打造全球顶级游戏的奥秘

    Riot Games游戏公司的多用户版《英雄联盟》（League of Legends）是全世界玩家最多的游戏。这款免费游戏是所谓的多人在线竞技（multiplayer online battle arena）游戏，或简称为MOBA。2009年推出后，《英雄联盟》现在拥有超过7,000万个注册用户，其中约3,200万用户每个月都会玩。

    就算在很容易一夜爆红的游戏业，这也是让人震惊的高速增长了。它的成功秘诀何在？

    马克•梅林和布兰登•贝克是Riot Games的两位创始人，现在分别担任公司的总裁和首席执行官。贝克曾是贝恩公司（Bain & Company）的战略咨询师，专攻媒体、娱乐和私募基金行业。梅林曾是美国银行（US Bank）的分析师，也曾任Advanstar Communications公司的企业营销经理。他们俩都是铁杆游戏迷。Riot创立的初衷是在新兴的MOBA领域打造能引导业界潮流的新款游戏。当时，这个领域已诞生了动视暴雪公司（Activision Blizzard）的《星际争霸》（StarCraft ）和《魔兽争霸》（WarCraft）等力作。梅林称：“凭借《英雄联盟》，我们是想在游戏情节、游戏社区、电子竞技和知识产权这四个方面展现自己的特色。”

    这两位创业家能在全球大获成功的关键因素是，这款游戏是免费的。它是最早由北美出品的几款可免费获得所有内容的游戏之一，并而且还能提供新加入游戏的角色，即所谓的“英雄”（Champions）和其他内容的付费微交易。贝克称：“马克和我创办Riot的时候，绝大多数玩家还得花上60美元，才能在游戏机或个人电脑上玩传统的盒装游戏。”

    他还说，现在手机和平板电脑早已是免费游戏的天下，甚至在发烧级游戏中免费试玩版也是家常便饭。他指出：“很多传统的大型多人在线游戏（MMO）已变成了免费加升级的模式。还有很多重磅新游戏都是免费发布的。过去八年间，游戏业确实经历了一场革命。”

    中国科技巨头腾讯公司（Tencent）2011年2月斥资4亿美元购买了Riot Games的大部分股份，但这家公司还是一直保持着独立性。凭借致力于开拓游戏世界的700多名北美员工和约300名遍布全球的员工，Riot的创始人充分利用人数不断增长的粉丝群改善游戏体验。贝克说：“只有给玩家他们认为有价值的内容和服务，免费模式才能奏效，所以我们一直忙个不停。一旦我们搞砸，玩家是不会放过我们的。”

    在Riot位于圣塔莫尼卡的办公室内，梅林和贝克并没有属于自己的独立办公室。他们就紧挨着游戏开发人员办公，员工和游戏玩家都很容易找到他们。他们通过称为Thunderdome的内部编程马拉松（hackathon）让工作充满乐趣。梅林说：“我们最重视的价值之一就是挑战传统，所以我们会把这个奖颁给挑战种种限制的人，就是那些通过破坏既定规则、传统和官僚主义来实现不同凡响的成就的人。”

    Riot Games' League of Legends is, by multiple accounts, the most-played video game in the world. The free-to-play game, a so-called multiplayer online battle arena game, or MOBA, launched in 2009 and has over 70 million registered gamers with some 32 million playing on a monthly basis.

    Even in the overnight hit-prone video games business, that is startling growth. What's going on?

    Riot Games was founded by Marc Merrill, who serves as president, and Brandon Beck, the firm's CEO. Beck is a former strategy consultant for Bain & Company where he specialized in media and entertainment and private equity. Merrill is a former analyst at US Bank and corporate marketing manager at Advanstar Communications. They are both die-hard gamers. Riot was created with the intent of putting a new spin on the emerging MOBA genre that had spun off of modifications of Activision Blizzard's (ATVI) StarCraft and WarCraft. "With League of Legends, we really wanted to differentiate across four primary dimensions: gameplay, community, e-sports, and intellectual property," says Merrill.

    One key to the success these two entrepreneurs have had globally is the fact that the game is free. It was one of the early games out of North America to be designed to allow free access to all the content and offer paid micro-transactions for new in-game characters, called Champions, and other content. "When Marc and I founded Riot, most gamers were being asked to pay $60 for a traditional game-in-a-box to be played on consoles or PCs," says Beck.

    Now free apps dominate the mobile and tablet stores, and free trials are commonplace even in hardcore genres, he argues. "Many traditional MMO subscription games have converted to free-plus-upgrades," Beck points out, "and many important new games are launching free. Over the last eight years, there's been a real revolution."

    Although Chinese technology giant Tencent paid $400 million for a majority stake in Riot Games in February 2011, the company has maintained its independence. With over 700 employees in North America and another 300 around the globe focusing on expanding the game world, Riot's founders have utilized their growing fan base to improve the game experience. "The free-to-play model only works when you're giving players content and services they value, so we're really kept on our toes," says Beck. "Players aren't shy about telling us when we've screwed up."

    Merrill and Beck don't have separate offices inside Riot's Santa Monica offices. They sit nestled among the other game developers and are accessible to employees as well as to the gaming public. They keep things interesting at work through internal hackathons, called Thunderdome. "One of the most important values is challenging convention, so we often give this award to someone who's challenged constraints -- someone who's broken rules, conventions, and bureaucracy to accomplish something exceptional," says Merrill.