In a move to cut costs, Mark Pincus, Chief Executive of beleaguered Company Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) announced in November that the social gaming company will be shuttering out-of-favor games.
The CEO had said that it will shut down, pull up from app stores or stop accepting new players for its worst performing titles in coming days.
So far, 11 of the most unpopular titles have been taken off since keeping these titles afloat would have meant spending resources on designers, engineers and product teams and further trimming margins–which the company cannot afford any longer.
Meanwhile those games that were not shut down or pulled from app stores are not anymore accepting new sign-ups and are likely to close from next month, according to TechCrunch.
Some of the games that are no longer available or will get shut down in coming days include:
PetVille—– Closed Down December 30th
Mafia Wars 2—— Closed Down 30th
Montopia —— Closed Down December 24th
FishVille—– Closed Down December 5th
Vampire Wars —–Closed Down December 5th
Treasure Isle— Closed down December 5th
Indian Jones Adventure World—– Will Close Down from January 14th (No More Accepting Sign-ups)
Mafia Wars Shakedown — Pulled from app Stores
Mojitomo—Pulled from app Stores
ForestVille—– Pulled from app stores
World Scramble Challenge—- Pulled from app Stores
The San Francisco-based Company, which has had tough times in the stock market in 2012 as investors’ faith vanished owing to Zynga’s falling popularity in social gaming sphere along with some botched acquisitions, also laid-off 100 workers lately and closed offices as it looks to reinvent itself .
By shuttering these games, the social gaming company will be able to transfer resources to more successful titles even as it will provide leeway to create new ones.
According to TechCrunch, players are either very angry or disappointed due to sudden shuttering of games. In order to soothe its players and keep them hooked for its upcoming and current games, the Company started offering free bonus packages (virtual goods) in anyone of its flagship games like CastleVille, ChefVille, FarmVille2, MafiaWars or YoVille to players who played titles such as FishVille or Adventure World.