美国艺电（EA）收购英国发行商Chillingo的消息传出后，芬兰开发商Rovio随即宣布收回《愤怒鸟》（Angry Birds）的发行权，并自主发行了《愤怒鸟》万圣节版本。

不过，这种现象并不是孤例，因为另一款知名游戏《Zen Bound》的开发商Secret Exit也开始效仿前者做法，于日前宣布摆脱对Chillingo的依赖，自主发行《Zen Bound》。

Secret Exit-logo

Secret Exit公司的有关负责人Jani Kahrama表示，关于《Zen Bound》的发行活动，他们有能力自己做主，收回发行权是他们的最优选择；一般用户通常会将游戏产品与发行商品牌联系在一起，而开发商的努力却容易被人忽略。即使发行商尽量增加开发商名称的曝光率，但在整个行业中开发商的地位仍然不被人所重视。当然发行合作关系的转变，可能会给整个发行活动带来一些未知的影响因素，但让游戏品牌与第三方挂钩，并不符合他们的最大利益。

据悉，原先由Chillingo发行的《Zen Bound》版本目前已经从App Store撤架，由Secret Exit自主发行的版本已经取而代之。

Secret Exit还特别指出，只有他们自主发行的版本才可以享用今后的升级服务。

据了解，用户可以免费下载Secret Exit自主发行的《Zen Bound》，《Zen Bound 2》也已经投放电子游戏平台Steam。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

Chillingo’s version of Zen Bound pulled from App Store; republished by Secret Exit

EA’s purchase of Chillingo certainly stirred up Angry Birds developer Rovio, which was quick to publicly point out that it, not Chillingo, held the rights for the game.

Quietly, Secret Exit, the developer of Zen Bound – another well known Chillingo-published game – has also enforced its rights.

“We had the ability to bring Zen Bound back fully under our control and decided it would be the best option for us,” said Secret Exit’s Jani Kahrama.

“The average customer tends to associate the publisher brand strongly with the game, leaving the developers into a situation where they are not known for their work. Even when the publisher plays fair and makes certain the developer is mentioned, this message has diminished reach beyond the eyes and ears of the industry.

“Certainly the change in publisher ownership brought an element of uncertainty into the whole matter, and having your game associated with a thirdparty was not what we considered to be in our best interests.”

Bait, switch

The original Chillingo version of Zen Bound has been pulled from the App Store, replaced by a new self-published version of the game.

Secret Exit points out it’s only this version of the game that will received future updates.

Good news then, it’s currently free, in celebration of Zen Bound 2 being released via Steam. （source:pocketgamer）