Items tagged with Zynga
Many video game publishers have taken an increased interest in mobile gaming, including Take-Two Interactive. As such, Take-Two Interactive announced it is buying Zynga Inc., the development studio behind hits such as FarmVille. According to Take-Two, this transaction will create one of the “largest publicly traded...
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After more than a decade, the original FarmVille game that put developer Zynga on the map is shutting down for good. The reason? It is an Adobe Flash-based title, and with Adobe officially ending support for its Flash Player today, FarmVille becomes an optional casualty. I say "optional" because Zynga could have...
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It has not been a great year for casual game maker Zynga. The company axed a pile of games that weren’t bringing in enough cash, broke up with Facebook, saw its stock price plummet, dealt with a lawsuit from Electronic Arts, and lost a top employee or two. However, Zynga’s fortunes looked as though they might turn around if it...
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Cha-ching! That's the sound that best describes Don Mattrick's transition from President of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zynga. The social game maker apparently wanted Mattrick in a big way, and putting its money where its mouth is as, Zynga could end up...
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There are certain headlines you don't expect to see on a regular basis. "BMW Executives Prefer Driving Kia." "Ryan Gosling Weds Dowdy, Middle-Aged Housewife." "Game Industry Leaders Agree: Industry Peaked With Colecovision." Or, in this case: "Microsoft Entertainment Head Don Mattrick Leaves For Zynga." This is...
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The heady days of FarmVille are a distant memory for Zynga, and it’s still smarting from its ill-fated OMGPOP acquisition (as in, Draw Something, the game you played for a few weeks and then forgot). Today, Zynga released 520 workers, which is about 18 percent of its staff. The workforce reductions aren’t entirely a surprise. Zynga...
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Dan Porter, former CEO of OMGPOP, never has to work another day in his life if he doesn't want to. Nor is obligated to work at Zynga, the casual game company that purchased OMGPOP last year for $183 million after "Draw Something" became a virtual overnight sensation. Unlike Midas, not everything Zynga touches turns to...
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Zynga's wildly popular Farmville franchise is headed to your TV. Well, maybe not your television, unless you're a parent of young children, in which case the animated series will inevitably find a way into your home and make you yearn for the days of Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes. Ah, memories. In any event, The Wall Street Journal reports...
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Boy, the hits just keep on coming for social game maker Zynga. In the last few months alone, the company has been sued by Electronic Arts, fumbled in its efforts to transition to mobile, broke up with Facebook, killed off 11 of its games, and has been bleeding talent like crazy. All of that is in addition to a weak...
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The social games juggernaut known as Zynga announced it has pulled the plug on 11 of the 13 games it plans on shutting down as part of a cost cutting effort. Far and away the most popular of those titles is PetVille, a cute little game that had 1 million active monthly users in December 2012. "Thank you for supporting PetVille and for being...
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The online game company responsible for Farmville, Mafia Wars, and other online games that clutter your Facebook feed with various requests has an request of its own. Zynga wants Nevada Gaming Control Board to approve is application for online gambling in the U.S., a process that could take up to 18 months. Zynga already offers real-money...
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In what's likely to come as a surprise to no one, Facebook has called for an end to its close relationship with Farmville-creator Zynga. Unlike other game developers that use Facebook as their platform of choice, Zynga had access to promotional advantages that others didn't have. Essentially, if Zynga scratched Facebook's back, Facebook would...
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It's a little bit ironic that Zynga is having a tough time adjusting to mobile. Or perhaps it's fitting. Like Facebook, the social platform that was so pivotal in fueling its success, Zynga hasn't been doing so hot as a publicly trade company. Just a few days ago, Zynga warned that it expects to post a net loss of...
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Working in game development isn't for the faint of heart. The industry is notorious for poor work/life balance, with some projects left on "crunch time" -- 12-16 hour days, 6-7 days a week -- for months. Visibility into why such situations exist is often limited to anonymous blogs and spouse reports; one woman made...
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Social game companies have been enduring plenty of negative press lately, but where the critics see a saturated marketplace, Amazon sees an opportunity. Today it launched Amazon Game Studios, which appears to be a direct competitor to the likes of Zynga. The new team, which has apparently been working in secret for...
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Game developer Zynga has made a fortune in part by altering existing game concepts into their own creations, such as Words With Friends (an obvious take on Scrabble, with a social twist and other elements that are Zynga's own). As far as Electronic Arts is concerned, however, Zynga went too far with The Ville, which...
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We suppose it was only a matter of time before Facebook started leveraging its massive database of user information and preferences to spread its advertising beyond the borders of the social network. The company noted quietly on its site that personalized ads and sponsored stories will now also appear on social gaming...
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Last year, the trio of developers at NimbleBit released their iOS game, Tiny Tower. The game puts players in charge of a building and the diminutive residents, dubbed "bitizens" who reside there. The game was a smash hit on both iOS and Android, was downloaded more than nine million times, and earned Apple's Game of...
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Zynga, the online gaming company responsible for Farmville and other Facebook games that once littered your social networking wall with dorky updates, is the latest tech company to file for a ridiculously large IPO. How large, you ask? Just in case you thought that's a typo in the title, it's not; Zynga really and truly expects to raise $1...
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In Silicon Valley, one of the favorite tools of recruiters is the staff list at other tech companies. No wonder when the number of job openings in the tech sector continue to climb, but the number of graduates with the proper skills does not. Poaching talent has become an art form and it's expected to become even more aggressive in the coming...
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You may not have heard of Zynga, but you have probably heard of one of its creations, Farmville. The founder of Zynga, Marc Pincus, 44, has high expectations for his firm, aiming, the New York Times says, to become the Google of gaming. Notice that Pincus didn't say the Google of social gaming, although that's what the Zynga Game Network specializes...
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