Late 2016, Gibeau opened Zynga’s Helsinki Studios near mobile giant Supercell, maker of the hit strategy game Clash of Clans and farming simulation Hay Day. It would take the arrival of new leadership in 2016, led by CEO Frank Gibeau, to make the farm franchise come alive for a new generation of players. It wasn’t until 2014 that Zynga launched its mobile game, FarmVille 2: Country Escape, a side quest followed up by FarmVille 2: Tropic Escape two years later. From there the game went viral and became such a huge part of the cultural zeitgeist that at the height of its popularity in 2011, Zynga had over 300 million users and was generating nearly a fifth of Facebook’s revenue.īut in 2012, as mobile became the dominant platform for casual gaming, Zynga struggled to pivot. By the end of its first week, FarmVille had reached one million daily active users, according to Zynga founder Mark Pincus. This drew players back into the game and formed an addictive loop that quickly turned the simple act of tending crops into an obsession for fans, including celebrities and politicians. When it launched in 2009, the strategy simulation game was the first major game on Facebook to ping friends in the News feed. It’s been 12 years since the animals of Zynga’s FarmVille first grazed the screens of fans worldwide.
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