We’ve reported on the rise and current fall of social gaming firm Zynga over the past three years, including its recent admission of poor financial results to come (Bulletin, 5-Oct-12). But if you want a single-source primer on exactly what went wrong for Zynga and why, spare five minutes to read TechCrunch‘s ‘Why Zynga Failed’ piece. It outlines the roots of the company’ current problems, including a shift in demand among Facebook gamers for more hardcore titles; costlier advertising on the social network; changes in the way Facebook’s viral promotion mechanisms worked; and Zynga’s struggle to make money from the lucrative mobile gaming market. The conclusion is that Zynga can recover from its woes, but “it may require more advanced games that are inherently viral and built specifically to monetize on mobile”.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…