因是它们能够避开谷歌的管制。

Global Dev Survey(from pocketgamer)

Global Dev Survey(from pocketgamer)

从对行业发展前景这一点上看,多数开发者对来年表现乐观或非常乐观,27%受访者看好新兴市场,并认为这是2014年的关键发展机遇之一。

61%受访者认为行业最大的威胁仍然是竞争不断加剧,44%认为免费内容数量增长是最大威胁,36%开发者担心的是价格下跌的问题。

仅有19%开发者为盗版现象而担忧,仅8%开发者恐惧的是来自主机游戏开发者的竞争。

4)据gamezebo报道,King注册“糖果”商标以及克隆现象风波尚未落幕,日前又与一位名为Albert Ransom的开发者因游戏商标问题而发生争执。

CandySwipe(from gamezebo)

CandySwipe(from gamezebo)

Ransom早在《Candy Crush Saga》发布之前就已经推出了一款含有糖果元素的连线消除游戏《CandySwipe》,所以他反对King注册该商标。不料King的回击手段却是从另一家公司收购了一个更早的商标Candy Crusher,并以此要求注销Ransom的CandySwipe商标注册。

据King提交文件所述,Candy Crusher是一个问世于2004年,与游戏软件和手机应用相当的商标,原先的所有者是AIM Productions N.V.,于2014年1月10日被King所收购。

Candy Crusher(from gamezebo)

Candy Crusher(from gamezebo)

但Ransom表示,Candy Crusher与《Candy Crush Saga》和《CandySwipe》并无多少相似之处。观察者认为,虽然King拥有保护自身IP的权利,并且以收购Candy Crusher商标来实现这一目标也颇有道理,但采用这种手段来打压其他开发者之前就发布的游戏,似乎违背了King首席执行官Riccardo Zacconi上个月在公开信中声称King尊重其他开发者IP的精神和原则。

5)据AdExchange博客报道,Facebook日前注销了两家移动广告合作伙伴HasOffers和Kontagent,原因是这两者长期紧握用户数据,违反了Facebook的数据留存和用户隐私政策。

观察者认为这一消息影响深远,会对那些付费购买安装量,从而提升游戏流量,以便稳居游戏榜单前列的开发者造成影响。众所周知,推动应用安装量的最佳广告合作伙伴就是Facebook,只有Facebook能够有效通过其消息渠道及其锁定目标用户的功能推动游戏安装量(这一点可以解释为何Facebook能够创收13亿美元,并且超过半数收益来自移动平台)。也就是说Facebook动根手指,手机游戏世界就会地震。

hasoffers(from gamezebo)

hasoffers(from gamezebo)

而值得注意的是,只有手机游戏领域人士才会知道其实大家都在用HasOffers服务(还有一部分使用的是Kontagent)来追踪安装量,开发者在自己的游戏中绑定HasOffers的SDK后,就可以创造大量URL来追踪安装和下载情况,基本上多数开发者都会使用HasOffers来追踪应用表现。

所以Facebook抛弃这类服务就意味着开发者必须移除HasOffers和Kontagent,给开发者提升游戏安装量带来极大困难。

6)据pocketgamer报道,Android应用商店GetJar日前被中国久邦数码公司收购,其成交额约5000万美元(其中包括530万美元现金,以及基于表现的额外兑现股份)。

GetJar于2004年成立,自2004年所获融资额约4200万美元;久邦数码是Google Play的头号发行商(代表产品为Go Launcher),用户超过3.25亿,中国用户占比70%,活跃用户约8700万。(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)Supercell’s 2013 revenue was $892 million

by Jon Jordan

In keeping with Finnish financial law, and despite being a privately-held company, Supercell has announced its 2013 figures.

Revenue from Clash of Clans and Hay Day was $892 million (€672 million), up from $101 million in 2012.

Earnings (EBITDA) were $464 million.

However, in keeping with GAAP financial principles, its official figures – making them comparable with the likes of EA and Glu Mobile – are revenue of $689 million and EBITDA of $322 million.

Payback

In talking about the figures, CEO Ilkka Paananen was keen to point out that Supercell and its founders had paid the Finnish government around $345 million in terms of taxes in 2013.

It’s part of what he said was building a longterm company that cared for its staff, its players and its wider community.

“We want to build a company that will last decades. This is our dream,” he said.

As part of this, the company expects to pay out a dividend in 2014, which will include all employees through the company’s profit share system.

Paananen also pointed out that Supercell doesn’t use any tax optimisation measures.(source:pocketgamer

2)Gamevil announces record FY13 sales up 16% to $76 million

by Jon Jordan

Korean mobile games publisher Gamevil (KDQ:063080) has announced its FY13 financials for the 12 months ending 31 December 2013.

Sales were $76.4 million (KRW 81.2 billion), up 16 percent year-on-year.

Net profit was $13.2 million.

A key driver of Gamevil’s performance was international sales, which grew up 68 percent and now account for the majority of sales (57 percent).

This is significant as during 2012, the domestic Korean market was the most important region for Gamevil thanks to the rise of Kakao as a social gaming and distribution platform.

Successful titles included Monster Warlord, Fishing Superstars and Dark Avenger, while Zenonia Online did well in Korea.

Big year coming

For 2014, Gamevil predicts sales of $113 million (KRW 120 billion); something that will be underpinned by more than 30 game releases.

These will include franchise sequels such as Dynasty Warlord, Legend of Master Online, and Dark Avenger 2, and the global launch of Zenonia Online.

That said at the start of 2012, the company had hoped to hit KRW 100 billion in 2013.(source:pocketgamer

3)Nordics and Japanese spend the most on development, while Chinese spend most on promotion

by Jonathan Morris

In our first Developer Survey of 2014 (free to Business Network members), PocketGamer.biz has broken down the results by region – with some interesting results.

The Nordics and Japan host the developers most likely to spend over US$500,000 on development.

But when it comes to promotion, it’s the Chinese who are most active, with 29 percent of developers spending $500,000 or more.

Dual approach

iOS and Android continue to be the dominant platforms, but after a turbulent year for BlackBerry, and disappointing launches of the ‘unconsoles’, our report reveals the platforms of most interest to developers, and those that aren’t.

Amazon’s App Store, plus other third-party Android app-stores, have attracted the interest of many developers, most likely seeking to avoid being locked in with Google.

When it comes to a general feeling of the industry, the majority of devs around the globe feel either positive or very positive about the year ahead, with 27 percent particularly excited about emerging markets as one of the many key opportunities for 2014.

Other opportunities highlighted include an increase in the adoption of in-app purchases, higher paid-game prices, and the continued growth of smartphones and tablet volumes.

Get the 45-page report showing detail, region-by-region

The biggest threats continue to be the never ending growth of competition (61 percent), the amount of free content (44 percent), and price deflation (36 percent).

Piracy still remains a small concern for just 19 percent, while competition from console developers pulled in just 8 percent.(source:pocketgamer

4)King has bought an old trademark, and you’re not going to like how they’re using it

By Jim Squires

Oops, they did it again. Back in January, Candy Crush Saga maker King underwent a great deal of public scrutiny about the choices they’ve made in the world of IP protection. Initially it was about a trademark on the word CANDY, but as the week unfolded it turned into a battle over Stoic’s The Banner Saga trademark, and then even accusations of cloning. King CEO Riccardo Zacconi managed to quell the internet’s furor with a seemingly heartfelt response on the issues that had been brought up.

But now some new information has been brought to our attention that doesn’t quite jive with what Zacconi was preaching.

Lost in the shuffle of that January week was a little story about Albert Ransom, the creator of CandySwipe. As the creator of a match-3 game involving candy that pre-dated every incarnation of Candy Crush, Ransom had been fighting the CANDY CRUSH SAGA trademark for months. And he told Gamezebo that he intended to fight their mark on the word CANDY, too.

CandySwipe by Runsome Apps

Now, only weeks after our initial article, King is fighting back.

At the time of Ransom’s filing, King had little ground to stand on. Ransom’s game predated theirs, and he already held the mark for CANDYSWIPE, so it was up to the courts to decide. So here’s what King did: they bought an earlier trademark from another company, and are using that to try and have Ransom’s CANDYSWIPE trademark registration cancelled.

The mark in question, CANDY CRUSHER, has been tied with game software and mobile applications (according to King’s filing) since 2004. It was acquired by King from its previous owner, AIM Productions N.V., on January 10, 2014.

According to Ransom, the game Candy Crusher bears resemblance to neither Candy Crush Saga nor Candyswipe.

Candy Crusher as it appears on Blackberry

While King has every right to protect their IP (and purchasing an earlier mark like CANDY CRUSHER makes sense in this context), using that mark to try and shut down a game that predated yours goes against everything Zacconi said last month. Here are a few excerpts from his open letter in case you need a reminder;

“At its simplest, our policy is to protect our IP and to also respect the IP of others.”

“We believe in a thriving game development community, and believe that good game developers – both small and large – have every right to protect the hard work they do and the games they create.”

“Before we launch any game, we do a thorough search of other games in the marketplace and review relevant trademark filings to ensure that we are not infringing anyone else’s IP. We have launched hundreds of games. Occasionally, we get things wrong. When we do, we take appropriate action.”(source:gamezebo

5)Facebook drops HasOffers and Kontagent as mobile marketing partners – Oh no, mobile marketing gurus!

By Joel Brodie

Facebook has dropped two partners, HasOffers and Kontagent, from its mobile ad measurement program for holding onto user data too long, according to AdExchanger’s blog.

Yes, I know – it’s not as sexy a news story as what’s the latest happening with Flappy Bird.  But this is news that is actually far-reaching, and affects any game developer who pays for installs to drive traffic to their games in an attempt to reach (and stay in) the Top 10 game charts. (e.g., everyone aside from developer of Flappy Bird).

It is widely acknowledged that the best ad partner to drive installs for apps is Facebook.  Only Facebook has the mobile reach through its news feed and targeting capability to really push the needle with game installs.  It’s not cheap, but it works (hence why Facebook earns $1.3 billion – more than half its revenues – through mobile today).  When Facebook lifts a finger, the mobile game world shakes.

What is not widely known outside the mobile game industry is that everyone uses HasOffers (and to a lesser degree, Kontagent) to track installs.  The way it works is that when game developers integrate HasOffers’ SDK into their game, they can create multiple URLs to track an install and download, measuring their tracking campaigns to an exact science.  I am not saying HasOffers has a monopoly on app tracking, but everyone I know uses them.

So, when Facebook drops them, it’s big news.  It means developers have to scramble to remove HasOffers, and both HasOffers and Kontagent have to scramble to fix the problem.

Facebook stated that their action to remove HasOffers and Kontagent as partners is the result of a routine privacy audit of its mobile marketing partners (MMPs) which determined that both companies were in violation of its data retention and disclosure policies.

I’m sure HasOffers and Kontagent are burning the midnight oil to fix these problems.  In the meantime, this is a huge headache for the mobile game marketers who get paid big bucks to spend even bigger bucks to buy game installs. (source:gamezebo

6)Updated: Chinese outfit Sungy buys Android app store GetJar for up to $78 million

by Jon Jordan

[Update: It's since been revealed that the deal consists of $5.3 million in cash and an earn-out 1,443,074 shares if certain performance metrics are met.]

Demonstrating the importance of app distribution in China, it’s believed that free Android app store GetJar has been acquired for around $50 million.

The purchasing company is Chinese outfit Sungy Mobile Limited, which is publicly-traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticket GOMO.

Download power

Founded in 2004 in Lithuania, GetJar has raised around $42 million in investment since 2004.

Although it’s always been a free service for consumers, in 2011 GetJar launched its GetJar Gold virtual currency – funded by advertising – to enable users to get premium content and generate revenue for developers.

Sungy is a top publisher on Google Play through its Go Launcher app, which is the basic for its distribution business.

It has over 325 million users, 70 percent are located outside China. Its active user base is around 87 million.(source:pocketgamer


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