Arrgh! Zynga does it again!

[cindybubbles]

You remember when I told you about the demise of Café World, right?

Well, the all-powerful Zynga did it again, this time with my beloved CityVille!

Here is what they said if you can't access the screenshot:

Dear Citizens,

CityVille will be shutting down on April 30, 2015.

Thank you for supporting CityVille and for joining us on our city building journey. If you currently have coins or cash in your CityVille account, you can use them to access the game’s current content until April 30, 2015.

As a reward for being a loyal CityVille player, we have a special thank you gift for you in either FarmVille 2 or CastleVille Legends.

You can redeem your thank you gift, valid until April 30, 2015, by providing the required information. Select one of the games listed, we’ll add the thank you gift to your account.

You have selected FarmVille 2 for your thank you gift.

Our team will contact you via email. This offer is now closed for your account. You can continue playing the game until April 30, 2015.

Please visit the link below for FAQ on the closure
Click Here!

Thank you for your playing our games!
Zynga

Unbelievable.

[Tama]

Don't they turn most of these into play store apps? I reme!Ber the bakery thing being available there...

[Andara Bledin]

This is pretty much a given for all of their least popular games. Their business model won't support them supporting games that aren't making good profits.

I wrote off everything they touch ages ago because of their requirement to harass your friends to advance.

[HYHYBT]

Now you've got me curious to see if I can get into Mom's Cityville, uh, city, and see what it looks like after about four years' abandonment.

[cindybubbles]

I think this article from CE gamers tells us the reason for the closure.

The article also lists other games from Zynga that could be axed. CityVille just happens to be the first.

cindybubbles

[Gravekeeper]

I can't say I care at all that they're shutting down one of their Skinner Boxes. They design games specifically to exploit people psychologically. They're slot machines with somewhat better graphics.

[Tama]

I guess they must hate money.

[the_std]

It's a pretty safe bet that, if they're shutting it down, it's not making them enough money to be worth it.

[Gravekeeper]

It's a pretty safe bet that, if they're shutting it down, it's not making them enough money to be worth it.

^

Its definitely not that they hate money, quite the opposite. They've been axing any game that doesn't make them untold millions for years. If its not a cash cow it gets taken out back and shot. Zynga would release a game that featured nothing but a series of pictures of the staff's taints if they thought it would make them a few bucks.

[Tama]

I guess this is why I see some of these failed games on Google's playstore? Maybe it's cheaper to have it there?

[Tama]

Surely they realize this is only going to make people wary and LESS likely to buy in game currency?

[Gravekeeper]

I guess this is why I see some of these failed games on Google's playstore? Maybe it's cheaper to have it there?

Er? Cityville is not on Google Play. Nor has Zynga announced the other titles its shuttering yet.

[cindybubbles]

This is what Forbes said:

Facebook recently rolled out an advanced version of its developer platform and publishers are required to migrate to the new platform soon. Since Zynga has decided not to migrate ten of its existing games to this new platform, its FB-related business will further drop over the future.

You can read more about it here.

cindybubbles

[TheHuckster]

its FB-related business will further drop over the future.

Good.

The sooner I stop getting Zygna notifications from FB the better, so I welcome this news with open arms. For every Zygna-related game I block notifications from there's a new Zygna-related game made that I'll eventually get a bunch of notifications from before I block them. If it weren't for the user sending me these notifications being my brother, I'd have unfriended him a long time ago.

I remember several years ago when Facebook was far less restrictive in what its apps can do, Zygna was a glorified spammer, in my humble opinion.

[Andara Bledin]

If you don't want Zynga notifications, tell Facebook you don't want them, and you'll never get them again, unless it's a brand new game.