If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

"Zynga blew it," says EA boss of social publisher's mobile push

Zynga wants to be big on mobile, but it left it too late, according to EA mobile development Frank Gibeau.

"Zynga blew it. They're not a mobile business. We're six or seven times their size in mobile," Gibeau said, speaking with The New York Times.

"Zynga fell into a hole because they were completely focused on one platform, which is Facebook."

Unlike Zynga, as soon as EA saw Facebook gamers transitioning to smartphones it jumped right into that trend, leaving Facebook's ever-increasing user acquisition costs behind.

Now, the publisher takes a multi-platform approach with social and casual games, something Disney does quite well, Gibeau admitted.

"Look at Disney. They do a spectacular job of acquiring world-class intellectual property and then - 'exploiting' is probably the wrong word - bringing it to market across multiple channels in an appropriate way for each," he said.

"So you can see the property in a theatrical big-screen version or as a TV show or a webisode or an interactive game. We're doing the same thing here with our interactive properties."

Thanks, GamesIndustry.

Sign in and unlock a world of features

Get access to commenting, homepage personalisation, newsletters, and more!

Related topics
About the Author
Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

Contributor

Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.

Comments