Zynga is the biggest success story to come out of the new wave of social game companies, bu it has been curiously absent from one of the hottest new game platforms — the iPhone. That’s changing today with chief executive Mark Pincus‘ announcement that Zynga is releasing FarmVille for iPhone.
FarmVille is Zynga’s biggest hit, with Pincus reporting that it has more than 70 million monthly active users. The main platform until now has been Facebook, but Pincus said, “With FarmVille on the iPhone, you can farm anytime, anywhere.”
The San Francisco company has released iPhone games before, but none appeared to take off the way Zynga’s products did on Facebook. So this marks Zynga’s return to the platform, and in a big way with its flagship game. It comes as the company is allying with SoftBank for expansion in Japan, and as it eyes an initial public offering. If the new game takes off, it should make Zynga less dependent on Facebook.
One question is whether virtual goods purchases on FarmVille for iPhone will be as lucrative as they have been on Facebook. Pincus said players will be able to buy items that are unique to the iPhone, such as a snow leopard. The game will also take advantage of the iPhone’s push notification feature, so players get alerts when their crops are dying.
Zynga plans to release FarmVille on the iPhone later this month.
http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/06/07/zynga-farmville-iphone/
Fueled by revenue from its popular Facebook games, Zynga continued its acquisition spree by buying Austin, Texas-based Challenge Games.
Zynga will turn the Challenge Games office into Zynga Austin, adding to locations such as its San Francisco headquarters, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Bangalore, and Beijing. The move suggests Zynga is increasingly modeling itself after larger rivals like EA and Activision Blizzard, which have studios scattered across the United States and the world. Terms were not disclosed.
“Austin is an ideal location to extend our studio operations with its rich talent in the games business,” said Mike Verdu, senior vice president of games at Zynga. “We look forward to building out our Zynga Austin studio with the best and brightest in the industry as we continue to bring social games to more users worldwide.”
Challenge Games’ chief executve Andrew Busey will become Zynga’s general manager and vice president of the Austin studio. The Challenge Games team of 35 employees will be immediately integrated into Zynga’s workforce.
Challenge Games, backed by Sequoia Capital and Globespan Capital Partners, launched in 2007. It has built Web-based games such as Warstorm and Ponzi on a virtual-goods business model, where players buy digital trinkets to advance in the game. Challenge raised $14.5 million in venture funding in two rounds. It focused on games that can be played in a “quick fix” round of about 15 minutes or so.
Zynga has nearly 900 employees now and is in a race with rivals to snap up the best game talent. On May 20, Zynga bought XPD Media, a 40-employee game studio in China.
http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/06/03/zynga-buys-challenge-games-as-part-of-ongoing-social-game-expansion/
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