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I hate analogies, but i have to note that McDonalds invented the fastfood business. Zynga has shown inability to demonstrate innovation and acts opportunistical

I hate analogies, but i have to note that McDonalds invented the fastfood business. Zynga has shown inability to demonstrate innovation and acts opportunistically. If they shut down today, they 'd be instantly replaced by other existing social games. "A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business". That's just the view i have of them. It would be nice if we could have the opinions of a Zynga employee.

nikcub 15y ago
> McDonalds invented the fastfood business. It can be argued that Zynga invented the new freemium and social gaming model - ie. pay for the entertainment you get. They also pioneered a lot of the marketing and the in-game viral aspects. This is why they can release average or even clone games and still find hits - in the same way McDonalds can release a bad burger but because of their model still be a success.
- ignifero 15y ago
  No, no and no. Games like mob wars, farm town etc had these features already. If they pioneered something, it's "pushing facebook's communication channels to their limits"; I honestly cannot remember anything else.
  - ansy 15y ago
    To be fair with the analogy, McDonalds did not invent fast food. Drive ins and walk up fast food burger joints were everywhere before McDonalds started. McDonalds just took efficiency to a whole new level. It used processes that pushed modern cooking equipment to its limits and invented a few new tools to fill the gaps. One store could serve and reach so many more customers every day for so much less than the competition. Combine that with repeatable best practices and an expansionist vision and you've got an empire. By the same analogy, Zynga took that same social game model and jacked up conversion rates to the max. It pushed social networks to the limits and invented new tools to fill the gaps. It got more money from each user and had more users than anyone else. It took this formula and repeated it again and again with an expansionist vision. Mob wars, farm town, etc looked the part, but the way those businesses operate isn't in the same league. Talk about physical presence, Zynga has multi-millions of users in 100% Zynga owned virtual real estate every day. All it needs to do is mention a new game to its millions of users and that game has an instant million user base. For a no-name competitor to do the same would require millions in marketing or a miracle.
far33d 15y ago
I would normally chime in but this thread feels like a witch hunt with a lot of people who don't know what they are talking about pretending to be experts.
- rudiger 15y ago
  "People who don't know what they're talking about pretending to be experts" pretty much sums up Hacker News.
- ignifero 15y ago
  having an opinion hardly makes one expert

nikcub 15y ago

> McDonalds invented the fastfood business. It can be argued that Zynga invented the new freemium and social gaming model - ie. pay for the entertainment you get. They also pioneered a lot of the marketing and the in-game viral aspects. This is why they can release average or even clone games and still find hits - in the same way McDonalds can release a bad burger but because of their model still be a success.

ignifero 15y ago
No, no and no. Games like mob wars, farm town etc had these features already. If they pioneered something, it's "pushing facebook's communication channels to their limits"; I honestly cannot remember anything else.
- ansy 15y ago
  To be fair with the analogy, McDonalds did not invent fast food. Drive ins and walk up fast food burger joints were everywhere before McDonalds started. McDonalds just took efficiency to a whole new level. It used processes that pushed modern cooking equipment to its limits and invented a few new tools to fill the gaps. One store could serve and reach so many more customers every day for so much less than the competition. Combine that with repeatable best practices and an expansionist vision and you've got an empire. By the same analogy, Zynga took that same social game model and jacked up conversion rates to the max. It pushed social networks to the limits and invented new tools to fill the gaps. It got more money from each user and had more users than anyone else. It took this formula and repeated it again and again with an expansionist vision. Mob wars, farm town, etc looked the part, but the way those businesses operate isn't in the same league. Talk about physical presence, Zynga has multi-millions of users in 100% Zynga owned virtual real estate every day. All it needs to do is mention a new game to its millions of users and that game has an instant million user base. For a no-name competitor to do the same would require millions in marketing or a miracle.

far33d 15y ago

I would normally chime in but this thread feels like a witch hunt with a lot of people who don't know what they are talking about pretending to be experts.

rudiger 15y ago
"People who don't know what they're talking about pretending to be experts" pretty much sums up Hacker News.
ignifero 15y ago
having an opinion hardly makes one expert