News
0 CommentsFarmVille 2 director encourages developers to 'never insult your players'
By Tracey Lien on Mar 27, 2013 03.27.13
Developers of casual games should not fall into the trap of thinking players don't understand games, because "casual players will surprise you," according to FarmVille 2 developer Wright Bagwell. Bagwell — the director of design on FarmVille 2 — said during a FarmVille 2 postmortem at the Game Developers Conference that it's important for developers, especially developers of casual games, to "never insult the player." "I often hear people say of casual games that their players are not 'real gamers,' that we need to get them up to speed," Bagwell said. "Well, my grandmother plays FarmVille 2, and she's not very good at it. But she plays Bridge and she is amazing at it, and she's also a killer poker player. "She's an amazing gamer. She gets games. What she doesn't get is Facebook....
Culture
2 CommentsFarmVille animated series in development courtesy of Brett Ratner
By Dave Tach on Feb 07, 2013 02.07.13
An animated series based on Zynga's FarmVille is in development from executive producer Brett Ratner, director of the Rush Hour series of films and producer of Fox's Prison Break TV series, according to a report published in the Wall Street Journal. "FarmVille is one of the most exciting brands out there today and its cross-platform opportunities are endless," Ratner said. "I am thrilled to be expanding the brand with existing fans and also engaging a whole new audience." Ratner, who was once working on a God of War movie and a few years ago expressed interest in making a movie based on Guitar Hero, is working with Canadian production Six Eleven Media to produce the half-hour show. Earlier this year, the Hollywood Reporter revealed that the company was developing a comedy based on a...
Zynga 2012 revenue $1.2B, up 12 percent
By Megan Farokhmanesh on Feb 05, 2013 02.05.13
Zynga emerged from 2012 with $1.2 billion in revenue, a 12 percent increase over last year's earnings, according to the financial report posted today. According to CEO and founder Mark Pincus, the quarter's greatest achievement was the successful release of a FarmVille sequel. "The biggest highlight of the quarter was seeing our team deliver a successful sequel in FarmVille2, a next generation social game that offers cutting edge 3-D experiences loved by millions of FarmVille fans," Pincus said. "In 2013 we're excited to bring this new class of social games to mobile phones and tablets and build a network that offers an easier, better way for people to play together." The company's online game revenue garnered a total of $1.14 billion Zynga reported a net loss of $209 million for...
Good Game
27 CommentsA shaky start to 2013 could be good for the games industry
By Brian Crecente on Feb 04, 2013 02.04.13
Last month saw the disintegration of a major publisher, the shuttering of a Disney-backed studio, the once flush Nintendo facing massive losses, a slew of other developers teetering on the brink of disaster and a rekindling of concerns that video games corrupt youth. But January wasn't all bad news. It also saw the rise of the "micro-console" and the creation of new studios by a new breed of free-to-play game makers. Viewed holistically, the beginning of 2013 wasn't a month of bad or good, simply a month of change. "January is evidence that there has been a shift in the industry," said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. "January is showing a lot of cracks in the industry. The industry has changed and now people are having to adapt to the change." Publisher THQ's months-long...
News
6 CommentsZynga CEO among the worst of 2012, according to Businessweek
By Dave Tach on Dec 17, 2012 12.17.12
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus is among the worst CEOs of 2012, according to an article in Businessweek based on selections from Sydney Finkelstein, a Dartmouth College professor. Finkelstein, who teaches at the Tuck School of Business, cites the social gaming studio's 75 percent stock drop and the recent flight of employees as the kind of "rookie mistakes" that Pincus made. CEOs of Best Buy, Avon and Chesapeake Energy join Pincus on the worst of list. The FarmVille developer's troubles have surfaced several times in 2012. In July, a group of law firms began an investigation into allegations that executives sold Zynga stock before it plummeted 40 percent. In August, COO John Schappert resigned and Electronic Arts filed suit against Zynga for copyright infringement. The next month, Zynga c...
News
3 CommentsKixeye expands to British Columbia, appoints former Zynga director as GM
By Tracey Lien on Dec 07, 2012 12.07.12
San Francisco-based social game developer Kixeye opened a studio in Victoria, British Columbia this week, appointing former Zynga Director of Development Clayton Stark as general manager. Prior to joining Kixeye, Stark had worked on developing and restarting the 8.0 browser for Netscape and was the CTO and VP of Engineering at Flock, a company that developed a social game browser that was later acquired by Zynga. After the acquisition, Stark became the social game giant's director of development. "I certainly wouldn't say that Zynga isn't creative, though — they basically created the social games industry." Speaking to Polygon, Stark says that the transition from Zynga to Kixeye has been relatively smooth and, despite the two companies being publicly critical of each other, he...
News
0 CommentsSongPop is 2012's top-rated social game on Facebook
By Samit Sarkar on Dec 05, 2012 12.05.12
Music trivia game SongPop came in at the top of Facebook's list of the highest-rated social games of 2012, the company announced yesterday. According to New York-based developer FreshPlanet, SongPop has been downloaded by more than 60 million players, and it leads every other app in driving song purchases from Facebook to iTunes. The 25 games on the list reflect a few important trends in social games, said Julien Cordoniou, head of gaming partnerships for Facebook in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. "It was the most diverse and global year for social games to date — for those on Facebook.com, as well as games built with Facebook for iPhone, iPad and Android," according to Cordoniou. Part of that diversity is geographical: The majority of games on the list were developed outside...
News
0 CommentsDonate to Toys for Tots when you buy a FarmVille horse or CastleVille candy cane
By Samit Sarkar on Nov 28, 2012 11.28.12
Zynga is launching an in-game charity drive called Oh, What Fun! that will raise funds for Toys for Tots, the social gaming giant announced today. The program — which runs from today, Nov. 28, through Dec. 31 — allows players to contribute to Toys for Tots by buying in-game items or sending a donation via text message, with 100 percent of the cost going directly to the organization. It will roll out in the following seven Zynga games over the next few weeks: FarmVille: Nov. 28 to Dec. 5 Farmers send your neighbors some holiday cheer with the cheer-ewe-up horse ($1) and in return receive a festive holiday teddy tree to decorate your farm. CityVille: Nov. 29 to Dec. 31 Deck your city halls by completing toy crafting quests where you make, wrap and sell gifts to kids for the...
News
5 CommentsZynga promotes FarmVille 2 developer to Chief Creative Office
By Tracey Lien on Nov 21, 2012 11.21.12
Zynga has promoted its vice president of games in charge of FarmVille 2, Tim LeTourneau, to the position of Chief Creative Officer, replacing Mike Verdu who left the company back in August, All Things D reports. Until now LeTourneau was in charge of the daily operations of FarmVille 2, which is currently Zynga's most-played game and is the studio's first foray into 3D social games. Prior to joining the studio, he spent more than a decade at EA working on The Sims franchise, climbing to the position of vice president and general manager of The Sims Studio at EA. In his new position, LeTourneau will help overlook game design across all of Zynga's products.
News
5 CommentsTreasure Isle and FishVille are first of 13 Zynga games to shut down
By Tracey Lien on Nov 04, 2012 11.04.12
Zynga games Treasure Isle and FishVille will be the first of 13 games to be shut down, according to announcements made on their respective Facebook pages. Back in October Zynga CEO Mark Pincus sent an internal memo to employees detailing a 5 percent cut in staff numbers, the closure of its Boston studio and that 13 underperforming games would be shut down. On Friday a message was posted both on the FishVille and Treasure Isle Facebook pages announcing the end of both games. The message is below. Greetings Fishvillers, Thank you for supporting FishVille and for being a loyal player! We're sorry to inform you that FishVille will be shutting down on December 5, 2012. In place of FishVille, we encourage you to play other Zynga games like Castleville, Chefville, Farmville 2, Mafia Wars...
