zynga

Zynga sues former exec for 'wholesale theft' of data

Alan Patmore left his job as general manager for Zynga's CityVille in August and headed over to a job as VP of product at Kixeye -- a much smaller social-gaming company also based in San Francisco. Zynga is now saying that when Patmore stepped down, he stole important company trade secrets.

In a complaint filed in Superior Court in San Francisco on Friday, the gaming company alleges that Patmore nabbed data files, financial information, unreleased game design documents, and more.

"Zynga respects the rights of its employees to resign and seek employment with other companies," the gaming … Read more

Zynga banking on 'fat fingers' to help mobile ad numbers -- analyst

Zynga has increased the size of its ads and made it more difficult to close them, in a ploy to get more accidental clicks, according to one analyst (BTIG registration required) playing close attention to the game creator's advertising.

The new ads are, he says, a "desperate action" to encourage "fat fingers," or accidental clicks, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield wrote in a blog post today (BTIG registration required).

CNET has asked Zynga to comment and we'll update if we hear back.

With mobile advertising as the No. 1 concern for most online companies, Greenfield … Read more

Zynga executive exodus continues: Zynga Poker GM leaves

Adding to a growing number of Zynga executives who have left the social gaming company this year, Zynga Poker General Manager Laurence "Lo" Toney has moved on from the struggling company, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Zynga Poker is the company's first social game and the largest free-to-play online poker game, according to Zynga's site. CNET has contacted a Zynga spokesperson for comment and will update when we hear back.

Toney's departure, first noticed by All Things D, comes as the company faces slowed growth and slumping stock. Its stock closed at $2.43 a … Read more

Zynga teases new CityVille 2 amid company struggle

Zynga is now testing a sequel for "CityVille," the company wrote on its blog today.

The social games creator promises are more "visually rich game" with "CityVille 2," which was released today to specific players for testing.

"It has all the features in CityVille that players love -- from neighbor visits and crews to buildables -- blended with some of the innovations we introduced in CastleVille and FarmVille 2 such a crafting and 3D graphics," according to the post.

The company has said -- and Wall Street seems to agree -- that … Read more

Where does Zynga go from here?

Yesterday, Zynga announced a big write-off and told Wall Street its growth was slowing. Today, Wall Street returned the favor by crushing Zynga shares, forcing them down 12 percent to $2.48.

Analysts say Zynga could still recover. It remains a leader in the casual-gaming industry, with more than 300 million monthly users, and as of July 30, it held a decent financial cushion in the form of $436 million in cash and equivalents on hand -- a good chunk of the $1 billion it raised in its IPO late last year.

It's starting to look like Zynga's … Read more

Zynga lowers its full-year outlook, writes down OMGPOP buy

Zynga lowered its 2012 outlook and said it will write off nearly half the reported $200 million it paid for game maker OMGPOP in March, in the latest sign of the woes overtaking the social-gaming company.

The company said it expects 2012 bookings (i.e., sales deals that haven't necessarily yielded revenue yet) to fall short by about eight percent compared to its previous estimate. Likewise, Zynga said its non-standard measure of profit (which it calls "adjusted" EBITDA) will likely be about 28 percent lower than expected.

Zynga said it expects to report revenue of $300 million … Read more

The 404 1,141: Where we feed the dogs (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Zynga and Hasbro announce board game versions of the most annoying Facebook ones.

- Will.i.am and Simon Cowell considering X-Factor style show, for tech.

- New Ninja Turtles cartoon replaces Cowabunga with....

Bathroom break video: Longboarder attacked by a deer.… Read more

Shining light on new Kindle Paperwhite

Monday's CNET Update has a glow about it:

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite e-reader is now shipping, and CNET has given it the Editors Choice award. You can read the full review here. The Nook GlowLight dropped its price to $119 to match the Paperwhite.

Apple has released a Wi-Fi bug fix for the iPhone 5 on Verizon. The bug caused the iPhone 5 to use data even when the device was connected to a Wi-Fi network. Verizon won't charge iPhone 5 customers for any excess data as a result of the bug, but customers should download the fix … Read more

Zynga says farewell to another departing exec

The list continues to grow -- another Zynga executive announced today that he is joining the group of those who recently jumped ship.

According to VentureBeat, Wilson Kriegel, who worked in business development, marketing, and advertising for the game maker, is leaving the company. Kriegel was fairly new to Zynga, having only started there when it acquired Omgpop in March for around $180 million.

At Omgpop, Kriegel was the chief revenue officer. On his LinkedIn profile he says was in charge of making the uber-popular game Draw Something into a "more fun, social and a global juggernaut."

Kriegel … Read more

Game maker A Bit Lucky wins over Zynga

Zynga said today that it is acquiring A Bit Lucky, a developer of multiplatform games, as it expands its repertoire.

A Bit Lucky's 20-plus employees in San Mateo, California, will become part of Zynga's office in San Francisco, where they will continue working on Solstice Arena, Zynga said.

The acquisition, whose terms were not disclosed, follows on the heels of Zynga's hiring of John Tobias, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat series, as creative director.

The news follows the recent departure of some key Zynga executives, including the chief marketing officer, the chief technology officer of infrastructure, and … Read more