2. BORN : FEB 17, 1966
RESIDENCE : SAN FRANCISCO
STATE : UNITED STATES
Zynga was named after an
American bulldog named
Zinga once owned by Mark
Pincus.
4. Zynga is a provider of social game services founded
in July 2007 and headquartered in San Francisco,
California.The company develops social games that work
stand-alone on mobile phone platforms such as Apple
iOS and Android and on the Internet through its website,
Zynga.com, and social networking websites such as
Facebook, Google+, and Tencent.Zynga states its
mission as "connecting the world through games.“
Zynga was originally incorporated as Presidio Media
in April 2007. The company's name was changed to
Zynga in July 2007.
5. Zynga launched its best-known
game, FarmVille, on Facebook in
June 2009,reaching 10 million daily
active users within 6 weeks. As of
early January 2013, Zynga games
had over 265 million monthly active
users, and three of the top five
Facebook games, according to
AppData were Zynga titles:
FarmVille 2, Texas HoldEm Poker
6.
7. DEEP RELATION WITH
FACEBOOK
On July 18, 2011, Zynga filed an addendum to its
Form S-1 detailing its relationship with Facebook,
According to the released information, all covered
Zynga games that use Facebook integration must
remain exclusive to Facebook for the duration of
the agreement, and Zynga is not allowed to release
new games on an undisclosed list of other social
networks Zynga is required to notify Facebook of any
new games at least one week prior to their release.
8. COMPANY ISSUES AND INSIDE INFORMATION
On October 14, 2012, Zynga filed a lawsuit against a former
general manager for allegedly misappropriating trade secrets.
The suit claims the ex-employee copied important confidential
information from his computer before leaving Zynga to work
for a rival social games maker.
In 2013, Zynga began shutting down some of its games.Fans of
the games were given little notice; for example, players of
Dream PetHouse were given only six weeks notice that their
games would end.
On June 3, 2013, Zynga announced that the company would be
laying off 520 employees - roughly 18 percent of its workforce -
and close offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas.
9. Popular games of zynga
CityVille 2 - Shut down on March 7, 2013
Dope Wars - Shut down on December 2009
Dream Heights - Shut down on June 20, 2013
Dream PetHouse - Shut down on June 28, 2013
Dream Zoo - Shut down on May 27, 2013
Empires & Allies - Shut down on June 17, 2013
FishVille – Shut down on December 5, 2012
ForestVille – Pulled from app stores
Mafia Wars 2 - Shut down on December 30, 2012
10.
11. Zynga has been accused several times of copying
game concepts of popular games by competing
developers.The launch of Mafia Wars sparked a
lawsuit from the makers of Mob Wars.An
attorney for Psycho Monkey, the creators of
Mob Wars, said that in making Mafia Wars, Zynga
"copied virtually every important aspect of
the game.“ The suit was settled out of court for
$7–9 million. An Ars Technica column said that
Zynga's Café World and Playfish's Restaurant
City were "nearly identical"; Café World was
released six months after Restaurant City. Its
gameplay, design, graphics, avatars, and even in-
game items are almost identical to the ones in
12. In late May 2010, the Norwegian Consumer Council filed a complaint
to the Data Inspectorate regarding breaches of the Data Protection
Act.
In August 2010, the San Francisco city attorney's office complained
about the firm's guerrilla marketing campaign for its Mafia Wars
game that pasted fake money on city sidewalks, calling it
"vandalism".
Other Legal
Controversies
13. As of June 2013, Zynga currently features 11
Facebook games and 17 titles for mobile
platforms.
Hidden Chronicles
Matching with Friends
Party Place
Ruby Blast
Scramble with Friends
The Pioneer Trail
War of the Fallen
Words with Friends
YoVille
Zynga Bingo
Zynga Poker
14. Zynga Chicago
Zynga India (Bangalore, India)
Zynga China (formerly XPD Media, based in Beijing)
– acquired May 2010
Zynga Austin (formerly Challenge Games) –
acquired June 2010
Zynga ATX (formerly MarketZero, Inc.) – acquired
April 2011
Zynga Germany (formerly Dextrose AG, based in
Frankfurt) – acquired September 2010
15.
16. On July 1, 2013, Zynga confirmed that it had hired
Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment President Don
Mattrick as its new CEO. Zynga's press release
announced that former CEO, Mark Pincus , would
continue as Zynga’s chairman and chief product officer
, would continue as Zynga’s chairman and chief product
officer
