Zynga

October 9, 2015

Zynga Introduces “Advergames” To The Freemium Market

Peter Paltridge freemium, mobile, Zynga 0

Just when you thought psychologically manipulative phone games couldn’t sink any lower, life found a way. Polygon reported today that Zynga, the company that struck it rich in Facebook games before those died out, has introduced a new method of generating money through its freemium titles: “advergames,” or short minigames meant to sell you something. You play a game shamelessly hawking a product, and in exchange you get a few extra items in Farmville — items you’d normally have to wait or pay for. One of the early adopters is the insurance company Progressive, whose item-catching minigames are currently running in the newest version of Farmville. Get a decent score and you’ll be rewarded with a prize, as well as a sales pitch and a pat on the head. Given the casino-like tactics these types of games are using already, the idea of corporations getting “whales” to purchase their products over and over through becoming hooked on a game (“Want five more lives? Follow this link and buy a box

May 15, 2014

Zynga Announces Farmville Themed Cookbook

Lawrence Chan android, cookbook, Farmville, FarmVille 2, ios, mobile, Zynga 0

To celebrate the release of Zynga’s new game, FarmVille 2: Country Escape, Zynga announced on Wednesday the development of a digital cookbook full of real life summer themed recipes. Dubbed the FarmVille-To-Table digital cookbook, the digital cookbook will be created with the aid of BlogHer a Florida-based general life blog. According to Zynga, a survey of their player base indicated 84 percent of players cook at home and 62 percent of their players expressed a desire to learn real world recipes behind the food they find in-game. Currently, Zynga is accepting recipe submissions for the cookbook and the company intends on choosing 50 player submitted recipes into the FarmVille-To-Table digital cookbook. To be considered an entry requires at least one ingredient from FarmVille 2: Country Escape(tomato, potato, corn, carrot, blueberry, strawberry, pear, blackberry, grape, apple, peach, lemon, wheat, butter, cheese, milk, goat milk, eggs, honey, sugar, fish, shelfish, pepper, chive or mint), and also be themed around the summer. According to Zynga’s website, entries must be named, categorized and apportioned along with detailed cooking instructions. FarmVille 2: Country