Conceptually, I love every bit of bad Zynga news. I like to be reassured that a company will, in the long term, fail when its products are cynically designed to manipulate. That a company will fail when their strategy assumes it's okay to blatantly, consistently, continuously lift design from other firms and products.<p>Practically, though, bad Zynga news feels <i>terrible</i>. Because the guys who architected this repugnant exploitation machine <i>already got paid</i>. They made millions selling their stock before the market truly understood what a shit business they were running. Meanwhile, front-line employees sat with their plummeting stock locked up.<p>So any bad Zynga news is nothing more than notice that yet another group of hardworking folks is, somehow, getting fucked over, despite their leadership enjoying tremendous rewards.<p>Very frustrating to watch.
Startups are hard.<p>Even big startups are hard. Zynga is startupy, even though they're public.<p>There's a lot of schadenfreude on HN when it comes to Zynga. Articles about Zynga's problems regularly make it to the top of HN.<p>Some people think games are frivolous. They're not. Entertainment is (almost) a basic human need. Some people think Zynga players are somehow being tricked. They're not. They're being entertained.<p>Some people say that Zynga steals ideas. Firstly, I'm guessing 99% of the people who say that are just repeating something they've heard. The other 1% should know that everyone steals from everyone. Unless you're the first guy to ever make a dynamic website, have usernames, top-bar navigation... you stole a lot of ideas too. And the ideas you stole are more fundamental than the plot of a game.<p>(also, if you know my history (i used to make fun of companies like this for a living) yes, i understand the irony of me writing such a supportive comment.)
The irony of all this is that just less than 3 years ago Mark Pincus and Zynga was riding high.<p>Pincus was voted as the CEO of the Year at the Crunchies. He was chosen to be the closer to Startup School, he projected Zynga as a place for people to want to go to there: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1041758" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1041758</a><p>This is a story parallel to Lance Armstrong's own rise and fall. About how if you were to drill down, really drill down, to find the next ethical, justifiable company that used Facebook to great benefit for humanity you're going to be looking for the 27th, 28th, 29th place organizations. Because frankly, as cynical and as well-duh it is now, what did we spend the greatest of our generations will and brain power on?<p>A Facebook ponzi scheme.<p>Now the tide is turning, pendulum swung, omega alpha etc etc and all those wonderful metaphors.<p>Where to go now? Go fixate on and fix something else. But remember, be nice to everyone on your way up. They're going to be the same people you see on the way down.
Hey Zynga people, we're based in Austin and hiring for front-end. And our culture is pretty much the anti-Zynga: bootstrapped, slow growth, sane hours, no deadlines, strong design focus, and respect for our team and our customers.<p>Let's get coffee at the downtown Medici: <a href="http://www.paperlesspipeline.com/jobs" rel="nofollow">http://www.paperlesspipeline.com/jobs</a>
The general consensus is that they timed it to coincide with Apple's announcement, so that the news of them laying off employees would be buried by all the Apple press.
That ship is sinking fast. Heart goes out to those who are now out of work, but a part of me can't help but be glad that the "exploitative spamming social games" market might be dealt a mortal wound.
Based on this I don't think they'll have a hard time finding new employment:<p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=zynga+%22ping+me%22+OR+message+OR+hiring&src=typd" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=zynga+%22ping+me%22+OR...</a>
I'm surprised to see so many people suggesting that Zynga's problems are purely moral. I think that gives them too much credit. I personally have no problem with their business practices from a strictly moral point of view. Caveat Emptor.<p>No, for me the problem is much simpler. Its a shitty business run by very poor business minds. That may sound dramatic and sensational, but let's consider the facts: they paid $250 million for a company of 15 developers whose most valuable asset was a mobile version of Pictionary that had been on the market for just three months. Completely unprofitable, they built a multilmillion dollar state of the art office in San Francisco. That's something you do when you are wildly successful, maybe. I work for a company many orders of magnitude more successful than Zynga and our office looks like a dungeon. So what? That's being wise with cashflow. That's a company I want to invest in. Finally, a friend of mine works for Zynga and he was regularly taking all expense paid trips. For his one year anniversary he was sent to England and Ireland as a reward.<p>I don't think of Zynga's management as sinister evildoers. I think of them as immature and completely unfit to manage a company. I say good riddance but I do hope those laid off find better opportunities soon.
It seems to me that Zynga's biggest mistake was 1) not expecting that social gaming craze to take a dive and 2) not figuring out early enough what to do next when the social gaming craze died down ... those two things are related.<p>So rather than predicting and pre-empting the dive in social gaming, Zynga is in a tough situation where they're facing the harsh reality as it comes. As a result, they're stuck with a huge, bloated company not prepared to quickly pivot or create innovation in new product categories.<p>I don't know what else Zynga can do right now but to downsize and to refocus the company on building what's next and not what was. It's almost like they need to find a new product strategy and business model. And it will take a lot of insight, leadership and team to get it done.<p>What they have going for them is that they have a lot of cash and a lot of experience in the social gaming genre.<p>But what they have going against them is momentum which includes employees losing faith in the company.
I don't know why everyone is so critical of Zynga trying to hide this news among the Apple stories -- what is the argument for not doing so? "Hey guys, lets make sure EVERYONE hears that we're closing down offices and laying off employees, this is going to be important"<p>Would you have acted differently?
If any of the Zynga engineers are reading this article, we are looking for a few good engineers where I work. We develop with Unity3d and Obj-c for the front end, and Scala for the back end. We also are willing to consider remote for great candidates.<p>careers@bentoboxinteractive.com
This was bound to happen. What goes up and steals other companies designs and game ideas must come down. It's unfortunate the front-line employees who worked for Zynga and only did as they were asked and weren't the perpetrators for coming up with game designs to rip off have been shafted in this situation.<p>They're nothing more than a money hungry company that deserves to perish. The real question here is: will this have a knock on effect for Facebook stock and perhaps have a chain reaction?<p>If I were Facebook I'd seriously be considering an acquisition and then priority number #1 being turn the image of Zynga around, perhaps even re-brand to Facebook Games.
If I were them, I'd head straight to the bar. I'll buy a few rounds for anyone who got laid off in Boston because... that just sucks. I also recruit for 100+ local startups, and can help you transition.
Is anyone else unable to access the article? I'm getting 404s - although this exact url is linked from the front page. It's techcrunch, so this must be a sign of interesting politic.
I feel bad for all the Zynga people. Not for being so unceremoniously let go, but for the flood of recruiting emails they'll be receiving already. Good luck, people!
It is just me , but do you need 3000 + people to run a social gaming company , even if it is a big one ?
Sorry for those that have been fired , but didn't anyone put the brakes on the hiring somewhere along the track ?
That payroll must be mind-blowing.
I just can't believe that my tweet launched the entire story. That was insane.<p>My friend IM'ed me at 11:27a PST yesterday saying "Dude, my whole studio just got laid off. We have 2 hrs to vacate. Can you email someone?" Hit twitter, and it was off like a rocket.
Farmville was a great social game and their Words with Friends acquisition was very good... then they started making Farmville clones, blatantly ripping off competitor's games, and paid $200 million for Draw Something.
Not a big surprise, especially after having spoken to a few people that have worked at Zynga before. High turnover of employees, quality over quantity, etc. Can't say I'll miss their products or their techniques.
...It's interesting how companies like bring their skeletons out on the days Apple makes their product announcements.<p>Sort of softens the blow of it; at least a lot attention is diverted to Cupertino.
Startups are risky beasts, but this action appears to lack backbone and tact.<p>This concerns me because this is Zyngas leadership tone on display. It does not invoke confidence.