Zynga made headlines all throughout 2012, though for reasons that the publisher would perhaps not prefer. The latest bit of bad news, which is kicking off 2013, is how of 11 of their titles are getting the plug pulled. Actually, most are already dread.
A few of the games are the aforementioned titles that are connected to their woes in Japan. But the rest are here in America, and are fairly recognizable, even among those who no do not play social games.
PetVille – Was already shut down on December 30th
Mafia Wars 2 – Was already shut down on December 30th
FishVille – SWas already shut down on 5th
Vampire Wars – Was already shut down on December 5th
Treasure Isle – Was already shut down on December 5th
Indiana Jones Adventure World – Closed to new players, scheduled to down on January 14th
Mafia Wars Shakedown – Pulled from app stores
Forestville – Pulled from app stores
Montopia – Was already shut down on December 21st
Mojitomo – Pulled from app stores
Word Scramble Challenge – Pulled from app stores
Zynga states that with all the of the above being shut down, they can now focus on other, more popular offerings, plus used the freed up resources on new titles.
For most people reading this, it's hardly a great loss and yet another reason to point and laugh at Zynga. Though for many, the canceled titles were a really big deal. Enough to allow themselves to be nickeled and dimed.
Here's just one example that was highlighted by Cult of Android, and a depressing one that…
"Please don’t remove petville. I been playing for 4 yrs. and I’M going to miss my pet Jaime….why do you want cause depression for me and others. Why do you want to kill my pet?"
Yikes.