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Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

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Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#81

Post by bduerst »

babuskov wrote: post #78
bduerst wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to admit it, but the fact that casinos continue to exist goes to show that the Zynga model will probably hold true. Both employ game dynamics to get participants to part with their money - the only difference being that casinos require you to pay up front, and Zynga doesn't have the same level of overhead. The company will only face a race to the bottom, though, as others enter this space and competition for u…

Important distinction is that in casinos players can make money. Well, as we know, only a small percentage does and overall it is the house that always wins, but humans are very bad at judging laws of probability. This "flaw" is still not in Zynga's games, and since FB prevents gambling with real rewards it will continue to be so. Your last sentence will probably hold true, unless they start producing something innov…

I would argue that money rewards can be equal to in-game rewards, since Zynga players are obviously willing to part money for the latter, but that boils down to a matter of opinion.

It will be interesting to see if management bails from Zynga over the coming quarters. Personally, I would watch and see if management unloads on any stock or options.

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#82

Post by alaskamiller »

The irony of all this is that just less than 3 years ago Mark Pincus and Zynga was riding high.

Pincus was voted as the CEO of the Year at the Crunchies. He was chosen to be the closer to Startup School, he projected Zynga as a place for people to want to go to there: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1041758

This is a story parallel to Lance Armstrong's own rise and fall. About how if you were to drill down, really drill down, to find the next ethical, justifiable company that used Facebook to great benefit for humanity you're going to be looking for the 27th, 28th, 29th place organizations. Because frankly, as cynical and as well-duh it is now, what did we spend the greatest of our generations will and brain power on?

A Facebook ponzi scheme.

Now the tide is turning, pendulum swung, omega alpha etc etc and all those wonderful metaphors.

Where to go now? Go fixate on and fix something else. But remember, be nice to everyone on your way up. They're going to be the same people you see on the way down.

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#83

Post by GabrielF00 »

Karunamon wrote: post #72
GabrielF00 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Boston office did the Adventure World game. I tried it out and found it pretty frustrating - you can only do a few things before you run out of energy and need to harrass your friends or wait 24 hours. It's not a mechanic that works well with an adventure - nobody wants to chop through a few bushes and then wait to enter the temple. Plus there's this gratuitous Indiana Jones thing which is just glommed on.

>you can only do a few things before you run out of energy and need to harrass your friends or wait 24 hours This is a theme that exists throughout most Zynga games.

The difference I think is that in a sandbox game doing a handful of things every eight hours or so can feel fairly satisfying but in an adventure game there's a sort of story and you're interrupting it after you're just getting started.

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#84

Post by driverdan »

jmsduran wrote: post #43
danilocampos wrote: post #23

Conceptually, I love every bit of bad Zynga news. I like to be reassured that a company will, in the long term, fail when its products are cynically designed to manipulate. That a company will fail when their strategy assumes it's okay to blatantly, consistently, continuously lift design from other firms and products. Practically, though, bad Zynga news feels terrible . Because the guys who architected this repugnant…

As a software developer who lives in Austin, I find it disconcerting whenever I hear about developer layoffs, especially in our city. I hope this is just an isolated incident of bad company strategy than an overall industry trend.

Luckily for them there is plenty of opportunity in our city. I've yet to find a local tech company that isn't hiring.

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#85

Post by jlgreco »

bduerst wrote: post #81
babuskov wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Important distinction is that in casinos players can make money. Well, as we know, only a small percentage does and overall it is the house that always wins, but humans are very bad at judging laws of probability. This "flaw" is still not in Zynga's games, and since FB prevents gambling with real rewards it will continue to be so. Your last sentence will probably hold true, unless they start producing something innov…

I would argue that money rewards can be equal to in-game rewards, since Zynga players are obviously willing to part money for the latter, but that boils down to a matter of opinion. It will be interesting to see if management bails from Zynga over the coming quarters. Personally, I would watch and see if management unloads on any stock or options.

Without money awards I suspect you will see far fewer instances of Gambler's Ruin, or other more subtle profit-generating phenomenon. As far as I can tell, there can be no sense of "recouping losses".

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#86

Post by petitmiam »

GabrielF00 wrote: post #55
mkinsella wrote: post #4

Also rumored to have shut down their Boston and Chicago offices.

The Boston office did the Adventure World game. I tried it out and found it pretty frustrating - you can only do a few things before you run out of energy and need to harrass your friends or wait 24 hours. It's not a mechanic that works well with an adventure - nobody wants to chop through a few bushes and then wait to enter the temple. Plus there's this gratuitous Indiana Jones thing which is just glommed on.

> need to harrass your friends or wait 24 hours.

or pay cash and continue immediately.

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#87

Post by danudey »

w1ntermute wrote: post #77
Jach wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it very hard to feel any pity for the employees that knowingly got involved with such a company, and I would be surprised if many of Zynga's best and most hardworking employees didn't jump ship long ago.

Any developer with half a brain should know that the game industry should be avoided like the plague. Long working hours, abusive management, racism (the Kixeye debacle), the issues just go on and on. Take patio11's advice and go into B2B, you'll make money hand over fist with much more manageable working hours.

I work at a mobile game development company in Vancouver, and it's great here. Best environment I've ever worked in. Good people, good management, get in at 8:30 and leave at 5, etc.

Not everyone in the industry is scum, though it's certainly not uncommon.

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#88

Post by oacgnol »

jmsduran wrote: post #43
danilocampos wrote: post #23

Conceptually, I love every bit of bad Zynga news. I like to be reassured that a company will, in the long term, fail when its products are cynically designed to manipulate. That a company will fail when their strategy assumes it's okay to blatantly, consistently, continuously lift design from other firms and products. Practically, though, bad Zynga news feels terrible . Because the guys who architected this repugnant…

As a software developer who lives in Austin, I find it disconcerting whenever I hear about developer layoffs, especially in our city. I hope this is just an isolated incident of bad company strategy than an overall industry trend.

As someone who was a developer in Austin as of a few months ago, I can imagine other Austin area companies salivating at the fresh infusion of developers into the market. They should be okay (or at least I hope so!).

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#89

Post by marshray »

audiodude wrote: post #80
Karunamon wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling the software that Zynga makes a "game" is insulting to real games. Zynga's are usually different skins on top of a number incrementing simulator (for example, anything with "ville" in the name), that happen to increase a little bit faster if you bug your friends (often and repeatedly) and have them increment their numbers too, and you can only increment your numbers so often - but more if you pay real cash mo…

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. My mom used to play some tropical island game. She told me that she loved hearing the waves crash as she "landed on her island". For her, that game was every bit as entertaining as Borderlands 2 is for some hardcore console gamer.

Well, there's no way your data will be complete until you get your mom to do an in-depth review of Borderlands 2.

Re: Zynga May Have Just Laid Off 100+ Employees From Its Austin Office

#90

Post by codegeek »

edash wrote: post #79

Hey Zynga people, we're based in Austin and hiring for front-end. And our culture is pretty much the anti-Zynga: bootstrapped, slow growth, sane hours, no deadlines, strong design focus, and respect for our team and our customers. Let's get coffee at the downtown Medici: http://www.paperlesspipeline.com/jobs

Great design and love your jobs page. Very well written and quite refreshing. Not qualified for this personally but may be some day.
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