Social game giant Zynga announced today that it's decided to expand beyond free to play, microtransaction-based titles like FarmVille and Words With Friends, and has begun to develop games that support real-money gambling.
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said that the company plans to launch its first real-money poker game in the first half of 2013. He did not confirm which regions the game will support, but it might be some time until these types of games hit the U.S., as federal laws put strict limitations on online gambling.
"We have our first [real-money gambling] products in development, and we intend to release them in markets that are regulated and open, subject to our getting licensing," Pincus said. "The U.S. is obviously an attractive market, but it's not an open and regulated market today, so we currently don't have plans for the U.S."
Alongside this news, Zynga revealed that its revenues for its recent second quarter fell well below initial expectations. For more information, check out Gamasutra's full report.
If getting a license is anything like trying to get a license in the US, they (Zynga's management) will have to go through background checks. Some of Pincus' earlier exploits* may be a problem.
At first I agreed with you, but after looking again I actually read it differently. Instead of "here we go again", which I admit would be unfair and unnecessary, I read it as "here we go" in the sense of testing uncharted waters. Perhaps Tom is more saying it in the sense of Zynga being bold (at least relative to their usual conservatism)? I could be wrong, only the author knows for sure :)
Honestly, I read "Here we go" to refer to the fact that it was a somewhat known progression of social/gambling games, but one that is both a large step and one with some heavy implications. If Zynga sees success with real money gambling, we should expect the flood gates to open, and to see many, many developers attempt to follow suit, as well as some interesting issues arising involving more manipulative design mechanics.
Sometimes the truth turns out to sound subjective. For example, try to report on Goldman-Sachs, Enron or Bernie Madoff without sounding subjective for or against either side.
The fact is that Zynga has a toxic corporate culture and it is based on greed and exploitation and pointing this out is objective even if it makes Zynga fans weep.
I eagerly await the Congressional Hearings. Anyone trusting Zygna or any other un-regulated industry/company with real money gambling is gonna get what they deserve, which is a massive population of gambling addicts and rigged games. With the instant flow of information afford by these web games, making a gambling addict is as easy as 1,2,3 and of course the odds arn't rigged your suppose to lose 60.2% of the time..
But the current casinos (at least here in Las Vegas) already have an instant flow of information to use to their advantage.* So I don't think it would be much different in that respect.
*(I'm mostly thinking slot machines and video poker not the "physical games" like Blackjack and Poker.)
What is wrong with setting up legal online gambling? I have a friend who is a professional poker player. I'm sure he will be ecstatic to find out that a publicly traded US company is providing a paid online poker option. Since the US government shut down all the US sites, he's gotten ripped off trying to make his living on foreign sites.
I haven't played Zynga games or even like the company, but I can barely stand the frothing people are doing over this Company every news story.
IMHO it would be great for a US company to be able to set up a legal, US-regulated (and taxed), online gambling service.
The reason why I think most people don't want that company to be Zynga is because of its perceived history of playing fast and loose with the rules.
I think it would be better to give that control to a company that has a history of dealing with the current regulations. Companies like Bally, Shufflemaster, etc.
Zynga is coming out of it's gangsta closet and obviously doesn't care about it's reputation or how it's perceived. That alone should give people pause.
Admittedly it wouldn't be quite as bad as Walt Disney Pictures getting into the online p0rn industry... but still... mixing supposedly family friendly game production with the undisputed vice that is gambling is pretty brash.
They should change their slogan to "We're Zynga and we just don't give a ****!" Next up they'll be introducing live pay-per-view peep shows and outcall 'game dates' with their stable of lovely h... I mean selection of registered companions.
And I would be *shocked* if they were able to obtain gaming licenses that allowed them to leverage their existing non-gambling user base directly by having both types of games on the same site (or even links and incentives between the two). That's like selling powdered sugar cigarettes in a tobacco store in the dystopian future of today. And without this ability to leverage their current users, I'm not sure how they'll compete with established gambling sites in their respective countries.
So Zynga really sounds desperate right now to release ANY kind of news. Otherwise it's an admission they have no answers going forward except more of the same...
I'm fine with this. Gambling gets a bad stigma but it can be fun. There are always people that take things too far like drinking, smoking, watching tv, gambling, etc. But hey, just because there are idiots out there doesn't mean things like this* should happen to the rest of us.
Haha, that is the most pathetic waste of law enforcement I have seen this week. The previous was myself getting a ticket for going 6 over the speed limit last week. Power and greed can destroy people.
If getting a license is anything like trying to get a license in the US, they (Zynga's management) will have to go through background checks. Some of Pincus' earlier exploits* may be a problem.
*http://www.sfweekly.com/2010-09-08/news/farmvillains/
The fact is that Zynga has a toxic corporate culture and it is based on greed and exploitation and pointing this out is objective even if it makes Zynga fans weep.
But the current casinos (at least here in Las Vegas) already have an instant flow of information to use to their advantage.* So I don't think it would be much different in that respect.
*(I'm mostly thinking slot machines and video poker not the "physical games" like Blackjack and Poker.)
$21 billion dollars in 2009.
( http://www.indiangaming.org/info/alerts/Spectrum-Internet-Paper.pdf )
I really don't want our kind of gaming blurred with gambling-type gaming. That has "Bad Thing Category" written all over it.
I haven't played Zynga games or even like the company, but I can barely stand the frothing people are doing over this Company every news story.
The reason why I think most people don't want that company to be Zynga is because of its perceived history of playing fast and loose with the rules.
I think it would be better to give that control to a company that has a history of dealing with the current regulations. Companies like Bally, Shufflemaster, etc.
Admittedly it wouldn't be quite as bad as Walt Disney Pictures getting into the online p0rn industry... but still... mixing supposedly family friendly game production with the undisputed vice that is gambling is pretty brash.
They should change their slogan to "We're Zynga and we just don't give a ****!" Next up they'll be introducing live pay-per-view peep shows and outcall 'game dates' with their stable of lovely h... I mean selection of registered companions.
And I would be *shocked* if they were able to obtain gaming licenses that allowed them to leverage their existing non-gambling user base directly by having both types of games on the same site (or even links and incentives between the two). That's like selling powdered sugar cigarettes in a tobacco store in the dystopian future of today. And without this ability to leverage their current users, I'm not sure how they'll compete with established gambling sites in their respective countries.
So Zynga really sounds desperate right now to release ANY kind of news. Otherwise it's an admission they have no answers going forward except more of the same...
*http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jul/07/knox-deputies-raid-bexhill-subdivision-
poker-game/?partner=popular