WebProNews

Tag: Farmville

  • FarmVille TV Show on the Way from Producer Brett Ratner

    FarmVille is coming to the small screen.

    Director Brett Ratner has signed on to produce a half-hour animated TV series based on the hit Facebook-based virtual farming game.

    According to reports, he’s signed on to work with a Canadian production company called Six Eleven Media.

    Brett Ratner is best known for directing the Rush Hour films, as well as Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand. Ratner has over 30 film and TV producing credits under his belt.

    “FarmVille is one of the most exciting brands out there today and its cross-platform opportunities are endless. I am thrilled to be expanding the brand with existing fans and also engaging a whole new audience,” said Ratner in a statement.

    Earlier this week, Zynga posted Q4 revenues of $1.28 billion, a 12% increase year-over-year – but a quarterly loss. They also reported that Daily and Monthly active users were down since Q3, six and four percent respectively.

    They also reported that they would be shuttering some of their games in order to cut costs including CityVille 2. FarmVille 2, the sequel, has been a success for Zynga however.

  • So God Made FarmVille Parodies Popular Super Bowl Ad

    Whether you liked it or not, Dodge’s Super Bowl ad “So God Made a Farmer” made a big splash. Whether it will help the company sell more Ram pickup trucks is still left to be seen.

    This parody ad, though funny, will probably not do much to further popularize FarmVille. That’s probably a good thing.

    If there is a God, I can’t imagine that he would have made FarmVille.

    [Whatstrending via Fark]

  • Zynga, Hasbro Launching FarmVille, CityVille, & Words with Friends-Themed Board Games

    If you are looking for a new type of board game to play over the course of the holiday season, Zynga and Hasbro hope that you’ll give their new offerings a chance.

    Social gaming company Zynga and longtime physical game maker Hasbro have teamed up to produce a line of board games inspired by the online Zynga games played by millions around the world. This partnership was first announced back in February, and we’re now getting a picture of what the games will look like.

    Some of the games are entirely based on a Zynga property, and some combine classic board games with the Zynga properties. For example, one of the offerings is a straight up physical adaptation of Draw Something – and another is a mashup called “CityVille Monopoly.”

    You also have FarmVille Hungry Hungry Herd (a Hungry Hungry Hippos mashup), FarmVille Animal Game featuring Memory, and FarmVille Old Maid & Go Fish.

    And yes, there will be a Words with Friends board game available – which will of course resemble Scrabble, but with slightly different point values and letter distributions.

    Zynga isn’t completely abandoning digital with this partnership, as many of the games include digital values – for instance, a purchase of the Words with Friends board game give players access to a bunch of new digital features.

    “We are proud to team up with Hasbro and excited for our players to experience their favorite Zynga games in a new way,” said Barry Cottle, Executive Vice President, Corporate and Business Development, Zynga. “Our hope is to enhance relationships through play through our web and mobile social games and now with the new games from Hasbro, we can make those connections even stronger for our players.”

    “We are thrilled to be working with Zynga to give their millions of fans an exciting experience with the Zynga games they love,” said Eric Nyman, Senior Vice President, Global Brand Leader, Hasbro Gaming. “Gaming brings people together, especially during the holidays, and we can’t wait to offer friends and families even more great options to play.”

    Zynga and Hasbro are definitely hoping for a big holiday hit. In all, eight games will be launched this fall with price points around $19.99 to $24.99.

    You can expect to see many of these games hit the shelves this month in the U.S., and later this fall in the U.K., Australia, and Canada.

  • FarmVille 2 Now A Reality

    Zynga as launched FarmVille 2, the sequel to one of the titles that helped make the company a household name.

    “FarmVille 2 is now live!” Zynga said in a status update. “Grow and harvest beautiful crops, raise adorable animals, and craft delicious treats while you customize your very own lifelike farm. It’s time to grow wild!”

    Comments on the Facebook page, so far, include things like:

    “It won’t load.”

    “So far, I like it.”

    and

    “Why not just fix the f—ing regular Farmville game?”

    There’s also a dash of “Looks cute,” and “Awesome.”

    In a recent SEC filing (via TechCrunch), Zynga reported that online game revenue increased $27.6 million in the second quarter of 2012, as compared to the same period of 2011. Farmville accounted for $11.1 million of that.

    “The increase in revenue from FarmVille was due to new content releases, which resulted in higher bookings over the last several quarters as compared to bookings generated prior to the second quarter of 2011,” Zynga said in the filing.

    Zynga shares are up 3.18% at $2.92 at the time of this writing.

  • Sim City Social Aiming Directly For Zynga In New Video

    The social gaming world is getting more and more cut throat as the days go by. There is no better example of this than this new video from EA titled “More City Less ‘Ville.” This is an obvious shot at Zynga and their seemingly hundreds of ‘ville games like Farmville and Cityville.

    This video has a catchy tune and even features a bleeped out swear word which is one of my favorites. It obviously pokes fun at Farmville the most.

    The biggest thing this video does is to show some of the functions that the game will feature and it seems to be a pretty good facsimile of Sim City. The game obviously has a social part to it, but I really hope this game bucks the trend of having to post crap on your wall to get people to send you stuff. I can’t stand games like that and have lost more than one Facebook friend in the past because of it. It’s like most social game developers do not care that your friends don’t want to see that you need wood to build a new house in Frontierville.

  • Zynga Holding Second Annual “Unleashed” Event

    Since going public last year Zynga hasn’t really had the best of times. Its overall value has dropped 40% since December. So when they announced that they were launching a gaming platform outside of Facebook, a lot of people raised their eyebrows as to wether or not they could survive without the social media behemoth.

    With their announcement that they were going to have a second Unleashed event, the buzz is palpable and their stock is up in anticipation of what might lie in store for the gaming company. It is highly expected that they will announce a plethora of new games for Facebook, mobile, and their gaming platform at Zynga.com.

    At last years event they announced 10 new games and this year is expected to be no different. The anticipation is that they will focus on the extremely fast paced and highly competitive mobile market. Included in this are bound to be a couple of games from their highly successful “Ville” franchise.

    This event is also supposed to be a lot louder than last years as far as pomp and circumstance because last year Zynga was getting ready to launch their IPO so they were all focused on that.

  • Zynga Launches FarmVille Rewards Program with American Express

    Zynga Launches FarmVille Rewards Program with American Express

    You like playing FarmVille, but are really not too keen on the idea of paying real money for virtual products, otherwise known as in-game purchases. It’s reasonable to balk at that, but Zynga, the makers of FarmVille, have announced another option for you to earn Farm Cash to make those crop or cow purchases without having to directly fork over your cold, hard cash: just buy real-world items.

    Zynga announced today that it’s partnering with American Express to launch the Zynga Serve Rewards Program, a prepaid card program that will give you a Farm Cash kickback with purchases over $25 or more. For those unfamiliar with the service, Serve is a digital wallet where you can transfer and receive funds that’s provided by American Express.

    It works like this: you register for the Serve Rewards program in order to receive the prepaid card in the mail. Add money to the card via your real credit card, bank card, or cash (you have to use a GreenDot MoneyPak for that last option). Activate the card and then set out to the mall or boutique or wherever American Express is accepted, make some purchases, and then you’ll receive the in-game rewards in real time.

    Dan Schulman, President of Enterprise Growth, American Express, said he’s thrilled to be a Zynga partner. “As the commerce landscape continues to change, and online and offline spending converges, Serve is focused on partnering with companies like Zynga to create unique value for our customers in the environments they love,” he said in a statement.

    This isn’t the first partnership that Zynga’s entered with a credit card company to provide benefits to fans of its games. In December, Zynga partnered with Discover Card to launch an in-game rewards program that allowed players to trade in rewards points for a Zynga gift card.

    Zynga expects to launch a similar rewards program for additional games later this year, such as CastleVille and CityVille.

    Humph. I guess us avid players of Words With Friends just get to keep on keeping on without any fun in-game rewards. That’s fine, Zynga. I don’t need those bonus features anyways to continue to kick everybody’s ass at that game.

  • Zynga to Spend Billions to Acquire Competitors

    Unless you’ve been living off the social networking grid, chances are you’ve heard of Zynga. I personally know several individuals who have spent vast amounts of their precious free time on such highly-addictive titles as “Farmville” and “Mafia Wars”, among others. Just recently, Zynga dropped a substantial amount of money to acquire OMGPOP, the company responsible for crafting the popular mobile app “Draw Something”. And, yes, the aforementioned “Win, Lose, or Draw” clone has captured the attention of someone like me, who generally spends countless hours roaming the untamed wilds of Skyrim. I wish I was kidding.

    Instead of simply hiring a team to design, develop, and program the next big hit, Zynga is looking to acquire as many money-making titles as humanly possible to keep their name synonymous with quality casual gaming. Barry Cottle, who was once employed by Electronic Arts, is spearheading the acquisitions team, which is charged with obtaining potentially awesome games that have already made a splash in the marketplace. In other words, the company has roughly $1.8 billion in cash, and they’re not afraid to spend it.

    For the uninitiated, Zynga creates “free” games for Facebook, enticing players to spend real money on virtual items. In “Farmville”, for example, users can drop some serious coinage to bring home additions to the ever-expanding gardens. “Mafia Wars”, meanwhile, gives players the opportunity to buy weapons, vehicles, and other items in their quest for underworld domination.

    However, Zynga is looking to expand their horizons by offering titles on other social media networks, as well as various mobile devices. One company that Zynga has a close eye on is ZeptoLab, creators of the popular Apple game “Cut the Rope”. Rovio Entertainment, creators of “Angry Birds”, is rumored to have turned down Zynga’s offer of close to $2 billion for the company, clearly indicating that they’re not afraid to spend vast amounts of cash to acquire their competition.

    Zynga, however, isn’t the only company looking to acquire popular casual games. They recently lost a bid to purchase PopGames, which was snapped up for a very pretty penny by EA. With all of this money being tossed around, one has to wonder how long Zynga can afford to make such outrageous bids.

    “I question the price they are paying,” Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. analyst Arvind Bhatia told Bloomberg. “If they have to every time go out and acquire the next number-one developer for $200 million, how long can you do that?”

    Until people stop spending money on pixelated bushes, I’d say.

  • Zynga Planting Seeds for Farmville 2

    Zynga Planting Seeds for Farmville 2

    For some individuals, Farmville addiction is a serious matter. I’ve seen several people spend countless hours tending to every minute detail of their colorful virtual farms, going as far as to schedule real-life events around when their pixelated crops were expected to bloom. Some hardcore players have somehow managed to put their farming days behind them, though I’ve a feeling their willpower is about to be put to the ultimate test.

    Zynga, the company responsible for crushing what’s left of your free time with their insanely addicting Facebook games, has made plans for Farmville 2, the highly-anticipated follow-up to their wildly popular farming simulation. However, launch dates for the title are currently unavailable.

    In Farmville, players assume the role of a pixelated farmer who must take extra special care of their virtual farm. Crops grow in real time, so if you’re not around to make sure they’re harvested in a timely manner, you may find yourself knee-deep in acres of dead plants. Although it may not sound like much on paper, the game has ensnared countless gamers over the years, many of whom spend their hard-earned money to acquire in-game currency.

    Zynga, as you may recall, recently acquired OMGPOP, creator of the popular Draw Something app, for a cool $210 million. The company also unleashed Mafia Wars 2, the successor to their equally-addictive crime game, in fall of 2011.

  • Eat Cheetos, Win FarmVille Items with Zynga/Frito-Lay Promotion

    The next bag of Funyuns you buy might earn you a Spring Llama in FarmVille. Players of three of Zynga’s most popular social games are about to be rewarded for snacking on Cheetos, Ruffles, Dortios, and Lays.

    Frito-Lay and Zynga have teamed up for a promotion that allows Facebook gamers to unlock prizes in FarmVille, CityVille, and CastleVille by purchasing certain snack-sized bags of chips. Players can purchase the specially marked bags at WalMart, and once they’re done munching they must enter a code into the Game Card Tab on the specific game on Facebook.

    There’s a different prize for each game and for each different bag of chips. For instance, a FarmVille-labeled bag of Ruffles nets players the “Chip to-go Bistro” while a CityVille-marked bag of Cheetos gets you a “Brilliant Beach House.”

    Also part of the promotion are Zynga gift cards, in the amounts of $15 and $25. Buying those will also give you access to a special item. But it you pair a gift card with the codes of 4 out of the 5 participating snacks, you can unlock a “Super Item.” For FarmVille, a Spring Pegacorn; For CityVille, a Glowing Glass Condo; and for CastleVille, a Red Knight’s Horse.

    Speaking of food and Facebook social gaming, last month we told you about a new reward service that awards Facebook credits for eating out at various restaurants. Plink allows you to sync up your credit card so whenever you slide it at a Taco Bell or a Quiznos, you earn credits that can be used toward items in CityVille, Mafia Wars, and more.

    As Zynga expands promotions and attempts to make nearly everything and Facebook credit-earning opportunity, they might also have something else in mind. CEO Mark Pincus recently said that he thinks Zynga and online gambling is a “good natural fit.”

    The Frito-Lay promotion will run from March 1st to April 12th. Here’s a full chart of what you will get from each snack:

  • Zynga Changes The Game On Cloud Computing

    While Zynga’s games may look simplistic, there’s a lot of power and technology behind their games.

    Zynga detailed the evolution of their zCloud servers that host all of their games yesterday. It’s a fascinating look at the technology behind the social games that everybody knows and loves (or hates).

    The company hosted its games on third-party servers at the start of their business. They didn’t expect any of their games to take off as fast as Farmville did. They say that within the first six weeks on Facebook, Farmville grew from zero to 10 million daily active users. The game hit an astonishing 25 million DUAs within the first five months.

    They moved Farmville to Amazon’s cloud servers. They then realized that the cloud was the future of their business. The only problem is that they were on the public cloud. While it allows for massive expansion, it doesn’t allow the developer to optimize how the server handles each game.

    After realizing this, the company started work on their own private cloud infrastructure called zCloud:

    As infrastructure that is private to Zynga, zCloud physically resides in our own datacenters and is designed specifically for social games in terms of availability, network connectivity, server processing power and storage throughput.

    It doesn’t mean that they stopped using Amazon’s service, however, as they used both cloud networks to host their games that now had millions of players. They used a new method of cloud computing in that they would use public cloud servers for the initial launch and explosion of players and then slowly move everybody over to their private cloud network.

    They are slowly moving all of their games over to their private datacenters now. They even began to launch games in zCloud instead of public servers. At the start of last year, only 20 percent of their DAUs were in the zCloud. At the beginning of this year, 80 percent are now in the zCloud.

    What they call a “new hybrid cloud” could be the future for large companies like Zynga that rely on massive amounts of data to support their products. Leveraging the abilities of private datacenters with what public cloud servers can supply could really speed up all kinds of applications from games to streaming films or music.

    As a final note, here’s some mind-blowing facts about Zynga’s zCloud:

    zyngatechnographic

    [Infographic courtesy of Zynga]

  • Facebook Social Games Breakdown [Infographic]

    Facebook Social Games Breakdown [Infographic]

    Social gaming like Words With Friends, FarmVille and Mafia Wars is big business. An infographic released by Prism Online Casino explores Facebook social games, particularly the reasons why each are so popular.

    Among the observations are that people are into the games for stress relief, mental stimulation, social interaction and relaxation. The average social gamer is 39 years old. 54% of them are male and 46% are female. 14% of social gamers play at work for an hour or more per day.

    The number of people who play social games has increased 71% over 2010, and they play for an average of 9.5 hours each week.

    33% of console gamers have said that they play on a console less now that they have started playing on social networking sites.

  • Zynga, Hasbro Partner To Make FarmVille Toys A Reality

    The people behind FarmVille, Words With Friends, and Mafia Wars are teaming up with the people behind Transformers, Nerf, and My Little Pony to produce a line of real-life toys and games based on the popular social games.

    The two companies just announced the agreement, which give Hasbro the license to create and distribute “wide ranging product lines based on Zynga’s game brands.” This means toys, games, and other real life products based on Zynga’s massive catalog of online games.

    I know what you’re thinking – does this mean that a Words With Friends board game is a possibility? You know, Scrabble?

    “It’s exciting to partner with Hasbro as we share a common vision for play and a mission to connect the world through games,” said Mark Pincus, founder, CEO and chief product officer of Zynga. “This partnership is so special because it represents an exciting leap forward in enabling people to connect their virtual and real worlds. Hasbro has inspired play through their famous toys, games and action figures and we look forward to working with a company that continually creates meaningful and fun brands.”

    Hasbro is looking to benefit from Zynga’s 200+ million monthly active users.

    “Hasbro is thrilled to have the opportunity to bring Zynga’s immensely popular social games to life in a variety of creative and new expressions that reflect consumers’ growing desire to surround themselves with gaming brands they love anytime, anywhere together with their friends and family,” said Brian Goldner, President and CEO of Hasbro. “Zynga is bringing more games to mainstream culture and is redefining how people play. At Hasbro, we’re proud to help bring their games to even more people around the world. This strategic alliance plays off of both Hasbro’s and Zynga’s proven strengths and is emblematic of the new innovations and new platforms we are creating across our entire gaming portfolio.”

    The deal also leaves open the possibility for co-branded ventures – My Little Pony on The Pioneer Trial, anyone?

    The first products are expected to roll off the production line sometime in the Fall of this year.

    Zynga has taken a little flak recently for a series of accusations that they were stealing from indie game developers. They later came out and defended their development strategy.

    If you want to really grasp just how huge Zynga is on the social gaming sphere, just think about this: In their IPO filings, Facebook revealed that Zynga accounted for 12% of their total revenue last year.

  • Facebook: Zynga Accounts For 12 Percent Of Our Revenue

    Facebook: Zynga Accounts For 12 Percent Of Our Revenue

    Zynga is obviously important to Facebook, but we never knew how important until Facebook’s S-1 filing yesterday.

    In the document, it’s said that Zynga accounted for approximately 12 percent of Facebook’s revenue last year.

    Facebook made most of its money off of Zynga from Facebook Credit purchases. Whenever somebody buys Facebook credits to buy virtual goods in a Zynga game, Facebook gets a 30 percent cut. They also made money off of Zynga buying ad space from the social networking giant.

    Facebook also points out that Zynga has a lot of app pages on the site which contributes to the company being able to display large amounts of ads across all those pages.

    Facebook relies on Zynga so much that if the companies were to have a falling out, or if Zynga’s games stop attracting business, it would hurt the company’s bottom line.

    While Zynga is important, Facebook relies on all the social games on their platform. Almost all of Facebook’s revenue from payments for Facebook Credits comes from social games.

    As you may recall, Zynga went public last December and raised $1 billion. There were mentions of Facebook’s importance to Zynga, but with Facebook’s filing we can see how important they truly are to each other.

    As mentioned before, Facebook gets a 30 percent cut from the purchase of Facebook Credits. The two companies signed a contract in May 2010 sealing that deal. The contract will expire in 2015. We have not been able to see much of the contract, but Facebook’s public filing may reveal more.

    All this just goes to show you how important social games have become to not only Facebook, but to the gaming economy as a whole. There are still doubts as to the longevity of social games, but they seem to be doing really good for the time being. Only time will tell if this is all just a fad or if Facebook made the right decision in becoming so intrinsically tied to Zynga.

    If you want to know more about Zynga’s importance to the company and other tidbits about Facebook’s IPO, check out our coverage from yesterday.

  • Hidden Chronicles: Zynga’s New Hidden Objects Game Available Today

    Popular game maker Zynga has just launched their newest Facebook addiction. The company has announced on their blog that Hidden Chronicles is now available on Facebook in 15 languages. Hidden Chronicles is a hidden objects game that tests players’ observation and memory by showing them a variety of scenes and presenting them with lists of items to find. Players earn bonus points for finding objects in rapid succession, and for completing scenes quickly.

    Hidden Chronicles - Paris Bistro

    The game opens with a letter from your uncle, who says that he is in danger and asks you to come quickly. When you arrive at his mansion, his assistant informs you that he has had a tragic and mysterious accident, and that there are clues to what he was involved in hidden about the mansion. After solving an easy scene in your uncle’s library, you are informed that you, like him, possess a mystical ability to see the history of objects you touch. From there, you set about finding objects in your uncle’s mansion and seeing scenes from their past. Your task is to find an array of items hidden in the scenes.

    Hidden Chronicles - Uncle's Letter

    Never fear that Zynga has forgotten their FarmVille/CitiVille/FrontierVille roots, though. It seems that with your uncle’s passing you have inherited his manor, and it’s now your job to help the caretaker keep the place up. To that end, there’s a market where you can acquire various decorations to go on the property. Beautifying your uncle’s property is another way to unlock new scenes to play.

    Hidden Chronicles - Ramsey Manor

    The game also includes a variety of social features, which should surprise no one. Players can share their achievements by posting them to their timeline, or visit their friends’ mansions and leave gifts for them to find and challenges for them to play.

    All in all, this is another solid entry from the king of addictive Facebook games. Gameplay is engaging. The scenes are challenging without being too hard, and are beautifully rendered. Head over to Facebook and check it out, then come back and let us know what you think in the comments.

    [Source: Zynga Blog]

  • Zynga Files Its S-1

    Zynga Files Its S-1

    Zynga, a name known to Farmville players everywhere, has had an awfully successful existence, thanks in large part to the social media platforms like Facebook and until recently, MySpace. The company’s growth, again, thanks in large part to the proliferation of Farmville, has put them in the position of turning Zynga into a publicly-traded company. To facilitate this process, Zynga has filed their S-1 paperwork.

    The amount of Class A common stocks Zynga is prepared to sale hasn’t been revealed, nor has the price of shares being offered. However, considering the company’s impressive reach and the proliferation of their games, expectations are the filing will be successful. While most of these filings are standard fare, a glance inside the filing reveals interesting things about the company in question. In this case, Zynga’s game development philosophy, which, from what you can tell by their popularity, they’ve adhered to:

    • Games should be accessible to everyone, anywhere, any time. From the beginning, we have strived to lower the barriers to play in people’s lives. We want to build games to play with our parents, our children, our co-workers and our best friends.
    • Games should be social. Every week our teams test new features to make our games more social. Historically, our players have created over 4 billion neighbor connections. And, currently, our 60 million daily active users interact with each other 416 million times a day.
    • Games should be free. Free games are more social because they’re more accessible to everyone. We’ve also found them to be more profitable. We have created a new kind of customer relationship with new economics—free first, high satisfaction, pay optional. This model aligns shareholder value with delivering the best player experience.
    • Games should be data driven. Our culture combines the creative with the analytical. We develop and operate our games as live services with daily, metrics-based player feedback. This allows us to continually iterate, innovate and invest in the content our players love.
    • Games should do good. We want to help the world while doing our day jobs. Through Zynga.org our players have purchased social goods, raising more than $10 million for those in need from tornado-stricken communities in Alabama to earthquake survivors in Haiti. With programs like our Sweet Seeds for Haiti, our players have touched people around the world.

    Considering Zynga’s success with Farmville, it’s safe to say their “games should be free” approach works pretty well. Of course, if Zynga’s public offering goes the way of Pandora, perhaps a more consistent revenue stream is necessary.

    The initial goal for the filing to raise $1 billion.

  • All My Children, One Life to Live Canceled – Zynga and Facebook to Blame?

    ABC has canceled the long-running soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live.

    TMZ has a statement from ABC saying, “Guided by extensive research into what today’s daytime viewers want and the changing viewing patterns of the audience, ABC is evolving the face of daytime television with the launch of two new shows.” These will reportedly be health and food-based.

    About a month ago at SXSW, we attended a session in which Manny Anekal, Zynga’s Director of Brand Advertising talked about storytelling through advertising, and specifically, targeting women/stay-at-home moms.

    Pardon any stereotypes, but I’m fairly confident this is a significant part of the target market in the soap opera space.

    Manny Anekal of Zynga Talks Women and GamingAnyhow, according to Anekal, 1 in 5 Americans play Zynga games like Farmville, Cityville, etc. Cityville, he said, has almost a hundred million users. Last year, the average user played 68 minutes per day, and though is based on browser time,  even if you cut that number in half,  it’s an “enormous amount,” even compared to broadcast television.

    “More women are playing Farmville than watching soap operas,” he said.

    Now, obviously many of Zynga’s players are playing through Facebook, and add to that all of the other Facebook time (status updates, photos, etc. [now movies]), and perhaps that simply leaves less time for soap opears – especially ones that have been around for nearly 50 seasons.

    The 40 year old mom spends the most amount of time playing these games, and also spends the biggest amount of money, said Anekal. “She is the new hardcore gamer.”

    Fans of the two soap operas in question can take some comfort in the fact that episodes and clips are available on Hulu.

  • Zynga: 40-Year-Old Moms Are the New Hardcore Gamers [SXSW]

    Manny Anekal, Zynga’s Director of Brand Advertising spoke a little today at SXSW about storytelling through advertising, but emphasized just how big social gaming is.

    1 in 5 Americans play lots of Zynga’s games, he says, noting that the company is changing the gaming landscape, and increasing the landscape of the overall gaming experience. In other words, people that didn’t necessarily play many games in the past, are playing them now, thanks to titles like Farmville and Cityville. Zynga’s Cityville, he says, has almost a hundred million users.

    Manny Anekal of Zynga Talks Women and GamingLast year, Anekal says, the average user played 68 minutes per day. This is based on browser time, but even if you cut that number in half, he says, it’s an “enormous amount,” even compared to broadcast television.

    “More women are playing farmville than watching soap operas,” he said.

    The 40 year old mom spents the most amount of time playing these games, and also spends the biggest amount of money, says Anekal.

    “She is the new hardcore gamer,” he says.

    55% of all social gamers in the U.S. are women, and 53% of Zynga players are women between 25 and 44.

  • Zynga Set To Release English Countryside Expansion Pack for FarmVille

    Zynga Set To Release English Countryside Expansion Pack for FarmVille

    Zynga has announced an expansion pack to it’s wildly successful FarmVille game, in hopes to lure back some users. The social gaming company is set to unleash FarmVille English Countryside sometime over the next few weeks.

    If all goes as planned, this expansion pack could return the game to its past glory as the game with the largest and most profitable audience in the world, according to GamesBeat.

    FarmVille’s user base peaked a year ago with about 83 million, since then the social game has been in steady decline. It should be noted that Zynga was busy with launching two other insanely popular games, CityVille and FrontierVille.

    Do you think this expansion will return FarmVille to past glory? Tell us what you think.

  • CityVille Poised To Pass FarmVille As Top Facebook Game

    In the tech community, a lot of people profess to dislike Facebook games such as FarmVille and CityVille.  They’re snubbed due to requiring little thought or skill, and viewed with suspicion since users are encouraged to spend real money.  But there’s no denying their popularity, and it looks like CityVille is about to take the crown.

    A few days ago, bloggers noticed that CityVille was closing in on Farmville – long Facebook’s top game – in terms of monthly active users.  Now it looks like a changeup is imminent.

    CJ Arlotta reported today, "According to AllFacebook.com, FarmVille is taking in 56.6 million monthly active users.  16.7 million users are playing FarmVille daily, with a daily growth of 195,000 active users.  CityVille, on the other hand, is taking in 54.7 million monthly active users.  15.6 million users are playing on CityVille daily, with a daily growth of 3.4 million active users."

    So Arlotta concluded: "If I’m doing the math correctly, CityVille should take over social gaming’s number one spot tomorrow."

    That’ll allow Zynga to put out a press release and/or blog post, and perhaps attract even more CityVille users as a result.  (Although the company’s of course just competing with itself; Zynga is behind both FarmVille and CityVille.)

    Either way, the development points to people spending more time on Facebook, so the social network will also come out a winner.

  • Zynga Launches CityVille On Facebook

    Zynga Launches CityVille On Facebook

    Social game developer Zynga, the creators of the popular Farmville and Mafia Wars on Facebook, has launched its latest game called “CityVille.”

    Zynga says CityVille is its most social game to date with new features that allow players to build a city, interact with friends’ cities, and build franchise with the help of their friends.

    CityVille is Zynga’s first game to launch internationally and will be available in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish on Facebook at Cityville.com.

     

    CityVille

     

    “CityVille is where Monopoly meets Main Street," said Sean Kelly, GM of CityVille. “Instead of harvesting crops you’re harvesting your neighborhood, instead of clearing your friend’s frontier you’re working on a friend’s franchise.”

    “We hope players from around the world have as much fun playing CityVille as we had building it."

    CityVille allows players to grow a city, balance the needs of the population, run restaurants and businesses and harvest crops. CityVille also features Zynga’s first 3D-rendered buildings and characters.