On Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. Zynga rose to stardom by tailoring games for play by friends on Facebook and went on to create its own online playground at .įollow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews, also keep up with us The cost-cutting moves are intended to let the San Francisco-based company focus on more promising games and ramp up its network on the Web and on mobile devices. Zynga last week announced it will be 'parting ways' with five percent of its approximately 3,300 full-time workers and dump 13 games, along with significantly cutting its investment in 'The Ville' franchise. The game also challenges players to figure out who or what sparked an explosion at the city's mayoral estate.ĬityVille 2 rolled out globally in 15 languages. Online friends can help build one another's' cities, consulting in real time using a newly added online chat feature.ĬityVille 2 calls on players to deal with simulated urban woes such as fires, traffic and crime. Players take on the role of a mayor out to revive a virtual city by guiding the creation of businesses, museums, homes, roads, parks and other essentials of urban life. Zynga went 3-D in a revamped version of 'FarmVille' released in September and has attracted more than 64 million monthly players, according to application metrics tracker AppData.ĬityVille 2 is available free at and was to debut 'soon' at the online playground. "The question is, will the company be able to continue to crank out winning games and maintain growth?" says Greg Sterling, an independent analyst who closely follows social-media companies.The original CityVille launched two years ago and boasted 100 million monthly users at the peak of its popularity but the current number of players is less than a fifth of that figure. What is more, the top five games on Facebook are Zynga titles: CityVille, CastleVille, FarmVille, Zynga Poker and Words With Friends. Zynga's sales more than doubled through September, to $829 million, and it has earned $121 million since the start of 2010, according to its SEC filing. Most of the company's revenue comes from the sale of virtual goods, yet less than 3% of Zynga's 240 million players buy them. No matter how its shares do, Zynga still faces questions about its long-term business prospects and its ability to innovate. In a possible precursor to Zynga's IPO, online gaming firm Nexon went public Wednesday on the Japanese stock market, raising about $1.2 billion, but had a lukewarm first day of trading. In the game, you can build a town with homes, shops, farms and community buildings. Wednesday, shares closed at $22.55, down 77 cents, giving it a market value of $14.2 billion. CityVille passed FarmVille’s current monthly active user count of 58 million on Dec. Groupon, whose IPO raised $805 million last month, closed its first day of trading valued at $16.5 billion, later dipped to about $10 billion, but has since rebounded. LinkedIn's IPO earlier this year was successful, but shares of discount-deals site Groupon and Internet radio service Pandora sputtered after the companies went public. Zynga's performance could be a significant marker for an oft-times balky tech IPO market. Under its current IPO scenario, Zynga would be valued at $9 billion, less than half the $20 billion Zynga anticipated when it filed to go public in July. Zynga is offering 100 million shares, which could raise about $1 billion to develop games and possibly acquire companies or technologies, according to Zynga's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Zynga's games, including CityVille and Words With Friends, first gained traction on popular social-networking site Facebook. It begins trading Friday in what could be a zinger of an initial public offering: The biggest by a U.S. The social-gaming giant on Thursday set its initial public offering at $10 per share, the high end of its planned price range of $8.50 to $10. SAN FRANCISCO - It's game on for Zynga's IPO.
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