By Jessica Roy 6/04 3:21pm

Exit This Way

dan-porter

‘People Were Ripping Up Zynga Apparel:’ An OMGPOP Employee Dishes on the Zynga Layoffs

When news came down yesterday that Zynga was shuttering three of its locations and laying off 18 percent of its staff, employees in the New York office, many of whom joined the social gaming behemoth following the acquisition of an indie game studio named OMGPOP, were prepared for the worst.

According to an OMGPOP employee who was laid off yesterday, the office seemed like it was winding down over the past few months. Zynga’s VP of mobile, Sean Kelly, who had been tapped to replace OMGPOP cofounder Dan Porter, was rarely around the office, and though he had charged the teams with brainstorming ideas for new games just two weeks ago, he didn’t follow up with a roadmap to help guide their new game concepts into fruition. Read More

By Kelly Faircloth 4/04 10:25am

BummerVille

draw-something1

As Dan Porter Departs, Former Zynga Folks Dish

You’ve got to wonder what employee happy hours are like in the legendarily intense environs of Zynga. (We’re gonna guess testy.) A couple days ago, the company announced the departure of New York GM Dan Porter, and former employees are already dishing to Fast Company. A lot of former Zynga staffers, it seems, are ready to trash talk the OMGPOP acquisition, which cost Zynga a $95.5 million write-down.

One former employee complained to Fast Company, ”They bought it at the peak [of Draw Something], and people got tired of the gameplay quickly and the usership dropped. We got the timing wrong.” Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 3/27 5:00pm

ZyngaVille

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Zynga New York Is Back With a New Game at No. 1 in the Apple App Store [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Yesterday evening after our post went up, Zynga’s What’s the Phrase moved from no. 3 to no. 1  for top free games in Apple’s App Store and is currently holding down the top spot.

Zynga New York hasn’t always had the chummiest relationship with Zynga’s corporate office back in San Francisco. The East Coast outpost was formed a year ago after Mark Pincus acquired OMGPOP and its mobile juggernaut Draw Something–installing OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter as general manager.

Things started to sour last fall when Zynga blamed a $95.5 million write down on its $183 million OMGPOP acquisition for a bad quarter. But after a round of office closures, Zynga New York remained open, which is in line with gaming giant catching the all-mobile-all-the-time bug from Mark Zuckerberg. COO David Ko (Mr. Pincus’ no. 2 man) also continues to speak highly of Draw Something and the upcoming, Ryan Seacrest-approved Draw Something 2.

Soon he may have even more to crow about to wary Zynga shareholders.  Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 3/18 6:30pm

ZyngaVille

Screen shot 2013-03-18 at 5.55.50 PM

Zynga Tries Again With Draw Something 2, a Celebrity-Endorsed Social Network

Celebrity revelations rarely arrive without some behind-the-scenes orchestration, which is what we imagine happened this afternoon when Ryan Seacrest “gave away Zynga’s secret,” by outing the launch of Draw Something 2 on Twitter.

After all, Mr. Seacrest’s production company RS Productions also happens to have acquired the rights to the Draw Something game show. Read More

By Gary Sharma 9/04/12 9:00am

Goooood Morning Silicon Alley!

sponsor_garys_red_tie

Best Tech Events This Week (Jeff Weiner Discussion, Comedy Hack Day, Tech Does Fashion Week Party, Women 2.0, NY Games Conference)

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

I’m a big fan of organizations and groups that encourage more women to get involved in the traditionally male-dominated worlds of tech and entrepreneurship, by creating community and providing guidance and support. And this week, we have a ton of these women-focused events.

There is the Ladies Who Code hacknight, where they encourage you to bring your brilliant self, your laptop,  and your beloved text-editor of choice! There is Celebrating Extraordinary Female Founders at Levo League (a site for Gen Y female professionals), as well as the launch party for PlumAlley (a new site supporting female-founded companies). There is the Go Connect – Ignite Your Ambition event organized by NY Tech Women and The White House Project. There is JumpStart Your Dreams, organized by She Creates Change (a community supporting women as they make their professional dreams a reality). And finally there’s Women 2.0 Founder Friday, with guest hosts Alexis Tryon (cofounder, Artsicle) and Anagha Nadkarni (cofounder, AppGuppy). Read More

By Adrianne Jeffries 4/04/12 7:57am

Be Like the Virus

omgpop-elvis

Draw Something Beats Out Angry Birds for Top Paid App

The App Store official charts for last week showed the new version of an old standby, Angry Birds in Space, at no. 1 and hometown heroes OMGPOP at no. 2 with Draw Something. But a look at the charts today shows Draw Something is now the no. 1 most downloaded paid app, beating out  other popular games Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Where’s My Water and Fancy Pants as well as the app-ified Suess classic, The Lorax. The iPhone/iPad version has five stars with 94,481 ratings. Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 4/02/12 12:55pm

Exit This Way

Mr. Porter with Ghostface Killah (via Twitter)

OMGPOP CEO Dan Porter Gets Bitter on Twitter Over Disparaging Ex-Employee

The saga of the lone OMGPOP employee to say no to Zynga isn’t over just yet thanks to a couple of acerbic late night tweets from OMGPOP chief executive Dan Porter. Last week, Shay Pierce, a former OMGPOP game developer penned a rather explosive column for Gamasutra about turning down Zynga’s post-acquisition employment offer over a difference of “values.” (The gist: he had them, Zynga didn’t.)

Guess Mr. Porter, now VP of general management at Zynga New York, was not a fan of Mr. Pierce calling his new employer “evil.” Late Friday night, Mr. Porter tweeted: “The one OMGPOP employee who turned down joining Zynga was the weakest one on the whole team. Selfish people make bad games. Good riddance!” In case you weren’t sure who he was talking about, he later added, “What’s so interesting about success is the number of failures who try to ride on your back. Shay Pierce is just one of many . . .” Read More

By Nitasha Tiku 3/26/12 8:30am

Exit This Way

Mr. Forman (via twitter/charlesforman)

OMGPOP Founder Charles Forman Made ‘Way More’ Than $22 M. in Sale to Zynga

The New York Times got a ticket to OMGPOP’s after-acquisition party at the Bowery Hotel last week where they ran into the startup’s founder, Charles Forman, who was in such a daze over the $180 million deal with Zynga that he walked into traffic.

Mr. Forman, who left the company in 2011, but retained his stake, told the Times he made “way more” than $22 million from the sale, adding, “It’s the kind of money where I’ll be wearing whatever I want when somebody invites me to a wedding.”

We never really thought to measure “fuck you” money in terms of prescribed wedding attire, but godspeed to any groom that wants Mr. Forman as his best man. Read More