Category Archives: Zynga

It looks as though Zynga has lost yet another executive, according to a report on AllthingsD. This time, its Jonathan Flesher, who was VP of business development and in charge of inking celebrity deals for the company, hobnobbing with the likes of Lady Gaga and Snoop Dogg. Last week, the social games giant lost CFO David Wehner, and recently COO John Schappert and general manager Alan Patmore, among others. It’s getting to the point where it’s only news if someone decides to stay on at the company. Thanks, Gamasutra.

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.

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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Here’s a tidbit we missed from Zynga’s recent financial report: the social publisher has teamed up with online gaming operator bwin.party to begin offering real-money gambling games.

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Although it posted a third successive quarter of loss, Zynga beat analyst expectations to win back a little love from investors.

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Facebook’s third quarter financial review included some telling comments from CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the state of social gaming in general and Zynga in particular.

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EA’s Peter Moore believes the “overheating and overhyping of social gaming” over the last year has lead to the the overhyping of the genre’s demise, as there’s still a “strong place” in the market for social gaming.

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Zynga quietly laid off 5% of its staff during Apple’s conference yesterday, reminding us yet again that social gaming on the mega-publisher scale has the long term prospects of a terminally ill mayfly.

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Zynga has confirmed major lay-offs, at least one studio closure and the possibility of more to follow, as well as the shut down of 13 games.
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Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski left Epic earlier this month, and we’re all agog to find out where he lands next. He’s not making it easy to guess though, with EA, Activision, Double Fine, Zynga and more on the watch list.

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Zynga and French social developer Koboko have settled a trademark dispute over the “Ville” suffix, which Zynga attaches to a range of games. Gamasutra reports that the terms of the agreement have been kept confidential, but Kobojo said no money changed hands. Pyramidville was recently renamed PyramidValley, though.

Farmville 2 has nearly 50 million users and is Facebook’s most popular app.

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Zynga has accused outgoing studio manager Alan Patmore of theft of trade secrets.

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Zynga’s stock is quite literally worth nothing at all, according investors and analysts.

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Zynga is working on a sequel to social smash hit Cityville. Gamasutra reports the follow-up will sport an all-new 3D look, and is already in closed beta. This is the social publisher’s third major sequel after Mafia Wars 2 and Farmville 2, the latter of which is doing as well as can be expected during Zynga’s unhurried slump.

Words with Friends creators, Paul and David Bettner, have departed Zynga. The duo, which previously worked for Ensemble Studios before it was shuttered by Microsoft, sold their company Newtoy to Zynga for $53.3 million last year. The brothers are the latest on the list of executives to leave the firm in recent months joining: John Schappert, Jeff Karp, Allan Leinwand, Mike Verdu, Nils Puhlmann, Bill Mooney, Brian Birtwistle, and Wilson Kriegel. Thanks, GI International.

Zynga has revised its outlook for the remaining financial year ahead of its third quarter financial briefing. The social publisher now expects revenues of $300-305 million, with a net loss of $90-105 million; that’s a significant drop in income on its already weak second quarter, and a whopping jump in the loss column. CEO Mark Pincus issued a soothing statement detailing the company’s plans to turn back around, but Zynga’s stock took an immediate drubbing, falling 18% to $2.30.

Thanks, Gamasutra