Comments on: A Playdom Funding Would Mean No Quick Exit http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2009/10/06/a-playdom-funding-would-mean-no-quick-exit/ Tracking Innovation at the Convergence of Games and Social Platforms Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:17:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Zynga’s Café World Goes from 0 to 8.6 Million Users in a Week, with Big Implications http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2009/10/06/a-playdom-funding-would-mean-no-quick-exit/comment-page-1/#comment-7983 Zynga’s Café World Goes from 0 to 8.6 Million Users in a Week, with Big Implications Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:13:06 +0000 http://www.insidesocialgames.com/?p=7080#comment-7983 [...] It is not clear what any other developer can do to stop this, besides find more effective ways to build and market their own apps. While Zynga is sometimes busted for things like spammy invites, many other developers have been or actively are guilty of the same. Perhaps a group of VCs or a private equity firm will step in with $100 million, roll up some of the smaller yet successful developer shops, and go to war? Perhaps more established gaming companies will make acquisitions and devote more resources to social gaming? Yesterday, casual game company PopCap raised $22.5 million in a large part to push its social gaming effort faster — this is after ten years of the company growing to 240 employees without ever taking a round. And it was not surprising to hear, earlier this week, that another large rival, Playdom, is looking to raise more money. [...] [...] It is not clear what any other developer can do to stop this, besides find more effective ways to build and market their own apps. While Zynga is sometimes busted for things like spammy invites, many other developers have been or actively are guilty of the same. Perhaps a group of VCs or a private equity firm will step in with $100 million, roll up some of the smaller yet successful developer shops, and go to war? Perhaps more established gaming companies will make acquisitions and devote more resources to social gaming? Yesterday, casual game company PopCap raised $22.5 million in a large part to push its social gaming effort faster — this is after ten years of the company growing to 240 employees without ever taking a round. And it was not surprising to hear, earlier this week, that another large rival, Playdom, is looking to raise more money. [...]

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