Zynga Plans To Build A Gamers’ Social Network

By Amwal Al Ghad English On Jun 27, 2012

Zynga Inc unveiled a social network for gamers dubbed “Zynga with Friends” on Tuesday, hoping to wean itself from a longstanding, symbiotic relationship with Facebook Inc that has shaped two of Silicon Valley’s closely watched Internet companies.

The game publisher, which has been under pressure to reverse a steep slide in stock price in recent months, said its new network will pair gamers with opponents and make features like player profiles, an activity stream and chat available for all users, regardless of whether they play Zynga games on mobile devices or on desktop computers.

Zynga with Friends is “one network, one unified experience, and one social lobby that will for the first time connect all of our players, no matter where they’re playing,” Manuel Bronstein, a senior Zynga executive, told reporters at a press event in the company’s headquarters in San Francisco.

“The new social features and services are designed for the sole purpose of bringing more people to play together,” Bronstein said.

Zynga will also provide programming tools to help third-party developers publish online and mobile games based on its own software, executives said, in order to foster a Zynga “ecosystem” that will expand its slate of titles beyond mainstays such as “Farmville” and “Zynga Poker.”

Still, Zynga shares closed nearly 5 percent lower on Tuesday as investors saw little in the announcement – which included the planned social network, as well as a bevy of new game titles – to drive strong long-term growth.

The company announced “FarmVille 2,” a sequel to its megahit resource management title, as well as “Matching with Friends,” an addition to a suite of smartphone games that includes the popular “Words with Friends.”

“One of the worries is that the whole idea of social gaming seems to be waning somewhat,” said Paul Verna, a gaming analyst at eMarketer. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of growth left, and the idea of unveiling another Ville game or FarmVille 2 – I don’t get the sense that’s very exciting to the financial investors.”