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Zynga to shutter OMGPOP website on September 30th
OMGPOP has had a rough life under Zynga's wing -- the startup fell from grace as it became clear that Draw Something was more a one-hit wonder than a sustainable profit engine. It makes sense, then, that Zynga is continuing its cost-cutting spree with plans to close OMGPOP's less successful web portal. The shutdown will start with four of OMGPOP's web games, which stop running on August 29th. OMGPOP.com will go dark a month later, on September 30th. Only mobile apps will remain after the closure, including Draw Something, Draw Something 2 and Draw My Thing. The move isn't surprising given Zynga's strengthened mobile focus, but we're still sad to see OMGPOP lose a large part of its remaining identity.
Zynga closes OMGPOP, the creators of Draw Something
Zynga announced yesterday that it was laying off about 18 percent of its work staff, or about 520 employees, which is bad news for any company. But it turns out that this set of folks includes most of the crew of OMGPOP, the company Zynga acquired for its uber-popular app Draw Something last year. It was only last March that Zynga picked up OMGPOP for $200 million after Draw Something became a big hit, and while the app did both grow and spawn a sequel under Zynga's oversight, OMGPOP's CEO Dan Porter left the company just a few months ago, and now most of the original staff is out of a job. Or at least on to the next one -- one former Zynga staffer says to TechCrunch that most of the team members "had new jobs lined up by the time they left the building anyway." It's true that the OMGPOP acquisition was extremely public, and while Draw Something was always popular, it wasn't hard to see that the audience lost a lot of engagement after that initial acquisition. I don't think this is the death knell for Zynga just yet -- the company has been cutting titles, but still has successful games running, and it's working on more to come. But this is definitely a wakeup call that the once huge social and mobile juggernaut needs to do things a bit differently in the future.
Draw Something 2 available with new words, drawing tools
Zynga's Draw Something, the incredibly popular drawing game for iPhone, now has a follow-up: Draw Something 2. It's available now on the US App Store as an ad-supported free download or premium, ad-free version at US$1.99. It was just in February that Zynga VP and General Manager, Dan Porter, said there were some exciting things in the pipeline for Draw Something, and we now know what he was talking about. Draw Something 2 has many new additions and features, including 5,000 new words, more drawing tools and over a hundred colors, plus a social feed and "Galaxy," where users can store their favorite drawings. Draw Something was originally developed by OMGPOP. It became hugely successful within a very short time and was soon acquired by Zynga. It eventually leveled off in popularity, but we're sure Zynga is hoping to re-ignite its popularity with Draw Something 2. [Via The Verge]
Daily iPhone App: French Girls is a strange idea that seems about to take off
Sometimes apps are expertly designed, very complicated machines, full of complex elements designed to take on tough tasks -- and sometimes they're just plain hilarious. French Girls is the second of these. It was developed in just 39 hours by a team of devs working on an app jam, and while there's not a lot to it (I wouldn't even call it a game, really), it is a lot of fun to see and play with. The title is a reference to the famous line from James Cameron's Titanic: "Draw me like one of your French girls," and that's exactly what the app is about. You're given a random picture from some other anonymous person on the internet, and your goal is to draw it with the provided colors, however you want, and then upload your drawing back to them. Once you've drawn a few people, you can then upload your own pictures, and within just a few minutes, you'll get new versions of your face or whatever else you upload back as a piece of original art (sometimes great, but usually very bad). The app feels very much like Draw Something did back before it got gobbled up by Zynga, in that it's just a fun and completely free celebration of being creative. As French Girls has gotten more and more popular over the past few days, I've seen more trolls pop up in it -- as far as I can tell, there's no one monitoring the drawings, so some pictures will come back with insults on them, or more objectionable images or language. But in general, the app is a lot of fun, both as you do your best to represent other people with your (either limited or great) art skills, and as you see pictures of yourself come rolling back in. Oh, and it contains the single greatest pull-to-refresh animation ever invented in the history of time. It's worth a download just for that. I doubt the team behind French Girls is ready to get grabbed up by Zynga anytime soon the way that Draw Something did, but I do feel there's more here to do -- maybe they can put in a quick picture moderation system, or add a small game layer in. You can already share your pictures via Twitter or Facebook, and there's even a nice web interface where you can look at all versions of a picture so far. The app itself is free -- there's not a lot to it, but, man, it makes me laugh every time to open it up and see what people have drawn next.
Draw Something turns one under Zynga's banner, celebrates 100 million downloads
It's hard to believe that it's only been one year since Draw Something debuted on the App Store. Few apps have run the full cycle of popularity faster than Draw Something, which started as a huge word-of-mouth release before being acquired by Zynga. A year later, many iOS gamers have Draw Something in their rearview mirrors, but the executive in charge of the game says it's not over yet. Dan Porter is the CEO behind Draw Something's original developer. He now serves as a VP and General Manager at Zynga. Porter recently spoke with Mashable about what's going on with the game these days. Even though Draw Something has fallen out of the public eye, Porter notes, the game continues to be very popular with more than 11 billion drawings created, and more than 28,000 years of game play contributed by players. Traffic has leveled off, admits Porter, but the game still has a sizable amount of daily active users and has topped 100 million downloads. So how can Draw Something regain the limelight it once enjoyed? Porter didn't share Zynga's plans, but he says there are some surprises in the pipeline, while name-dropping both Coca-Cola and kryptonite. So, more branding deals and corporate partnerships, I'd guess. Here's an interesting thought experiment: If you were running Draw Something, how would you get it back to its initial popularity? If it were me, I'd slim the app back down. The Zynga purchase has added all sorts of crufty nonsense to the experience and the initial popularity was based on just how simple and fun the original game was. At the same time, though, I'd also build out the metagame a little bit. The core back-and-forth drawing game should stay simple, but I'd add some progression elements like goals and achievements to keep veteran players interested. Finally, I'd rebrand it as a newer, better version ("Draw Something Else," maybe?), just because I think the original Draw Something brand was hurt so much by the Zynga acquisition. But we'll have to see what Porter and his team have planned. He says that despite the well-publicized transition, they're still all together and hard at work on improving the game.
Mobile Miscellany: week of July 9th, 2012
Not all mobile news is destined for the front page, but if you're like us and really want to know what's going on, then you've come to the right place. This past week, Motorola debuted the RAZR V in Canada and the Sony Xperia Ion was spotted at Rogers -- curiously, the phone has yet to be formally announced for the carrier. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of July 9th, 2012.
Zynga-owned Draw Something finally gets update for sharing, undo
Most of our stories about Draw Something since the game's launch have been business related. After it garnered tens of millions of users in its first few weeks, the company that makes the game, OMGPOP, was bought by Zynga for a whopping $200 million. But here's finally something to show after all of that hubbub: The game has been updated on the App Store with a few features that probably should have been in there all along. Specifically, those would be the ability to actually share the pictures you make with Facebook and Twitter or saving them to the Photos app on your iOS device. Previously, people were working around this by screencapping their pictures, but this makes much more sense and should make for passing around even more great drawings. You can also undo steps if you make a mistake while drawing, and users can chat with each other as they draw as well. As far as I'm concerned, this is OMGPOP catching up with must-have improvements to the app and given that much of the buzz on the app has passed, they might not be too much help in growing the app's audience even further. But for those still playing Draw Something, these will probably be nice updates to have anyway.
The one OMGPOP employee who turned down Zynga
When Zynga announced that it bought OMGPOP, the developer of the newly minted hit Draw Something, a lot of people shared some frustration. Zynga has earned a reputation as a less-than-popular developer out there, and the fear is that Draw Something, which currently has a relatively simple charm, will get overloaded with social cruft and other nonsense. But at least one person out there has a real problem with the Zynga takeover: Developer Shay Pierce actually walked away from his job because of it. His story is an interesting one, and he wrote it up over at Gamasutra earlier today. Basically, he was a developer for OMGPOP (though he says he didn't actually work on Draw Something), and when the news came down that Zynga was acquiring the company, he was concerned about his own iPhone app. Pierce published a puzzle game called Connectrode on his own time (with his employer's blessing), but he was worried that self publishing like that wouldn't fly under Zynga's banner. And indeed, long story short, it didn't. He was basically told to stop publishing on his own or leave the company, and instead of joining up with the house that Farmville built, he quit his job. It sounds like he'll be all right -- he was compensated for his leaving, is planning to work as an independent developer for a while, and the press from this has probably grabbed a nice bump in sales for his game, I'm sure. Still, Pierce doesn't mince words talking about Zynga. "When an entity exists in an ecosystem, and acts within that ecosystem in a way that is short-sighted, behaving in a way that is actively destructive to the healthy functioning of that ecosystem and the other entities in it (including, in the long term, themselves)," he writes, "yes, I believe that that is evil. And I believe that Zynga does exactly that." I would agree that many of things Zynga is doing (mostly revolving around its social and casual games) are unsustainable. Its audiences need to grow to continue to make the company successful, and Zynga has built a model so thin on gameplay that I believe there's a limit to just how interested in these games people can become. But I wouldn't argue that the company is evil -- being a flash in the pan just makes them a fad, not the devil. Still, you may disagree. I think the final part of this story is to see what happens to Draw Something over the next weeks and months. The app has garnered such a huge audience so quickly that it seems as though it'll be very difficult for even Zynga to hold that interest for long. As for Pierce, he's made his choice, and we'll look forward to what he's working on next.
Creative drawings from Draw Something
Buzzfeed member Sandanito posted up several creative drawings from the hit app Draw Something. You can see a sample drawing in the image above and head over to Buzzfeed to see the rest. And if you haven't tried Draw Something, it's available for free from the iOS App Store (99-cents will get you an ad-free version) and has over 30 million users.
Zynga acquires Draw Something dev OMGPOP for $200 million
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how App Store fortunes are made. We've posted already about the almost overnight success of Draw Something, an app that has picked up over 30 million downloads and even beaten Zynga at its own game on Facebook. And because everyone knows that Zynga has plenty of cash and just needs as many users as it can get, the check has apparently been written: The company is expected to announce the acquisition of Draw Something's developer, OMGPOP, at a press conference happening in just a bit later on today. All Things Digital says it has indeed been confirmed. OMGPOP has a few different titles out, as well as a New York-based team of about 40 people. But what Zynga is really after here is the audience -- its games are social, so the more people playing them the better, and with the overnight audience of Draw Something, Zynga can promote its other games quite a bit. As for OMGPOP, my guess is that the company hasn't had too much success on the App Store until now, and basically decided to get on the money train while it's still in the station. Zynga's known for swooping in fast on deals like this -- if things had gone the other way, and OMGPOP had decided to hold out and try to really monetize the app on their own, odds are we would have seen Zynga try to take advantage of Draw Something's popularity anyway. At any rate, congrats to the OMGPOP team. Plenty of Draw Something players are groaning on Twitter, and lots of them are hoping that Zynga doesn't ruin what's still a pretty good and clean experience. But you never know -- with Zynga's resources, maybe Draw Something will turn into something even better yet.
Daily iPhone App: Draw Something
We've already posted about Draw Something a few times for business reasons -- the title is just blowing up the App Store, and has already overtaken all of Zynga's titles as the most popular social game app on Apple's platform. But the game, available now, is definitely worth a try as well. I've been playing it all weekend long, and even though it's way more casual than the games I usually play, there is something very fascinating about this artistic back and forth. We've seen games do this on the App Store before -- Charadium and Depict are two good examples, and there are other options out there as well. But Draw Something's charm is in its simplicity -- there are really no points to speak of, and you don't even really win or lose. If the player trying to guess a drawing doesn't get it, they just pass, and then you move on to the next guess. You do have a combo sort of going back and forth, and you are trying to earn coins (which can be used to buy extra colors to draw with, and consumable hints, essentially), so there are some game elements there, but Draw Something is basically a picture messaging service, and the pleasure in it is seeing how your friends have approached putting a word to an image. Unfortunately, Draw Something's simplicity is also its main drawback (sorry). There's no way to save or archive the pictures you draw outside of just taking screenshots (press the iOS sleep and home buttons at the same time), and there have been some really good ones out there. Given how social the game is, it seems a little nuts that there's no "share this picture on Twitter or Facebook," but maybe that's for cross-platform compatibility (or will just be added in the future). Those looking for a little more than just fun with friends might be disappointed by the game's UI as well -- it's extremely simple. But all that said, there is an addictive glee to Draw Something, no question, that makes it definitely worth trying out. 30 million people can't be wrong, right? The game is available in a 99 cent version without ads, or a free version with ads included.
Draw Something hits 30 million downloads, overtakes Zynga on Facebook
The iOS phenomenon Draw Something has continued to blow up on an unprecedented level, and it's now reached another crazy milestone: The app has garnered 30 million downloads already, despite only being available to the public for about five weeks. And that's not all: Facebook says the app has picked up 10.8 million daily active users, which tops Zynga's Words with Friends' more than 8 million, thus making it the most popular app on the big blue social network. Pretty astounding, considering that just a few days ago we reported that the app had reached 20 million downloads. It's hard to believe an iOS app has grown so huge so quickly, but sure enough, with the Internet and social networks and all of the various mechanics Apple has put together to share and grow these audiences, Draw Something is only the latest in a long line of incredible success stories. This kind of app is definitely a rarity, as most iOS developers will tell you, but it definitely shows the potential of just how big this software platform has become, and how quickly users will take to games like this. As OMGPOP's Dan Porter says, "We want to make games for people that don't put games on their phone. ... That's how you get to massive scale." Apple has essentially made a smartphone for people who didn't buy smartphones, and because it did, there are mobile audiences out there like the one Draw Something has clearly found.
Draw Something hits 20 million downloads in just five weeks
Being a blogger in the Apple ecosystem, I'm used to seeing numbers that are completely staggering -- the number of iPads sold during an introductory weekend, for example. But when an iPhone app is able to pull in a huge number of downloads in a very short timeframe, I really pay attention. That's the case with Draw Something ($0.99), a social game that has not only jumped to the top of the paid apps chart in 79 countries, but has also been downloaded a whopping 20 million times in the five weeks that it has been available. CEO of developer OMGPOP, Dan Porter, says that the app is generating six figures a day. The company has also made more money in the five weeks that Draw Something has been in the App Store than they made all of last year. Over one billion pictures have been drawn using the app, which is similar to the classic Pictionary game. The superlatives keep on coming -- on March 11, 2012, over 3,000 drawings a second were being generated by users. Not all of the downloaders are active users of the game; OMGPOP reports that "only" 12 million users are actively playing Draw Something. Part of the app's attraction and one of the reasons it is being downloaded so much is that it requires at least two people to play. Do you play Draw Something? If so, tell other TUAW readers what you like -- or dislike -- about this incredibly popular game.
