Things just continue to get worse for Zynga. First came word that Tiny Tower developer NimbleBit was none to happy with the similarities between their game and Zynga's newest IP Dream Heights, and then even more claims arose that stated Zynga liberally borrowed from their intellectual property, and now comes the most scathing report on the company yet.
Over on Reddit, where anyone from any walk of life can create their own interactions with the public at large, a former employee of Zynga has taken to the 'IAmA' section to share his experience while working for the mobile and PC app giant, and it isn’t pretty.
Contained within the post is everything from accounts of Zynga literally eliminating the fun out of games, to an outright omission that essentially all of Zynga's IPs borrowed from one source or another.
While it's fair to assume that Zynga has a certain amount invested in creating a game that keeps the player coming back again, and potentially even sinking more money into an experience like FarmVille, hearing that they would goose the experience to increase profit yet decrease fun is shameful. Players already sink tons and tons of hours and dollars into Zynga games on a daily basis that allowing them to reap a harmless reward here and there seems like a fair trade off.
As far as the whole Dream Heights/Tiny Tower situation is concerned, the Redditor didn't give any particulars, but did state that most Zynga games are essentially copies of another similar property. In fact, the only games he cites as being wholly original are Poker and Mafia Wars 2.
It's quite a fascinating read, but should be taken with a grain of salt considering the former employee can't do much to substantiate his claims. All of what he shares is extremely eye opening, and will certainly be catching Zynga's attention very soon, but it's also focused on breaking down a company which in many regards provides solid entertainment for the casual gamer.
Do you think that Zynga is a developer with malicious intentions or who has just had a string of bad luck? Can anything redeem this company after the Dream Heights debacle?