Google invests up to $200m in Zynga

By Ellie Gibson Published 12 July, 2010

Farmville creator said to be raking it in.

Google has invested between $100 million and $200 million in Zynga, the social gaming company behind titles like Farmville and Mafia Wars.

That's according to Tech Crunch, which also reports Zynga raised half a billion dollars in venture capital over the past year.

Word is a new Google Games service will launch by 2011. It will give users the option to play social games and Google the opportunity to track their habits, apparently.

Not that Zynga needs the money. Tech Crunch's sources reckon the company has made $350 million this year, around 50 per cent of which is operating profit. The estimate for 2011 revenue stands at $1 billion.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Goodfella #1 2 years ago

    Wow, I wish I had the skills to market a turd in such a way that it's desirable.

  • Dizzy #2 2 years ago

    I hope they enjoy it while it lasts.

  • Vice.Destroyer #3 2 years ago

    Haven't we gotten to the stage as gamers, where we can say that just because we don't individually like a game, it does not make it a turd? For as long as I live, I will never understand gamers that turn up their nose at other people that like to..., play games!

  • iHAZaCHEEZ3burger #4 2 years ago

    How the hell is this game popular?

  • Goodfella #5 2 years ago

    @ Vice.Destroyer

    No. I've only played Mafia Wars on the iPhone but it's complete turd.

  • Ged42 #6 2 years ago

    Zynga has gone "Mwha ha ha ha"

    Do you wish to send this "Mwha ha ha ha" to your friends?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #7 2 years ago

    So much for "Don't be evil", eh, Google?
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/10 @ 09:23

  • miiiguel #8 2 years ago

    @ Vice: well goodfella is not a nice person in my opinion, but these games are pretty bad and they only exist to make money, as fast as possible.

  • Goodfella #9 2 years ago

    Thanks, miiiguel.

  • Stompy #10 2 years ago

    "these games are pretty bad and they only exist to make money, as fast as possible."

    I'm not sure if you can legitimately complain about this unless you are an anti-capitalist.

  • Ryboy #11 2 years ago

    Again EG, this in NON FUCKING NEWS!

    Why do you persist on reporting on such fucking bullshit?!

  • cawley1 #12 2 years ago

    God this thread smacks of jealousy!

    Let's face it guys, if any of us had the idea to link a game into Facebook a couple of years back, only to see it go on to be mega-successful (much more so than the traditional kind of games we play), would we not have been all over it?!

    I personally dislike these games, buy my missus, sister-in-law and mother-in-law do not agree! Before this, the only game any of them really played was Animal Crossing, which has similarities, except for the social aspect...

  • Goodfella #13 2 years ago

    @ cawley1

    Yes, I am jealous of their wealth for making so much money out of something so bad. My first post hinted as much.

  • cawley1 #14 2 years ago

    Yeah, but just because we don't like it, does that make it bad? I personally dislike Call of Duty and all the FPS that are all the rage these days, but give me a Mega Drive, SNES or PC Engine and I am well happy!

    Vice.Destroyer has got the right idea, just becasue it is not to our tastes, that does not make it bad.

    Seriously, the amount of people I know that have rarely, if ever played a videogame in the last few years that are playing Farmville is phenominal!

  • Goodfella #15 2 years ago

    I'm not a fan of Call of Duty games either but I can see they're not bad games.

    Zynga 'games' have no redeeming qualities as far as I am concerned.

  • Syrette #16 2 years ago

    I've never played Mafia Wars or Farmville.

    Can someone please explain the appeal? What are the quality elements of either title?

  • FutileResistor #17 2 years ago

    No we wouldn't all do the same for that kind of money because it's a bit more serious than 'bad' games, jealousy or a failure to understand enconomics I'm afraid.

    Mike Arrington wrote about these guys last October. They are basically engaged in criminal fraud.

    A typical scam: users are offered in game currency in exchange for filling out an IQ survey. Four simple questions are asked. The answers are irrelevant. When the user gets to the last question they are told their results will be text messaged to them. They are asked to enter in their mobile phone number, and are texted a pin code to enter on the quiz. Once they’ve done that, they’ve just subscribed to a $9.99/month subscription. Tatto Media is the company at the very end of the line on most mobile scams, and they flow it up through Offerpal, SuperRewards and others to the game developers. As you can see in the image below, nothing in the offer says that the user will be billed $10/month forever for a useless service.

    Another scam: Video Professor. Users are offered in game currency if they sign up to receive a free learning CD from Video Professor. The user is told they pay nothing except a $10 shipping charge. But the fine print, on a different page from checkout, tells them they are really getting a whole set of CDs and will be billed $189.95 unless they return them. Most users never return them because they don’t know about the extra charge. Woot. Again, sites like Offerpal and SuperRewards flow these offers through to game developers.

    The saddest thing for me personally is that Brian Reynolds (Colonistaion, Civ 2, Alpha Centauri, Rise of Nations) is now their chief games designer.
    Edited by 2 at 12/07/10 @ 11:56

  • ignatiusjreilly #18 2 years ago

    Eurogamer published a very similar article: Scamville. But all is forgiven. If you don't like them now you are probably the same people burning police cars at the G20 protests.

    Edit: the funny thing is the author's comments on that page:

    "Or rather, a company which, having announced that it expected to turn over $200 to $250 million, is now actually going to lose somewhere between 20 and 70 per cent of that revenue - and that's assuming the whole affair doesn't hit the mainstream press and cause serious reputation damage... So yes, it's an object lesson for existing games industry companies in how not to approach these new markets - assuming that you want to keep your job at the end of the day."

    Now they are darlings of the industry.
    Edited by 1 at 12/07/10 @ 11:59

  • FutileResistor #19 2 years ago

    It's not a question of not liking Zynga because they are making lots of money. This is a company actively engaged in criminal fraud as a substantial part of their business. They should be denounced by the entire games press and it should be shouted from the rooftops.

    Farmville is the most played game in the history of videogames. There have been over 100 million installs. It is almost entirely being played by casual gamers. For many people it's the first video game they have ever played. It cannot be healthy for the games industry as a whole if the first video game some of these people have ever played is actually just a con-job.

    I'm not surprised that the general populace doesn't know about this. I am surprised judging by the comments that most eurogamers don't know what kind of company Zynga are.

  • Goodfella #20 2 years ago

    @ FutileResistor

    I do, they're no better than the likes of those 'company's' who advertise 'work at home' jobs. Send them £50 to get the starter pack and you never hear from them again.

  • alcides #21 2 years ago

    ...bazynga.

  • Pastici #22 2 years ago

    I've recently got into a Zynga game and while I initally felt bad its turned out not too bad to be honest. It feels like Harvest Moon with social aspects. If people want to pay to get a head in a game they can do so. Its just an evolution of flash games we all used to play in school/work in the late 90s. Also, they're popular,anything popular attracts haters and something casual and popular just brings out the core gamers in droves to bitch about it.

  • Willbow #23 2 years ago

    I played MafiaWars for around 1 month, then got bored... I know some people who are on it all the time, it can be addicting.. But good on the person who created it all, I'm pretty sure they are " raking " it in on farmville... Haha ! That's my sarcastic joke over...