Two weeks ago, Farmville creators Zynga lost 3.1 million monthly active users across it’s Facebook gaming empire. Just last week, that number grew to 4.2 million. But even with losses in the millions, Zynga still stands as the leading social game developer with more than 244 million monthly active users total.
Social media company SecondShares posits that the loss in gamers may be due to the “branded” games now coming to Facebook. For instance, Family Feud, introduced to Facebook two months ago, has already passed more than 4 million users. Other gaming companies like Electronic Arts, 2K, Capcom and Microsoft are all hopping on board the social network site as well.
However Kotaku believes it may also be the effect of Facebook’s recent renovations. Zynga can no longer advertise their games through faux in-game news alerts due to the elimination of notifications pertaining to gaming applications.
Either way, TechCrunch reported last week that Zynga may be leaving Facebook altogether. After Facebook allegedly tried to push a deal with Zynga, forcing the company to remain exclusively on the Facebook platform, Zynga has been attempting to distance itself from the site. For instance, Zynga has launched Farmville.com that allows users to play the game off of Facebook and is reportedly in talks to launch a new social game network called Zynga Live.
Running their games on Zynga Live would stop Zynga from having to pay a 30% fee for Facebook Credits – the only payment platform Zynga and others can use. However it would also take away the integrated social aspect that has made games like Farmville and Mafia Wars so popular.
Read more: http://www.geek.com/articles/games/farmville-developer-zynga-losing-members-may-leave-facebook-20100512/#ixzz0no1Zl535
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