Tag: mobile gaming technology

Zynga confronts crisis with major overhaul

| December 29, 2012

zyngaZynga aims to recover from trouble through re-structuring

Once mammoth mobile and web game developer Zynga has hit a very rough patch recently. The company, which is behind some of the most popular online games in the world, such as Farmville, saw its stocks crash in recent months, falling 85% from its all-time high. Zynga has been a formidable name in the mobile gaming space for years, but has been confronted with problems that may be forcing the company to re-structure and re-consider its focus on social gaming.

Developer cuts 150 jobs as part of overhaul

Over the past several months, Zynga has seen lackluster performance with many of its games. This month, the company cut 150 jobs in an effort to save itself from financial ruin and to prepare itself for a major overhaul. The overhaul is being loosely dubbed as Zynga 2.0, but it is unlikely that the game development company will stray far from its mobile gaming roots or risk breaking new ground by developing games that may not find success. Ironically, this is part of the problem that lead Zynga to its current crisis.

Developer targeted by EA in copyright lawsuit

Zynga has long been criticized in the game industry, as well as others, for its focus on quick-to-market mobile and social games that are almost identical to well-established, successful games that come from major developers like Electronic Arts. The similarities between these games are so striking that Zynga has found itself in the midst of a copyright lawsuit from Electronic Arts, which claims that the company blatantly stole and used concepts from one of its popular games. While Zynga may have etched out some early success with its approach to gaming, this success garnered the company with a great deal of attention that it may have wanted to avoid.

Overhaul may bring Zynga back to the top

Despite the myriad problems that Zynga is facing, the company’s popular games still boast of a massive following. Farmville 2, for instance, claims some 45 million monthly active unique users. Zynga has seen less success in its mobile gaming ventures and the launch of other titles, but the company may be able to pull itself back from serious crisis if it can adopt a more quality-centric development formula.

GREE launches messaging application in test markets

| December 27, 2012

GREE messaging appGREE begins testing new application in small markets

GREE, a Japanese developer of mobile gaming applications, is setting up to launch its GREE Messenger in 2013, which will be available for the iOS and Android platforms. Though the developer has plans to launch the new application next year, the GREE Messenger is actually already available in some markets. This is because GREE has decided to push a test launch to determine the impact the application may have in the already crowded Asian market.

India, New Zealand, and Australia get GREE Messenger

The Asian market is filled with messenger applications that are designed to connect consumers to one another. These applications are typically very simple, allowing consumers to chat with their friends and make use of animated graphics to spice up their messages. GREE is keen to enter into this sector and has decided to test its messenger application in three markets: India, Australia, and New Zealand. The test version of the application has limited features and has seen relatively little coverage due to the fact that GREE has not actually announced that it is available in these markets.

Application may feature gaming aspects in the future

Mobile gaming has become much more than a craze among consumers; it has become a very important and accepted part of the mobile technology space. Though the GREE Messenger is not a mobile gaming application, GREE does have tentative plans to introduce some gaming elements into future versions of the app. For now, users will be able to text chat with their friends, invite their friends to group chats, share photos and videos, and check into locations they visit.

Foreign markets may be good testing grounds

Introducing the GREE Messenger to smaller markets in Australia and New Zealand where messaging applications are not as popular as they are in Asia may be a good move. Asia’s most popular messaging application, WeChat, boasts of more than 200 million users, with others also taking up a similar portion of the consumer base. This makes its difficult for similar applications to find any headway in the market and GREE is primarily focused on exposure and ensuring that its application can actually live up to consumer expectations.