Zynga Announces Mafia Wars 2 as Traffic Declines on Classic Original

Zynga Announces Mafia Wars 2 as Traffic Declines on Classic Original

September 20th, 2011

By AJ Glasser

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Zynga is unveiling the sequel to its 2008 Facebook game, Mafia Wars, today with an animated trailer. Details on Mafia Wars 2 are scarce pending a press briefing, but the game is expected to launch “soon.”

The trailer gives a few clues as to the sequel’s angle. There’s evidence of a narrative constructed around revenge and vivid depictions of violence that suggest a higher level of visualization than what we saw in the text-based original game. Mafia Wars is perhaps best known for popularizing the social network game mechanic of recruiting as many friends as possible to your “mob” to better accomplish gameplay objectives, though many social games before Mafia Wars’ time made use of this feature. The core gameplay loop involves players spending regenerative resources (health, stamina and energy) to complete jobs or fight other players to earn more resources, items and virtual currency.

Mafia Wars is one of few Zynga games to be offered on other social networks and games portals besides Facebook, as well as a standalone mobile game. The game was removed from Tagged and MySpace possibly as a result of declining platform performance or perhaps due to an exclusivity agreement with Facebook revealed in Zynga’s IPO filings. On Facebook, the game has been in decline over the last year, showing only a brief spike in activity thanks to a cross-promotion run with Zynga sibling CityVille run in late March 2011. It currently enjoys an audience of 5.1 million monthly active users and 875,734 daily active users on the platform.

We’re still not certain how effective modern social game sequels are at extending the life of a franchise, given that only a few have launched in recent months. We’re also not certain if the crime genre hasn’t reached a point of saturation in social games with rival titles like Crime City launching on Google+ and Kabam’s upcoming Godfather game looking to make a big launch on Facebook. Mafia Wars is one of the oldest social games still running, however, and at one point it was one of the largest at 28.1 million MAU and 7.3 million DAU on Facebook. If any social game franchise was primed for a sequel, Mafia Wars would be it.

Family Battle Just A Distraction

Since There Are No Perks Or Rewards Other Than Badges Being Given Out In The Family Battles They Are Just A Distraction. If You Are Not In A Battle Where Many Players Are Active And You Can Ice Your Opponents The Family Battle Keeps You From Possibly Acquiring Items In The Ice Season And Family Boss Fights Where The Items Will At Least Add To Your Mafia Attack/Defense Strength. Basically, You Run Through Stamina And Accrue A Ton Of Fight Losses If Your Mafia And Family Are Not That Strong. It's A Waste Of Time And Resources. 

Ice Season 10

 

As Expected, Before The Nerf, Ice Season 10 Is Under Way. So Collect Your Scops Owl And Get Started For Another Two Week Season Of Endless Icings.  

Remember The Rules And The How To's. 

The Tier Rewards Have Not Changed. And Like Ice Season 9 You Need 1500 Ices For The Diamond Reward.

In Ice Season 10 The Reward Is Another Arctic Fox. 

What Are You Waiting For; Stamina It Up And Get Going.

ZYNGA's NERF MONSTER

 

Since Zynga Is Seemingly Having Nuthin But Nerf's Recently It Only Seemed Fair To Hunt Down Why. Our Photographers Here At Mafia Spirit Got A Rare Chance To Go Inside Zynga's Head Quarters To Take A Few Photograph's Of The Inner Workings At Zynga Land. 

During Their Visit To Zynga's Head Quarters They Caught This Amazingly Rare Glimpse Of Zynga's Nerf Monster On Film. We Now Have A Face To Put To All The Catastrophe That Happens Within The Game. 

ICE SEASON 9 NERF

As Ice Season 9 Has Now Ended We Were All Expecting To Collect Our Scops Owl And begin Ice Season 10. However, When The Clock Hit Zero We Were Able To Collect Zero Of These Owls.  

As Posted In The  Zynga Forums Rinzler (A Super Moderator)  Informs Us That They Are Aware That We Are Being Inconvenienced Yet Again. He Also Informs Us That There Will Be A 10th Ice Season.  

Playing Mafia Wars These Days Is More Like Putting Your Hand Into A Grab Bag And Hoping You Get Lucky And Things Will Work Correctly For At Least 10 Minutes. The Real Sport In The Game Is Getting As Much Accomplished As You Can Before The Next Nerf Is Detected. Just Remember, It's Not Your Computers Fault So Don't Throw No Bricks At It. Play Safely Now. 

Chicago Cash = Clams

If You Are Like Me And Don't Have Access To Chicago Yet You Can Get A Little Bit Of A Head Start In Chicago Cash (Also Known As Clams). On Your Free Gifts Page You Can Ask For And Send Some Chicago Cash. 

 In Your Message Center You Can Collect The Chicago Cash That Your Friends Sent To You.

It Appears That You Can Collect 8 Chicago Cash Within A Day. For Me Each Chicago Cash Has Been Worth $259,000 Clams.  

So If You Don't Have Early Access And Don't Spend The RP To Gain Entry Then You Can Collect A Little Clam Before Chicago Opens To Everyone Friday, September 23 At 10 PM PDT (ZYNGA TIME). 

Those Who Do Buy Their Way In Get A Bootlegger Bill For Their Minimum 75 RP Purchase. 

modification;

It Has Been Brought To My Attention That Some Of You Are Not Receiving What I Got When Sending And Receiving Chicago Cash. Here's An Example; 

Who Can Stop The Zynga Nerf  Monster?

MAFIA WARS 2

 MAFIA WARS 2 

 COMING SOON

Zynga Is Asking You To Like The Mafia Wars 2 Fan Page And To Share It With Your Friends And They Are Unlocking Some Gear When Milestones Are Met.   

You Can Be A Part Of The Founder's Club. I Received This In My E-Mail.

If You Would Like A Sneak Peek Then Watch The Trailor. 

If You Like Mafia Wars 2 You Can Go To The Mafia Wars 2 Fan Page And Click The Like Button.  

As Many Of Us Are Struggling With Mafia Wars And All It's Issues, Zynga Is Realeasing A New Mafia Wars Game. I Am Assuming That Zynga Thinks We'll Play Both Or Is Their Plan To Shut Down Mafia Wars (The Original)? With The Way Zynga Is Running Things I Am Uncertain If I Will Play Mafia Wars 2. In Fact, I Am Struggling To Play Any Of Zynga's Games Currently. 

The One Bright Side That I Can See To Playing Mafia Wars 2 Is That You Have The Opportunity To Get In On The Ground Floor With A Fresh Start In The Game. That Is, At Least, Until Zynga Tries To Get You To Spend Thousands Of Real Money In Order To Do Anything. Just Like They Did With Empires And Allies (Which Is Why I Gave Up Quickly On Playing That Game). 

I Have Nothing Against Those Who Have Extra Cash To Spend On A Game. The Problem Is That In Any Game All Players Should Have Somewhat Of A Chance Even If An Individual Purchases A Slight Advantage. In Addition, The Current Non-Paying Players ARE Customers Too And Should Be Treated Equally. If We Were Then We Might Spend A Buck Or Two Here And There, When We Find The Extra Cash. However, If You Segregate Us Then You Will Never See Our Greenbacks!