一个鬼如何抓到吃豆人策略
By Takashi Mochizuki and Vlad Savov
高木望月和弗拉德·萨沃夫
Epic Games Inc. is out to prove it’s worthy of its name. It’s in a massive fight with Apple Inc. and Google over the 30% cut that both companies take from game revenues on their platforms. Epic contends that the fee is both outdated and unfair. The revenue split has its roots in 1980s Japan and the era of chunky cartridges and primitive consoles. Now it’s being questioned by game makers such as Epic across the global developer community.
Epic Games Inc.证明自己的名字是对的。 这两家公司都在与苹果公司和谷歌展开激烈的竞争，两家公司都从其平台上的游戏收入中削减了30％。 史诗辩称，这项收费既过时又不公平。 收入分裂的根源是1980年代的日本以及矮小的磁带盒和原始控制台的时代。 现在，它受到了全球开发者社区中Epic等游戏制造商的质疑。
The so-called platform “tax” dictates the distribution of vast sums of money. Epic’s own Fortnite is estimated to generate in excess of $1 billion annually from in-game cosmetics and extras. The company’s protest against the giants escalated when it gave Fortnite users the option to buy the add-ons directly — which would cut Apple and Alphabet Inc.-run Google out of the transaction. That prompted Fortnite’s removal from both the iPhone’s App Store and the Android Play Store.
所谓的平台“税”规定了巨额资金的分配。 Epic自己的Fortnite估计每年可通过游戏中的化妆品和其他物品产生超过10亿美元的收入 。 当公司向Fortnite用户提供直接购买附加组件的选择权时，该公司对巨头的抗议就升级了，这将使Apple和Alphabet Inc.经营的Google脱离交易。 这促使Fortnite从iPhone的App Store和Android Play商店中删除 。
Epic then sued both Silicon Valley titans separately, saying each company was using its market dominance — a clear reference to antitrust pressures on Apple and Alphabet — to impose the charge. Epic also issued a parody of Apple’s iconic “1984” Mac commercial that symbolized the Cupertino, Calif., company’s once-rebellious spirit. This time, a game character charges up into the auditorium to smash the screen where a dictatorial apple is imposing its will. The tag line is: “Stop 2020 from becoming ‘1984.’” And of course there’s a hashtag: #FreeFortnite.
然后，Epic分别起诉了两家硅谷巨头，称两家公司都在利用其市场主导地位(明确指苹果和Alphabet受到的反托拉斯压力)强加了指控。 Epic还对苹果标志性的“ 1984” Mac 广告进行了模仿，这象征着加利福尼亚州库比蒂诺曾经的叛逆精神。 这次，一个游戏角色冲入观众席，砸碎了独裁苹果施加意志的屏幕。 标语是：“到1984年停止2020年。”当然还有一个标签：#FreeFortnite。
Apple says it won’t make an exception for Epic and that the matter could be easily resolved if the company updates Fortnite to bring it back within Apple’s established App Store guidelines. Google spokesman Dan Jackson said that in contrast to the App Store, Android allowed users to access apps paid-for outside its Play Store, without requiring developers to include an in-app purchase option that is subject to the 30% fee.
苹果表示不会对Epic例外，如果该公司更新Fortnite使其恢复到苹果既定的App Store指南中，则可以轻松解决此问题。 谷歌发言人丹·杰克逊(Dan Jackson)表示，与App Store相比，Android允许用户访问其Play Store以外付费的应用，而无需开发人员包括需支付30％费用的应用内购买选项。
Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and original rebel, handed down the 30% rule for app purchases and subscriptions to the App Store team, according to Phillip Shoemaker, who was in charge of app reviews at Apple until 2016. The only evolution since Jobs has been a reduction in the fee for developers to 15% per user who has subscribed to an app for at least a year. Google’s Android has matched Apple’s pricing structure.
苹果公司的联合创始人兼原始造反者史蒂夫·乔布斯(Steve Jobs)向负责苹果应用程序购买和订阅的App Store团队下达了30％的规则，菲利普·舒梅克(Phillip Shoemaker)一直负责苹果到2016年的应用程序评论。这是乔布斯以来的唯一发展对于已订阅应用程序至少一年的用户，将开发人员的费用降低至每位用户15％。 谷歌的Android与苹果的定价结构相匹配。
But what was the 30% supposed to pay for in the first place? It was the Nintendo Entertainment System that first introduced the platform fee in the early 1980s. It began when Namco Ltd., the creator of Pac-Man and a major provider of arcade games at the time, wanted to expand its distribution via Nintendo’s nascent console — called the Famicom when it was released in 1983 in Japan. Namco got together with another game maker, Hudson Soft Co. (creator of Bomberman), to persuade Nintendo Co. to open its platform to outside software makers, according to Hisakazu Hirabayashi, an independent industry consultant.
但是，首先要支付的30％是什么？ 任天堂娱乐系统在1980年代初首次引入了平台收费。 它始于Namco Ltd.(当时是Pac-Man的创建者，当时是大型街机游戏的主要提供商)希望通过任天堂新生的游戏机(Famicom，1983年在日本发行)来扩大发行范围。 独立行业顾问Hisakazu Hirabayashi表示，Namco与另一家游戏制造商Hudson Soft Co.( Bomberman的创始人)一起说服Nintendo Co.向外部软件制造商开放其平台。
Both were eager to be on Nintendo’s popular console, but Hudson couldn’t make its own cartridges, according to Hirabayashi. And so Namco proposed paying Nintendo a 10% licensing fee to be able to be on the console while Hudson paid an additional 20% for Nintendo to make its game cartridges. Nintendo agreed — and that two-component fee, licensing and manufacturing, became the basis of today’s 30% “tax.”
据Hirabayashi称，两人都渴望使用任天堂最受欢迎的游戏机，但哈德森无法制造自己的墨盒。 因此，Namco建议向Nintendo支付10％的许可费，以便能够在控制台上使用，而Hudson为Nintendo支付了20％的附加费以制造游戏墨盒。 任天堂同意了，分两部分的费用，许可和制造费成为当今30％“税”的基础。
After fluctuating up and then back down as cartridges were superseded by discs, the fee has been imposed on generations of consoles and onto other platforms without much debate, in spite of radical change in the way games are distributed. Apple, Google, Nintendo, Sony, Valve, and Microsoft all charge software makers a 30% revenue cut, regardless of whether game purchases are delivered via physical format or digital download. Not all of these platforms publicize their share, but it’s become a well-known industry standard.
在波动之后，随着盒式磁带被光盘取代，价格又回落了下来，尽管游戏发行方式发生了根本性的改变，但这一费用已经在几代游戏机和其他平台上收取，没有太多争议。 苹果，谷歌，任天堂，索尼，Valve和微软都向软件制造商收取30％的收入削减，无论游戏购买是通过物理格式还是数字下载方式交付的。 并非所有这些平台都公开了它们的份额，但是它已成为众所周知的行业标准。
Sony Corp. has told software makers that its revenue slice on digital goods consists of transaction fees, server maintenance costs, and licensing payments. Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has argued that his company provides security, development support, and the ability for small companies to reach an audience of a billion users for an annual $99 fee to participate in its developer program.
索尼公司已经对软件制造商说，它在数字商品上的收入份额包括交易费，服务器维护成本和许可付款。 苹果首席执行官蒂姆·库克(Tim Cook)辩称，他的公司提供安全性，开发支持，并使小公司能够以每年99美元的年费参加其开发人员计划，吸引十亿用户。
For years, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney bristled against such arguments, insisting software developers deserve a bigger share of the pie. In 2018 his company launched the Epic Games Store — as a rival to Valve Corp.’s Steam on Windows PCs — where creators can keep 88% of their game income instead of 70%. His argument is that the rationale underpinning big platform fees on consoles — where the platform owner is closely involved and invested — is absent on broader platforms such as PC and mobile.
多年来，Epic Games首席执行官蒂姆·斯威尼(Tim Sweeney)一直反对这种观点，坚持认为软件开发人员应占更大的份额。 在2018年，他的公司开设了Epic Games Store，与Valve Corp.在Windows PC上的Steam竞争，在该商店中，创作者可以保留其游戏收入的88％，而不是70％。 他的论点是，在PC和移动设备等更广泛的平台上，缺乏支持控制台的大额平台费用的理由(平台所有者密切参与和投资)。
Japanese game publishers, having originated the 70/30 revenue split, are less worried about the pie distribution. However, the recent change of direction with the Apple Arcade subscription — which led to a number of contracts for games being canceled — has led to a distrust of Apple’s stewardship. Still, none of the Japanese game publishers were willing to voice support for the Epic #FreeFortnite campaign for fear of reprimand from the iPhone maker. “I don’t think developers in Japan are necessarily hoping Apple will cut the fee, but there must be better services to make them think it’s worth paying the 30% revenue fee,” Hirabayashi says.
起源于70/30收入分配的日本游戏发行商，对派饼的分布不那么担心。 但是，最近Apple Arcade订阅方向的改变(导致许多游戏合同被取消 )导致对Apple的管理不信任。 尽管如此，没有日本游戏发行商愿意为Epic #FreeFortnite活动提供语音支持，因为它担心遭到iPhone制造商的谴责。 Hirabayashi说：“我认为日本的开发人员不一定希望苹果削减费用，但必须有更好的服务使他们认为值得付出30％的收入费。”
At an extreme, the battle between Epic and the mobile duopoly of Apple and Google could result in the creation of a new platform. A similar thing happened when the cost of making Nintendo software cartridges ballooned — which led to fees higher than 30% — after which Sony launched PlayStation with the cheaper-to-manufacture discs, attracting game developers with a return to the “lower” fee. Nintendo’s recent success with the portable Switch console has proved there’s a mobile gaming market beyond smartphones: Its sales during the Covid-19 pandemic were described by one analyst as Christmas in summer.
在极端情况下，Epic与苹果和谷歌的移动双头垄断之间的斗争可能会导致创建一个新平台。 类似的事情发生在任天堂(Nintendo)软件盒的制造成本激增(导致费用超过30％)之后，索尼推出了使用制造成本更低的光盘的PlayStation，从而吸引了游戏开发商，并获得了“更低”的费用。 任天堂最近在便携式Switch控制台上取得的成功证明，除了智能手机之外，还有一个移动游戏市场：一位分析师将其在Covid-19大流行期间的销售称为夏季圣诞节。
Gaming industry profits have never been bigger, so the decision on how they’re portioned out has never been more important. Apple and Google face the loss of one of their most profitable titles in the form of Fortnite while they confront greater antitrust scrutiny from legislators. That may finally get them to give up their insistence on a fee with roots in ancient game cartridges.
游戏行业的利润从未如此之大，因此决定如何分配利润从未如此重要。 苹果和谷歌面临以Fortnite形式丧失其最赚钱的头衔之一，同时他们面临立法者更大的反托拉斯审查。 最终，他们可能会放弃根植于古老游戏卡带上的费用。
© 2020 Bloomberg L.P.
©2020 Bloomberg LP
一个鬼如何抓到吃豆人策略
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