Daily Fix – A Zynga Fix To Slumping DAU

Sam Hadwick has come out of hiding. He makes his return to Mafia Wars to be the mastermind of a new feature that is designed to keep you playing every-day. The feature that he is in command of is called ‘Daily Fix’.

It would seem that Zynga itself is in the process of ‘Daily Fixes’ throughout it’s corporate structure or rather it’s corporate re-structure. With office consolidations in Texas and and New York along with the studio closure in Baltimore Zynga hopes the it will be be able to focus it’s resources on their most strategic opportunities. In other words, Zynga will be focusing more on it’s on-line gambling opportunities.

More details about the consolidations and closures can be found on the Zynga Blog. A reprint of the announcement posted earlier today by David Ko is as follows;

COO Update

by Zynga on February 25, 2013

As all of you know, we’ve talked a lot about one of our key strategies for 2013 is driving long term profitability.  With that mindset, we are finding ways to improve our business that position us better for our future success.  Today we have an update about some office changes for some of our US locations.

In an effort to leverage resources as we focus on creating franchises and driving profitability, we are consolidating three of our offices.  We are closing the McKinney, Texas and downtown Austin offices and relocating those teams near-by to our existing Dallas and North Austin offices.  And, we will be consolidating our NYC offices to move staff to our NYC mobile studio.

Today’s changes also include the decision to close the Baltimore studio. Whenever we make changes like this, we have to make some tough decisions around products, teams and people. We were able to relocate everyone in the Baltimore office who requested a transfer, and the overall impact of the consolidations on our team is minimal.

These changes will further enable us to focus our resources on our most strategic opportunities. We’re already working to execute on leveraging franchises to build the largest game network and be profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis. We still have a lot of work to do, but I’m confident that we’re on the right path to deliver on the potential of Zynga.

David Ko

So, what is the ‘Daily Fix’ and how does it work?

Please see the Daily Fix FAQ’s below;

Daily Fix - FAQ

Play Now!

Mobsters,

Enlist in the Daily Fix Program to perform daily tasks and master the Tiers to earn amazing daily rewards.

In order to maintain the stability of this feature, we are rolling it out gradually. Some of our players may not be able to see the Daily Fix feature on their accounts right now.

Q: What is Daily Fix?
A: Daily Fix is a new feature in which you have to complete featured daily tasks and earn Daily Clips. Upon successful completion of these tasks, you will be eligible to collect daily rewards. There are various mastery levels and Rewards based on the amount of Daily Clips earned.
Q: How do I start?
A: Join the program by clicking on the “Enlist” button on Home Page module.

OR

Clicking on “Enlist” will remove the Home Page module and you will be redirected to the Daily Fix main-page.

Click on “Start” to start working on your first Daily Task. Clicking on Start will take you directly to the featured task.

Q: How can I access Daily Fix after enlisting?
A: Once you have enlisted yourself into the program, you can access Daily Fix directly from the Game Progress section or from the Profile page:

OR

Q: What are the Rewards? How does the program work?
A: After enlisting yourself into the Program, you will be required to complete Daily Tasks allotted to you and earnDaily Clips. Daily tasks will reset at 12 Midnight Pacific Time every day.

Upon completing the tasks, you will see a “Collect” button on the Daily Fix page.

Click on “Collect” to receive the rewards for that day. Collecting the reward will register your Daily Clip for the day.

Please note: You are required to collect the Rewards every day by completing the tasks and clicking on “Collect” button. These rewards will NOT be credited to your account automatically.

Once you enlist into the program, you will be able to see the following sections on the Daily Fix page:

A. Mastery Tier progress bar:

This bar indicates the Mastery Tiers of your Daily Fix program. Each section of the Mastery Bar indicates Daily Clips earned successfully.

Daily Fix program counts your progress for the last 28 days from the current day and in order to reach the highest level of mastery (Ruby Level), you are required to complete at least 21 daily tasks out of 28.

Below are the various Mastery Levels and associated Daily Rewards:

1. Bronze Level: Achieved after earning at least one Daily Clip in the Daily Fix program in the last 28 days.
After you achieve the Bronze Mastery Level, you will be eligible to collect one Special Loot every day from Home Page after completing the task for that particular day.

2. Silver Level: Achieved after earning at least 8 Daily Clips in the last 28 days.
After you achieve the Silver Mastery Level, you will be eligible to collect a daily reward of 3x Special Loot and 1 random Arena Power UP from Home Page after completing the task for that particular day.

3. Gold Level: Achieved after earning at least 15 Daily Clips in the last 28 days.
After you achieve the Gold Mastery Level, you will be eligible to collect a daily reward of 7x Special Loot and 3x random Arena Power UPs from Home Page after completing the task for that particular day. You will also be eligible for Bronze Level help for your Family Progression.

4. Ruby Level: Achieved after earning at least 21 Daily Clips in the last 28 days.
After you achieve the Ruby Mastery Level, you will be eligible to collect 15x Special Loot and 3x random Arena Power UPs and 1 Reward Point every day from Home Page after completing the task for that particular day. You will also be eligible for Bronze Level help for your Family Progression.

B. Daily Clips and Daily Task Status:

On the Daily Fix page, you will be able to view the number of total Daily Clips collected in the past 28 days:

[Click to enlarge]

After completing the task for present day, you will be able to collect the Rewards from the Daily Fix page or the Home Page:

OR

Once you collect the Rewards, you will receive a confirmation of credited Reward and the Daily Clips status will be updated:

[Click to enlarge]

Q: If I am unable to complete the Daily Tasks for a given day, will I have to start all over again?
A: No, the program is designed to count the overall number of Daily Clips collected in the last 28 days from the present day.

Missing a Daily Task may cause a delay in achieving mastery tiers but you will still remain in the Program as long as you have enough number of Clips required for any of the Mastery Tiers.

Please see the below example:

[Click here to enlarge the image]

Q: How does Family Progression Help work?
A: When you reach the Gold Tier of Daily Fix, you will also receive Bronze level of Family Progression along with the Daily rewards.

Once you complete the daily task and click on “Collect”, the Family Progression will automatically completed to Bronze Level as well.

Q: What will happen if I am unable to earn Daily Clips for the last 28 days?
A: If no Daily Clips are earned in the last 28 days, you will automatically be removed from the program and will have to Enlist again to continue enjoying these benefits.

-The Mafia Wars Team

The Mafia Spirit Impact?

On Wednesday, February 20th, Mafia Spirit posted an article where we asked What Do You Find Fun About Mafia Wars? Within that article we included an image of  AppData.com’s estimated Mafia Wars Daily Active Users (re-shown below).

 

When we took the screen shot on Wednesday the estimated DAU was 235,304. Consider that our original post was showing all of the current (at that time) features that were/are aimed at Zynga trying to get players to purchase and/or spend RP. I do not recall a time where sales features ever caused the DAU to increase. One could argue that it has just happened within the past 2 days (see image below).

AppData.com is estimating for today the DAU for Mafia Wars is the highest it has been in more than a month. AppData.com is now estimating there are 261,025 users of Mafia Wars.

I’m sorry, but I can not believe that 30,000 (apprx) accounts were logged into just to buy a few pixels.

It makes more sense to assume that our post (What Do You Find Fun About Mafia Wars?) inspired many players to fire up some ghost accounts or even just to log in and see all the features for themselves that are geared for sale or use of RP.

We, here at Mafia Spirit, have to believe that we did make an impact and that we are striving to keep Mafia Wars vibrant with a healthy player base.

What Do You Find Fun About Mafia Wars?

One of the funnest things left about Mafia Wars is speculating on it’s remaining life-span. Guessing it’s end date, in other words.

Since February 7th Mafia Wars has lost approximately another 20,000 daily active users.

Source; http://www.appdata.com/apps/facebook/10979261223-mafia-wars

Zynga seems to have false illusions that it’s more fun for us to open our wallets and give them free raining access to our bank accounts and/or credit cards. If you look at the types of events that are currently available in the game it appears that nearly all of them require players to spend some amount of RP’s in order to complete them or even participate at all in them.

If you master this Secret District to the Ruby level before 3/3/2013 11:59 AM PST, you can reset your progression for 50 RP without losing your loot and rewards, which will let you master this Secret District again. You can reset your progression a maximum of 3 times, and can earn mastery rewards a maximum of 4 times. You will also get 1 Skill Point on completing every job.

Buy Crates and collect items to complete Crate Carnival, and win an amazing reward and Skill Points.

** Note; There IS NO SET NUMBER OF CRATES ONE HAS TO PURCHASE TO MASTER THE CRATE CARNIVAL.

At 54% Off the High Rollers Pack STILL costs $149……..Originally it cost $320. LMFAO….. Uhhh, no thank you. I pre-ordered the EA Deluxe SimCity for a little more than half the sale price and I’ll get an entire game.

Purchase the Arena Power Up Pack for 50 RP and earn a limited time Stats Boost to increase your stats.

Translation; You can waste 50 of your RP if you have an ego problem. Keyword; waste!

At 60% off I could purchase the Arena Mega Pack for $79. Uhhh, again no thank you. I pre-ordered the EA Deluxe SimCity for about the same price and I’ll get an entire game.

Either you have to buy your way through the mission or buy the shit you need in the Arena or you get damn lucky or you already have a high energy, stamina, attack, defense, etc account. I gave up. It’s BULLSHIT one way or the other.

For 35 RP, If you haven’t done so already, you could replay The Obelisk Of Sao Paulo. Easily the best deal listed. However, Zynga might quit re-releasing the pay-to-play districts.

Haven't recieved skill points from the punches you earned earlier? Don't worry. Get one more punch on your reward card and you'll receive your unrewarded Skill Points.

If that doesn’t make you stop and go huh? wuh? nothing will. Zynga is obviously stating that we want your money but they may not give you what you purchased unless you bitch about it.

Also, no indication anywhere as to how much this will ultimately cost you. That is not without doing some research or opening a pop-up window for the recent RP sales. Many players even wait for RP sales of 50% off before ever considering this. 

Then there is the Collectable Stat Cards. It has been said that in order to collect all the cards in just one set could cost a player anywhere from 700 to 1300 RP. Possibly more if that player has bum-luck. At the extreme minimum it would cost 375 RP’s (assuming a different card was received for each single-card purchased).

Then there is Ice Season and the new Research Facility that could cost players.

All this on top of the $25 a month VIP Membership.

We have to wonder, where is the game at in Mafia Wars? Is there even a game at all anymore? Is it just a contest of who can spend the most money? Is it a game of who can spend the most time playing? What are your thoughts? What do you find fun about Mafia Wars? Why do you still play this game that is nearly impossible to play without a credit card?

Running The Gauntlet – Mafia Wars Aging

Mafia Wars debuted in April 2008. The game has a storied history that ranges from once being the most popular game on Facebook to being announced as the 2009 Webby Award People's Voice Winner in the Games category to lawsuits and more.

By August 2010, Mafia Wars had grown in popularity and boasted up to 45.5 million monthly accounts. As of today there are approximately 1 million monthly players who refuse to “Leave A Legacy Behind.”

Although Mafia Wars may have seen it’s ship come in the game is still watching the ship as it nears the horizon. How soon it disappears into that ocean sunset is uncertain.

If you consider the Life Cycle of a game then Mafia Wars appears to be late in it’s prime.

Life Cycle of a Browser-Based Online Game Product

There is nothing fixed about the life cycle of a product. However, basically the life cycle of a browser-based online game can be described as:

1. Internal development stage. In this stage, the game is not yet available for general public. It is possible to release (publish in web) the alpha version of the game for private/limited number of testers. However, making any alpha release public is generally a bad idea.

2. Beta release. There should be no more “show-stopper” (fatal) bugs for the beta release of the game. The game should also already feature complete (the game must be completely playable from start until finish). Basically, it can be a good idea to make all/some of the beta releases available for general public. Do not forget to start advertising the game. Provides an e-mail address on the the game web pages so that users can give feedback and report bugs.

3. Minor improvement and bug fixes. No complicated/big features that may cause instability shall be added after the first beta release. Adding minor features to make the gameplay better is good as long as those features do not change the core flow/working/logic of the game. Bug fixing to remove the remaining annoying (but not fatal) bugs should be done now.

4. Release candidate. Basically, all game features should be “frozen” in this release. There should be no more feature addition after this release, except if that feature addition is the part of a bug fixing process. Doing more advertisement for the game is a good idea.

5. Bug fixes. Fix all remaining visible bugs to prepare for the version 1.0.0 release.

6. Version 1.0.0 release. While there is no application that completely bugs free, in this release we need to ensure that there is no more user visible bug in the game application. If we happen to find such a bug, fix it immediately and update the game. Doing some more advertisement for the game is a good idea.

7. Maintenance stage. This stage is basically the “run time” stage of the game. The possible actions in this stage will be iterated over and over. Some actions that can be done in this stage:

• Content addition. Basically, an online game needs to be designed so that contents can be added easily without changing the program logic. Adding contents regularly would be a good method to attract users. Do not forget to advertise the newly added content.

• Minor improvement. Adding small improvements such as better user interface, better images and sound effects, etc. would be a good idea as long as they do not change the core program logic. It would be a good idea to add the improvements step by step (not all at once). If all the improvements are all added at once, in the future, it would be much more difficult to find a new idea for improvement.

• Noticeable improvement. Noticeable does not mean major. It means that the added features will looks big and attract users. An example of this improvement is a user interface overhaul that will be directly noticeable by all players. A user interface overhaul does not necessarily modify many part of the program logic, they mostly can be done by providing a much better looks for buttons, icons, etc.

8. Declining stage. Basically, the end of life of an online game can be quite long. This is due to the fact that when old players no longer play the game, there can be new players registering for the game. Some actions can be done in this game to further the life time of the game:

• More advertisement. This can be done to attract new players.

• Content recycle with discount. Older content (especially payed contents) can be re-included/exhibited so that newer players can have chances to buy them. If appropriate, the price of payed contents can be discounted.

• Major feature addition. This would depend on the genres and topics of the games. For example:

  • In a space exploration/conquest game: adding a new galaxy to explore/conquer, adding new races/enemies, etc.

  • In a virtual farm game: adding a new type of farm that have a totally different looks and characteristics with the original farm.

  Basically adding this major features would usually requires changes in the core program logic and introduces new bugs. Therefore, do not forget to inform the users before actually updating the game. Having a separated version number for the new features is also possible (for example: the new features will be released in beta version while the original game is kept in its original version).

The game has lost 44 million monthly players in under 3 years. On average that’s a loss of 14.5 million players a year.

With only 1 million monthly players who still play Mafia Wars things look very bleak for the game.

I, for one, believe the game could return, somewhat, to it’s former glory. Here’s my list of things Zynga should do with Mafia Wars if Zynga wants to keep the game alive;

1. Re-open ALL the closed destinations.
2. Open more destinations. (Yes, a new destination may be coming soon.)
3. Slow down a little on releasing events and new features. Make these special again.
4. Stop releasing impossible to complete and/or lop-sided (UNFAIR) features. Examples include; Family Progression, The Raven, The Arena, Family Battles, Ice Boards, Job Boards, Limited Time Properties, and the Family Module, just to name a few.

The cold-hard truth is that with the way Zynga does things we all know that this game will only survive if it continues to meet Zynga’s profit margins. We have been warning you all that if you, as players, and Zynga with their bad business tactics chase away the free-playing players then the money spending players would soon find the exit door too. The proof is in the pudding….not the meat.