The Essence of Web 2.0
“To put the play macro in perspective, games have become the second most popular internet activity based on time spent, and have even surpassed email,” Mark Pincus, founder and CEO of Zynga, wrote to potential investors. “Our strategy from the beginning has been to build the biggest macro bet on social gaming to provide our players with the most accessible, social and fun games. Despite our rapid growth, we have been careful to build for the long term.” Pincus says that Zynga is built on the fundamental principle that games are meant to be social, reaching into the essence of Web 2.0. According to Zynga’s internal metrics, players are spending 2 billion minutes a day playing Zynga games, with 60 million daily active users, 232 million monthly active users (spread across its various games) and 146 million unique month users (players who played one game at least once). Pincus broke down Zynga’s philosophy:
Games should be accessible to everyone, anywhere, anytime.
Games should be social.
Games should be free.
Games should be data driven.
Games should be good. Critics may argue with that final point. For every person who loves games like FarmVille, CityVille and Empires and Allies, there is another person who believe that those games are a pointless waste of time and a drain to society. Yet, it is the first point that investors may be the most critical of. (via Zynga Bets the Farm on the Idea of Play)