Zynga Inc is a video game developer whose video games have made a more prominent name than the company itself. Many of you reading may have heard or even played some of their social network games at one point in your early gaming.
It was founded in 2007 and mainly focuses on video games for mobile and social network platforms. One of their most notable titles includes FarmVille, having over 10m daily active users within six weeks of its launch back in 2009. Since then, they have had many other titles, including Words with Friends 2 and Zynga Poker.
After witnessing massive success, Zynga decided to take its mission of “connecting the world through games” and announced its venture into blockchain gaming in late 2019. Although we have not seen their work in that line, we can expect them to do big considering their past endeavors.
Zynga also promised to bring out a game this year and expand its team of 15 to around 100 talented people. However, that may not be the case anymore because the year is nearing its end, and our team at TopTierList found a job listing that reveals Zynga is still hiring for a major senior position in their team.
About Zynga’s Acquisition
Before discussing why that is not good news, you should know that Take-Two Interactive acquired Zynga in March 2022 for $12.7B. The acquisition seemed like an excellent move for Zynga’s future work, as now the team will be much bigger, and we can expect some positive changes.
The reason for that assurance was Take-Two Interactive, which needs no introduction as it has brought us some of the most popular titles, including Grand Theft Auto and the BioShock series.
Strauss Zelnick, Chairman, and CEO of Take-Two stated:
As we bring together our exceptional talent, exciting pipelines of games, and industry-leading technologies and capabilities, we believe that we can take our portfolio to another level of creativity, innovation, and quality. Each of our teams has a strong history of operational execution, and together, we expect that we will enhance our financial profile through greater scale and profitability, paving the way for us to deliver strong shareholder value
Despite all that, Zynga is hiring a Creative Director, which makes us believe that they still haven’t expanded their team to the desired size, and it might take some time before we get the first blockchain/NFT integrated game from them.
Zynga’s Job Listing on LinkedIn.Major Points
- Although they announced their venture into blockchain gaming a while ago, it seems like they are still looking to fill one of the senior positions in the team.
- It is unclear whether they previously had the position filled and something unforeseen happened, but it will undoubtedly halt the release of their first blockchain game, which they promised to bring out this year.
- Since the year is almost at an end, and they haven’t given us much information on their progress, the chances for a release are slim.
Zynga’s Blockchain Game May Not Come This Year
We do not want to call it a delay since they never gave an official announcement on the release date. Still, they hoped to wrap up their project by the end of this year, but that may not be possible. We would have been optimistic if the position was not as significant as this.
A Creative Director leads the dev team’s visual direction and creative development process. The listing also says, “As Creative Director, you will conjure worlds, develop stories and ensure what we bring to market is stunning, memorable, and brand-worthy.“
Considering how important the position is for a game’s development, you can also see that it is unlikely they can work without one. Zynga is not an amateur studio, and we can’t expect them to rush a project based on a promise. As this is their first significant blockchain game, they will use their resources and bring out a game worthy of the studio’s reputation.
Job Description for Creative Director Position At Zynga.
Job Requirements for Creative Director Position At Zynga.Can They Integrate It Into Existing IPs?
They already answered that before when announcing their new mission. They said it “makes sense” for Zynga to build original blockchain games rather than integrate the concepts into existing IPs, like FarmVille. Zynga thought of another way where they would integrate the concepts and ideas from existing IPs into the NFT titles.
Their previous titles have seen massive success, so we aren’t surprised by their direction. Zynga shouldn’t tinker with their successful titles. They can venture into a new industry with new ideas and use their earlier concepts to create different creative games.
They showed interest in making a game similar to Mafia Wars, Zynga’s older title, where players assume the role of a gangster and build their crime organization. Matt Wolf, whom they appointed as the Vice President of Blockchain Gaming, commented on this by saying, “to be inspired by that [Mafia Wars] title, then build something that’s bespoke and purpose-built to this particular cohort that’s used to playing in a certain way, that’s our short-term strategy.”
Ending Remarks
Despite many efforts and an acquisition, Zynga might still have trouble meeting its own-set deadline. Although this won’t affect them as much, it is still unfortunate that their NFT game might take a while before launching. The silver lining is that they hopefully won’t rush this project, so we can expect a complete game that can be enjoyed right after its release.
As for when we can expect it to arrive, we can’t say for sure. We will have to wait for an official announcement before speculating any further. Do you think their game will come next year? Or will they bring upon a miracle and release it later in December? Share your thoughts with us below, and we will get back to you!
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