zynga

Facebook turns to other game developers, highlights Avengers Alliance

Facebook put up a new blog post today, patting itself on the back for Open Graph's role in the success of Playdom's Avengers Alliance game.

The social network said shared stories that linked to the game on people's news feeds and timelines were clicked on 7 million times -- the third-largest source of clicks to the Marvel game -- and users who installed the game after clicking through Open Graph stories made an in-game purchase twice as often as those who joined the game through an invite.

The post also included comments from the game developer about … Read more

Zynga shares down 6 percent after Facebook deal amendment

Zynga, the embattled social-gaming company, has watched its shares fall as investors get the first chance to react to a modified contract the company signed with Facebook.

According to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday, the amended agreement between the companies no longer requires Zynga to display Facebook ads on its site, use Facebook Credits, or develop titles only for the social network's platform. In exchange, Zynga won't be allowed to promote its games inside other titles it has developed that people are playing on the social network.

The news was apparently bad news for … Read more

Facebook: We're not getting into the game business

Zynga just can't catch a break.

After the stock market closed today, the teetering game maker revealed that it amended its contract with Facebook -- the company on which Zynga was entirely built -- and the details are already spooking Wall Street. In after-hours trading, shares of Zynga are down more than 12 percent to around $2.30.

The concern? A line at the bottom of the SEC doc that says that Facebook will soon be free to develop its own games that could compete with Zynga -- something that was prohibited under the original agreement:

In addition, effective … Read more

Under new deal, Zynga less tied to Facebook

Zynga and Facebook have amended their contract, which means Facebook will treat Zynga like every other developer, according to SEC documents filed today.

The amendment, which applies to an agreement set to expire on May 13, 2015, details the loosening of Facebook reigns in exchange for an important promotion tool. Neither company would say which side pushed for these changes initially.

Zynga will no longer have to display Facebook ads on its site, use Facebook credits in its games, or develop only for the Facebook platform, according to the documents. In exchange, Zynga won't be able to use Facebook … Read more

Clay Jam: Zynga goes claymation, with help from new partner

Clay Jam -- the latest game to come out of Zynga's recent push for mobile -- launches today, bringing a new type of game to the social-gaming platform.

Update, 10:38 a.m. PT: The game shows up in the Google Play store, but isn't ready for download, which is why some people may be seeing a "This item cannot be installed in your device's country" message. The creators said this should change any minute now. Android devices need to be on 2.3.1 (Gingerbread) or greater to play.

The claymation-based game, filmed in … Read more

Zynga's outlook doesn't look pretty -- can Pincus save it?

Zynga has been in a downward spiral the past several months. It's been hit from all sides, from plummeting share prices to Anonymous cyberattacks to a mass exodus of its top employees.

Despite CEO Mark Pincus' public positive attitude and go-getter mentality about the future of the gaming company, an article by the Wall Street Journal today reports that he may be less enthusiastic behind the scenes. According to interviews with dozens of current and former Zynga employees and investors, Pincus is apparently grappling with how to save the company.

During a September meeting between Pincus and business coach … Read more

Zynga faces retaliatory lawsuit brought by Kixeye

Kixeye took another stab at Zynga in the ongoing legal battle between the two gaming companies.

The game maker announced today that it filed a cross-complaint against Zynga in the Superior Court of California. The move comes as retaliation for an earlier suit that Zynga filed against both Kixeye and one of its employees who formerly worked on Zynga's CityVille game.

"We will fight to our last breath to keep this predatory company from accessing our confidential information and best practices," Kixeye CEO Will Harbin said in a statement to CNET today. "We intend to defend … Read more

Zynga shuffles management team, CFO leaves for Facebook

Zynga's top finance executive is leaving the social-gaming company to take a senior position at its frenemy Facebook, CEO Mark Pincus announced in a company memo today.

Along with the departure of the soon-to-be former CFO Dave Wehner, Pincus went over the latest reorganization of the company's leaders, a move meant to give him more control over product development.

Zynga appointed Chief Accounting Officer Mark Vranesh, who has served Zynga as CFO once before, to take Wehner's place, and Chief Mobile Office David Ko will now serve the company as chief operations officer.

The company also promoted … Read more

Zynga goes 'whodunit' with 3D CityVille 2

As critics continue to ding Zynga for a lack of mobile revenue, the company is making another bet on one of its most popular desktop franchises, CityVille.

Zynga released CityVille 2 today, a 3D and more interactive game based on the original's premise of building a own city in which you are mayor. At its height, CityVille had 100 million players. Today, that number is down to 16.2 million monthly active users and 2.1 million daily active users.

Mark Nelson, the director of design for CityVille 2, said the orignal CityVille, which launched nearly two years ago, … Read more

Anonymous takes aim at Zynga

The hacktivist group Anonymous apparently is perturbed by the financial situation at Zynga.

A posting on the AnonNews site this morning posits that layoffs at Zynga will help to bring about the "end of the US game market as we know it" as jobs get shipped overseas, a plan that the AnonNews report says was discovered in confidential files leaked from the games maker.

During the last few days anonymous has been targeting Zynga for the outrageous treatment of their employees and their actions against many developers.

We have come to believe that this actions of Zynga will … Read more