作者：Carter Dotson

2014年是所谓的AAA级主机开发时间的“十字路口”，同时也是手机游戏的“十字路口”。

我们看到了一些巨头的出现：Supercell获得巨大的收益并以数十亿美元被收购一半股份，King筹备巨大IPO，以及许多其它公司都大获其利。

相反地，AAA级游戏正在意识到其发展太快且不够稳定，并且仍记得一开始是什么元素让它（以及现在的手机游戏）如此赚钱：能够保持与小型团队所创造的小型项目之间的灵活性。

太大。失败

显然，每周都有AAA级工作室关闭，这大大超出了我们的预期。上周，Ken Levine关闭了Irrational Games工作室，并组建了一支15个人左右的小团队。本周，Sony Santa Monica进行了裁员。

让我们看看一个有关愚蠢的情况发展的例子。育碧宣称派遣了超过400个人去创造他们的开放世界行动游戏—-即面向360/PS3那一代。

Xbox One和PS4代将更大程度地提升这一数值。更大的预算已经大大超出了我们的预期以及控制范围。《生化危机6》在某一时刻曾是Capcom历史上最畅销的第四款游戏，在其发行后6个月内共卖出500多万份。它被当成是一大财政上失望。

The Last of Us（from pocketgamer）

游戏功能也遭遇了膨胀。《最后生还者》拥有一个在线多人模式。任何人在说到这款游戏时都会问：“为什么《最后生还者》会具有在线多人模式？”

我们知道《生化奇兵无限》做出一些表面上的改变去吸引大众市场的玩家，但它并未拥有在线多人模式却是件让人惊讶的事。

我的动机是什么？

甚至在尝试新内容时，它们最终也会变得一团乱。让我们看看《Deep Down》，这款即将发行的免费PS4游戏最近因为没有任何可游戏的男性角色（游戏邦注：尽管具有程序生成关卡）而点燃了有关性别歧视的争议。

我不认为这是团队故意表现出来的邪恶理念，也不认为他们是绝对的无能。

让我们着眼于免费游戏获取成功的原因。对于许多人来说这类型游戏具有很大的实用性，经常突出角色定制，能够有效吸引女性用户的注意，通过低价抛售电子游戏，并发挥了很大的作用。

在这种情况下，Capcom在一个拥有较低安装基础的平台上发行了一款免费游戏，如此是否将难以有效地吸引女性用户的注意，并且难以有效地让玩家通过角色定制形成一种情感联系？他们是否会将注意力放在这里？

但基于这种笨拙的方法，AAA级游戏发现自己只是在“沿街叫卖”而已。游戏玩法和业务的创造性是来自市场的全新区域，而不是之前的领域。

隧道尽头的亮光

然而Irrational的关闭最终表明了，尽管许多人员面对失业困境，但整个产业是朝着积极的方向转变。Levine在2K组建了一只15个人的小团队去创造基于数字化的产品。

并不是只有这么一个事件。育碧看到了《Call of Juarez》和《孤岛惊魂》授权中的小游戏的巨大收益（即作为“迷你AAA级”业务模式的一部分）。

Respawn Entertainment（在许多主要的Infinity Ward成员于《使命召唤：现代战争2》发行之后相继离去后所创建起来的）是从40名成员的基础发展起来，而在备受期待的《Titanfall》发行时变成了75个人。《Titanfall》这款游戏之所以吸引人是因为它是一款多人游戏，比起AAA即游戏的杂而不精模式反而更专注于游戏体验的完善。

Titanfall（from pocketgamer）

Double Fine拥有65名员工，但在尝试了AAA级游戏开发（发行了《Brutal Legend》）后，他们现在专攻于制作各种项目。

他们也帮助推动Kickstarter作为传统发行模式外部的一种游戏赞助方式的发展，他们之所以能够这么做是因为他们是独立的，并且较小，所以能够根据需求做出任何改变，而无需对发行商以及既能成就他们也能摧毁他们的大型游戏负责。

翻转，逆向

这些AAA级游戏的改变只是反应了手机游戏以及免费游戏开发者取得成功的原因。它们证实了游戏无需具有巨大范围或制作价值也能够很优秀或有利可图—-它们只需要具有优秀的设计便可，不管是在质量还是在盈利方式上。

面对着更多且更开放的分销平台，我们能够更轻松地销售游戏，并且现在的游戏创造工具也比以前更普遍且更强大了。如今的市场准入障碍非常低、当AAA级开发者意识到这些福利时，他们便会去抓住这些优势。

相反的是，我害怕在手机领域获取成功的公司将与AAA级游戏公司遭受同样的命运：变大，膨胀且无法支撑下去。

考虑到其游戏在2013年生成了78%的收益，King表示他们可能会因为《Candy Crush Saga》被当成昙花一现的奇迹。他们的付费用户数量已经出现下降，这将成为他们长期关注的问题。

Candy Crush Saga（from pocketgamer）

但所有的大型公司主要都是基于免费业务模式建立起来的。甚至是带有更广的产品范围的公司仍然迷恋于随时可能像气泡那样破碎的业务模式。

根据研究，我们知道50%的收益是来自0.15的免费游戏玩家，这是个让人担忧的数字，特别是当人们拥有广泛的免费游戏选择时。

新鲜的血液

结果便是不断涌现与千篇一律的内容。

市场上有许多《Clash of Clans》的复制品；到处都是可收集的纸牌游戏；还有许多游戏使用着城镇建造机制；有些游戏还结合了其它类型，例如RPG战斗或打斗游戏都伴随着自动打斗机制；还有老虎机游戏和博彩游戏。

市场上的重复性非常明显，如果没有新鲜的血液和新理念，这种停滞不前的状态对于许多手机游戏开发者来说将会是致命的打击。

毕竟不久前，Zynga还是免费游戏的最大巨头，但现在却已成为过去式了。

因此2014将成为游戏发生巨大改变的一年，关于AAA级主机开发以及手机开发这两个完全不同的产业需要着眼于彼此；一方面需要去探索对方所忽略的优势，另一方面则需要避免稀里糊涂地遭遇失败。

（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）

Stateside: What mobile and console game developers need to learn from each other

by Carter Dotson

2014 is a crossroads for the so-called Triple-A (“AAA”) console development world, but it’s a crossroads for mobile gaming too.

We’re seeing behemoths forming: Supercell’s massive revenues and billion-dollar buyout, King’s colossal IPO, and the many other companies shaping up for a piece of the lucrative pie.

Conversely, AAA gaming is realizing it’s grown too massive and unstable, and is remembering what made it – and now mobile gaming – so lucrative in the first place: the ability to be flexible and agile with smaller projects created by smaller teams.

Too big. Fail

Seemingly a AAA studio is closing down every week on the back of expectations that are sky-high. Last week, it was Irrational Games shuttering with studio head Ken Levine manning a smaller team of 15 people or so. This week there were layoffs at Sony Santa Monica.

Want an example of how silly things have gotten? Ubisoft has claimed it takes more than 400 people to make one of their open-world action games – and that was in the 360/PS3 generation.

The Xbox One and PS4 generation could swell that number higher. These larger budgets had swelled expectations out of control. Resident Evil 6 was the fourth best-selling game in Capcom history at one point, selling 5 million copies six months after release. It was considered a financial disappointment.

Do you respawn? The Last of Us

Game features have suffered from bloat too. The Last of Us has an online multiplayer mode. Has anyone talked about it at all outside of asking “Why does The Last of Us have online multiplayer?”

AAA has become so bloated that everything has to be everything. We know Bioshock Infinite made some surface changes to appeal to a mass market demographic, but that it didn’t have online multiplayer is a miracle.

What’s my motivation?

Even when new things get tried, they wind up being a mess. Look at Deep Down, an upcoming free-to-play PS4 game which recently sparked up a sexism controversy due to not having any playable male characters despite having procedurally-generated levels.

I don’t think it’s conscious evil on the team’s part and just sheer incompetence.

Let’s look at what makes free-to-play successful. There’s availability to a wide number of people, often featuring character customization, and appeal to women, a demographic undersold by video games, also plays a large part.

In this context, Capcom’s releasing a free-to-play game on a platform that has a tiny installation base, will have limited appeal to women, and limited ways for players to form an emotional connection through character customization? Are they paying attention at all?

But it’s this kind of clunky approach that AAA has found itself peddling. Creativity in gameplay and business has come from new segments of the market, not the old ones.

Small light at the end of the tunnel

Yet the Irrational closure does ultimately signify a positive shift in the industry despite all the lost jobs. Levine is forming a smaller team at 2K to create a smaller 15-person team at 2K to create new digital-focused products.

And this is not an isolated event. Ubisoft saw financial success with smaller games in the Call of Juarez and Far Cry franchises as part of a “mini-AAA” business model.

Respawn Entertainment – formed after the exodus of many key Infinity Ward members following the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – started out with about 40 people and is at about 75 people as the hotly-anticipated Titanfall launches, which itself is fascinating because it’s a multiplayer-only game, a more focused experience than the “jack-of-all-trades” era of AAA gaming.

Again, Double Fine has 65 employees, but they specialize in producing a diverse number of projects now after the struggles with AAA game development that they had with Brutal Legend.

They also helped spark Kickstarter as a way to fund games outside of the traditional publisher model, which they were able to do because they’re independent and small enough to make shifts as needed now, instead of beholden to publishers and singular monolithic titles that could make or break them.

Flip, reverse

These AAA movements are merely reflecting why mobile and free-to-play developers have succeeded. They’ve shown that games don’t have to be massive in scope or production values to be good or profitable – they just have to be designed well, either in quality or in monetization.

With more and open distribution platforms, it’s easier to sell a game, and the tools to make a game are more widespread and powerful than ever before. The barrier to entry is so much lower now. And as AAA developers realize these benefits, they too could reap the bountiful advantages.

Conversely, my fear is that mobile’s successful companies will wind up suffering the same fate as AAA: large, bloated, and unsustainable.

Given that the game generated 78 percent of its revenue in 2013, King has said that they might be seen as a one-hit wonder with Candy Crush Saga. And they have a decreasing percentage of users who pay, which could be a concern long-term.

But all the large companies are built heavily on that free-to-play business model. And even the ones with wildly diverse product ranges are still stuck on a business model that could well be a bubble ready to pop at any point.

Research that suggests 50 percent of revenues are coming from 0.15 percent of the free-to-play population is a worrying number, especially when people have such wide selection of games to play for free.

Fresh blood

The result is the rise of the cookie-cutter.

There are the Clash of Clans clones; collectable card games as far as the eye can see; plenty of town-builders and games that use town-building mechanics; games where there’s the suggestion of another genre – say, RPG battling or a fighting game, but all with automatic fighting; slot machine and casino games.

The signs of repetition are clear, and without some fresh blood and new ideas, this stagnation could be the death blow for many mobile developers.

After all, not long ago, Zynga was the biggest player in free-to-play, but now they’re spoken of in a past tense.

Thus, as 2014 shapes up to be a dramatic year of change for gaming, the two diametrically-opposed industries of AAA console development and mobile development need to look across at the other; one to exploit a strength it forgot, the other to avoid a downfall it’s sleepwalking into.(source:pocketgamer)