Using candy as bait is a tried-and-true trick to get people to do things. Like trading a Snickers bar to your little brother so he’ll promise not to tell your parents what time you really came home from that party junior year, candy has a way of persuading people. Heck, Candy Crush Saga doesn’t even reward people players with real candy and yet it’s so popular, the company that makes it is banking on its draw when it goes public. [More]
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Makers Of “Words With Friends” Suing “Bang With Friends” Over Its Sassy App Name
By 7.31.13
Zynga has a beef with a new casual sex app, and not because the game makers want everyone to die alone, curled up in bed with only dim memories of what a human touch feels like. No, it’s because the app is called “Bang With Friends,” and Zynga claims that’s way too close to its game, “Words With Friends” that has nothing to do with finding a stranger for sexytimes on the go. [More]
Xbox Exec Flees Microsoft To Fix The Failing Virtual Farm That Is Zynga
By 7.1.13
A couple weeks back, Microsoft’s Don Mattrick defended the Xbox One’s most controversial aspects — and irking a number of military personnel in the process — by saying that people who wanted to play a video game console without connecting to the Internet could just buy an Xbox 360. He then had to take it all back when the company decided it didn’t want to lose customers to Sony. Now Mattrick is jumping off the U.S.S. Microsoft to go tend virtual fields as the CEO of another much-derided gaming company, Zynga. [More]
Zynga Files For Nevada Gambling License So Players Can Gamble Away The Virtual Farm
By 12.6.12
Thinking of all my hardworking ancestors toiling away on family farms, trying to provide enough food for their sprawling German- and Irish-Catholic families makes me wonder: What would they think of an immensely popular game about farming where players can risk virtual cows for cash? Zynga, the makers of popular online game FarmVille, is taking the next step in gaming by applying for a license to gamble in Nevada. [More]
Why Did Zynga Ban Me From Their Poker Game?
By 10.3.12
As Ofer tells it, he just wanted to play a little online poker. He signed up to play Zynga’s version of the game, which may have been his first mistake. The company promptly bans him. He tells Consumerist that he has no idea why they wouldn’t want his awesome self playing their game. None! We’ll take his word on that, because apparently Zynga has no idea why they banned him, either. [More]
EA Sues Zynga Over Facebook Game That Also Has Simulated People Doing Everyday Things
By 8.3.12
There’s a fight brewing in social media gaming land: Electronic Arts is steamed at Zynga over its new “The Ville” game, which EA claims is a total ripoff of “The Sims Social,” both games that are played on Facebook. EA is suing, claiming The Ville is an “unmistakable” copy of The Sims Social. Both do have characters that are you know, people, who do things like build homes and put fancy virtual stuff in them. [More]
Facebook’s Cash Cow Zynga Blaming Some Of Its Gaming Problems On The Social Network
By 7.26.12
Is the era of FarmVille domination over? The creator of that popular online social game as well as a slew of others is facing some big problems, after Zynga’s stock opened 40% lower today than yesterday. Its putting some of the blame on the decline on its partner on the farm, Facebook, for changing up the social networking platform. [More]
Zynga-Branded AmEx Prepaid Card Lets You Earn FarmVille Cash In The Real World
By 5.22.12
This site does not, in general, approve of Zynga’s freemium addiction-based gaming model or fee-laden prepaid debit cards. So we are amused and slightly dismayed to bring you the news that AmEx and Zynga have teamed up to bring a Farmville points rewards card into the world. Fill up your card, spend the money, earn points to buy in-game stuff. How could this product possibly go wrong? [More]
FarmVille, CityVille Are Bigger Than Madden, Halo
By 2.4.11
Hardcore gamers my scoff at free-to-play Facebook games such as Zynga’s FarmVille and CityVille, but the social games have proven to be more popular and lucrative than most major video game titles, according to estimates from IGN. [More]
Game Developer Says Farmville Is Designed To Be "Negative" And "Draining"
By 12.9.10
So-called social network games like Farmville and Mafia Wars are intentionally designed to not be fun and cause you anxiety, says a well-respected game developer. [More]
30 Million Farmville Users Get Lives, Stop Playing
By 11.24.10
After a 15-month reign of inexplicable Facebook domination, Farmville has ceded its crown to Phrases, a quote, image and quiz-posting app. [More]
Target Sells Facebook Gift Cards
By 9.2.10
This holiday season, give the gift of Mafia Wars addiction with Facebook gift cards from Target. [More]
This Is Your Brain On Farmville
By 8.30.10
“I justify this as being my only source of entertainment, and I’m forgoing movies and dinners out, so it’s OK,” one Farmville addict told Cnet. Frugality, or self-deluded rationalization? [More]
Social Media Bigwigs Reveal Advertising Tactics
By 7.25.10
Back in the day, advertising was supposed to be kinda sneaky — yeah, we knew companies were directing ads at us consumers in an effort to get us to buy stuff, but no one talked about it. Now, social media heavies like Twitter, Zynga (makers of Farmville, Mafia Wars and other time leechers) and LinkedIn are being totally open about their efforts. [More]
Tragedy Strikes: Facebook And Farmville Make Nice
By 5.19.10
Facebook and Farmville and Mafia Wars-makers Zynga were bickering over in-game currency and the social network took a stand that hampered the game publisher’s ability to advertise through pseudo-updated on the site, causing the games to lose millions of players. [More]
Kid Racks Up $1,400 In Farmville After Stealing Mom's Credit Card
By 4.8.10
A 12-year-old kid is probably getting his crops slashed and burned by his mum after he racked up $1,400 in Farmville purchases, draining his own savings and running up charges on her credit card. [More]
Mafia Wars CEO Brags About Scamming Users From Day One
By 11.9.09
From the beginning, the profitability and viability of popular Facebook social networking games Mafia Wars and Farmville were predicated on the backs of scams, boasts Zynga CEO Mark Pincus in this video. “I did every horrible thing in the book just to get revenues,” he crows in the clip to a gathered bunch of fellow scumbag app developers.
Social Network Games: Fake Mobsters, Real Racket
By 11.9.09
You might enjoy raking in money as a fake mobster in Mafia Wars, or collecting cotton subsidies in FarmVille, but TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington argues that the real racket in virtual games is for the companies that run them, and for the social networking sites that host them.
