Dan Porter, the former CEO of OMGPOP who transitioned to vice president of Zynga's New York office after the studio's acquisition, has decided to leave. This comes one year after the initial acquisition, and right on the heels of the company announcing Draw Something 2.
Running With Friends is the latest game from social gaming giant Zynga. And while we don't normally cover their product launches, a key detail caught our attention: it's being developed in collaboration with Eat Sleep Play, the developer of Twisted Metal for PS3.
The company was originally co-founded by outspoken developer David Jaffe, best known for his work on the first God of War game. Before the launch of Twisted Metal, Jaffe left the studio saying that he had "zero plans to make games like FarmVille and Angry Birds." With today's release of Running With Friends, it's clear that Jaffe wasn't going to fit in with the studio's direction.
Following a string of layoffs and managerial shuffling, Zynga has shut down one studio and consolidated the work force of various others. The move impacts approximately 30 people, which is only about 1% of its total workforce.
Zynga's FarmVille empire is expanding beyond Facebook and 7-Eleven. The ubiquitous social farming game is set to be an animated television series, produced by Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand).
The talent loss at struggling social game company Zynga continues as the company's chief game designer Brian Reynolds has resigned, saying he is looking to get back into the nitty gritty of game design.
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus has confirmed yesterday's reports of massive layoffs across multiple studios. In a letter, Pincus said the company cut 5% of its total staff, and closed its Boston studio entirely. It has also proposed closures to the Japan and UK studios.
Facing lawsuits, resignations, and a massive stock hit, Zynga has reportedly laid off roughly 100 employees from its studio in Austin, TX, with similar downsizing possible for its Chicago and Boston offices. According to reports, employees were dismissed this afternoon and given two hours to leave the premises.
A little over a month ago, publishing giant Electronic Arts sued social gaming giant Zynga over alleged copyright infringement. EA claims that Zynga had blatantly copied various elements of The Sims Social in The Ville, one of Zynga's recent releases.
Of course, Zynga denies those allegations, claiming they "have no merit." In a prepared statement to Shacknews, Reggie Davis, general counsel for Zynga, claims that EA is guilty of "anticompetitive and unlawful business practices," for which the company has filed a counterclaim.
Richard Garriott's Ultimate Collector game has found a publisher. The indie studio Portalarium has announced a deal with Zynga to publish the game on Facebook and Zynga's own Web site. The game is in beta right now, preparing for a roll-out to all users in the near future, followed by a mobile version.
The game that really put Zynga on the map has returned. Three years after the original, FarmVille 2 has launched. Like it's predecessor, it invites Facebook and Zynga.com players to cultivate their own farms, all whilst getting support from friends. However, FarmVille 2 also marks the first of Zynga's "next generation" game offerings: it's the first Zynga game to be built entirely in 3D, the first to run in Adobe Flash Player 11, and the first to offer a right-click option.
Another morning, Shack, and only one more day until Friday. I'll start the day off with a hearty congratulations to the folks at Uber for getting Planetary Annihilation Kickstarted, and they are closing in on a cool million dollars. I hope they make their stretch goals because the funding stream has slowed a bit from the initial run of pledges, but the good news is they still have 15 days left. If you want to know why I'm excited, look no further than the massive interview we did on the project earlier this week.
And off we go, hitting on a subject that has always frustrated me: forced multiplayer.
Another Zynga executive has exited the company, as it continues to feel the ripple effects of its tumbling stock price. This time it's Chief Creative Officer Mike Verdu taking his leave, effective immediately, with plans to start his own game company.
Read more: 'I'm very proud of my part in building this remarkable company' »
Zynga has reportedly given equity grants to its full-time employees, after a poor earnings report caused a heavy stock loss. Zynga regularly gives stock options and bonuses to its employees, but this marked the first time an equity award was given to all employees. It's being seen by analysts as an attempt to keep from losing employees.
Indie darling Fez could have made an appearance on mobile devices. According to a tweet from Polytron, the company was approached by none other than Zynga to bring the Xbox Live Arcade game to handheld devices. "We politely refused," the tweet states, before taking a jab at the social media giant. "So, look forward to Zynga's FEX any day now, I guess!"
Zynga has been accused of launching copycat clones when planned acquisitions don't work out, as was the case for Tiny Tower. EA recently filed a lawsuit against the company, saying that it was a company large enough to go against the 'Ville publisher.
Amid a myriad of legal problems, Zynga Chief Operating Officer (COO) John Schappert has stepped down from the company. The former executive recently had his job responsibilities stripped as part of a corporate restructuring, which made both mobile head David Ko and game development head Steve Chiang report directly to CEO Mark Pincus instead of Schappert.
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