Xbox Live Not a Big Enough Ville for Zynga

[Tom Goldman]

Xbox Live Not a Big Enough Ville for Zynga

Zynga's games will never come to Xbox Live because it doesn't have a big enough audience.

Zynga has made a name for itself as the developer of many popular social games such as FarmVille, FrontierVille, CityVille, and non-Ville Mafia Wars. Because of their popularity, you might expect Zynga to release these games on every platform possible, including the current generation of consoles and handhelds like the Xbox 360 or the Nintendo DS. Despite millions of gaming-focused machines currently sitting in the hands and living rooms of consumers across the world, Zynga says the audience there is just too small.

Speaking to IndustryGamers, Zynga chief game designer Brian Reynolds said that the company is after more of an audience than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 can deliver. As a specific example, Xbox Live has 30 million active users, while Facebook boasts over 500 million.

"We're after a lot of demographic," Reynolds said. "[Xbox Live's] too small a demographic. Think about, of my friends, how many of them own an Xbox 360? Well, I'm a game developer and I even come from a triple-A space so we might even be in the double digits... Twenty or maybe even thirty percent of my friends might have an Xbox 360, but effectively 100% of them have Facebook and effectively 100% of them have a mobile phone. Of them, probably 90% have a smartphone."

Zynga's games, which are built around social mechanics like external item requests and those infernal wall posts, wouldn't work as the company wants on a platform like the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. According to Reynolds, these consoles aren't as "inherently social" as mobile phones or Facebook. Reynolds talked about a desire to have people "socialize cross-platform," but didn't say how this might be possible. The bottom line is that we aren't going to see FarmVille on Xbox Live anytime soon, which is either a positive or a negative depending on your view of the Villes.

Source: IndustryGamers [http://www.industrygamers.com/news/xbox-live-too-small-for-zynga/]

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[MezzoDragon]

No real lost. As fun as these games are, they should stay on the internet. I doubt the trophy and achievement systems would work with them.

 

[Mr. Omega]

For some reason, I just imagine all the foul-mouthed 12-year-olds on XBL playing Farmville and can't stop laughing...

 

[Mechsoap]

so they wont use the xbox, because not 100% of the worlds population is playing it? that seems very close minded.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

Oh, no. Whatever shall I do without my Farmville fix when I'm on the 360?

What even gave you the idea, Zynga?

 

[Calcium]

Personally I find playing games on Co op far more social than Cityville ever could be.

Facebook and mobile phones may be more "inherently social" but Zynga's games arn't.

 

[Digikid]

Who cares. ALL of Zynga's games are crap to begin with. Even THAT is being kind to them.

 

[Royas]

Thank god. The last thing we need is for these damned crappy social games to spread off Facebook and onto gaming consoles.

 

[Aeshi]

And not a fuck was given that day.

 

[TheLazyGeek]

"Zynga says the audience there is just too small."

Surely they meant to say that the audience is just too smart.

 

[fundayz]

The reason why they are not releasing their gaming on dedicated gaming hardware is because they simply can't compete against actual games.

30 million people is a very large market, it just happens that this market is used to playing actual, worthwhile, games.

Personally I find playing games on Co op far more social than Cityville ever could be.

Facebook and mobile phones may be more "inherently social" but Zynga's games arn't.

Exactly. The only "social" thing they have is sending automated requests to your contacts list.

 

[Art Axiv]

I don't call Zyngas productions 'games'. They are more like an interactive pyramid scheme. And I actually like Harvest Moon and Sim City games!

 

[gigastar]

Its amusing how Reynolds thinks his games are triple-A material.

I don't call Zyngas productions 'games'. They are more like an interactive pyramid scheme.

That is actually the jist of thier buisness model. The only reason they cant get sued for it is because one would get something back for that money.

 

[Eri]

The fucking gall to say that is unbelievable. Just seriously.

 

[Sn1P3r M98]

Fine by me, I'd rather Zynga stay away from Xbox live.

 

[Trogdor1138]

If you had an xbox why the fuck would you even be playing whatever shitty games they spew out ?

Hahahaha, I have to agree with this.

 

[plastic_window]

Farmville still ain't got shit on Venetian Blinds, as far as I'm concerned, so I can't pretend like I'm outraged by this news. In fact, I'm glad to see that Zynga has no interest in making games for my gaming systems, because the news doesn't affect me whatsoever.

It is interesting to note, though, that Zynga are not making games for the Xbox or Ps3 purely because they don't have a 'big enough' audience. Forget making games, Zynga makes money.