

Meanwhile, Pincus and Hoffman also became proficient investors. In the four years prior to starting Zynga, he and Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn and early employee of PayPal) worked on, a social network that they eventually sold to Cisco Systems.

In 1997, he co-founded, which he led to an IPO in July 2000. Zynga itself was the brainchild of Pincus who had started multiple companies before. How it came to be, who is behind it, and what ultimately led to its closure will be covered in the next few chapters.įarmVille was created by game development studio Zynga, which in turn was founded in April 2007 by Mark Pincus, Justin Waldron, Eric Schiermeyer, Michael Luxton, and Steve Schoettler. The game was ultimately shut down in December 2020 after being played by hundreds of millions of people. Moreover, they could post requests that would show up on their friends’ Facebook news feed.įarmVille, which was built on Adobe Flash technology, could be accessed via Facebook, Microsoft’s MSN Games, Yahoo Games, or by downloading its iOS app. For instance, farm neighbours can assist each other in harvesting produce. Players could send requests for gifts to each other via the social network.įurthermore, FarmVille facilitated cooperation within the game. The social aspect of FarmVille was grounded in the fact that the game was mainly played on Facebook (an iPhone app existed for a short period as well). Users can engage in challenges, receive gifts from other players, or simply purchase virtual coins using real cash. Seeds, which are used to grow produce, as well as animals, can be obtained in a variety of ways. For example, chickens grant you eggs while cows produce milk. Harvesting produce can take anywhere from a few hours to multiple days.Īdditionally, animals also yield returns. Each harvest propels the player towards a new level. The game is centred around planting and harvesting vegetables and trees for which users earn coins. Users can engage in a variety of activities such as taking care of farm animals and plants or creating buildings and decorating them. In early 2011 the original reached an eye-popping 100 million active players - a feat no other social game has accomplished.FarmVille, developed by Zynga, is a social network game that requires players to manage a virtual farm. The original CityVille remains one of the company's most popular titles. Zynga undoubtedly hopes that the launch of CityVille 2 will reverse the company's shrinking player base and stock price. Testing a high profile mobile game in a smaller territory is a common tactic for social game makers. TechCrunch reports that the title is currently available for testing in the Philippines. The title is currently in closed beta testing, with an open beta & launch presumably to follow in the coming weeks. New to the formula is a much more robust crafting tree, another idea borrowed from the more complex and properly "game-like" FarmVille 2. CityVille 2 will see the return of neighbor visits, friend-staffed construction crews and a large variety of buildables. Although the sparse announcement post didn't specify, it is also very likely that CityVille 2 is another Zynga title built on Flash 11, giving the company access to the right mouse button for gameplay functions and other usability improvements.
#CITYVILLE GAME THAT USE TO B ON FACEBOOK FULL#
Like FarmVille 2, this city building sequel maintains the same semi-overhead viewpoint, with one major difference: the graphics are rendered in full 3D instead of 2D like most of Zynga's previous releases.
