ZYNGA'S TEXAS HOLD'EM A WINNER
30 October 2009
Internet entrepreneur explains why his social
networking application is a moneymaker
Forbes magazine carried an interesting feature this week
on the 43-year-old Internet entrepreneur behind some of
the social networking scene's most successful
applications - Mark Pincus, a man who has made a fortune
from giving networkers something to do.
Pincus,
who named his games provider company Zynga after a pet
bulldog, explained the fundamental base for his success
with sites like the 300 million member Facebook, telling
Forbes: "You have this cocktail party - you've brought
everyone together. But there's nothing to do."
His answer? Games played with friends to fill users'
time.
In early 2007 Pincus learned Facebook would
soon open its site to software developers such as
gamemakers. He and a small team quickly got to work on a
Facebook card game that would eventually become Texas
Hold'Em Poker.
It was the first Facebook poker
game that people could play with their online friends;
gamblers could even see their friends' pictures as they
played hands. Players spend real money to buy chips--it
costs $5 for $75 000 in chips and $50 for $5 million
worth - but they can never cash out.
Zynga also
gave players another way to stay in the game: Instead of
using a credit card to buy chips, gamblers could accept
some sort of offer from a marketer. They might install
an application on their computer from TripAdvisor, or
sign up for Netflix, for example. Zynga gets paid an
undisclosed bounty every time one of its customers
accepts an offer. Such offers are now a big chunk of
Zynga's business, though Pincus says that sales of
cybergoods make up the biggest portion of its revenue.
Following the runaway success of Texas Hold'Em Zynga
developed other games which could be monetised by
selling the users enhancement features to the base game,
which Pinkus dubs "golden mechanics."
In 'FarmVille'
players run a farm, checking on their crops periodically
as they grow and then returning for the harvest. That
means more opportunities to spend real money in the
game, purchasing things like distintive barns, virtual
sheep or scarecrows.
In 'Café World', aspiring
restaurateurs run their own virtual eateries, with
plenty of kitchen pressure as plates of food have to
reach diners before the contents spoil.
Users
like 'Mafia Wars', too - it provides a fantasy outlet
for buying guns and ordering hits on enemies.
In
picking new gaming applications Pincus always insists on
having the last word despite a staff of several hundred.
He recently killed a sword fighting game despite $2
million already spent on development costs.
Zynga's size and its breadth of games also creates a
classic network effect, helping it to better market new
titles. Novice users of Café World might see a teaser
for Mafia Wars when they first log in, inviting them to
try the mob game. Zynga also ploughs profits back into
advertising on Facebook. Zynga gamers often broadcast
their exploits to their Facebook friends; friends might
receive a notice when someone starts playing FarmVille
or moves to a new level on Mafia Wars.
Zynga
should rack up revenues this year of at least $100
million, says Pincus, though he won't disclose how much.
The San Francisco company, founded in 2007, employs 530
people, including contractors.
The company's
social games have by far the largest number of active
users according to independent surveys, ahead of
competitors like Playfish and SlashKey. It has raised
$39 million from investors such as Kleiner Perkins
Caufield & Byers, Union Square Ventures and Foundry
Group and could be a candidate to go public next year.
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1116/revolutionaries-technology-social-gaming-farmville-facebook-zynga.html
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
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