Zynga shuts down four games, launches Draw Something 2

Zynga has announced that it is shutting down some of its games, attempting “doubling down on big bets”. This essentially means that the company is going to shut down games that haven’t been profitable in the long run and is sticking to franchises that have been making money.

The games that Zynga is axing are The Ville, Empires and Allies, Dream Zoo, and Zynga City on Tencent.

The company has also launched a new game - Draw Something 2. It is the sequel to the popular mobile game Draw Something, which is essentially Pictionary played over a social network.

The sequel has a social feed where you can like and comment on drawings or follow people. You can also save drawings and drawing tools.

According to Zynga COO David Ko, the company is “leveraging the cultural phenomenon” of Draw Something with the sequel. He also stated that the company plans to expand on its mobile offerings this year.

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Draw Something, for some reason, got a sequel

This has been a continuous trend for Facebook games. With the loss in popularity, companies are forced to shut down those games. For example, back in December, Zynga had shut down 11 of its games in an attempt to focus development time on more profitable titles.

The games shut down by Zynga included Petville, Mafia Wars 2, FishVille, Vampire Wars, Treasure Isle, Indiana Jones Adventure World, Mafia Wars Shakedown, Forestville, Montopia, Mojitomo and World Scramble Challenge.

In fact, just recently, EA announced that it will be shutting down three of its Facebook games. The company announced on its website that it will be shutting down The Sims Social, SimCity Social and Pet Society. Other games, including Bejeweled Blitz, Solitaire Blitz and Plants vs Zombies Adventures aren’t being shut down. Only the games developed by Maxis are being affected.

EA seems to be shifting its focus from Maxis’ Facebook games to the ones developed by PopCap. The company will be transitioning players of the games being shut down to PopCap’s games. “For players who have enjoyed our games, we will be making a special offer to introduce you to a PopCap game,” states the company. “You’re a valued fan and we want to make sure you get a smooth transition to PopCap.  More details about that offer will appear in-game soon.”

EA’s reason for shutting these games down has been the fall in the number of players. The players, on the other hand, have been placing the blame squarely at EA’s feet. They list the company’s refusal to fix many of the game’s issues as one of the major reasons for not playing these games, which, in turn, has led the company to shut the games down.