Zynga Timeline: A Complete History of the Growth of this Brand

Understand Zynga's history and how it had developed to become a gaming behemoth in a matter of years. Understand their development, games, and betting activities.

They're presumably in charge of the majority of the Facebook alerts you receive. Zynga has created games that have captivated the interest of millions of people all over the globe, whether it's through a buddy, a workmate, or relatives.

Zynga is without a doubt one of the leading participants in online gaming (opposing King tops the list), and its recent efforts changing to real-money gambling have been successful.

The gaming firm has developed and expanded its reach to mobile gadgets all around the world since its humble beginnings under Facebook's umbrella. We trace its development from the initial video games that paved the way for its spectacular ascent to fame, through the success of titles like CityVille and FarmVille, and ultimately to Zynga Poker, which served as Zynga's entry point into real gambling.

Simple Beginnings

Mark Pincus, Zynga's CEO, used to undergo multiple false beginnings and delays before becoming the gaming behemoth it is today. Pincus had three unsuccessful businesses in his background before deciding to enter the gaming industry. This possibility arose in May 2007, as Facebook started inviting developers to use its API to create applications for its social network. This was clearly an attempt to outdo MySpace, which was successful since coders began flocking to the booming startup.

Amongst them remained Pincus, who had founded Presidio Media only a month before to capitalize on what had obviously been the next major phenomenon in social media. This proved to be a hazardous wager he was making because his early gaming success was on MySpace, at which he made the most of his money. Pincus, on the other hand, saw that Facebook might be onto something special and used this instinct to concentrate his efforts on building apps for the social network.

Pincus renamed his new firm Zynga in July 2007, after his deceased American bulldog, who features as an outline as the firm's emblem. The firm was rapidly expanding, but it didn’t take the plunge into Facebook, where Zynga would ultimately find its riches. When Zynga debuted its first game on Facebook, a poker title first called Texas Hold'em Poker and then renamed Zynga Poker, that was so fruitful that the firm became profitable almost immediately. The phase was arranged for the subsequent fast expansion.

Shooting for the Stars

Zynga's approach to game development differed from that of competitors Playdom and Playfish, with whom they competed for first place in the initial Facebook gaming charts. Pincus was committed to establishing titles in the very same way that another technology was created.

Utilizing tactics inspired by current agile software development methodologies, he aimed to test new gaming concepts as rapidly and inexpensively as allowed to determine what might run along with what might not. Zynga has heavily relied on this type of information, and Pincus' inclination to delete titles that didn't provide positive outcomes was a significant factor in propelling the business to its present spot in the online video game industry. Though Pincus is well-known throughout Zynga's history, he was not the only architect of the company's success.

Many people contributed to Zynga's early success, which included the COO of Facebook, Owen Van Natta, and veteran game creators like Brian Reynolds and Mark Skaggs, who created unique and engrossing titles that were just a step beyond the inexpensive replicas that it once cranked out. What distinguishes Zynga's development is its continual desire to build video games that can be played and appreciated at any period and from any location.

The crew behind the company's big hits was strongly led by the company's values that video games should be open, sociable, and, above all, enjoyable to play. That combination among those three variables is where Zynga shines and where most of its early competitors failed spectacularly, primarily concentrated on cranking out replicas.

The Beginning

Mafia Wars, Zynga's second game, was released in 2008. About the same period, it purchased YoVille, a communal media network game set in a big virtual globe that would serve as the foundation for its most well-known title, FarmVille. Prior to cultivating crops and looking after farm animals had become popular, Zynga was the leading app developer on Facebook, with about 40 million regular users who enjoyed its games each month.

Zynga soared to fame in June 2009 when it debuted its most well-known title. In barely six weeks, FarmVille grew to become Facebook's most popular game, garnering over 10 million people who were actively playing the title every day. The figures skyrocketed after Zynga produced FarmVille 2 along with a derivative titled ChefVille.

In excess of 265 million dynamic players each month and holding the top 3 slots of the top 5 games on Facebook during that time, Zynga continued to extend its hold on the online gaming industry as a result of these services. Even though the tide had clearly shifted in Pincus' favor, operating beneath Facebook's shade became a great deal to stomach, which wasn’t good. The social media platform might prescribe the restrictions that API developers had to obey, which Zynga would simply not accept.

FarmVille was the firm's first separate title, and during March 2013, Zynga officially dissolved its affiliation with Facebook, despite the fact that it was projected that Facebook users accounted for about 80% of Zynga's profits.

Switching to Real Gambling

Though Pincus' gamble on Facebook to wager the future of the company paid off generously, and Zynga was occupied with developing even more complicated games such as Empires & Allies; however, its shares were listed on NASDAQ, additional developments were afoot. Zynga was in an excellent place to understand exactly what customers loved from social titles thanks to its compulsive data collecting, and it sought to monetize this successful strategy even more.

Its money was mostly derived from funding and advertisements presented by Facebook in the videogame. Zynga had previously demonstrated to the public that free gaming was a profitable business venture through the tactics described above, but it now aimed to take it a stride beyond by encouraging players to swap real cash for virtual products that could be utilized in a title. In the beginning, this was accomplished indirectly through 'lead generation,' which entailed persuading users to join up for and spread income offers in return for virtual casino chips.

A Fresh Title – Cash Traded for Information

Selling virtual products remained a novel idea in 2007, but Zynga was sure that they might turn it into a viable business strategy. Although it will continue to build free titles, players would be allowed to make acquisitions to improve their gaming understanding.

When advertising-income began to dwindle and payment models fell out of favor, Zynga began to ask its customers to pay for virtual money, such as the casino chips that they needed to join Zynga Poker, along with benefits like VIP rankings, that had enabled specific rewards within the title. The social feature of betting, as well as the addictive style of gameplay that was provided by Zynga apps, were big draws for participants, and despite a mere 2.5 percent of Zynga's active players having paid for digital products, this tiny number of committed titles would have been sufficient to make the business lucrative and promote further expansion.

The biggest advantage of this model is that there's no cap on how much customers might spend, and some people took the titles very seriously! The brand could offer packets of digital poker chips for $100 a piece, and there would undoubtedly be a competitor willing to pay that much. Although some individuals were put off by the brand’s choice to include in-game transactions, the price of acquiring new clients was relatively low, and the amounts that were lost were fully compensated by new clients adopting Zynga's programs on mobile gadgets.

Conclusion

Zynga has certainly achieved its goal of connecting the globe through video games' since its launch in 2007 as well as through all of its trials and fortunes. From December 2013, the company portfolio included 11 Facebook titles and 17 games that could be downloaded onto Android and iOS mobile gadgets.

Plenty of analysts have begun to question Zynga's long-term viability in online gaming, particularly it's capacity to generate fresh and original game concepts. Zynga, on the other hand, has irrevocably altered the image of online social games. It brought an entirely new form of gameplay to masses of recreational players worldwide and provided game developers with a new economic model to strive for and build upon.