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上周,都柏林总部的关键字工作室以6600万美元(合5700万欧元)的价格大举收购了爱尔兰视频游戏产业,这一举措所提供的市场增长潜力令人咂舌。
在此之前,这家总部位于Leopardstown的公司于今年早些时候进行了一些较小的收购,该公司最近通过发行10%的股份筹集了约8500万欧元。
该公司成立于1998年,最初是为游戏制作人提供口语音频服务,但经过有机增长和收购,多年来已显着扩展,现已在伦敦上市。
通过与EA Sports,Konami和Ubisoft等众多行业主要参与者的合作,Keyword的最新收购使其成为该领域最大的参与者之一。
戴维分析师约瑟夫·奎因(Jovy Quinn)表示:“虽然功能测试的关键字从第5位快速上升到第1位,但这项交易也带来了该公司迄今为止最大的集成提升。”
“在规模超过1000亿美元的视频游戏行业中,外包业务正在增长,并且在移动和在线游戏开发步伐的推动下,开发人员越来越多地寻求外包合作伙伴来实现更快的内容交付。关键词工作室是该行业最大的外包技术服务提供商,是该领域的领先整合商。”
关键字工作室也入选了2017年德勤高科技高成长50强计划。该公司在伦敦,巴塞罗那,米兰,罗马,东京,新加坡,上海,新德里,蒙特利尔,西雅图,洛杉矶和里约热内卢设有工作室3500余间。
“政府需要意识到视频游戏是一项严肃的业务,并通过为爱尔兰的艺术和技术领域的毕业生创造工作并将他们留在家中来帮助防止人才流失。爱尔兰确实有机会利用这一新兴业务。
从目前的情况来看,没有任何国家为视频游戏提供资金,这个行业似乎非常适合爱尔兰。”戈尔韦本地人和三一学院古典音乐专业毕业生Eimear Noone说,他目前是加州音乐配乐的作曲家《守望先锋》和《魔兽世界》等标志性游戏。
利默里克理工学院游戏设计和开发学位讲师Liam Noonan博士说,游戏设计和开发领域的投资税收减免计划需要鼓励更多的企业家精神和创造爱尔兰工作机会。
“这个行业与电影或电视行业没有什么不同,因为它具有创造力,活力和冒险精神。我们需要鼓励在这个创新领域进行投资。”
2015年,Romero Games从美国进入高威,大大提高了爱尔兰作为该行业所在地的适用性。该公司由John和Brenda Romero拥有,是一家知名的行业重量级公司,是诸如Doom,Dangerous Dave之类的传奇游戏的创建者,雷神之锤和巫术。
梅诺斯大学社会学高级讲师,《全球游戏:数字游戏产业的生产》一书的作者Aphra Kerr博士说,爱尔兰的情况与15年前大不相同。
“我们看到在国外具有游戏开发经验的人回到家中进行开发,而且我们也让学生从游戏课程中获得的机会比以前大得多。在爱尔兰,与Google和Facebook这样的大型跨国公司相比,该行业在技术人才方面存在着激烈的竞争。”
她说,但是,要与具有悠久的移动开发传统的挪威,芬兰和瑞典等国家竞争,还有很多工作要做,而不是“与所有其他公司一起参与游戏”。
为了指出视频游戏产业在娱乐领域的潜在未来统治地位,2013年《侠盗猎车手5》在头24小时内在全球范围内创造了8亿美元的收入,比历史上任何一款游戏,电影或唱片都高。同年,全球视频游戏销售额为700亿美元,而电影院为350亿美元。
Irish video gaming industry offers major possibilities
A measure of the growth possibilities offered by the video games industry in Ireland was underlined in last week’s major acquisition by Dublin headquartered Keyword Studios of US-based VMC Consulting for $66m (€57m).
It follows a number of smaller takeovers earlier this year by the Leopardstown-based company, which recently raised approximately €85m through a 10% share issuance.
Founded in 1998, the company started out providing spoken-word audio services for game producers, but has expanded significantly over the years through a mix of organic growth and acquisition, and is now listed in London.
Working with many of industry’s major players — EA Sports, Konami and Ubisoft — Keyword’s latest acquisition makes the firm one of the biggest players in its field.
“While this fast-tracks Keyword to No 1 in functional testing from No 5, this deal also brings with it the company’s biggest integration lift to date,” says Davy analyst Joseph Quinn.
“Outsourcing within the $100bn-plus video game industry is growing, and developers are increasingly turning to outsourcing partners to achieve faster content delivery, driven by the pace of mobile and online game development. Keywords Studios, the largest provider of outsourced technical services to the industry, is the leading consolidator within this space.”
Keywords Studios have also been shortlisted in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Programme 2017. The company has studios in London, Barcelona, Milan, Rome, Tokyo, Singapore, Shanghai, New Delhi, Montreal, Seattle, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro, employing over 1,500.
“The government needs to realise video games are a serious business, and help prevent a brain drain by creating work for Irish graduates in the arts and tech and keep them at home. Ireland has a real chance to take advantage of this burgeoning business.
As it stands, there is no state funding for video games - an industry that seems like a perfect fit for Ireland,” said Galway native and Trinity College classical music graduate, Eimear Noone, who is currently a California-based composer of music scores for iconic games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft.
Investment tax relief schemes in the game design and development sector are needed to encourage more entrepreneurship and the creation of Irish jobs, according to Dr Liam Noonan, game design and development degree lecturer at Limerick Institute of Technology.
“This industry is no different to the movie or TV sector as it is creative and dynamic and risk-taking. We need to encourage investment in this innovative space.”
Ireland’s suitability as a location for the industry has been significantly enhanced by the arrival of Romero Games to Galway from the US in 2015. Owned by John and Brenda Romero, the company is an established industry heavyweight, creator of legendary games like Doom, Dangerous Dave, Quake and Wizardry.
Dr Aphra Kerr, senior lecturer in sociology at Maynooth University and author of Global Gaming: Production in the Digital Game Industry, says the situation in Ireland now is very different to 15 years ago.
“We’re seeing people with experience in game development abroad come back home to develop, and we also have students coming out of game courses with much greater opportunities than before. The industry has serious competition for technology talent in Ireland, with huge multinationals like Google and Facebook.”
However, much needs to be done to compete with the likes of Norway, Finland and Sweden, who have a long tradition of mobile development, she says, rather than “lumping gaming in with all the other companies”.
As a pointer for the video game industry’s potential future dominance of the entertainment sector, in 2013 Grand Theft Auto V made $800m worldwide in its first 24 hours - more than any single game, film or record in history. In the same year, global video games sales were $70bn, versus cinema’s $35bn.