Zynga (/ˈzɪŋɡə/) is a social network game development company located in San Francisco, California.[6] The company develops browser-based games that work both stand-alone on mobile phones and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook, Orkut, Google+ and Myspace.
As of May 2012, Zynga's games on Facebook have over 250 million monthly active users.[5] Five of Zynga's games, CityVille, Zynga Poker, FarmVille, CastleVille, and Hidden Chronicles, are the most widely used game applications on Facebook, with CityVille having over 40 million monthly active users.[7]
Zynga filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering on July 1, 2011,[2] and began trading on NASDAQ December 16, 2011.[8]
Mark Pincus founded Zynga in April 2007 under the name Presidio Media; the company name changed to Zynga in July 2007.[1] Zynga was named after an American bulldog named Zinga once owned by Mark Pincus.[9][10] They use an image of a bulldog as their logo. The early supporting founding team included Eric Schiermeyer, Michael Luxton, Justin Waldron, Kyle Stewart, Scott Dale, Steve Schoettler, and Andrew Trader.[11]
Zynga's first game, Texas Hold'Em Poker, now known as Zynga Poker, was released on Facebook in July 2007.
The company received US$10 million, led by venture capital firm Union Square Ventures, in its first round of funding in January 2008.[12] In July of the same year, Zynga 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.[13] During the same period, they also bought YoVille, a large virtual world social network game.[13]
Zynga became the #1 Facebook app developer with 40 million MAU in April 2009.[14] Soon after, the company opened a game studio in Baltimore, Zynga East. In June of the same year, Zynga launched FarmVille on Facebook and by August it was the first game on Facebook to reach 10 million daily active users. It had 20 million daily active users by October. On November 23, 2009, FarmVille.com went live as Zynga’s first stand-alone game.
In February 2010, Zynga opened a studio in Los Angeles, California as well as Zynga India in Bangalore, the company’s first office outside the United States.[15]
TechCrunch's Michael Arrington reported on May 7, 2010 that Zynga was threatening to leave Facebook altogether in the wake of Facebook's requiring exclusive use of Facebook Credits for monetization in applications.[16] On May 18, 2010, Facebook and Zynga entered into a five-year relationship to expand the use of Facebook Credits in Zynga's games.[17]
In May 2010, Zynga acquired XPD Media. Weeks later on June 3, 2010, Zynga acquired Challenge Games, which would later be known as Zynga Austin.[18]
Zynga acquired Conduit Labs in August 17, 2010, renaming it Zynga Boston. The acquisition of Dextrose, now Zynga Germany, marked the company's first expansion into Europe.
Bonfire Studios was acquired by Zynga on October 5, 2010. It was renamed Zynga Dallas. The acquisition brought Zynga's workforce to more than 1300 employees worldwide. Months later, on December 2, 2010, Zynga announced it acquired the Texas-based mobile game developer Newtoy, Inc., developers of Words with Friends and Chess with Friends,[19] and renamed the studio to Zynga With Friends.[20]
In December 2010, Zynga's game CityVille surpassed FarmVille as its most popular game[21] with over 61 million monthly active users and a base of over 16 million daily active users.[22]
Zynga acquired the New York-based game developer Area/Code, now renamed Zynga New York in January 2011. Soon after, in March 2011, Zynga announced the acquisition of the team from Boston-based game developer, Floodgate Entertainment. It was Zynga's tenth acquisition in ten months.[23] In April 2011, Zynga announced the acquisition of MarketZero, an online poker tracker company.[24]
In May 2011, the company launched its most complicated game to date—Empires and Allies.[25]
Zynga filed with the SEC to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering on July 1, 2011. At the time, the company had 2,000 employees.[2] Zynga began trading on NASDAQ on December 16, 2011.
On January 8, 2012, Zynga added a new category to its social gaming with a new puzzle game, Hidden Chronicles.[26]
February 15 2012 saw the launch of Zynga Slingo, a knock off of the popular slots/bingo combination games popular online and in casinos [27].
On March 21, 2012, Zynga announced they purchased the game company OMGPOP for $180 million[28], therein acquiring the game Draw Something.[29] A noticeable drop in popularity was noted following the acquisition, as daily active users dropped from 15 million to 10 million in the first month post-acquisition[30].
According to the company’s first-ever earnings report, revenues from advertising and the sale of virtual goods grew by 59 percent compared with the same period the prior year. A net loss of $435 million included a one-time $510 million employee stock compensation expense that was triggered by the company going public.[31]
The company's top three games – FarmVille, FrontierVille and CityVille – accounted for 57 percent of online game revenue. Total revenue was $311.2 million for the quarter ending December 31, 2011.[32]
Zynga is supported in two manners: via direct credit card payments and partner businesses.[33][34] 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[33] 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.[35]
Zynga also sells advertising sponsorships within some games such as movie tie-ins and other brands.[36]
In February 2012, it was announced Zynga and Hasbro had partnered to create products based on Zynga properties and brands. The products are expected to hit the market in Fall 2012.[37]
In March, 2012, Zynga announced it launched a separate social gaming platform, which will include publishing other developers to the new Zynga.com platform. Early 3rd party developers include Row Sham Bow, Inc and Mobscience.[38]
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 transfer. In contrast, the normal maximum purchase limits are $50 to $200.[39] 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.[40] 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.[39]
Zynga is reportedly known for having a playful as well as data-driven culture.[3]
Zynga’s seven-story headquarters, nicknamed “The Dog House”,[41] is located in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood. Zynga employees, also referred to as “Zyngites”, enjoy perks such as free gourmet meals, access to an in-house nutritionist, personal training, and insurance coverage for pets.[42] Zynga Headquarters features a coffee shop, gaming arcade, gym, basketball court, and wellness center.[43]
On July 18, 2011, Zynga filed an addendum to its Form S-1 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".[44][45]
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.[46]
Facebook’s S-1 Filing indicates Zynga generated 12% of Facebook’s revenue in 2011.[47][48]
Zynga has acquired many studios across the world.
- Zynga Headquarters (San Francisco). New 270,000 square feet (25,000 m2) headquarters under renovation for occupancy in late 2011 at the site of former Sega offices.[49]
- Zynga East (Baltimore) – started in May 2009
- Zynga India (Bangalore, India)
- Zynga Los Angeles – opened February 2010[50]
- 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[51]
- Floodgate Entertainment – acquired March 2011
- Zynga Toronto (formerly Five Mobile) specialized in mobile platforms, acquired July 2011
- OMGPOP (Draw Something creators), acquired March 2012
- Wild Needle, a casual games company that makes games which appeal to females, acquired May 2012[52]
In its first years of existence, Zynga has been criticized on various fronts.
Many of Zynga's games involve players posting messages to non-players, often 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'".[53] Facebook groups created to express displeasure regarding overexposure of Zynga's games attracted millions of members.[33] 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.[54][55] Kotaku attributed the removal of Facebook notifications to a decline of users of Zynga games in April and May 2010.[56]
Critics like Nick Saint of Business Insider have said that Zynga's games have essentially the same mechanics even though they have different premises and settings.[55] 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,[57] and eventually 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.[58]
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. (...) ")[57]
Zynga has been accused several times of copying game concepts of popular games by competing developers.[59][60]
The launch of Mafia Wars sparked a lawsuit from the makers of Mob Wars.[61] 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."[62] The suit was settled out of court for $7–9 million.[63]
An Ars Technica column said that Zynga's Café World and Playfish's Restaurant City were "nearly identical"; Café 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 Café World have noticed the extreme similarities between both games.[64] In addition, journalists have remarked that Zynga's FarmVille is similar to Farm Town, with Peter Jamison calling it "uncannily similar."[53][62]
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."[53]
NimbleBit founder Ian Marsh has accused Zynga of copying its award-winning Tiny Tower game to create Dream Heights.[65][66] Within a week, Buffalo Studios alleged that its game Bingo Blitz was copied by Zynga in making Zynga Bingo.[67] Pincus responded by saying that tower-building games have existed since SimTower (1994) and that Zynga uses mechanics and ideas developed throughout the history of video games to create "best in market games". He added that Bingo Blitz has similarities to the discontinued Zynga game Poker Blitz.[68] In response, Marsh argued that other tower games like SimTower and Tower Bloxx are substantially different from Tiny Tower and Dream Heights, and that Zynga copied Tiny Tower's "core gameplay mechanics and rules" and tutorial steps.[69]
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.[60] 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.[33] The managing director of Lightspeed Venture Partners said that creating similar competing games has "always been part of the game industry."[62]
Following Zynga's January 2012 release of Hidden Chronicles, Paul Tassi of Forbes wrote that Zynga "refuses to innovate in any way, and is merely a follower when it comes to ideas and game design."[70]
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.[9] In December 2009, Tadhg Kelly, writing for Gamasutra, 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.[71] Tom Bollich, a former Zynga investor, said that it is impossible to make a cheap viral game, and that retaining customers is difficult.[53]
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.[72]
Through 2009 Zynga made money from lead generation 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.[33] One ad signed up players for subscriptions to expensive and unwanted text-messaging services.[34]
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.[73] Arrington also alleged that Facebook was complicit in this.[74] 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.[75]
Arrington continued to question Pincus' role in the scams, republishing a video of a speech by Pincus.[76] In the speech, Pincus said:
So I funded [Zynga] myself but I did every horrible thing in the book to, just to get revenues right away. I mean we gave our users poker chips if they downloaded this Zwinky toolbar which was like, I don't know, I downloaded it once and couldn’t get rid of it. *laughs* We did anything possible just to just get revenues so that we could grow and be a real business.
—Mark Pincus, Speech from Startup@Berkeley
In response, Pincus noted that after offering the Zwinky toolbar, his team of ten decided to remove it since it was a "painful experience".[77]
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."[78] FishVille was later un-suspended at midnight November 9–10.[79]
Several suits were filed against Zynga for promoting such offers,[80][81] 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.[82][83][84]
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.[33]
Zynga has an industry wide reputation of mistreating employees.[85][86] 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 Rovio 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.[85] A recruiting firm reportedly sent cookie baskets to over 150 Zynga employees.[86]
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.[3] 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.[87][88] 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.[88]
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.[89] At the time they also renamed and redesigned automobiles depicted as being made by GM, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Saab, and others.
In September 2009, Zynga initiated trade secrets lawsuits against Playdom and 22 other rivals,[90] including Green Patch which Playdom acquired in November 2009. These lawsuits were finally settled in November 2010.[91]
In October 2010, Zynga was criticized on Hacker News[92] and other social media sites for having filed a patent application[93] 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.[94] 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".[95] 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.[96] 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.[97] In May 2012, Zynga sued Kobojo for trademark infringement for calling one of its games PyramidVille.[98][99]
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.[100] The Learning Company had previously contacted Zynga about an Oregon Trail game on Facebook, but Zynga declined.[101] On May 24, Games.com writer Brandy Shaul wrote that Zynga was dropping the Oregon Trail name and soliciting new names for the expansion.[102] The name of the expansion is now "Pioneer Trail".
In March 2009, CEO Mark Pincus admitted that Zynga had been running gambling affiliate ads in their Facebook games for a year.[103]
In late May 2010, the Norwegian Consumer Council filed a complaint to the Data Inspectorate regarding breaches of the Data Protection Act.[104]
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".[105]
In December 2009, Russia's Digital Sky Technologies bought a $180 million share of Zynga.[106]
In 2010, a combined $300 million from Softbank and Google were invested in Zynga.[34]
On July 1, 2011, the company filed its Form S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).[107]
Zynga began trading on NASDAQ December 16, 2011. It priced its shares on December 15 at $10 per share. The stock bombed in its first trading day, closing down 5%.[8]
Zynga's stock jumped on February 3, 2012 trading at $13.39 per share, climbing 26% in the two days following Facebook's IPO filing on February 1, 2012. Facebook reported that 12% of its revenue comes from Zynga.[108]
On May 18, 2012, shortly after Facebook went public at 11:37 Eastern Time Zynga shares were halted due to a NASDAQ procedure requiring trading to be stopped for any stock that moves 10 percent or more in a five minute period. Trading was resumed at 12:37 Eastern time only to be halted 2 minutes later. Zynga shares finally resumed trading at 1:35 Eastern time and closed at an all time low at $7.16.[109] [110]
- 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
- Scramble
- Scramble Live
- Space Wars
- Special Forces
- WarStorm
- Street Racing[111]
- Triumph
- Poker Blitz
Zynga started a charity sister company, Zynga.org, in charge of incorporating charitable contributions into its games. Zynga.org has raised more than $10 million for several international nonprofits.[112]
For example, since at least October 2009, through its game FarmVille, Zynga offered special sugar beets 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.[113][114] Zynga used tie-ins via three of its top games to raise money for relief of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[115] Zynga offers special bulldogs in YoVille, the proceeds going to the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.[116][117]
In January 2010, Zynga.org raised $1.5 million for Haiti Earthquake Relief.[118] 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.[119] 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.[120]
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.[121][122] Virtual goods included daikon in Farmville.[123] 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.[124] The company had been criticized in the past for keeping up to 50% of the donations it collected.[125]
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- ^ Zynga Creates Haiti Relief Fund from Zynga.org
- ^ Social network updates a friend to charities from San Francisco Chronicle
- ^ Crunchies: Zynga’s Mark Pincus sees a future for socially-conscious virtual goods from Digital Beat
- ^ VentureBeat January 2010
- ^ TechCrunch September 2010
- ^ UCSF News December 2010
- ^ Zynga Enables Donations To Tsunami Relief Through In-Game Purchases. TechCrunch (2011-03-11). Retrieved on September 23, 2011.
- ^ Save the Children and Zynga Team Up to Help Japan Disaster Relief Efforts. Save The Children (2011-03-12). Retrieved on September 23, 2011.
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$600 million (Consolidated 2010)
658 (December 2011
.jpg){kind=small}
