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Zynga now valued at higher than EA

Zynga, the social gaming giant behind "FarmVille," has just been valued at $5.5 billion by SharePost, the service which exchanges shares of privately held companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Zynga.

With a market cap that large, Zynga is now considered the second largest gaming publisher in the world, surpassing Electronic Arts (EA) which has a current market cap of $5.15 billion.



Nintendo remains the top publisher.

Zynga was launched four years ago and mainly uses Facebook to distribute games. With a built-in audience of 500 million, the company has ascended very quickly thanks to FarmVille, FrontierVille and others. The company makes money off virtual goods, like weapons and upgrades that advance in-game play.

The company has about 210 million monthly active users.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Oct 2010 13:46

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• 8 comments

• Notcow

  Zynga makes money because they know how to play the Facebook demographic...EA loses money constantly because of their annoying and intrusive antipiracy measures.
  
  It makes sense.
  

  27.10.2010 16:26 #1

• biglo30

  WTH so much people on facebook plays that game? How are they making money if its free?
  

  27.10.2010 17:51 #2

• Ryoohki

  It is free but you can spend real money to buy credits and such to buy virtual things. Meaning you can pay to level up quicker essentially. I use to be huge into mafia wars but I never spent a dime on it. It is considerably quicker to gain a higher level if you buy extra energy etc and it is similar with all of the zynga games really.
  

  27.10.2010 18:39 #3

• ThePastor

  EA will be around MUCH longer than Zynga. I hate Zynga.
  Those types of games (so-called "social networking" games) are a fad.
  
  
  

  Unfortunately for them, all Blu-ray protections have been broken and BD rips can be found around the Internet, usually before the retail even hits shelves.

  27.10.2010 20:21 #4

• KillerBug

  That might be one of the first times I have heard someone say that EA makes quality games. They make a lot of "AAA" games, but quality?
  
  Zynga and EA both make video games...but they are completely different markets and really can't be compared in any way except the bottom line and the stock price.

  27.10.2010 23:11 #5

• biglo30

  Originally posted by Ryoohki: It is free but you can spend real money to buy credits and such to buy virtual things. Meaning you can pay to level up quicker essentially. I use to be huge into mafia wars but I never spent a dime on it. It is considerably quicker to gain a higher level if you buy extra energy etc and it is similar with all of the zynga games really. Wow I did know that people actually took it that serious.
  

  27.10.2010 23:36 #6

• DVDBack23

  Originally posted by biglo30: Originally posted by Ryoohki: It is free but you can spend real money to buy credits and such to buy virtual things. Meaning you can pay to level up quicker essentially. I use to be huge into mafia wars but I never spent a dime on it. It is considerably quicker to gain a higher level if you buy extra energy etc and it is similar with all of the zynga games really. Wow I did know that people actually took it that serious. Yeah man, it's already a billion dollar industry (virtual goods).
  

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  28.10.2010 00:09 #7

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by DVDBack23: Originally posted by biglo30: Originally posted by Ryoohki: It is free but you can spend real money to buy credits and such to buy virtual things. Meaning you can pay to level up quicker essentially. I use to be huge into mafia wars but I never spent a dime on it. It is considerably quicker to gain a higher level if you buy extra energy etc and it is similar with all of the zynga games really. Wow I did know that people actually took it that serious. Yeah man, it's already a billion dollar industry (virtual goods). They also make a lot on accidental purchases...you can hardly buy anything from a 7-11 without getting Zynga points...you are getting them, even if you don't want them.

  28.10.2010 05:35 #8