Zynga Creates Gamers' Hub

By IAN SHERR

SAN FRANCISCO—Zynga Inc. wants to get many more people playing online games together.

The company, known largely for casual games such as "FarmVille" and "Words With Friends," on Tuesday laid out plans to offer a central hub for players of online games.

Zynga, stepping up efforts to grow beyond its beginnings on Facebook Inc.'s service, said the new offering it calls "Zynga With Friends" will connect players of multiple game titles on different websites or mobile devices.

On Facebook, for example, users will more easily be able to play against other interested gamers—not just their existing friends on that social network. Zynga gamers will eventually be able to maintain lists of friends they play with and access them on any of the company's games.

By expanding gaming-related friendships across its website, Facebook and mobile devices, people will want to play for longer periods of time, Zynga said, which could increase sales of virtual goods within the game.

Zynga is expected to unveil a lineup of games to be released over the next several months when it holds its "Unleashed" event Tuesday. Shayndi Raice reports live from the Zynga event.

"It's not about the number of friends you have, it's how many friends you have actively playing the game you're playing," said Manuel Bronstein, who heads Zynga's consumer network products.

Zynga has been working to lessen its reliance on Facebook's social network. In March, the company launched its own website, Zynga.com, as a way for gamers to play its popular titles in addition to Facebook. Gamers were also able to connect through this website, but those connections didn't show up in Facebook or mobile devices.

More than 253 million people per month have played at least one game through Zynga.com, Facebook or mobile games that allow people to connect the game to their Facebook accounts, according to industry researcher AppData.

The Zynga effort comes amid general concerns about social networking, exacerbated by Facebook's troubled initial public offering, and a sharp slide in Zynga's stock price, which fell nearly 5% more after the event Tuesday to close at $5.76, well below its initial public offering price of $10 in December.

Investors have expressed concerns that Zynga's portfolio of games is too narrow, focusing too heavily on casual and casino-type games, while eschewing war simulation shooting games like Activision Blizzard Inc.'s popular "Call of Duty" franchise.

Mark Pincus, Zynga's chief executive, said he is focused on making games that reach the largest set of users, and that as the games get more advanced, they will inevitably begin to attract more discriminating players used to playing games on a videogame console.

"It's not about diversifying," Mr. Pincus said. "It's about taking the path to get our games in front of the largest possible audience and then deepen the value."

Zynga also has no shortage of rivals. Software maker Electronic Arts Inc., for example, recently disclosed that it spent more than $250 million effort to interconnect its console and PC games; both EA and Activision. have created specialized social networks for their war-simulation shooting games as well.

To get ahead, Zynga plans to give game developers access to tools that allow them to both tap into the company's pool of active players, keep track of their highest scores and use Zynga's new head-to-head gaming features. That collaboration should help increase the number of people actively playing games and paying for social goods, Mr. Pincus said.

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Zynga CEO Mark Pincus discusses plans for a central hub for players of online games Tuesday in San Francisco.

"The value to you as a consumer is liquidity of friends and other interesting people," he added. "The value to us as a business and soon third parties is a ready audience for the next great game we release."

Zynga said the new network is an example of the next wave of social technology, moving beyond friendships to personal networks built around people's interests. Activity within those networks tends to be higher than in a generalized setting, such as Facebook, said Zynga.

Zynga now has eight partner companies making games, and expects that number to grow over time as it learns how to offer development tools in a more efficient way. The effort will help to fill out Zynga's offering of games beyond the ones it makes in house, while also providing feedback for the company's tools.

"Working with partners is the best way for Zynga to make its own experiences better," said Bing Gordon, a member of Zynga's board of directors who worked closely with the company on its partnership efforts.

Zynga also said it would also be releasing new games like "ChefVille," a food and recipe-related game, and "Matching With Friends," a mobile puzzle gamethat is the fifth installment in its popular "With Friends" games aimed at mobile devices.

Write to Ian Sherr at ian.sherr@dowjones.com

A version of this article appeared June 27, 2012, on page B4 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Zynga Creates Gamers' Hub.