电子艺界创始人转战教育游戏领域

    如果你能公司将免费发布这款游戏的第一章，随后将推出额外章节的付费订购服务。霍金斯指出，全球私人教师市场现在已接近1,500亿美元。他相信，由于没有直接的竞争对手，家长们将掏钱购买这款游戏，以补充学校教育，也将为那些无论如何也要玩平板电脑和智能手机的孩子提供一种积极的移动游戏体验。学校可以使用苹果公司的使用量计费方式(volume-based pricing)认购这款游戏，但它们也将免费获得第一章。

    “我已经会晤了旧金山公立学校总监，这些学校共有56,000名学生，其中8,000名孩子正在接受课后护理服务，”霍金斯说。“许多学校使用联邦政府力争上游计划(Race to the Top)拨款购买平板电脑，但它们并没有详尽评估形形色色的教育应用软件。我们正在做的事情目前还没有别人在做，哪怕连沾边的也没有，所以我们绝对有一个机会。”

    霍金斯说，他的公司将首先把目光对准消费市场。然后，作为一项并行措施，他们与一些机构结成战略合作伙伴关系，比如美国儿童群益会(Boys and Girls Clubs of America)将使用iPad和《如果》游戏作为其课后护理计划的组成部分。此外，这家公司正在接洽耶鲁大学(Yale University)和其他院校的研究人员，希望他们设计一些科研开发项目，以证明这款游戏蕴含的教育意义。

    M2研究中心 (M2 Research)创始人旺达•马龙尼看好如果你能公司的发展前景，因为家长们一直在不断地为孩子们寻找寓教于乐的高品质游戏。

    “如果家长购买的是一款包含学习元素、有助于巩固教育观念的游戏，他们的内心感受自然会好很多，”马龙尼说。“在学校，霸凌现象已成为教师和学校管理层不断探讨的中心议题，他们正在寻找可以应用的解决方案。”

    霍金斯说，当年在电子艺界公司开发《疯狂橄榄球》游戏(Madden )的时候，他已经采用过如今这家教育游戏公司正在使用的策略，而这款橄榄球游戏最终也创造了超过40亿美元的零售额。现在，他集结了一支由身经百战的游戏开发者和教育工作者组成的团队。霍金斯能否再创辉煌，1月下旬将见分晓，就让我们拭目以待吧。（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒   

    If You Can will release the first chapter of the game for free and then offer a subscription for additional chapters. Hawkins noted that the global market for private tutors today is nearing $150 billion, and with no direct competition, he believes parents will invest in this game to supplement in-school education and also offer a positive mobile gaming experience to kids who are playing with tablets and smartphones anyway. Schools will be able to use Apple's volume-based pricing to subscribe to the game, although they will also get the first chapter for free.

    "I met with the superintendent that runs the public schools in San Francisco, which includes 56,000 students, and they have 8,000 kids in after-care," said Hawkins. "A lot of these schools use Race to the Top money to buy tablets without really having a great assortment of educational apps that are even available. There's nothing remotely like what we're doing, so there's definitely an opportunity there."

    Hawkins said the focal point for the company at first will be the consumer market. And then in parallel they have strategic partners like the Boys and Girls Clubs of America that will use iPads and IF … as part of their after care program. The company is also talking to academic researchers at Yale and other colleges to develop research projects that will show that the game is effective.

    Wanda Meloni, founder of M2 Research, believes If You Can could do very well because parents are continually looking for quality games their children can play, but also learn something from.

    "Parents always feel much better about purchasing a game that has elements of learning that reinforce education concepts," said Meloni. "In schools, the discussion of bullying has become a central theme for teachers and school administrators who are looking for programs they can implement."

    Hawkins said he's taken the same approach with his educational company as he did at EA when creating the Madden football franchise, which went on to generate over $4 billion at retail. He's assembled a team of proven game creators and educators. Come January, the world will see if he can do it again.