免費遊戲成爲創收神器

Piracy is pointless when products are free. Giving away games has enabled China’s Tencent to brush off the threat of illegal downloads and become one of the biggest companies in the world. It will need to increase its overseas reach to keep the spot.

如果產品是免費的，盜版就沒有意義。免費遊戲讓中國的騰訊(Tencent)得以不理會非法下載的威脅，併成爲全球最大企業之一。要保持這種地位，騰訊需要擴大其在海外的觸角範圍。

SmArtphone game “Honor of Kings”, tipped as the world’s top earner, shows Tencent’s freemium model at work. The download is gratis but users are encouraged to purchase virtual items inside the game for real money.

智能手機遊戲《王者榮耀》(Honor of Kings)被列爲全球收入最高的遊戲，它顯示了騰訊的免費增值模式(freemium)奏效。這款遊戲下載免費，但用戶被鼓勵用真實世界的金錢購買遊戲內的虛擬商品。

For a tangible equivalent, non-gamers can think of the razor and blades model, where companies sell the razor cheaply but charge proportionately much more for the blades. Tencent does something similar. Games may be free, but downloadable content — DLC for those in the know — is pricey.

要做一番比喻的話，不玩遊戲的人可以想想“剃刀和刀片”模式，公司廉價銷售剃刀，但刀片售價較貴。騰訊的做法類似。遊戲可能是免費的，但可下載內容（內行稱之爲DLC）價格不菲。

The shift from one-off games sales to continuous payment via subscriptions or in-game purchases has been felt across the industry, smoothing cash flows and raising valuations. Revenue at Electronic Arts rose nearly a fifth in the most recent quarter thanks to its transition to digital sales while rising margins driven by online sales at French rival Ubisoft have attracted the attention of media group Vivendi.

整個行業都感受到了從一次性遊戲銷售到通過訂閱持續付費或遊戲內購買的改變，這讓現金流動變得平穩，並提升了估值。由於轉向數字銷售，電子藝界(Electronic Arts)在最近一個季度的收入增長近五分之一，同時，受在線銷售的推動，法國競爭對手育碧(Ubisoft)日益增長的利潤率引起了傳媒集團維旺迪(Vivendi)的興趣。

If games are played on mobile phones that users find hard to put down, so much the better. Tencent is pushing hard into mobile, generating Rmb13bn ($2bn) from smartphone games in the first quarter of the year, up more than 50 per cent on the previous year.

如果在讓用戶覺得很難放下的手機上玩遊戲，那就更好了。騰訊正大力進軍移動領域，今年第一季度從智能手機遊戲中獲得了130億元人民幣（合20億美元）的收入，同比增長逾50%。

Year to date, Tencent’s shares are up by half and now trade at 36 times forecast earnings — higher than Alibaba on 32, though nowhere near Nintendo on 56.

年初至今，騰訊的股價上漲了一半，目前的預期市盈率爲36倍——高於阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的32倍，儘管仍遠低於任天堂(Nintendo)的56倍。

Tencent has room to grow. Of the total Rmb50bn (about $7bn) first quarter revenue just Rmb7bn came from online advertising. With hundreds of millions of users across its gaming and social media brands, it is in a good place to increase this. Meanwhile it should increase its tentative move to target gamers outside China. The country may generate a quarter of the world’s gaming revenue, but in a $100bn industry that leaves a lot of headroom.

騰訊仍有增長空間。在共計500億元人民幣（約合70億美元）的第一季度營收中，只有70億元人民幣來自在線廣告。擁有數以億計用戶的遊戲和社交媒體品牌，使騰訊可以很容易增加這部分收入。與此同時，騰訊應該加大試探性嘗試力度，吸引中國以外的遊戲玩家。中國或許佔到了全球遊戲收入的四分之一，但這意味着在這個1000億美元的產業中還有很大發展空間。