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Drawing nothing: OMGPOP reportedly shuttered as Zynga restructures

$180 million for 15 months of business

Drawing nothing: OMGPOP reportedly shuttered as Zynga restructures
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| OMGPOP news

Rumoured but not yet confirmed, it's being reported Draw Something studio OMGPOP may be one of the studios set to suffer as Zynga looks to rebalance its operations.

The social gaming giant has already revealed 520 staff are to lose their jobs – representing 18 percent of the firm's workforce – is order to stabilise its cost base, and it appears OMGPOP may have been closed as a result.

'Last day'

As first detailed by The Verge, the official OMGPOP Twitter account claimed that "this is the last day at Zynga for many OMGPOP staff," adding that it wanted to thank players "for all love and awesomeness over the years."

Ali Nicolas, who now claims to be the "former VP People" at OMGPOP, followed up with a tweet declaring that she had "learned via Facebook I was laid off today and OMGPOP office is closed."

"Thanks Zynga for again reminding me how not to operate a business," she concluded.

Though many claim not to be surprised by OMGPOP's rumoured demise, any decision to shut the studio down entirely will still raise eyebrows in some quarters, given Zynga paid out a then headline grabbing $180 million to buy the outfit just 15 months ago.

No model move

Nevertheless, OMGPOP has proved to be anything but the model acquisition for Zynga.

After Draw Something's userbase began to slip away, Zynga was forced to write off between $85 million and $95 million due to "intangible assets previously acquired in connection with the company's purchase of OMGPOP."

The studio's recent Draw Something follow up – reportedly designed to be more 'sticky', keeping users hooked for a longer time than the original to keep monetisation rates steady – also appears to be floundering in comparison to its predecessor, with the IP's future now looking decidedly dodgy.


Draw Something 2

"We love finding great, accomplished teams that share our mission and vision," Zynga CEO Mark Pincus told Bloomberg back in April 2012, following OMGPOP's acquisition.

"If we ever see breakout opportunities that massively accelerate social gaming at Zynga, we’ll aggressively pursue those, too."

[source: The Verge]

Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.