Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2017传达出的4个信息

原作者：Craig Chapple 译者：Willow Wu

1.通讯应用可能会成为西方主要游戏平台之一

Facebook Messenger和iMessage已经能在app内玩游戏了，但是这些游戏都很简单，不像应用商店里的那些游戏比较有内容。这两款应用并不是特例，还有其它的西方主流通讯应用，比如Telegram, Kik, VK和WeChat也能玩游戏。

大数据

Quicksave CEO Elina Arponen在演讲（主题为《聊天软件成为平台》）中展现了一组大数据——Facebook Messenger的用户有13亿多，WeChat 9亿，Kik 3亿，iMessage 2.5亿，VK 1亿（它刚刚加入了APP内游戏功能）。

“观察一下这些通讯软件是如何获得增长的，游戏是如何盈利的，你就能明白为什么开发者们想把这二者结合在一起，”Arponen说。

Quicksave利用这次参加PGC的机会，展示了工作室自成立以来的首款聊天APP游戏——这款游戏是在Best & Bester IP的基础上进行更改、适配，Quicksave看中的是通讯APP内游戏的社交潜力。

Gamee CEO Bozena Rezab也做了演讲，主题是《跨平台游戏——移动、社交&差异》，她说到一个事实——通讯软件正在快速增长，在用户规模上已经超过了社交软件。

如此庞大的数字再加上游戏登上通讯平台，这对相关领域的开发者们来说真是喜闻乐见的大好机会。

2.芬兰是IPO的热门地

2017年，IPO（首次公开募股）对芬兰来说是很重要的。

Rovio公司正在为它的首次大型公开募股做准备，Next Games、Remedy Entertainment和Nitro Games也在筹备，Nitro Games已经在纳斯达克First North Sweden上市。

这些公司在PGC和PCC Helsinki大会上都有发表主题演讲，我们还邀请到了纳斯达克北欧高级董事总经理Erja Retzén女士来展示一些重要的统计数据，分析IPO在芬兰这么活跃的理由。

IPO热点

Retzén透露，在欧洲，Nasdaq Nordic是2016年公司上市最多、募资最多的地方，所有公司都希望在该地区的交易所上市。

2016年在Nasdaq Nordic上市的公司有94个，融资超过78亿英镑，打败了伦敦证券交易所以及德意志交易所。

Retzén认为Next Games公司上市是具有里程碑意义的，它是芬兰第一家上市的游戏公司。

其它在Nasdaq Nordic交易所上市的公司包括Starbreeze、Remedy Entertainment、Stillfront、Paradox和G5 Entertainment。

Retzén说在First North上市能帮助那些计划全球扩张的公司提高曝光度以及知名度，同时还有专门的金融顾问提供建议，帮助公司更快更好地发展。

自2006年以来，有超过50家在First North上市的公司顺利成长，并且进入了Nordic Main Market。

Skyrim(from gamasutra)

3.有影响力的人变得更有影响力

Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2017新加入了名人聚焦环节（Influencer Sessions）。

第一个活动就是我们的“巨星炉边谈话（Superstar Fireside）”，主题是《和有影响力的人物合作——为了双边利益》。

Kukouri的CEO Kim Soares和Roni Back坐在一起，讨论要怎么跟影响人士合作才能把效率最大化。Roni Back是芬兰最具影响力的人物之一，他们在《像素世界》（Pixel Worlds）上有合作。

多名专业人士出席

Zorka.Mobi Business的开发总监Dmitry Liapin、Chartboost负责欧洲、中东、非洲以及印度地区的总经理Johan Lofstrom、 Matchmade的CEO Jiri Kupiainen和PlayCom的首席销售经理Olga Wese都跟我们分享了与影响人物合作的经验。

这一活动的最后讨论主题是影响者营销（influencer marketing），参与嘉宾包括PocketWhale CMO Jean-Philippe Decka、GameInfluencer业务拓展主管Macy Mills、营销与发展战略顾问Pascal Clarysse、Matchmade CEO Jiri Kupiainen和高级市场经理Tess Thormodsgaard。

从参加活动、推广影响者营销业务以及分享经验的公司数量可以看出影响者营销在未来还会持续上升发展，并会在移动营销和用户获取层面起到更强的主导作用。

也难怪PocketGamer.biz的创始公司Steel Media要针对影响者营销建立一个全新的网站。

4. 手游产业继续发展而榜单前排保持稳定

最近这几年，行业中的变数越来越少了。

大体上说就是畅销游戏还是前一年的那几个，当然偶尔还是会有Pokemon GO以及《皇室战争》这样的现象级游戏出现，但是Supercell本身就是盈利最高的工作室之一。

而东方市场，比如韩国和中国，像《天堂2：革命》《天堂M》和《王者荣耀》这样比较新的游戏占据了盈利榜的前排位置，而且不断刷新记录，但榜单中也不乏那些实力派产品。

持续增长

虽说第一梯队的游戏很少有变动，但整个移动市场还是处于快速发展状态。Rovio公司的Wilhelm Taht在他的开场发言中引用了App Annie的预测——2021年之前，手游终端用户收入将增长到1050亿美元。

他把这归因于庞大的智能手机基数（约26亿）、F2P游戏模式的崛起以及日渐提升的在线运营能力。从文化角度上看，手游也逐渐成为被大众所接受的娱乐形式，玩家的支出也在增加。

Rovio公司很晚才进入F2P领域，他们公布了这一季度的创纪录性业绩，为其首次公开募股做准备，意在表明他们是一家颇具市场潜力的开发商。

Facebook的小型企业合伙经理（SMB Partner Manager）,来自Global Gaming的Morgan Monnet发表了一篇主题为《手游的下一阶段走向》的演说，他认为新科技（比如5G）也是引导市场发展的原因之一。

得到关注

尽管平台负责人和技术公司都在帮助开发商，想方设法让他们游戏获得玩家的注意，但这仍然是个让人头疼的问题。

针对这个问题,苹果公司对iOS11的App Store进行了相关修改,但它能不能帮得上成千上万的开发者们还得看之后的情况了。

Monnet说除了移动应用商店，聊天类APP比如Facebook Messenger和WhatsApp成为了新的游戏平台，它们逐渐成为玩家接触游戏的主要途径，同时也可以为开发者们提供一条新的途径。

技术公司Megacool也参加了PGC，展示了他们最新的GIF分享平台，用户可以截取游戏动图通过社交媒体以及聊天APP分享出去。

当然还有前文提到过的，有影响力的人物在移动市场中起到了越来越重要的作用，可以在一定程度上提升游戏的关注度。

主流国家市场中盈利先锋虽然很少变动，但是市场中还是会出现现象级产品。通讯类APP逐渐发展为新的游戏平台，它们发展得越好，开发者们的机遇也就越大，自然也能获得不错的收益。

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

1 Messenger apps look set to become serious games platforms in the West

Facebook Messenger and iMessage already allow you to play games from within the app, although right now they typically don’t provide as in-depth experiences as those you get from the usual app stores.

They aren’t the only chat app players in town though, there are also other messaging apps big in the West like Telegram, Kik, VK and WeChat.

Big numbers

Quicksave CEO Elina Arponen offered the big stats during her talk entitled ‘The chat as a platform’.

Facebook Messenger has surpassed 1.3 billion users, WeChat 900 million, Kik 300 million, iMessage 250 million and VK 100 million (which has just launched a Direct Games service in its messaging app).

“If you look at how messaging is growing and how games monetise, it starts making a lot of sense to put the two together,” said Arponen.

For its part, Quicksave took the opportunity at PGC Helsinki to reveal its first game for chat apps since the studio was formed earlier this year based on the Best & Bester IP, focusing on the social potential of messaging app games.
Gamee CEO Bozena Rezab also presented a session entitled ‘Gaming across platforms – Mobile. Social. Different’, in which she spoke of the fact that messaging apps are experiencing fast growth and have surpassed social networks in audience size.

Such big numbers and the implementation of gaming on these platforms is starting to provide a huge opportunity for developers in this space.

2 Finland is an IPO hotspot

IPOs have been a big thing in Finland in 2017.

There’s Rovio gearing up for its big IPO of course, and there’s also been Next Games, Remedy Entertainment and Nitro Games – the latter of which floated on the Nasdaq First North Sweden.

We had all these companies speaking at PGC and PCC Helsinki, and we even had Nasdaq Nordic Senior Managing Director Erja Retzén offering key stats and reasons for the fervent IPO activity.

IPO hotspot

Retzén revealed that Nasdaq Nordic was the number one hotspot in Europe for new listings and capital raised in 2016, with companies from all over looking to float on exchanges in the region.

It beat London and the Deutsche Börse with more than €7.8 billion in capital raised from 94 listings in 2016.

Retzén called Next Games’ decision to go public a ‘game changer’ in Finland. The studio was the first games company to list publicly in Finland.

Other companies floated on the Nasdaq Nordic exchanges include Starbreeze, Remedy Entertainment, Stillfront, Paradox and G5 Entertainment.

Retzén said a listing on the First North can bring visibility and credibility as companies look to expand internationally, as well as financial advisors exclusively working with smaller growth companies.

Since 2006, more than 50 First North listed companies have grown and migrated to the Main Market.

3 Influencers are becoming more influential

Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki 2017 saw the introduction of our Influencer Sessions.

First up was our ‘Superstar Fireside’ chat entitled ‘For mutual benefit – Working with influencers’.

Kukouri CEO Kim Soares sat down for with Roni Back, the leading Finnish influencer, which the studio has worked with on their game Pixel Worlds, to discuss the best ways to work with influencers for the most effective campaigns.

Wealth of experts in attendance

But that wasn’t all, we had Zorka.Mobi Business Development Director Dmitry Liapin, Chartboost’s General Manager for EMEA and India Johan Lofstrom, Matchmade CEO Jiri Kupiainen and PlayCom Chief Sales Manager Olga Wese all deliver their own sessions on working with influencers.

The track closed with a panel on influencer marketing, in which the experts shared their experiences in the space, both good and bad.

Panelists included PocketWhale CMO Jean-Philippe Decka, GameInfluencer Head of Business Development Macy Mills, Marketing & Growth Strategy Consultant Pascal Clarysse, Matchmade CEO Jiri Kupiainen and Seriously Senior Marketing Manager Tess Thormodsgaard.

The number of companies both in attendance at the event and promoting their influencer marketing business and/or experiences showed that for mobile, this is an area that continues to grow and become an even bigger part of mobile marketing and user acquisition.

It’s no wonder then that Steel Media, the creator of PocketGamer.biz, is set to launch a brand new website dedicated to the influencer market.

4 Mobile market continues to grow as companies adapt

Typically in recent years, for all that mobile changes, the more things stay the same.

Generally speaking it’s full of the same top grossers year-on-year, though there are some breakthroughs like Pokemon GO and Clash Royale – but notably Supercell is already a top grossing developer.

In Eastern markets like South Korea and China, new games like Lineage 2: Revolution, Lineage M and Honor of Kings have been storming the top grossing charts and shattering records – but still there are many shoe-ins for the top charts.

Continued growth

Despite a relative lack of movement at the top end, the mobile market continues to grow at apace. During his opening keynote, Rovio’s Wilhelm Taht cited App Annie forecasts that mobile game end user revenues could grow to $105 billion by 2021.

He put this down to the 2.6 billion smartphones in the hands of consumers, the free-to-play model, improving live operations expertise, and that players are spending more as mobile gaming becomes a culturally accepted form of entertainment.

The fact that Rovio, after a slow start in free-to-play, has reported record quarters as it gears up for its IPO shows in itself the potential for developers to generate higher revenues in the market.

During a talk entitled ‘Mobile Gaming’s Next Wave’ Facebook’s SMB Partner Manager for Global Gaming, Morgan Monnet, said new technology such as 5G will help drive the market forward too.

Getting noticed

Discoverability remains an issue, though platform holders and tech companies are trying to alleviate issues for developers.

For its part Apple has revamped the App Store in iOS 11 for a much more curated approach, but whether this will help the thousands of developers releasing games remains to be seen.

Monnet said that outside the app stores, new platforms such as chat apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are becoming the top discovery points for many games, which could offer a new avenue for developers to take advantage of, particularly as they grow as games platforms in their own right.

Tech company Megacool meanwhile was at PGC to show off its new GIF sharing platform, recorded gameplay videos that can be shared across social networks and these chat apps.

And of course, as previously mentioned, influencers are playing an ever-bigger role in mobile marketing which could aid discovery.

There may not be many movers in terms of grossing positions at the top of key global markets, but the market is still seeing a couple mega blockbuster hits. And it seems there’s a rising tide that all developers could benefit from.（source：pocketgamer.biz ）