Incline Massive Incline: "The News Isn’t Good for Zynga, Maker of FarmVille"

mondblut · Nov 2, 2012

Phelot said:
Not that I play these games, but why exactly is this so great? It won't effect the games we want in anyway. It's not as if all the people that play Facebook games will suddenly begin to demand for hardcore cRPGs nor does it mean Zynga will switch to making turn based RPGs or something.

It will free up a lot of talent.

Some 3-4 years ago nearly everyone in russistan who had been involved with game development went over to produce farmville clones. If this bubble bursts, many of them may revert to making real games again.

evdk · Nov 2, 2012

mondblut said:
It will free up a lot of talent.

Some 3-4 years ago nearly everyone in russistan who had been involved with game development went over to produce farmville clones. If this bubble bursts, many of them may revert to making real games again.

Or, more likely, they will move to working on the next in the line of popular shit.

Jaesun · Nov 13, 2012

Gamasutra ‏@gamasutra
Breaking: Zynga's CFO just left for a job at Facebook. Other Chief Office positions abandoned this year so far: COO, CCO, CTO, CMO, CSO.

Hoaxmetal · Nov 14, 2012

Other Chief Office positions abandoned this year so far: COO, CCO, CTO, CMO, CSO.

C-C-C-C-COMBO

Brinko · Nov 17, 2012

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-11-16-zynga-ceo-near-tears-over-companys-dive

Mark Pincus is working hard to keep Zynga from dying
Apple director Bill Campbell has told the Wall Street Journal that Zynga chief executive officer Mark Pincus is “discouraged” over the company's current standing. Campbell met with Pincus at a meeting set up by Zynga investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, in the hopes that the Silicon Valley veteran could help Pincus become a stronger business leader. Campbell told the Wall Street Journal that the Zynga CEO was near tears during the discussion of how to turn around the company.
Zynga's fortunes are way down, with the company recently losing its chief financial officer and treasurer.
“Rapid change in player habits and social technologies have dictated fundamental changes at Zynga. And when businesses change, it's inevitable that some people will choose to leave,” Pincus said to the Wall Street Journal when asked about recent management departures.
With the recent changes in Zynga's management team, Pincus is attempting to transition the company over to a mobile model, offering more control to his executive team in the process. Kleiner Perkins partner and Zynga board member Bing Gordon believes that the company should have focused on mobile development much sooner.
"Mobile turned out to be more different than anyone expected, in terms of monetization and also user experience," he said.
Many changes are recent, so it remains to be seen if Zynga can turn itself around. As of this writing Zynga stock sits at $2.29 per share, a far cry from the $10 IPO earlier this year.

Humanity has risen! · Nov 17, 2012

I think it's very exaggerated, they still make a lot of very popular games, they aren't going away any day soon.

Azalin · Dec 17, 2012

Zynga CEO is the 4th worst CEO of 2012 according to Bloomberg

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-13/the-worst-ceos-of-2012

:kfc:

SwiftCrack · Dec 17, 2012

Azalin said:
Zynga CEO is the 4st worst CEO of 2012 according to Bloomberg

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-13/the-worst-ceos-of-2012

Blaine · Dec 17, 2012

There's nothing to celebrate. The fact that blatant plagiarists could operate this long as a "darling of Silicon Valley" and have only been brought down by serendipity is indicative of a serious problem.

I hope they choke on their own vomit, except for new hires with enough dignity and ethical backbone to leave as soon as they feasibly could. Those who chose to stay... I'd shoot them myself if absolved of legal consequences for doing so.

Horus · Dec 17, 2012

http://www.swfcabin.com/swf-files/1297978752.swf

Delterius · Dec 17, 2012

Blaine said:
There's nothing to celebrate. The fact that blatant plagiarists could operate this long as a "darling of Silicon Valley" and have only been brought down by serendipity is indicative of a serious problem.

I hope they choke on their own vomit, except for new hires with enough dignity and ethical backbone to leave as soon as they feasibly could. Those who chose to stay... I'd shoot them myself if absolved of legal consequences for doing so.

The world is shit but it could get less shit if people raise doubts about casual gaming. After all, 'serious' developers have reached for Zynga's base for years and now they are crumbling upon themselves.

Merkwürdigliebe · Dec 31, 2012

Executing the cost-reduction plan CEO Mark Pincus announced in November, Zynga has shut down, pulled from the app stores, or stopped accepting new players to 11 games, with some turning off today. The gaming giant will reallocate resources to more successful titles as well as creating new ones. Along with layoffs, the shutdowns are part of the hard road to recovery for Zynga.

But Zynga’s share price got decimated over the past year. Investors feared it had become bloated, free virality on Facebook had been curtailed, competitors were proliferating, and the shift of Facebook users to mobile from Zynga’s stronghold on the desktop canvas would break the company. Zynga’s share price is down 3.52 percent to $2.33 from its $10 IPO price a year ago.

To get the company back on track, Zynga announced a deep set of cost-cutting measures, including laying off over 100 employees, closing offices, ceasing to renew deals with contractors, shutting down 13 titles, and significantly reducing investment in The Sims-style game The Ville.

These shutdowns might not seem like a big deal to everyone, but they were near cataclysmic for some players who pumped countless hours and dollars into these games. If you’d spent years tending your virtual aquarium only to have it disappear, you can imagine how disappointed or angry you’d be. Comments from gamers on the shutdown notices included things like “my daughter is heartbroken” and “Please don’t remove petville. I been playing for 4 yrs. and I’M going to miss my pet Jaime….why do you want cause depression for me and others. Why do you want to kill my pet?”

Full article here: http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/30/zynga-shuts-down-petville-fishville-mafia-wars-2

So the f2p micro transaction cancer that was hailed as the future of gaming might not be so successful as previously thought. I guess that exploiting your customer base as much as possible for quick buck rather than providing value for money is not a sustainable business model. Though of course there is no shortage of f2p stuff perhaps there might be less of it in the future? In any case the last part does show how idiotic it is to pay for virtual items, though judging by the reaction of those that have done so it would seem that they haven't exactly learned their lesson. They are probably lost souls with no concept of the value of money in any case.

Volrath · Dec 31, 2012

Well that bubble bursted soon now didn't it. Fuck those losers.

DraQ · Dec 31, 2012

These shutdowns might not seem like a big deal to everyone, but they were near cataclysmic for some players who pumped countless hours and dollars into these games. If you’d spent years tending your virtual aquarium only to have it disappear, you can imagine how disappointed or angry you’d be. Comments from gamers on the shutdown notices included things like “my daughter is heartbroken” and “Please don’t remove petville. I been playing for 4 yrs. and I’M going to miss my pet Jaime….why do you want cause depression for me and others. Why do you want to kill my pet?”

I want to drink their sweet, sweet tears.
:smug:

Jarpie · Dec 31, 2012

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

:drink:

ohWOW · Dec 31, 2012

So people actually played that shit?

Hoaxmetal · Dec 31, 2012

tuluse · Dec 31, 2012

Why do you want to kill my pet?

evdk · Dec 31, 2012

petville

fishville

creating new ones

With a creative genius like that at work it will surely take only a few minute, one lunch break tops. Brace for Hoboville.

Maiandros · Dec 31, 2012

May we now wish for http://www.portalarium.com/ to go down in flames next? Or is that too soon?
fucking traitor..

Micmu · Dec 31, 2012

Just you wait for Garriott's awesome collector game and he'll save them all.

These shutdowns might not seem like a big deal to everyone, but they were near cataclysmic for some players who pumped countless hours and dollars into these games.

F2P, bitch. :troll: