Zynga’s Massive Popularity

In the article questioning whether or not Zynga will become “the Google of Games,” a lot of Zynga’s successes are pointed out. According to the article, Zynga is on its way to gaining $500 million this year and took about half the time as Facebook did to reach 100 million users. However, all of this money that the company is making isn’t from selling the game, like how game companies usually make most of their revenue. Zynga cashes in when people pay a little bit of money for digital goods that help them make their farms look how they want. To individuals, the amount is close to nothing, but the fact that there are millions and millions of people paying for them adds up significantly. Its founder, Mark Pincus, is actually on his way to becoming a billionaire.

Although there have been a few hiccups on its way to stardom, Zynga has still fought through all of them to retain its success. For example, people on Facebook joined groups that specifically stood against the notifications of friends’ farms and other game updates. However, this did not have a large impact on the cash flow of the company because those who quit playing never really bought things in the first place.

The little playtime I have had with Farmville and Frontierville don’t really convince me to keep playing beyond this class assignment. I can see why they are very popular though. The game is easy and fun to compare farms and build upon your own. Seeing that it is free, some people don’t feel as bad buying extra components for their farms. This is a great idea and I can see them becoming even more popular in the future, especially considering how much money they are making. I don’t ever see myself spending actual money on this, even if I do play beyond this assignment, but we’ll see how that plays out.