Zynga can be accused of many things, ranging from their willingness to create near-carbon copies of existing titles to their profit-driven goals, but the one thing they've always been on the ball with is their understanding of the marketplace.
Speaking to GI.biz, Zynga's president of games Steve Chiang says that tablets are poised to become the "ultimate gaming platform". He explains why he thinks so:
"I think the tablet’s becoming almost the ultimate game platform. I play before I go to bed, and when I wake up, I play on my tablet.
"Imagine FarmVille 2 on a tablet, you can see the detail on a bigger farm and be able to manipulate things, getting a full experience on a tablet. We announced in the earnings call that FarmVille 2 is coming to mobile, and tablets. I expect a number of our ‘Ville games to come to tablets in 2013."
His comments might seem a little offensive to 'core' gamers who get most of their gaming experiences from gaming consoles and PCs, but the vast majority of gamers in the world (which is to say, anyone who plays games) spend much more time playing games on their mobile phones and on Facebook than they do anywhere else.
With that in mind, it's difficult not to see Chiang's prediction as anything but accurate. Consoles and PCs aren't going anywhere, and they'll always be around to serve a niche, but it's hard to deny that tablets are quickly becoming the leader in gaming platforms.
