1）GDC最新调查结果显示，索尼PS4是主机游戏工作室的主要开发平台，自主发行与自主筹资的开发者正在崛起。

该调查对象为2600名参加了去年GDC的北美开发者，有20%受访者打算向PS4发布下款游戏，17%打算向Xbox One发布游戏，4%开发者瞄准的是Wii U平台。

platforms(from GDC)

但计划向移动设备开发游戏的开发者比例更高，有51%受访者将向智能手机/平板电脑投放自己的下一款游戏。

64%开发者表示将不会就当前项目与发行商展开合作，19%开发者正同发行商合作，其他17%受访者表示正在为发行商开发项目。

Funding Chart(from GDC)

52%开发者称自己至少有部分经费是来自公司原有的资金，46%受访者称他们向项目投入了自己的部分个人资金，11%受访者则使用众筹平台为项目融资。

2）据venturebeat报道，游戏开发商King日前公布了其提交的IPO文件，指出公司将于今年在纽约证券交易所上市，计划融资总额为5亿美元。其相关数据中最显眼的是《Candy Crush Saga》这款热门游戏，日活跃用户（DAU）已达9300万。

King IPO data(from gamezebo)

King目前在移动平台的安装量达5亿次，DAU超过12.8亿，旗下共有180款游戏

但数据也指出，虽然King公司的DAU和MAU超过以往，其独立用户却低于上一季度的情况，在2013年第四季度的收益也少于第三季度。这表明King有可能在DAU和MAU上投入了更多资源。

3）据venturebeat报道，游戏开发非盈利组织国际游戏开发者协会（IGDA）日前指出，King注册“Candy”和“Saga”商标的举动有可能损害到其他工作室的利益。

candy-crush-saga(from joystiq)

IGDA执行董事Kate Edwards表示，King这种掠夺性行为有违行业所支持的开放性和协作精神，也与King首席执行官Riccardo Zacconi在1月27日发表的言论自相矛盾，IGDA认为King采用的是一种不公平的手段，其商业法律特殊利益组织不久还将提供针对此事的详细分析。

4）据pocketgamer报道，英国贸易组织TIGA日前表示，英国开发者的利益正因美国市场缺乏应对专利保护的措施而受到损害。TIGA指出“专利流氓”这种现象是美国市场的一大问题，原因就在于“美国专利法律体系的特殊性”，并建议美国采用类似欧盟目前所实行的“败诉者买单”的方式，即由申诉专利失败者为胜诉者支付律师费。

patent-troll(from 36kr.com)

TIGA所提议的这种改革意在避免小型公司遭遇大型专利流氓时承担高额的诉讼费和律师费。

TIGA的这一主张得到了Sarassin LLP公司首席执行官Vincent Cheurer的赞同，他也认为这一改革举措是保护那些在美国经营公司的必要之举，并指出英国政府应与美国政府合作推进这种“败诉者买单”的方法，这也有助于减少英国企业目前所面临的威胁。（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）

As such, TIGA’s proposed reforms are designed to protect smaller parties from being threatened into a costly legal quagmire by ambitious patent trolls.

1）State of the industry: Developers still flocking to mobile, says GDC survey

by Chris Kerr

Mobile development is more popular than ever, Sony’s PS4 is the platform of choice for studios focused on console, and both self-publishing and self-funding are on the rise.

Those are the key findings from the second annual State of the Industry Survey ahead of GDC in San Fransisco, with organisers behind the industry-leading event attempting to serve up a snaphot of games development in 2014.

The survey polled over 2,600 developers from across North America who attended last year’s GDC, with PS4 the most popular platform for developers looking to make a mark in the living room.

Console wars, mobile matters

The survey suggests 20 percent of developers intend to release their next game on PS4 – which has increasingly close links to Sony’s handheld, PS Vita – with 17 percent planning to release on Xbox One, and 4 percent on Wii U.

Chart showing which platforms developers intend to release their next game on.

The percentage of developers planning to release their next game on mobile devices is significantly higher, however, with 51 percent of developers looking to release their next title on smartphones/tablets.

The survey also found that self-publishing is becoming increasingly popular, with those polled expressing an overwhelming preference towards self-publishing their projects.

Power to the people

64 percent of developers stated that they weren’t working with a publisher on their current project, compared with 19 percent who said that they were.

The other 17 percent of respondents said that they worked at a publisher.

More interestingly, while crowdfunding success stories tend to hit the headlines, results from GDC’s survey suggest self-funding is still the way to go.

Chart showing where developers draw their funds from

52 percent said that at least part of their funding comes from their company’s existing funds, while 46 percent of those asked said that they invest portions of their own personal funds into their projects.

Compare that with the 11 percent who said that they had used crowdfunding as a monetary resource for their projects, and its clear that the method isn’t to everyone’s tastes.（source：pocketgamer）

2）King: 93M daily Candy Crush Saga players, 500M installs, and $568M profit in 2013 (inforgraphic)

Jeffrey Grubb

After dominating mobile gaming, Candy Crush Saga developer King aims to rule over Wall Street.

Earlier today, the publisher revealed its filing for an initial public offering for later this year. As part of its announcement, the company is revealing a ton of data about how its games are performing. No surprise: King’s big star is the mobile phenomenon Candy Crush Saga, which has an astonishing 93 million daily active users (DAUs).

The company is hoping this kind of data will get investors excited to purchase King stock. The game maker generates its revenue from free-to-play games that offer in-app purchases, so having tons of players who are actively engaged with King’s products is a must.

King provided two infographics that illustrate some of its strengths. Here are its top-five games interms of DAUs.

The second infographic provides a more detailed look at how King performs as an overall publisher. For example, it reveals that is has 500 million total mobile installs, more than 1.28 billion DAUs, and 180 total game properties:

Those charts reveal a mobile-gaming company that is well positioned to continue capitalizing on the growing market, but it doesn’t reveal the whole story. As part of its SEC filing, King also included a chart that tracks some of its key metrics over the last several quarters.

These graphs reveal that while King’s daily active users and monthly active users are higher than ever, it is actually losing unique players in its latest consecutive quarters. It also generated less revenue and profits in Q4 2013 compared to Q3. This potentially indicates that King is spending more to inflate its DAUs and MAUs while Candy Crush Saga begins to plateau.（source：venturebeat）

3）Developer-advocacy group says King’s trademark actions are ‘overreaching’ and ‘predatory’

Jeffrey Grubb

King is trying to move past the controversy surrounding its attempts to trademark “Candy” and “Saga,” but one of the biggest developer-advocacy organizations is stepping out to argue that King is potentially harming other studios.

The International Game Developers Association, which is nonprofit that serves the people who make games, has provided a statement to GamesBeat regarding King’s trademarking actions. IGDA executive director Kate Edwards says she wants to weigh in on the issue on behalf of all game studios.

“As an advocacy organization for game developers, the IGDA diligently monitors issues that may restrict a developer’s ability to create and distribute his or her work,” said Edwards.

“After reviewing the trademark filing and subsequent conduct by King Inc. in relation to its popular game, Candy Crush Saga, we feel we should comment.”

“While we understand and respect the appropriate exercise of Trademark rights, King’s overreaching filing in its application for the trademark for its game Candy Crush Saga, and its predatory efforts to apply that mark to each separate word contained in that name, are in opposition to the values of openness and cooperation we support industry wide, and directly contradict the statement King’s CEO, Riccardo Zacconi, made on Jan. 27.”

In that statement, Zacconi explained that King wasn’t trying to stop other developers from making games that use “Candy” or “Saga.” The King chief executive was specifically referencing epic role-playing game The Banner Saga from developer Stoic Studio. King filed an official opposition to Stoic’s attempts to get a trademark for The Banner Saga. That will make it much more difficult for Stoic to lock down that name legally. That doesn’t mean Stoic can’t use the name, but it also wouldn’t have the legal protection that a trademark provides.

By forcing other developers into that dilemma, the IGDA feels that King is acting in an unfair manner. The advocacy group isn’t done with this topic after this comment.

“Our Business and Legal Special Interest Group will be providing a more comprehensive analysis of this issue from its perspective soon,” said Edwards.（source：venturebeat）

4）TIGA urges US to crack down on patent trolls

by Matthew Diener

UK trade association TIGA has called on authorities in the US to change their approach to patent trolls, claiming developers on British shores are being directly impacted by a lack of action on the other side of the Atlantic.

Detailed in a new report titled Trolls, Innovation and Thermonuclear War, TIGA claims patent trolls are a larger problem in the US due to the “unique features of the USA patent litigation system”.

The organisation has recommended that the US adopts a ‘loser pays’ approach similar to the one currently in place in the EU, placing the burden of paying the winner’s legal fees on the loser of a ‘patent troll’ suit.

Pay to play

Such reform would, in TIGA’s estimation, place a prohibitive penalty patent claims made without merit.

Interestingly, the body also points to the mounting cost of high-profile patent cases, including the Apple and Google example in which Steve Jobs famously vowed to wage ‘thermonuclear war’ on the search giant for its Android mobile phone OS.

As such, TIGA’s proposed reforms are designed to protect smaller parties from being threatened into a costly legal quagmire by ambitious patent trolls.

Speaking on the issue, TIGA’s CEO Dr. Richard Wilson, acknowledge that problems raised by patent trolls in the US and abroad.

“Patent trolls are not common in the UK but when they do strike they can inflict uncertainty, waste time and impose significant costs on high technology businesses, including games developers,” he detailed.

Setting an example

Wilson’s words were echoed by report co-author Vincent Cheurer, CEO of Sarassin LLP, who feels the reform is necessary to protect companies who do business in the US.

“Lawsuits for accidental patent infringement currently represent a clear and present danger to any company whose software products are distributed in the US,” stated Cheurer.

“The UK Government should work with it’s US partners to encourage the same ‘loser pays’ approach to litigation costs that we have in the EU. This could go a long way to mitigating the threats UK businesses currently face.”（source：pocketgamer）