According To pcworld.com “Zynga has acquired Flock, which develops a Web browser fine-tuned for real-time social networking data feeds.”
What Does This Mean For The Players Of Mafia Wars?
We Don’t Know, But Now That Zynga Has Announced That It Will Be Closing The Game (Read Story Here) On Yahoo Games The Future Of Mafia Wars Is Uncertain.
The Rumors That Have Floated Around About Mafia Wars Shutting Down In 2012 Have Come Partially True. That Is, With The Announcement Today Of Mafia Wars Closing On Yahoo.
The issue that Zynga has is that Facebook takes a massive fee – 30% – for Credits (that is standard for all publishers). For Zynga, which is a cash cow for virtual currency and goods, this cut can amount to some serious dough.
As Stated On techcrunch.com
The Purchase Of Flock Might Mean That Zynga Plans To Move Completely Over To Flock When Zynga’s Deal With Facebook Ends In 2015.
Here’s An Exert From A Story On techcrunch.com
Here’s One Relevant Passage Outlining How Zynga Vews Is Relationship With Facebook:
We have benefited from Facebook’s strong brand recognition and large user base. If Facebook loses its market position or otherwise falls out of favor with Internet users, we would need to identify alternative channels for marketing, promoting and distributing our games, which would consume substantial resources and may not be effective. In addition, Facebook has broad discretion to change its terms of service and other policies with respect to us and other developers, and those changes may be unfavorable to us. For example, in 2010 Facebook adopted a policy requiring applications on Facebook accept only its virtual currency, Facebook Credits, as payment from users. As a result of this change, which we completed in April 2011, Facebook receives a greater share of payments made by our players than it did when other payment options were allowed. Facebook may also change its fee structure, add fees associated with access to and use of the Facebook platform, change how the personal information of its users is made available to application developers on the Facebook platform or restrict how Facebook users can share information with friends on their platform. Beginning in early 2010, Facebook changed its policies for application developers regarding use of its communication channels. These changes limited the level of communication among users about applications on the Facebook platform. As a result, the number of our players on Facebook declined. Any such changes in the future could significantly alter how players experience our games or interact within our games, which may harm our business.
In Conclusion, It Would Only Make Sense Now That Zynga Has Purchased Flock Their Intention Would Be To Build Their Own Social Gaming Network And Eventually Separate Itself From Facebook Altogether By 2015 When Their Contract Runs Out.
If Mafia Wars Is Still Around By Then I Would Expect A Move To Flock For The Game. It Might Even Be Sooner Than That Depending On The Exact Details Of The Contract Between Zynga And Facebook. I Most Certainly Would Expect To See Other Games Be Flocked First, Before Mafia Wars.
The Purchases Of Flock Will Also Allow Zynga To Charge Other Gaming Companies To Have Their Games Hosted On Flock.
http://tinyurl.com/ZyngaAttack
http://tinyurl.com/ZyngaDefense
http://tinyurl.com/ZyngaHealth
http://tinyurl.com/ZyngaStamina
