Tag Archives: zynga

Darryn Bonthuys

Zynga is losing gamers by the truckload

April 25, 2013 at 1:00 pm | 11 Comments

Want to get into gaming? Want to also make some cash in the process? Well then Facebook is where it’s at sucka! Oh yeah, that social network is a gold mine of eager customers who are just waiting to don a red jacket and demand that you take their cash! Especially if you’re Zynga! Except that underneath their latest numbers round-up, there lurks an undeniable truth. They’re losing gamers. Constantly.


Geoffrey Tim

EA shuts down Facebook games

April 16, 2013 at 10:30 am | 31 Comments

The social gaming bubble may well be on its way to bursting. The deluge of Facebook invites to games you really just couldn’t care to play, thanks to the likes of Zynga’s ubiquitous Farmville and EA’s Sims Social are set to recede, as EA shuts down a number of its Facebook games.


Geoffrey Tim

Zynga defends copying, says all games are derivative

March 12, 2013 at 2:00 pm | 29 Comments

Zynga, the people behind all of those terribly addictive, annoyingly intrusive Facebook games has often been accused of downright cloning other people’s games. The whole situation has been overblown, says Zynga, adding that all games borrow from one another.


Gavin Mannion

Zynga closes 11 games, what now?

January 2, 2013 at 11:00 am | 7 Comments

\We’ve said many things about Zynga in the past few months and very few of them have really been positive. Zynga are most famously known for creating those annoying Facebook games that your friends spam you about.


Geoffrey Tim

Zynga to make gambling games

October 29, 2012 at 10:30 am | 6 Comments

Zynga, the company behind social-casual games like Farmville and CityVille is exceptionally good at one thing: making terribly addictive clones of other people’s games. The science of addiction forms part of the company’s philosophy; which makes their next move quite dangerous; they’ll be making real-money gambling games.


Geoffrey Tim

So, what’s Zynga worth?

October 11, 2012 at 1:30 pm | 17 Comments

Zynga is the IP thieves and social games company behind Farmville, the game that ruined Facebook more than its own users’ duckfaces. At one point, they were worth an astronomical amount of money – but things have changed. What’s it worth now?


Darryn Bonthuys

If video game companies were your friends…

August 21, 2012 at 3:00 pm | 21 Comments

For the most part, video game companies are technically soulless entities, some large, some small, that produce our favourite format of interactive entertainment. But what if they were people? And more importantly, what if they were our friends? I could always use a few more, but I’d think twice before I go near some of these characters, that Dorkly has come up with…


Geoffrey Tim

Is Zynga guilty of insider trading?

July 27, 2012 at 1:30 pm | 8 Comments

Zynga, the company that made it possible for all those people you call friends to attacked your Facebook wall with goddamned Farmville requests was riding the money train al the way to Banksville. Their habit of copying other games and then profiting from them has made a lot of people angry - but they’ve not really cared - because they’ve been swimming in money. It seems somebody’s just drained their cashpool.


Gavin Mannion

Draw Something CEO proves that he’s an ass, or just human

April 2, 2012 at 9:00 am | 4 Comments

So the big news last week in mini game development is the company behind the phenomenally viral Draw Something (OMGPOP) sold themselves to Zynga, the mammoth Facebook gaming company, for an incredible $200 million.

But while we can discuss the merits of a copy of Pictionary being sold for $200 million for ages that’s not what really hit the news over the weekend.


Darryn Bonthuys

Zynga insider spills the beans, details spying and “unfun” design ideas

February 6, 2012 at 1:30 pm | 3 Comments

If you’re a fan of social games, then chances are pretty good that you’ve played at least one title that was made by Zynga. They’re giants in the industry, with numerous best-selling titles that have earned them hundreds of millions in revenue.

But lately, the house of Farmville also seems to be quite the independently developed game thief lately, with smaller studios issuing complaints over how their indie titles have been flat-out plagiarised by the software giant.

One former employee from Zynga has recently detailed just how low the company would stoop to make a few extra bucks,


Geoffrey Tim

Mom leaves kid to drown while she plays games

April 18, 2011 at 2:30 pm | 4 Comments

The deliberately psychologically addictive nature of Facebook games like FarmVille and its ilk is under the spotlight again, this time highlighted as one of causes of the death of a 13 month old boy. These games aren’t violent, don’t contain disturbing imagery or mature themes, but are increasingly becoming implicated in game-related deaths.

Gavin Mannion

Free games coming to Xbox Live

April 11, 2011 at 9:00 am | 4 Comments

If the rumours are to be believed there is a big change coming to Xbox Live and it’s more than likely going to increase the amount of time your non-gaming partner spends on your console. According to the rumours Microsoft is mulling over the idea of allowing free to play games to be released on the console, these aren’t just free games but rather the casual styled games that have taken over the world.

Miklós Szecsei

Zynga is now worth more than EA

October 27, 2010 at 1:30 pm | 3 Comments

Take THAT all you gamers who sneer at casual games on Facebook (I’m including myself in that group by the way). It’s somewhat depressing to learn that Zynga’s estimated market value is now greater than Electronic Arts’. This shows two things: how quickly the social gaming market has grown; and how quickly the mantle of “largest game publisher in the world” has passed from EA to Activision Blizzard.

Geoffrey Tim

Farmville Violates Facebook Privacy Rules

October 19, 2010 at 12:30 pm | 1 Comment

Are you inundated with unsolicited advertising of the spam variety? Ever wondered where the bastard gets your info from? If you’re a regular player of unfathomably popular Facebook games like Mafia Wars and the ubiquitous Farmville, they may be the source.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the games – and many other Facebook apps -  violate Facebook’s privacy rules and regulations by transmitting user data to advertising firms. I’ve maintained that Farmville was and evil, evil thing – and it looks like it is indeed.