作者：Serkan Toto

不久前在东京举办的新闻发布会上，索尼详细描述了想要进入手机游戏业务的决定。

即他们打算通过名为Forwardworks的全资子公司将现有的PlayStation IP转变成手机游戏。

在我看来他们所提到的10款游戏可以分为3大类别。

类别1是那些基于早前/现有IP的游戏，缺少足够的大众吸引力：

Arc The Lad(from page.auction)

RPG游戏《妖精战士》和《狂野历险系列》

战术RPG游戏《魔界战记》（Nippon Ichi所发行）

恐怖游戏《Yomawari》（Nippon Ichi所发行）

益智行动游戏《No Heroes Allowed! DASH!》

冒险游戏《我的暑假3》

模拟游戏《Dokedemo Issho》

类别2主要是拥有更广泛大众吸引力的早前IP：

《Hot Shot Golf》

音乐游戏《啪啦啪啦啪》

而唯一出现在类别3的游戏是基于全新IP的游戏《Sora to Umi no Aida》。这款模拟游戏是Forwardworks和Square Enix共同进行的一个项目。

索尼在发布会上所展示的产品中最让我感到兴奋的便是他们那结合现实的平台“Project FIELD”，即能让玩家在手机游戏中使用真正的名片。

为什么索尼要进军手机领域？

有人可能会认为索尼并不需要在这时候重新挤进一个新战场，因为他们在主机游戏领域已经表现的非常出色了。

现在Vita只是索尼的一个副业，所以也有人会认为索尼应该更多地专注于推动PS VR和PS4 Pro的发展。

该公司之前曾经想要挤进手机领域的尝试都失败了，那为什么他们还要再次尝试？

对于索尼来说最显著的动机当然是钱：根据Newzoo，2016年全世界手机游戏的销量将达到369亿美元，到2019年更是将到达525亿美元。

单单去年日本市场便创造了90亿美元的收益：就像任天堂那样，手机市场真的太大了，索尼不可能忽视它。

还有一个推动因素便是《Fate/Grand Order》，即来自索尼子公司Aniplex的一款手机RPG在日本获得了巨大成功。

当然也还有来自《Pokemon Go》的推动：Dorwardworks创建于2016年4月，即在《Pokemon Go》的热潮席卷全世界之前，索尼首席执行官Hirai表示是这款游戏的成功推动着他们做出走向手机游戏的计划。

索尼未来的机会

我认为从整体上看，索尼能在手机游戏领域发光发亮的机会非常有限。

主要原因是：

索尼的第一方IP作品集虽然很靠谱，但却不够强大。

Project FIELD虽然是个很酷的理念，但是目标群组还是太小（游戏邦注：尽管大型授权游戏《妖怪手表》已经声称要支持该平台），这也是为什么到现在为止还没有可行的手机游戏配件的原因。

目前所提到的所有游戏的业务模式还是未知的（许多游戏都是基于固定价格进行出售，这大大限制了它们的收益潜能）。

所有游戏都是只面向日本/亚洲市场（我认为在亚洲，大多数这些游戏都没有很好的表现，甚至一些游戏也不适合在西方市场发行）。

手机领域的竞争非常激烈，已经达到过度饱和状态，游戏已经很难去迎合玩家需求了。

在我看来，已经成为手机领域巨头的任天堂将成为他们不可忽视的强大竞争对手。

关于第一点，IP：

一些类别1的游戏是基于早前给硬核玩家留下深刻印象的PlayStation游戏（特别是《妖精战士》和《狂野历险系列》）以及今天仍在更新的授权游戏（《魔界战记》）。

但在我看来这里的重点是，许多手机游戏的主流用户都不是很了解这些游戏。

当然我并不是说这些游戏注定会遭遇失败，只是他们的IP力量不够强大。

但是对于《 Hot Shot Golf》和《啪啦啪啦啪》来说情况就不一样了：这两款游戏能够有效吸引大众市场的注意，但虽然如此索尼还是很难将其变成热门的大型免费手机游戏。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Sony’s Mobile Gaming Plans Are Solid, But Are They Enough?

by Serkan Toto

At a press conference in Tokyo today, Sony (6758) detailed its next attempt to move into the mobile gaming business.

The big idea this time is to turn existing PlayStation IP into smartphone games, via a wholly owned subsidiary called Forwardworks.

In my view, the 10 titles shown today can be grouped in 3 categories.

Category 1 are games based on old/existing IP with limited or almost no mass appeal:

RPGs “Arc The Lad” and “Wild Arms”

tactical RPG “Disgaea” (by Nippon Ichi (3851))

horror game “Yomawari” (by Nippon Ichi)

puzzle action game “No Heroes Allowed! DASH!”

adventure “Boku No Natsuyasumi”

simulation “Dokedemo Issho”

Category 2 are games based on old IP with somewhat broader mass appeal:

Hot Shot Golf

music game “PaRappa the Rapper”

The only title falling into category 3, content based on new IP, is “Sora to Umi no Aida”. This simulation is a joint project between Forwardworks and Square Enix (9684).

The product Sony showed today that excited me personally the most was their “mixed reality” platform “Project FIELD” that will allow players to use physical trading cards in mobile games:

Why Did Sony Enter Mobile?

One could make the argument that Sony didn’t need to open a new battle field at this point in time, given their console game business is doing so well. (The company just shifted 50 million PS4s and left Microsoft in the dust in this console generation.)

The Vita is now only a side business for Sony, and one could argue they should better focus on making PS VR and the PS4 Pro a success.

The company’s previous attempts to break into mobile have totally failed. So why again?

The most obvious motivation for Sony’s move into mobile is of course money: Newzoo, for example, is predicting US$36.9 billion in worldwide mobile game sales for 2016 and US$52.5 billion for 2019.

The Japanese market alone reached US$9 billion last year: just like for Nintendo (7974), mobile is simply too big a market to ignore for Sony .

Another driving factor is Fate/Grand Order, a mobile RPG from Sony subsidiary Aniplex that is seeing massive success in Japan and contributing to the company’s numbers.

And there is surely “Pokemon Go envy” as an additional force: Forwardworks has been established in April 2016, before the Pokemon Go craze came over the world, but Sony CEO Hirai himself said it was that game’s success that drove him to accelerate his company’s mobile gaming plans.

Sony’s Chances Going Forward

I think that overall, Sony’s chances to make it big in mobile games are limited.

The main reasons are:

Sony’s first-party IP portfolio is solid but not big enough

Project FIELD is a very cool concept, but I think the target group is too small (even though mega franchise Yokai Watch has been announced to support the platform) – which is why no mobile game accessory has ever worked so far

the business models for all games mentioned so far is unknown (it’s likely that many will be sold at fixed prices, limiting their revenue potential)

all games have been announced to be Japan/Asia-only (I think even in Asia, most games are almost sure to underperform, while others are not even suitable for release in the West)

the competition on mobile is already fierce, with an almost hopelessly oversaturated supply side and an increasingly hard-to-please demand side

Nintendo is a future competitor that has, in my view, everything it takes to be become the superpower on mobile

On the first point, IP:

Several category 1 games are based on older PlayStation titles hardcore users have in good memory (especially Arc The Lad and Wild Arms) and on franchises that are still being updated today (Disgaea).

But the key factor here is that in my view, none of these are really well known among the mainstream user base on mobile – a market that is all about scale nowadays.

I am not saying that these games will necessarily flop, but their IP power is not critically high.

Just look at Sony’s screenshots for No Heroes Allowed! DASH! – which doesn’t look like a hit from any angle:

Things are a bit different for Hot Shot Golf and PaRappa: these two titles are more appealing to the mass market, but here too, Sony will have a hard time turning them into big, free-to-play mobile hits.(source:gamasutra)