Building a Company Around FarmVille Is as Dumb As It Sounds
Zynga's been the poster child for the current tech bubble. It built an implausible sounding business around FarmVille and other Facebook games, its offices were over the top self parody, and it planned a billion dollar IPO. But everything seems to be falling apart. Go figure.
The maker of mind numbingly dull online games like Mafia Wars recently disclosed its profits fell 95 percent and that active users fell after being flat for a year. It delayed its IPO. And now today comes word that Zynga is trying to distance itself from its mother ship Facebook by launching its own gaming site, "Project Z" and nine other products that avoid Facebook's debilitating 30 percent tax on its revenue.
Maybe this new, more autonomous strategy will succeed. How will the new and independent Zynga.com work? "You will still need a Facebook account to play the games. Zynga... will utilize Facebook Connect." Ugh. Facepalm. Well, looks like another high score for Mark Zuckerberg.
[Photo of Zynga's offices via AP]