1）据gamasutra报道，Team17总经理Debbie Bestwick日前承认公司将失去《Worms》这款游戏的IP。

早在90年代末，该团队就需要额外资金来完成《Worms》其中一款游戏，Team17与某家未透露名称的发行商所签署的协议所包含条款为：“由发行商来设定游戏销售目标，如果未能实现目标，开发商就必须放弃《Worms》IP。”

Worms(from gamingdale.com)

Team17与该发行商团队密切关注这款游戏的订单，所幸该游戏达到了销售目标，但其销量仅超过目标的1.7%，所以Team17还是会丧失这个游戏品牌。

2）据gamasutra报道，EA日前聘请前eBay高管Ken Moss担任新首席技术官。

在Moss上任之前，该职位已经空缺数月时间，EA前首席技术官Rajat Taneka去年底离开公司加入了Visa。EAgf 2011年从聘请了来自微软的Taneka并首次设立这一职位，以便监管公司技术投入和全球战略决策。

Moss将负责监管EA信息技术和数字平台部门，他在eBay就职之前曾在微软负责长达20年的技术服务和搜索引擎Bing的相关工作。

3）据gamasutra报道，《Moshi Monsters》开发商Mind Candy首席执行官兼总裁Michael Acton Smith日前宣布辞职，他通过YouTube解释称在公司找到新的继承人之前，原首席财务官Divina Knowles将接任临时总裁一职。

michael acton smith(from elegraph)

这名行业元老将转向公司创意领导角色，并表示这样可以更好将为公司的新老项目注入有趣想法。

4）据serkantoto报道，日本热门智能手机游戏《Puzzle & Dragons》在日本下载量已达2900万次（包括iOS、Android和亚马逊Kindle版本）。

puzzle-dragons(from serkantoto)

值得注意的是，该游戏新增100万用户的速度正在减缓。它曾历时22天将下载量从2500万增长至2600万，历时28天从2600万增长至2700万，现在历时37天才从2700万增长至2800万。

5）据pocketgamer报道，Wooga营销主管Eric Seufert曾撰文指出开发者在决定采用免费模式前需要先回答以下问题：

*如果只有5%的玩家会付费，我的目标用户是否足够令我实现盈利？

*除了付费营销方式之外，我是否还能够接触到目标用户？

*是否有相当比例的目标用户有可能对我的产品着迷，并且为我掏钱？

*用户能否从我的产品中获得5美元的价值，或者500美元，5000美元的价值？

*用户体验我的产品之后是否会觉得自己获得了等量的价值？

*如果上述问题的回答都是否定的，那么你就不应该采用免费模式。（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）Team17 came close to losing the Worms IP

By Mike Rose

“The extra funding was necessary but agreeing to clauses that include IP seizure is beyond stupid.”

- Team17 MD Debbie Bestwick admits that her company nearly lost the Worms IP.

Back in the late 1990s, Team17 needed additional funding to get one of the Worms games finished. The contract the studio ended up signing with an unnamed publisher had an eye-opening clause in it.

“Sales targets were set by the publisher, together with a clause that the Worms IP would be relinquished should those figures not be met,” Bestwick told Develop. “A close working relationship with the publisher’s team allowed Team17 to monitor orders on a day-to-day basis, knowing every single unit sold and where it had shipped over the previous 12 months (the target had to be hit within 12 months).”

Fortunately for the team, the sales target was beaten — but barely. Sales of the game hit just 1.7 percent above the target — any less, and Team17 would have lost the Worms brand.（source：gamasutra）

2）Say hello to EA’s new CTO: Ken Moss, former eBay exec

By Alex Wawro

Electronic Arts has hired tech industry executive Ken Moss to serve as its new Chief Technology Officer, according to a company blog post attributed to EA CEO Andrew Wilson.

Moss is stepping into a role that has remained vacant for months, as inaugural EA CTO Rajat Taneka left the company late last year to take an executive position with Visa. EA first established the position when it hired Taneka away from Microsoft back in 2011 to oversee its technology investments and decisions from a global perspective.

Moss will perform similar duties and will be responsible for overseeing EA’s Information Technology and Digital Platform divisions, which seem to be heavily involved in the support of EA’s mobile games and its Origin digital distribution platform.

He previously worked at eBay in an executive role, and prior to that spent two decades at Microsoft working on technology services and the search engine that became Bing.（source：gamasutra）

3）Michael Acton Smith steps down as Mind Candy president

By Mike Rose

Newsbrief: Michael Acton Smith has stepped down as CEO and president of Moshi Monsters company Mind Candy, as the company looks to more aggressively target the U.S. games market.

Smith explained on YouTube that CFO Divinia Knowles has stepped in as interim president while the company looks for someone to fill his place.

The industry veteran will now move into a creative leadership role, where he says he’ll be able to better inject interesting ideas into new and existing games at the company.（source：gamasutra）

4）Puzzle & Dragons Hits 29 Million Downloads, GungHo Delays Update Puzzle & Dragons W

by Serkan Toto

Japan’s top smartphone game Puzzle & Dragons hit 29 million downloads, maker GungHo Online Entertainment (3765) announced today.

The number was reached inside Japan only (on iOS, Android, and Amazon Kindle).

What’s interesting to note here is that the growth rate, the time it takes Puzzle & Dragons to add one million users, is slowing down.

A total of 42 days were needed to get from 28 to 29 million users – the last time it took the game longer than that was in October 2012, just before TV advertising began.

Just for context, it took Puzzle & Dragons:

22 days to get from 25 to 26 million downloads

28 days to get from 26 to 27 million downloads

37 days to get from 27 to 28 million downloads

However, this trend isn’t surprising, given the penetration rate Puzzle & Dragons is boasting in Japan.

(The slow down would have been even worse if Puzzle & Dragons didn’t enter two collaborations in Japan last month, with popular animated TV series Dragon Ball Kai and animated movie Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary.)（source：serkantoto）

5）Should you be paid or should you be free?

By Nicholas Lovell

Pocket Gamer have written a marvellous, balanced post on whether you should make your smartphone or tablet game free or paid.

Here is one quote from Eric Seufert, author of Freemium Economics and head of marketing at Wooga. He says you should ask the following questions before deciding to go free-to-play:

“Is my target audience big enough that, even if only 5 percent ever pay me, I’d make enough money to be profitable?

Is that target audience reachable beyond only paid marketing campaigns?

Could certain portions of that target audience potentially become fanatical about my product and pay me a lot of money?

Could someone realistically get $5 worth of value out of my product? $500? $5000?

Will someone feel like they received commensurate value after paying me when using my product?

If the answer to any of those questions is ‘no’, then don’t go with freemium.”（source：gamesbrief）