Farmville-maker worth more than EA - Report

Anyone doubting the popularity of social gaming should read a recent report in Bloomberg Businessweek. The magazine is citing a report from SharesPost Inc., an exchange for shares of privately held companies, as saying that Zynga is now worth more than the second-biggest mainstream game publisher on the planet--Electronic Arts.

Farmville is growing a whole lot of green for Zynga.

According to SharesPost, privately held Zynga is currently worth $5.51 billion. That's nearly $300 million more than the $5.22 billion market capitalization of EA on the NASDAQ stock exchange. SharesPost based its valuation figure on data from trades of private shares, research estimates, and venture-financing valuations.

Zynga's massive worth can be explained in two words: Facebook and Farmville. Of the former's 210 million users, some 57.6 million play Farmville, which charges users small amounts of money to buy in-game currency and items. Zynga's other games, which include Cafe World, Mafia Wars, and Vampire Wars, operate on a similar model.

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toddx77

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God help us when games like farmville become the standard kind of games.

Upvote • 13 years ago

Nibbles37

333

Reviews: 1

Wow...just...wow.

Shawcross

1277

Reviews: 4

@PatchMaster well basically a lot of their game players are not actually gamers in the normal word. Most of them are just normal people who have probably not ever even touched a console or PC game with a story. Even my girlfriend plays Farmville and she can't stand normal games like we play.

73X

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That's insane!

PatchMaster

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Reviews: 12

People need to stop being cheap and lazy and start playing better games. Even if you're just bored at work there are better options.

altjay88

447

Reviews: 2

wow. thats so sad. i've never even messed with it. and this didn't make me want to. I rarely even check my bloody facebook. at MJ12 below me... that was almost funny. but really...?....urinate? that killed it. almost though. but ot; its depressing that something so huge as EA would be trumped by such a disaster. this is the reason why PS3 will eventually take down the allmighty xbox. the prospect of FREE gameplay. everyone wants something for nothing. and once they are in, they want an edge. anyway, start the micro/sony war? lol. kudos to Zynga though all the same.

MJ12-Conspiracy

2984

User Lists: 1

Enough with the Zynga spam fest, nobody cares I certainly don't. I wouldn't urinate on anything Zynga makes to put out a fire.

shafe-man

284

Wow that's kind of sad. I really want to know; how can the publisher for Madden and all these huge franchises get beaten by a free game that is plagued with privacy issues? Glad I never played that game.... a bad egg, that is.

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