Zynga to snap up game maker OMGPOP
updated 03:15 pm EDT, Wed March 21, 2012
Will pay $210 million for creator of "Draw It"
Zynga has confirmed that it's buying online gaming creator OMGPOP. The deal will give it access to Draw Something just weeks after the game became popular. Official terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
Unofficially, AllThingsD expected to pay $180 million in cash or stock plus up to an additional $30 million to keep employees onboard after the completion of the deal.
OMGPOP has created several online single or multiple player games. Typically, the games, for Android or iOS users, are free. Players may also buy a $1 version to not be subjected to advertising. Draw Something earned attention through Pictionary-like social game that pits a player against a friend or a random unknown online player. The game has been very successful. It ranks at the top of both iTunes' "top paid" and "top free" app lists. It has been reported that the game has raked in as much as $360,000 daily from that store alone.
OMGPOP offers other online games, but the one title is its main attraction as an acquisition candidate. News that OMGPOP has been talking with several suitors has been circulating for the past several weeks. Zynga has been very active in the mobile gaming market, hoping to wean itself off dependence on Facebook web games. The company has announced recently that it is creating its own platform upon which to build gaming apps.
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Joined: Jun 2008
There goes the neighborhood
The one thing I liked about this game vs. Zynga games is the speed at which the app operates. Zynga games, while addictive, are slow as molasses in terms of the UI. Draw Something is a speedy app.
After Zynga gets a hold of it, though, I'm sure they'll laden it with ads and start sucking my address book dry, which will turn it into another P.O.S. slow-a**, network-heavy, security-bucking experiment in frustration.
Oooh. I can't wait.