The takeaway here, for me at least, is that Zynga got a lot of early success via a couple smart exploits-- early social network virality (since shut down by Fac

The takeaway here, for me at least, is that Zynga got a lot of early success via a couple smart exploits-- early social network virality (since shut down by Facebook et al. because spammy Farmville requests hurt user experience) and freemium gaming (which has been embraced by the rest of the competition and no longer serves as a competitive advantage). So Zynga now has to be just another gaming company, and gaming, as an industry, is high-overhead and high-risk, with a lot of very serious competition. There's no hockey stick in running a big gaming conglomerate; it's just a media business. If you have a hit, you make money for a while, if you don't, you lose. Just like running a record label or a movie studio.