Category Archives: Social

Zynga has announced the imminent closure of its Japanese studio, ending support for all but one game.

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Zynga closed at least six social games in December, bringing its list of the fallen to 11 casualties.

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Despite its recent popularity, don’t hold your breath for a new retailer release of triva game You Don’t Know Jack.

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THQ, Gaia Online, NCsoft and Funcom have joined Operation Game Over, with the result that over 2,100 online game accounts linked to registered sex offenders have been wiped. GamesIndustry reports the new additions to the initiative join Microsoft, Apple, Blizzard, EA, Disney, Warner Bros. and Sony, who collectively erased more than 3,500 accounts in an earlier purge. Operation Game Over is an extension of New York’s Electronic Securing and Targeting of Online Predators Act, which requires known offenders to register their online ID details, offering community hosts the opportunity to ban them. The program is intended to assist in protecting minors from sexual predators.

Like it says on the box; Angry Birds Star Wars is now available on Facebook. You can indulge your sci fi and avian obsession in a number of places now – Android, iDevice, Mac and PC as well as the new in-browser social network option. The licensed title was recently updated with 20 new levels.

Square Enix is pumping out social games while it waits for another HD console hit.

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Zynga boss Mark Pincus has earned the dubious honour of a place on go-to business news publication Bloomberg‘s Worst CEOs of 2012 list. Pincus is in at number four of five thanks to Zynga’s 75% stock dive this year coupled with share offloading and uncomfortable reliance on Facebook. The only other gaming-related entry is former Best Buy leader Brian Dunn. Not as pleasant as being on Forbes’s 30 under 30, hey?

Thanks, GameInformer.

Following on from its real-money gambling deal in the UK, social publisher Zynga is taking steps to do the same in the US.

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Coastervilla is the latest game from Zynga’s Los Angeles development team, which also produced the popular Empires & Allies. Players are tasked with building the ultimate amusement park including laying out roller coasters which, to get real for a second, sounds almost exactly like Theme Park. If that’s your bag (whose isn’t it?) take a look on Facebook; the end-game promises new features like hotels and boardwalk games once the park is complete. Trailer through the break.

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Zynga has announced the closure of Mafia Wars 21 on December 30. A follow-up to one of the social publisher’s earliest major successes, the Facebook title has failed to capture long lasting interest from punters, and is the latest victim of Zynga’s belt-tightening as it struggles to transition away from social gaming’s apparent decline. Games.com reports players have been offered a bonus package in CastleVille, ChefVille, FarmVille 2, Mafia Wars or YoVille to compensate them for the loss of invested time.

Thanks, Kotaku.

Zynga and Facebook have re-negotiated their mutual contract to better reflect a new world where neither company is as central to the other as five years ago.

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Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade Mobile Game will be released in the US and Canada soon, according to an announcement from DeNA and Square Enix.

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Zynga has launched a promotion through which it will donate the full price of specified in-app items to Toys for Tots, a charity providing holiday gifts to under-privileged kids.

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Zynga CEO Mark Pincus was said to be ‘near tears’ during a meet up with Apple director Bill Campbell over the company’s rapidly degrading position. Campbell revealed that Pincus is discouraged by the matter to the Wall Street Journal, painting a grim image of Zynga’s recent poor fortune. Get more details below.

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Former treasurer Mike Gupta has waved goodbye to Zynga. Bloomberg reports Gupta will take up a new role at Twitter. It’s the second recent loss of a member of the social publisher’s finance team following yesterday’s defection to Facebook by chief financial officer Dave Wehner. Zynga is struggling to keep its stock afloat amid mass departures and poor quarterly results; it has made significant cuts to staff and portfolio, and is diversifying its business.

Thanks, Gamasutra.

Google is finally putting its incredible power to good use in launching a massively multiplayer AR game, Ingress, which draws on the company’s unrivalled location and business data.

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Carnage Racing, the Unity developed racing game from Jagex US, launched today on Facebook.

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Social games developer Kixeye has filed a counter-suit against Zynga in a scuffle over former Zynga studio general manager Alan Patmore – and what Kixeye calls Zynga’s “predatory” anti-competitive practises.

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Zynga’s chief financial officer Dave Wehner has left the company to take up a “senior finance role” at Facebook, Zynga announced today. BusinessInsider reports former incumbent Mark Vranesh will take over Wehner’s duties in addition to his own as chief accounting officer. Wehner is the latest in a string of highly-placed departures from the social publisher. Zynga and Facebook are no longer quite as bromantic as they used to be, and Zynga recently made significant cuts to help shore up its bottom line.

Zynga acquired November Software for an undisclosed amount back in the spring, the firm announced today. A mid-core title called Battlestone is currently in the works at the firm made up of former console game developers from LucasArts and EA, and while there aren’t many details, the team is currently working with the original Mafia Wars developers. Zynga is keeping a bit quite on the project, but to give you an idea of what November Software is capable of, have a look at its previously released title, Golden Arrow, below. Thanks, TechCrunch.

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