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

[Morgoth]

Massive layoffs at Zynga: http://allthingsd.com/20130603/zyng...of-staff-and-shutter-new-york-and-la-offices/

Excellent news.

 

[Horus]

.

 

[MicoSelva]

We should not be cheering, as whatever revenue Zynga loses goes to other casual shit, so nothing good will come out of this anyway.

 

[DraQ]

Does anyone have a link to that comic with guy painting grenades as easter eggs and pining them to paevement to fight stupidity?
We need his final expression as emoticon.

 

[Horus]

We should not be cheering, as whatever revenue Zynga loses goes to other casual shit, so nothing good will come out of this anyway.

Well at least we will not see the retarded "PC GAMES ARE DYING!!!FACEBOOK GAMES ARE THE FUTURE"articles anymore.

 

[Melcar]

Praise the Lord.

 

[evdk]

Well at least we will not see the retarded "PC GAMES ARE DYING!!!FACEBOOK GAMES ARE THE FUTURE"articles anymore.

"PC games are dying!!! Mobile games are the future" articles that took their place are not better at all.

 

[Delterius]

We should not be cheering, as whatever revenue Zynga loses goes to other casual shit, so nothing good will come out of this anyway.

Well at least we will not see the retarded "PC GAMES ARE DYING!!!FACEBOOK GAMES ARE THE FUTURE"articles anymore.

Of course not. Facebook and Zynga will be treated as the fallen last bastion of PC gaming, a relic of a bygone era that no longer enjoys the marvels of Halo 102931.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

Massive layoffs at Zynga: http://allthingsd.com/20130603/zyng...of-staff-and-shutter-new-york-and-la-offices/

Excellent news.

It has resulted in a perfect storm of trouble for Zynga, which has struggled with its business since its public offering, as investors have scrutinized the longevity of the hits-based online gaming business. Despite the continued strength of some of its flagship properties, such as FarmVille, the life cycle of most casual games has been short.

Milking season is over on fb, time for freemium mobile farmville

 

[Kattze]

Where's your casual gods now, Zynga?

 

[Duraframe300]

OMGPOP employees are taking it well
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-06-05-omgpop-team-relieved-after-studio-closure

 

[Infinitron]

Haha, wow.

 

[mondblut]

OMGPOP employees

How little self-respect must people have to work under such a retarded company name?

A random girl: So where are you working?

An employee: Uh, I develop games at... We'R'Dumb Inc

A random girl:

 

[Angthoron]

OMGPOP employees

How little self-respect must people have to work under such a retarded company name?

A random girl: So where are you working?

An employee: Uh, I develop games at... We'R'Dumb Inc

A random girl:

An employee: You know how we got that name in the first place? We're good at popping fruits. Mmhmmm.
A random girl:

 

[Blaine]

A laid-off Zynga employee did a Reddit AmA yesterday. This link leads to his account's comment page; browse through the comments and, if you want/need to know what he was responding to, click "Context".

http://www.reddit.com/user/former_zyngite

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...-collapse-reckons-social-gaming-was-overhyped

EA finds no joy in Zynga's collapse.



Last night Zynga canned 13 games, reduced its investment in The Ville, closed Zynga Boston, triggered huge layoffs at Zynga Austin and proposed the closure of Zynga Japan and UK.

The news sent shockwaves rippling throughout the game industry, and means about five per cent of Zynga's total work force will be let go.
Some have revelled in the collapse of Zynga, which has been accused of cloning others' games and being creatively bankrupt. You'd expect EA, which is suing Zynga for allegedly copying The Sims Social, would be first in line to gloat. But it finds no joy in seeing its bitter rival fall to its knees.
"We always feel bad when people lose their jobs," EA second in command Peter Moore told Eurogamer in a phone interview today. "Our hope is certainly the locations I've read online, those folks can get re-employed pretty quickly."

Some analysts reckon Zynga's troubles mark the end of the social games bubble. Its stock price has crashed and high-profile executives have exited the company. And even Facebook has complained about the contribution gaming currently makes to its bottom line.
But Moore remains convinced there's a bright future for social gaming, particularly on mobile.

"The overheating and overhyping of social gaming over the last year-and-a-half has put this thing on the front pages of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and the Times of London, and has made this an interesting focal point for our industry," he said.
"I think it just got a little overhyped. And now the demise is being overhyped the opposite way. I still think there's a strong place for social gaming. I think a lot of social gaming is moving mobile. We feel well positioned to take advantage of that. And people shouldn't read too much into whatever is going on with Zynga."

Moore said EA's broad portfolio of games across a number of platforms protects it from suffering in the same way Zynga has.
"My primary focus is making sure we're well positioned. One of the things we look at with a certain amount of pride at EA is the diversity of what we offer across all of our experiences. FIFA is available on nine or 10 platforms. The idea of linking your game experience across all of those platforms from your iPhone to your PC to your 360 or your PS3 back to your tablet, that is the future. It's a service. It's not a standalone game.
"It gives a great experience to the gamer, first and foremost, and it also protects us from any downfall in a particular piece of hardware or platform. It spreads our bets a little bit."

Zynga is expected to report its financial earnings later today, which should reveal more about the troubles it's enduring. For now, confidence in social games - and Zynga - teeters on the edge.

If only EA could buy Zynga, and turn it to another PopCap storie.

 

[sea]

OMGPOP employees

How little self-respect must people have to work under such a retarded company name?

A random girl: So where are you working?

An employee: Uh, I develop games at... We'R'Dumb Inc

A random girl:

The article specifically describes that nobody took any Zynga-branded stuff with them when they left the office. In fact, they ripped up and destroyed the stuff. What does that tell you about the respect those devs have for the company they work for?

 

[mondblut]

OMGPOP employees

How little self-respect must people have to work under such a retarded company name?

The article specifically describes that nobody took any Zynga-branded stuff with them when they left the office. In fact, they ripped up and destroyed the stuff. What does that tell you about the respect those devs have for the company they work for?

I wasn't speaking of Zynga's name.

 

[SCO]

Another masterful pump&dump operation.

 

[Dr Tomo]

The irony is that Bloomberg called him a horrible CEO and before that or even slightly after they did a special on him calling him a "game changer". I also found it amusing that he received his inspiration for Zynga if I recall from playing Rise of Nations and sucking at it.

 

[taxalot]

Zynga was a game changer. Think "one who brings to Balance to the Force" style. It is not always a good thing.

 

[someone else]

Massive insanity of Codex.

 

[Brinko]

http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/25/4557406/zynga-loses-15-8m-and-nearly-half-its-daily-users

Social game maker Zynga announced its second quarter financial results today, posting a $15.8 million loss for the three month period ended June 30, bringing in revenue of $213 million. Revenue for the quarter was down 31 percent year-over-year from the same period last year, when the company pulled in $332 million.
Zynga also posted declines in the number of daily active users that play its games during Q2. Last year, Zynga boasted 72 million daily users in its second quarter; this year, just 39 million, a 45 percent drop. From Zynga's Q1 of this year, the company shed 24 percent of its daily active users.
Monthly unique and monthly active users were also down year-over-year, seeing declines of 36 percent and 39 percent, respectively. Greater drops hit monthly unique payers, from 4.1 million last year to 1.9 million in the same quarter this year.
Despite the declines, recently appointed CEO Don Mattrick sounded upbeat about Zynga's potential in a statement released alongside the company's financial statement.
"The next few years will be a time of phenomenal growth in our space and Zynga has incredible assets to take advantage of the market opportunity," said Mattrick. "To do that, we need to get back to basics and take a longer term view on our products and business, develop more efficient processes and tighten up execution all across the company. We have a lot of hard work in front of us and as we reset, we expect to see more volatility in our business than we would like over the next two to four quarters. I'm privileged to lead Zynga and I look forward to spending more time with our players, employees and shareholders."
Zynga released six titles during the quarter: Hidden Shadows, War of the Fallen, Draw Something 2, Battlestone,Solstice Arena and Running with Friends. The company also began implementing its restructuring plan that will eliminate 520 jobs.

 

[SwiftCrack]

I hope Zynga folds, fucking decline harbingers. Don 'XBot' Mattrick as the new Zynga CEO should speed this process up

 

[dnf]

Maybe if Zinga makes hardcore games they can stay afloat... Just a tought...