58 Facts About Zynga

Zynga launched its best-known game, FarmVille, on Facebook in June 2009, reaching ten million daily active users within six weeks.

Zynga began trading on NASDAQ on December 16, 2011, under the ticker ZNGA.

Zynga was founded in April 2007 by Mark Pincus, Eric Schiermeyer, Justin Waldron, Michael Luxton, Steve Schoettler, and Andrew Trader under the name Presidio Media.

Zynga was named after Pincus' American bulldog "Zinga", and uses an image of a bulldog as its logo.

Zynga became the Facebook app developer with the most monthly active users in April 2009, with 40 million people playing their games that month.

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In June 2009, Zynga acquired MyMiniLife which built and launched FarmVille on Facebook.

In February 2010, Farmville had over 80 million players, and on May 18, 2010, Facebook and Zynga entered into a five-year relationship to expand the use of Facebook Credits in Zynga's games.

Zynga filed with the U S Securities and Exchange Commission to raise up to $1 billion in an initial public offering on July 1, 2011.

Zynga announced the Zynga API, intended to help developers build social games.

Zynga announced that three new partners were developing games for Zynga.

On July 25, 2013, Zynga said they would not be pursuing real money game production in the US.

In July 2013, Zynga hired Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment President Don Mattrick as its new CEO.

In July 2014, Zynga signed a lease for office space in Maitland, Florida.

Zynga was priced at $10 per share and began trading on NASDAQ under ZNGA on December 16, 2011.

In March 2010 Zynga started selling pre-paid cards in the US for virtual currency.

In March, 2012, Zynga launched a separate social gaming platform, which included publishing other developers to the Zynga.

In June 2012, Zynga started running Facebook advertisements and sponsored stories on its website.

In September 2010, Gawker reported that Zynga had set up a "Platinum Purchase Program, " a private club for their top spenders, allowing members to purchase virtual currency at favorable rates.

Ray Valdes questioned the long-term prospects for Zynga, saying that it would be difficult for the company to make new titles to replace old ones whose novelty is fading.

Tom Bollich, a former Zynga investor, said that it is impossible to make a cheap viral game, and that retaining customers is difficult.

In early November 2009, it was estimated that about one-third of Zynga's revenue came from companies that provide legitimate commercial offers, such as trading Netflix memberships and marketing surveys for in-game cash.

In 2011, Zynga started to move employees to new headquarters, located in San Francisco's South of Market district.

Zynga's headquarters, nicknamed "The Dog House", features a coffee shop, gaming arcade, gym, basketball court, and wellness center.

Zynga operates as a meritocracy in which employees are encouraged to be and are compensated for being great entrepreneurs.

Zynga expects workers to fix what they are unhappy with, thus making the workplace better for everyone.

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Zynga meets with new hires about every two weeks and speaks with them for about 90 minutes, in an open question and answer format.

Zynga discusses the company's values, and he encourages the new employees to challenge those values.

Women at Zynga, launched in 2011, is an employee-led resource group that focuses on empowering women to succeed and become leaders in their careers and communities especially within the tech space.

Zynga has a "family first" atmosphere and is "kid-friendly" for child visitors.

Zynga has seasonal events, such as a Halloween party to which employees bring their children.

Zynga believes that "allowing employees to be present in all parts of their life will lead to more productivity in the workplace and beyond.

Zynga offers free, on-site, gym and fitness classes, free breakfast and lunch each day, a shuttle service to the Bay Area Rapid Transit and CalTrain in San Francisco.

Zynga has "relaxation lounges" and arcade and console games, dry cleaning services on-site, and indoor bicycle parking.

In November 2011, The New York Times reported that Zynga "operates like a federation of city-states" with each of its games, such as FarmVille and CityVille, run by autonomous teams.

Two former senior Zynga employees, quoted anonymously by the Times, speculated that Zynga's corporate culture caused the company to lose a bid to acquire mobile game company PopCap and nearly derailed its acquisition of MyMiniLife, which later developed the technology that is the basis for FarmVille.

At least one Zynga employee said he planned to cash out and leave Zynga after the IPO.

In 2017, Zynga donated a large sum to the University of Southern California to support the study of social mobile games, inclusive game production, and advancing diversity in the industry.

On July 18, 2011, Zynga filed an addendum to its Form S-1 detailing its relationship with Facebook, including the 2010 five-year agreement to use Facebook credits exclusively.

On October 11, 2011, Zynga announced plans to create their own platform on which users can play the company's games.

At one point during 2011, Zynga made up 19 percent of Facebook's revenue, partly because of the special mutually beneficial relationship between the two companies.

Effective March 31, 2013, Zynga was bound by the standard Facebook Platform policies.

In May 2017, Zynga launched Words with Friends on Facebook's newly-launched platform Instant Games, on Facebook's Messenger instant messaging app.

In 2022, Zynga relocated its headquarters to San Mateo, California.

Many of Zynga's games involve players posting messages to non-players, often for in-game benefits.

Zynga has been accused several times of copying game concepts of popular games by competing developers.

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An attorney for Psycho Monkey, the creators of Mob Wars, said that in making Mafia Wars, Zynga "copied virtually every important aspect of the game.

In September 2010, SF Weekly reported that an employee recalled Mark Pincus advising him to "copy what [Zynga's competitors] do and do it until you get their numbers.

Pincus responded by saying that tower-building games have existed since SimTower and that Zynga uses mechanics and ideas developed throughout the history of video games to create the "best-in-market games.

Zynga subsequently renamed and changed the thumbnail images of all cars that were branded Nissan and Infiniti to "Sindats" and "Fujis" with the thumbnails changed.

In September 2009, Zynga initiated trade secrets lawsuits against Playdom and 22 other rivals, including Green Patch which Playdom acquired in November 2009.

In October 2010, Zynga was criticized on Hacker News and other social media sites for having filed a patent application relating to the ability to purchase virtual currency for cash on gambling and other gaming sites.

In January 2011, Techdirt reported that Zynga sent a cease and desist letter to Blingville alleging trademark infringement for its use of the letters "ville" in the name of a proposed Facebook game.

In November 2011, Inside Mobile Apps wrote that Zynga's lawyers demanded that mobile game developer Latman Interactive abandon its trademark registration for the game Quackville.

In May 2012, Zynga sued Kobojo for trademark infringement for calling one of its games PyramidVille.

On May 20, 2011, it was reported that The Learning Company, owners of The Oregon Trail trademark, filed a trademark infringement suit against Zynga, which was planning an "Oregon Trail" expansion to FrontierVille.

Zynga's counsel responded by alleging that EA's SimCity Social "bears an uncanny resemblance to Zynga's CityVille".

On October 14, 2012, Zynga filed a lawsuit against a former general manager Alan Patmore, for allegedly misappropriating trade secrets.

In July 2012, a class action lawsuit was filed against Zynga, alleging that Mark Pincus and some other insiders were allowed to sell shares before disappointing Q2 results were revealed.