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Voodoo发行主管回顾超休闲游戏发展强劲的一年

发布时间:2021-04-06 09:09:57 Tags:,

Voodoo发行主管回顾超休闲游戏发展强劲的一年

原作者:Danielle Partis 译者:Willow Wu

无论是从好的方面还是坏的方面来说,2020年无疑会在人们的脑中烙下深刻的印记。但值得庆幸的是,移动平台上的有不少优秀作品能够陪伴我们度过这段困难时期。

尽管COVID-19疫情给很多行业都带了毁灭性的打击,但是游戏行业依然是蒸蒸日上,尤其是手游领域,2020年的增长尤为突出。不可否认,在这种前所未有的困境下,游戏在人们的生活中扮演起了积极的角色。

由此,我们采访了几位从业者,希望他们能够分享关于2020年的想法和个人经历。我们的目的是寻找值得一玩的手游,了解行业是怎么应对疫情的,还有就是2021以及未来的趋势将会是怎样的。

这次我们联系到的是超休闲游戏巨头Voodoo的发行部负责人Alexander Shea。

PocketGamer.biz:你认为2020年手游行业的最大新闻,或者最轰动的事件是什么?

Alexander Shea: 2020年对游戏行业来说当然是十分繁忙的一年,人们很难及时关注到行业的所有动向,因为实在是太多了!Voodoo运营的其中一个关键就是密切关注行业趋势,而2020年带来了令人兴奋的机遇,尤其是在用户群体上。

IndieDevDiary1-GameDevelopment(from gamasutra)

IndieDevDiary1-GameDevelopment(from gamasutra)

我们观察到的新数据表明,超休闲游戏吸引了更多非游戏圈的用户,成为转换率提升的核心驱动力。就如Newzoo 2020年手游行业报告所显示的那样,超休闲游戏因其即开即玩、简单易懂、可以无限重玩的特性吸引了很多非游戏玩家,用户数量在过去一年显著增长。

- 你认为2020年哪款手游对行业的影响最大?

2020年的热门游戏倒是出人意料地多。在2019年,我们有Aquapark等几款非常受欢迎的游戏。在2020年,热门游戏的数量变多了,没有必要再从中选出一个更加突出的。如果说在超休闲领域有巨大影响的,那我觉得就是Draw Climber、Woodturning 3D、Cube Surfer或者Scribble Rider。这些游戏都有新元素,在2020年各自都收获了千万级别的下载量。

- 2020年你们的王牌产品是哪一款?

这太难选择了!有很多游戏都取得了相当不错的成绩,但是Cube Surfer特别令我们自豪。在过去这段时间里,有几个产品的发行是非常令人激动的,就比如Shortcut Run或者Roof Rails,因此我们非常期待看到它们在新一年里的表现。

- 经历了2020年的各种挑战,你觉得手游行业应对得如何?

我认为手游行业的弹性还是非常大的,从这点上来说我们是非常幸运的。随着越来越多的人将玩手游视为封锁期间的最佳娱乐活动,我们的受众覆盖率和用户基础在2020年一直都是增长状态。我们的合作伙伴也在这一年收获了很多,我们通过远程的方式已经跟他们合作了很多年了,所以在这种局面下我们确实有起跑优势。

- 你觉得接下来一年最主要的趋势是什么?

我认为超休闲游戏的基本核心还是不会变的——用户将继续寻找高质量、执行效果出色的游戏,还有那些能够很好地转化为超休闲游戏的原创点子。我们预计益智游戏会继续在排行榜上占据强势地位。

更具体地说,在Voodoo我们的常规计划不会改变,依然致力于创造新类型。在2018年,我们见证了io游戏的崛起,比如Hole.io、Crowd City以及Paper.io。2019年我们通过发行Roller Splat、Dig This推动了超休闲游戏的发展。接下来就看看2021会将我们带向何方!

- 就Voodoo而言,你认为2020年最让你感到自豪的是什么?

2020年对Voodoo来说是具有重大意义的一年。单单这一年,我们产品的下载量就达到了20亿。但最令我自豪的是我们成功将发行团队扩大了一倍,并在全球范围内进行扩张,确保我们能继续为世界各地的工作室提供最高水准的服务。我们的服务也变得更为全面了。开发者还在构思阶段的时候我们就会介入帮助,一直到后期游戏性能的优化。平均算下来的话,每个热门游戏通常都需要我们这边投入20个左右的人手。看到Voodoo继续壮大、能够提供更加强大的服务,这就是2020年特别令我们骄傲的事。

- 2021年你们最期待的是什么?

我们期望这是热门游戏大爆发的一年,我们已经迫不及待地想要去挖掘更多好点子,帮助我们的合作伙伴发行更多优秀的游戏。我们确实希望超休闲游戏领域会有新的类型出现,让大家看到有革新、有创意、完成度很高的作品。我们已经跃跃欲试了!

本文由游戏邦编译,转载请注明来源,或咨询微信zhengjintiao

2020 will be a year that lives long in many people’s memories, for better and for worse. Thankfully, there have been some fantastic experiences on mobile to help us all through these particularly trying times.

The games industry is thriving despite the devastating effects of COVID, and the mobile sector has also seen extraordinary growth this year. Games have undeniably been a force for good under unprecedented circumstances.

With that, we’ve reached out to several members of the industry for their insight, thoughts and personal experiences throughout 2020. We’re on a mission to discover favourite mobile games, how has the industry coped under the pandemic, and what we could see in 2021 and beyond.

This time, we’re catching up with Alexander Shea, publishing lead at hypercasual giant, Voodoo.

PocketGamer.biz: What do you think was the biggest news or event for the mobile games industry in 2020?

Alexander Shea: It’s of course been an extremely busy year for the games industry, with so many developments it’s hard to keep track! A major part of how Voodoo operates is keeping a close eye on industry trends, and 2020 has been an exciting opportunity for changes in audience specifically.

We’ve observed new figures indicating that ultra-casual games are bringing in more non-gamers, acting as the core driver behind user conversion. As indicated by the Newzoo Mobile Games Report 2020, hyper-casual games are attractive to non-gamers thanks to being instantly playable, instantly understandable, and infinitely replayable, and the market has seen a significant increase in users over the last 12 months.

Which mobile game do you think had the biggest impact on the industry this year?

We saw a surprising number of big games take off this year! In 2019, we had a couple of huge hits like Aquapark that really stood out. In 2020, we have seen a higher volume of hit games in general, so none that necessarily stand out on their own. If I could name a couple that had a big impact on hyper-casual, I would say Draw Climber, Woodturning 3D, Cube Surfer, or Scribble Rider. These games all brought something new to the table, and yielded tens of millions of downloads each over the course of the year.

What is your top mobile game of 2020?

A difficult choice! So many games come close to the mark, but we’re particularly proud of Cube Surfer. There have been several super exciting releases in the last few months of 2020 though, Shortcut Run or Roof Rails for example, so we’re looking forward to seeing their progress in the new year.

Do you think the mobile games industry has reacted well to the many challenges presented this year?

I think that the mobile games industry has been a very resilient sector, and we’ve been really lucky in that respect. Our reach and user base has only grown this year, with more people turning towards mobile gaming as an ideal form of entertainment during lockdown. It’s also been a very strong year for our partner studios, and we’ve seen some amazing results. We’ve been collaborating remotely with our partner studios for years now, so we really had a head start in this sense.

What do you think will be the biggest trend over the next 12 months?

I think the fundamental pillars of hyper-casual will stay the same – users will continue to look for high-quality games with outstanding execution, and original ideas that translate well to hyper-casual. We do anticipate that puzzle games will continue their strong presence in the top charts.

At Voodoo more specifically, we’re hoping to continue our routine of being behind new genres. In 2018, we saw the rise of io games such as Hole.io, Crowd City, and Paper.io, and in 2019 we boosted the hyper-casual puzzle space with games like Roller Splat or Dig This! So let’s see where 2021 takes us!

In terms of your company, what’s the thing you’re most proud of during 2020?

2020 has been a really big year for Voodoo. We recently hit 2 billion downloads for this year alone. But what I’m most proud of is that we were able to double the size of our publishing team, expanding globally to be able to keep serving studios all around the world at the highest level. We’ve also significantly expanded our service to studios. We help them from the very first step of creating a hit game – ideation – all the way to game performance optimization. On average, each Hit game could easily keep 20 people busy on our end! Seeing the company continue to expand and our services continue to strengthen are things that we are all really proud of this year.

What are you most looking forward to in 2021?

2021 is a really exciting year for us. We’re expecting it to be our strongest year yet in terms of Hits, and can’t wait to discover and help build even more great games with our partner studios. We do expect to see new genres emerge within hyper-casual, with innovation, creativity, and perfect execution at the forefront. We can’t wait to get stuck in!

(source: pocket gamer )


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