Skip to main content

Zynga valued more than EA in latest estimates

Zynga beats EAAs if anyone needed more confirmation that the social and mobile gaming genre was taking over the industry, Farmville creator Zynga has nearly doubled is market worth in the last several months and is more profitable than veteran gaming giant EA.

In March of last year, Zynga was valued at $2.61 billion dollars – not bad for a firm less than five years old. Today Bloomberg News reported its worth at $5.51 billion. EA is reported to be worth $5.16 billion.

Zynga continues to face public scrutiny (as well as lawsuits) concerning its security flaws after being found to share its users’ information with third-party vendors for advertising purposes. Still, it seems as though the scandal hasn’t had a negative impact on its financial success, at least yet. Responsible for creating six of the 10 most popular Facebook games, the company maintains inexpensive operations and its users number in the millions.

The presence of social and mobile gaming only seems to growing, and while it may have been outsold by Zynga, EA is taking notes. Less than a week ago, the company acquired Angry Birds publisher Chillingo, a popular mobile gaming publisher, for $20 million. And last year, EA purchased prominent social gaming company Playfish for $275 million. Despite these attempts, however, the gaming giant has seen shares drop over 20 percent in the last year and was forced to make substantial staffing cuts. EA is clearly struggling to adjust to a console-less gaming environment, but seems to know that investing in social and mobile gaming is the safe bet to turn profits around.

Update: Originally we stated Chillingo was the developer of Angry Birds. A reader pointed out that they are a publisher. This has been corrected.

Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
V Rising – Legacy of Castlevania crossover will let you fight Simon Belmont
Castlevania's Simon Belmont in V Rising.

Stunlock Studios and Konami have revealed that the survival crafting game V Rising will feature Castlevania crossover content when it leaves early access this May.

V Rising is a survival game where players control a vampire, and this crossover adds Simon Belmont as a hunter who's constantly trying to track down and kill players. If Simon Belmont is defeated, players will be able to equip and use his whip as a weapon. While that content is being added to V Rising free of charge as soon as it hits 1.0, a paid Legacy of Castlevania Premium Pack DLC will also be released. Purchasing it will net players Castlevania-themed decorations and music for their lair. These are all fitting crossover spots for a game that already heavily features vampires and pumps some life back into an unfortunately dormant game series.

Read more
What is dragonsplague in Dragon’s Dogma 2 and how is it cured?
A dragon roars in Dragon's Dogma 2.

Dragon's Dogma 2 likes to keep many of its mechanics and systems a secret until you discover them. You will learn quickly that you can't fast travel around the map freely, but there's one mechanic that is far more detrimental to your game. This is called dragonsplague and it is a disease that can't be cured with a simple tonic. In fact, you may not even realize if you have it in your game because it isn't something that affects your character at all; instead, it affects your Pawns. Failing to recognize you have dragonsplague and deal with it in a timely manner can ruin your entire playthrough if you're not careful. To avoid such a catastrophe, here are all the details about this cruel disease.
What is dragonsplague?

Dragonsplague is a special kind of disease that Pawns can contract seemingly by interacting with either Drakes or Dragons. That part isn't fully clear yet, however, we do know that Pawns with dragonsplague can spread the disease to other Pawns. Since Pawns are able to pass between worlds to join other players, you are never fully safe from being infected if you're playing online. Unlike a real sickness, though, dragonsplague actually transfers between Pawns rather than spreads, meaning it won't fully run rampant through the game.

Read more
Stellar Blade feels more like a Soulslike than a fast-paced action RPG
Stellar Blade STALKER fight.

 

Korean developer Shift Up first made a name for itself with mobile games like 2016’s Destiny Child, a turn-based RPG, and 2022’s Goddess of Victory: Nikke, an on-rails third-person shooter. Now, Shift Up is throwing its hat into the ring of AAA game development with Stellar Blade, an action game starring a young woman named Eve who is trying to reclaim Earth from an invading alien species. The developer’s first attempt at crafting a premium console experience is already much stronger than I expected.

Read more