視頻游戲公司盯上東南亞市場增長潛力
對(duì)于視頻游戲出版商來說，中國已經(jīng)發(fā)展成為一個(gè)規(guī)模巨大的市場。在中國政府解除長達(dá)14年的游戲機(jī)禁令(據(jù)說主要是擔(dān)心暴力游戲?qū)η嗌倌暝斐蓚?之后，中國玩家又可以玩游戲機(jī)了。市場研究公司Niko Partners表示，這個(gè)市場2013年的市值是120億美元，2018年將翻一番，達(dá)到234億美元。
The lengthy ban kept gaming giants Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft at bay. Now that it’s beenlifted, they’re diving in. Sony Computer Entertainment (not to be confused with the formerSony Online Entertainment) launched its PlayStation 4 console and hand-held PS Vita inJanuary with 70 publishers committed to working on games for China. Titles exclusive to thecountry include King of Wushu (Suzhou Snail), Mr. Pumpkin Adventure (Shanghai Youju) andOne Tap Hero (Shanghai Kena). All were created by Chinese game developers.
這項(xiàng)禁令將游戲巨頭任天堂、索尼和微軟長期隔離在中國市場之外。禁令解除后，這些公司開始長驅(qū)直入。今年1月，索尼電腦娛樂公司(請(qǐng)不要和前索尼在線娛樂公司混淆)攜手70家致力于為中國玩家開發(fā)游戲的出版商，推出了PlayStation 4游戲機(jī)和手持PS Vita。專門為中國市場推出的游戲包括《武術(shù)之王》(蘇州蝸牛公司)、《南瓜先生大冒險(xiǎn)》(上海友聚公司)和《啪啪英雄》(上?；{公司)，這些都是中國本土開發(fā)商的力作。
The momentum in China means the next big opportunity for game publishers is the rest ofSoutheast Asia, according to Niko Partners. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore,Thailand, and Vietnam are expected to generate $784.4 million this year in online game salesand $231 million in mobile game sales—a paltry sum compared to China’s potential, butincremental growth fueled by that country.
Niko Partners公司表示，中國市場的迅猛增長意味著游戲出版商的下一個(gè)重大機(jī)遇是東南亞其他國家。今年，印度尼西亞、馬來西亞、菲律賓、新加坡、泰國和越南的網(wǎng)絡(luò)游戲銷售額有望達(dá)到7.844億美元，手游銷售額預(yù)計(jì)將達(dá)到2.31億美元——和潛力巨大，不斷遞增的中國市場相比，這個(gè)數(shù)字的確微不足道。
“The Southeast Asian games market is often compared to that of China, and we can see that itis following behind China by a few years,” says Lisa Hanson, managing partner of NikoPartners. “Gamers in Southeast Asia embrace massively online battle arena games, shooters,and mobile games just as they do in China. However, older Chinese gamers still embrace higherrevenue generating MMORPGs [massively multiplayer online role-playing games], a segmentthat many Southeast Asian gamers shy away from. Therefore, the challenge to developers isto compel an increase in the level of spending on the type of games for which SoutheastAsians have shown enthusiasm.”
Niko Partners公司主理合伙人麗薩o漢森表示：“人們常常將東南亞游戲市場與中國市場放在一起作比較，可以看出，前者其實(shí)比后者落后好幾年。東南亞玩家很喜歡在線戰(zhàn)斗類游戲、射擊類游戲和手游，中國玩家也一樣。但是，年齡稍長的中國玩家還喜歡能產(chǎn)生更多收入的大型多人在線角色扮演游戲(MMORPG)，這是很多東南亞玩家不太接觸的領(lǐng)域。所以，開發(fā)商的挑戰(zhàn)在于如何推動(dòng)?xùn)|南亞玩家在他們熱衷的游戲上多花錢。”
Within the region, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have become the three most importantcountries for games revenue, yet each has its own drivers and inhibitors for growth. Nikoforecasts that, over the next five years, Indonesia will see the fastest growth in revenue andVietnam will see the fastest growth in the number of online gamers. Today, there are moremobile gamers (at 119 million) than PC online gamers (97 million) in Southeast Asia, withconsiderable overlap.
對(duì)于游戲出版商來說，印度尼西亞、泰國和越南已經(jīng)成為三個(gè)最重要的收入來源國，但推動(dòng)或阻礙增長的因素卻各有不同。Niko公司預(yù)計(jì)，未來五年間，印度尼西亞的游戲收入增速最快，越南在線玩家的人數(shù)增長最快。如今東南亞的手游玩家(1.19億人)比PC端在線玩家(9700萬人)更多，但有相當(dāng)部分是重疊的。漢森稱：“只要收費(fèi)合理，美國手游和PC端游戲都能在東南亞地區(qū)大獲成功。這一地區(qū)很多人都能說英語，除越南外，東南亞這些國家的內(nèi)容監(jiān)管環(huán)境還是相當(dāng)可控的。”
“U.S. mobile and PC games have a good chance of success in Southeast Asia, as long as thegame economics are affordable,” Hanson says. “Many people speak English, and with theexception of Vietnam, the content regulatory landscape in the countries of Southeast Asia isquite manageable.”
漢森稱，盡管中國手游收入增幅開始放緩，東南亞地區(qū)的手游市場卻在過去兩年急速增長。不過她表示，中國市場的年均增幅仍很驚人。未來五年間中國手游銷售預(yù)計(jì)每年增長37%，東南亞地區(qū)的手游銷售同期增幅略低，每年約為34%。但就新手游玩家人數(shù)而言，增速更快的卻是東南亞地區(qū)：從目前到2018年，東南亞新手游玩家人數(shù)每年將增長25%，而中國的增速則為22%。
Mobile gaming has grown sharply over the past two years in the region, Hanson says, asrevenue growth in China for mobile gaming has begun to slow. Still, the annual increase in Chinais impressive, she says. Mobile game sales in China are expected to grow 37% each year forthe next five years; mobile game sales in Southeast Asia are expected to grow slightly slowerduring the same period, at 34% each year. Measure by the number of new mobile gamers andthe lead swaps: Southeast Asia will see 25% growth each year through 2018, compared toChina’s 22%.
東南亞國家也沒有中國那么多條條框框。開發(fā)商可以更容易通過蘋果應(yīng)用商店或谷歌市場接觸東南亞玩家。而中國玩家根本無法進(jìn)入谷歌市場，國內(nèi)的安卓游戲市場超過500個(gè)(盡管絕大多數(shù)收入都集中在20家手中)。漢森稱：“在韓國和中國，微信和KakaoTalk等手機(jī)聊天應(yīng)用為手游推廣提供了一個(gè)絕佳的新渠道。在東南亞地區(qū)，這些工具才剛剛對(duì)手游的推廣產(chǎn)生影響，我們認(rèn)為這方面的增長空間還很大。”從規(guī)模看，中國在線PC玩家已超過2.4億，大約相當(dāng)于美國總?cè)丝诘?8%。東南亞在線PC玩家有9700萬人。隨著住宅寬帶的普及，這兩個(gè)市場都正在遠(yuǎn)離一度風(fēng)靡的網(wǎng)吧游戲，轉(zhuǎn)向家庭游戲。
