????對(duì)于視頻游戲出版商來(lái)說(shuō)，中國(guó)已經(jīng)發(fā)展成為一個(gè)規(guī)模巨大的市場(chǎng)。在中國(guó)政府解除長(zhǎng)達(dá)14年的游戲機(jī)禁令（據(jù)說(shuō)主要是擔(dān)心暴力游戲?qū)η嗌倌暝斐蓚Γ┲螅袊?guó)玩家又可以玩游戲機(jī)了。市場(chǎng)研究公司Niko Partners表示，這個(gè)市場(chǎng)2013年的市值是120億美元，2018年將翻一番，達(dá)到234億美元。

????這項(xiàng)禁令將游戲巨頭任天堂、索尼和微軟長(zhǎng)期隔離在中國(guó)市場(chǎng)之外。禁令解除后，這些公司開始長(zhǎng)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(guó)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(guó)市場(chǎng)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》（上海基納公司），這些都是中國(guó)本土開發(fā)商的力作。

????Niko Partners公司表示，中國(guó)市場(chǎng)的迅猛增長(zhǎng)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(guó)家。今年，印度尼西亞、馬來(lái)西亞、菲律賓、新加坡、泰國(guó)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(guó)市場(chǎng)相比，這個(gè)數(shù)字的確微不足道。

????Niko Partners公司主理合伙人麗薩?漢森表示：“人們常常將東南亞游戲市場(chǎng)與中國(guó)市場(chǎng)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(guó)玩家也一樣。但是，年齡稍長(zhǎng)的中國(guó)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。”

????對(duì)于游戲出版商來(lái)說(shuō)，印度尼西亞、泰國(guó)和越南已經(jīng)成為三個(gè)最重要的收入來(lái)源國(guó)，但推動(dòng)或阻礙增長(zhǎng)的因素卻各有不同。Niko公司預(yù)計(jì)，未來(lái)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(zhǎng)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(wàn)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(guó)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(shuō)英語(yǔ)，除越南外，東南亞這些國(guó)家的內(nèi)容監(jiān)管環(huán)境還是相當(dāng)可控的。”

????漢森稱，盡管中國(guó)手游收入增幅開始放緩，東南亞地區(qū)的手游市場(chǎng)卻在過(guò)去兩年急速增長(zhǎng)。不過(guò)她表示，中國(guó)市場(chǎng)的年均增幅仍很驚人。未來(lái)五年間中國(guó)手游銷售預(yù)計(jì)每年增長(zhǎng)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(zhǎng)25%，而中國(guó)的增速則為22%。

????東南亞國(guó)家也沒有中國(guó)那么多條條框框。開發(fā)商可以更容易通過(guò)蘋果應(yīng)用商店或谷歌市場(chǎng)接觸東南亞玩家。而中國(guó)玩家根本無(wú)法進(jìn)入谷歌市場(chǎng)，國(guó)內(nèi)的安卓游戲市場(chǎng)超過(guò)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(guó)和中國(guó)，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(zhǎng)空間還很大。”

????從規(guī)模看，中國(guó)在線PC玩家已超過(guò)2.4億，大約相當(dāng)于美國(guó)總?cè)丝诘?8%。東南亞在線PC玩家有9700萬(wàn)人。隨著住宅寬帶的普及，這兩個(gè)市場(chǎng)都正在遠(yuǎn)離一度風(fēng)靡的網(wǎng)吧游戲，轉(zhuǎn)向家庭游戲。

????唯一的例外是什么？那就是“多人聯(lián)機(jī)在線競(jìng)技游戲”（MOBA），以及《英雄聯(lián)盟》或《魔獸爭(zhēng)霸2》這類競(jìng)技性游戲。漢森稱：“正如韓國(guó)、臺(tái)灣和中國(guó)曾經(jīng)歷的那樣，競(jìng)技性游戲現(xiàn)在也是東南亞市場(chǎng)增長(zhǎng)的驅(qū)動(dòng)因素。現(xiàn)在每年都會(huì)舉辦很多錦標(biāo)賽，普通玩家對(duì)職業(yè)玩家崇拜得五體投地。在這些國(guó)家，沒有‘好萊塢’來(lái)打造影視巨星，于是職業(yè)玩家就有更多機(jī)會(huì)成為大眾英雄。隨后，那些對(duì)他們頂禮膜拜的年輕玩家，也會(huì)努力增長(zhǎng)技藝，力爭(zhēng)成為像他們那樣的人物。”

????但只有說(shuō)服東南亞玩家打開錢包，這幕大戲才會(huì)開場(chǎng)。漢森稱：“這個(gè)市場(chǎng)的消費(fèi)并不高，所以開發(fā)者的挑戰(zhàn)是如何才能讓這些玩家每個(gè)月為自己鐘愛的游戲多花點(diǎn)錢。”（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：清遠(yuǎn)

????審校：任文科

????China has grown into an enormous market for video game publishers. A market worth about $12 billion in 2013 will double to $23.4 billion by 2018, according to Niko Partners, as Chinese gamers are formally reintroduced to console games after a 14-year ban by the government. (Why? Concerns about the harmful effects of violent games on youth. Paging: Tipper Gore.)

????The lengthy ban kept gaming giants Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft at bay. Now that it’s been lifted, they’re diving in. Sony Computer Entertainment (not to be confused with the former Sony Online Entertainment) launched its PlayStation 4 console and hand-held PS Vita in January with 70 publishers committed to working on games for China. Titles exclusive to the country include King of Wushu (Suzhou Snail), Mr. Pumpkin Adventure (Shanghai Youju) and One Tap Hero (Shanghai Kena). All were created by Chinese game developers.

????The momentum in China means the next big opportunity for game publishers is the rest of Southeast 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 sales and $231 million in mobile game sales—a paltry sum compared to China’s potential, but incremental growth fueled by that country.

????“The Southeast Asian games market is often compared to that of China, and we can see that it is following behind China by a few years,” says Lisa Hanson, managing partner of Niko Partners. “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 higher revenue generating MMORPGs [massively multiplayer online role-playing games], a segment that many Southeast Asian gamers shy away from. Therefore, the challenge to developers is to compel an increase in the level of spending on the type of games for which Southeast Asians have shown enthusiasm.”

????Within the region, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have become the three most important countries for games revenue, yet each has its own drivers and inhibitors for growth. Niko forecasts that, over the next five years, Indonesia will see the fastest growth in revenue and Vietnam will see the fastest growth in the number of online gamers. Today, there are more mobile gamers (at 119 million) than PC online gamers (97 million) in Southeast Asia, with considerable overlap.

????“U.S. mobile and PC games have a good chance of success in Southeast Asia, as long as the game economics are affordable,” Hanson says. “Many people speak English, and with the exception of Vietnam, the content regulatory landscape in the countries of Southeast Asia is quite manageable.”

????Mobile gaming has grown sharply over the past two years in the region, Hanson says, as revenue growth in China for mobile gaming has begun to slow. Still, the annual increase in China is impressive, she says. Mobile game sales in China are expected to grow 37% each year for the next five years; mobile game sales in Southeast Asia are expected to grow slightly slower during the same period, at 34% each year. Measure by the number of new mobile gamers and the lead swaps: Southeast Asia will see 25% growth each year through 2018, compared to China’s 22%.

????Southeast Asia also lacks some hurdles present in China. Developers can access Southeast Asian gamers more easily through Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play marketplace. In China, Google Play is nonexistent and there are more than 500 app markets for Android games (though the majority of revenue is consolidated among 20). “In Korea and China, mobile chat apps such as WeChat and KakaoTalk have provided a great new channel for distribution of mobile games with a social twist,” Hanson says. “In Southeast Asia these tools have just begun to make an impact on mobile games distribution, and we think there is room for growth as a result of that.”

????For a sense of scale, China has more than 24 million online PC gamers—about 78% of the total population of the United States. Southeast Asia has 97 million online PC gamers. Both markets are moving away from gaming in Internet cafés, which is popular, and toward gaming at home as residential broadband connectivity spreads.

????The one exception? Multiplayer online battle arena games, or MOBAs, and other competitive games such as League of Legends or Dota 2. “Competitive gaming is a growth driver in Southeast Asia, as it has been in Korea, Taiwan and China,” Hanson said. “There are many tournaments every year, and everyday gamers are fascinated with the professional gamers. In the absence of a ‘Hollywood’ to build movie and TV star personas, professional gamers are given more opportunity to become cult heroes in these countries, which then leads the younger gamers to idolize them and want to play to become like them.”

????But it all starts by convincing Southeast Asian gamers to open their wallets as they never have before. “It’s not a very high-spending market,” Hanson says, “so the challenge to developers is to get the gamers to spend more per month on the games that they embrace.”