Zynga
Encyclopedia
Zynga (ˈzɪŋɡə) is a social network game
developer located in San Francisco, United States
. The company develops browser-based
games that work both stand-alone and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook
and MySpace
.
As of November 2011, Zynga's games on Facebook have over 200 million monthly active users. Four of Zynga's games, CityVille
, Texas HoldEm Poker
, FarmVille
, and Empires & Allies
, are among the top five most widely used game applications on Facebook, with CityVille having over 54 million monthly active users.
Reportedly valued at $15 billion to $20 billion, Zynga filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering on July 1, 2011. Zynga will begin trading on NASDAQ
December 16, 2011.
. The early supporting founding team included Eric Schiermeyer, Michael Luxton, Justin Waldron, Kyle Stewart, Scott Dale, John Doerr, Steve Schoettler, Kevin Hagan, and Andrew Trader. They received US$29 million in venture finance from several firms, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in July 2008, at which time they appointed former Electronic Arts
Chief Creative Officer Bing Gordon
to the board. At that time, they also bought YoVille, a large virtual world social network game. According to the company's website, as of December 2009, it had 60 million unique daily active users.
Zynga was named after an American bulldog
named Zinga once owned by Mark Pincus. They use a bulldog as their symbol.
As of September 2010, Zynga had over 1,200 employees.
On February 17, 2010, Zynga opened Zynga India in Bangalore
, the company’s first office outside the United States.
On March 18, 2010, Zynga confirmed that it will open a second international office in Ireland.
On May 7, 2010, Michael Arrington
of TechCrunch
reported that Zynga was threatening to leave Facebook altogether in the wake of Facebook's requiring exclusive use of Facebook Credits
for monetization in applications. After Facebook negotiations for having Zynga host its games solely on Facebook fell through, Facebook retaliated by shutting off notifications for several Zynga games, including FarmVille
. Plans surfaced for Zynga to distance itself from Facebook by creating a new "Zynga Live" network, to be called ZLive. On May 18, 2010, Facebook and Zynga entered into a five-year relationship to expand the use of Facebook Credits in Zynga's games. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, was quoted as saying, "We are pleased to enter into a new agreement with Zynga to enhance the experience for Facebook users who play Zynga games." The companies stated they were testing the use of Facebook Credits, which would allow Facebook to effectively capture 30% of any user's spending in the game, and their use would be gradually rolled out to all games. In a May 24, 2011 discussion at TechCrunch Disrupt, Arrington and Bing Gordon described the incident as the "Cuban Missile Crisis
of tech".
On June 3, 2010, Zynga acquired Challenge Games.
With the acquisition of Dextrose, now Zynga Germany, representing the company's first expansion into Europe, Zynga has 13 studios around the world, including offices in Sunnyvale, Los Gatos, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, Bangalore, Beijing, and Tokyo.
On October 5, 2010 Bonfire Studios
was acquired by Zynga. It was renamed "Zynga Dallas". The acquisition brought Zynga's workforce to more than 1300 employees worldwide.
As reported by Bloomberg and others, stock trades on the private stock sale service SharesPost established a valuation of above $5 billion for the company, greater than the public market capitalization
of gaming industry leader Electronic Arts
and had more than 320 million registered users, 1,300 employees and estimated revenues above $500 million for 2010.
On December 2, 2010, Zynga announced that it acquired the Texas-based mobile game developer Newtoy, Inc.
, developers of the game "Words with Friends
", and renamed the studio to Zynga With Friends.
In December 2010, Zynga's game CityVille surpassed FarmVille
as its most popular game with over 61 million monthly active users and a base of over 16 million daily active users.
Zynga has acquired the New York-based game developer Area/Code, now renamed Zynga New York.
In March 2011, Zynga announced the acquisition of the team from Massachusetts game developer Floodgate Entertainment. It was Zynga's tenth acquisition in ten months.
In April 2011, Zynga announced the acquisition of MarketZero, an online poker tracker company.
Also in March 2011, the company channeled 100% of direct donations or revenue from virtual goods purchases through its social games (over $1 million) to Japan for the relief efforts related to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. The company had been criticized in the past for keeping up to 50% of donations it collected.
In April 2011, the company partnered with Lady Gaga
in a new game offering.
In May 2011, the company was reported to be in the process of raising an additional $500 million with a valuation at $10 billion
In May of 2011, the company launched its most complicated game
to date—Empires and Allies.
As of July 1, 2011, the company had 2,000 employees.
In September 2011, Zynga announced that their biggest game CityVille has made the transition to google+ after about 95% decline in their profits.
Zynga games are linked to offers from a number of partners. Players can accept credit card offers, take surveys or buy services from Zynga's partners in order to obtain game credits, which would allow them to replenish their character's energy or receive premium currency that could be exchanged for other various virtual goods.
Players may also purchase game credits directly from Zynga via credit cards or PayPal
. From within the game, players can purchase the points for a fee: US$5.00 for 21 game credits, for example.
In March 2010 Zynga started selling prepaid cards for virtual currency at more than 12,800 stores across the US.
Zynga also sells advertising sponsorships within some games such as movie tie-ins and other brands.
. In contrast, the normal maximum purchase limits are $50 to $200. As with other social game companies, Zynga depends on a small core of large spenders, known within the industry as "whales", for a large part of its income. Ryan Tate, author of the post, speculated that the program was a way for gaming addicts to feed their obsession, and compared the secrecy of the program to the secrecy of drug deals.
detailing its relationship with Facebook, including the 2010 five-year agreement to exclusively use Facebook credits. According to the released information, all covered Zynga games that use Facebook integration must remain exclusive to Facebook for the duration of the agreement, and Zynga is not allowed to release new games on an undisclosed list of other social networks. Also, Zynga is required to notify Facebook of any new games at least one week prior to their release. Finally, Facebook agrees to help Zynga reach "certain growth targets for monthly unique users of Covered Zynga Games" and to share ad revenue with Zynga.
On October 11, 2011, Zynga announced plans to create their own platform in which users can play the company's games. Although the platform, Project Z, will still have major ties to Facebook it is believed to be the first major step away from the social media giant.
have said that Zynga's games have essentially the same mechanics even though they have different premises and settings. Georgia Tech professor Ian Bogost
came up with the name "cow clickers" for such challenge-free games that demand little more than clicking on things, and eventually he created the satirical Facebook game Cow Clicker
, an "attempt to distill the social game genre down to its essence". The game has become quite popular.
The criticism applies to the "social games genre" in general, though Zynga is emphasized as one of the most cynical companies. Ian Bogost has four points of criticism - the concept of enframing ("In social games, friends aren't really friends; they are mere resources"), compulsion ("brain hacks that exploit human psychology in order to make money"), Optionalism ("the gameplay in social games is almost entirely optional. The play acts (...) can be skipped [by] spending cash money (...). Social games are games you don't have to play.") and Destroyed Time ("social games (...) also destroy the time we spend away from them. (...) ")
The launch of Mafia Wars
sparked a lawsuit from the makers of Mob Wars
. An attorney for Psycho Monkey, the creators of Mob Wars, said that in making Mafia Wars, Zynga "copied virtually every important aspect of the game." The suit was settled out of court for $7–9 million.
Ars Technica
noted that Zynga's Cafe World and Playfish's Restaurant City were "nearly identical"; Cafe World was released six months after Restaurant City. Its gameplay, design, graphics, avatars, and even in-game items are almost identical to the ones in Restaurant City. Many players who have played Restaurant City and Cafe World have noticed the extreme similarities between both games. In addition, journalists have remarked that Zynga's FarmVille is similar to Farm Town
, with Peter Jamison calling it "uncannily similar."
In September 2010, SF Weekly reported that an employee recalled Mark Pincus advising him to "copy what [Zynga's competitors] do and do it until you get their numbers."
Other companies have responded by copying Zynga's games as well. Playfish
, publisher of Pet Society (a game similar to Zynga's Petville), announced the creation of Poker Rivals to rival Zynga Poker. Playfish then launched a game called Gangster City, which is similar to Mafia Wars.
Zynga founder Mark Pincus has dismissed the criticisms, saying that competing video game makers have always released similar titles for each genre of game. The managing director of Lightspeed Venture Partners said that creating similar competing games has "always been part of the game industry."
, said that Zynga was at the "end of the beginning," noting that Zynga's business model is dependent on Facebook continuing to operate in the same manner and users continuing to expect the same quality of games, among others. Kelly also compared Zynga to Atari, which also churned out large numbers of simple games prior to the North American video game crash of 1983 and further claimed that Zynga's approach of creating similar clones of popular games would be impossible for deeper games. Tom Bollich, a former Zynga investor, said that it is impossible to make a cheap viral game, and that retaining customers is difficult.
In an October 2011 article in The Wall Street Journal
, Ben Levisohn said that Zynga has "issues that could limit its upside," such as its dependence on Facebook and its reliance on a small percentage of users and a small number of games for most of its revenue.
advertising schemes, whereby game participants would earn game points by signing up for featured credit cards or video-rental services. These were criticized as being less cost-effective than simply buying game points, and in some cases, being outright scams that would download unwanted software or unwittingly sign up for a recurring subscription. One ad signed up players for subscriptions to expensive and unwanted text-messaging services.
On October 31, 2009, Michael Arrington
of TechCrunch
said that Zynga intentionally worked with scam advertisers, and that lead generation made up a third of Zynga's revenue. Arrington also alleged that Facebook was complicit in this. On November 2, 2009, CEO Mark Pincus announced a reform in its offers: Tatto Media
, a major offer provider that enrolled users into recurring cell phone subscriptions, would be banned, all mobile offers would be removed, and offer providers would be required to pre-screen offers.
Arrington continued to question Pincus' role in the scams, republishing a video of a speech by Pincus. In the speech, Pincus said:
In response, Pincus noted that after offering the Zwinky toolbar, his team of ten decided to remove it since it was a "painful experience".
Several days after the Techcrunch story, Zynga's most recent Facebook game FishVille, was temporarily taken offline by Facebook on claim of advertising violations. According to Zynga, Fishville had 875,000 users within two days of launch. A release from Facebook on its reasons for taking the game offline read that "FishVille will remain suspended until Facebook is satisfied that Zynga demonstrates compliance with Facebook restrictions – as well as Zynga’s own restrictions – on the ads it offers users." FishVille was later un-suspended at midnight November 9–10.
Several suits were filed against Zynga for promoting such offers, including the class-action lawsuit Swift v. Zynga
in the United States District Court
for the Northern District of California for violation of the Unfair competition law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, after the lead plaintiff's credit card was billed more than $200 for offers she completed to receive YoVille currency.
Pincus later said that he had been too eager to increase company revenues through advertising, and that operating in reactive mode by taking down ads only after receiving complaints had not worked. The company removed all ads for a time, relying only on direct purchase of game currency, then began reintroducing third party ads only after they had been screened.
and it nearly derailed the acquisition of MyMiniLife, which developed the technology that is the basis for Farmville
. There are multiple reports of employees who plan to quit the company and cash in their stock options as soon as the IPO is finalized. Headhunters are trying to cash in on this. A recruiting firm reportedly sent cookie baskets to over 150 Zynga employee.
Beginning in 2009, Zynga reduced equity packages for a limited number of employees by offering them the choice of accepting a smaller equity package or being fired. In November 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that Zynga had demanded that some employees give back their unvested shares or face termination. The company's executives justified the strategy as being in the best interest of the company as the stock could be used to attract other top talent. Although a San Francisco employment lawyer said in The Wall Street Journal that Zynga's actions would violate the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing
, no court has ruled on the issue since it has been rare for companies to demand non-vested stock as a condition of continued employment.
In October 2010, Zynga was criticized on Hacker News
and other social media
sites for having filed a patent application
relating to the ability to purchase virtual currency
for cash on gambling and other gaming sites. Commentators said that significant prior art
exists for the concept.
In January 2011, Techdirt
reported that Zynga had sent a cease and desist
letter to Blingville alleging trademark infringement for its use of the letters "ville" in the name of a proposed Facebook game. Blingville has filed a suit for declaratory judgment
that it is not infringing a Zynga trademark. As reported in Gamasutra, Jay Monahan of Zynga responded by saying that Blingville's "[use] of the name 'BlingVille' is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the fame and goodwill associated with Zynga's family of 'ville' games which includes FarmVille and CityVille". In November 2011, Inside Mobile Apps wrote that Zynga's lawyers demanded that mobile game developer Latman Interactive abandon its trademark registration for the game Quackville. Night Owl Games has also filed a lawsuit for declaratory judgment that its game Dungeonville does not infringe any Zynga trademarks after Zynga protested Night Owl's registration of the Dungeonville trademark.
On May 20, 2011, it was reported that The Learning Company, owners of The Oregon Trail trademark, filed a trademark infringement
suit against Zynga, which is planning an "Oregon Trail" expansion to FrontierVille
. The Learning Company had previously contacted Zynga about an Oregon Trail game on Facebook, but Zynga declined. On May 24, Games.com writer Brandy Shaul wrote that Zynga was dropping the Oregon Trail name and soliciting new names for the expansion. The name of the expansion is now "Pioneer Trail".
In late May 2010, the Norwegian Consumer Council filed a complaint to the Data Inspectorate regarding breaches of the Data Protection Act.
In August 2010, the San Francisco city attorney's office complained about the firm's guerrilla marketing
campaign for its Mafia Wars game that pasted fake money on city sidewalks, calling it "vandalism".
bought a $180 million share of Zynga.
In 2010, a combined $300 million from Softbank
and Google
were invested in Zynga.
More recently, Zynga has been rumored to be close to a deal that values the company at approximately $10 billion through a capital raise from a group of investors that include mutual funds associated with T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments. This round of funding would raise $500 million in primary capital for the company.
In June 2011, The Wall Street Journal estimated Zynga's value at $19 billion.
Zynga has been identified as a possible candidate for an IPO
by 2013. Equity analysts have stated that their recent actions have made it clear they are preparing themselves for an IPO in the near future. On May 24, 2011, AllThingsD.com reported that Zynga was planning to file for an IPO within the week or two. By June 11, according to The Wall Street Journal, Zynga was in the process of finalizing its IPO offering. Zynga is planning to offer only 10% of its shares to the public.
On June 28, CNBC
journalist Kate Kelly
reported that Zynga would be filing Form S-1 as early as the following day. The expected IPO would raise $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
On July 1, 2011, the company filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Zynga will begin trading on NASDAQ December 16, 2011. It will price its shares on December 15 at an estimated range of $8-$10 per share.
, in charge of incorporating charitable contributions into its games. Zynga.org has raised more than $10 million for several international nonprofits.
For example, since at least October 2009, through its game FarmVille
, Zynga offered special sugar beet
s which customers can purchase with real-world money. Proceeds from the donation go to two Haiti-based charities: FATEM.org and FONKOZE.org. By October 20, the sugar beet promotion had raised $427,000 and was expected to raise $2 million by year's end. Zynga used tie-ins via three of its top games to raise money for relief of the 2010 Haiti earthquake
. Zynga offers special bulldog
s in YoVille, the proceeds going to the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
.
In January 2010, Zynga.org raised $1.5 million for Haiti Earthquake Relief. In September 2010, Zynga.org raised $500,000 in two days for L’Ecole de Choix, a K-12 school Zynga is building in Mirebalais, Haiti. In addition, in December 2010 Zynga raised over $800,000 for the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, as part of the UCSF Challenge for the Children competition.
On March 11, 2011, Zynga announced that 100% of proceeds from purchases of virtual goods in more than seven of its games would go to Japan's Save the Children
Earthquake Emergency Fund. Virtual goods included daikon
in Farmville. On March 15, 2011, Zynga offered the purchase of a "Japanese Countryside Home" in Yoville, also stating that 100% of proceeds would go to Save the Children. The company had been criticized in the past for keeping up to 50% of the donations it collected.
Social network game
A social network game is a type of online game that is played through social networks, and typically features multiplayer and asynchronous gameplay mechanics. Social network games are most often implemented as browser games, but can also be implemented on other platforms such as mobile devices...
developer located in San Francisco, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The company develops browser-based
Browser game
A browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be created and run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer...
games that work both stand-alone and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
.
As of November 2011, Zynga's games on Facebook have over 200 million monthly active users. Four of Zynga's games, CityVille
CityVille
CityVille is a casual social city-building simulation game developed by Zynga, and released in December 2010.The game is very similar to SimCity and Farmville,. The goal is to develop a city by farming, constructing buildings, and collecting rent...
, Texas HoldEm Poker
Texas HoldEm Poker (Zynga game)
Zynga Poker is a social game developed by Zynga as an application for the social-networking website Facebook as well as Android, iPhone, MySpace, Tagged, and Google+. It launched in July 2007. With 35 million monthly active users, Zynga Poker is the largest poker site in the world.The game allows...
, FarmVille
FarmVille
FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
, and Empires & Allies
Empires & Allies
Empires & Allies is a social network game that is Zynga's first combat and strategy game. The game, the first release by Zynga's Los Angeles studio, launched in twelve languages on June 1, 2011. G4TV.com writer Jake Gaskill called the release the "biggest launch of any Zynga title to date"...
, are among the top five most widely used game applications on Facebook, with CityVille having over 54 million monthly active users.
Reportedly valued at $15 billion to $20 billion, Zynga filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering on July 1, 2011. Zynga will begin trading on NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
December 16, 2011.
History
Zynga was founded in January 2007 by Mark PincusMark Pincus
Mark Jonathan Pincus is an Internet entrepreneur best known as the co-founder of Zynga, which makes online social games. Pincus also founded Freeloader, Inc., Tribe Networks, and SupportSoft. Pincus currently serves as CEO of Zynga, which had 232 million monthly active users as of July 1, 2011...
. The early supporting founding team included Eric Schiermeyer, Michael Luxton, Justin Waldron, Kyle Stewart, Scott Dale, John Doerr, Steve Schoettler, Kevin Hagan, and Andrew Trader. They received US$29 million in venture finance from several firms, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in July 2008, at which time they appointed former Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
Chief Creative Officer Bing Gordon
Bing Gordon
William "Bing" Gordon is an executive in the video game industry. He served ten years as Chief Creative Officer of video game publisher and developer Electronic Arts prior to his current partnership with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers...
to the board. At that time, they also bought YoVille, a large virtual world social network game. According to the company's website, as of December 2009, it had 60 million unique daily active users.
Zynga was named after an American bulldog
American Bulldog
The American Bulldog is a breed of working dog that was developed in the United States. There are generally considered to be three types of American bulldog: the Bully or Classic type , the Standard or Performance type , and the Hybrid type...
named Zinga once owned by Mark Pincus. They use a bulldog as their symbol.
As of September 2010, Zynga had over 1,200 employees.
On February 17, 2010, Zynga opened Zynga India in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, the company’s first office outside the United States.
On March 18, 2010, Zynga confirmed that it will open a second international office in Ireland.
On May 7, 2010, Michael Arrington
Michael Arrington
J. Michael Arrington is the founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch, a blog covering the Silicon Valley technology start-up communities and the wider technology field in USA and elsewhere...
of TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
reported that Zynga was threatening to leave Facebook altogether in the wake of Facebook's requiring exclusive use of Facebook Credits
Facebook Credits
Facebook Credits is a virtual currency that enables people to purchase items in games and non-gaming applications on the Facebook Platform. One U.S. dollar is the equivalent of 10 Facebook Credits. Facebook Credits are currently available in 15 currencies including U.S. dollars, pound sterling,...
for monetization in applications. After Facebook negotiations for having Zynga host its games solely on Facebook fell through, Facebook retaliated by shutting off notifications for several Zynga games, including FarmVille
FarmVille
FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
. Plans surfaced for Zynga to distance itself from Facebook by creating a new "Zynga Live" network, to be called ZLive. On May 18, 2010, Facebook and Zynga entered into a five-year relationship to expand the use of Facebook Credits in Zynga's games. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, was quoted as saying, "We are pleased to enter into a new agreement with Zynga to enhance the experience for Facebook users who play Zynga games." The companies stated they were testing the use of Facebook Credits, which would allow Facebook to effectively capture 30% of any user's spending in the game, and their use would be gradually rolled out to all games. In a May 24, 2011 discussion at TechCrunch Disrupt, Arrington and Bing Gordon described the incident as the "Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
of tech".
On June 3, 2010, Zynga acquired Challenge Games.
With the acquisition of Dextrose, now Zynga Germany, representing the company's first expansion into Europe, Zynga has 13 studios around the world, including offices in Sunnyvale, Los Gatos, Los Angeles, Boston, Baltimore, Bangalore, Beijing, and Tokyo.
On October 5, 2010 Bonfire Studios
Bonfire Studios
Zynga Dallas is a video game development company based in Dallas, Texas. After Ensemble Studios was shut down by Microsoft, four different studios were created by members of Ensemble. Bonfire Studios was one of them. In late July 2010 the team released We Farm for Apple iOS. On October 5, 2010...
was acquired by Zynga. It was renamed "Zynga Dallas". The acquisition brought Zynga's workforce to more than 1300 employees worldwide.
As reported by Bloomberg and others, stock trades on the private stock sale service SharesPost established a valuation of above $5 billion for the company, greater than the public market capitalization
Market capitalization
Market capitalization is a measurement of the value of the ownership interest that shareholders hold in a business enterprise. It is equal to the share price times the number of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company...
of gaming industry leader Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
and had more than 320 million registered users, 1,300 employees and estimated revenues above $500 million for 2010.
On December 2, 2010, Zynga announced that it acquired the Texas-based mobile game developer Newtoy, Inc.
Newtoy, Inc.
Zynga With Friends is a video game developer founded in 2008 by brothers Paul Bettner and David Bettner in McKinney, Texas...
, developers of the game "Words with Friends
Words With Friends
Words With Friends is a multi-player word game developed by Zynga With Friends . Players can take turns building words crossword puzzle style with one or more friends, or by being matched with random opponents. Its rules and point system is based on that of the board game Scrabble...
", and renamed the studio to Zynga With Friends.
In December 2010, Zynga's game CityVille surpassed FarmVille
FarmVille
FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
as its most popular game with over 61 million monthly active users and a base of over 16 million daily active users.
Zynga has acquired the New York-based game developer Area/Code, now renamed Zynga New York.
In March 2011, Zynga announced the acquisition of the team from Massachusetts game developer Floodgate Entertainment. It was Zynga's tenth acquisition in ten months.
In April 2011, Zynga announced the acquisition of MarketZero, an online poker tracker company.
Also in March 2011, the company channeled 100% of direct donations or revenue from virtual goods purchases through its social games (over $1 million) to Japan for the relief efforts related to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. The company had been criticized in the past for keeping up to 50% of donations it collected.
In April 2011, the company partnered with Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
in a new game offering.
In May 2011, the company was reported to be in the process of raising an additional $500 million with a valuation at $10 billion
In May of 2011, the company launched its most complicated game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
to date—Empires and Allies.
As of July 1, 2011, the company had 2,000 employees.
In September 2011, Zynga announced that their biggest game CityVille has made the transition to google+ after about 95% decline in their profits.
Business model
Zynga is supported in two manners: via direct credit card payments and partner businesses. Several Zynga games require an "Energy" characteristic to play. Engaging in "Missions", a core feature of many games, consumes a certain amount of energy. After expending energy, it slowly replenishes to the character's maximum limit. This can take minutes or several hours (energy replenishes whether or not players are logged into the game). After energy is replenished, players can engage in additional missions. Waiting for energy to replenish is a significant limiting factor in the games. Their support mechanisms take advantage of this.Zynga games are linked to offers from a number of partners. Players can accept credit card offers, take surveys or buy services from Zynga's partners in order to obtain game credits, which would allow them to replenish their character's energy or receive premium currency that could be exchanged for other various virtual goods.
Players may also purchase game credits directly from Zynga via credit cards or PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
. From within the game, players can purchase the points for a fee: US$5.00 for 21 game credits, for example.
In March 2010 Zynga started selling prepaid cards for virtual currency at more than 12,800 stores across the US.
Zynga also sells advertising sponsorships within some games such as movie tie-ins and other brands.
Platinum Purchase Program
In September 2010, Gawker reported that Zynga had set up a "Platinum Purchase Program" allowing members to purchase virtual currency in amounts over $500 at favorable rates by making a payment via wire transferWire transfer
Wire transfer or credit transfer is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or institution to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account or through a transfer of cash at a cash office...
. In contrast, the normal maximum purchase limits are $50 to $200. As with other social game companies, Zynga depends on a small core of large spenders, known within the industry as "whales", for a large part of its income. Ryan Tate, author of the post, speculated that the program was a way for gaming addicts to feed their obsession, and compared the secrecy of the program to the secrecy of drug deals.
Relationship with Facebook
On July 18, 2011, Zynga filed an addendum to its Form S-1Form S-1
Form S-1 is an SEC filing used by public companies to register their securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as the "registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933". The S-1 contains the basic business and financial information on an issuer with respect to a specific...
detailing its relationship with Facebook, including the 2010 five-year agreement to exclusively use Facebook credits. According to the released information, all covered Zynga games that use Facebook integration must remain exclusive to Facebook for the duration of the agreement, and Zynga is not allowed to release new games on an undisclosed list of other social networks. Also, Zynga is required to notify Facebook of any new games at least one week prior to their release. Finally, Facebook agrees to help Zynga reach "certain growth targets for monthly unique users of Covered Zynga Games" and to share ad revenue with Zynga.
On October 11, 2011, Zynga announced plans to create their own platform in which users can play the company's games. Although the platform, Project Z, will still have major ties to Facebook it is believed to be the first major step away from the social media giant.
Current
- Zynga Headquarters (San Francisco). New 270000 square feet (25,083.8 m²) headquarters under renovation for occupancy in late 2011 at the site of former SegaSega, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
offices. - Zynga India (BangaloreBangaloreBengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
, India) - Zynga Los Angeles – opened February 2010
- Zynga China (formerly XPD Media, based in Beijing) – acquired May 2010
- Zynga Austin (formerly Challenge Games) – acquired June 2010
- Zynga ATX (formerly MarketZero, Inc.) – acquired April 2011
- Zynga Boston (formerly Conduit Labs) – acquired August 2010
- Zynga Japan (formerly Unoh Games, based in Tokyo) – acquired August 2010
- Zynga Germany (formerly Dextrose AG, based in Frankfurt) – acquired September 2010
- Zynga Dallas (formerly Bonfire Studios) – acquired October 2010
- Zynga With Friends (formerly Newtoy, Inc., based in McKinney, Texas) – acquired November, 2010
- Zynga New York (formerly Area/Code) – acquired January 2011
- Zynga Seattle – opened October 2010
- Floodgate EntertainmentFloodgate EntertainmentFloodgate Entertainment is a Boston-based video game developer, founded by Paul Neurath in 2000. Many of the company's employees are former Looking Glass Studios employees....
– acquired March 2011 - Zynga Toronto (formerly Five Mobile) specialized in mobile platforms - acquired July 2011
Controversies
In its first years of existence, Zynga has been criticized on various fronts.Spam concerns
Many of Zynga's games revolve around interacting with other players for in-game benefits. Many non-players have notably complained about such communications created by those games that appear to them as "spammy." Peter Jamison described Zynga's communications as a "deluge" of "unwanted gifts or requests for neighborly 'help'". Facebook groups created to express displeasure regarding overexposure of Zynga's games attracted millions of members. As a result of this, Facebook modified their application developers policy to prevent applications from sending messages to news feeds of friends or submitting updates to the notifications bar. Kotaku attributed the removal of Facebook notifications to a decline of users of Zynga games in April and May 2010.Game quality
Critics like Nick Saint of Business InsiderBusiness Insider
Business Insider is a U.S. business/entertainment news website launched in February 2009. Founded by DoubleClick Founder and former C.E.O. Kevin P. Ryan it is the overarching brand beneath which fall the Silicon Alley Insider and Clusterstock verticals...
have said that Zynga's games have essentially the same mechanics even though they have different premises and settings. Georgia Tech professor Ian Bogost
Ian Bogost
Ian Bogost is a video game designer, critic and researcher. He is a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a founding partner at Persuasive Games...
came up with the name "cow clickers" for such challenge-free games that demand little more than clicking on things, and eventually he created the satirical Facebook game Cow Clicker
Cow Clicker
Cow Clicker is a social network game on Facebook developed by game theorist Ian Bogost. The game is designed to be a satire of social games on the popular social networking web sites, particularly those developed by Zynga...
, an "attempt to distill the social game genre down to its essence". The game has become quite popular.
The criticism applies to the "social games genre" in general, though Zynga is emphasized as one of the most cynical companies. Ian Bogost has four points of criticism - the concept of enframing ("In social games, friends aren't really friends; they are mere resources"), compulsion ("brain hacks that exploit human psychology in order to make money"), Optionalism ("the gameplay in social games is almost entirely optional. The play acts (...) can be skipped [by] spending cash money (...). Social games are games you don't have to play.") and Destroyed Time ("social games (...) also destroy the time we spend away from them. (...) ")
Replication of existing games
Zynga has been accused several times of copying game concepts of popular games by competing developers.The launch of Mafia Wars
Mafia Wars
Mafia Wars is a multiplayer Social network game created by Zynga.In Mafia Wars the gamers play as gangsters building their own mafia. The players fight other players online and complete tasks to gain rewards and strength in the game. The game is a freemium game, meaning it is free to play normally...
sparked a lawsuit from the makers of Mob Wars
Mob Wars
Mob Wars is a multiplayer role-playing game hosted on the social networking site Facebook. It allows players to engage in Mafia-style wars with one another and has become one of the most lucrative Facebook applications and the first to net USD 1M per month in revenue.However, this number has never...
. An attorney for Psycho Monkey, the creators of Mob Wars, said that in making Mafia Wars, Zynga "copied virtually every important aspect of the game." The suit was settled out of court for $7–9 million.
Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
noted that Zynga's Cafe World and Playfish's Restaurant City were "nearly identical"; Cafe World was released six months after Restaurant City. Its gameplay, design, graphics, avatars, and even in-game items are almost identical to the ones in Restaurant City. Many players who have played Restaurant City and Cafe World have noticed the extreme similarities between both games. In addition, journalists have remarked that Zynga's FarmVille is similar to Farm Town
Farm Town
Farm Town is a free, Flash-based browser multiplayer simulation game for the social network platforms Facebook and Myspace. It is social media developed by software company Slashkey in early 2009...
, with Peter Jamison calling it "uncannily similar."
In September 2010, SF Weekly reported that an employee recalled Mark Pincus advising him to "copy what [Zynga's competitors] do and do it until you get their numbers."
Other companies have responded by copying Zynga's games as well. Playfish
Playfish
Playfish, currently a property of Electronic Arts, is a developer of free-to-play social network games. Playfish was founded in 2007 by Kristian Segerstråle, Sebastien de Halleux, Sami Lababidi and Shukri Shammas. In October 2008, they secured USD$17 million in venture capital funding from Accel...
, publisher of Pet Society (a game similar to Zynga's Petville), announced the creation of Poker Rivals to rival Zynga Poker. Playfish then launched a game called Gangster City, which is similar to Mafia Wars.
Zynga founder Mark Pincus has dismissed the criticisms, saying that competing video game makers have always released similar titles for each genre of game. The managing director of Lightspeed Venture Partners said that creating similar competing games has "always been part of the game industry."
Viability
Many journalists have questioned the viability of Zynga's business model. Ray Valdes questioned the long-term prospects for Zynga, saying that it would be difficult for the company to make new titles to replace old ones whose novelty is fading. In December 2009, Tadhg Kelly, writing for GamasutraGamasutra
Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
, said that Zynga was at the "end of the beginning," noting that Zynga's business model is dependent on Facebook continuing to operate in the same manner and users continuing to expect the same quality of games, among others. Kelly also compared Zynga to Atari, which also churned out large numbers of simple games prior to the North American video game crash of 1983 and further claimed that Zynga's approach of creating similar clones of popular games would be impossible for deeper games. Tom Bollich, a former Zynga investor, said that it is impossible to make a cheap viral game, and that retaining customers is difficult.
In an October 2011 article in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, Ben Levisohn said that Zynga has "issues that could limit its upside," such as its dependence on Facebook and its reliance on a small percentage of users and a small number of games for most of its revenue.
Scam ads
Through 2009 Zynga made money from lead generationLead generation
Lead generation, or lead gen is a marketing tool used, particularly in internet marketing, to generate consumer interest or inquiry into products or services of a business. Leads can be generated for a variety of purposes - list building, e-newsletter list acquisition or for winning customers....
advertising schemes, whereby game participants would earn game points by signing up for featured credit cards or video-rental services. These were criticized as being less cost-effective than simply buying game points, and in some cases, being outright scams that would download unwanted software or unwittingly sign up for a recurring subscription. One ad signed up players for subscriptions to expensive and unwanted text-messaging services.
On October 31, 2009, Michael Arrington
Michael Arrington
J. Michael Arrington is the founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch, a blog covering the Silicon Valley technology start-up communities and the wider technology field in USA and elsewhere...
of TechCrunch
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
said that Zynga intentionally worked with scam advertisers, and that lead generation made up a third of Zynga's revenue. Arrington also alleged that Facebook was complicit in this. On November 2, 2009, CEO Mark Pincus announced a reform in its offers: Tatto Media
Tatto media
Tatto Media is an affiliate marketing advertising network based in Boston.It partners with web publishers and uses performance analysis to enable online advertisers to target their intended audiences....
, a major offer provider that enrolled users into recurring cell phone subscriptions, would be banned, all mobile offers would be removed, and offer providers would be required to pre-screen offers.
Arrington continued to question Pincus' role in the scams, republishing a video of a speech by Pincus. In the speech, Pincus said:
In response, Pincus noted that after offering the Zwinky toolbar, his team of ten decided to remove it since it was a "painful experience".
Several days after the Techcrunch story, Zynga's most recent Facebook game FishVille, was temporarily taken offline by Facebook on claim of advertising violations. According to Zynga, Fishville had 875,000 users within two days of launch. A release from Facebook on its reasons for taking the game offline read that "FishVille will remain suspended until Facebook is satisfied that Zynga demonstrates compliance with Facebook restrictions – as well as Zynga’s own restrictions – on the ads it offers users." FishVille was later un-suspended at midnight November 9–10.
Several suits were filed against Zynga for promoting such offers, including the class-action lawsuit Swift v. Zynga
Swift v. Zynga
Swift v. Zynga is an ongoing class action lawsuit filed in 2009, based on allegedly deceptive ads that ran in Zynga games on Facebook. A motion by Zynga to dismiss the case was denied by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in November 2010.- Factual background...
in the United States District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
for the Northern District of California for violation of the Unfair competition law and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, after the lead plaintiff's credit card was billed more than $200 for offers she completed to receive YoVille currency.
Pincus later said that he had been too eager to increase company revenues through advertising, and that operating in reactive mode by taking down ads only after receiving complaints had not worked. The company removed all ads for a time, relying only on direct purchase of game currency, then began reintroducing third party ads only after they had been screened.
Treatment of Employees
Zynga has an industry wide reputation of mistreating employees. The company uses an adversarial employee management model, where departments are battled against other departments and employee against employee. In October 2011, employees complained to management about long hours and stressful deadlines. This reputation has killed several proposed mergers and acquisitions, including Popcap and RovioRovio mobile
Rovio Entertainment Ltd. or Rovio is a Finnish computer game developer founded in 2003 as Relude, and in 2005 renamed as Rovio, based in Espoo...
and it nearly derailed the acquisition of MyMiniLife, which developed the technology that is the basis for Farmville
FarmVille
FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
. There are multiple reports of employees who plan to quit the company and cash in their stock options as soon as the IPO is finalized. Headhunters are trying to cash in on this. A recruiting firm reportedly sent cookie baskets to over 150 Zynga employee.
Beginning in 2009, Zynga reduced equity packages for a limited number of employees by offering them the choice of accepting a smaller equity package or being fired. In November 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported that Zynga had demanded that some employees give back their unvested shares or face termination. The company's executives justified the strategy as being in the best interest of the company as the stock could be used to attract other top talent. Although a San Francisco employment lawyer said in The Wall Street Journal that Zynga's actions would violate the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing
Implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing
In contract law, the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is a general presumption that the parties to a contract will deal with each other honestly, fairly, and in good faith, so as to not destroy the right of the other party or parties to receive the benefits of the contract...
, no court has ruled on the issue since it has been rare for companies to demand non-vested stock as a condition of continued employment.
Intellectual property
In September 2009 Zynga was threatened with legal action by Nissan for using their trademarks in the game Street Racing. Zynga subsequently renamed and changed the thumbnail images of all cars that were branded Nissan and Infiniti to "Sindats" and "Fujis" with the thumbnails changed. At the time they also renamed and redesigned automobiles depicted as being made by GM, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Saab, and others.In October 2010, Zynga was criticized on Hacker News
Hacker News
Hacker News is a social news website about computer hacking and startup companies, run by Paul Graham's funding firm Y Combinator. It is different from other social news websites in that there is no option to down vote submissions; submissions can either be voted up or not voted on at all...
and other social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
sites for having filed a patent application
Patent application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by that application. An application consists of a description of the invention , together with official forms and correspondence relating to the application...
relating to the ability to purchase virtual currency
Virtual currency
Virtual currency is used to purchase virtual goods within a variety of online communities; which include social networking websites, virtual worlds and online gaming sites....
for cash on gambling and other gaming sites. Commentators said that significant prior art
Prior art
Prior art , in most systems of patent law, constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality...
exists for the concept.
In January 2011, Techdirt
Techdirt
Techdirt is a weblog that reports on technology trends, and related business and economic policy issues, often focusing on copyright and patent reform. The website was started in 1997 by Mike Masnick and it was originally based on the weblog Slash. Techdirt has been named among the favorite blogs...
reported that Zynga had sent a cease and desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
letter to Blingville alleging trademark infringement for its use of the letters "ville" in the name of a proposed Facebook game. Blingville has filed a suit for declaratory judgment
Declaratory judgment
A declaratory judgment is a judgment of a court in a civil case which declares the rights, duties, or obligations of one or more parties in a dispute. A declaratory judgment is legally binding, but it does not order any action by a party. In this way, the declaratory judgment is like an action to...
that it is not infringing a Zynga trademark. As reported in Gamasutra, Jay Monahan of Zynga responded by saying that Blingville's "[use] of the name 'BlingVille' is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the fame and goodwill associated with Zynga's family of 'ville' games which includes FarmVille and CityVille". In November 2011, Inside Mobile Apps wrote that Zynga's lawyers demanded that mobile game developer Latman Interactive abandon its trademark registration for the game Quackville. Night Owl Games has also filed a lawsuit for declaratory judgment that its game Dungeonville does not infringe any Zynga trademarks after Zynga protested Night Owl's registration of the Dungeonville trademark.
On May 20, 2011, it was reported that The Learning Company, owners of The Oregon Trail trademark, filed a trademark infringement
Trademark infringement
Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees...
suit against Zynga, which is planning an "Oregon Trail" expansion to FrontierVille
FrontierVille
The Pioneer Trail, formerly known as FrontierVille is a simulation, role-playing video game available for play on social networking sites such as Facebook. It is developed by Zynga and was launched on June 9, 2010...
. The Learning Company had previously contacted Zynga about an Oregon Trail game on Facebook, but Zynga declined. On May 24, Games.com writer Brandy Shaul wrote that Zynga was dropping the Oregon Trail name and soliciting new names for the expansion. The name of the expansion is now "Pioneer Trail".
Other criticism
In March 2009, CEO Mark Pincus admitted that Zynga has been running gambling affiliate ads in their Facebook games for a year.In late May 2010, the Norwegian Consumer Council filed a complaint to the Data Inspectorate regarding breaches of the Data Protection Act.
In August 2010, the San Francisco city attorney's office complained about the firm's guerrilla marketing
Guerrilla marketing
Guerrilla warfare is about waging small intermittent attacks on different territories of the opponent with the aim of harassing and demoralising the opponent and eventually securing permanent footholds....
campaign for its Mafia Wars game that pasted fake money on city sidewalks, calling it "vandalism".
Funding
In December 2009, Russia's Digital Sky TechnologiesDigital Sky Technologies
Digital Sky Technologies or Mail.Ru Group is an international investment firm focused solely on the Internet sector. The firm was founded by Yuri Milner and emerged out of Mail.ru Group...
bought a $180 million share of Zynga.
In 2010, a combined $300 million from Softbank
SoftBank
is a Japanese telecommunications and internet corporation, with operations in broadband, fixed-line telecommunications, e-Commerce, Internet, broadmedia, technology services, finance, media and marketing, and other businesses....
and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
were invested in Zynga.
More recently, Zynga has been rumored to be close to a deal that values the company at approximately $10 billion through a capital raise from a group of investors that include mutual funds associated with T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments. This round of funding would raise $500 million in primary capital for the company.
In June 2011, The Wall Street Journal estimated Zynga's value at $19 billion.
Zynga has been identified as a possible candidate for an IPO
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
by 2013. Equity analysts have stated that their recent actions have made it clear they are preparing themselves for an IPO in the near future. On May 24, 2011, AllThingsD.com reported that Zynga was planning to file for an IPO within the week or two. By June 11, according to The Wall Street Journal, Zynga was in the process of finalizing its IPO offering. Zynga is planning to offer only 10% of its shares to the public.
On June 28, CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
journalist Kate Kelly
Kate Kelly
Kate Kelly was the sister of famous outlaw Ned Kelly.-Early life:Kate Kelly was born in Beveridge, Victoria, Australia, on 12 July 1863 to parents John and Ellen Kelly , their seventh child. The family moved to Avenel soon after her birth, where another child, Grace, was born...
reported that Zynga would be filing Form S-1 as early as the following day. The expected IPO would raise $1.5 billion to $2 billion.
On July 1, 2011, the company filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Zynga will begin trading on NASDAQ December 16, 2011. It will price its shares on December 15 at an estimated range of $8-$10 per share.
Games
- Blackjack
- CastleVilleCastleVilleCastleVille is a social network game made by Zynga and released in November 2011.-Gameplay:The game is played with experience points, goals, energy, and the like similar to other Zynga games. The game takes place in a kingdom where the object is to take care of it. The player can visit neighbors...
- Café World
- Chess with Friends
- CityVilleCityVilleCityVille is a casual social city-building simulation game developed by Zynga, and released in December 2010.The game is very similar to SimCity and Farmville,. The goal is to develop a city by farming, constructing buildings, and collecting rent...
- CityVille Hometown
- Dream Zoo
- Drop 7
- Empires & AlliesEmpires & AlliesEmpires & Allies is a social network game that is Zynga's first combat and strategy game. The game, the first release by Zynga's Los Angeles studio, launched in twelve languages on June 1, 2011. G4TV.com writer Jake Gaskill called the release the "biggest launch of any Zynga title to date"...
- FarmVilleFarmVilleFarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
- FarmVille Mobile
- FishVilleFishVilleFishVille is a real-time aquarium simulation game developed by Zynga, available as an application on the social-networking website Facebook. The game allows members of Facebook to manage virtual aquariums by rearing fish...
- Hanging with Friends
- Hidden Chronicles (unreleased)
- Indiana Jones Adventure WorldIndiana Jones Adventure WorldIndiana Jones Adventure World is a 2011 adventure game for the social network Facebook. It is the first game made by Zynga's Boston development studio, which is made up of developers from Conduit Labs and Floodgate Entertainment...
- Live Poker
- Mafia WarsMafia WarsMafia Wars is a multiplayer Social network game created by Zynga.In Mafia Wars the gamers play as gangsters building their own mafia. The players fight other players online and complete tasks to gain rewards and strength in the game. The game is a freemium game, meaning it is free to play normally...
- Mafia Wars 2
- Pathwords
- PetVille
- The Pioneer Trail (formerly known as FrontierVille)
- Scramble (also known as Word Scramble)
- Scramble Live
- Sudoku
- Treasure IsleTreasure Isle (Zynga game)Treasure Isle is a browser-based video game by Zynga for Facebook, launched in April 2010. It allows users to dig for treasure on various islands.- Game Play :...
- Vampire Wars
- Vampires: Bloodlust
- WarStorm
- Word Twist
- Words with FriendsWords With FriendsWords With Friends is a multi-player word game developed by Zynga With Friends . Players can take turns building words crossword puzzle style with one or more friends, or by being matched with random opponents. Its rules and point system is based on that of the board game Scrabble...
- Yakuza Lords
- YoVille
- Zynga Bingo (unreleased)
- Zynga Poker
Games discontinued
- Attack!
- Dope Wars
- Dragon Wars
- Fashion Wars
- Football
- Gang Wars
- Ghost Racer
- Guild of Heroes
- Heroes vs. Villains
- Music Pets
- My Heroes Ability
- Pirates: Rule the Caribbean!
- Ponzi Inc.
- Prison Lockdown
- Roller Coaster Kingdom
- Space Wars
- Special Forces
- Street Racing
- TriumphTriumph-Business:* Triumph , a defunct German motorcycle manufacturer* Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd., a British bicycle brand* Triumph Engineering Co Ltd, a defunct British motorcycle manufacturer* Triumph Group, an aerospace manufacturing and repair company...
- It GirlIt girl"It girl" is a term for a young woman who possess the quality "It", absolute attraction.The early usage of the concept "it" in this meaning may be seen in a story by Rudyard Kipling: "It isn't beauty, so to speak, nor good talk necessarily. It's just 'It'."...
- Poker Blitz
Zynga.org
Zynga started a charity sister company, Zynga.orgZynga.org
Zynga,org is Zynga’s philanthropic initiative, enabling players to contribute to charitable causes by purchasing specially created virtual goods within Zynga games. Launched in October 2009, it has raised more than $10 million for non-profit organizations.]...
, in charge of incorporating charitable contributions into its games. Zynga.org has raised more than $10 million for several international nonprofits.
For example, since at least October 2009, through its game FarmVille
FarmVille
FarmVille is a farming simulation social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to Happy Farm, Farm Town,, and older games such as the Harvest Moon series...
, Zynga offered special sugar beet
Sugar beet
Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...
s which customers can purchase with real-world money. Proceeds from the donation go to two Haiti-based charities: FATEM.org and FONKOZE.org. By October 20, the sugar beet promotion had raised $427,000 and was expected to raise $2 million by year's end. Zynga used tie-ins via three of its top games to raise money for relief of the 2010 Haiti earthquake
2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
. Zynga offers special bulldog
Bulldog
Bulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...
s in YoVille, the proceeds going to the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a non-profit animal welfare organization originally founded in England in 1824 to pass laws protecting carriage horses from abuse. SPCA groups are now found in many nations, where they campaign for animal welfare, assist in cruelty to animals...
.
In January 2010, Zynga.org raised $1.5 million for Haiti Earthquake Relief. In September 2010, Zynga.org raised $500,000 in two days for L’Ecole de Choix, a K-12 school Zynga is building in Mirebalais, Haiti. In addition, in December 2010 Zynga raised over $800,000 for the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, as part of the UCSF Challenge for the Children competition.
On March 11, 2011, Zynga announced that 100% of proceeds from purchases of virtual goods in more than seven of its games would go to Japan's Save the Children
Save the Children
Save the Children is an internationally active non-governmental organization that enforces children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries...
Earthquake Emergency Fund. Virtual goods included daikon
Daikon
Daikon , Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also called White Radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish, lo bok and Mooli , is a mild flavoured, very large, white East Asian radish...
in Farmville. On March 15, 2011, Zynga offered the purchase of a "Japanese Countryside Home" in Yoville, also stating that 100% of proceeds would go to Save the Children. The company had been criticized in the past for keeping up to 50% of the donations it collected.
External links
- Official Zynga website
- United States Securities and Exchange Commission Form S-1 Registration Statement
- Mafia Wars vs Mob Wars
- Webby Nominees (Mafia Wars)
- Gross, Doug. The Facebook games that millions love (and hate) – CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
– February 23, 2010 - Google Secretly Invested $100+ Million In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games